Talladega Fights Back Again

No NASCAR driver plans on running Talladega and flipping his cars over several times. Ryan Newman and Mark Martin never expected to take that wild ride.

But on Lap 184, Ryan Newman went for a wild ride, flipping end over end, landing in the infield on his roof. The red flag stopped the race while the track crews carefully flipped back over the car and cut the roof so he could be safely removed. We all held our breath while they slowly, but safely flipped the car so they wouldn't further injure him in anyway.

But Ryan Newman had plenty to say to the media that greeted him as he exited the infield care center about the problems with this type of racing. "It's just a product of this racing and what NASCAR's put us in, in this box with these types of cars, with the yellow line, with no bump-drafting, no passing. Drivers used to be able to respect each other and race around each other, Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, all those guys have always done that. I guess they don't think much of us anymore," said Newman.

Many other drivers had a problem with the race, track, warnings by NASCAR about bump drafting in the corners, and the double yellow line implications. Even the telecast from ESPN on ABC had a point when they called the racing boring. That when one line racing was done at the top of the track. I noticed that the Camping World Truck Series was running by the yellow line, compared to the Cup Series running at the top. Both in single lines for a while.

My opinion, either get rid of Talladega, get rid of the banking, or get smaller engines. Smaller restrictor plates is not the answer. It kept the pack of cars very tight.

Congratulations to Jamie McMurray on his win. Big congratulations to Kasey Kahne for a big improvement and Joey Logano for being up at the front. And of course, Jimmie Johnson looked like he was lost all race long at the rear of the field. At one point, we thought he was loosing the draft. Finishing sixth after a dismal race and gaining points, now 184 point lead. The top 5 now is;

1 Jimmie Johnson
2 Mark Martin -184
3 Jeff Gordon -192
4 Juan Montoya -239
5 Tony Stewart -279

Next week Texas Motor Speedway.