By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

You’ve been hearing about ‘Dega all weekend, and now we’ve got full photo coverage of both the Aaron’s 312 and the Aaron’s 499 live in our Events section. Check out the fan’s-eye view of all the three-wide, bump-drafting, paint-trading, high-octane chaos—and don’t forget that we’ve got images of nearly every one of those hot vintage race cars from the International Motorsports Hall of Fame thrown in as well!

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By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Of all the locales on the NASCAR circuit, Talladega is the one most infamous for its fans. But for the most part, the people I met were just like race enthusiasts anywhere else: super-friendly, a little boozy, and just out for a good time. Kurt Busch fan Ernest White managed to get his picture taken alongside his favorite driver’s car. Joe and Brenda from Missisippi were way wasted before the action even started on Sunday, and someone in the stands had even brought a baby—don’t be alarmed, they brought some baby-sized earplugs too. Sure, there were some overeager douchebags, and of course there were some guys getting arrested, but all in all the place had a pretty happy vibe. And wait’ll you see the rides that some of these race fans rolled in on—more after the jump.

Continue reading "Talladega: NASCAR Superfan Gallery" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

There’s something about old-school stock cars that always gets me hella sidetracked, so I knew it was bad news when I wandered into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega today with "only" an hour and change to spare before the start of the Aaron’s 312. Yep, the spectacle of all these venerable race winners and record setters did in fact make me miss the first few laps the race. But how was I supposed to peel myself away from the Monte Carlo that Dale Earnhardt Sr. drove to his first Winston Cup championsip? Or Tiny Lund’s Daytona 500-winning ’64 Galaxie? Or (for the love of God) this Roger Penske AMC Matador that swept the NASCAR circuit in the 70′s?? Sheesh, it’s a wonder I got out of this place at all. There’s a few more shots below the jump, and you’ll be able to browse nearly all the Hall of Fame cars once our complete photos are posted in our Events section next week!

Continue reading "Gorgeous Vintage NASCARs at Talladega!" »

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?

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Clint Bowyer got slammed during an early wreck today at the Aaron’s 312 after Dario Franchitti cut down a tire, hit the wall, and cut a destructive path through other cars as he careened down Talladega’s steep bank. (Poor Clint—it seems he’s always at the wrong place at the wrong time when one of these open-wheel guys decides to lose it). The wreck sent both Franchitti and Chevy driver Larry Gunselman to the hospital, Franchitti with a shattered ankle—but Bowyer, while unhurt, arguably had more to lose than most. He’d been the points leader in the Nationwide Series, and a DNF would’ve been catastrophic to his chances at the championship. So despite extensive front-end and body damage, his team gamely patched up the Camping World Chevrolet and got him back out on the track to salvage what points he could. Despite being over 20 laps down at one point, Bowyer rallied, managing to finish the race in his junk car—and even hanging onto his points lead!

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

While the Nationwide Series might seem like the kiddie version of NASCAR’s top Sprint Cup Series, it’s not exactly child’s play. Nationwide, formerly known as the Busch Series, is the proving ground for a lot of rookies who haven’t yet made it to NASCAR’s top rung and are looking for a leg up. Still, a lot of the big-gun Sprint Cup champs who got their start in NASCAR’s lesser series still run Nationwide for old time’s sake (and extra cash), and today’s Aaron’s 312 at Talladega featured a star-studded lineup. Tony Stewart—in a slick candy-apple red Old Spice car that was a hundred times sexier than his Sprint Cup Great Pumpkin getup—totally dominated this warm-up race, leading the pack for 80 of the 117 laps and trading strategic paint with Dale Earnhardt Jr for much of the way. Through chaos of the final laps, which plunged Junior abruptly to 6th place while pulling David Stremme into 2nd, Smoke stayed the course and subsequently was able to give the crowd a scorching victory burnout that lived up to his nickname. Congrats to Tony for his first-ever Talladega win!

Tony on the infield jumbotron giving his victory circle interview. Photo courtesy Ernest White.

As soon as this workday’s over, I’m hopping on an overnight flight to Talladega so that you don’t miss one moment of this weekend’s NASCAR action. In addition to being a helluva racetrack, ‘Dega has a reputation for the wildest attendanceship on the NASCAR circuit, and I’m definitely curious to see what all this boozy, brawling fuss is about. I’ll try my darndest to make the Nationwide race on Saturday, and then bring you full coverage of Sunday’s Sprint Cup race, the Aaron’s 499, featuring high-speed bumper-to-bumper racing by all of NASCAR’s big dogs. Stay stuck to the blog this weekend for a fan’s-eye view of the races!

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I’m heading to Alabama on Friday for CarDomain’s next NASCAR adventure: I’m gonna try to hit both the Aaron’s 312 and the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega this weekend, and will of course be bringing you trackside photos and fan’s-eye-view coverage right here in the blog! Talladega Superspeedway is NASCAR’s biggest and fastest track: at 2.66 miles, it’s a behemoth, and just like at Daytona, the monster length and the steep banking combine to let the cars go so fast that they need to run restrictor plates to keep them from flying into the grandstands.

There’s quite a bit at stake this weekend: Jeff Gordon has won the last two Sprint Cup races at Talladega and will be gunning hard for a third, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be making his landmark 300th career start at the race on Sunday. But with the restrictor-plated cars all running in tight bumper-to-bumper packs at 200 mph, a multi-car wreck like this one in ’96, which sent Ricky Craven flying through the air leaving tire-tracks on the roofs of passing cars, can be touched off by the slightest miscalculation. Let’s hope our guys drive safe this weekend on NASCAR’s wildest track!