Race 9 - Aaron's 499

Aaron's 499
It's always been said that the greatest equalizer in NASCAR is small, square piece of metal known as the restrictor-plate. Instituted after Bobby Allison's frightening 1987 crash at Talladega Superspeedway in an effort to curb speeds, the restrictor-plate cuts horsepower to reduce speeds and in turn, levels the playing field. Used at only Daytona International Speedway and the aforementioned Talladega racetrack, fans watch the 43 cars run 3 or 4 abreast for 500 miles in a tight pack, often separated by under a second and a half. This thrilling spectacle leads to the massive yet fantastic crashes and incredible finishes typical of "plate tracks", but also allows poorly-funded race teams to have a chance to steal the spotlight from the large, multi-car NASCAR dynasties of today. It's a true David vs. Goliath affair when NASCAR arrives at Daytona and Talladega, as each and every team in the garage knows they are capable of pulling into Victory Lane.

The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was at Talladega today, almost 20 years to the day of Allison's history-changing accident. Carl Edwards won the pole for the 9th race of the 2007 season and led the 43-car field to the green flag. True to recent history, it did not take long for the "big one" to strike. Entering turn 3 of just the second lap of the race, Johnny Sauter got turned by Jason Leffler into Jeremy Mayfield and the three caromed into the outside SAFER barrier. 13 other cars soon piled in, spinning wildly out of control, but surprisingly, just 2 cars were eliminated from the incident. Rookie Jon Wood led the field to the green flag on lap 7, and the field settled into the three-wide pattern once again, until another wreck stopped racing. On lap 15 in the exact same spot, Kyle Busch, Elliott Sadler, and Jeff Burton hooked fenders, triggering a 7 car accident. The real damage, however, was done as cars slowed after racing back to the line. As the field checked up, cars near the back of the pack started piling into one another, with Wood, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Todd Kluever, Dave Blaney, Matt Kenseth, Edwards, Kurt Busch, Joe Nemechek, Casey Mears, and Jeremy Mayfield all finding themselves with moderate to severe cosmetic damage.

Despite two large green flag incidents and one brutal wreck during a caution period, the frantic racing near the front of the pack did not stop. On lap 32, the third caution came out when leader Reed Sorenson was unable to avoid the slower lapped traffic of Scott Riggs, and sent the #91 spinning into Sadler. Luckily, those three drivers were the only ones involved, and the leaders soon settled into a groove.

Journeyman Derrike Cope led the field to the green flag for the lap 38 restart, and the next long chunk of green flag racing saw lead changes almost every lap. The multitude of slow, lapped traffic racing together in groups slowed the pace of leaders, and fans didn't see the typical large pack racing they've become accustomed to at Talladega. By lap 51, the lead pack of cars was down to 9 drivers, and by lap 81, just 3 - Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, and Clint Bowyer. 13 cars remained on the lead lap however, within striking distance should a caution come out. Biffle, meanwhile, swapped the lead back in forth with Johnson and Bowyer, until his engine went sour while in the top spot. 4 laps later the caution came out, presumably to clean up excess oil in the apron that was too close to the racing surface.

Bowyer led at the lap 119 green flag, followed by Kevin Harvick, Johnny Benson, Johnson, Jamie McMurray, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Cope, Brian Vickers, Tony Stewart, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Those 10 drivers repeatedly dueled over the next stint, although it dropped to a 9 car pack when Earnhardt Jr. lost a motor on lap 146 while running 4th. Eventually, that lead pack thinned out as well, with just Vickers, Harvick, Johnson, Bowyer, Stewart, and Cope remaining near the top of the scoring pylon with 30 laps to go. However, Bowyer and Harvick, RCR teammates, were on a different pit strategy and were forced to come to pit road to top off their fuel on laps 167 and 168, respectively. Those two would never contend again, as a caution for Ken Schrader's blown engine on lap 172 pinned them at the tail end of the lead lap for the lap 176 restart.

With 13 to go, the Toyotas of McMurray and Hamilton Jr. led, followed by the Chevys of Stewart, Johnson and Vickers, the Dodge of Cope, and the other Toyota of Benson. The top 7 once again went into a flurry of position changes, eager to set up their position for the final lap. However, Hamilton Jr. was forced to top off fuel with 4 to go and McMurray with 3 to go as Benson took the lead as the only Toyota remaining in the lead pack. Lapped traffic of Mike Bliss, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, and Clint Bowyer kept pace with the leaders, and with the exception of Gordon, were battling for position, creating an interesting subplot as the leaders attempted to negotiate their way through them.

Benson, however, could not hold on to the lead, as Vickers used the draft of Bliss' Chevy to take the lead with 2 to go. However, Tony Stewart was right there, and remained in the draft of the #25 until making the slingshot pass for the lead approaching the white flag. In the draft of Stewart were Cope and Benson, and the three drivers held their feet to the floor the final 2.667 miles. With lapped traffic behind them, it was a 3 driver show, but Goliath was able to triumph in the end, as Stewart held off the underdogs of Cope and Benson to win his 2nd race of 2007!

Full Results:


Point Standings:



Owner Standings:

Even in NR2003, Talladega is unpredictable! I mean, who here expected two underfunded cars to compete for victory on the final lap??

bobbyricky62, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I've tinkered with equipment ratings for plate races in the past in order to equalize the field more, but I didn't do any tinkering for this race and clearly I didn't need to. I think the best part is that the unpredictability of plate racing was even evident in qualifying. The race I posted above was my second attempt for the event, the first one only lasted 20-something laps before the game crashed, but Aric Almirola qualified 6th for that one with no ratings adjustments, which really contrasts a lot with his 41st-best effort in the race that counted.

bsoyuz, just for clarification Earnhardt Jr. did not get involved in any accidents, he blew an engine while running solidly in the top 5 with less than 50 to go.

Jack Roush post-race statement-"This is possibly the worst race I've ever had as an owner. Three cars got caught up in the dumbest wreck I've ever seen, and have to be completely rebuilt, and now we've got a whole engine gone to waste too. I'm at a loss as to how to accept this result. We really shouldn't have ever shown up here this weekend, we've got a busy week ahead of us now and we're losing more and more ground in the points race now too.

Greg Biffle post-race statement-"It really sucks that we lost the motor. The Gander Mountain Ford was just so fast, man, I could do anything I wanted to do out there. Clearly it showed with all the laps we led, but I really feel that if we had been around at the end we could have really challenged for the win. I'm really disappointed right now, and the Chase is not too far off to not be concerned with where we are right now. Going from a championship season to winless after the first quarter and not in a Chase spot is really hard to accept right now."

Todd Kluever, Matt Kenseth, and Carl Edwards all left the speedway after being released from the infield care center and declined interview.