At Talladega Superspeedway this weekend, drivers are definitely going to be looking for someone to work with. Trust me, you’ll even see folks work together that at times don’t actually like or care for each other.
Places like Talladega and Daytona International Speedway make for strange bedfellows. I’d be the same way. If I didn’t get along with a guy anywhere else, but he and I together could push to the front, well guess what, he and I are now BFFs -- OK, well at least until the checkered flag.
It is probably safe to say Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski aren’t on one another's Christmas card lists. If those two somehow hook up this weekend and find they are bad fast together, they will quickly put their differences aside. They both are smart enough to understand they share the same need – getting to the front and winning the race.
I don’t care who you are. It doesn’t matter if you are five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson or single-race winner Regan Smith, you have to have someone pushing you that you are willing to push as well. You have to be unselfish about that.
Without one another, you aren’t going to go anywhere. It’s just that simple. It’s not about me – it’s about how we work together.
On the flipside, drivers also have long memories in this new tandem-style racing of who they can or can’t work with. They remember the guys that can’t hold the line, or are impatient and will not be smooth with good calls. That’s obviously an important part of who you work with, too. It’s a matter of who you trust at 200-plus mph.
The other interesting dynamic is now guys can talk to other drivers on the radio while they are flying around the track.
It’s funny when you think back to the era when we used pit boards to write a message on to give instructions to a driver. Then we evolved into radios for the driver, crew chief and spotter to communicate together. The next step then became drivers on the same team being able to talk to each other during a race.
Now, in the last two years, we’ve seen communications evolve again with drivers on opposing teams and car brands being able to talk to each other while going 200 mph.
The changes to the restrictor plate and the pressure relief valve are going to have an effect on this race. NASCAR made a pair of changes that will increase horsepower, and therefore slightly increase speeds, and also that could alter the impact of the cooling system. The drivers are going to have to pay even more attention this race to the water pressure and water temperature than ever before.
If you don’t stay on top of that, it could mean a very short day for you. Simply put, if you push all the water out of the radiator, you’re going to cook that engine. So believe me when I tell you it is going to be even more intense for the driver to stay on top of that.
So the pushers aren’t going to be able to go as long as before. That means the exchanges between the two cars are going to be more frequent. I think that actually could open the door for more mistakes.
To me, all the little intangibles that come with restrictor-plate racing have been heightened and will be taken to a new level. For someone like myself that has been in this sport for decades now, even that is hard to believe. That’s why this race, more than any other in the 2011 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup, is on everyone’s radar.
With that said, there is a lot of concern by the drivers that the Joker card in the 2011 Chase could be Phoenix International Raceway. With its new surface, drivers are worried about being able to get enough rubber put down on the track to create a second groove. If that doesn’t happen, then it becomes a follow-the-leader kind of deal.
But that is a couple weeks away and the focus is clearly laser-locked right now on this weekend's race at Talladega. I’ve heard a lot of race fans talk about how excited they are and how much fun Talladega is going to be Sunday.
Well maybe to them. I promise you that the words Talladega and fun, for these drivers and teams, really don’t go together – ever.
