The 2014 Aarons Talladega weekend has come and gone and proven itself again a strong competitive endeavor. The weekend sees ten takeaways to digest -
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1 - Restrictor plate racing is still the best racing - The FOX Sports website did a poll on what NASCAR should have more of - superspeedways or short tracks. I can confidently say the popular view is short tracks even though the objective view is superspeedways, as demonstrated yet again here at Talladega. No short track can produce so high a level of competition up front as the plate tracks have produced. The irony is that this season so far has produced very good races at all three types of tracks - the two plate races were great, Fontana was very good, and Martinsville was eye-openingly competitive.
2 - A mediocre Talladega is still better than others, yet.... - The 2014 Winston 500 saw 48 lead changes, the most for this race since 2011, yet as terrific as the racing was, it can still be better. "It's so hard to pass..." re-entered the postrace conversation and it makes further nonsense of NASCAR's recent rules to kill push-drafting. It bears repeating how 2013's Talladega Truck 250 showed how tandem drafting has been evolving back toward conventional pack drafting but with that extra power to pass that will always be the strongest such ever seen in racing. It would not have hurt anyone if the Busch and Winston Cup races were able to see cars push-draft all the way around and thus move the top line forward faster and stronger - it also, for Junior fans, have allowed him to make a run for the win at the end; we will discuss that below......
3 - Brad Keselowski's fall from grace - It's been said numerous times that Joey Logano has usurped Brad Keselowski as Penske Racing's top dog; one wonders about that watching Keselowski race like Ernie Irvan in this race; laps down after a tap from Little Miss Danica left him (and several others) with damage, he nonetheless raced like hell and crowded the top ten until he lost it and took others with him - ironically including Joey Logano. Now Keselowski has been flashy but this strikes me as very odd.
4 - Chevrolet gets a comeuppance - Normally Chevrolets dominate Talladega; not this time, as Fords and Toyotas were the strongest of the lot pretty much all day. Denny Hamlin's win topped a top-four near-monopoly by Toyota and capped a weekend sweep by Joe Gibbs Racing after Elliott Sadler's Aarons 312 win Saturday.
5 - The rookie race spreads out more - Austin Dillon's rookie run from the Daytona 500 pole has been pretty much downhill from there, as Kyle Larson outclassed him again.
6 - There's been a Michael Waltrip sighting - MWR finished third and fourth and Brian Vickers had a legitimate shot at the win; it's the first time seemingly all season we've seen any muscle out of MWR, and even with a third place Clint Bowyer didn't look particularly impressive.
7 - Junior and Hendrick's curious fall - Kasey Kahne salvaged a top-ten for Hendrick Motorsports and that was pretty much all to have for that team, as Junior never looked up to challenging for anything - though he led 26 laps he lost the draft twice late in the race - and both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon crashed out. Though the Hendrick fleet has a combined twelve top-fives so far, the muscle of yore hasn't been there since Daytona.
And here, Junior's postrace comment to the effect that "the reward wasn't worth the risk" is flabbergasting. Trying to win is not worth it is an insult to competition in general and racing in particular, and signals there is something fundamentally wrong with Junior as a racer now.
8 - When Stewart-Haas's guys are good they run good - And when they're bad they don't. Simplistic a summary perhaps, yet watching Danica Patrick lead six laps and then finish 22nd with pretty much a whimper one cannot help but think this way. Kevin Harvick remains the organization's point car while the rest of the fleet limps in his wake - especially Smoke, who looked like he didn't even want to be there at Talladega.
9 - Break up the Underdogs! - Justin Allgaier finished 27th and his last-lap wreck ended the race under caution. Yet for a strong moment it appeared Allgaier might top David Ragan's spectacular win from last year as he stormed up the extreme high side for the lead. There was also a superb effort from AJ Allmendinger in Brad Daugherty's Chevrolet and a commendable if overlooked effort from Landon Cassill in Joe Falk's #40. Richard Petty's #43 of Aric Almirola looked like junk for most of the race yet drafted into the top fifteen - commendable yet like the race itself a frustrating reminder that it should be a lot better than that.
10 - It's time to get rid of Barney Hall - MRN, it's time to give up on Barney Hall. Yes, he's been a NASCAR icon forever, but it gets more and more embarrassing listening as he tries to recover a fastball that disappeared from him long ago.
And so the first Talladega weekend has wrapped and Kansas awaits. It's noteworthy that in 2013 Kansas saw racing strikingly similar to Talladega in the Trucks and Busch Series - one hopes they and the Cup cars get that kind of effect this time around.
Showing posts with label Aarons 499. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aarons 499. Show all posts
Sunday, May 04, 2014
Sunday, April 27, 2014
From Stafford To Iowa To Talladega
The Winston 500 weekend is now approaching and as NASCAR marches toward Talladega it sees several issues jostling about the sport during this past Richmond 400 weekend. The Richmond 400 as is common brought out some good racing and considerable ugliness, first between Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski after a late-race set-to amid Joey Logano's first career short track win, then between Marcos Ambrose and Casey Mears where they exchanged blows and Ambrose got cheap-shot in the garage area.
The Richmond 400 came following a story about possible scheduling gimmicks by NASCAR with Brad Keselowski still lobbying for a Winston Cup date at Iowa Speedway. NASCAR official Steve O'Donnell's comments have been interpreted in some circles as an endorsement of a Keselowski idea for a Winston Cup race at Iowa on a Wednesday night followed by the race at Kansas four days later. O'Donnell also talked about possibly scheduling a Truck Series race at Knoxville Speedway to go with the race at Eldora and also of a Busch Series All-Star race, ostensibly at Iowa.
That such talk is going on illustrates a lot of people aren't getting it. First, Iowa Speedway under no circumstances deserves a Winston Cup race. It's not a bad racetrack like Darlington or the road courses, but it's not that good, either. For all the hoopla about short track racing - and people will cite Richmond this past weekend as evidence - the Richmond 400 wasn't much until the late fireworks, and those fireworks were less about good racing than the serial stupidity of some drivers. It is noteworthy that Richmond saw fewer lead changes (20) than Martinsville (33).
The blunt truth is Winston Cup is a superspeedway league and people need to accept it as such; stop trying to make it something inferior.
As for the Busch Series and Trucks, what those series need is not an All Star Race or scheduling gimmicks - though the Trucks do ought to have second dates at Daytona, Pocono, Talladega, and Kansas, tracks where the series has put on genuinely good races. What those series need is for NASCAR to start using some of the multi-billion-dollar TV money and putting it into the purses. The dirty little secret of the Busch Series is only about a third of the field contests the entire schedule, the result both of Winston Cup driver involvement - which has bled the series dry and thus needs to be ended - and NASCAR's refusal to use some of the TV money for better purses.
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Also in need for NASCAR to start investing some real money is the Modified Tour, which showcased some genuinely good racing without the high-buck idiocy of Cup diva-dom via the 2014 Spring Sizzler at Stafford Spweedway, CT. The physicality of the racing was somewhat unusual, and a plethora of yellows helped make the fight for the lead in the first 61 laps a real fight. Bobby Santos won last year's Sizzler and this time clawed to the lead again, he held off Doug Coby's surge for the win.
What stood out for about 2/3rds of the race, especially with all the restarts, was that the bottom groove didn't work. It finally got going in the final third of the race. Between the SK Modified feature won by Ryan Preece - who never got going in the 200-lapper and fell out with a mysterious engine problem - the mini-stock feature, and the first 2/3rds of the Tour race, the high groove worked much better than the low, especially in Turn Two, and a lot of passing up front resulted. Then the track changed and the high groove became less effective - in part because Santos became noticeably more aggressive on late restarts on the bottom.
Once the terror of Northeast racing, Ted Christopher settled for sixth. His decline as a racer once again made his finish surprising in his Stafford debut with Robert Katon, Jr's car, painted in the colors reminiscent of the old Rod Osterlund #2 Winston Cup car.
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So with the dawning of May, the sport hits Talladega for the Aarons Dream Weekend - one that always leaves a lot of racers calling it the Aarons Creamed Weekend after their cars get creamed. Some quick takes before the weekend -
Cup is becoming a two-team showdown - Penske Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing have won the last four races and six of the last eight. Hendrick Motorsports as usual has been the other power contending with any consistency, but remains winless since Daytona, and their one winner has been spotty, though two top-seven finishes the last two weeks suggest Junior has a return of momentum going.
While Junior has some momentum going, Stewart-Haas didn't have a memorable Richmond, and even with Martinsville and Darlington wins the outfit has just five cumulative top-tens among four cars in the last four races - and had a decidedly mediocre Daytona 500. And while Tony Stewart himself has been largely MIA this year, the driver in clearest decline has been Danica Patrick, this after that puff piece earlier in the year claiming improvement in her performance.
The guy showing real improvement in performance has been Joey Logano, entering new territory having won more than once in a season for the first time - yet to be expected given he's clearly usurped Keselowski as Penske Racing's top dog.
Talladega may be a rare chance for someone else to steal a win - The track's history speaks for itself, so teams that haven't been able to keep up with Penske and Stewart-Haas had better jump out and steal this win given the rest of the year right now isn't offering much in the way of additional chances. JGR has shown muscle this year but it hasn't been as powerful as one would expect - though given the chaos of Toyota's program it's not surprising. Mismanagement by a manufacturer also leaves Ford pickings other than Penske slimmer and slimmer.
The wildcard as always is the draft, and unlike the exercise in frustration that was Daytona this time the Busch bash should be able to race for the lead with less encumbrance.
So we await the first shot in the fight for Talladega.
The Richmond 400 came following a story about possible scheduling gimmicks by NASCAR with Brad Keselowski still lobbying for a Winston Cup date at Iowa Speedway. NASCAR official Steve O'Donnell's comments have been interpreted in some circles as an endorsement of a Keselowski idea for a Winston Cup race at Iowa on a Wednesday night followed by the race at Kansas four days later. O'Donnell also talked about possibly scheduling a Truck Series race at Knoxville Speedway to go with the race at Eldora and also of a Busch Series All-Star race, ostensibly at Iowa.
That such talk is going on illustrates a lot of people aren't getting it. First, Iowa Speedway under no circumstances deserves a Winston Cup race. It's not a bad racetrack like Darlington or the road courses, but it's not that good, either. For all the hoopla about short track racing - and people will cite Richmond this past weekend as evidence - the Richmond 400 wasn't much until the late fireworks, and those fireworks were less about good racing than the serial stupidity of some drivers. It is noteworthy that Richmond saw fewer lead changes (20) than Martinsville (33).
The blunt truth is Winston Cup is a superspeedway league and people need to accept it as such; stop trying to make it something inferior.
As for the Busch Series and Trucks, what those series need is not an All Star Race or scheduling gimmicks - though the Trucks do ought to have second dates at Daytona, Pocono, Talladega, and Kansas, tracks where the series has put on genuinely good races. What those series need is for NASCAR to start using some of the multi-billion-dollar TV money and putting it into the purses. The dirty little secret of the Busch Series is only about a third of the field contests the entire schedule, the result both of Winston Cup driver involvement - which has bled the series dry and thus needs to be ended - and NASCAR's refusal to use some of the TV money for better purses.
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Also in need for NASCAR to start investing some real money is the Modified Tour, which showcased some genuinely good racing without the high-buck idiocy of Cup diva-dom via the 2014 Spring Sizzler at Stafford Spweedway, CT. The physicality of the racing was somewhat unusual, and a plethora of yellows helped make the fight for the lead in the first 61 laps a real fight. Bobby Santos won last year's Sizzler and this time clawed to the lead again, he held off Doug Coby's surge for the win.
What stood out for about 2/3rds of the race, especially with all the restarts, was that the bottom groove didn't work. It finally got going in the final third of the race. Between the SK Modified feature won by Ryan Preece - who never got going in the 200-lapper and fell out with a mysterious engine problem - the mini-stock feature, and the first 2/3rds of the Tour race, the high groove worked much better than the low, especially in Turn Two, and a lot of passing up front resulted. Then the track changed and the high groove became less effective - in part because Santos became noticeably more aggressive on late restarts on the bottom.
Once the terror of Northeast racing, Ted Christopher settled for sixth. His decline as a racer once again made his finish surprising in his Stafford debut with Robert Katon, Jr's car, painted in the colors reminiscent of the old Rod Osterlund #2 Winston Cup car.
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So with the dawning of May, the sport hits Talladega for the Aarons Dream Weekend - one that always leaves a lot of racers calling it the Aarons Creamed Weekend after their cars get creamed. Some quick takes before the weekend -
Cup is becoming a two-team showdown - Penske Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing have won the last four races and six of the last eight. Hendrick Motorsports as usual has been the other power contending with any consistency, but remains winless since Daytona, and their one winner has been spotty, though two top-seven finishes the last two weeks suggest Junior has a return of momentum going.
While Junior has some momentum going, Stewart-Haas didn't have a memorable Richmond, and even with Martinsville and Darlington wins the outfit has just five cumulative top-tens among four cars in the last four races - and had a decidedly mediocre Daytona 500. And while Tony Stewart himself has been largely MIA this year, the driver in clearest decline has been Danica Patrick, this after that puff piece earlier in the year claiming improvement in her performance.
The guy showing real improvement in performance has been Joey Logano, entering new territory having won more than once in a season for the first time - yet to be expected given he's clearly usurped Keselowski as Penske Racing's top dog.
Talladega may be a rare chance for someone else to steal a win - The track's history speaks for itself, so teams that haven't been able to keep up with Penske and Stewart-Haas had better jump out and steal this win given the rest of the year right now isn't offering much in the way of additional chances. JGR has shown muscle this year but it hasn't been as powerful as one would expect - though given the chaos of Toyota's program it's not surprising. Mismanagement by a manufacturer also leaves Ford pickings other than Penske slimmer and slimmer.
The wildcard as always is the draft, and unlike the exercise in frustration that was Daytona this time the Busch bash should be able to race for the lead with less encumbrance.
So we await the first shot in the fight for Talladega.
Monday, May 06, 2013
The Upside Down Status Of NASCAR After Talladega
Suddenly the sport - for now - doesn't look the same.
The Winston 500 was not the most competitive race (it had just 30 lead changes), yet it produced the most amazing finish racing has seen in years, this following an Alabama 500k that almost was the most competitive race in the history of NASCAR's second-tier stock car tour (47 lead changes, just short of the all-time record 56 set in 2011's 312-miler) and topped by a three-abreast finish almost more astonishing than in the 500.
Talladega's Aarons Upsets are just part of a striking change in the sport so far, seen in the varied winners and losers of the weekend.
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WINNERS -
Front Row Motorsports for the biggest upset and most amazing racing finish in years. The team is a small outfit even though it is fielding three cars. What kind of competitive boost comes from this win remains to be seen, but to have gotten this far this fast suggests they can build something going forward; indeed Ford should be working to shore up the depth of its fleet by helping Front Row be able to build its own engines.
David Ragan specifically is also the winner not only of the race, but also the winner in terms of erasing a negative view of his racing career, as he drove Roush Fenway Racing's #6 and managed just one win (the 2011 Firecracker 400); being axed from RFR carried the stigma of career failure, a stigma wiped out in the Talladega rain.
Regan Smith is another big winner, as he was in contention for the Winston 500 and nearly pulled off the Talladega sweep. Suddenly upward mobility in modern NASCAR may not be extinct after all.
Historically one wouldn't consider Richard Petty's #43 any kind of darkhorse, but given where The King's car owning career has gone the last decade-plus the comeback of the #43 in 2013, notably Aric Almirola's victory bid at Talladega, this on top of Marcus Ambrose's two Watkins Glen wins, counts as the surge of a darkhorse; it also gives Petty ammo if/when Dodge comes back to the sport.
Roush Fenway Racing is also the winner, as it has taken the mantle of restrictor plate mastery from RCR and Hendrick as well as Joe Gibbs Racing.
The other winner is NASCAR the sanctioning body, this despite another example of a race marred because the officiating tower has too much control of the racing - the Alabama 500k was marred because NASCAR ruled Regan Smith the winner based on a scoring loop with the yellow flying instead of by the cars racing to the stripe. Even with that and the disappointing level of competition for most of the Winston 500, the shocking finish on Sunday combined with the exhilarating level of competition Saturday more than made up for shortcomings. Sunday also showed real competitive potential with the Generation Six - there was noticeable push-drafting on Sunday and it's no longer implausible to see the Firecracker 400 breaking 40 lead changes and October's Diehard 500 going for 60, and other darkhorses suddenly stealing thunder for the sport.
NASCAR also deserves praise for finishing the two races despite the persistent rain, though the inevitable calls for lighting at Talladega should be ignored given night racing has not been the benefit to the sport often claimed.
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But with winners there are also losers. Richard Childress, winner at Richmond and once the dominator of Talladega, had a very rough weekend and little to be happy with by the end of Sunday. Joe Gibbs Racing was also a loser despite Matt Kenseth's 142 laps led - the most at Talladega since Jeff Gordon in 2005. Earnhardt/Ganassi Racing isn't making anyone ignore the rumored sale of the outfit to John Menard. Penske Racing had a disappointing weekend. And Trevor Bayne - the comparisons with Tim Tebow work more than he'd like, because like Tebow Bayne has been MIA since 2011.
But the biggest loser is Stewart-Haas Racing, in a race that illustrates that Danica Patrick is doing again what she did in Indycars - dragging down the organization for which she races. SHR has struggled as an organization with Ryan Newman leading the way with four top ten finishes but a paltry 17th in points. Little Miss Danica is 27th in points and the surge from Daytona Speedweeks has gone the way of expectations after the 2005 Indianapolis 500. But the biggest surprise is Tony Stewart himself, with one top-ten finish.
That Newman is right now SHR's top dog is surprising given how much he has slid competitively even with three wins 2010-12 and amid the rumor he is on the way out to be replaced by Kevin Harvick in 2014. Newman's semi-petulant tantrum after the backstretch melee merely underscores that there is something wrong with how he races to be constantly involved in these crashes.
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And so we approach Darlington, site of Regan Smith's first official Cup win. In the upside down world of 2013 NASCAR, he may be the favorite.
The Winston 500 was not the most competitive race (it had just 30 lead changes), yet it produced the most amazing finish racing has seen in years, this following an Alabama 500k that almost was the most competitive race in the history of NASCAR's second-tier stock car tour (47 lead changes, just short of the all-time record 56 set in 2011's 312-miler) and topped by a three-abreast finish almost more astonishing than in the 500.
Talladega's Aarons Upsets are just part of a striking change in the sport so far, seen in the varied winners and losers of the weekend.
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WINNERS -
Front Row Motorsports for the biggest upset and most amazing racing finish in years. The team is a small outfit even though it is fielding three cars. What kind of competitive boost comes from this win remains to be seen, but to have gotten this far this fast suggests they can build something going forward; indeed Ford should be working to shore up the depth of its fleet by helping Front Row be able to build its own engines.
David Ragan specifically is also the winner not only of the race, but also the winner in terms of erasing a negative view of his racing career, as he drove Roush Fenway Racing's #6 and managed just one win (the 2011 Firecracker 400); being axed from RFR carried the stigma of career failure, a stigma wiped out in the Talladega rain.
Regan Smith is another big winner, as he was in contention for the Winston 500 and nearly pulled off the Talladega sweep. Suddenly upward mobility in modern NASCAR may not be extinct after all.
Historically one wouldn't consider Richard Petty's #43 any kind of darkhorse, but given where The King's car owning career has gone the last decade-plus the comeback of the #43 in 2013, notably Aric Almirola's victory bid at Talladega, this on top of Marcus Ambrose's two Watkins Glen wins, counts as the surge of a darkhorse; it also gives Petty ammo if/when Dodge comes back to the sport.
Roush Fenway Racing is also the winner, as it has taken the mantle of restrictor plate mastery from RCR and Hendrick as well as Joe Gibbs Racing.
The other winner is NASCAR the sanctioning body, this despite another example of a race marred because the officiating tower has too much control of the racing - the Alabama 500k was marred because NASCAR ruled Regan Smith the winner based on a scoring loop with the yellow flying instead of by the cars racing to the stripe. Even with that and the disappointing level of competition for most of the Winston 500, the shocking finish on Sunday combined with the exhilarating level of competition Saturday more than made up for shortcomings. Sunday also showed real competitive potential with the Generation Six - there was noticeable push-drafting on Sunday and it's no longer implausible to see the Firecracker 400 breaking 40 lead changes and October's Diehard 500 going for 60, and other darkhorses suddenly stealing thunder for the sport.
NASCAR also deserves praise for finishing the two races despite the persistent rain, though the inevitable calls for lighting at Talladega should be ignored given night racing has not been the benefit to the sport often claimed.
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But with winners there are also losers. Richard Childress, winner at Richmond and once the dominator of Talladega, had a very rough weekend and little to be happy with by the end of Sunday. Joe Gibbs Racing was also a loser despite Matt Kenseth's 142 laps led - the most at Talladega since Jeff Gordon in 2005. Earnhardt/Ganassi Racing isn't making anyone ignore the rumored sale of the outfit to John Menard. Penske Racing had a disappointing weekend. And Trevor Bayne - the comparisons with Tim Tebow work more than he'd like, because like Tebow Bayne has been MIA since 2011.
But the biggest loser is Stewart-Haas Racing, in a race that illustrates that Danica Patrick is doing again what she did in Indycars - dragging down the organization for which she races. SHR has struggled as an organization with Ryan Newman leading the way with four top ten finishes but a paltry 17th in points. Little Miss Danica is 27th in points and the surge from Daytona Speedweeks has gone the way of expectations after the 2005 Indianapolis 500. But the biggest surprise is Tony Stewart himself, with one top-ten finish.
That Newman is right now SHR's top dog is surprising given how much he has slid competitively even with three wins 2010-12 and amid the rumor he is on the way out to be replaced by Kevin Harvick in 2014. Newman's semi-petulant tantrum after the backstretch melee merely underscores that there is something wrong with how he races to be constantly involved in these crashes.
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And so we approach Darlington, site of Regan Smith's first official Cup win. In the upside down world of 2013 NASCAR, he may be the favorite.
Sunday, May 05, 2013
Talladega Sees A Ragan Revolution
We've seen it all before.
Yet when it happens again, it feels like we'd never seen anything like it before.
This is what we get when racing produces a darkhorse winner even at a speedway whose history is filled with them.
There were of course numerous candidates for darkhorse winner, even after one of them flipped over down the backstretch. Kurt Busch's tumble set up a green-white-checker finish and then saw what seemed impossible - the Saturday Alabama 500k produced a finish seemingly impossible to top - yet the Winston 500 actually topped Saturday's three-wide photo finish, and reintroduced the sport not only to David Ragan - the winner in the 2009 500k - but reintroduced the sport to the Talladega jinx.
Of all the tracks in racing, one cannot think of any other that has seen as many darkhorse winners as Talladega. From the 1969 opening marred by a mass driver park-out over speeds too high for available tires to handle, Talladega has been the stage for the darkhorse. Richard Brickhouse was the first. James Hylton in 1972 after a new Goodyear compound literally blew up in Goodyear's face was the second, going with year-old tires and rocketing from 22nd to domination. Dick Brooks 40 years ago this season was the next one, whipping a year-old Plymouth from 24th to a wild upset win.
Dave Marcis outlasted another ferocious 500 in 1976 for his lone Talladega win. Lennie Pond in 1978 then whipped to his only win. The most famous upset of all remains Ron Bouchard in 1981 in a finish that always comes to mind when there is a three-wide photo finish, be it Regan Smith's win in Saturday's 312-miler or Tim Richmond's 1986 Pocono win or Sam Hornish's 2003 Chicago Indy 300 win.
After Bobby Hillin Jr., Davey Allison, and Ken Schrader in Richmond's #25 won Talladega, the darkhorse era at Talladega appeared to end in the 1990s as only Greg Sacks in the 1996 Alabama 500k pulled off an upset for the track in that decade. The darkhorse era then started creeping back in 2006 with Brian Vickers; Regan Smith's stolen 2008 win pushed the darkhorse era closer to the fore, but it was 2009 that truly brought it back between Brad Keselowski's slugfest with Carl Edwards and then Jamie McMurray's surprise win that autumn.
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This spectacular win has also reintroduced the sport to new team owners getting the win. Front Row Motorsports began with Jimmy Means and restaurant chain owner Bob Jenkins (not the Bob Jenkins of ESPN fame). Being small has of course been a strike against them, and with the win, being small is also an illustration of how much opportunity Talladega Superspeedway opens up for racers.
The Jenkins team was not the only darkhorse outfit strutting its stuff in this race, as James Finch's team with Regan Smith (who had a legitimate shot at the end for the Talladega sweep) as well as the Baldwin Racing #36 were also in contention with the #30 of David Stremme. No one will ever confuse the #43 for a darkhorse but Richard Petty's mount damn near pulled off the win as well. No one will ever confuse Jeff Gordon's #24 for a darkhorse either, yet after two wrecks Gordon finished 11th anyway.
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Given how much positivity the 2013 Winston 500 produced, it seems inappropriate to pick nits, yet one should point out this race was not quite the ringing endorsement of the Generation Six racecar the spectacle of the final laps showcased. The racing at the end was spectacular, and one wishes the combat up front had been at something close to that level for the event's duration as was the case in the 312-miler the day before - after seeing 47 lead changes on Saturday, the 30 produced Sunday ought to have been twice that number.
The other nit to pick is Ryan Newman, who continues to be an insufferable baby; one should be concerned that Kurt Busch flipped onto his racecar, but to blame it on NASCAR is another case of Newman going too far. Newman is 100% wrong; restarting the race was the right call; he should be angry at whoever spun out whomever to detonate the crash; Newman should also reexamine his own racing competence given how far he's slid down the racing totem pole.
The upshot is that pointing out the nits to pick only illustrates that the Gen-6 actually is making progress toward living up to the hype. There was some serious push-drafting at the end and that's a manifestly good sign for the sport, for that opens up passing - and the sport needs all the passing there is to have.
So the Aarons Talladega weekend after two drawn-out races can only be considered a smashing success, which produces yet one more illustration - The Thrill Isn't Gone after all.
Yet when it happens again, it feels like we'd never seen anything like it before.
This is what we get when racing produces a darkhorse winner even at a speedway whose history is filled with them.
There were of course numerous candidates for darkhorse winner, even after one of them flipped over down the backstretch. Kurt Busch's tumble set up a green-white-checker finish and then saw what seemed impossible - the Saturday Alabama 500k produced a finish seemingly impossible to top - yet the Winston 500 actually topped Saturday's three-wide photo finish, and reintroduced the sport not only to David Ragan - the winner in the 2009 500k - but reintroduced the sport to the Talladega jinx.
Of all the tracks in racing, one cannot think of any other that has seen as many darkhorse winners as Talladega. From the 1969 opening marred by a mass driver park-out over speeds too high for available tires to handle, Talladega has been the stage for the darkhorse. Richard Brickhouse was the first. James Hylton in 1972 after a new Goodyear compound literally blew up in Goodyear's face was the second, going with year-old tires and rocketing from 22nd to domination. Dick Brooks 40 years ago this season was the next one, whipping a year-old Plymouth from 24th to a wild upset win.
Dave Marcis outlasted another ferocious 500 in 1976 for his lone Talladega win. Lennie Pond in 1978 then whipped to his only win. The most famous upset of all remains Ron Bouchard in 1981 in a finish that always comes to mind when there is a three-wide photo finish, be it Regan Smith's win in Saturday's 312-miler or Tim Richmond's 1986 Pocono win or Sam Hornish's 2003 Chicago Indy 300 win.
After Bobby Hillin Jr., Davey Allison, and Ken Schrader in Richmond's #25 won Talladega, the darkhorse era at Talladega appeared to end in the 1990s as only Greg Sacks in the 1996 Alabama 500k pulled off an upset for the track in that decade. The darkhorse era then started creeping back in 2006 with Brian Vickers; Regan Smith's stolen 2008 win pushed the darkhorse era closer to the fore, but it was 2009 that truly brought it back between Brad Keselowski's slugfest with Carl Edwards and then Jamie McMurray's surprise win that autumn.
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This spectacular win has also reintroduced the sport to new team owners getting the win. Front Row Motorsports began with Jimmy Means and restaurant chain owner Bob Jenkins (not the Bob Jenkins of ESPN fame). Being small has of course been a strike against them, and with the win, being small is also an illustration of how much opportunity Talladega Superspeedway opens up for racers.
The Jenkins team was not the only darkhorse outfit strutting its stuff in this race, as James Finch's team with Regan Smith (who had a legitimate shot at the end for the Talladega sweep) as well as the Baldwin Racing #36 were also in contention with the #30 of David Stremme. No one will ever confuse the #43 for a darkhorse but Richard Petty's mount damn near pulled off the win as well. No one will ever confuse Jeff Gordon's #24 for a darkhorse either, yet after two wrecks Gordon finished 11th anyway.
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Given how much positivity the 2013 Winston 500 produced, it seems inappropriate to pick nits, yet one should point out this race was not quite the ringing endorsement of the Generation Six racecar the spectacle of the final laps showcased. The racing at the end was spectacular, and one wishes the combat up front had been at something close to that level for the event's duration as was the case in the 312-miler the day before - after seeing 47 lead changes on Saturday, the 30 produced Sunday ought to have been twice that number.
The other nit to pick is Ryan Newman, who continues to be an insufferable baby; one should be concerned that Kurt Busch flipped onto his racecar, but to blame it on NASCAR is another case of Newman going too far. Newman is 100% wrong; restarting the race was the right call; he should be angry at whoever spun out whomever to detonate the crash; Newman should also reexamine his own racing competence given how far he's slid down the racing totem pole.
The upshot is that pointing out the nits to pick only illustrates that the Gen-6 actually is making progress toward living up to the hype. There was some serious push-drafting at the end and that's a manifestly good sign for the sport, for that opens up passing - and the sport needs all the passing there is to have.
So the Aarons Talladega weekend after two drawn-out races can only be considered a smashing success, which produces yet one more illustration - The Thrill Isn't Gone after all.
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