CUP: Will Eight Be Enough Again At Daytona?

Sprint Cup

CUP: Will Eight Be Enough Again At Daytona?

Crowded Talladega finish could be a template for Saturday night’s DIS race…

Mike Hembree | Posted June 28, 2011 Daytona Beach, FL

Eight drivers, all bunched together, race toward the checkered flag on the final lap of last year's spring race at Talladega Superspeedway. Jimmie Johnson (Bottom Right) took the win. (Photo: Getty Images)

It was what might be called fleet racing.

At Talladega Superspeedway in April, Sprint Cup drivers again used the tandem drafting techniques that were prevalent in the February Daytona 500, scooting around the 2.66-mile track in pairs until it came time to decide the issue.

Then there was a mad, crowded scramble to the checkered flag, a remarkable finish that created the sort of tension that hadn’t been seen during most of the afternoon.

The pushers and those being pushed closed ranks like a collection of jet planes coming back together after maneuvers as they roared out of the fourth turn for the final time. The eight leaders crossed the finish line so perfectly formed you might have thought they had been lined up for a photograph.

At the front, being pushed by teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., was Jimmie Johnson. He got to the finish line .002 of a second in front of Clint Bowyer as they tied the NASCAR record for closest finish since the advent of electronic scoring.

Following them to the finish in the blink of an eye, in order, were Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Mark Martin.

“It’s never very good to know you made NASCAR history by losing,” said Bowyer, who, despite coming achingly close to winning that day, still is winless this season.

It was a crazy finish, but it was one that wasn’t so crazy that it couldn’t be virtually duplicated in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Barring a surprise engineering miracle by one of the competing teams or a major NASCAR rules change, the tandem drafting that ruled the day at Daytona and Talladega earlier in the year will be front and center again Saturday night at Daytona. The flavoring of the draft might be a little different because the track will be warmer and its grip will be different, but drivers expect the two-by-two (Noah’s Ark, some called it) drafting to continue to dominate.

Most drivers don’t like the drafting style, but it’s the fastest way around the track, so there it is.

“I don’t like it, but there isn’t a lot you can do about it because two cars shoving each other is so much faster than the normal style of draft or anything else that is going on,” said Matt Kenseth. “Unless the rules or cars change, I don’t see it changing.”

The race is mostly about surviving until the end, Kenseth said.

“Just try not to have a wreck,” he said. “I have been wrecked at both speedway races so far. I need to avoid that. Pushing and getting pushed is difficult.

“I don’t know how it will be. If it is real hot, it might be easier to get spun out or spin somebody out. I think it will be a challenge.”

Will Saturday night's race at Daytona feature another thrilling restrictor-plate finish? Add a comment below.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 29 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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