Qualifying
Elliott Sadler had the fastest car in qualifying. Dale Jarrett was fast enough to start on the outside of the front row. Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart and Scott Riggs round out the top five.
Drop The Green Flag
When they got the race underway it didn't take long for them to get three and four wide in the pack. At a restrictor plate race the lead changes hands so often that it's often difficult to see who has the car to beat. Dale Jarrett, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Elliott Sadler all took turns at the front of the field in the early laps.
Storylines
Early in the race Jimmie Johnson got into the back of Elliott Sadler who was running second at the time. This wreck collected Mark Martin, Michael Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and some others had lesser damage. Michael took a very scary ride including getting upside down multiple times and was slow to get out of the car. The good news is that he was able to walk away, and was still funny in his post-wreck interview. This is a real testament to NASCAR's dedication to safety.
In two races at Talladega in 2005, Jimmie Johnson caused two huge wrecks. That may not be a record, but it's much worse than average.
Not too much later there was another big wreck as Ryan Newman got into Casey Mears. Many cars were involved in this including Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle and Scott Riggs who tumbled end over end in another very scary looking incident.
I said it long ago. Talladega no longer belongs in NASCAR. As Mark Martin said during his television interview, NASCAR will never solve this problem until the fans demand it. Unfortunately there are way too many "fans" who just love to see the big wrecks. It is a shame that a sanctioning body that does so much for safety won't do anything about these restrictor plate race tracks. I can't imagine what it will take for NASCAR to make the change.
Chasing The Checkers
When teams made their final green flag pit stops the race likely hung in the balance. When it all sorted out Tony Stewart, Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth and Joe Nemechek were the entire lead draft with just 25 laps to go. A bigger pack lead by Ryan Newman and Bobby Labonte kept their heads and stayed in line to run down the lead pack. They caught the pack and the final dash for the checkers was on with just 14 laps to go.
Ken Schrader blew a tire right at the end which set up a green-white-checkers two lap dash to the checkers. Kenseth, Newman, Stewart and Dale Jarrett lead the charge to the green but everybody in the top ten had an honest shot at the win.
Dale Jarrett and Tony Stewart were side-by-side for the lead up the backstretch when Kyle Petty crashed, bringing out the yellow flag. Since they were already under a green-white-checkers situation the race was instantly over. NASCAR ruled that Jarrett had a nose on Stewart when the yellow flew and awarded him the win.
Top Ten
- Dale Jarrett
- Tony Stewart
- Matt Kenseth
- Ryan Newman
- Carl Edwards
- Brian Vickers
- Sterling Marlin
- Kurt Busch
- Joe Nemechek
- Kevin Harvick
The Points
Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman are now the only drivers in the Chase that haven't had a bad race so far in The Chase. Stewart leads The Chase by just four points over Newman. Mark Martin was the biggest victim of Talladega, his 41st place finish dropped him five spots in The Chase to ninth.
The Chase points are now:
- Tony Stewart -0
- Ryan Newman -4
- Rusty Wallace -76
- Jimmie Johnson -82
- Greg Biffle -98
- Carl Edwards -100
- Matt Kenseth -111
- Jeremy Mayfield -112
- Mark Martin -138
- Kurt Busch -180
Next Week
Next week The Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup rolls on to Kansas Speedway for the Banquet 400. Kansas is one of the cookie-cutter race tracks that resemble many of the other modern tracks on the circuit. Right in the heart of The chase the teams at the top will start to make their move while drivers deep in the pack need to start to panic if they are going to salvage their season and build momentum for 2006.
