High speeds, drama await Dodge Boys at Talladega

Posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 4:15 PM EDT.

The Dodge Boys return to Talladega Superspeedway for the Amp Energy 500 where the ghosts and goblins of the anticipated “big one” creates a nightmare for those trying to conquer the super fast 2.66-mile tri-oval this Halloween weekend.

The seventh race of the 2009 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup will truly be the wild card event. Anything can happen. With bumper-to-bumper racing at speeds over 200 mph, avoiding the inevitable multi-car crash is more luck than strategy.  Surviving Talladega will be key to a series championship. On three occasions—2004, 2005 and 2006—the Chase point leader entering the AMP Energy 500 has failed to win the title.

Dodge is seeking its fourth Sprint Cup win at Talladega and fourth win of the 2009 season. Kurt Busch is currently sixth in the Chase standings, 240 points behind the leader. Kasey Kahne is 11th, 349 points behind.

Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) is believed to be the best restrictor-plate racer to have yet visited Victory Lane in Sprint Cup competition at Talladega and Daytona. A quick look at the statistics certainly lends ammunition for that argument.  At Talladega, Busch’s record sports six top-five finishes and 12 top-10s in 17 career starts. Even though he is still looking for his initial victory, his 12.1 average finish is the best of all drivers with five or more starts.

“It’s just a brand of racing that I really took to from my very first race at Talladega,” said Busch, who finished third in his first visit to the Alabama track, the largest on the Sprint Cup tour. “It can get really wild and it’s as nerve‐wracking experience as there could ever be, but I’ve really grown to enjoy the challenge that these races present.

“I don’t know what driver first called it a high‐speed chess match, but that’s a pretty good analogy and I’ve always thought of the competition that way. It’s like you come down to the finish looking to be among the lead pack. Then it comes down to making your strategic moves out there while, at the same time, anticipating the next moves of all the guys around you.”

Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge Charger) is currently 26 points outside of the top 10.  Kahne has scored one top-15 finish in the three restrictor-plate races in 2009 (15th, Daytona in July) and one top-10 in his last six restrictor-plate races. His career-best (second) finish at Talladega came during the fall event in 2006. Kahne will be making his 11th Talladega start and has gained plenty of insight on what makes a good restrictor-plate racer?

“I think being able to tell which line is moving is important,” Kahne said. “Watching your lanes, your spotter helps out a lot. Being able to know which line to be in at the right time and who to be around, who’s pushing you, who are you pushing, getting those bursts of speed and blocking at the right time. I think it’s just a lot of being good in your mirrors and having a good spotter and then having a good engine.”

All six Dodge teams entered in the Amp Energy 500 are assured starting berths in Sunday’s 500-mile event.

Other notes

• Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) will be making his 325th career NSCS start this weekend.
• David Stremme (No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge Charger) has only had two starts outside the top-20 in the last eight races.
• AJ Allmendinger (No. 44 Hunt Brothers Pizza Dodge Charger) has a career-best finish of third on a restrictor-plate track (Daytona 2009).

Sprint Cup Chase standings
(Race 6 of 10 in the Chase)
1. Jimmie Johnson, 6,098
2. Mark Martin, -118
3. Jeff Gordon, -150
4. Tony Stewart, -192
5. Juan Pablo Montoya, -200
6. Kurt Busch, -240
7. Ryan Newman, -312
8. Greg Biffle, -350
9. Denny Hamlin,  -352
10. Carl Edwards, -413
11. Kasey Kahne, -439
12. Brian Vickers, -530

What you need to know
The Race: AMP Energy 500
The Place: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2.66-mile superspeedway)
The Date: Sunday, Nov. 1
The Time: 1 p.m. EST
Race Distance: 500 miles/188 laps
TV: ABC, noon EST

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 4:15 PM EDT and is filed under Motorsports. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments are currently closed.