Michael Waltrip Is On The Pole At Talladega!
Posted on Oct 06, 2007 - 9:49pm by Tim Wylder in NASCAR
This is a grrreat weekend for racing in Nascar Nextel Cup! Its also kinda sad for me because Nascar is at The Talladega Superspeedway, and I am not there. I only live about an hour and a half from there and usually go there at least once every year. We got rained out last year and couldn’t do it this year. But I will be glued to the television Sunday!
WHY SO MUCH HYPE FOR DEGA?
So many people claim that Daytona has the best restrictor plate racing but the only place to camp there is in the infield, and you better be loaded to afford that. There are acres and acres of camping at Talladega and free camping to boot! Although the free campground is a little wild at night, it’s still a great time.
At 2.66 miles long, the Talladega Superspeedway is longer than Daytona. There is room for four wide racing all the way around the track, unlike Daytona, try that in the tunnel turn at Daytona and see what you get? Daytona is all the glitz and glamor, the Superbowl of Nascar at the beginning of the season.
Talladega is to racing what the Winchester model 94 was to the old west. There is no other track like it. With speeds like the speed record still held by Bill Elliot at 212.809 miles per hour, it is the fastest track on the circuit. There is always the chance for the wreck they all call the big one at Talladega! This year will be no different I promise you! Today I watched the final practice for the Nextel Cup and saw a lot of moving around while in the draft. There were close calls happening during practice that you usually don’t see during practice. This is the first time you will see The Car of Tomorrow, on a super speedway. I think that the old slingshot move is back as I saw drivers getting a run on each other in the turns and were able to slingshot by. This will create a lot of excitement at 190 miles per hour.
Are there problems with the C.O.T. at Dega?
About the only problem that I saw during practice was that there were drivers having problems seeing the cars behind them due to the size of the “Greenhouse” or the interior of the car where the driver sits. There were a lot of teams working on mirrors for the driver to use inside the car today. Kasey Kahne’s radio audio during practice had us hearing the spotter telling the Kasey that there was a car two car lengths behind him. and Kasey couldn’t see him at all. This could cause problems at 190 mph on Sunday.
Qualifying
Michael Waltrip after a year fought with controversy, failures, and dashed hopes, Gets the pole at Talladega during Bud Pole Qualifying today. Michael put down a lap at 189.070 MPH, 50.648 seconds. So the Napa Toyota will lead them field of 43 to the green flag Sunday. Good going Napa Team!
Here Is how they will start Sunday.
1 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 189.070 50.648 Leader
2 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 188.839 50.710 -0.062
3 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 188.779 50.726 -0.078
4 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row Racing 188.471 50.809 -0.161
5 00 David Reutimann* Toyota Burger King 188.459 50.812 -0.164
6 127 Jacques Villeneuve Toyota UNICEF 188.215 50.878 -0.230
7 49 John Andretti Dodge Paralyzed Veterans of America 187.798 50.991 -0.343
8 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Pillsbury Food Service / Cheerios 187.284 51.131 -0.483
9 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 187.258 51.138 -0.490
10 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 187.119 51.176 -0.528
11 20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet The Home Depot 187.057 51.193 -0.545
12 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil 186.827 51.256 -0.608
13 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 186.816 51.259 -0.611
14 96 Tony Raines Chevrolet DLP HDTV 186.761 51.274 -0.626
15 88 Mike Wallace Ford M&M’s Halloween 186.692 51.293 -0.645
16 12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL 186.663 51.301 -0.653
17 18 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 186.467 51.355 -0.707
18 11 Denny Hamlin Chevrolet FedEx Ground 186.202 51.428 -0.780
19 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s 186.133 51.447 -0.799
20 16 Greg Biffle Ford Starz / Dish Network 186.014 51.480 -0.832
21 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility 185.956 51.496 -0.848
22 42 Juan Montoya* Dodge Texaco / Havoline 185.938 51.501 -0.853
23 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel’s 185.826 51.532 -0.884
24 7 Robby Gordon Ford Camping World
/ RVs.com 185.797 51.540 -0.892
25 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT 185.783 51.544 -0.896
26 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 185.783 51.544 -0.896
27 38 David Gilliland Ford M&M’s 185.725 51.560 -0.912
28 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 185.625 51.588 -0.940
29 25 Casey Mears Chevrolet National Guard / GMAC 185.542 51.611 -0.963
30 15 Paul Menard* Chevrolet PEAK / Menards 185.463 51.633 -0.985
31 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 185.323 51.672 -1.024
32 66 Jeff Green Chevrolet Garmin / Best Buy 185.212 51.703 -1.055
33 40 David Stremme Dodge Coors Light 185.061 51.745 -1.097
34 24 Jeff Gordon+ Chevrolet Pepsi / DuPont 185.051 51.748 -1.100
35 26 Jamie McMurray+ Ford IRWIN Vise-Grip GrooveLocks 184.918 51.785 -1.137
36 5 Kyle Busch+ Chevrolet Kellogg’s / CARQUEST 184.890 51.793 -1.145
37 29 Kevin Harvick+ Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 184.726 51.839 -1.191
38 01 Aric Almirola+ Chevrolet U.S. Army 184.626 51.867 -1.219
39 70 Johnny Sauter+ Chevrolet Radioactive Energy Drink 184.580 51.880 -1.232
40 21 Ken Schrader+ Ford Motorcraft 184.193 51.989 -1.341
41 2 Kurt Busch+ Dodge Miller Lite 186.416 51.369 -0.721
42 6 David Ragan+* Ford AAA Travel 185.255 51.691 -1.043
43 44 Dale Jarrett Toyota UPS 187.658 51.029 -0.381
You notice that there are five Toyota’s in the top ten? Hmmm,could be interesting Sunday! Television coverage starts at 1 P.M. eastern time Sunday. Don’t miss this one!
Stay safe out there!
P.S here is a shot from my seats last year.
Did I Jinx It! Carl Edwards Again?
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I’m expecting the Toyotas to fade almost immediately, until they have time to adjust the cars. They were all running qualifying setups and this is an impound race.
At least they are in.
Well, Michael didn’t fade too bad. looks like he ran with the big dogs until he got wrecked. Not too bad of a showing for the Toyota’s. Look for my recap in the next hour or so.
You’re right – he did pretty well. It’s starting to look like JGR might have made a good move after all.
It may have been a cruddy year for Toyota but I predict that they will get to be a dominant force just like they came to be in the truck series. Now with the car of tomorrow,which is a much closer animal than the old car, they are that much closer to getting it right. The power band in their engines was the main problem in the begining of the season. I knew that when they got that figured out, they would start to show some real progress.