FYI WIRZ: NASCAR Chase Battle Rumbles into Feisty Talladega

When the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rolls into Talladega Superspeedway, the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship will ratchet up expectations for a big one—a seemingly inevitable multicar crash.

After the post-race fender banging and subsequent rumble at Charlotte last week, drivers and teams will face Alabama reality on the 2.66-mile tri-oval track with 33-degree banking. Talladega will welcome all with extreme speed for the Geico 500 on Sunday, October 19.

It’s not certain if Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart will quell their tempers that were raised intensely at Charlotte Motor Speeday. Still, it’s likely rage won’t be a too big a factor, even when driver patience is sorely strained. It’s simply too fast a track.

It’s possible, though, that the new elimination gauntlet may still burst some uncontrolled frustration as some top contenders falter. Again.

But recent NASCAR fines and probation announced for Keselowski and Stewart over pit-road aggression last week may quell some vengeful impulses, especially post-race.

A lot of tension is rolling into Talladega, a place where fenders get routinely crunched.

Jeff Gordon came up with this reporter’s choice for quote of the week about that event.

“The ‘big one’ could lead to a big swing in the points,” he said.

Six top drivers with a lot on the line shared their thoughts long before the green flag at NASCAR’s largest track. It’s notable that these drivers all believe that Talladega will be the NSCS mountain that it has always been known for, a steep climb through wreckage.

Joey Logano is guaranteed a spot in the next elimination round. He explained scenarios.

“We know now that all we need to do is to go out there and win,” Logano said. “We don’t have to worry about riding around and staying out of the wreck. We can get up there and go for the win. But we also want to get a good finish out of it.”

Kyle Busch and his team have stayed near the top of Chase contenders so far. He shared his Talladega take.

“We just need to come home with a decent finish on Sunday and avoid trouble to advance,” Busch said. “It’s tough, and you’ve got to be able to pull through in all of these races. You’ve got to have a little bit of luck go your way.”

Kevin Harvick, like Logano, has a win and a guaranteed spot in the next Contender Round. He was upbeat in his explanations.

“It’s going to be an absolutely phenomenal race,” Harvick said. “It's going to be fun to watch. It's going to be crazy, offensive racing. Talladega is always crazy, but I mean, it's going to be so crazy with everybody in the offensive frame of mind.”

Like Harvick, Carl Edwards had a ramped-up view of the action.

“I don't know that it can get any crazier than Charlotte, but it probably will,” he said. “Talladega, on its own, without all the points implications and the tempers that are bound to be there, without those things, Talladega is wild.”

Gordon summed up the Talladega reality.

“Staying out of the ‘big one,’ the crash that takes out so many cars, is crucial to having success at Talladega,” Gordon said. “There’s no perfect strategy to run this race. You just have to hope your car is in one piece at the end of the race.”

Keselowski emphasized the importance of Talladega.

“This weekend is going to be interesting for sure,” Keselowski said. “Talladega is a big place, and we need to have a big weekend. We have our work cut out for us.”

Fans without tickets to the spacious stands can catch the action, likely with crashing, via ESPN at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Credit: Dwight Drum

FYI WIRZ is the select presentation of topics by Dwight Drum at Racetake.com. Unless otherwise noted, information and all quotes were obtained firsthand or from official release materials provided by sanction and team representatives.