NASCAR called Michael Waltrip into the pits during Friday practice at Talladega. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Drivers get black-flagged by officials in Sprint Cup races for goofy driving all the time. But during practice?
That is exactly what happened at Talladega Superspeedway as NASCAR called Michael Waltrip into the pits during practice.
Officials had warned drivers about dangerous bump-drafting at Talladega prior to the practice and when Waltrip started banging on the rear bumper of Jimmie Johnson’s car, out came the black flag.
Johnson didn’t sound surprised.
“They told us before practice started that they were not going to allow that stuff,” the Chase points-leader said. “And when he got on my bumper and was pushing me, I’m like I don’t know what I can do here to stop this, so I’ll just hang on and run a fast lap. And they certainly black-flagged him after that.”
Sprint Cup series director John Darby said NASCAR will not hesitate to bring out the black flag for bump drafting during Sunday’s AMP Energy Drink 500.
At Talladega, where the race lead can change hands several times on each lap, starting from the pole does not mean a whole lot in terms of going on to win the race.
But it does mean something.
Jimmie Johnson, who will start the race from the pole because rain washed out qualifying and he is the Chase points leader, said his place in front of the field represents a real bonus or two.
“It’ll give us a chance to try to get five points, which is nice,” he said. “The safest place really, is leading. So it we’re able to stay up front and ride around up there for a long time, to do it the whole race would be great. But there is so much here that is out of control with not only the crashing aspect that we’ve all been talking about, but the draft and how impatient guys are going to want to be to lead a lap.
“With all 12 Chase drivers there, especially with the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) behind me and the No. 5 (Mark Martin) next to me and so forth and so on, everybody’s going to be trying hard at the beginning to get a lap led. So we’ll just be smart and take it as it comes. Obviously it’s a great pit stall pick down at the end of pit road in that first stall. So hopefully we can use all that to our advantage.”
Elliott Sadler took his first laps in a Ford during practice on Friday since he drove for Robert Yates Racing back in 2005.
He took those laps because his current team, Richard Petty Motorsports, is switching over the Fords.
“We learned a lot yesterday in practice,” Sadler said. “We learned a lot of stuff yesterday and I think our guys learned a lot about the Ford Fusion and how you work on it and the adjustments we can make to it. We don’t have winter testing anymore, and the Daytona 500 is one of my best races and it is the Super Bowl of our sport, so I’m glad the teams were able to get together and put this deal together where we can come here and race and learn some things about the Ford COT car, which I have never been in and Kasey (Kahne) has never been in and A.J. (Allmendinger) has never been in. So we wanted to learn these things as best we can before we get to Daytona in racing conditions.
