All bets are off as Chase makes annual stop at Talladega

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In days gone by, Talladega Superspeedway's second race each NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season was held in late July, with impressive competition meeting oppressive heat. Seeking to enhance the first but lose the second, NASCAR moved the event to October.

Then, starting in 2004, things got hotter than ever.

Credit the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR's playoff-style championship-deciding format that encompasses the last 10 races of the season. When the format was instituted in '04 it placed tempestuous Talladega in the middle of the mix.

Sunday's AMP Energy 500 is Race 4 in the 2008 "Chase." As always, the only thing predictable about Talladega is the track's unpredictability.

Credit the banking of 33 degrees in the turns.

Or maybe the overall track length of 2.66 miles, conducive to serious speed.

And don't forget the close-quarters racing resulting from carburetor restrictor plates that reduce horsepower and put a premium on handling, drafting — and teamwork. Or in lieu of teamwork, cooperation between non-teammates.

Talladega's tough — particularly on drivers who roll into town leading the Chase standings. In the four years of the Chase thus far, only once has the leader coming into Talladega been the leader leaving town — Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Mobility Chevrolet) in 2006. And that was a close call; Burton's lead was sliced to six points after a 27th-place race finish. He ended up a disappointing seventh in the final point standings.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet) has five Talladega wins to his credit. Earnhardt, eighth in points and in need of a late-season rally, isn't convinced a big points shake-up is inevitable this week.

But that's not to say he would be surprised.

"[This race] has the potential to do that," Earnhardt said.

"It's going to be tough to gain on everyone in this race. It will be tough for it to really jumble up the points. I think you just have to try to win the race.

'the only way to really gain points on anybody right now, for anybody who's outside of the top five in points, is to be first when the checkered flag falls."

Earnhardt's five Talladega wins happened between 2001-04, part of an overwhelming Chevrolet dominance at the track this decade. Since the start of the 2000 season Chevrolet drivers have won 15 of 17 races there. The two exceptions: Dale Jarrett's victory in a Ford, in the 2005 fall race and Kyle Busch's win in the No. 18 Pedigree Toyota this past April.

Current series points leader Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe's/KOBALT Chevrolet) has one of those Chevrolet victories since 2000 — in the spring 2006 race.

The two drivers immediately behind him in the points — second-place Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford) and Greg Biffle (No. 16 DISH Network Ford) — have average Talladega finishes of 24th and 25th, respectively.

— Source: NASCAR

Dale Earnhardt Jr. talks about the legacy of racing at Talladega Superspeedway

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— Source: NASCAR

Jeff Gordon talks about running in a pack at Talladega

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— Source: NASCAR

Watch the newscast from Kansas

Q&A with Kyle Busch's crew chief Steve Addington

The Q&A was done by Associated Press Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer

Q: What has it been like to work with Kyle this year?
SA: Coming into it, I heard all the stuff about him. But he’s a competitor. When he sits down and is with the guys, having a good time, it’s been awesome. When he’s pushing you at the race track to make his car better, that’s something a guy dreams of — to have a driver who wants to be better. People go `But he beats you up on the radio!’ Well, I want to win this thing, too. So if you take that personally, you are in the wrong business. I love the kid and all my guys love him.

Q: So he’s not the nightmare everyone thinks he is?
SA: I don’t think so. He’s been a breath of fresh air for this race team.

Q: What’s Kyle like on a good day?
SA: Oh, laughing, cutting up, saying off the wall stuff on the radio, talking to (spotter, Jeff) Dickerson on the radio about getting In-N-Out burgers after the race. When he’s in a good mood and having a good time, it don’t get any better.

Q: What’s he like on a bad day?
SA: You leave him alone, let him be by himself and try to work through it. You can try to pick him up a little bit, but he’s one of those guys who, he has his personality and you have to take it with a grain of salt. He don’t say much to people when he’s not in a good mood. But he comes around.

Q: What’s been the highlight of this season?
SA: There’s been a lot. Winning the (July) Daytona race was cool. And the Chicago race, because he had given up and was on the radio saying `How many races does Jimmie Johnson give away? None. How many races does Kyle Busch give away? A lot.’ And then he just got up on the steering wheel and wanted it, so from what Dickerson said on the radio to him and Kyle coming back to win that race, that was pretty awesome. But Daytona, speedway races, you put a car out there and it’s driver and watching him work is just amazing. Plus, it was my birthday, so that was a cool race, too.

Q: The lowlight of the season?
SA: Loudon. That’s a place that we’ve struggled and we made some changes and I think we went in the right direction and never got a chance to see, and it was the start of the Chase. We had talked about having a good race to start it, so to have that happen 15 laps into the race, that was devastating.

Q: Kyle said a driver and crew chief are like a husband and wife. So, is Kyle like a spouse to you?
SA: I guess in the sense that he tells you what he wants, and then he’s gone and you don’t hear from him for a long time, that’s pretty good. And then when you want to talk to him about something, he’s busy. We text at night before the race a lot, because he won’t talk on the phone, but he’ll text you all night. You’ve got to have a good relationship, and I think we show each other a lot of respect.

Q: The 18 team struggled for several years before this season. What’s it been like to watch your guys experience success?
SA: We knew we’ve got good equipment, we knew we we’re putting a good product out there, and we knew we were missing one piece of the puzzle. But there were guys questioning it when he came in, wondering if our stuff was good enough because he’d been driving really good (Hendrick Motorsports) cars. Some guys were worried and really nervous about it. I told them `Don’t worry about it, if they aren’t good enough, we’ll go to work.’ The Atlanta test (last October) was the best thing that ever happened to this race team because he ran eight laps and said `Load it,’ and that right there, it was like a ton of bricks off everyone’s shoulders.

Q: Is this team ready to win a championship?
SA: I’ve asked myself that a lot, because they’ve never been in this position. So you ask yourself if you are really prepared for it. I think with what they proved they can do all year long, I think they are as ready as anybody. They never showed me anything any different. I don’t know if there’s pressure in the back of their minds, because they’ve never showed it. They are as ready as anybody.

Fantasy Report: Camping World RV 400

NASCAR makes its third stop of the Chase for the Cup this week at Kansas Speedway. This week could define Kyle Busch's chances for a rebound to the top or if he'll be 'dust in the wind.' I could also be in the dust if I continue to have bad runs week after week. Lets hope this time around I will rebound on my fantasy position. Lets take a look at our picks for the week.

Erik's picks:

Jeff Gordon✔, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman✔, Jamie McMurray✔, Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr., Travis Kvapil✔ and Scott Riggs.

Brandon's picks:

Carl Edwards✔, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle✔, Mark Martin✔, Martin Truex Jr., David Ragan, David Reutimann✔ and Joey Logano.

HENDRICK TRACK: If you still have them as active drivers Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson might not be a bad move. Johnson has held the pole position twice at Kansas. Gordon has two wins in his career at this young track. The first Sprint Cup race was ran here in 2001.

BOWYER: Clint Bowyer is on my roster this week for one reason: his stats at Kansas Speedway. Although, he only has two starts at the track he has an average start of 8th and an average finish of 5th. That seems like pretty good odds and I need a gamble to try to move myself up in the fantasy standings.

NOT IN THE CHASE: If history repeats itself, look to move some drivers on your roster that are not in the Chase this year. Since NASCAR has started running Chase races at Kansas (four of them to be exact) three of the winners were not competing for the Cup.

That's it for this week … Good luck!

Fantasy Report: Camping World RV 400 presented by AAA

This week NASCAR rolls into Dover for the second race of the Chase. The Monster Mile is a tricky track for most but some drivers are historically good and bad here and that's advantageous to Fantasy team owners. Our picks for this week:

Brandon’s picks:
Carl Edwards✔, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin✔, Greg Biffle✔, David Ragan, Martin Truex Jr., Travis Kvapil✔ and David Reutimann.

Erik’s picks:
Jimmie Johnson✔, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman✔, Jamie McMurray✔, Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr., David Reutimann✔ and Travis Kvapil.

Safe bets: Two names come to mind this week: Concrete Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch. After a dismal finish at Louden you can bet that Busch will be coming to Dover with something to prove. Busch won the Dover race earlier this year. Also, Edwards didn't get the nickname Concrete Carl from being bad on concrete tracks. I think he'll cruise into victory lane this weekend if he can stay out of trouble.

Worth a shot: Truex is also very good at Dover. He has an avg. finish of 9.6 for the last 5 years there and this weekend should be no different. Kvapil finished 11th there earlier this year and he's about as good of a C pick as you can get this weekend. Also, Martin steps back into the #8 this weekend and has been strong here in the past with 4 wins.

Battle of the bloggers: Things are heating up in the battle between your two humble narrators. After a great weekend at Louden I've pulled ahead of Team Clorox Disinfecting Wipes by 6 points. Since the first place team in our league is 355 points ahead of me, and we've all but come to the conclusion that he can't lose, it's turned into more of a fight between everyone else in the top 10. I'm currently in 4th and Erik is in 5th. One thing's for sure: regardless of the fact that neither Erik or I most likely won't win the league there are still bragging rights up for grabs as to who finishes best. Break a leg Erik!

Same blog, different name

The Anniston Star racing blog is now known as "Star Racing." Be sure to update your bookmarks! The correct URL is now http://starracing.blogspot.com.

Fantasy Report: Sylvania 300

It is finally here. The Chase for the Cup starts this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to crown the next NASCAR champion. Anything is possible but I don’t see the trophy going to anyone other than Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards or Jimmie Johnson. With Busch being strong at almost every track it is going to be hard to take the top spot away from him. Enough with speculation let's look at our picks.

Erik's picks:

Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr., David Reutimann and Scott Riggs.

Brandon's picks:

Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, David Ragan, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano and David Reutimann

Every point counts: It is late in the fantasy season and every point counts. Even a few points from qualifying can move closer to the competitor ahead of you. If you want some possible qualifying points consider putting Ryan Newman on your roster. He has a total of four poles and holds the qualifying record at New Hampshire.

Where they start: I try to stick with the drivers I believe are strongest at a particular track regardless of there starting position. I might look at that differently this week. Fourteen of the last twenty-seven victories have been won from a top ten starting position. If you have a driver that qualifies high it might be wise to stick with them even if they might not be high in the standings.

Tonight's Top 12 list

To kick off this year's chase, just like last year, the 12 drivers involved in the playoff went to New York City. One of their stops included The Late Show with David Letterman.

This isn't the first year they've done this. See below for past year's lists.

Here is the Top 12 list ... Top 12 perks of being a NASCAR driver



From 2006 (when it was just 10 drivers.)



From 2007 (the list starts around 2:29)



And this has nothing to do with the Chase, but it's Dale Earnhardt doing the Top 10 list after his first Daytona 500 win.

Fantasy Report: Chevy Rock & Roll 400

Saturday night will determine those who make the Chase. You can bet that those right outside the top 12 will be on a mission. Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Burton have already clinched a spot in the Chase. It will be interesting to see how far some, specifically Clint Bowyer, David Ragan and Kasey Kahne, will be willing to push it to get a shot at a championship. Our picks:

Brandon’s picks:
Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards✔, David Ragan✔, Greg Biffle✔, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, AJ Allmendinger✔ and Joey Logano.

Erik’s picks:
Jimmie Johnson✔, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle✔, Jamie McMurray✔, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Travis Kvapil✔ and Scott Riggs.

Good finishers: Busch has the best overall finish of any driver at Richmond — you can bet that he'll be one to watch Saturday even though he's never been to victory lane here. Johnson, who swept both races last year, and Denny Hamlin, who led most of the laps this spring and has 2 wins here, could really give Kyle a run for his money. Don't forget how well Carl Edwards has done this year. Jeff Gordon has 3 wins here but I'm reluctant to put him in these days. He's had 5 poles and 2 wins here in the past but has been awfully unpredictable this year. Don't forget that you can put Martin in this weekend. He's had lots of success at Richmond.

Play it safe: Don't forget that we're getting closer and closer to the end of the season. Don't take any wild chances at this point unless you're like the first place guy in our league and have a commanding lead. The only chance I'm taking is possibly putting Ragan in. He's a young relative-newcomer and trying desperately to get into the Chase. However, he seems seasoned beyond his years and I think that he can handle the pressure ... assuming he doesn't start racing with Bowyer, who won in the spring.

Of note: The Chevy Rock & Roll 400 will mark Joey Logano's first Cup race — assuming he qualifies. I didn't notice him when first picking my drivers because he was at the very bottom of the C list. I decided to replace Reutimann with him. There's no telling how he'll do but if he qualifies well I'm going to give him a shot. This goes against my idea of 'playing it safe' but this kid has proven himself in other series. Keep an eye out for Joey in the #02 Home Depot car to shake things up.

Good luck and stay out of the wall!