Major tornado outbreak predicted for Saturday in Alabama, but Talladega and NASCAR play it cool

  Sprint Cup drivers didn't waste any time getting right down to it Friday, and some of it got rough. Bad weather is predicted for Saturday, which could wipe out qualifying for Sunday's Aaron's 499  (Photo: Toyota)

   (Updated)

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

  TALLADEGA, Ala.
   NASCAR officials are facing not only a high-speed dilemma at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend but now the National Weather Service is issuing a major storm warning:
   "TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA ON SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT...A STRONG STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING THE POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND TORNADOES TO CENTRAL ALABAMA STARTING SATURDAY MORNING IN THE WEST AND LASTING THROUGH MIDNIGHT SATURDAY NIGHT IN THE EAST.  THIS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE A MAJOR TORNADO OUTBREAK ACROSS ALL OF CENTRAL ALABAMA...AS WELL AS A LARGE PORTION OF THE SOUTHEAST. ON TOP OF THIS...THERE WILL BE THE THREAT OF ANY TORNADO THAT FORMS TO BE RAIN-WRAPPED...WHICH MEANS IT COULD BE VERY DIFFICULT TO SEE...EVEN CLOSE UP. NOW IS THE TIME TO PREPARE FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF TORNADOES AND OTHER SEVERE WEATHER. REVIEW THE SAFETY RULES AND PUT YOUR PRE-DETERMINED SAFETY PLAN INTO ACTION!"
   Grant Lynch, the track president, held three meetings Friday with various police and emergency teams here, and after talks with weather officials said NASCAR events would continue on schedule Saturday. Lynch pointed out that 45,000 to 50,000 fans were already at the track, most camping or in RVs.
   Tornadoes aren't unusual around here, of course. In 1991 a particularly severe batch rolled through.
   However this particular weather system has been described as unusually nasty.
  
  

  

  The satellite Friday afternoon shows bad weather heading toward Alabama. Those big red blobs don't look good. (Photo: NOAA)

Sunday, however, should be clear....though if the weather is that severe there could certainly be other issues.
   Out on the track drivers expressed some frustration with their cars and the new flat-blade rear spoiler and engine restrictor plate combination, some describing it as too conservative, asking for more power.
   However speeds are already pretty darned fast, nearly 200 mph in a full lap, and well over 200 in the draft. How fast a car might 'suck up' in the draft was unclear; that's typically where the fastest speeds are seen, in 'closing rates.'
   NASCAR officials have raised the possibility of tweaking the rules before the 500, but it's unclear what they might be thinking.
   Car owner Jack Roush, after Friday's two practice sessions, said "I think it's a big disappointment to everyone how draggy their cars are, and how they don't accelerate.
   "Now when we get that big (43-car) pack this may all be just where it needs to be. We haven't done that yet.
   "Right now there's not the impression that it's any better than it was (before the various aerodynamic and engine rules changes).
   "There is some anxiety about how draggy everything is."
   Which means: "You probably have a worse chance of losing the draft than normal....and less opportunity of sucking up than normal.
   "They're using a small restrictor plate than they tested with down here, because they thought they were going too fast."
   

   

   Ryan Newman got tagged in the draft and was forced to a 500 backup: "Tired of being the one getting hit....I guess I will just start driving into everybody like they do me and see if I can turn somebody else around...." (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

   

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he hit 213 mph at the end of the backstretch in the March test.
    Jeff Burton was Friday's fastest overall, clocked in a full-lap draft at 199.467 mph. Kyle Busch and Sam Hornish said that backstretch speeds were probably 205 mph Friday, less than California Speedway's 209 mph.
   Goodyear said its tires were in good shape. How fast are these tires rated? "As fast as these cars can go," Goodyear's Rick Heinrich said.
   What might NASCAR do? "They could go to a lower angle on the rear spoiler....or they could go to a larger restrictor plate...or they could do nothing," Roush said.
   Fellow car owner Richard Childress, who heads the teams that Burton, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer drive for, conceded these cars, with this new rear spoiler, carry more drag than anticipated: "But 198-199 mph is pretty fast too....."
  So what should NASCAR do? "I'll let the pros in the NASCAR trailer handle that," Childress said.
 
 

 Car owner Jack Roush (L, with Carl Edwards) says NASCAR faces a delimma on the track (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
 

 The drivers themselves?
    Greg Biffle: "It's going to be a crazy race Sunday. The closing rate is very, very fast. Two cars can hook up and get away from the field. It will be challenging."
    And Biffle pointed to another issue: the 'pusher' in a two-car draft can't see in front of the car just ahead: "How are guys going to slow down quickly enough. You have no visibility in front of the car in front row, so you don't know what's going on ahead when your pushing someone."
   One reason for the changes, particularly in the rear spoiler apparently, was Carl Edwards' airborne flip in this race one year ago.
   Jeff Gordon: "You always know, if you get turned around, there is a very good chance you'll go airborne. 
    "The cars are still extremely safe, even in those situations. (But) I like the fact that they have taken a step toward really eliminating that as much as possible. 
     "It's not going to be eliminated, no matter what, when we're doing the speeds we're doing -- the cars are still going to be able to get airborne in the perfect storm, I guess. 
     "It's not that I want to see it tested, but I guess all of us are anxious to know how much of a change it is going to make. 
     "Just the drag itself (from the flat-blade rear spoiler now being used) slows the car down so much faster as it's spinning. That's the biggest thing I feel NASCAR is looking at. It's not so much as when the cars turn backwards how the air is flown over the car, as it is just how much the car slows down faster as it's starting to spin."
    And Edwards himself? He was leading the last lap here and trying to block Brad Keselowski on the frontstretch with only half a mile to go, when the key wreck occurred.
   "Nothing teaches you like a little pain...and that wreck was painful for a number of reasons," Edwards said.
    Blake Bobbitt, the woman who was injured by debris in that incident, is back for this one. Edwards and his sponsor, Aflac, have reached out to her to be a guest this weekend.
    So what might Edwards do if the same situation comes up again this time? After all, that's not an unusual situation at this track. Edwards first blocked high, then blocked low; but Keslowski didn't back off.
    In retrospect "The only way I could have defended myself better in that situation is to either not block or wait longer to block," Edwards says.
    "Maybe if I wouldn't have blocked the first way and let him go on the outside we could have had a different race to the end.
    "But those are split-second decisions. You're looking at the checkered flag. I hoped for the best and I got the worst."

 
 
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 Dale Earnhardt Jr. gives Joey Logano a push-draft in the Talladega trioval (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)