This week the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is headed to Talladega Superspeedway for the GEICO 500 and anything can happen and often does.
There will be two phases you will hear the most during this week’s race at the track fans simply call “Dega.” The first one is “the draft” and the second “the big one.” Drivers want to be IN the draft and stay OUT of the big one.
The size of the Talladega Superspeedway makes drivers want to be in a group of cars creating a draft that allows the entire group to run at a faster rate of speed. A single car or just two or three cars will have more wind resistance, go slower and get passed by a large group of cars running fast in the draft.
The problem with racing inches apart at speeds of 200 mph and higher, if one person makes a mistake and loses control of the car it could not only wreck that car, but all of the cars near it not able to slow down or take evasive action quick enough. This is what is called “the big one.” It can end the day for multiple cars (sometimes into the double digits for a total) and can happen more than once at Dega.
Crew chiefs and pit crews will have huge pressure to make the right changes and get their drivers back out on the track to avoid losing the draft. The entire team and driver will have to be mistake-free to have a chance to win the NASCAR race this week.
Because of the nature of racing at Talladega Superspeedway a car that is in the right place at the right time (near the end of the race) can have a shot at winning the race even if that car has not been the fastest all race long.
Here is a look at the data for the track and the race…
Talladega Superspeedway Data
Track Size: 2.66-miles
Banking/Turn 1 & 2: 33 degrees
Banking/Turn 3 & 4: 33 degrees
Banking/Frontstretch: 16.5 degrees
Banking/Backstretch: 2 degrees
Frontstretch Length: 4,300 feet
Backstretch Length: 4,000 feet
GEICO 500 Data
Season Race #: 10 of 36 (04-29-18)
Race Length: 188 laps / 500 miles
Stage 1 & 2 Length: 55 laps (each)
Final Stage Length: 78 laps
Now let’s look at which active drivers have performed well at Dega in NASCAR’s top division…
Top 10 Driver Ratings at Talladega
Chase Elliott ………………………… 93.4
Brad Keselowski……………………. 89.0
Jimmie Johnson…………………….. 88.5
Kurt Busch……………………………. 88.4
Ryan Blaney…………………………. 86.3
Joey Logano………………………… 85.6
Denny Hamlin……………………….. 84.3
Ricky Stenhouse Jr………………… 81.4
Kevin Harvick………………………… 81.0
Kyle Busch…………………………… 81.0
Note: Driver Ratings compiled from 2005-2017 races (26 total) among active drivers at Talladega Superspeedway.
Brad Keselowski won the last time the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series raced at Talladega during The Chase last year. That win brought his career total of victories at the track to five.
Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson are the only other active drivers with multiple Dega wins on their resumes with two wins each.
Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and David Regan all have a single Dega win to claim. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got his first NASCAR Cup Series win and his first and only Talladega win in this race last year.
Kyle Busch is the only other active driver with a single career win at Talladega. He has won the last three races in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season. If Kyle can get his second Dega win this week he will add his name to a somewhat short and impressive list of drivers that have won four consecutive races in NASCAR’s top division. Five of the eight drivers to have accomplished this went on to win the championship that same year. Those drivers are: Cale Yarborough in 1976 (a championship year), Darrell Waltrip in 1981 (a championship year), Dale Earnhardt in 1987 (a championship year), Harry Gant in 1991, Bill Elliott in 1993, Mark Martin in 1993, Jeff Gordon in 1998 (a championship year) and Jimmie Johnson in 2007 (a championship year).
Who will be fast? Who will get caught in the big one? Who will be in the right place at the right time to have a chance to win the race?
The answers will come when the green flag waives for 500 miles of racing at Talladega Superspeedway in the GEICO 500 Sunday, April 29th starting at 1 PM central time (2 PM eastern time) in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
By: Buck Stevens
