While not technically a crown jewel race, the two annual events at Talladega Superspeedway are among the most anticipated contests of the season. They’re races that have come to define NASCAR: high speeds, drafting and wide-open competition.
Well, two out of three isn’t bad. The field spent most of the day on Sunday (April 21) below half throttle in an effort to save fuel and navigate the stage breaks. The fallout has been far and wide from some of the most influential and important voices in the industry. But was it really that big of a deal?
This week Joy Tomlinson and Wyatt Watson take a look at what has people so riled up in 2-Headed Monster.
No Changes Needed
NASCAR shouldn’t need to make any changes for the fall playoff Talladega race.
For one, it’s in the playoffs. It’s bad enough that we have two superspeedway-type races in the playoffs, but changes would force teams to have to make more adjustments to their cars, rather than go off of what was run in the spring.
The cars racing at half throttle produced more pack-like racing, which was thrilling and exciting. Aside from when cars made pit stops, most of the time they were running double and triple file. What would you rather have: cars racing close together, or a choo-choo train single line of cars running the top lane? I’d rather have similar to what we saw Sunday.
Additionally, not being forced to run wide-open can allow for varying pit strategies at superspeedways. The crew chiefs can choose to do the opposite of what their competitors do, or they can align with the same manufacturer and pit at the same time.
It reminds me of Bristol Motor Speedway where there was much more tire falloff than expected, but that just made the racing and strategies that much better.
Plus, Sunday saw several drivers and teams make mistakes on pit road, which also threw wrenches in the crew chiefs’ plans.
For example, Daniel Suarez sped on pit lane in stage one and decided to return to pit road for four tires just before the pits closed. It looked like this strategy would’ve put him on track for a top 10 by the end of the race, but he was caught up in the big crash on the last lap.
One thing Daniel Hemric mentioned after the race was that “even with the fuel saving, you got to have a fast enough racecar to save more fuel.” So, if anything, the teams themselves need to make adjustments to find an edge over others.
This type of racing is…
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