Sprint Cup 2012: Race 10 -- Talledega's Hot Plate Special

Talladega provides the most unusual of challenges where NASCAR looks for challenging ways to slow cars down ever since Bill Elliot’s 212 mph lap and Bobby Allison’s car launching like a rocket into the stands in the late 1980’s ushering in the restrictor plate era for the sport’s two longest tracks. Meanwhile, no matter what limitations are thrown at the competition, the teams always search for ways to out pace their competitors finding more speed up against the limits, the latest is the pop-off valve – a sneaky little innovation that is designed to punish excellence – as in two cars paring up together to blow away the field.

The big story as the Sprint Cup tour descends upon Talladega, Alabama for the Aaron’s 499 is one that will become increasingly louder until the feat is accomplished, car owner, Rick Hendrick’s, 200^th win with the subtext of when two of his all-star drivers, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will break their long winless streaks mindful that their last win was in Kansas, last October, with Jimmy Johnson. To that end, Jeff Gordon, one of Talladega’s most successful drivers sits on the pole for tomorrow’s contest. Kasey Kahne also has a top ten starting spot lining up in 5^th while Earnhardt in 18^th and Jimmy Johnson in 19^th will have to work through the field to put themselves in a position to win.

A.J. Allmendinger, surely the series’ best driver never to win a race, starts second in the Penske #22 Dodge while the rest of the top ten looks like a Ford feast with only Tony Stewart added to the top starters in the #14 Chevrolet in 8^th. Meanwhile, the “Blue Ovals” are dominating the top spots with Richard Petty’s drivers Marcos Ambrose and Aric Almirola in 3^rd and 4^th then the Roush in 6^th and 7^th, Biffle and Edwards. 10^th and 11^th are Fords too, Matt Kenseth and part-time Daytona 500 winner, Trevor Bayne. Michael Waltrip running one of his limited scheduled races gives Mark Martin the weekend off starting in 9^th as the top Toyota.

Another observation is that with 44 entries for 43 spots, how many entries are pure garbage that really don’t belong in the field – between the customary “start and park” rip-offs and some other extremely marginal teams, once again NASCAR shows a crying need to reduce the starting field to a more competitive number of entries. Certainly anywhere from five to ten reductions would make for a much more dynamic starting lineup with all teams either contenders or hard at work to sneak in a win. Considering the surge of the 1990’s and early 2000’s and that the 43 car starting line-up was not mandatory at all tracks until 1988, it is realistic that the sport dial back to what should assure the highest quality racing at the top level and even more so for the Nationwide Series which aside from moonlighting Sprint Cup rides, has only a handful of genuinely talented regulars, a field littered with “has been’s” and pathetic “wanna-be’s.”

Teams will be running with the cooling system pop-off valves designed to make cars overheat if they race in two car tandems just like what was done for the Daytona 500; however, much hotter weather could make this even more of an issue. Look for the big packs fans have come to expect at the great Indian burial ground.

Tomorrow’s entries line up as follows:

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED
1	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont 20 Years	191.624
2	22	AJ Allmendinger	Dodge	Shell / Pennzoil-AAA	191.111
3	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Stanley	191.039
4	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	Verifone Sail	190.981
5	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	Farmers Insurance	190.772
6	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M / O'Reilly Auto Parts	190.586
7	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Fastenal	190.586
8	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Office Depot / Mobil 1	190.476
9	55	Michael Waltrip	Toyota	Aaron's "Color your way to Talladega"	190.245
10	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Best Buy	190.200
11	21	Trevor Bayne	Ford	Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center	190.170
12	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target / Kraft	190.140
13	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Miller Lite	190.072
14	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats	190.064
15	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	189.958
16	26	Josh Wise*	Ford	Morristown Driver's Service	189.958
17	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Turtle Wax / Menards	189.906
18	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	National Guard / Diet Mountain Dew	189.864
19	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe's	189.797
20	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Rheem	189.785
21	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M's	189.691
22	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Express	189.680
23	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats	189.601
24	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	Aaron's / Alabama National Champions	189.556
25	13	Casey Mears	Ford	GEICO	189.477
26	38	David Gilliland	Ford	Taco Bell	189.354
27	30	David Stremme	Toyota	Stock Car Steel and Aluminum	189.331
28	32	Terry Labonte	Ford	C&J Energy	189.182
29	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	189.100
30	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	Dollar General	189.073
31	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row / Farm American	189.051
32	34	David Ragan	Ford	Front Row Motorsports	189.021
33	51	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction Services	188.984
34	10	David Reutimann	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing	188.902
35	98	Michael McDowell	Ford	Curb Records	188.630
36	97	Bill Elliott	Toyota	NEMCO Motorsports	188.171
37	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	AMFMEnergy.com / Pellet & Wood Stoves	188.012
38	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	Golden Corral	187.625
39	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	Toyota	North Texas Pipe	186.710
40	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper	186.293
41	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper	186.206
42	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	Bush's Baked Beans	185.790
43	33	Tony Raines	Chevrolet	Little Joe's Autos	186.529

J.J. Yeley, car #49 failed to qualify.