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It is time for "The Big One'. The Chase for the Cup moves to Talladega, Alabama for one of the most exciting races of the year. The Talladega Superspeedway is a 2.66 tri-oval track that is known for pack racing and accidents that involve sometimes a dozen cars.
With four races to go in the season, here are the top five in the standings:
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Mark Marin -118 points
3. Jeff Gordon -150 points
4. Tony Stewart -192 points
5.Juan Montoya -200 points
Talladega is probably the last hurdle for Johnson to clear before he coasts to another championship. If you gave Johnson the option right now of taking a finish an the end of the lead laps cars, I think he would take it. I expect the leaders to spend very little time in the middle of this field. If Johnson, Martin or Gordon aren't at the front, I expect to see them back off and trail the field for awhile until it thins out or until the final 30 laps.
Tony Stewart is the defending champion of this race, beating Paul Menard to the line by .052 seconds. David Ragan finished third followed by Jeff Burton and Clint Boyer. There were 10 cautions for 41 laps and 64 lead changes by 28 different drivers. That's one of the great pieces to this race. There may be three lead changes in one lap. Someone with the lead my get hung out to dry and fall 30 spots in one lap.Until the "car of tomorrow" was introduced, this race was owned by DEI. Dale Earnhardt, Earnhardt Jr, or DEI driver Michael Waltrip won this race six years in a row.
Lets take a look at a few drivers we think have a great shot this week if they can stay out of trouble.
Tony Stewart- Tony won last year and has finished in the top 8 spots in seven of the past eight versions of this race. He finished second in 2001,2002 and 2005. Tony has just one official teammate this year, which is a disadvantage to the four car teams, but Tony has plenty of alliances that will put him in a good position to get a drafting buddy at the end.
Kurt Busch- Busch has had much success in the race, finishing in the top 8 six out of the last seven years. It has been 33 years since a Dodge has won this race. This may be his shot.
Ryan Newman- Last year ended with a 43rd place finish for Newman, but he hasn't finished worse than 16th in the other fall races here since 2001. His boss, Tony Stewart, should be able to work with Newman to get to the front. Like Stewart, he has an alliance with other teams, but it will be important for Newman to be on the bumper of the 14 most of the day.
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