Talladega Redux: Run, rabbits, run

  

  
Carl Edwards flipping at Talladega, as Ryan Newman, in flames, rolls on. Think Tony Stewart realizes this might well have been his fate at Talladega last fall if Regan Smith had held his line? (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

  
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   RICHMOND, Va.
   Clint Bowyer, in remarkable candor Friday, said essentially NASCAR had only itself to blame for the race-ending crash at Talladega Sunday: "If they had let Regan Smith beat Tony Stewart last fall at Talladega, then that wreck Sunday wouldn't have happened," Bowyer said.
   NASCAR, in a controversial call, ruled Smith's pass of Stewart illegal because he had to go below the yellow out of bounds line. And even though Smith beat Stewart to the line, NASCAR ruled Stewart the winner and penalized Smith back to 18th.
   So when Brad Keselowski was faced Sunday with the same situation as Smith, he didn't go below the line, he held his ground, and the result was a dramatic crash in which Carl Edwards car nearly went into the grandstands. And Keselowski has pointed to NASCAR's call in the Smith-Stewart finish as a big part of his race thinking.
   Naturally Talladega is the hot topic here, on the eve of Saturday's 400.
   Bowyer said if he were in the same situation as Edwards was at Talladega, trying to beat Keselowski, "I would do the same thing Carl did. 
   "You're trying to do everything you can -- watch the mirror, block up or down, be ready for whichever way he goes.
    "I talked to Carl, and he said he saw him (Brad) jump high and then low, and he tried to come down low, and it was just too late.
    "Unfortunately that's just the nature of the beast.
    "I don't think there's a rule change or anything you could possibly do to possibly fix that scenario.
    "I think if Regan Smith would have won that race instead of Tony Stewart the year before, that wreck Sunday wouldn’t have happened… and Brad probably still would have won."
  
   Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, responding to the many Talladega crashes last Sunday, are suggesting two minor changes they say might make racing safer at NASCAR's biggest track: slowing the speeds, with a smaller restrictor plate, and a slight change in the design of the rear spoiler, to keep these cars from cutting such a big hole in the air for trailing cars to draft up into.
      "I think that's an easy change for them," Johnson says. "Jeff brought it up to me on the ride up today. I think he's right. I think that would be a very smart move.
    "We may get some criticism that there's not as many passes and passes for the lead, but we've seen it's gone a little too far, and we need to back off of it so. So I think that's a great idea."
   Johnson, like many drivers here for Saturday's 400, said if nothing changes, then there's probably no way to an incident similar to the last-lap crash involving Edwards and Keselowski, in which Edwards' block on Keselowski's pass for the win triggered one of the most frightening crashes in several years at Talladega.
   If you were in the same situation as Edwards, on the last lap of the next restrictor plate race at Talladega, what would you do?, Johnson was asked.
    "Really, the same thing," Johnson replied. "Carl did everything that he could.
    "He could have maybe anticipated Brad's move to the bottom and tried to be in front of him through that, and he would have just gotten pushed on the rear bumper.
    "Or maybe understanding a little more communication with the spotter, or the mirror.
   "But it's really tough in either condition because it happens so fast.
    "But to know that you're beaten and not block it…..
    "It's the last lap…and every other time we've seen that happen, the guy runs below the yellow line, and it's worked out for the leaders.
    "There are some small things that could have changed, but I think on both sides those guys did all that they could to win the race.
    "I don't really see a lot of fault in either situation.
     "It's unfortunate the car got in the fence and people were injured, but in making a split second decision, both guys did pretty much everything right."
   However, with seven fans injured, and the possibility of serious injury to both Edwards and Ryan Newman, and possibly others, would seem to indicate that something needs to be changed, to change the dynamics of the situation.
   Keselowski says his only advice to NASCAR would be this: "Build higher fences, and let us race."
   Indeed, higher fences and higher grandstands might be a perfectly logical solution. Building grandstands, after all, is really pretty inexpensive.
   NASCAR officials spent part of Friday here behind closed doors, presumably debating how to deal with the Talladega fallout.
   Accentuating the situation – Tuesday's death of noted motorsports journalist David Poole, whose last column, written just hours before his death, ripped NASCAR for not doing a better job at Talladega, and sternly suggested "change the track."
   "Will it take a death for Talladega to change?" Poole asked.
   Certainly there has been no shortage of dramatic crashes at Talladega since it opened in 1969 – ironically to a major driver boycott over safety issues.
    Everyone well remembers Bobby Allison's 1987 crash at Talladega. But in 1993 Neil Bonnett had a similar crash:
  
  
Click HERE to view Bonnett's incident

   So what next?
   Everyone here is waiting for NASCAR executives to make the next move.
   "We all want a good solution for this," Johnson says.
   "But the reason we're in this position is because of the restrictor plates, and because the track is so fast and forgiving.
    "I guess it really starts with the fact that the track is so fast and forgiving that led to restrictor plates, and now we're all in a group running together.
    "We know what the bump-draft does now. And as Jeff pointed out, we're going up through the middle on those tracks now (three-wide, instead of two-side).
    "We (meaning NASCAR) can make some adjustments to make the cars not draft as easily, and maybe not have as much closing speed…. so we'll have less opportunity to bump-draft, and less opportunity to have the surges that we do that cause some of the wrecks.
    "But we're still going to run around in a pack, three or four-wide all day long, and cause big wrecks, as long as there is a restrictor plate.
   "The only way to get around that is to take some tractors over there and knock down the corners and make them flat, to where we have to lift.
    "That's the only way you get around it.
    "I don't think the fans want to see that. I don't think Daytona and NASCAR want to tear down the race tracks and start over.
   "So I think we'll end up with a package (smaller restrictor plate and different rear spoiler) where you have less opportunity to slingshot and pass, and less opportunity to close and bump-draft.
   "And we'll have less passing.
    "It would kind of be back to what we had with the old car, where we were under criticism that there wasn't enough passing. But it was safer at that point.
    "So there really isn't a happy medium.
    "Everybody is trying really hard. So it's hard to put blame on anyone that it's their problem, when it's really the circumstances that we're working with.
   "The cars now are, by design, bigger and boxier on purpose. They (NASCAR) want the lead car to punch a huge hole in the air so that the rest of the cars can keep up.
    "But in the race it's hard to understand what circumstances are going to develop and how fast the cars will go."
    In fact speeds entering turn three at Talladega Sunday were a surprising 203 to 205 mph, much quicker than anticipated.
    "With the tall wicker (the tiny leading edge of the rear spoiler, which catches air and holds it on the rear deck, improving downforce, but creating a bigger hole in the air for the trailing car to suck up into), and how big and boxy the car is, when one car gets 'inside' that other car  -- you're in that (air) pocket, and there's so much less drag on your car.
   "And now I mean you're truckin'.
    "By design, they wanted to create a slingshot and mores passes for the lead. But looking back on it now, that may be what caused the problem at Talladega.
    "I was a part of all the testing when they were trying to figure out the (plate-and-aerodynamic) package to start with… and it's very important to them to have a good show.
   "That's why the COT (car of tomorrow) is here.
    "There are some growing pains with the car… and not only with the car but the drivers -- learning how to manipulate the way the cars work."