Now, obviously there are a lot of reasons why Talladega Superspeedway has the mystique that it does.
To me, the biggest reason is the unknown element. It’s the unknown of if we are going to have the Big One. It’s the unknown of if we are going to have a first-time winner. The unknown of if the entire race could possibly go caution-free, which, believe it or not, has happened before.
Everybody rolls into Talladega facing the unknown. With the format on Friday of the impound after practices, it’s the unknown of who really and truly can sit on the pole come Saturday. So it’s the unknown that makes Talladega so exciting and unique.
Trust me, one of the biggest unknowns is whether the guy leading the white-flag lap will be the same guy that takes the checkered flag.
So far, that hasn’t seemed to be the case. Heck, let’s take it a step further, because there really is an unknown of whether the guy leading going into Turn 3 on the final lap will even be the guy to win the race.
Believe it or not, but that has not happened a lot.
The one known is you will see a phenomenal crowd at Talladega, both in the infield as well as the grandstands. Sure, there will be a few empty seats on Sunday, but come on, the damn place seats like 140,000 fans. There’ll easily be more than 125,000 people there Sunday.
We’ve got the most exciting Chase for the Sprint Cup we have ever had. There have been six races in the 2010 Chase, and there have been six different winners. Speaking of six, your points leader is separated from the second-place guy by only six points.
The other factor you have is Dale Earnhart Jr. He loves that place, and that place adores him. I don’t think I’ve known one guy to have so many fans at one race. Don’t forget he is coming off probably the best run he has had all year. Dale Jr. led 90 laps last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. That’s 19 more laps than he had led the previous 31 races combined in 2010.
I guarantee you that the way he ran Sunday at Martinsville, we very well could have seven different winners in the seven 2010 Chase races.
You would be a very foolish person if you left early Sunday from the race. This is the kind of place you literally have to watch until every single car takes the checkered flag because again, there’s always the unknown of what can and will happen until they do.
