The Pace Lap: The Amp Energy 500 @ Talladega
October 30th, 2009
Welcome to The Pace Lap,
your catchall preview post! Let’s get you started on race weekend with
a metric truckload of stats, facts, opinion and innuendo.
The race: The Amp Energy 500
The specs: 188 laps around a 2.66-mile track, for 500 miles.
The broadcasts: ABC, plus the live chat right here on Yahoo! Sports. Also, I’ll be on the ground all raceday morning, so follow me on Twitter to see what I’m seeing.
Defending champ: Tony Stewart. You recall, this is the famous yellow-line race, where Smoke was "forced" below the yellow line by Regan Smith on the final lap but still claimed the title.
The standings leaders: Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin (-118), Jeff Gordon (-165)
The history: The largest and most steeply banked track in NASCAR, Talladega is also the home of some of the most spectacular speeds — and wrecks — in the sport. Rusty Wallace holds the speed record at 216.309 mph, set in June 2004. Talladega got a track only because local religious leaders in Hillsborough, North Carolina opposed the development of the track. So sorry, Hillsborough.
Back in the springtime: A couple of Big Ones seemed like they’d give us all the carnage we needed … and then came the Keselowski/Edwards wall-scrub. One of the most horrific wrecks in NASCAR history was thankfully almost completely injury-free, but it set off a whole new round of discussion of whether Talladega was too dangerous to continue at its current style.
The appropriate video: From 2006 — Brian Vickers gets into Jimmie Johnson, who gets into Dale Earnhardt Jr. Just imagine what would happen if this same scene played itself out this weekend:
Guy with the most to gain: Dale Earnhardt Jr. This is his chance to rehab his image for 2009, to close out the season with a strong performance and give Junior Nation reason to hope for 2010. This is his best track, so if he runs well here, all is (almost) forgiven. If not …
Guys with the most to lose: Jimmie Johnson. One Big One at the wrong time, and Johnson’s lead dwindles — or, potentially, vanishes — and that fourth championship becomes that much tougher to grab.
Our pick to win: Stewart. He’s due for a strong Chase race, and he’s on familiar territory here. And Regan Smith isn’t likely to cause trouble two years in a row.
All right, you’re up. Who’s your pick for this weekend? Go!
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