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CUP: Halloween At Talladega/NASCAR Notebook
Written by: Tom Jensen   
10/30/2009
Talladega, AL
 
Michael Waltrip was black flagged by NASCAR officials during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Amp Energy 500 this weekend. (Photo: LAT Photographic) ยป More Photos

DRESS UP TIME With it being Halloween weekend, there were plenty of drivers in festive moods at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday, including Denny Hamlin, last weekend’s race winner at Martinsville Speedway, who was out and about dressed up as the Tin Man from “The Wizard of Oz.” And he’ll be making the rounds tomorrow night, too. “I’ll be out there for sure,” Hamlin said. “I brought my costume with me so I’m ready.”

He was far from alone in getting into the spirit of the holiday.

“You guys would have gotten a kick out of seeing me running around our house this week in my Superman outfit because that's what (daughter) Ella wanted me to be,” said four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Jeff Gordon. “I didn't leave the house in that uniform, but she certainly enjoyed it a lot more than I did. Ingrid (Gordon’s wife) was trying to talk me into taking it to her little class. She had like Halloween class pre-school thing and Ingrid wanted me to wear that and I said, ‘No. Not happening. I'll wear it all day long around the house (but not outside).’”

“I can’t give away my costume,” said Kurt Busch, who said he and his Penske Racing crew — including lame-duck crew chief Pat Tryson — will be among the many teams making the rounds. Busch said Tryson and several crewmembers will staying in an infield motor home and making a night of it.

As for the notoriously wild Talladega fans, who knows just what sort of mayhem Saturday night might bring.

“That’s going to be interesting,” said Brian Vickers of Red Bull Racing. “This is one of the biggest parties in the track, year-round.
I can only imagine it’s going to be stepped up a few notches for Halloween. That’s what it’s all about. The fans are here to come have a good time, so I fully support it. I hope they have a great time. I wish I could be out there partying with them Saturday night. I may go take a peek, but I’m not going to partake because I have a job to do on Sunday. I have seen some pretty wild stuff in this infield. I’m sure it’s only going to get better.”

BUMP AND RUN Bump drafting — the practice of one driver ramming the car directly ahead of him in order to gain speed for both — continues to be a controversial issue at Talladega Superspeedway. NASCAR briefly parked Michael Waltrip after some overzealous bump drafting of Jimmie Johnson during practice Friday, while other drivers were concerned about the aggressiveness of their fellow drivers.

“This track is so smooth and the cars are going a little bit slower now,” said Greg Biffleof Roush Fenway Racing. “You can push all the way around the corner, and NASCAR is saying they’re not gonna allow that. But it’s awfully hard to tell when we’re an inch apart versus whether you’re pushing a guy, so they’re gonna have to really, really do their due diligence to penalize a guy when it looks necessary and not when they’re just bunched up tight. That’s what causes these wrecks. Carl (Edwards) tried to push us in the middle of the corner down here last year and it caused a big wreck, so that’s what we’ve got to stop doing. We’ve got to push on the straightaways.”

“I think that it has a lot to do with the way that your car is running and how it’s handling, how hard you can push the other cars,” said Kasey Kahne of Richard Petty Motorsports. “It seems like you can get pushed really hard and definitely push hard if your car is good enough to do that.”


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