Full Throttle

Kyle “Desperado” Busch won, again. But you can read that in any one of a hundred sites and news services.

Instead I’ll touch on what results from NASCAR clinging onto the top 35 and impound rules. I would also suggest you read Steve “The Idiot” Wronkowicz’s (we luv ya Steve, really we do) piece as he covers the overall effects of both rules where I stick to Talladega and how it affected the results.

If you hadn’t noticed Joe Nemechek, Sterling Marlin and Jon Wood all had excellent qualifying runs. Joe actually was Front Row for a change and Marlin and Wood started 16^th and 12^th respectively.

The main reason, impound.

All three cars were massaged to the max and that helped them escape Bottom 36 Purgatory® and make the race, but at a price.

Nemechek and Marlin all qualified without fan belts for their alternators and power steering pumps. Marlin also used an undersized battery. They made stops on the 18^th lap to make repairs.

Wood also started without fan belts. His team had a checklist of changes that forced him into the garage area after just three laps. He returned eight laps down.

Because of impound after Saturday’s qualifying session teams that made changes once impounded were forced to start at the end of the starting grid.

The changes needed for Nemechek, Marlin and Wood, however, were so far from normal adjustments, NASCAR didn’t give those teams the option of starting last.

None of this is to say any of the three would have made the race without the impound, or had a better finish, save for Wood losing 8 laps, but it does illustrate the hoops some of the teams must go through just trying to get into an event each week.

IN OTHER NEWS YOU CAN LOSE: How about that Juan “Latino Piloto is Muy Bueno” Montoya! Stays with the leaders all day, finishes 2nd to The Desperado and moves into the top twelve and Chase contention.

Mears, Ragan and Kvapil all had excellent runs with all three beating or tying their best points paying finishes on the year.

At the other end of the spectrum is Smoke who in keeping with his history at the place just can’t catch a break at Talladagea, and Kuet Busch who is about one twenty-something finish away from writing off his chances for making the Chase.

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