Waving the Checkers: Talladega

People tend to focus on how unpredictable Talladega is. It’s not. It’s very predictable, because you know there’s going to be a Big One.

Why?

Drivers are forced to take risks. That’s the only way they can gain an advantage.

Let me explain.

At every track except Talladega and Daytona, what separates one driver from another is how deep they drive into the corners, how hard they brake and how quickly they get back to the accelerator.

None of that exists at Daytona or Talladega, especially Talladega.

Whereas at last week’s race at Phoenix, a track where tire wear means something (more or less speed), or next week’s stop in Richmond, where the way the car is set up means something (again, more or less speed), neither of these things have great influence at Talladega. There, restrictor plates limit horsepower, which puts all 43 drivers on a level playing field – running full throttle lap after lap at roughly the exact same speed.

With everybody being so equal, what separates one driver from another at Talladega is their willingness to take a risk. To move up, drivers have to swap lanes unexpectedly; they have to throw a block; they have to push the driver in front of them (which is made easier because the smooth Talladega surface allows bumpers to line up perfectly), not just down the straights, but through the corners, too. Since Talladega was repaved a few years ago, bump drafting is less an option and more of a necessity in order to move forward at the 2.66-mile track.

On top of this, the rules of staying above the yellow line are different at Daytona and Talladega than at any other track on the circuit. This is why the move Brad Keselowski made to win his first race was appropriate and perfectly timed.

What he did was to some degree a product of Talladega’s Fall 2008 race where Regan Smith was penalized for going below the yellow line as he tried to avoid a Tony Stewart block just before the finish line. In the drivers’ meeting prior to Sunday’s race, drivers were warned not to go below the yellow line. So when Carl Edwards moved down the track to block, where was Keselowski to go?

Likewise, Edwards did precisely what he should have done in attempting a block. The precedent for it being allowable and rewarding was also established last fall at the finish, when NASCAR declared Stewart the winner even though Smith crossed the finish line first.

Talladega is an anomaly to everything drivers learn and do at all other places, which is why drivers are frustrated with racing there and why they ask for the restrictor plates to be removed. They want to have to decelerate; they want to have to beat someone into and off the corners.

The problem is, taking the plates off the engines won’t solve the biggest risk &ndash airborne cars like Edwards’ which put the spectators in danger.

So what’s the answer?

Should the yellow line disappear? Will drivers ultimately be left to decide these races based on their tolerance for risk?

The debate surrounding the use of restrictor plates has clearly reached a level of redundancy. It happens every time we go to Talladega. It’s just sometimes a different voice.

NASCAR might not respond to every driver complaint, but they have to respond to what they saw yesterday, because while drivers understand and accept, to some degree, the risks associated with a race at Talladega, the fans should never have to do the same when attending one.