I usually don’t revisit results even though I just post the unofficial results as soon as possible after the race.  The reason why is usually, the finishing order remains the same from unofficial to official.  This is one of those rare occasions when there is a small change.  Simple enough explanation if you watched the NASCAR Sprint Cup Aaron’s 499 on Sunday.  The last lap crash was crazy further back in the field.  NASCAR had to review video and all of the scoring loop data to determine who was where when the caution came out because, remember, the field is frozen as soon as the yellow flag flies.  There is, surprisingly, only one change.  Sterling Marlin and Regan Smith were shown as 21st and 22nd in the unofficial results.  In the official results, they are flipped; Regan is 21st and Sterling is 22nd.  Not bad considering the mayhem that ensued on that final lap.  As expected, Talladega delivered another exciting weekend.

Yesterday’s Aaron’s 499 is only the second time that the Car of Tomorrow (CoT) has been at Talladega in competition and only the third time that it has been on a superspeedway.  Looking at the first two times, I’m not sure how much they really represented the CoT’s performance. 

At the Talladega race last October, everyone was curious as to what exactly to expect from the CoT.  Everyone seemed very content to run single file and just tick off laps.  It was, by all accounts, one of the most boring times that I’ve ever seen at Talladega.  I don’t know if it was the CoT, the fact it was a Chase race or what but it was just painful.  It epitomized what non-NASCAR fans say all the time about sitting and watching a bunch of cars drive around in a circle.

Fast-forward about four months to Daytona this year.  The CoT is here to stay, it’s the second plate race that the car has been in and the drivers and teams have had some more time to test and figure this car out.  It was a much better race, all the way down to when Kurt Busch pushed his teammate Ryan Newman past Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch like they were sitting still for the win at the tail end of the last lap.  Even then, I heard a lot complaints from people who were saying that the CoT wasn’t as fun to watch as the old car.  I enjoyed the heck out of Daytona this year.  Of course, I had been race deprived for about 3 months.  I do have to remind people, the CoT didn’t create boring races, we had plenty of them well before the CoT was ever thought about.

Now, here we are at Talladega again.  We’ve now had a eight straight races this season in the CoT.  Drivers and crews have shown that they’ve started figuring this car out.  Man, have they ever.  To anyone that called the race yesterday boring, I’d have to laugh and ask what they were expecting to see.  That was one of the most exciting races that I’d seen in quite a while, all they way down to the last lap crash.  I also ask, who amongst us that is a regular fan of Talladega, did not expect the last two crashes?  Talladega is well known for the "big one" and yesterday was no exception.

Now for the bad part.  I expect that the restrictor plate will be looked at back in Concord NC this week.  Several times during the race yesterday I saw cars running well over 200 mph.  Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin were running at between 204 and 206 mph at one point.  There is no way that NASCAR Tech will miss that.  I look for the plate to be resized in time for the July race at Daytona in an attempt to keep em below 200 mph.

Here’s a bit of trivia for you.  How fast can a car go around the track at Talladega without the plate?  In 2004, Rusty Wallace ran 228 mph during a test without a restrictor plate.  In the article, Rusty said that he felt that they could get 235 mph out of it with some tweaking.  The track qualifying record is held by Awesome Bill Elliott from back in 1987 for the Winston 500 where he qualified at 212.809 mph.  That was the race where Bobby Allison flew into the catch fencing injuring spectators after his car blew a tire and got backwards in the tri-oval, highlighting the need for the restrictor plate. 

According to a press release from Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Dario Franchitti will be sitting out the NASCAR Sprint Cup Aaron’s 499 Sunday.  Dario suffered a fractured left ankle during a lap 11 crash in the Nationwide Series, Aaron’s 312 on Saturday after his car blew a right-rear tire.  The search is on to find a substitute driver to sit in for Dario’s 43′d starting spot Tums Dodge for the Sunday Talladega race.

Dario was transported to the infield care center where he was sent on to Physicians Medical Center Carraway in Birmingham, where the slight fracture was further evaluated, treated and released.

In his twenty-third NASCAR Talladega start, Tony Stewart finally takes home a trophy from Talladega with his win of the Nationwide Series Aaron’s 312 Saturday.  Tony led 81 of the 117 laps and held off Dale Jr. for the win after an attempted a last-lap pass on the backstretch.

“I don’t care if it’s a bicycle race, I finally won a race at Talladega,” a beaming Stewart said. “I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight, I’m so excited. This is not like winning just any Nationwide race. To me, this is the biggest one I’ve had, to finally win at Talladega.”
 
“This place means a lot to me. Everybody knows how close I am to Red Farmer and Donnie Allison. It was important for me to win here in this state in front of people who I consider family, and we’re close like family. Now I can go to Red Farmer and Donnie Allison and say, ‘I finally won one here.’ ”

Here’s the rest of the finishing order.

Unofficial Race Results for the Aaron’s “312″ – Saturday, April 26, 2008

(Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Normally, a third place starting position isn’t particularly newsworthy but this is definitely an exception.  When the driver’s name is Ken Schrader and the car is the Haas CNC Racing number 70, that’s worth talking about.

Ken Schrader is one of my all time favorite drivers.  He, in all outward appearances, seems to be a genuinely nice person who loves the sport.  He has driven for some of the best known owners over the years in cars that weren’t always the most competitive but always managed to earn respectable finishes.  He races just about everything with wheels.  Shoot, I bet he even races shopping carts while out getting groceries.  Ken, Dale Jr. and Tony Stewart are also partners on the Paducah International Raceway which happens to be in my state of Kentucky.  I love that these drivers are taking an interest in preserving the Saturday night racing tradition that has produced so many of NASCAR’s star drivers over the years.  Most recently, Schrader was driving for BAM Racing which announced that due to some sponsor issues, they would not be returning to competition this season.  Glad to see that wasn’t the end of Kenny’s season as well.  If I were Haas CNC management, Kenny would be my new full-time driver.

When asked about the run, Kenny had this to say, “We knew we’d be pretty solid. Thought for sure top-10. And as times went on today, thought we might be better than top-10. We’re happy with it. It went the speed that we thought it would.”

Haas CNC Racing has been in the news quite a bit lately.  Most recently, Tony Stewart has been rumored to be going to Haas in some sort of an owner/driver deal.  So far, all parties involved deny the rumor has legs but it’s been the big story around the track this week.  Haas’ number 70 slipped out of the top 35 in owner points back after the Samsung 500 effectively ending Jeremy Mayfield’s ride for the year.  Haas let Jeremy go and has been filling the car with other drivers ever since.  With the car still outside of the top 35 so it’s a go or go home car every week.

Here’s the rest of the starting grid for the Aaron’s 499 in Talladega.

Failed to qualify, # 22 Dave Blaney; # 96 J.J. Yeley; # 34 John Andretti.

(Photo Credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Tony Stewart, the subject of this week’s biggest rumors and stories, took his winning Nationwide Daytona car on to claim the pole for today’s NASCAR Nationwide Aaron’s 312.  Tony turned a lap time of 51.676 seconds at 185.308 mph to claim his sixth Nationwide career pole.  Earlier in the year, Tony sat on the pole at the Nationwide Series opener in Daytona which, as you know, he went on to win.

Tony has yet to take the checkered at Talladega in Nationwide or Sprint Cup so this could be his weekend.  After a week when some doubted Tony’s future with Gibbs, he shared his confidence in JGR, “If you look at the effort of Joe Gibbs Racing every week in the Nationwide Series, they’ve been the car to beat whether it’s the 18 car or the 20 car,” Stewart said. “As an organization, I’m really proud of those guys.”  “Every race this year, the Joe Gibbs Racing cars have been fast. It’s a good feeling when you know you have a fast car as soon as you get to the track.”

I wonder, if it gets down to the last lap, Tony is in the lead and his teammate Kyle Busch is in second, would Tony let Kyle have it to make his Four-fer complete?  Na, of course not!!!

Driver introductions start at 1:30PM and the race is scheduled to start at 2:00PM.

Here’s the full starting grid: