Turn 4 Transitions

Thursday, October 22, 2009

By Natalie Anthony

 

 

 

AMP Energy 500

November 1, 2009 (Sunday) 1:00 pm – ABC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             It has been debated this season by many a NASCAR fan, driver, media personality, and track owner whether to gauge Martinsville Speedway (MS) or Talladega Superspeedway as the wildcard of the chase race.  Well, can’t we have more than one wild card?  Last Sunday at MS, did not prove to stir up the chase pot too much.  Seven chase drivers ended up in the Top Ten and the other five finished the race and avoided a dreaded DNF.  But, if you look at the results from the last two races at Talladega Superspeedway (TS) you will notice a lot of drivers that you don’t normally see in the Top Ten.  For instance, Brad Keselowski actually won the spring race at TS back in April.  Now, you can’t deny that Talladega is more a wild card track than Martinsville will ever be when a rookie beats Dale Earnhardt Jr. at a restrictor plate track. 

 

After last Sunday’s race, the points chase has honestly left NASCAR with only four drivers who have a chance to be this season NASCAR Sprint Cup champion and the driver who is fourth in the standings (Tony Stewart) is slowing being pushed out of contention.  Denny Hamlin got a nice and expected win, which inevitably did nothing to put him back in the fight for the Cup but did take Jimmie Johnson out of Victory lane for a weekend.  Jimmie Johnson remains in the lead in the chase points with his runner up finish at MS, but since we are agreeing that TS is the true wild card track in the chase, I don’t know how most of the chase contenders will fair this weekend.  Given the points lead (118) that JJ has over second place point’s chaser Mark Martin, I think that the #48 will still remain as the leader, but the point’s gap will certainly shrink if Jimmie has a bad race day or is caught up in a wreck.  And I am kind of hoping for a little bit of bad luck for Jimmie since I predicted that Jeff Gordon was going to win the championship this season and Jeff is still 150 points out of the lead.  But that also means the #24 has to have really good luck.  Shining the spot light on a non-chase driver who seems to get through the 500 laps at Talladega a little better than most and who has had two Top Ten’s his last two races at TS is Jeff Burton.  Jeff is winless at Talladega, but sometimes at this superspeedway it is better to finish the race a couple cars behind the leader than to be in the middle of the mayhem when drivers are beating and banging for every position up front.

Happy Halloween!

 

                                                                        

 

Track Stats

 

 

AMP Energy 500

(October 5, 2008)       

Top 10 Results  

1.  Tony Stewart

2.  Paul Menard

3.  David Ragan

4.  Jeff Burton

5.  Clint Bowyer

6.  Bobby Labonte

7.  Scott Riggs

8.  Robby Gordon

9.  Jimmie Johnson

10.Elliott Sadler

 

Aaron’s 499

(April 26, 2009)          

Top 10 Results  

1.  Brad Keselowski

2.  Dale Earnhardt Jr.

3.  Ryan Newman

4.  Marcos Ambrose

5.  Scott Speed

6.  Kurt Busch

7.  Greg Biffle

8.  Brian Vickers

9.  Joey Logano

10.Jeff Burton

 

 

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