Cup Teams At Talladega            

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

The Cup Teams take on Talladega Superspeedway this weekend, and it shouldn’t be business as usual this time. In case you missed it, NASCAR has made changes to make the race a better overall race this time around. In recent times, the name of the game has been all about fuel mileage, with all of the stages being approximately the same length. The stages previously were: stage 1 – 60 laps, stage 2 – 60 laps, and stage three 68laps.

Since those stage lengths were established, it didn’t take too long for the teams to figure out that fuel mileage could be the best path to victory. Once all the teams discovered and started using that strategy, the race became fairly boring from the fans’ perspective. Of course, it did depend on how each team did managing their fuel mileage. Some did better than others, but the race had a very slow pace. Not really what a super speedway race was supposed to be about.

Of course, there was always the possibility that something could happen in the course of a stage that could mess with that strategy. You know, things like an accident that caused them to make a decision as to make a pit stop or keep on running the fuel mileage game and hope not too many would pass them, costing them any possible stage points.

Any way you might look at it, the fans weren’t happy with a simple fuel mileage race, and NASCAR made changes to the stages. Now they are: stage 1 – 98 laps, stage 2 – 45 laps and stage 3 – 45 laps.  In all honesty, and from this fan’s view, it’s about time they did something, and I’m glad they did.

In reality, the changes made won’t affect the first third or so of the race all that much, which might be a slight disappointment, and hardly noticeable for the first part of the race, but depending on how it goes, it could make the last stage much more interesting. There are several reasons for that, but it has pretty well been covered by all the talking heads over the last week or so.

So, to add to the unknown – well, some would call it that – the practice and qualifying were canceled because of bad weather. That really doesn’t matter much for anything other than pit selection, mostly. The ones that finished well last weekend will have good starting spots for Talladega. That means Tyler Reddick starts on pole, making it his fourth of the season. Kyle Larson will be lining up outside pole on the front row with Tyler.

Of course, as we all know, where you start the Talladega race isn’t as important as where you are near the finish. That’s because, when it comes to Super Speedway racing, being in the right position going for the final checkered flag is how just about every race has been won. To add to that, many of them have been won by a last-lap pass and drag racing to the finish line; oftentimes, the finishes have been almost too close to call.

Just taking a quick look at the lineup for the field, this NASCAR fan sees hardly one driver that, given the right circumstances at the end of the race, could not end up in Victory Lane. Of course, getting to that point is often a problem, if for no other reason than not being able to avoid one or more of the “Big Ones,” or cutting the fuel mileage too close, or maybe even a problem on a pit stop that loses them more spots than they could gain on the track in a normal stage or two.

As I said earlier, looking at the starting lineup for the Talladega race, this fan doesn’t see many in the top twenty that couldn’t take the win. Just take a quick look at those starting behind the front row. You’ve got Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, William Byron, and Chase Elliott. I could name another eight to ten drivers easily, but it wouldn’t change much of anything. Just about anyone in the top twenty-six or seven is a good candidate for being in the lead at the end of the day.

With the changes to the stages, the lack of practice and qualifying, and the rest of the unknowns, this could be anyone’s race to win. Sure, I know Tyler Reddick has won several times when he’s started from the pole, and even though Super Speedways haven’t been that good for Kyle Larson, this could be the one that breaks him out into the win column for this season when it is over.

Unfortunately, there are too many possible winners to choose from to even chance a guess at which of the drivers and teams will pull it off. I could tell you which of them I would like to see win, but that wouldn’t make a bit of difference. All I know is, this is one Talladega race worth watching all the way from beginning to the end, and I don’t have any idea which of them is going to win… Do You?