Talladega Lives Up to it’s Wild Card Reputation.
By: Drew Hierwarter
The “Amp Energy Drink 500” at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama was billed as the “wild card” race in the 2008 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, and wild it was. A record 28 different drivers took a turn leading the race and there were 64 official lead changes. Although many times the lead changed hands unofficially several times per lap. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said that the conditions of the draft with the new cars meant that a driver could blow past whoever was leading at any time. “If I guy is running in second it’s because he wants to.” Earnhardt said.
And of course, there was “The Big One”, two big ones actually. The first triggered by a blown tire on Brian Vickers’ car, and the second by contact between Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle. That one eliminated six of the Chase contenders. And speaking of tires, they seemed to be popping with some regularity and for no apparent reason. When a tire suddenly blows apart at nearly 200 mph the energy that is released is tremendous and each time it occurred it did major damage to the race car. Goodyear engineers were baffled and couldn’t be sure if there was some sort of defect in the tire, or they were being cut by something, either on the cars or on the track. The investigation is ongoing.
But as expected, the race at Talladega caused a lot of shuffling in the Chase points. The biggest change was race winner Tony Stewart who vaulted from 11th to 7th in the standings. Jeff Gordon was caught up in an early wreck and his 38th place finish puts him now 232 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson and pretty much out of any realistic chance at a championship. Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Greg Biffle remain in the top three spots and, with six races left in the Chase, are still the odds on favorite to take it all the way to the final race before deciding anything.
The finish of the race was a typical Talladega last lap desperation move for the win. Three of the last four races at the Alabama track have been won by a driver who was not leading as the field came out of turn four. This time it was rookie Regan Smith who tried to move under leader Tony Stewart. Stewart moved down to block, and Smith dropped below the yellow line, which is out of bounds. At that point if Smith had moved back up and behind Stewart there would’ve been no problem. But instead he charged past Stewart and crossed the line in front of the 20 car. The rule states that you can not “advance your position below the yellow line.” In spite of protests by the DEI team, Smith was penalized and given an official finish of 18th, the last car on the lead lap.
The win was Tony Stewart’s first of 2008, his first ever at Talladega, and the 33rd of his career, tying him with “Fireball” Roberts on the all-time win list.