Full Throttle

On the eve of another episode of “freight train” racing, Daytona being the first, Talladega Motor Speedway always prompts the question, will I get caught in “the big one?”

At Daytona and particularly Talladega, races have become two parallel trains, the 43 car pack lapping at almost 200mph in two trains, drafting each other. Drop out of line and lose the draft, and you go backwards so fast you can be a leader one second and 43th the next. And not incidently struggling to regain the draft you just got booted out of.

And that leads to the “big one” — the wild multi-car crashes that have happened in recent years in just about every race at Talladega and Daytona. Not surprisingly the drivers have had plenty to say on the matter.

Jamie McMurray

?Talladega is like a big chess game,? says Jamie McMurray. ?It’s one of those races that is more a mental game than anything else. We run in one big pack for most of the day, and you always have to calculate what your next move will be in order to stay in the lead draft. We’ve had some good runs there, but always seem to get caught up in the wrecks.?

Jimmy Johnson

?At Talladega, you spend so much time looking in the mirrors and paying attention to what’s going on around you that you almost lose sight of who you’re racing with and who’s around you. You’re kind of staring at the back glass of the car in front of you ? you’re almost looking through his rear window and out his windshield to see what’s going on in front of you. And then in the rear view mirror, you’re trying to block and defend the position you have. At Talladega or Daytona, you forget who’s around you because you’re running in a huge group of cars. You really can’t get away from anybody you start with and you can’t control your own destiny, so you almost admit that you’re stuck in a sense and just trying to work traffic.?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a little more to the point, ?We seem to have Talladega figured out,? he says with all the confidence of someone that heads a team (DEI) that has won 10 of the last 13 restrictor plate races at Daytona and Talladega, and Junior himself has won four of the last five ? in the other he took second to team-mate Michael Waltrip.

The qualifying results are listed below, note the difference between 1st and 38rd place (last timed entry). Less than 9/10ths of a second. With the draft negating the 3mph spread the “big one” lurks just around the corner.

Starting line-up Aarons 499

1 #21 Ricky Rudd Ford Motorcraft/U.S. Air Force 191.180 50.089 Leader
2 #15 Michael Waltrip Chevrolet NAPA Auto Parts 190.974 50.143 -0.054
3 #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 190.336 50.311 -0.222
4 #01 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet U.S. Army 190.109 50.371 -0.282
5 #10 Scott Riggs* Chevrolet Valvoline 190.019 50.395 -0.306
6 #6 Mark Martin Ford Viagra 189.906 50.425 -0.336
7 #88 Dale Jarrett Ford UPS 189.872 50.434 -0.345
8 #48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s 189.661 50.490 -0.401
9 #40 Sterling Marlin Dodge Coors Light/Kentucky Derby 189.522 50.527 -0.438
10 #0 Ward Burton Chevrolet NetZero HiSpeed 189.406 50.558 -0.469
11 #24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont/Pepsi 189.395 50.561 -0.472
12 #38 Elliott Sadler Ford M&M’s 189.253 50.599 -0.510
13 #5 Terry Labonte Chevrolet Kellogg’s 189.230 50.605 -0.516
14 #29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet GM Goodwrench 189.182 50.618 -0.529
15 #43 Jeff Green Dodge Cheerios/Betty Crocker 189.103 50.639 -0.550
16 #41 Casey Mears Dodge Target 189.085 50.644 -0.555
17 #12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL 188.969 50.675 -0.586
18 #16 Greg Biffle Ford National Guard/Subway 188.913 50.690 -0.601
19 #18 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Wellbutrin XL 188.857 50.705 -0.616
20 #77 Brendan Gaughan* Dodge Kodak EasyShare 188.775 50.727 -0.638
21 #31 Robby Gordon Chevrolet Cingular Wireless 188.708 50.745 -0.656
22 #97 Kurt Busch Ford Sharpie/IRWIN Industrial Tools 188.675 50.754 -0.665
23 #4 Jimmy Spencer Chevrolet Morgan-McClure 188.641 50.763 -0.674
24 #32 Ricky Craven Chevrolet Tide 188.586 50.778 -0.689
25 #99 Jeff Burton Ford Roundup FastAct 188.574 50.781 -0.692
26 #9 Kasey Kahne* Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 188.545 50.789 -0.700
27 #100 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Aaron’s 188.515 50.797 -0.708
28 #45 Kyle Petty Dodge Georgia Pacific/Brawny 188.430 50.820 -0.731
29 #30 Johnny Sauter* Chevrolet America Online 188.300 50.855 -0.766
30 #22 Scott Wimmer* Dodge Caterpillar 188.285 50.859 -0.770
31 #17 Matt Kenseth Ford DeWalt Power Tools 188.270 50.863 -0.774
32 #2 Rusty Wallace Dodge Miller Lite 188.270 50.863 -0.774
33 #42 Jamie McMurray Dodge Texaco/Havoline 188.215 50.878 -0.789
34 #09 Johnny Benson Dodge Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts 188.148 50.896 -0.807
35 #04 Eric McClure Chevrolet 77sports.com/I CAN Learn 188.019 50.931 -0.842
36 #133 Kerry Earnhardt Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops 187.927 50.956 -0.867
37 #20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Home Depot 187.912 50.960 -0.871
38 #19 Jeremy Mayfield Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 187.838 50.980 -0.891

Provisional
39 #25 Brian Vickers* Chevrolet GMAC Financial Services 187.728 51.010 -0.921
40 #49 Ken Schrader Dodge Schwan’s Home Service 187.386 51.103 -1.014
41 #50 Derrike Cope Dodge Arnold Development Companies 187.042 51.197 -1.108
42 #23 Dave Blaney Dodge Bill Davis Racing 187.291 51.129 -1.040
43 #89 Morgan Shepherd Dodge Voyles/Carter’s Royal Dispos-all 183.055 52.312 -2.223

Did not Qualify
44 #14 Larry Foyt Dodge A.J. Foyt Racing 186.050 51.470 -1.381
45 #198 Todd Bodine Ford Lucas Oil Products 181.408 52.787 -2.698
46 #172 Kirk Shelmerdine Ford 2nd Chance Race Parts - - -