A note to all the last-minute guys......

The next two races after Talladega are Saturday night races!!!!

There, just wanted to make sure everyone's aware and makes their picks before the race

 

A lot of guys must have been feelign confident after 1st practice, as only 8 cars went out in 2nd practice... of those, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon were the fastest pair. They ran a lap of 190 something.... 3rd place was 175, the rest were in the 150's... only 8 cars in 2nd practice

 

Hi Mr MCF NASCAR Historian `Duane,

I sure hope the bad weather does not affect the race 2morrow.
Bad storms & Tornado's have been in the area of the track
I will post my picks, or guesses ~> tomorrow.
I hope the Bum's & I can watch 4-Sure. Thanks Duane for all your updates/time/expertise.

Brain power Do they have brain Power..or HorsePower

A split-second decision may decide Sunday's race winner, but the driver who ends up in Victory Lane probably spent countless hours mulling over all of the permutations involved.

 

Just checked the weather report for Talladega.
<TABLE class=obcontainer cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>Weather for Talladega, AL



<TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%"><TABLE style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 4px" cellSpacing=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap; FONT-SIZE: 140%; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; FONT-WEIGHT: bold" rowSpan=2>57°F | °C<TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=center>Sat<TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=center>Sun<TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=center><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=center><TR><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" rowSpan=3><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" rowSpan=3><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" rowSpan=3><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" rowSpan=3><TR><TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 12px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">Current: Sunny<TR><TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 12px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">Wind: SW at 16 mph<TR><TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 12px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">Humidity: 49%<TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap; PADDING-TOP: 0px">70°F | 41°F<TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; WHITE-SPACE: nowrap; PADDING-TOP: 0px">77°F | 47°F</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

So i don't forget this week. Kevin Harvick, Dale Jr and Jimmy Johnson.

 

Qualifying is a Hendricks freight train!!!

And I'm ready - heart and head:

2. Mark Martin
3. Jimmie Johnson

I pick the plugs later

 

Man, everyone was talking about all that Ford power.... Hendrick showed them what it is all about. Top 4... wow.... that's crazy if you ask me! It seems like with these restricter plate tracks... we've seen a big extreme from qualifying to race, so hopefully that means that the Hendrick cars have a good set up as well for teh race.. hope they don't fall to the back. That was an amazing sweep by Hendrick though.... unheard of it seems in modern NASCAR. Makes me wonder if they have a little something they shouldn't going on....

 

How about have the 4 most successful and celebrated drivers of the modern era, if not of all time? Surprisingly, Pony and Newman (satellite Hendricks cars) didn't fair too well, inspite being fastest in practice

 

They do have 4 great drivers... and if I could have my choice of 4 drivers to put in my own 4 cars, I wouldn't mind having that set up... but to set the top 4 at Talladega is a long stretch for any team, I don't care who your drivers are.

Hendrick has been good this year... but not great.. of course, restricter plates are a whole new game and Hendrick always has good stuff at these tracks, just needs the luck.

And any team that pulled off this feat has my suspicion.... I don't care if its Roush, Gibbs, and especially if its Childress (BOWYER!!!!). Although I will say this... last year when the Charlotte fall race was going on, the 3rd floor RA had his Uncle, who is a NASCAR official, came by to talk with us about life and his roll with NASCAR, and when someone tried to ask why they let Jimmie get away with cheating (which brought a good laugh), the guy actually told us that any given car has 3-4 things wrong with it... and sometimes you let this stuff go, sometimes you have to draw a line. He claims Hendrick's cars, especially the 24 and 48, are some of the most legal cars week in and week out.

 

Seems to me the teams caught cheat the most, as a team, are the Toyota guys at Gibbs and Micheal Waltrip Racing. Its true the Jimmie/ Knaus have been caught - I don't know why anyone would say they let them get away with it. But MWR and JGR have been caught, and its not usually one - its the whole team they catch. I think Hendricks does well because it is the oldest and most experienced team, aside from Childress. Childress would do better, but they have Menard to drag 'em down (history dictates this team, and I know Duane agrees).

Junior and Gordon - the 2 winningest active drivers here. Martin is the most experienced active driver here. Jimmie Johnson is probably cheating tho!