NASCAR Sprint Cup: Notes from Practice Sessions at Talladega

A typical NASCAR practice session usually finds the individual drivers and teams driving around in circles, finely tuning their cars for qualification. This is far from the case at a superspeedway like Talladega.

Rather, practice sessions here and at Daytona force the drivers to work with a partner to create what is commonly referred to as "tandem drafting." It increases the speed exponentially and allows two drivers to get in sync as both a pusher and a follower.

The cars are basically touching each other's bumpers the whole time at close to 200 mph. It follows that the main purpose is to synchronize with the driver, who more or less has the other driver's life in his hands.

In the first session, Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle finished first and second working together at over 198.5 mph. Jeff Gordon and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin ran third and fourth, about four-tenths of a second slower.

One interesting note was that Penkse Dodge Racing tandem Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski were not running together. Rather, Busch ticked off laps with Reagan Smith, while Keselowski paired with Dave Blaney as his dancing partner.

However, the plan for the race will see Smith's No. 78 Furniture Row car working as much as possible with both the No. 2 and 22 Dodges. There is only one other Dodge car in the race, but Robbie Gordon is not guaranteed to qualify; thus, Penkse is forced to practice in a contingency status.

The main concern for the Dodge team is that they both appear to be running at very high temperatures; this results from the car not getting enough air in the intake while pushing. It happens to every car eventually and forces the tandems to trade as "leader" and "pusher," but it appeared that the Dodge cars were heating up at a faster rate than all others.

The second practice round featured less tandem drafting practice, as most drivers started running alone in an attempt to simulate an actual solo qualifying run.

David Reutimann and Martin Truex Jr. were the fastest pair, though they were about 1.5 mph slower than the previous leaders, Edwards and Biffle. Kyle Busch and Joey Logano finished as the second top pair.

Unfortunately for Kyle Busch, he blew a tire and banged the wall towards the end of the session. Joe Gibbs Racing immediately pulled out a back-up car, but Busch could not get back on the track before the session concluded.

He will be running an untested car during qualification.

Practice speeds, whether high or low, should be taken with at least a little grain of salt. They are important, no doubt, but the comfort a driver feels with his chosen partner will probably be a bigger factor in the outcome and success during the actual race.

Because of a new rule instituted by NASCAR, all teams used their own restrictor plates (the piece that functionally lowers the car's speed) during practice, but they will be using a standardized NASCAR restrictor plate during qualification and on race day.

This has the potential to vastly alter engine performance from practice to the checkered flag.

After the first leg of this race weekend has concluded, much is yet to be determined.