Since the institution of the Chase for the Sprint Cup a decade ago, the drivers inside of the group of chasers have dominated the tracks in NASCAR’s version of the playoffs. However, one track alone bucks that trend – NASCAR’s ultimate wild card, Talladega Superspeedway.
In the last eleven Chase races at the biggest oval in Alabama, a Chase driver has only won six times, the lowest percentage of any track that has been in the championship run. Add onto that the bevy of drivers that can come into contention at a restrictor plate track, and everything is wide-open going into the final race of the Contender Round this weekend.
While names like Gordon, Earnhardt, and Stewart may come immediately to mind when one thinks of Talladega success, the recent winners at the track paints a very different picture. While Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the fall race at the track, two drivers outside the Chase grid have found plenty of recent success there. Jamie McMurray and Clint Bowyer each have two wins in the last seven fall races at the 2.5-mile oval, displacing names like Gordon and Stewart who last won there in 2007 and 2008.
Meanwhile, not only can the finishing order be turned upside down at the superspeedway, but also the points. Last season, in the first iteration of the elimination playoffs, Kyle Busch entered the race with a 26-point advantage over the bubble. Teammate Denny Hamlin, however, sat squarely on the bubble in eighth place. By the end of the day though, it would be Hamlin moving on to an eventual berth in the Championship 4, while teammate Busch crashed and fell out of the Top 8, and was eliminated from championship contention.
Going into the Camping World 500 weekend, every driver, team, crew chief, and fan will be on edge, as the biggest question mark on the circuit will create the most drama, suspense, and challenge that any team will likely see in the Chase. And after all, you can’t count anything out at a track that created a finish like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp_bgpk-hgo
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