Nascar and Racing Talladega

What: Aaron's 499
Where: Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, Ala.
When: Sunday April 27th 2:00pm/ET FOX
Distance: 188 laps, 500.08 miles (The 499 mile mark is somewhere on the backstretch on lap 188)
Weather: Showers and thunderstorms likely after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 76. South wind between 5 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
2007 Winner: Jeff Gordon
Predictions: Keep Reading





"Boo" That Man! "Boooooo!" - Excuse my cheesy high school basketball anti-referee chant, but it surely rings true after the tremendous mistake made by Nationwide Series driver Kevin Lepage in Saturday's Aaron's 312 Nationwide Race.

Whether it was the threat of rain, Dario Franchitti's grinding wreck, or Kevin Lepage's horrendous move, Saturday's Nationwide Series Aaron's 312 was a fun ride all the way to Tony Stewart crossing under the checkers for his first time at Talladega Superspeedway.

Stewart, who led a race-high 80 laps from the pole, has never won at Talladega in either the Nationwide or Sprint Cup prior to Saturday's race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. mounted a terrific challenge from second-place off of turn 2 on the last lap after hanging off of Stewart's bumper to get a run on the No. 20. Junior's No. 5 entry pulled alongside Stewart's Toyota on the backstretch, but the help Earnhardt Jr. had behind disappeared and Stewart pulled back in front.

Preface: The hardest part of this post was coming up with headline. Everything from "Kevin Lepage's $4 Million Mistake" to "Kevin Lepage Proves Worthlessness" to "Kevin Lepage Nominates Himself for Darwin Award" were all considered. Got an idea? Leave a comment.

As the headline stated, Kevin Lepage made a mistake that most normal human beings don't make when they travel down the highway everyday in Saturday's Nationwide Series event at Talladega Superspeedway.

Also unlike most human beings, Lepage's crash took out no less than 16 race cars from the lead pack. Most amazingly, though, Lepage failed to take any responsibility for the wreck.

The melee began when Lepage had to pit for a loose wheel. Upon coming off pit lane, Lepage's spotter told him that the field was coming out of the tri-oval and that he should stay low. Low for Lepage must have meant right in front of the entire pack as it barreled into the corner at full speed with Lepage still well off pace.

UPDATE: Team owner Chip Ganassi said that Franchitti is currently undergoing X-rays on his ankle. Larry Gunselman was also later transported to the hospital.

Original: Sprint Cup Series driver and 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti was helped to a waiting ambulance after being involved in a drivers-side impact Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway during the Aaron's 312 Nationwide Race.

The impact occurred after Franchitti cut down a rear tire on his No. 40 Chip Ganassi Dodge entering turn 3 on lap 10. Franchitti's Dodge snapped sideways and brushed the nose into the side of Nationwide point leader Clint Bowyer.

The No. 40 then slid down the track -- nearly to a stop -- when Larry Gunselman plowed into his left side.

From video replays, I can't understand how Gunselman didn't slow down any more than he did. There was no tire smoke and no last second attempt to swerve out of the way.

Had Gunselman missed Franchitti, Dario's car likely could have continued in the race. Instead, he hobbled to the ambulance in obvious pain.

Don't be looking for Sprint Cup qualifying results Friday afternoon from Talladega Superspeedway in preparation for Sunday's Aaron's 499.

Instead, NASCAR will continue a format it started 2 years ago at the 2.5-mile restrictor plate track by qualifying for Sunday's race on Saturday morning.

Friday, Sprint Cup teams will hit the track for the first time at 2:30pm/ET for an hour long practice session. Final practice will then get underway at 4:05pm/ET and run until 4:55pm/ET.

Saturday morning, qualifying will roll off at 11:15am/ET with each driver taking two laps around the tri-oval. Once a car has completed the run, it will then move to impound where teams will have virtually no chance to make any significant changes to the car.

The process will also be used to the Nationwide Series as they will qualify Friday afternoon following Sprint Cup final practice.

NASCAR moved to adopt this weekend strategy a few years back for a number of tracks, but soon changed back to the traditional practice-qualify-final practice schedule for many events. Restrictor plate tracks have generally kept the schedule -- except for the Daytona 500's long, drawn-out process -- because the way teams qualify is no where near the way they'll race.

All in all, its a cost-saving measure, and makes qualifying interesting to see which teams may push their cars a little over the edge in qualifying to be guaranteed a spot in the race, though it may cause problems during the 500 mile race.

Rain could play some factor in the weekend activities as thunderstorms have a 70 percent chance on Saturday and a 60% chance on Sunday.

It's been quite a year for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, and with that comes a nice collection of crash clips splashed across the ends of the internet.

NASCAR rolled out the Car of Tomorrow for part-time use in 2007 in anticipation of full-time use in 2008 with safety as a top priority. That was indeed a good idea because even though the now-defunct body style was a mostly safe model and the tracks keep adding SAFER barriers, one thing is still the same.

The drivers are still crashing, and crashing hard.

From the last-lap pile-up during the season-opening Daytona 500 to the Chase-changing crash at Dover in the fall, here's a look back at the biggest hits from the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Season.

Enjoy.

Click on the video to watch full size.

Dover Fall Race Kurt Busch Starts a Mess

Daytona 500 Finish Harvick Wins, Bowyer Flips

Click for more NASCAR crashes after the jump.

For as much hype and nervousness as there was surrounding Jacques Villeneuve's debut in Nextel Cup, he was hardly noticeable on the track during the race--and at Talladega yesterday, that was a good thing.

Villeneuve's goals for his debut were to stay out of trouble ... Check. And not make enemies ... Check.

Not only did Villeneuve not make enemies, he made one move that might have even gained him some respect: moving to the back of the field for the start after qualifying 6th.

"It was the logical thing to do. Our car was set up for qualifying and we didn't know how it was going to handle. Starting from the front or the back doesn't really change anything. I had more to learn from the back, anyway. Also, it was to show respect to all the guys fighting for the 'Chase.' I was thankful for them allowing me to race here, which is really special to me. It was just a way of saying 'thank you.'"

The experienced open wheel driver got some good practice time working with his crew and came off with a respectable 21st place finish, proving he can handle a 3 ton hunk of junk as good as most of 'em. Well done, sir.

Jeff Gordon's pass for the win? Exciting.

Two and Three-wide racing? We saw it.

Drivers facing trepidation and twittling thumbs for about 180 of the 188 laps ran during Sunday's UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway? That just wasn't cool.

The NASCAR Nextel Cup series put on a decent show Sunday, but decent doesn't fill seats. The Car of Tomorrow big track debut wasn't horrendous, but it wasn't magical either.

For much too long Sunday, it was obvious drivers were scared to be aggressive or dice for the lead. Single-file packs and drivers purposely staying at the back of the pack to avoid trouble just doesn't cut it at this level.

Jeff Gordon managed to pull off the race win by sailing through the draft after a restart with eight laps to go but for a large majority of Sunday's race, Gordon rode around at times five to seven seconds behind the leader with teammate Jimmie Johnson and other Chase contenders.

That's not racing. That's riding.

Jeff Gordon's 80th victory didn't look like it would happen Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway with 30 laps to go. It didn't even seem possible with 10 laps to go.

But a few aggressive moves and a bunch of luck later, Gordon found himself leading just one lap in the UAW-Ford 500. That lap, though, was the only one that mattered.

After a dismal qualifying run on Saturday due to the team focusing on setting up the car for race trim, Gordon began the day in 34th and would fall back to as low as 39th at some points. The move to the back was intentional, as he was joined by teammates Jimmie Johnson and Casey Mears for much of the day and a handful of other drivers competing in the Chase for the Nextel Cup – all of them hoping to avoid the notorious Talladega "Big One".

That, and a penalty for running over an air hose, kept the four-time champion out of the largest pile-up of the day that involved ten cars including Chase contenders Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch with 44 laps to go.

Holy crap! Michael Waltrip, meet Pole.

Waltrip's fourth career pole was his first of the season. It's the second Bud Pole Award of the season for Toyota, which has five of its cars starting in the top 10 in tomorrow's UAW-Ford 500. All five were go or go home cars. All five do not typically run out front of the field. Five more things to weigh on the minds of the Chase drivers, not one of whom qualified in the top 10.

Talladega's top-qualifying rookie, David Reutimann, secured a career best spot in fifth and his Michael Waltrip Racing teammate Dale Jarrett qualified 8th but will start 43rd because of some rule that I forget. This is the third consecutive week all three MWR drivers made the show.

The team's season is finishing much better than it started. Reutimann is close to re-signing and Jarrett says he knows his fate, the rest of us will find out on Thursday. Hmmm ... Broadcasting?

Dave Blaney and Brian Vickers start 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

A.J. Allmendinger qualified his Toyota in the ninth overall position, but the top 10 finish wasn't good enough to make the race. Could he have worse luck?

It's pretty messed up that a full-time team qualified in the top 10 but won't get to race. Especially when a team that hasn't run all year gets to race--and with a first-time driver no less. But Jacques Villeneuve qualified his Toyota 6th! Since NASCAR has allowed him to qualify, it's hard to argue now why he shouldn't he be allowed to race, too.

UAW-Ford 500 Lineup

Does the Top 35 Rule Need Tweaking?
What if all cars have to qualify straight-up on time with no guarantee every week? If applied this week, it would mean that championship contenders Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick would not be in the field. I don't think that's the answer, but I certainly wouldn't argue with a guarantee for the top 10 qualifiers and the top 25 in owner points. In a 43-car field, with sometimes over 50 teams attempting to qualify, 35 is too many guaranteed spots on points alone--many of which are reserved for mediocre teams. Some regard needs to be given to the cars with the fastest speeds.