Burning Questions: Talladega

By Stephen Thomas, CNNSI.com
October 16, 2001
4:23 PM EDT (2023 GMT)

1. Why didn't NASCAR make more substantial rules changes in advance of this weekend's race at Talladega?

In an effort to address some long-standing driver complaints about restrictor-plate racing at Talladega Superspeedway, 19 Winston Cup teams participated in an August test designed to help NASCAR come up with some solutions that would make racing at Talladega and Daytona safer and more interesting.

Sterling Marlin

"It was a very productive and informative day," Winston Cup Director Gary Nelson said at the time. "We were able to learn many things. Our next step is to take the information gathered and analyze all of it. That will obviously assist us in our decision process."

The result? Despite the fact that the test included such things as changing the plate size and removing roof wickers entirely from some cars, NASCAR announced this week that the rear spoiler on the Fords will be lowered from 57 inches to 55 1/2 inches. In addition, the roof air deflector on the Pontiacs will be lowered an 1/8th of an inch, to 1 1/4 inches. Those were the only changes.

"I thought we did the test [Aug. 27] to try to make it better for drivers so they wouldn't be piled on top of each other," Sterling Marlin said. "We just wasted our time going down there because I thought they were going to change something. They didn't. It's pretty ridiculous when some of the top drivers say they're going to go to the back and ride 450 miles and not race until 50 to go so they'll miss the big wreck. It ain't racing. Whoever thinks it is is wrong.

"Why the hell we're going back with this roof flap and this rear spoiler [on the Dodge] is beyond me," Marlin continued. "They've gotten completely away from what the drivers wanted."

Needless to say, NASCAR doesn't quite see things the same way. "As with any rule change, you talk to the people on the receiving end," Nelson said Tuesday, "and they always say the changes aren't enough. The people on the other side, who don't enjoy the benefit of the change, are always going to say we gave away the candy store. We did the test in August and we took a lot of input from a lot of people. We saw no clear-cut reason to change anything again."

2. Is the New Hampshire 300 a controversy waiting to happen?

Racing at New Hampshire International Speedway is a risky proposition under the best of circumstances, a reality borne out by the deaths of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin. But combine that flat track and its narrow corners with potentially frigid late-November temperatures, and the prospect of trouble becomes that much more real.

Goodyear rubber

Which explains, at least in part, why Goodyear, NASCAR's tire supplier, recently announced that it was changing its tire recommendation for the Loudon race. "We believe this tire combination will provide a higher level of grip than our original recommendation," said Goodyear's Rick Campbell in a statement issued last week, "[and] give teams and drivers better performance during what is likely to be a cold weekend in New England."

In the end, there's really only so much that Goodyear can do to ensure a safe race, and if the ultimate responsibility rests with the drivers, who are aware of the need to be extra careful come Nov. 23, there is still another ingredient that could materially impact the race itself: NASCAR.

The sport's governing body isn't shy about waving the yellow flag in what it calls "competition cautions," typically used after rain has cleaned the track of rubber between Happy Hour and the race; NASCAR called a competition caution at Pocono earlier this year, infuriating some drivers, among them Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte.

Given the unknowns of both a winter-time race in general and racing at NHIS in specific, NASCAR's track record in the area of competition cautions certainly opens the door to speculation that Nov. 23's New Hampshire 300 might be affected as much by what happens off the track as by what happens on it.

3. Who would you rather see in your rear-view mirror on the last lap of a race, Kevin Harvick or Tony Stewart?

On the surface, it's a ticklish question; each comes with a certain amount of baggage that makes either proposition unappealing. If you've got Stewart behind you, you run the risk of not only hard driving, but of antagonizing a man with a notoriously prickly personality.

Kevin Harvick

And if it's Harvick who is on your tail, there's that hard-driving thing and the equal chance that he will simply wreck you in his haste to get to the front.

"He gets paid to drive hard -- that's what Richard Childress wanted and that's what he's got," said an angry Bobby Hamilton after Harvick spun him out Monday at Martinsville. "It'll fix itself, it really will."

Ah-ha! Hamilton has given us the answer: definitely Stewart. Sure, if you block him and hold him off, you run the risk that he'll spin you out after the checkered flag.

But, given the number of drivers Harvick has angered this year, if he's the one running second, there's a good a chance that the guy running third is nursing a grudge and will take out Harvick before he ever gets a chance to make a move for your lead.