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Surprise…Surprise…Surprise at Talladega

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

April 28, 2008 7:18 am CDT 6 Comments

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The Aaron’s 499 at Talladega SuperSpeedway was full of surprises.

Untitled Post“Front Row Joe” Nemechek took the pole as one of the drivers who had to qualify on time to make the race. Nemechek gave the Furniture Row team its first pole position.

Racing action through out the restrictor plate race was hotly contested all race long. Fifty-two lead changes among twenty drivers gave the fans their money’s worth.

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Fed\Ex Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, ran up front most of the day along with eventual race winner Kyle “Rowdy” Busch. Busch had never shown much, in any of his previous starts at the 2.66 mile tri-oval, while part of Hendrick Motorsports. Hamlin had this to say about the quality of racing:

“If the fans didn’t like that, then they don’t like racing. The whole race was crazy. We were having a lot of fun out there, trying to give the fans a good show.”

The one disappointment came in the last lap as much of the field was crashing behind the leaders, NASCAR threw the yellow flag after the white had been shown; thus eliminating any suspense for what would have assuredly been a great finish.

That leads us to this weeks BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

With the last lap wreck behind the leaders, why didn’t NASCAR allow the race to continue under green, to get a winner, like it did in 2007 at Daytona?

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Denny Hamlin, Joe Nemechek, Kyle Busch, Sprint Cup Series 

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Comments

6 Responses to “Surprise…Surprise…Surprise at Talladega”

  1. RevJim on April 29th, 2008 4:21 am

    I will attempt to answer that question. At Daytona last year, the wreck happened after the white flag, but behind the leaders. At this year’s Aaron’s 419, the leaders had already taken the white flag, but the wreck happened among cars who had not started the final lap yet, and therefore were in front of the leaders, between the leaders and the finish line. That’s the way I saw it anyway, but I might be wrong.
    I still think it ruined what could have been a great finish.

  2. User Avatar Bram on April 30th, 2008 7:30 am

    I have to agree Rev. If there ever was a case for the G/W/C , Sunday was it, But we got what we got. And KB got another notch in the belt.

    Even though he was in the position and had been fighting the good fight for a good sum of the day, it still would’e been good to see what would’ve happened on the restart. We all know that front starting spot is a ’sitting duck’ sceanrio.

    Denny in so much as said he would have pushed Montoya by Busch to improve his chances.

    That would’ve made for some interesting post-race comments had it happened.

    Sometimes its better to be lucky, what say? Its about having the chips fall in your lap (pardon the pun)

  3. User Avatar Steve Wronkowicz on April 30th, 2008 9:34 am

    NASCAR’s lack of consistancy is what drives me to the brink. The last lap of this race at ‘dega seems to have been a carbon copy of the season opener of ‘07. But, the rulings were totally different. At Daytona, NASCAR let ‘em race to the finish while a car were up-side-down and on fire. This last week the caution was thrown while there cars wrecking–but much less spectacularly. I just don’t get it.

    Hopefully we will have someone from NASCAR on the show next week (5-06-08) to help “’splain it to me.”

  4. User Avatar Charlie Turner on April 30th, 2008 10:38 am

    Maybe the inconsistency that bothers everybody is because of different interpretations of the rules, by different officials at different tracks. I don’t know. But it does make for blogger heaven.

  5. Default NASCAR Guest Avatar okla21fan on April 30th, 2008 1:18 pm

    There are a few glaring differences from the ‘07 opener and last Sunday’s race

    1) race venue and where each place the Start/finish lines
    2) locations of where the wrecks started and where the wrecked cars came to a stop.

    The S/F line at Dega is located near turn 1, and the wrecked cars (some still in the racing groove) came to rest in turn two. Now had Nascar NOT thrown the yellow last Sunday and allowed cars to race back to the S/F line, there would not have been enough room to safely stop those undamaged cars.

    Remember when all the debris was thrown onto the track a few years ago when the 24 car was declared the winner after a white flag lap caution? I think the same premise applied yesterday as it did then. Fans may not like it, but Nascar has been pretty consistant on this.

    like pass interference in football, not two are exactly the same.

  6. Tight in Turn Two: Going Forward | Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie on October 10th, 2008 10:13 am

    [...] Mike Helton has added to the lexicon of the sport. Along with “restrictor plate”, “car of tomorrow”, “racing deal” and “Junior”, I propose the [...]

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