Talladega: UAW-Ford 500/John Deere 250/Food World 250 (Spoilers)

[rustyfan]

One of my personal highlights of the year is finally here, the fall festival at Talladega.

This year the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and ARCA RE/MAX Series are joined by the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series which will make its race debut at the daunting 2.66mile Talladega Superspeedway.

UAW-Ford 500 (NASCAR NEXTEL Cup)
When - Sunday
Length - 500 miles, 188 laps

As the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup moves to Talladega, by many considered the biggest wild card in the Chase, Jeff Burton has a 69-point edge over rookie sensation Denny Hamlin in the points standings.

Of the ten drivers in the Chase, only four - Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin - are previous winners at Talladega.

Five-time Talladega winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. is hoping to recapture some of that old Talladega magic and turn his effort in the Chase around with a strong result this weekend, while Mark Martin will be looking at breaking the winless streak for Roush Racing at Talladega where a Roush Ford hasn't won since 1997.

The race this weekend will be the 76th restrictor plate race (Daytona, but not New Hampshire, included). Only Mark Martin, Ken Schrader and Michael Waltrip have competed in all 75 previous restrictor plate races.



John Deere 250 (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series)
When - Saturday
Length - 250 miles, 94 laps

There were some doubts as to whether there would be a full field of 36 trucks on hand for the inaugural NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega, but with Green Light Racing entering a third truck for Wayne Edwards there will indeed be a full field (should all drivers make it through practice and qualifying without wrecking).

In the points standings Todd Bodine is looking to maintain his points lead which currently stands at 91 points ahead of Johnny Benson.

Six drivers that are expected to qualify for the inaugural race at Talladega took part in the inaugural race at Daytona back in 2000: Mike Wallace, Terry Cook, Dennis Setzer, Jack Sprague, Rick Crawford and David Starr.

Australian V8 SuperCar star Marcos Ambrose will make his "super track" debut this weekend, as he wasn't approved to qualify for the season opener at Daytona Superspeedway back in February.

Another "outsider" who will make his "super track" debut is Champ Car ace A.J. Allmendinger.

In the final practice Bobby Hamilton Jr. was the fastest at 193.980mph. Marcos Ambrose was fifth fastest with a speed of 193.314mph, while A.J. Allmendinger were 11th fastest with a speed of 192.812mph.

Qualifying is scheduled for today.



Food World 250 (ARCA RE/MAX Series)
When - Friday (today)
Length - 250 miles, 94 laps

The "Restrictor Plate King" of the ARCA RE/MAX Series, Bobby Gerhart, showed why he's got that nickname yesterday in qualifying as he grabbed the pole position for today's Food World 250 race at Talladega. Gerhart, a five-time restrictor plate race winner in the ARCA RE/MAX Series, will have to live with another driver stealing the headlines, however, as Juan-Pablo Montoya grabbed the second starting spot for the race, a mere 0.01sec slower than Gerhart. With the Ganassi NEXTEL Cup organisation behind him Montoya will make his stock car debut in today's race.

As for the ARCA points standings, Frank Kimmel is looking towards all-but securing his unprecedented eighth ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship crown. He won't be able to clinch it this weekend, as he would need a 550 point lead over second-place Bobby Gerhart and the maximum lead he could leave Talladega with is 540 points. Kimmel has never made it to victory lane at Talladega.

Steve Wallace, son of former NEXTEL Cup Champion Rusty Wallace, qualified 11th for todays race. It will be his Talladega debut.

Lastly, 72-year old (yep, you read that right) stock car legend James Hylton will start 41st and last in today's race. Hylton, who is in his last year as an active driver, won the 1972 Talladega 500 Winston Cup race at Talladega.

[StuiE]

Great preview, can't wait for the Cup race, won't be able to see the others, but will be very interested to see how Montoya and Ambrose go.


72 years old! just read up a little on James Hylton, he's been racing pretty much forever, and is running the full ARCA schedule this year, and is 18th in points.

[muggle not]

There will be a bunch of nervous drivers at Dega. One of the legendary pileups can fast give a driver a DNF and probably put them nearly out of contention in the chase. My early favorites are Jeff Gordon and Dale, jr.

[rustyfan]

First NEXTEL Cup practice is under way, and here are the top five speeds after around 40 mins of practice (via Jayski.com):

#38-Gilliland 198.224
#40-Stremme 198.068
#25-Vickers 198.056
#2-Busch 197.749
#48-Johnson 197.610

Elliott Sadler's pole speed from last year was 189.260mph...

EDIT - By the way, I don't suppose anyone would happen to know of a site that streams MRN? I had a website for a radio station earlier that streamed MRN online, but I can't remember the url unfortunately.

[rustyfan]

ARCA SPOILERS BELOW!





































The race is currently underway, apparently, but I've been unable to find a MRN-stream and the ARCA website is down. According to another forum Montoya has lead some laps though, as has Steven Wallace.

[rustyfan]

Racingone.com is posting semi-live updates - they are available here.

[Sharky]

ARCA SPOILERS
















Just saw the race. Pretty good for JPM. Especially since he was almost taken out. I'll tell you one thing, I hadn't seen him so happy in a long time. His face after the race said it all.

[Matski]

Yeah, I just listened to it... good race..

















don't want to give anything away.. but: JPM fans, I think he'll do alright next year

[kingfloopy]

Wow the ARCA site is overloaded and won't come up. That has to be a first.

J.D.

[Hazza]

Solid result from Juan Montoya. But to be honest, he'd be in the best prepared car out there anyway...

[kingfloopy]

Spoilers below








Since I don't think anyone has come out and said it yet. Montoya finished 3rd in the ARCA race yesterday after starting 2nd. Pretty impressive. He should not have any problems getting NASCAR clearence to run the Daytona 500. Granted he was probably in one of the best cars in the field, but for a "rookie" to restrictor plate racing he did a very impressive job. Congrats to Frank Kimmel on getting his first Talledega (and first plate) win. Rusty Wallace's son Steve finished 2nd. Maybe we should start covering ARCA racing more in this category. I've always enjoyed watching it, more of a grassroots effort compared to NASCAR.

The full ARCA results were:
FIN STR NO DRIVER/HOMETOWN TEAM & CAR LAPS STATUS
1 4 46 Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN Pork The Other White Meat Ford 81 Running
2 11 61 Steve Wallace/Mooresville NC Nu South Lemonade-Hantz Group Dodge 81 Running
3 2 4 Juan Montoya/Bogota Colombia Texaco-Havoline Dodge 81 Running
4 8 99 Kelly Bires/Hartland WI Wood Brothers-Ken Schrader Racing Ford 81 Running
5 14 2 Michael McDowell/Phoenix AZ Z-Line Dodge 81 Running
6 7 09 Mike Wallace/St. Louis MO Miccosukee Indian Gaming & Resort Dodge 81 Running
7 1 5 Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA Lucas Oil Chevrolet 81 Running
8 17 14 Michael Faulk/Ocala FL Cobs Homes-Cal Bay International Dodge 81 Running
9 23 22 Chase Miller/Canton GA Dodge Motorsports Dodge 81 Running
10 21 6 Dexter Bean/Westby WI Five Star Telecom Chevrolet 81 Running
11 3 9 Matt Hagans/Indianapolis IN Eagle Creek Aviation-1st Wing Aircraft Mgt Dodge 81 Running
12 35 08 Jason Hedlesky/Clinton MI Hardcore Motorsports Dodge 81 Running
13 39 38 Mike Harmon/Birmingport AL Oostlander Racing Chevrolet 81 Running
14 10 72 Justin South/Hueytown AL Freedom Grill Chevrolet 81 Running
15 38 26 Brad Smith/Belleville MI Koolmat Ford 81 Running
16 34 21 Todd Bowsher/Springfield OH Safe Auto Insurance Ford 81 Running
17 12 31 Timothy Peters/Providence NC Okuma Chevrolet 80 Running
18 32 97 Skip Cummins/Grove City PA Cyberspeed Racing Chevrolet 80 Running
19 5 7 AJ Henriksen/Mooresville NC Engineered Components Chevrolet 80 Running
20 33 62 Brian Kaltreider/Reading PA Adobe Connect-Independent Graphics Ford 80 Running
21 37 34 Darrell Basham/Henryville IN Anti Monkey Butt Powder Chevrolet 80 Running
22 40 23 Ricky Sanders/Stockbridge GA ARCASimRacing.com Chevrolet 80 Running
23 20 65 Justin Marks/Rocklin CA Construct Corps-CarMax Dodge 80 Running
24 13 39 Pete Shepherd/Brampton ON Griddly Headz Games-BeavEx-Reliance Tool Ford 80 Running
25 22 47 Ryan Foster/Lowell AR Frank Kimmel Ford 80 Running
26 28 16 Justin Allgaier/Springfield IL AG Tech-K&N Filters Chevrolet 79 Accident
27 36 84 Norm Benning/Pittsburgh PA Shodeen.com Chevrolet 79 Running
28 24 32 Blake Bjorklund/Isanti MN Academy Sports & Outdoors-Red Line Oil Dodge 78 Accident
29 29 87 Tony Ave/Hurley WI Cyberspeed Racing Chevrolet 78 Accident
30 6 25 Billy Venturini/Chicago IL Hamptons Luxury Homes Chevrolet 78 Accident
31 27 04 Brent Sherman/Barrington IL Serta Mattress Ford 78 Accident
32 41 48 James Hylton/Inman SC Loretta Lynn-Mountain Rock Music Ford 76 Running
33 9 90 Brett Rowe/Barboursville WV Spectra Metals-FMI Fireplaces Chevrolet 44 Rear End
34 31 8 Marc Mitchell/Tallahassee FL Ergon Pontiac 42 Accident
35 19 70 Justin Diercks/Davenport IA Hoodia 57 Chevrolet 41 Accident
36 16 11 Bryan Silas/Stuart FL Fast Track Driving School-PBG Chevrolet 35 Accident
37 18 78 Doug Reid/Hueytown AL 3-D Motorsports Chevrolet 35 Accident
38 25 12 Mario Gosselin/St. Marie Quebec Mighty Ezy Cleaner & Degreaser Chevrolet 16 Engine
39 15 50 Craig Butts/Grove Hill AL Palomar Insurance-Southwest Alabama Cnstrctn Dodge 13 Engine
40 26 10 Jason Basham/Henryville IN Fast Track Driving School Chevrolet 6 Vibration
41 30 59 Ryan Howard/Tipp City OH HD Supply Chevrolet 0 Cam Shaft

PORK POLE AWARD: Bobby Gerhart 50.537 (189.485 mph)
MRGN OF VICT: Under Caution CAUTIONS: 5 for 26 laps
TIME OF RACE: 1:40:04 AVG SPEED: 129.190 mph
LAP LEADERS: Montoya 1-9 (9); Gerhart 10-13, 50-55, 70-71 (12); Kimmel 14-15, 78-81 (6); S. Wallace 16,
36-40, 72-77 (12); M. Wallace 17-35, 46-49, 56-66 (34); Faulk 41-45 (5); Bires 67-69 (3)

[kingfloopy]

I should mention that A.J. Allmendinger is running his second truck race today. He qualified 25th, Mark Martin is on the pole. Todd Bodine and Johnny Benson who are 1 and 2 in points qualified 4th and 5th respectively. Should be a good race.

J.D.

[muggle not]

More on Montoya. I am thinking that I will like him.

ALLADEGA, Ala. -- Juan Pablo Montoya's initiation into stock-car racing wasn't stopped by a bad pit stop, a big crash or an engine problem.

It was stopped by darkness.

Friday's ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway was called after a big pileup on Lap 79 of the 92-lap event featuring the 31-year-old Colombian attempting to move from Formula One to Nextel Cup.


Juan Pablo Montoya spent more time in the pits than he wanted, but was surprised how he was able to work his way back to the front.

Montoya was running third at the time after starting second, and thought he had a chance to win had there been enough light to finish.

"I was having so much fun I didn't care,'' Montoya said as he crawled out of the car.

Montoya had nowhere to go but down after his first competitive lap in something other than an open-wheel car. He led the first nine laps.

He was running eighth when the right-front side of his car was damaged on a Lap 35 wreck that forced him to pit four times for repairs. He restarted 31st and quickly moved through the field with the help of eventual second-place finisher Steve Wallace, the son of former Cup driver Rusty Wallace.

"That was good [expletive], man,'' Rusty Wallace told Montoya during the post-race interview.

Race winner Frank Kimmel agreed.

"For a rookie, he did OK,'' Kimmel, the seven-time ARCA champion, said. "You knew he was going to run really, really well. It bodes well for the ARCA series that he didn't really, really dominate.''

Chip Ganassi, who signed Montoya in July to replace Casey Mears in the No. 42 Cup car next year, was more than pleased.

"He learned a lot,'' Ganassi said. "I wish they had another restart. That would have been fun. All in all, it was a great day. I'll take that.''


Ganassi was most impressed with the way Montoya maintained his composure after the wreck and fought his way back through the pack, using the bump-draft maneuver necessary in NASCAR to move forward on restrictor-plate tracks.

Montoya had fun over the in-car radio, throwing out a little Southern slang during one of the stops for repairs.

"How long y'all reckon I'll be in the pits?'' he asked.

Had this been an F1 race Montoya would have been either out of the race or so far back after repairs that he would have had no chance to win.

"In Formula One, if you go to the back you stay back,'' he said. "You can be 2 seconds quicker than any other car and you still cannot pass him. It's great to see that whatever happens ... you can still get up front.''

Montoya's next test will come on Monday when he tests Ganassi's Cup Car of Tomorrow at Talladega. He'll test again on Tuesday in Memphis, Tenn., and likely run the ARCA race next weekend in Newton, Iowa.

The ultimate goal is to have him ready for the Daytona 500, the next time he'll be on a superspeedway such as Talladega.

"In a way, it's nice that Chip got me here,'' Montoya said. "It definitely was necessary to come here. You've got to live it and experience it well.''

[gttouring]

first off- to restrict the cup cars more is silly, on a track where an accident at 200 or 198 mph will happen what is the 2 miles an hour?
ARCA was running 194 for pole, the upper mot series is going to run 191 for pole? blah! i bet the trucks today qualify at that speed.

ARCA ran there yesterday and good clean race till the end, JPM did awesome and would have won if the series Standard Frank Kimmel didn't need to win this for the fans more than anything- it was a fight between Wallace and Juan and they red falgged it with 20 or 19 to go bogus!-staged! conspiracy i say!
Juan would have won his Stock Car superspeedway debut, but that would not go over well

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by gttouring

first off- to restrict the cup cars more is silly, on a track where an accident at 200 or 198 mph will happen what is the 2 miles an hour?
ARCA was running 194 for pole, the upper mot series is going to run 191 for pole? blah! i bet the trucks today qualify at that speed.

ARCA ran there yesterday and good clean race till the end, JPM did awesome and would have won if the series Standard Frank Kimmel didn't need to win this for the fans more than anything- it was a fight between Wallace and Juan and they red falgged it with 20 or 19 to go bogus!-staged! conspiracy i say!
Juan would have won his Stock Car superspeedway debut, but that would not go over well

There have been Cup races called due to darkness at Talladega in the past, so I'm not so sure there's a big conspiracy lurking in the background

[rustyfan]

I'm currently listening to the MRN broadcast of the truck race (since I couldn't find a free one I signed up for the Trackpass trial), and the quality of the radio stream is simply pathetic. Why does it have to be so goddamn hard for NASCAR to provide a good, crystal clear feed? I remember listening to MRN a couple of years ago, via another site, and the feed was great and pretty much crystal clear.

Times like these I really, really dislike NASCAR, greedy *************, *********** sons of *******.

Ok, I'm done venting now.

[Knowlesy]

Wow, sounds a great debut for Juan Pablo. I should get hold of the race on DVD next week, so can't wait to see it!

What a man!

[muggle not]

It is always a conspiracy when it is your favorite driver involved.

[kingfloopy]

Too bad Martin decided to stay in Cup over the next 5 years. If he would stay with Roush in the truck series he would probably win the next 6 championships. Todd Bodine gains points in the championship. Hopefully he'll hold on until the end of the season he's more than earned a championship. Allmendinger also pulled off an excellent 5th place finish. I have a feeling we'll see more of him in stock cars in future.

Fin St Car Driver Make Sponsor Pts/Bonus Laps Status
1 1 #6 Mark Martin Ford Scotts Miracle-Gro 190/10 94 Running
2 12 #5 Mike Skinner Toyota Toyota Tundra 170/0 94 Running
3 19 #9 Ted Musgrave Toyota Team ASE/Germain Mtr Co. 170/5 94 Running
4 4 #30 Todd Bodine Toyota Lumber Liquidators 165/5 94 Running
5 25 #124 A J Allmendinger Toyota Bill Davis Racing 160/5 94 Running
6 14 #17 David Reutimann Toyota Toyota Tundra/NAPA 150/0 94 Running
7 2 #50 David Ragan Ford Roush Racing 146/0 94 Running
8 24 #59 Chad Chaffin Toyota K&L Chrome 142/0 94 Running
9 18 #33 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet Allstates Employer Services 138/0 94 Running
10 26 #85 Dennis Setzer Chevrolet Shell ROTELLA T 134/0 94 Running
11 5 #23 Johnny Benson Toyota Exide Batteries 135/5 94 Running
12 34 #77 Brendan Gaughan Dodge South Point Resort 127/0 94 Running
13 11 #10 Terry Cook Ford Power Stroke Diesel 124/0 94 Running
14 3 #18 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Dodge Fastenal 121/0 94 Running
15 10 #14 Rick Crawford Ford Circle Bar Truck Corral 118/0 94 Running
16 35 #1 Robert Richardson, II * Chevrolet WinYourMortgage.com 115/0 94 Running
17 30 #20 Marcos Ambrose * Ford Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards 112/0 94 Running
18 29 #88 Matt Crafton Chevrolet Menards/Energizer 109/0 94 Running
19 6 #99 Erik Darnell * Ford Northern Tool + Equipment 111/5 94 Running
20 21 #98 Erin Crocker * Dodge Cheerios/Betty Crocker 103/0 94 Running
21 13 #4 Chase Miller Dodge Dodge Motorsports 100/0 94 Running
22 31 #75 Aric Almirola * Chevrolet Spears Manufacturing 97/0 94 Running
23 8 #22 Bill Lester Toyota Bill Davis Racing 94/0 94 Running
23 22 #21 Bobby East * Ford State Fair Corn Dogs/Edy's Dibs 94/0 94 Running
24 9 #11 David Starr Toyota Red Horse Racing 91/0 94 Running
25 16 #16 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Xpress Motorsports 88/0 94 Running
26 15 #15 Mike Wallace Chevrolet GEICO 90/5 93 Accident
27 32 #40 Derrike Cope Chevrolet Key Motorsports 82/0 93 Accident
28 23 #46 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet U.S. Army 79/0 93 Running
29 27 #25 Boston Reid * Dodge Woodard Racing 76/0 85 Accident
30 28 #08 Chad McCumbee * Chevrolet The GPS Store/Garmin 78/5 78 Fuel Pump
32 33 #07 Sean Murphy * Chevrolet Akzo Nobel/ASI Ltd./Spectrum 72/5 50 Engine
33 7 #60 Jack Sprague Toyota Con-way Freight 64/0 40 Engine
34 20 #04 Scott Lagasse Jr. * Dodge Dodge Hemi 61/0 33 Engine
35 36 #103 Wayne Edwards Chevrolet Engine Parts Plus 58/0 4 Electrical
36 17 #13 Kerry Earnhardt * Chevrolet ThorSport Racing 55/0 4 Engine
* Denotes Rookie

[gttouring]

JPM is not my favorite, but he has great talent, "sophisticated type group exposure"(i.e. f1 interested fans, a whole country in South America and many others below the rio grande, and more international appeal) equipment- ran from back to front, got hit in an accident which would take out many other "nascar" drivers, and he save it like it was nothing, drafts a next gen hero to bring him to the front and a guy who was a lap down and racing ARCA for eons comes out of nowhere, and then they call it dark? how about a green white checker? 3 minutes wouldn't be the end of it...

[Knowlesy]

I cannot wait for this to get underway....

Pre race show had a bit of footage from Montoya's ARCA race, I can't wait to see it in full. Good interview with him too, happiest I've seen him in ages.

Hurry and start this race!

[Knowlesy]

I'm getting that spine tingle that you only get for the restrictor plate races!

[Fish_Flake]

Brian Vickers, in third, wrecks Dale Jr. and his teammate on the last lap of the race, and appears to be the winner. It's his first win, but no one's celebrating.

[kingfloopy]

Nextel Cup Spoilers





Race just got over. Brian Vickers won his first race after bumping teammate Jimmie Johnson on the last lap and causing him and Dale Jr. to wreck. Shame for Dale, I'd say after today Johnson is certainly out of the championship hunt. I'll be back once all the points stuff gets straightened out.

J.D.

[Fish_Flake]

Vickers is out of the 25 car at the end of the season. I don't think he'll last that long. In fact, considering that the Earnhardt's are saints at Talladega, I doubt he makes it out of the infield alive.