Expect crazy things at Talladega
Busch goes for four in row, but nothing ever as easy at it seems at track
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Kyle Busch tries to win a fourth consecutive race.
Kevin Harvick tries to win for the fourth time this year.
Jimmie Johnson tries to win a race, period.
Trevor Bayne tries racing under a shadow.
Welcome to Talladega Superspeedway, where the racing normally is crazy and where it could be that and more this weekend.
Sunday’s GEICO 500 will present Busch, who is threatening to turn the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series into a personal parade, with an opportunity few drivers have reached in recent decades. Only eight Cup drivers have won four races in a row since 1972.
Harvick had his shot earlier in the season, winning at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix in a stretch of three weeks before Martin Truex Jr. ended the streak at Auto Club Speedway in California.
Busch has won at Texas, Bristol and Richmond and will be among the favorites at Talladega, despite the fact that Busch, acknowledged as one of his generation’s best racers, has won only once at NASCAR’s biggest track. His average finish there is 20.8, not a number that rings bells.
In fact, Talladega has blocked the door to a single driver dominating its landscape in recent years. Brad Keselowski is the top active winner at the track with five, and no other driver in the current field has won more than two.
Top-line drivers such as Kurt Busch (Kyle’s older brother) and Truex haven’t cracked the winning code at Talladega.
“You’ve got to be able to know the draft, understand the draft, use the draft, block other guys, find holes, make holes,” Kurt Busch said. “It’s definitely a chess game because you’re always thinking three or four steps ahead. It’s tough to get caught up when you make a mistake. You’ve got to quickly get rid of that and put together a new plan.
“At the end of the race, everybody is saving their best for the end. Cars are just going everywhere. The plan you thought you had — you’ve got to make a new one. You’ve got to go on the fly.”
Johnson owns two Talladega victories, and his season of struggle has shown some signs of sunshine in recent weeks. An expert in the draft, he figures to be among the potential winners Sunday.
As for Bayne, he’ll be racing under a stronger microscope Sunday and for the rest of the season.
Roush Fenway Racing announced Wednesday that 2003 series champion Matt Kenseth will share the team’s No. 6 Fords with Bayne for the rest of the year. Kenseth’s mission is to help the team define its issues and repair them.
Kenseth, who started his career with Roush, is scheduled to make his debut in the No. 6 at Kansas Speedway May 12. The schedule for the rest of the year hasn’t been announced, but Bayne is expected to race in most of, if not all, the races in which the No. 6 carries sponsorship from AdvoCare.
Moves made in the final 10 laps typically make the difference at Talladega, where racing comes in two varieties — huge drafting packs or long single-file lines.
Teammates can be useful both early and late in Talladega races. If a driver drops out of a single-file line to test the waters in a different lane, a teammate is more likely to let him return to the fast lane than other drivers. And in the closing laps, teammates running bumperto-bumper can wield significant power.
But Talladega racing is so fast and frantic that there often is little opportunity to link with teammates or even drivers who race with the same manufacturer.
“The only time it’s really relevant in a last-lap decision is if it’s going to benefit you equally,” Jamie McMurray said. “And early in the race when you’re single file, if you’re around somebody you know will let you in, you’re more likely to take a chance.”
McMurray and his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyle Larson enter Talladega on the heels of a tiff last week at Richmond. Both were involved in a multiple-car accident, and McMurray bumped Larson’s car side-to-side to show his displeasure.
Larson said he and McMurray talked after the race and settled the issue.
McMurray did not want to discuss the Richmond incident in an interview Wednesday.
At the end Sunday, Larson said, he’ll look for anybody who can assist.
“You’re just trying to get all you can get,” he said. “There’s not enough time to find your teammate and back up to them or whatever. It’s tough to do because you’re three- and four-wide for the last 10 laps, so you have nowhere to go anyway. You’re trying to get all you can get with those around you.”