Tony tames Talladega

By Mike Smith (contact)

Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008 | 10:08 p.m.

Tony Stewart ended his 43-race winless streak and got his first Talladega Sprint Cup victory after battling with Regan Smith for the win. NASCAR denied Smith, who crossed the finish line first, the win because he drove below the yellow line to advance his position on the last lap. While there are legitimate reasons for the yellow-line rule, it should be thrown out the window on the last lap. Let the first car that crosses the finish line be the winner.

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I found myself reaching for the blood pressure medication as the wreck-filled, tire-popping race progressed. Imagine the anxiety level of the spotters. You can usually count on one “Big One” when NASCAR comes to this track, but this race had two. An impatient Carl Edwards, who was bump drafting Greg Biffle in a turn, initiated the last and worst of the two wrecks. 12 cars were involved including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. Why Carl would do this, especially after the drivers had been warned in the drivers’ meeting not to bump draft in the turns, is a mystery. Maybe the COT’s equal bumper heights make the drivers feel too confident about their bump drafting abilities. Dale Earnhardt alluded to this after he was caught up in Carl’s mayhem by suggesting that bump drafting is an art form that few can perform correctly. Watching this carnage is heart-stopping, but is it good racing?

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Racing at Talladega has a lot to do with the drivers’ strategy on the track. But after watching this race, I wonder if strategy matters. If a driver runs in the back, he can easily get collected in the “Big One” as it unfolds before him. If he drives in the front, he can be the victim of an exploding Goodyear, as we saw when Brian Vickers had a tire explode in front of the field. And, of course, riding in the middle is like being the meat in a wreck sandwich. Biffle and Edwards took a page from Dale Jarrett’s old playbook and rode around in the back most of the race only to end up in the wall because of Carl’s aggressive bump drafting.

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The exploding tire issue left everyone scratching their heads and offering many different theories as to why the tires performed so poorly. The best explanation I heard was that close racing had resulted in a lot of bent fenders rubbing on the tires. I wouldn’t be surprised to see new rules on the tolerances between the fenders and the tires before the next Talladega race. Four drivers suffered tire problems on Sunday, including Denny Hamlin, who was sent to the hospital for observation after his tire woes caused him to hit the wall.

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One of the best moves of the race came on lap 75 when Juan Pablo Montoya was run off the track by the No. 6 car. Juan made a great recovery, avoided a spin and drove as if he didn’t lift the off the gas for one second.

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Carl Edwards is now 72 points behind Jimmie Johnson. Greg Biffle is 77 points behind Johnson.

Now it’s on to the Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Gee, I wonder who’s the favorite to win there?

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