NASCAR Sprint Cup: 10 Lessons We Learned at the Aaron's 499 in Talladega

Talladega is the biggest, baddest track on the NASCAR circuit, and the show put on by the best drivers in the series is usually a wild one. The Aaron's 499 was a little off the hyped expectations.

The unpopular tandem-drafting faded because of the inability to keep a car from overheating. NASCAR implemented some new rules that affected the air flow getting into the car. Pack racing was back.

Talladega is a track to be feared because it is fast, wide, high-banked and dangerous with cars able to go much wider and move around more than at Daytona.

When things go wrong at the 2.66-mile tri-oval, they usually go real bad, real quick and you know that it is inevitable.

Action is fast with lead changes, driver passes and the winner is almost never a given until the last turn of the last lap.

Talladega can be a game-changer for drivers fighting for precious points. In this slideshow, some of the lessons learned at the Aaron's 499 will be highlighted.

Hot Time at Talladega

In an attempt to keep cars from tandem-drafting, drivers struggled to keep their cars cool with the cooling packages mandated by NASCAR for Talladega.

A hot car is hard to cool down and failure to do so may result in engine failure. Regan Smith discovered that early on lap 16.

He was hardly the only victim with others parked in the garage including Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman and Tony Raines.

The problem was with the oil pump on Johnson's car and perhaps others, but that is all part of the engine running hot and causing various failures with the cars.

Kasey Kahne Finally out Front

Kasey Kahne waited nearly two seasons to fill the seat of his promised ride at Hendrick Motorsports in 2012.

This season has not been kind to him as he fell deep in the points. Slowly the driver of the No. 5 Farmers Chevrolet is climbing in the standings.

It took until the 10th race of the season at Talladega, but Kahne finally led his first lap and more. After the checkered flag, the driver of the No. 5 finished in fourth position.

He jumped four slots to 19th in the points.

Jimmie Johnson's Bad Luck

Only about a third of the race was in the books when Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet was forced to the garage because of an engine pump failure.

The five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion doesn't have many DNFs. At Talladega, he finished in 35th position and dropped two slots in the points to eighth.

Johnson was sitting on top of the pit box for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in his street clothes. He and his teammate in the 48/88 shops at Hendrick Motorsports remain winless this season, as do Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne.

Once again the search for the elusive 200th Cup win at HMS moves to Darlington.

Kurt Busch Continued His Fun Ride

Kurt Busch and his owner at Phoenix Racing are searching for sponsors, but since they had plenty of room on the car, they ran the Talladega Nights: Ballad of Ricky Bobby paint scheme.

Busch dressed in the uniform reminiscent of Ricky Bobby in the movie.

On lap 120 of 188, Busch radioed to his team as he went to the front, "Leader, Ricky Bobby."

Busch ran in the lead pack much of the race. With seven laps to go, the No. 51 of Phoenix Racing was running second and contending for the lead.

Brad Keselowski gave him a shot to the rear and sent Busch spinning. The former teammate of Busch at Penske Racing issued an apology over the radio and in Victory Lane.

The driver of the Ricky Bobby car finished one lap down in 20th place unofficially. Keselowski won the Aaron's 499.

Fast Paced Racing Uses Gas

With 46 laps to go, cars were trying to stretch their mileage for one last pit stop. The pace of the race was fast and fuel was being used up more quickly than anticipated apparently.

The fuel problems may have been a result of the high temperatures and it was almost like the fuel was vaporizing with the high engine temperatures or the cars were not getting totally filled.

It was at that point, the pace dropped off for several cars at the same time as they ran out of fuel.

The field stacked up with a Dave Blaney/Aric Almirola mishap that took out several cars including Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr. and Carl Edwards.

The wreck was only the second caution of the race. The race restarted with 38 laps to go.

Did NASCAR Go Too Far?

NASCAR did not want tandem-drafting, but the rules package for Talladega, including the cooling system, pretty much took bump-drafting out of the equation as well.

The expected excitement like we saw in the Nationwide race the day before hardly carried over to the Cup race.

There was three- and four-wide racing, but for the most part, drivers had to remain in one of two lines and gingerly protect the fronts of the cars.

The real Talladega racing didn't begin until the closing 20 or so laps.

NASCAR needs to go back and tweak the rules once again to allow more air in the cars and account for the higher temperatures like we saw during the Aaron's 499 before the cars return to Talladega.

Dodge Finally Wins Again at Talladega

Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag with his No. 2 Miller Dodge at Talladega. It was his second win at the track and second win of the season. This was his sixth career Cup win.

Dodge had not been in Victory Lane at Talladega since 1976 when Dave Marcis did it with his K&K Dodge.

This was the first Cup win for Penske Racing at Talladega.

Jeff Gordon's Season of Disappointment

Once again, Jeff Gordon got caught up in a wreck that was not of his making with 46 laps to go in the Aaron's 499.

Gordon finished 33rd and dropped six markers to 23rd in points. It was truly a disappointing finish after starting on the pole.

This season, the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet finished in the top 10 twice, one of which was a top five. During an interview with a Fox Sports reporter, he described his season as "bizarre' and "almost comical."

With 16 races to the Chase, it is imperative for Gordon to start winning.

Attendance

Fans love NASCAR racing at Talladega and judging from the camera shots of the grandstands, attendance was pretty good.

The usual obvious empty seats were not as apparent as they have been at most races this season.

Let's hope the trend continues to Darlington and beyond.

Rating the Aaron's 499

Though the Aaron's 499 at Talladega had some big wrecks, a dramatic finish with green-white-checker conditions and a surprise winner, it was lacking the anticipated bump drafting and daring moves.

For much of the race, it was just cars in one of two lines trying to survive until the end when they would risk overheating with a dance partner and go for the win.

Unofficially, there were 34 lead changes, which was decent, but down considerably from last year.

It was deep into the race before we had the second caution. The odd sight of several cars unexpectedly running out of fuel at the same time was just strange and a lot of damage occurred with the incident.

Drivers seemed frustrated with the fact they had to constantly worry about keeping the car cool rather than racing.

Many of the hot picks to win were not even in contention or wrecked. What could have been really cool storylines, failed to pan out.

Fans who wanted multi-car wrecks got them and 19 drivers failed to finish the race with the "big ones" occurring late in the race.

Grade: C+