Dale Jr. and Tony Stewart: Ill Communication

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are both really good drivers with really good race cars, but both have been starved of victories this season. Throughout the Aaron’s 312 today, it looked like they were really clobbering on each other: Tony, who spent most of the race out front, had to put up with Junior smashing relentlessly on him from behind, and during each of the few laps that Junior had the lead, his No. 5 car similarly had a rear bumper full of Tony. But what looked like dirty-fighting was actually a strategy that kept both cars in first and second place for most of the run. In restrictor-plate racing, the draft is the means by which cars combine their momentum, meaning that two fast cars yoked together in a draft will run faster laps than either of those two cars would alone, and the bumping the rear car gives the lead tends to boost them even faster, as long as no one gets squirrelly.

Clearly, Tony was the one who benefitted from today’s ongoing bro-mance, as Junior’s attempt during the final laps to slingshot into the lead fumbled when no one stepped up to help draft him past Tony. In any event, both these racers have been due for a win for quite some time, and I have a feeling Dale Jr. will be looking for payback during tomorrow’s Aaron’s 499. Will Tony make it a sweep at Talladega, or will Junior, a projected winner whom Tony himself credited in part for his own win today, finally score Sprint Cup victory?