Talladega 2 Pre-Race Thread

StandOnIt

StandOnIt

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Talladega Superspeedway
2:30pm/et, Sunday, October 1
TV: NBC
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM
Stage Laps: 60/120/188
Qualifying: 4:30-6:00pm/et, Sat. Sept 30. TV-USA
 
Talladega always puts on a good show. However, sometimes it's not the show most of us want to see (wrecks). It'll be interesting to see if Bubba can take the trophy & be the first 16th seed to make it to the Round of 8.
 
38 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
Some of the drivers entered include: #13-Chandler Smith, #15-Brennan Poole, #36-Riley Herbst, #42-Carson Hocevar, #51-J.J. Yeley, #78-B.J. McLeod.

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SpeedPagan said:
Welcome to the lottery race! Who'll win? No one knows.
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Bubba is favorite here, given his recent plate performances and desperation to get into the Round of Eight. RFK and Penske should be strong, given the caliber of plate racers they have. Denny, KFB, Stenhouse, and McDowell are also guys to watch.

All it takes is one idiot to ruin 20 people’s days but a true lottery wouldn’t have favorites.
 
The Nature Boy said:
Bubba is favorite here, given his recent plate performances and desperation to get into the Round of Eight. RFK and Penske should be strong, given the caliber of plate racers they have. Denny, KFB, Stenhouse, and McDowell are also guys to watch.

All it takes is one idiot to ruin 20 people’s days but a true lottery wouldn’t have favorites.
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🗣️Preach🗣️.

Superspeedways aren't lottery races. Superspeedways just simply give more drivers the opportunity to win. But 9 times outta 10 the winner is an above average plate track racer.

Last 20 Talladega races. Where's the fluke winner. Aric? McMurray (I wasn't a fan of NASCAR at this time to know)? Every winner on that list is an above average plate track winner besides Aric and maybe McMurray. Don't know Ross' plate track record off hand but hes still an above average driver.

Rant/

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For fun. Last 20 Daytona races. Besides Justin Haley in a rain shorted race...where's the fluke winner. Heck this might even prove that Aric is a quality Superspeedway racer.

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antman12 said:
🗣️Preach🗣️.

Superspeedways aren't lottery races. Superspeedways just simply give more drivers the opportunity to win. But 9 times outta 10 the winner is an above average plate track racer.

Last 20 Talladega races. Where's the fluke winner. Aric? McMurray (I wasn't a fan of NASCAR at this time to know)? Every winner on that list is an above average plate track winner besides Aric and maybe McMurray. Don't know Ross' plate track record off hand but hes still an above average driver.

Rant/

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McMurray has a Daytona 500 and Coke 400 win and Almirola has a Coke 400 win. They're at least average plate racers (though I would put McMurray in the above average category). You can't really luck into a win at a plate track. You can luck into a good finish but getting into position to win is more difficult and the winner list reflects that.

Haley is the only fluke winner in this list but he isn't the only fluke rain winner so it's not a plate only thing. People try to argue that Trevor Bayne was a fluke winner but his drafting game was pretty good and he was getting praise from Jeff Gordon during the 2011 Speed Weeks.
 
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The luck really only is bad at plate races, it takes more drivers out than usual and opens up the opportunity for more
 
The Nature Boy said:
Bubba is favorite here, given his recent plate performances and desperation to get into the Round of Eight. RFK and Penske should be strong, given the caliber of plate racers they have. Denny, KFB, Stenhouse, and McDowell are also guys to watch.

All it takes is one idiot to ruin 20 people’s days but a true lottery wouldn’t have favorites.
Click to expand...

Gamblers have favorite numbers as well, doesn't mean it works out that way. How many drivers have won a super speedway race and then return to mid-pack for the rest of the season? I don't mean to diminish their wins, but there's a reason why most drivers tend to hang out in the back til the very end. What kind of racing is that?
 
SpeedPagan said:
Gamblers have favorite numbers as well, doesn't mean it works out that way. How many drivers have won a super speedway race and then return to mid-pack for the rest of the season? I don't mean to diminish their wins, but there's a reason why most drivers tend to hang out in the back til the very end. What kind of racing is that?
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The hang out in the back all race thing hasn't really happened since they put in stage points.
 
SpeedPagan said:
How many drivers have won a super speedway race and then return to mid-pack for the rest of the season?
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Isn't this more of an argument for plate racing being a niche skill? The same thing happens to guys who are road course aces. Robby Gordon, Marcos Ambrose, and Juan Pablo Montoya (though to a lesser extent) are probably the best recent examples of this. Scott Pruett and Boris Said never won a road course race in Cup but they were competitive at them, but yet they couldn't translate that to oval success. Poor Michael McDowell is a road course and plate racing specialist.

Plate racing being a "lottery" is a talking point that isn't borne out by facts. In a true lottery, the same guys wouldn't be consistently competitive. The only argument for random chance in a plate race is that one idiot can torpedo half the field but as @antman12 just pointed out, the best plate drivers are still the ones winning the races.

SpeedPagan said:
there's a reason why most drivers tend to hang out in the back til the very end. What kind of racing is that?
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Racing is about saving your equipment until the very end and it's up to the driver to figure out how to make that happen. The only true definition of winning in racing is being the first person to complete a predetermined distance within a predefined rule set. Whatever it takes for you to get there is "racing."
 

Goodyear Fast Facts — Talladega​

NASCAR Cup Series
Race No. 31 – 188 laps / 500 miles
Talladega Superspeedway (2.66-mile oval) – Talladega, Ala.
Fast Facts for September 30-October 1, 2023

Tire: Goodyear Eagle 18-inch Superspeedway Radials

Set limits: Cup: 1 set for qualifying and 7 sets for the race
(6 race sets plus qualifying set)

Tire Codes: Left-side — D-5142; Right-side — D-5116

Tire Circumference: Left-side — 2,274 mm (89.53 in.); Right-side — 2,280 mm (89.76 in.)

Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 28 psi; Left Rear — 28 psi;
Right Front — 52 psi; Right Rear — 50 psi

Storyline – Tire strategy in play at Talladega: While the track surface has aged and there will be some tire wear at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend, NASCAR Cup teams will still be able to employ tire strategy during this weekend’s race. Teams will make four-tire, two-tire and fuel-only pit stops, depending on the stage of the race. A key is to minimize one’s time on pit road and stay aligned with teammates and others they are working with on the track in order to maximize the draft.

“This weekend’s superspeedway tire set-up has been consistent since the advent of the Next Gen car, with teams running these tires at both Daytona and Talladega over the last two seasons,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “Races at both of those tracks also have another thing in common – the element of tire strategy. Depending on the stint, teams will often mix in two-tire and fuel-only stops at Talladega to keep track position and line up with their teammates they plan to work with in the draft.”

Notes – Eighth superspeedway race on this tire set-up for Cup cars: Being on 18-inch bead diameter tires, NASCAR Cup teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Craftsman Truck Series at Talladega this week . . . the Cup cars will run the same combination of left- and right-side tires that they ran at Talladega in April and twice last season . . . these teams have also run this tire set-up at Daytona since the beginning of 2022 . . . with this 18-inch tire, and its lower profile sidewall, NASCAR Cup cars will not run inner liners in any of their tires in 2023.
 
<---I think it's "Checkers or Wreakers" for my guy this week. Unless a bunch of playoff drivers get caught in the big one and Bootie and Freddie's calculators say top 5 is enough.
 
Hawaii808 said:
<---I think it's "Checkers or Wreakers" for my guy this week. Unless a bunch of playoff drivers get caught in the big one and Bootie and Freddie's calculators say top 5 is enough.
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Unfortunately likely wreckers.

And it’s Dega. He will only have himself to cry to.
 
I always preferred this date in the Halloween part of the year, just leaned into the lore of this place. Plus you had a race with playoff implications under the late fall Alabama sky, it was an artis’s rendering really.
 
Man. I'm still frustrated that Larson cost himself a win and a ticket into the round of 8.

I'm not sure what will happen. Larson has had tremendous speed at superspeedways this year. Which means he will have a winning car and will run up front..


Which creates the extremely likely scenario where he either wrecks, or makes a quick decision to cost him stage points or a good finish .

10 stage points and a top 12 finish. Thats all im asking for!

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