CUP: Expect Unexpected At Talladega

Sprint Cup

CUP: Expect Unexpected At Talladega

Wild crashes are the norm at Talladega Superspeedway...

Tom Jensen | Posted April 21, 2010 Charlotte, NC

Carl Edwards emerged uninjured from this crash at Talladega Superspeedway in April 2009. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Ever since Richard Brickhouse won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway amid a driver’s strike, the Alabama track has produced an odd mix of winners and strange circumstances.

PHOTOS: Talladega Crashes And Finishes

The list of winners at Talladega is as odd as some of the things that have happened here, including a drunken race fan stealing the pace car and driving around the track in 1986, and Jeremy Mayfield getting busted for having doctored fuel at a race here in 2000.

Past Talladega upset winners include James Hylton, Dick Brooks, Ron Bouchard, Phil Parsons, Bobby Hillin Jr., Lennie Pond and, more recently, Brad Keselowski. It would be no surprise if Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 produced another surprise victor.

But for better or worse, Talladega is best known is for wild, airborne crashes. The most notorious happened in 1987, when Bobby Allison’s Buick blew a rear tire and got up into the catchfencing, tearing down more than 100 feet of fencing, but miraculously not killing anyone in the process. That, in turn, led to the advent of restrictor plates and later, roof flaps.

Still, airborne crashes have become the norm at Talladega. While going for the victory in last year’s Aaron’s 499, the cars of Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards touched, Edwards’ Roush Fenway Racing Ford landing on the hood of Ryan Newman’s Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet before bouncing into the fence, injuring seven spectators.

“That was the most frightening thing that I’ve seen involving one of my cars,” said Edwards’ car owner, Jack Roush. “Mark Martin was upside-down a number of times in restrictor plate races and that was always a concern, but the thing at Talladega was unfortunate.”

Last fall at Talladega, Ryan Newman escaped injury in a horrifying crash that saw his car do a backflip onto Kevin Harvick’s hood and then slide upside down to the outside wall and all the way back down, rolling again before coming to rest on its roof in the infield.

“The first race, I kind of hung out in the back and kept my nose clean,” said Newman. “And then, at the end of the race, I was put in the right position to have an opportunity to win. Denny Hamlin pushed me up to the front and then Dale Earnhardt Jr., pushed me. I never expected the 09 (Keselowski) and the 99 (Edwards) to get hooked up and go as quickly as they did. When I saw Carl flying up in front of me, I thought he was actually going to spin down to the bottom and the back of the car caught air. I saw the left-rear tire coming right toward my windshield. So, yeah, it was bad. But, bottom line was, I kept my foot in it, I knew I was going to bounce off the wall, and I still finished third.”

He wasn’t so lucky last fall.

“We got hit from behind and that turned me sideways,” said Newman. “Then I got up in the air and just kept flipping and flopping. Unfortunately, the cage came down on top of my head and I couldn’t get out. It was definitely an eventful ride. I hit the inside wall. I got upside-down and I rolled what I thought was 10 times in the grass, there, but it was really only like twice. You know, I think I did everything in that wreck except catch fire or leave the racetrack.”

And when the discussion turns to unlucky at Talladega, one name that comes to mind quickly is Mark Martin. Last year, Martin finished second in points, but had DNFs at both Talladega races because he got caught in other people’s wrecks. In his last five Talladega starts, Martin has three DNFs and a finishing average of 31.0.

“Last (fall) I came into this track with the mindset that, ‘This is going to be a good race. The odds are with us on this one. Not every race can go wrong for us here,’” said Martin. “I was wrong. We ended up on our roof, which was the worst outcome I've ever had (at Talladega).”

And the real kick? It’s all random. No one can control it.

“You can’t let your guard down,” said Brian Vickers, who won his first Cup race at Talladega in 2006, when he pushed Jimmie Johnson into the back of Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the last lap, wrecking the two leaders. “A lot of things can happen there that are out of your control. You just do your part the best you can and hope the rest of it avoids you.”

Rest assured, there will be lots of hoping come Sunday.

“As far as this weekend’s race, I don’t know what to expect,” said Newman. “Nobody knows what to expect. This type of racing, you may have something the same, something worse or something better than what has happened in the previous races.”

PHOTOS: Talladega Crashes And Finishes

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEEDtv.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame Grand Opening is set for May 11, 2010. Outdoor Opening Ceremonies are May 11th from 9 to 10 am ET free of charge, open to the public. Outdoor festivities including driver appearances and concerts May 11th from 10 am until 8 pm ET open to the public, free of charge. Tickets to enter the NASCAR Hall of Fame are on sale now at www.NASCARHall.com or by calling 877-231-2010. The countdown to the NASCAR Hall of Fame is on! Visit www.NASCARHall.com/50days for daily updates about the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

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