2001 EA Sports 500 from Talladega Superspeedway | NASCAR Classic Race Replay

and now the walmart starting grid for today's ea sports 500 compton and bobby hamilton share the front row hamilton won here at talladega back in april row number two it's sterling marlin with two talladega wins to his credit and johnny benson who scored his best talladega finish here in april on the inside of row three bill elliott one twice here but no restrictor plate wins and dale earnhardt jr won the race in daytona july 4th back in row 4 on the inside john andretti will have to go to a backup car in the 43 and cal petty on the outside joe kemicheck goes from row five he's got a couple of top tens in the last two talladega races and dale jarrett the 98 winner of this event sixth row championship leader jeff gordon with two talladega victories to his credit and last week's winner ricky craven on the inside of row seven jeff purvis another driver having to go to backup and mark martin he has two talladega wins he was fourth in april on the inside of row eight kenny wallace had his career second best second place here last fall and brett beaudine great qualifying run for brett ninth row elliot sadler who finished third at daytona in the pepsi 400 and ward burton who's finished third the last two straight races tenth row it's kevin harvick 12th in april in his first talladega restrictor played race and terry levati who was one of the fastest in final practice but crashed that car and is in a back up he'll go to the end of the field and roll 11 on the inside is todd bodine last week's poll winner on the outside buckshot jones back in row 12 ricky rudd this is his 50th talladega start alongside him matt kinsen 13th row jimmy spencer 1994 winner of this race and casey atwood who had a good run going until he got penalized for a out of bounds line violation here in april 14th row curt bush started in this same spot in april and finished third and ken schrader who's also in a backup car on the inside of row 15 jerry nadeau sixth place in daytona was his best restrictor plate finish michael walcher the winner of the daytona 500 on the outside in row 16 on the inside dave blaney and on the outside rusty wallace again will have to go to the rear of the field with a backup car 17th road jeff burton had to replace repair some left front fender damage fender damage to his car but he holds his starting spot bobby labonte a lot of times he drops to the back in the opening laps here lets the traffic sort out 18th row bobby hamilton jr in his first nascar winston cup restrictor played race and robert presley in the jasper ford back in the row 19 on the inside tony stewart he was second here in april and mike wallace three restricted flight races this year three top ten finishes in row 20 on the inside robbie gordon the 31 car and kevin lepage driving the car that mike wallace had those three top ten finishes had restricted plate racing final three starters in the field jason lefler ron hornaday horn today in a chevrolet this week team bringing that one instead of a pontiac and hud strickland has the 43rd and final position in the grid those who failed to qualify dave marcus unable to make a final start at talladega before he hangs up the helmet at the end of the year and rick mast final stories from pit road marty well alan let me introduce a new term to many people's vocabulary a rad car i'm not talking about a cool car i'm talking about a coalition between dale earnhardt incorporated andy petry racing and richard shielders racing there are seven rad cars in the field today dale earnhardt jr is one of those cars and ever since this aerodynamic package was introduced last year at talladega a rad car has won every one of these races today burns marty last night bill elliott had a dream it wasn't a good dream he dreamed that he couldn't find his car to get here to the race track the other problem his phone in the dream was in the car he couldn't call ray everham to tell him that he couldn't make it to the track in reality bill elliot is in the car he will make his 50th start here at talladega and hope to get his third win here at the super speedway matt dave there's only been one caution free race in the last eight here at talladega so fuel mileage could end up playing a factor by day's end talking to a number of engine builders in the garage area this morning most can go 50 plus laps so they can make this race on three segments if it should go green the one group that has trouble going the distance 50 laps is the hendrick cars they're 46 to 49 lap range it'll take 188 laps to make up the 500 mile distance around this massive speedway every one of them fraught with tension breathtaking moves on the racetrack it's on your feet action all day long and you'll see it all live on nbc as stacy compton and bobby hamilton sterling marlon's plan didn't work too well he laid back to try to get him a good run and it allowed two other cars to get between himself and the 92 of stacy compton joe nemechek to the inside four deep moves all the way up the second spot and it used to be that inside lane you did not want to be in but because of the current rules actually that inside line is pretty fast but you need help bobby hamilton is stuck right there but these cars can get up behind them i think you'll see him go forward it's hamilton in the 55 started on the outside of the front row came across the start finish line 14th there's ricky craven the winner last week the 32 car in front of bobby hamilton maybe these two cars can get hooked up and they also have several cars behind them pushing them now about through the second lap so the car is completely up to speed now takes a little while to build off the full head of momentum with the restricted engines stacy compton leads joe nemechek is second johnny benson is third jeff gordon who settled in fourth and we start lap three [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 160 000 saluting the memory of the man who won more races at this track than any other stay alone that's eighth place sterling marlin there trying to get to the outside of elliot sadler folks if you are not if you're a race car fan this is beautiful there's rusty wallace remember he started at the end of the line in a backup car last time across the start finish line he was up to 25th looks like krusty has that high line working beautifully for it uh-oh there goes casey outward up through the middle going by rusty wallace it's his brother mike behind him there the mobile one car well he was in line behind you rusty yeah but now he's going by you rusty look at sterling marlin lead that outside laying up for the lead marlin charging forward with a push from dale earnhardt jr and craven breaks to the outside and you listen to sterling marlin's engine new year never backing off the throttle wide open all the way around the speedway start finish line at talladega is at the exit of the tri-oval unlike most race tracks right there is the strike now marlin officially the second leader of the race [Applause] here's where sterling is is looking out the windshield as much as he is in the mirror right now because you got to protect your position all these guys are protecting positions but it's really easy to lose a spot on the high side if the car gets high and everybody follows that car then you can be in the middle by yourself and get hung out so you'll watch through and move the car he's running down low now then the next lap he may run in the middle or high so he's really trying to protect that spot look at fourth place jeff burton in the 99 started back in 33rd place they had to fix the left front fender on this car after the big crash in final practice yesterday seven laps in the top five watch the yellow line boys right and not get below that yellow line back there wally talking about it that's a bad no-no jason leffler is right behind jeff burton he's up to six he started 41st and it's going to be that way all day if you follow a particular driver it's going to frustrate you at times because your driver is going to go from second to 30th to 5th to 40th to 1st whatever it's just going to be that way all day long and ron hornaday following jeff gordon two turns one and two he started 42nd and last time by he was running in the ninth position [Applause] during our qualifying show friday afternoon dale jarrett said every car here will run from positions 1 to 43 probably on sunday afternoon the trick is to try to be in the front at the end of 188 laps sterling marlin leads dale earnhardt jr bobby hamilton jeff burton and jason lefler we're just underway at talladega before we get to phoenix we've got an afternoon of excitement at talladega as the ea sports 500 continues from the world's fastest speedway presented by dodge lead change as we come back from the break bobby hamilton has gone out in front that car looked awfully good and happier yesterday bp 55 car bobby hamilton and the talk in the garage area that the 55 car seems to be the car to beat if you're going to win this afternoon hamilton dale earnhardt jr and jeff burton are the three that have broken away at the front of the pack as we look down on talladega courtesy of the united states army an army of one there are 212 ways to be a soldier find out more at goarmy.com see jason leffert was running second right about a lap ago now he's back to the seventh position that's one of those cars that i was referring to he can't sit back and ride he's got to go to the front he's looking for a ride zero one car looking for a sponsor dave burns what do you have on the l1 well bp i stopped by their garage stall this morning and talking crew chief matt chambers about their car why it qualified 41st while the team car of sterling marlon qualified third they really had no explanation because the cars were built almost identical but jason did not qualify the car well they knew how it would race well and he's moved his way to the front already there's jason racing alongside bobby labonte for a spot i talked with bobby and his team's hauler this morning last couple of times at these races bobby has fallen back and rode at the tail end of the field for most of the day and then raced his way toward the front i said is that the strategy today he said you know we make that call about three minutes before race time i guess the call today was to go ahead and charge up in there certainly looks that way started 34th he's up to eighth rusty wallace continuing to try and pick his way toward the front last time by bobby hamilton the leader the average speed 190.385 miles per hour sterling marlin who was the leader just a few laps ago is back to 21st that's john andretti ahead of him with something dangling off the back looks like someone has gotten in the back of the rear bumper and maybe cracked it up front dale earnhardt jr looking for the lead that'll bring the stands after their feet [Applause] [Music] marty snyder plus plenty because on the radio just a moment ago junior was talking about how good bobby hamilton looks i think he's trying to feel his way around the racetrack who he can run well with and who he works better with in the draft but he just told a spotter ty norris hey that 55 car is awesome today and i think they all know it because that's what you get that's what's called hanging out the drive they let the 55 part hang out to dry he's going to lose 10 or 12 spots because he didn't have anybody to help and now he's got rusty wallace pull on the outside of him [Applause] hamilton was side by side for the lead last time at the start finish line let's see where he is this time ricky rudd down to the inside casey aquin in the middle there in the red dodge casey atwood in the 19 the red car on board with kevin hartick little lift on the gas there for a second that looked like a big distance back to joe nemechek and hud strickland but that's as you can see as we go to camera on the roof really not that far mike and rusty wallace 22nd and 21st places dave i talked with mike wallace just before the start of the race and i asked him about the cars dropping to the back who he might run with of course he said his brother and then he walked me over to the car and showed me a toggle switch down by his right where he would sit down by his left thigh that he can switch to a second channel and talk to rusty they might be able to communicate their way through some of this traffic today at seat rusty walsh's car there sounded like he was missing but he would not be running that well if in fact he had a miss a miss in the engine that's sounding better now the bright orange spoiler and roof numbers on rusty's car indicating that he's one of the five drivers running for the noble 5 million bonus today rusty and mike having the ability to talk to each other they are teammates now is it unusual no no we used to be able to do that at hendrick and also mark martin and i uh when we were teammates we had that ability as well and it just saves a lot of time especially on a restricted plate race you don't have to go through spotters and by the time you get through the spotters and get the message across things have changed quickly sterling marlin slowing down is he coming to pit road [Music] no he may just be dropping back to the back of the pack he's done that before wasn't that daytona car wasn't handling well and he got out of the traffic and said we'll just ride at the back until we get to a pit stop and can fix it i think you're right we'll find out what's going on with sterling marlin when we come back to talladega we've completed 50 miles of 500 in the ea sports 500 presented by dodge aerial shots from the budweiser.com airship at talladega are brought to you by budweiser the official beer of nascar and joy race fans that balloon is just floating along in a beautiful alabama afternoon spectacular action to look down on log on now to nascar.com and check out the conseco nascar fantasy challenge pick your own team of drivers and see how you match up against other fantasy teams log on today you might just win a replica of the number 14 conseco winston cup pontiac ron hornaday running in eighth place in the conseco car now behind leader dale earnhardt jr we talked about sterling marlon having problems jimmy spencer has come to pit road with big problems matt jimmy an early exit for you what happened uh just something broke in the top of the motor i think you know like a piston or i really don't know for sure i mean it was you're sitting there riding this isn't racing you can get up there and race anytime you you can't race and it it's boring for the drivers it's scary boring it's not it's not racing and uh it's awful that we have to put up with this but that's part of it and unfortunately we're out of it so we won't be in the wreck today i hope there isn't a wreck today you know everybody's using their head right now so that's pretty good but uh something happened in the motor uh robert yates been doing a great job all year long and it just uh something happened there we we're not really sure is there anything you can do you say you hate this kind of racing it is i mean that what can you do you know if you want to get there and lead for a while you can and then somebody else will shuffle you back because every car out there is equal right now and they're all running hot because they're so close together and you know if the good lord blesses us all today and everybody uses their head we won't have an accident and nobody will get hurt and uh we'll have a winner but uh i think racing one might not the way i've been born to learn how to race his last win came here at talladega also guys one update on sterling marlin he dropped to the back as a plan tony glover told him if you can't get back up to the front and run with the first through fifth place cars just drop to the back and let's play it safe like our game plan was already set out all right matt thanks that is the first spencer's remarks of many comments we'll hear today about drivers not liking these rules well here's what you do okay you lay the spoiler down about 30 degrees you make these cars really hard to drive and you won't see these cars in a pack uh unfort you know you can't have it both ways the cars if they're hard to drive you won't see them in big packs three by three problem is this is what the fans want to see this is good racing so if you make the cars handle really well what the drivers like sure i love a car that handles as good and when you got 40 cars and handle this good this is the kind of racing you're going to have you can't have it both ways the car is either going to not handle and you're going to have single file racing or the cars are going to handle good and this is what you're going to get vp and again i don't think that the 160 000 people here and the folks watching on tv today want to see these cars run in single file i think they want to see exactly what they're seeing now i mean i know one thing i am very entertained watching this dale earnhardt jr leads jeff burton is second stacey compton third johnny vincent is fourth and now tom beaudine has moved up to race kenny wallace for fifth that's bernie in the 66 the light blue car and kenny wallace in the one who was outside more on tom beaudine from dave burns we checked in his pit just to make sure that they weren't concerned about similar motor problems to teammate jimmy spencer and of course they said no but then again you have the same motor builders building the engines for team cars so todd will have to keep that thing cool and be careful out there another problem he's had though is he's trying to go to the front with the 14 car of ron hornady ron hornaday right behind them and they don't feel that the 14 car can push them to the front so already starting to figure out who they're faster with hole speed and last lap it's a lot faster in the draft and they do everything in the world to make the cars go fast on a qualifying run it's just when you're out there by yourself and you don't have all these cars stirring this air up if you took these cars right now and put them on the racetrack by themselves top speed would be about 180 miles per hour but yet with all the air stirred up and following each other we're able to run somewhere around 108 180 890 miles per hour and that's even a lot of times when you're in the draft like the 33 the 24. these guys are keeping their foot down all the way around the right foot but they're also working the brake you don't want to get out of the throttle with the restricted plate motor because it takes so long for it to respond back to get up the power so what you do is you ride the brake you just tap the brake to slow the car down if you're getting a run on somebody and you can't make the pass you don't want to hit them just buff the brake a little bit with your left foot you know talking about what it's like to be behind the wheel in this big pack of cars michael waltrip told us earlier in the weekend you need to be patient it's the only way to do it at talladega because it's not unusual to go from first to 20th or the other way around in a single lap he who's first will be last and whose last will be first someone said that a long time ago and i'm bringing it back because it's true and uh you just don't need to wreck in 490 miles nobody should worry about anything for 490 miles and then everybody ought to just say okay now it's time to go let's see what happens and i mean i'm smart enough to realize that i just hope everybody else is but the problem is these guys stacy compton sit right in there in third spot they're trying their best to find a sponsor for next year it doesn't look good to move out and go to the back they need to stay up there they need for the sponsor say wow that really is a good team you're right betty i mean if you're sitting there with a nice multi-year contract with you know with the race team and a sponsor you can afford to do that but when you're out there and you're auditioning which a lot of these guys and teams are today you can't ride you want to be up front all the time here's michael waltrip in 19th place and you saw the gap from he up to leader dale earnhardt jr that green bp card dave laney another team that's looking for a sponsor and also a driver laney announced this week that he'll be driving the 77 car next year and here comes bobby hamilton decided i think i'll try if i can't see if i can go back to the front led a little bit earlier he's back in 22nd place now may fall farther back than that and then start to climb his way back to the front it's just the way it works here you're watching nascar on nbc here's our wendy's race menu next week the race for the championship moves to the desert southwest phoenix arizona and that mile track coverage at 2 p.m eastern time next sunday on nbc rockingham homestead atlanta and new hampshire to wrap up the season for 2001 and back at the world's fastest speedway in talladega new second place runner kevin harvick has moved in behind dale earnhardt jr it's ty norris the spotter for dale earnhardt jr jeff gordon running in eighth place marty well guys one of the inherent problems with restrictor plate racing and we heard jimmy spencer mention that these cars are so close that they have a tendency to overheat they can't get any cool air to cool the cars down that is the case for jeff gordon the oil right now for gordon 250 the water 230. his engine builder jay wilds says that is the threshold limit right there we cannot go any higher than that 240 on the water is the most we want to see to bill weber and similar problems uh marty for his teammate terry labonte overheating in the engine compartment terry is dropped back crew chief gary dehart says they will be fine they just want to put a little bit of tape off the grill the big problem comes when terry closes up behind somebody that drives the temperature up so obviously he's laying back even further off the back of the 40. terry running in 39th place behind him are dale jarrett his teammate jerry nadu and tony stewart as the final cars on the track mike wallace trying to pick his way back forward dave and alan we thought he might charge to the front right at the beginning but he has had a similar problem that everyone else is having with overheating right now he is not getting he's not he's not getting the horsepower that he needs and so he's been trying to get the car out in clean air to try to get that cool air into the motor seat like he is on the high side that is absolutely right dave these motors are very sensitive to temperature and if they start getting a little bit too hot boy the power really noses over on them and you can really tell a difference driving these restricted plate motors but trying to get the car out in clean air means you're not in the draft of the car ahead of you and you're losing speed that way also yeah you're outside of the 29 you're off clear high you need it all clear basically got to ride it out until you get into the pit so they can pull some tape off that's the only thing that's going to fix it jason leffler looking for second spot to the outside of kevin harvick tynerus dale earnhardt jr's spotter helping his driver through some of the traffic the spotters are located on top of the broadcast booths at the start finish line just past the entrance of uh the exit radar pit road here at talbot outside there he is outside you see what a long look at his back into the corner here we talked with ty earlier in the weekend about the pressures involved in spotting for a car during this bunched up traffic at a restrictor plate race you don't ever want to make a mistake and you have so much pressure on you to um to either say the right thing tell him to get in the right line or and if you tell him to get in the high line and the high line all of a sudden slows down you just get this pit in your stomach and so there's pressure every single lap and you're just like the crowd sitting at home watching on television you're waiting for the big wreck and you're just hoping your driver's not a part of it and you're hoping that you can tell him something to get him through it but it's not always the case [Applause] you know it's so important to have a good spotter anywhere but really really important on a place like this the problem guys have placed like this you see where the spotters are over across you know the front of the racetrack it's a long ways overlooking a turn two or going into turn three by the time you push that button and you say something things have changed so you really have to have a good feel for where your car is you don't want to completely rely on a spotter you use him as a safety net more than you do completely reliant on what he says as a matter of fact a lot of teams will use two spotters here at talladega there'll be another one in the grandstand over off turn two speaking of things that have changed jason lefler squeezing by dale earnhardt jr for the lead toggle ride with him to second junior back to third and now the race for fourth between kevin harvick and jeff gordon marty snyder well wally talking about those spotters how'd you like to break in a spotter for the first time at talladega i wouldn't well that's what michael waltrips doing today actually it's a veteran spotter keith barnwell is spotting for michael walter today he of course is jeff green spotter in the nascar bush series and they actually fired their own spotter last week because they didn't feel like he was getting the job done so they hired keith this week and for the rest of the season this is the first week keith and michael have ever worked together tough place to break them in yeah i would think so it really is and you gotta i'll tell you there's personalities there because the drivers have to get a spotter that like i yell at my spotter all the time so i want something that's not gonna get their feelings hurt it's not that i'm mad at him it's just you you drive angry when you talk on the radio you talk angry for the lead todd beaudine around the outside of jason lefleur jeff gordon is pushing him through wow did you see that was a power move by 509 but back comes jason lefter on the inside mark martin pulling up behind gordon john andretti there the yellow nose car from the back that's a backup car in the 43. from kevin harvick's car oh lefleur wiggled up in front of earnhardt jr in the corner it's pretty impressive right there you clear three back first rebound earnhardt jr back out in front in the ea sports 500 from talladega presented by dodge on nbc nbc's coverage of the nascar ea sports 500 presented by dodge is brought to you by budweiser with a crisp clean refreshing taste you'll find in no other beer this bud's for you by dodge you can take life as it comes so you can grab life by the horns dodge buy wendy's bacon mushroom mill when you gotta have one you gotta have one and by walmart always low prices always dale earnhardt jr leads the ea sports 500 on nbc presented by dodge here's our dodge track fact dave marcus the last one to get a mopar win here of course for most of the time between then and now they weren't competing in richton cup racing we've got some strong threats for a victory today i don't see a whole lot of guys pushing the ubp i mean i would think of anything there are some guys that are loose but everybody's staying fairly low down on the bottom of the racetrack mike wallace is going to the outside three wide up on the outside trying to get something going but he's not high enough because bobby hamilton jr was on the outside of him matt kenseth in the 17 todd bodine in the 66. they're racing for fourth and fifth behind earnhardt junior hamilton and nemechek the [Music] we keep talking about the draft and running behind other cars and what he does let's go inside our virtual garage and try to explain a little bit better about what drafting is all about here we coming to talladega two and a half mile speedway as a car goes through the air the air goes around the car over the car and leaves a void behind that car the one behind the car the car behind doesn't have to run in that air doesn't meet all that resistance and it just easily pulls up right behind the other car and those two cars together can run much faster than a car on the inside beaudine and kenzit still hung up there racing side by side for fourth coding on the outside the light blue car and bobby hamilton has finally worked his way back to second place phil weber terry labonte one of the first cars on pit road along with a couple of dodges and ken schroeder it's four tires they did pull the little tape off the front grill it's a fourth tire stop and fuel terry's on his way marty and a four tire stopper schrader extremely loose they made a wedge adjustment for schroeder took a long time on the right rear tire [Music] bill ellington and casey atwood also making pit stops they were first in at lap 45. boy that that's risky making a pit stop like that the schrader loses a draft he's going to be in a lot of trouble because he'll get laughed real quick if he has nobody to draft with in order to help you know keep the pace here now a lot of these guys up front are will hit together because they want to come in together so when they leave they'll still be in the draft after the pit stops there you see the two cars on the left that's bill elliott and casey atwood trying to get hooked up trying to pull away from the leader dale earnhardt jr not going to work junior just blows down the outside they'll melt into the pack here and try and stay up toward the front of it and when the other leaders peel off to make their pit stops the two abraham cars will try to draft together around the track and keep up so that they can melt back in when the leaders come off the pit lane [Applause] more stops dave burns jason lefler comes in now he was just a little bit loose in the center of the corner they said they would make an adjustment for him also right in front of him kevin page has pulled in he may block the way out man johnny benson already in his stall he has an open stall behind him this will be a four tire change no adjustments for benson to build pulsator on pit road stacy compton with a two tire stop rights only but it takes a long time to get that fuel in he's on his way marty jerry nadew was hanging at the back of the pack bill remember these guys did that at daytona and wound up finishing six it will be four tires no adjustments he's very happy with the chassis here come the leaders through the tri-oval past pit road they'll overtake all of those cars who are in the pits oh kenza the nemechek almost get together dave mike wallace is in remember he was complaining that the car was hot too much temperature tape coming off the front right now to take care of that that will decrease his downforce just a little bit now he may be able to compete up underneath other cars and run up toward the front that was what he couldn't do before a tear away coming off the windshield and he stalls the car coming off pit road mike reed fires it and he leaves brett beaudine dave delaney also leaving pit road but they have to observe the speed limit all those white lines down pedro those are tommy marks nascar officials timing those cars they know how long it takes to get from one line to the next if you go too fast they stop and go penalty wholesale pit stops as ty norris gives dale junior his instructions dave burns ron jordan is in he complained that the car was very very loose the crew is going to make an air pressure adjustment to try to fix that he will take on four tires and a full load of fuel plus a wedge adjustment matt five laps to go tony glover told sterling marlon to get by the 32 so when he pitted he did not have to worry about getting around the 32 into stall four tires and fuel bill bobby hamilton on pit road four tires track bar adjustment to free him up a little bit getting the fuel he's on his way marty jeff gordon four tires and no adjustments bill they do pull two strips of tape off the front grill remember he is running a little bit hot and he very narrowly misses a collision on pit road gordon and hamilton head back out the leader dale earnhardt jr and most of the rest of the field that hasn't stopped yet on the binders headed for the pit lane stops as they complete their 50th lap of the race dave the 99 car of jeff burton is in the car is running great four tires and fuel no changes for jeff at this point he started back ran to the front and it's a good rate so far for burton bill four tires for mark martin again all these stops coming under green this is what drivers like to see because it spreads out the big pack marty dale earnhardt jr a little free on entry bill so they add one pound of air pressure to the right front tire that should tighten them up other than that no changes for dell junior remember this is the car that led 116 laps in daytona what happened to kevin harvick all right we were looking at that last pit stop i could see the 29 on the door that's not a good thing i don't know if he had to drive around somebody or to get in that pit stop and was there any contact that might have damaged this car matt kenzeth was the leader he's on pit road now let's watch harvick coming to his pit stall [Music] he just locked him up just locked up the brakes and the car slid sideways and that and that which sounds like rear brake both yates cars have pitted together dale jarrod around a wedge as he's already down and away four tires of fuel and he will pair up with ricky rudd both cars were complaining about being loose on the bottom kansas and rod also leaving pit road so that should complete the cycle of stops [Music] and here comes the pack thundering around [Applause] that's bobby labonte leading the charge so much for green flag pit stop spreading the field and kevin hart the 29 car getting in the pits that way he has lost the draft from all these cars and it won't take very long for these cars at 190 miles per hour to lap him for that to do that the car looked like it had a lot of rear brake in it and as much as you ride the brakes here normally you'd want the car to have a little bit of front brake you wouldn't want it to get loose as you're getting in the corner if you have to tap the brakes a little bit there's a 20 29 car right now coming through four like you said bp we talked earlier he doesn't have a chance of catching this pack unless he gets a yellow but you know the funny thing was when the car came to rest in the pit stall the three tires that have to be inside the painted box were all inside the box otherwise it's a penalty so his problems could have been worse he got lucky that only that right rear was hanging outside the line matt kenseth ricky rudd dale jarrett good pit work by their teams getting them out in time to be at the front of the pack instead of in the middle and they're three wide for the lead let's talk the outside line bobby labonte michael walton decides to dive to the inside new leader waltrip here's his teammate dale jr right up behind him remember these are the two that finished one and two in both daytona races this year look at matt kendall the time from the start finish line into the pits back to the start finish line 150.8 a little over almost three seconds faster than joe nemechek the next car i should say ron hornaday the next car matt what are they saying about the 29 car what happened well we've caught up with kevin hamill on the crew chief for harvard what happened kevin on the pit stop he was coming in and went to go around that 97 car when he hit the brakes and rear brakes locked up and he come in the box sideways we lost quite a bit of time and right now we're running with no other cars so it's going to be hard for us to catch up but if there's a caution we'll be all right we touched on kevin's lack of inexperience here in restrictor plate racing only two winston cup starts here at talladega and that's one of the things people preach how you enter your pit stalls especially coming off the track on the pit road gotta warm those breaks nine different leaders so far this afternoon in the ea sports 500 presented by dodge on nbc nascar on nbc from the talladega super speedway bringing you coverage of the ea sports 500. [Music] [Applause] [Music] it is michael waltrip leading dale earnhardt junior second matt kenseth third todd bodine fourth and mark martin fifth sixth is ward burton those the cars lined up single file then the double wide seventh and eighth jeff burton and jerry nader pretty solid day for the coca-cola racing family so far dale jarrett ran in the back up through the first pit stop then his crew got him up in the 13th spot john andretti driving a backup car today tony stewart from all appearances continuing to use the ride around at the back strategy until later in the race dave what about tony stewart you're exactly right allen that is the strategy that they're employing here in fact i check in their pit and they tell me that they may not start racing until after the final round of pit stops he came in on lap 49 and the rumor around the garage area was they could go maybe closer to lap 60 on fuel so ask for example dally the crew chief why they came in so early no reason to really stay out come in check things over check their mileage tony doesn't want to race until the end and so just all routine for the 20 car see the paint scheme on the car a little different than we normally see out of the home depot machine coca-cola and home depot and tony and joe gibbs teaming up with the marine corps toys for tots program to try and boost that effort up around the holiday time 100 of the royalties from their polar bear die casts and collectibles are going to toys for tots and the same for bobby labonte's car they've got a little different paint on that one this week too same program so there you go your polar bears along for a ride on an october afternoon in alabama good for them [Music] johnny benson matt what's going on with him allen the same scenario for johnny benson as tony stewart james ins benson's crew chief was trying to get benson to the back the last three plate races that's where they've run the first part of the race just to keep their car out of trouble but they're running so well up at the front they were afraid they were going to get wrecked if they threw the anchor out to get to the back so now after they're stopped they are going to hang at the back and just play it safe 37th place is where johnny vincent runs right now look at that last lap he ran 192 miles per hour running in the back trying to stay out of trouble the only problem with this strategy of running in the back is it doesn't guarantee you that you're going to miss the wreck if it happens in front of you no bobby labonte back at daytona during the 500 was running something like 28th or 30th and ended up with the fifth place car tony stewart on top of his hood when they had that big scramble in the late laps [Applause] here's sterling marlin on board with him he remember dropped to the back of the field earlier in the race he's moved back up to 12th place now but we talked with sterling about the strategy of running in the back and his frustrations at this type of racing here's what he had to say may we had a good car just got home in the back you know look around there's me and dale jared and gordon and we're all hung we can't go nowhere so it's pretty aggravating racing we'll come here and done the test for them we thought you know there's going to change some stuff where you least have to thank a little bit to make a pass but uh you know come with the same rules and you know we'll just try to hang on what we got and try to lead if we can and uh you know it's a bunch of talk about going the rear and just waiting because they dodged the big in here for a while and uh you know when it comes time to race go for it holds your breath for 20 30 laps try to get back to front and you know a lot what you do here it depends on who's going to run with you you make a move that doesn't mean it's going to be a good move you got to have help you got to have guys in your mirror to help push you by other cars so it's frustrating because you can't go anywhere unless you do have help and even if you do have help like you see these two guys right here they do and hurt they're just stuck running the same speed now those cars in front of them lined up this pack right here they could pull away from that second pack if they stay side by side because they're running slower racing side by side that these guys are in line michael walter then 191 miles per hour and 191 and a half also dale earnhardt jr did as well let's go on board dale no junior just see what kind of telemetry we can see we can see 194 miles per hour rpm's about 7 300. look how constant that mile per hour stays now as he goes in the corner and hits the bank it's going to start slowing down as you have to make the car go around the other direction we can see that it lost about six miles per hour going through the turns and that's without him taking his foot up off the floor just having to make that turn and we can see that the back straightaway appears to be much faster today than the front there must be a tailwind down the back straight now let's go back to kevin harvey remember he's out there running by himself and we'll see what kind of mile per hour that he's able to attain with no cars out there not too good not too good see he goes to the corner down to 180 miles per hour and junior the slowest speed we saw was 188. you see it 179. now watch as he goes down the crunch right here what do we see on junior 1994 93 that was on the back but you can see easily seven eight miles per hour slower on harvick with no cars around him to draft kevin harvick running 40 seconds behind the leader 41 seconds behind the leader that means they're coming up behind him fast and he's going to be a lap down unless he gets a caution michael waltrip is your leader of the ea sports 500 on nbc presented by dodge [Music] didn't you call the banking here at talladega black diamond ski slope yeah stewart was going down a black diamond there that's steep yeah i'd love to watch them film that that would have been great tony stewart hanging around the back of the pack right now here at talladega 37th spot choosing to wait till later to try and make a charge up through traffic he is five and a half seconds behind leader daler a michael waltrip rather dale earnhardt jr is second matt ken's a third todd bowden fourth mark martin is fifth barney snyder has an update on the top two for us well a little while ago we were talking about the uh coca-cola racing family and i'd say michael walter vindell jr doing a good job representing coke michael it was tight on the run before this when he came down pit road they put tape on the front end because about lap 10 he made some pretty serious contact with john andretti did it in where the left front headlight would be on your passenger car they taped it up knocked it out a little bit michael running just fine right now here's the deal with dale jr when he was out front his oil temperature was 225 water 185 but now that he's behind 255 on the oil 225 on the water what he does every once in a while you'll see him in the trial but especially he'll duck out from beside his behind his teammate and get a little fresh air into the front of the car helps cool it down he says about 15 degrees on the front stretch look at this for eighth place the 97 and 29 on the inside are a lap down harvick and kurt bush have both been overtaken by the leaders but the rest of that mess is all for top 10 spots if you're concerned about these guys getting left well i don't think there's any concern about that all they got to do is get in line they should be able to run the top six down but right now they do have about 100 yards between the sixth and seventh place car aerial views in talladega courtesy of the united states army an army of one [Music] remember kevin harvick we saw gets sideways on the pit lane and that extra time for the crew to push the car back before he took off is what dropped him off of the draft and also the 97 car that's the car that he was in front of sideways so it cost current bush being able to get back on the racetrack that's what he's doing like one little mistake here like that cost you a lack because if you lose that lead draft like i talked about earlier you cannot catch up unless you get a yellow and if you just lose two or three seconds in the pits no matter what happens it's tough matt benny i spoke with ben leslie the crew chief on the 97 he told me they didn't have a stellar stop it ended up being a 19.5 but one of the reasons why it was so long they had to back up to go around kevin harvick so not only did they have a slow stop but he hindered their exit that cost them even more time it's across the millet he's back in 40th place driver who finished third here in the april race this year now we see that second group we see about seven or eight cars get single file and watch how quickly that jerry nader the 25 jeff gordon runs down bobby labonte in that lead group ward burton running sixth in that league group bill weber and allen for the first 50 laps of this race ward could barely drive the car was all over the racetrack and said in fact he said it felt like it was see-sawing the front of the car the nose lifting up the back the rear settling down back and forth throughout the first 50 left they came in with two rounds down on the track bar and sent him back out he says the car is still pushing much more than it did here yesterday in final practice but it is getting a little better and his place on the track a little better as well this could be a big run for his car owner bill davis it was announced this week that dave blaney is leaving because there is no secured sponsorship for the other car in the bill davis racing stable that's a teammate with ward well remember bill davis went through this once before down the stretch of the season trying to keep a promising driver but couldn't guarantee him sponsorship that driver had to leave as well that driver was bobby labonte bill davis will not stand on the right way of a good driver's career but he desperately needs a sponsorship for that second car for next season and should he come up with one who will have no problem finding a quality driver to jump into a bill davis car it is good equipment and there we see you do it i know how good equipment is we almost won watkins glen glenn together bill davis and i and they're good people to drive for it jeff gordon going rim riding [Music] has some help that's current bush and the sharpie car right behind him and that bill davis car right on the inside of it gordon running in 12th right now racing ward burton for 11th remember kurt busch is not on the lead lap we've just completed 200 miles of the 500 that'll make up this afternoon's race you're watching nascar on nbc next saturday at one eastern horse racing returns to nbc for the 18th edition of the breeders cup world thoroughbred championships from historic belmont park the best horses and jockeys in the world gathered for the breeders cup eight championship stakes races on racing's richest day next saturday one eastern on nbc that's one horsepower and these cars have about 450 of those horses right under the hood and that little spot under the hood it's amazing not going to be any restrictor plate on that horsepower next week though no will not close up his nostrils he will be able to breathe cleanly dale earnhardt jr right behind michael waltrip the dale earnhardt incorporated teammates running first and second what's michael going to do if he sees the debris down there at 190 miles per hour hit it hit it that's all he can do was report of possible debris in turn two nascar looked it over and by the fact that we're staying under the green i'll assume saw nothing there matt kenza third sorry wally toggle reinforced mark martin fifth just looking a little deeper into the running order you've got bonnie the body jerry nade who mike wallace sterling marlon and kenny wallace now making up the top 10. i was just going to say is going to see where the debris came from if it came from the 36 car you know if that call came that's what you know when you're down a lap and you see the leaders coming boy you see all kinds of things on the racetrack hoping to get that yellow hud strickland's got some troubles marty yeah alan he's been on seven cylinders for about uh 15 laps now and uh he was joking around with the crew saying i think it's getting ready to blow up so they all sit up and wave goodbye ceremoniously to the engine but uh looks like it is living at the moment this is a yates engine just to mention that but certainly on seven cylinders they're trying to diagnose the problem as to what it might be right now well mike wallace has moved out of line trying to go towards the front and ken schrader wally talking about looking for caution because he's going to get lapped right here oh bobby mark martin pulled up right in front of mike yeah goodbye squeeze john andretti slowing down on his way oh he went past the pit lane bill what's wrong with andretti well they really don't know alan other than the fact his foot's to the floor and the car just keeps getting slower and slower and slower he said he hasn't lifted or anything it's just like the power is slowly seeping away this was going to be hopefully a big weekend for the paddy's two cars qualifying in row 4 the 43 in the 45 but john lost his primary car in that final practice crash and now slowing around at the back of the pack apparently losing power every lap and the dismal season for petty enterprise and enterprises continues if you're with us in our pre-race show we'll document it well the struggles as they try and pick the pieces up and rebuild that once very proud program i think he's coming in i can hear him down shifting right there so john headed toward the garage kyle is running 13th and here's jerry nedu coming down pit road marty yeah benny he said i think i've got a flat tire and uh radioed in that he needed to come down and change all four tires on the car remember in the first run they kind of left the uh draft on purpose we're hoping to come up front later on in the race and they had such a great pit stop they were out front they just decided to see what the car could do they will take on four tires they will again make no adjustments he's very happy with the chassis this will put them off sequence and unfortunately out of the draft it'll all be a two tire stop tony ford just called for that while they were over there they thought it might be a left side tire right side tire that did not know so they decided to make it a two tire stop when they decided it was probably the right front tire that is indeed down on jerry nadu's car oh matt kenzer ducking low there through the tri-oval there's bobby hamilton jr in the four car this week winston cup restrictor plate debut by the way jerry navy running eighth at the time of that unscheduled pit stop a couple of chevrolets then three fours then a pontiac and a dodge i think you'll see some manufacturing gang up go here in a little bit bp it looks to me like that matt kenseth and the 66th of douglas have tried a couple times to gang up and go by junior and michael walton but they're not having a lot of success doing that [Applause] looking back on ricky craven last week's winner running back in 30th place dave burns and crew chief mike beam a big part of that victory for ricky craven in fact mike was a guy who when he heard about ricky and interviewed ricky it was the first time that he had ever really crossed paths with him never talked to him before and he said even though i knew ricky had injuries before he said i wasn't worried about him i was going to let him prove himself as a driver and at the beginning of this year he ran well at daytona and then he ran great at rockingham and mike said i knew we had a driver so last week when they won for mike bean it was his first win as a crew as a crew chief since a 1994 southern 500 with bill elliot a great day for mike beam and for ricky craven talked with ricky earlier this weekend about the psychological side of racing here at talladega oh i think that it's an emotional race there are times during the day where you're really upset with someone and then there are times where you give somebody a thanks wave your hand at them the next lap you might be shaking your fist again it's really an emotional race because it's not a physical race the physical race was last week at martinsville this is a mental game here yeah i worked with mike a little bit he was trying to help us with the 75 team towards the end of last year boy he was really great to work with really knowledgeable low-key [Music] great with setups jerry nade who's back in marty i guess it wasn't a tire huh well uh i would say not alan and uh they uh diagnosed the problem and it is a broken right front shock for jerry nadu and uh the shock mount on the bottom is actually what broke and uh we'll show you the shock in just a second but that was the problem for jerry nadu he was feeling a problem in the right front it just was the shock not the tire 86 laps complete coming up on 250 miles here at talladega michael waltrip is your leader on nbc i don't think elvis is on that cd ah no he's no no banjos either but he is in the building as we saw going to the commercial a minute ago all kinds of people want to see nascar racing at the world's fastest speedway and we're glad you're with us on nbc this afternoon as we bring you the ea sports 500 from talladega presented by dodge jeff gordon the championship leader riding along in 19th place as you look at how the drivers in contention for the noble five million dollar bonus are faring so far that's the top five finishers from the richmond race if they win the race today they get a million dollar bonus a fan and a consumer promotion gets a million dollars plus the top five finishers today qualify to race for the million dollar bonus in las vegas next march michael waltrip has been out in front for some time now waltrip leading 37 make it 38 laps consecutively so almost all the way since the last pit stop he's been up front bobby hamilton a moment ago pulled out of traffic and dropped way to the back bill what's going on temperatures rising on the 55 in fact he said one of his temperature gauges was pegged and then fell back down to two and a quarter so the crew talked it over with him on the radio leaving him out there for maybe about 10 or 12 more laps because the temperature has come down a little bit but the 55 car could be a possible victim of overheating here at talladega i talked to jimmy ella this morning on the crew chief on the 55 car and i noticed a piece of tape in the grill the top grill on the left side you see that you can see it there right above carlo's ar and i said why why do you have it open on the bottom and that piece of tape on top he said well i want that piece of tape on top to help the downforce on the left side of the car and when i do that i have to have more openings so i go on the bottom and put the opening down there gonna have some green flag pit stops coming up after a few more laps so let's take a break here and be back in time for them michael waltrips your leader back back at talladega the ea sports 500 presented by dodge dodge is the first one to hit pit road on this round of pit stops it is jason lefler they will make a four tire change and send jason on his way fuel mileage for the dodgers he's got one on the wall on the back stretch todd o'neil has hit the wall hard on the back stretch elliot sadler and casey atwood are in it caution's out a hard crash for todd beaudine [Music] he was running fourth at the time and the first yellow flag of the race waves as the field comes to the strike harvick not able to get his left back he was trying they're going to check the photo finish camera to be sure elliott sadler and casey atwood's resting together after their involvement in the accident well bp no caution free race boy that's good to see look at the front end damage to that car glad to see todd holding out see his han's device there hooked up to the back of his helmet that was hard hard contact with the front with the wall in front of the car he's pretty spry walking across that racetrack you talked about it earlier bp seem to have a lot of accidents on the straightaways here you know that's when they really start jogging let's see if we can find out what might have happened odin is top car on the left [Music] kevin harvick kevin hart gets in the back of the 66 car and just turns him right in the wall and there we see the 19. i think the 19 and 21 it probably made contact back on the straightaway trying to slow down yeah i'm sure there's one guy was waving and one guy didn't get on the brakes quick enough and they probably got in the back of each other let's see if we can see it can't grab it by that angle all right all the cars are on pit road let's go to the pits rusty wallace and jeff burton pit together jeff burton is tight air pressure adjustment for him rusty wallace no changes at all to the two car both cars will take four tires bill matt kenseth on pit road will be four tires and fuel a pound out of the right front a pound in the right rear strong run for kenseth here at talladega marty michael walton the leader is here he was tight before they fix the damage he's loose now they've been around to bite in four tires for michael a little longer on the stop than they wanted dale earnhardt jr his teammate will beat him off pit road four tires also for junior he was loose and they made an air pressure adjustment to matt yocum the early marlins team has already completed service they went up one pound on the right front sterling said his car was a little loose going into turn three they were one lap away from pitting actually when that wreck happened so they got a little bit of luck today looked like a pretty long stop for jeff gordon's crew also he spent some time sitting still on pit road and jason leopard didn't lose a lot he got lucky on that deal he got out before the leaders came and took the yellow flag let's go back and take another look at the accident that put us under caution this is kevin harvick's on-board view we're going to see here they are coming off of turn two [Music] i don't get that one on board with the 14 car of ron hornaday there we see the 66 just going to the right into the wall [Music] and there you see the contact from our budweiser blimp it's not an uncommon thing for people to bump each other like that on the straightaway but you got to bump him straight you can't bump him as as look you can see he was at an angle when he hit him and it resulted in him crashing under caution here at talladega nbc's coverage of the nascar ea sports 500 presented by dodge is brought to you by casey atwood and the dew crew fueled by mountain dew by sprint pcs the clear alternative to cellular by pep boys all you need to know is where to go pep boys and by dodge you can take life as it comes or you can grab life by the horns dodge the remains of todd borine's car being hauled back to the garage area we're under caution for the first time today in the ea sports 500 at talladega presented by dodge ever wonder what it'd be like to take on dale earnhardt jr on the racetrack with over 6 000 fans lined up for that opportunity here and a chance to win 10 000 with his 46 second lap on ea sports new nascar thunder video game chad cook outlast at all to earn his race with dale jr and in the one-on-one championship chad lived out the dream defeating the nascar star and taking home the ten thousand dollar grand prize that kid's a little rough on down adam by chad 10 000 right here [Applause] and junior thought he was good at those video games marty go ahead well guys i tell you i wouldn't want to take on dell junior's crew on pit road because they're pretty ruthless here they obviously just won the race off pit road here's a chart where they keep up with the times goal number one today 14.57 on their stops fourteen six five was the last stop look at gold number two get bp's money how about that parsons you may be uh paying out some money today those guys may be paying out a little cash this afternoon 14.65 is not going to get it done 12.99 they get a hundred a piece mold bp todd vote has come from the infield care center dave's with him tom o'dine just walked out hands his helmet and his hands device away todd tell us about the incident uh don't really know it was behind me you know i i really like kevin harvick he's a good kid he's got a lot of talent but that's the stup the second time that idiot's done that to me he did it to me at the busch race at daytona going in turn one i was running second pulled them all the way up from the back they run into me spun me out again there did the same thing here you know it's a shame uh that tell you this kmart blue light special was awesome uh we knew we know the car never qualifies good but we know it races well and that's that's the main thing here and once i got to the front it was just a matter of drafting riding around buying some time just staying in the right position uh i saw kevin coming up on the outside pulling that lane and said well if i can get out here and lead a couple more laps you know maybe we can get some tv time but uh i didn't count on making a bonehead move but uh you know that's what that's what happens here at talladega you know the race is so close uh if you get a good run on a guy the closure rates so fast it's really hard to judge sometimes and uh evidently he's not real good at judging it but we'll be back next week are you okay i'm fine i'm fine it's just a little upset yep and he has reason to be alan if we get a look at it again i don't understand it either because harvick had plenty of room he got a run on the 66. look at all the room to the right if he had a run i don't understand why he didn't turn to the right and just go buy him and they were at the front of the pack so they were fortunate that all the other cars were able to clear todd to his inside without more than just sadler and atwood todd had glanced back off the wall across the racetrack in the path of all those other cars it would have been the big one as we referred to but you know car harvey and why don't you talk about this at the very top of the show you've got to reach up on that closure rate you've got to reach up to that left foot and slow the car down so that you don't run into the back of the other vehicle yeah when you if you know you're coming up real quick what you do is you throw that right hand up and you start waving to the guy behind you and you start using the brake a little bit just tell everybody behind you hey i i got to back off here i got to run on a guy but there again he had enough run he should have pulled to the right just went by him kevin harvick penalized last week in martinsville a lap for rough driving after the incident with bobby hamilton he's been involved in one today that's put todd bodine's car in the garage we're under caution just past halfway here in alabama welcome back to talladega alabama at the talladega super speedway and richard childress is the car owner for kevin harvick and first off richard what was kevin's side of the story well he said you know just as he got ready to bump you know uh draft bump the 66 he said the 14 hit him in the back a lot harder than he thought 66 went to you know move a little and he said he just turned him he's you know he hated it now todd budding was not the only person who's a little upset about this incident during kevin harvick's pit stop let's go ahead and roll the pit stop tape as kevin is already in the car here comes larry carter and he's voicing his opinion to kevin harvick about what took place and larry carter is toggled eyes crew chief as he exits the pit stop but he did voices opinion guys wow looked like he kicked the left front tire changer too jason lefler is the leader second car back in line dave delaney in the green machine the bp car is on the tail end of the lead lap lafler made his stop under green but stayed on the lead lap then did not pit under the caution [Applause] [Music] casey atwood who's come from the medical center dave burns is with him and he walked out of there and allen first of all casey okay yeah we're okay all right what what it looked like from your vantage point i really couldn't see what started everything uh i've seen smoke and then everybody just bunched up and uh i got in the back of somebody and i don't know if somebody got in the back of me or not we all just bunched up and uh when you're three wide and everybody hits the brakes there's not not much room to go anywhere looks like your guys are fixing your car do you want to get back out there with half a car yeah it won't be very much fun but you get as many points as you can we were hoping for a good run we were running a little bit hot on the water so we have to run to the back and then anytime i wanted to i could really come back to the front we had a pretty decent car so we're looking for a good uh good run for dodge but it won't be today all right thanks casey elliot sadler also walked from the infield care center he is okay as well well it didn't take delta junior long to retake the lead in the bud car mark martin the six is following and there the 18 of bobby labonte and michael walker it's mentioned that jeff purvis has dropped out of the race with the rear end failure we heard richard childress talk about ron hornaday getting into the back of kevin harvick and pushing him into todd bonaire let's go take another look at the replay here we are riding with the 14 car i don't see it that way didn't look like it he may got into back him after he made contact with the 66 unless we you know backed that up a little bit but it's not going to look like either way tom brown is out of the race casey atwood and elliot sadler are also in the garage with damaged cars let's go to the blimp well i think we get a better shot there we see the he was already in the back of the 66. i don't see any contact there between the 14 and 29. we had lots of cameras to cover it though bobby labonte took a run at dale earnhardt jr for the lead junior fended him off he comes again with sterling marlin that 40 car normally on these race tracks a very very fast race car right behind bobby labonte rusty wallace up in there remember this is a backup car he was involved in the big crash in final practice mark martin jeff burton michael waltrip ward burton bobby hamilton jr all mixing it up up at the front and last lap over 188 mile per hour average side by side all right u.s army sky cam shows us the talladega super speedway an army of one there are 212 ways to be a soldier find out more at goarmy.com dave burns alan ron hornaday was part of the discussion around this last incident so we'll just ask him ron did you have any contact with kevin harvick or anybody else uh with that incident wow all the way all the way up until the crash yeah i've bumped the kevin up to the front and the 66 jumped in front of us and i don't know if kevin just wanted to give him a little tap to get us going because it seemed to work without first of kevin and uh it just got him at the wrong time the 66 was coming down and the other car came up he went to turn right kevin hit up the wrong time and uh i don't know if it's just the way the ford was at the back end or whatever but he lifted him up no our problem is rookie here overshot the pits and put it reverse and i jumped off the puck real hard and snapped something in the transmission so got to thank all these guys could seek the pontiac these guys really put a good car together and uh they didn't qualify all that well but we know what we got to do next time we come back to super speedway you brought a chevy this time you're gonna bring a chevy back next time outside you brought a chevy ron you're going to bring a chevy next time you're going to go back to the pontiac well that's not my call that's aj's called but the way she's looking and uh really sucking up there i'm real happy with what this thing did today all right he had a good run going they'll try to get him back out there when they repair that transmission guys hornaday todd bodine elliott sadler casey atwood jeff purvis and jimmy spencer the cars that are off the racetrack spencer out after just 18 laps with an engine failure what a hornet's nest this is up front there's kenny wallace at one car that's another car we haven't heard too much of today [Applause] and there he is kenny walsh right now is running for last time by the start finish line he was 10th but he made a move on somebody three dale earnhardt incorporated cars in those first three rows dale jr kenny wallace and michael waltrip all in the top six spots their program on the super speedways this year has been impressive marty well alan that is exactly the truth their cars are impressive and perhaps our engines are even more impressive and after daytona they actually were not happy with the engine performance what would happen is when someone got behind their cars they would turn too many rpms they would force the car to run too fast so what they did is they worked three guys six days a week full-time non-stop since daytona and making these engines even better today these engines can turn 7600 rpm i cannot express to you what a monumental leap in restrictor plate engine program racing that is and these are by far the most durable and the biggest engines in the wrap in the uh in the business today because they can turn so many rpms and live for so long close call in the tri-oval jeff burton he was underneath that yellow line but he did not improve his position if he had gone ahead and made that pass then he would have been black black but he saw that he was wrong he backed up and fell back to his other to the position he's in beforehand troubles for ward burton he's slowing down [Music] he had been up in this lead group just a minute ago [Applause] pick out your favorite with the exception of those few we talked about a minute ago in the garage area they're all right there in the big pack 30 cars out of the 43 starters are on the lead lap dale jarrett tony stewart continue to be the last two on the lead lap using that ride out in the back strategy bill what's going on with ward burton they don't know he hasn't said a word about it just pulled out a line dropped to the back so until we hear from ward we'll just assume that uh he wanted to watch the race for a while instead of being part of it all right he's back in 28th place again out of 30 that are on the lead lap my guess is he saw something he didn't like and said the safest place is back at the end of this line that's where i'm going see bill elliot's back there with him terry labonte kyle petty and there is the gap up to the head of the line problem is that's not nearly far enough to the back you're going to miss the wreck matt kenseth jeff gordon this is eighth place [Music] about to complete the 300 mile mark of this ea sports 500 on nbc the two and two-thirds mile talladega super speedway in central alabama home of nascar on nbc today it's the ea sports 500 presented by dodge you look down on this massive track from the budweiser.com airship brought to you by budweiser the official beer of nascar enjoy race fans the 160 000 here today have been treated to a thrilling race as we look at our napa field summary 11 different drivers have changed the lead 16 times only the one caution flag the lap 96 incident when kevin harvick bumped todd bodine and todd crashed taking casey atwood and elliot sadler with him that's been the only slowdown in the event so far leading to a very brisk average speed of better than 171 miles an hour [Applause] cars out of the race jimmy spencer an early engine failure jeff purvis lost the rear end in his machine and then todd vaudine due to the crash the others who are in the garage ron hornaday elliot sadler and casey atwood their teams continue to work on their machines and hope to get them back out on track [Music] race for the championship jeff gordon running along in 13th place ricky rudd is in 19th there's gordon [Music] [Applause] and by the way larry carter todd vaudine's crew chief that we saw the video of on the uh the kevin harvick pit stop he has been summoned to the big red trailer no surprise there well they had too many men over the wall that pit stop that's right one of them was wearing a red shirt instead of a black one we saw ward burton dropping back into the field uh a few minutes ago bill what's going on with jim well apparently he just was uh very disappointed with the way his car was handling at that moment decided to drop back and three or four laps later when he finally caught his breath he did get on the radio and said whatever that change was don't ever do it again they just changed air pressure but obviously for a moment there ward unhappy but now it seems to be back up to speed and chasing the win here did junior just push bobby out of the way just about bobby had to chase that one all the way up the hill to catch it i think junior was having a lot of fun pushing bobby down the back stretch but i think he probably pushed a little bit too far going into turn three mike wallace on the outside trying to take the third spot away from his brother kenny wallace 97 car of curt bush is in there as well but he's not on the lead lap he got hung up on pit road earlier with kevin harvick lost lost a circuit to the leaders while we watch bobby labonte lead for joe gibbs racing let's get more on their day from dave burns well alan we heard earlier that joe gibbs racing teammate tony stewart was running at the back and would continue to run in the back throughout the day bobby labonte knows that strategy they've done this before in restrictor plate races but he radioed in and said the car is so good i'm going to race it i'm going to stay up front as long as i can erase this thing it's the oldest car in their shop and even though he's getting a challenge right now for mike wallace the 18 car is one that bobby labonte wants to keep up front all day they made a pressure adjustment for a tight condition last time he came in mike wallace started in 38th place in that 12 car and the 18 of bobby lebanon started 34. so as i said during the qualifying show here at talladega it really doesn't matter too much where you start [Music] that eight car is strong in the lines he i don't know if he's been farther back than third or fourth place since he got up there after the first few laps of the event i mean he just laying the bumper to bobby on the straightaway just pushing him down the straightaways and of course lined up right behind him his teammates kenny wallace and michael waltrip robbie gordon getting a little antsy looking to the outside 31 car well buckshot just all of a sudden had to dive to the outside i know someone got in the back of me he felt or he felt like he was going to run in the back of someone with the 44 car a buckshot just suddenly here to the right here comes robbie gordon getting the lap car with curt bush out from in front of him bobby hamilton pushing him through [Applause] and mike wallace in the middle that middle row is not going anywhere right now mike well it just feels like all of a sudden the intensity just just notched up a little bit they'd run along fairly calmly for the longest time and all of a sudden the pack is accordion together again and here it goes [Applause] and we've still got a long way to go [Music] getting a little impatient yeah i'm gonna go racing michael waltrip spent some time with michael here on friday obviously he's had his only success of this 2001 season on the restrictor plate tracks with a win in the daytona 500 and a second place finish in the pepsi 400 at daytona with all that's been swirling around and about him rumors of his perhaps demise with that team which have by the way been denied by team management michael said i'd sure like to have a great run maybe win another race though so they put a lot of that to rest [Music] i was just gonna say i was just gonna say bobby hamilton is getting ready to dump rodney gordon and that's exactly how you do it you swing up to the high side you get three or four cars to go with you when you're in the middle robbie's going to go backwards now and that was his son bobby hamilton jr in the kodak car who was going with him but dad kind of dumped him didn't he just kind of lost lost track he moved down in front of the 31 car off robbie court there's a look at the robert gates racing teammates ricky rudd and dale jarrett matt yocum has a report on them for us ricky rudd has never won a race at talladega his best finish here is third three times allen he's trying to get back in line as far as the title chase goes as well but currently ricky is telling his team that his car just does not turn right he says he can't hold it down in the middle of the corner and that middle to the bottom groove without having to crack the throttle so they told him just to try to highlight and that's what he's been doing with the past 25 laptop riding in the middle to high line they even asked the 88 team are they experiencing anything like that they said no and meanwhile dale jerry says his car is running very well no changes on their last stop as well [Applause] ron hornaday we talked to him just a moment ago and they were replacing the transmission in the consecutive chevrolet he's back on the racetrack now with a new transmission mike wallace up in that outside lane jumping up in front of bobby hamilton hamilton had a strong strong car in yesterday's final practice he fell back earlier bill he's picking his way back to the front and we're with us crew chief jimmy elich how's your car and how's that overheating situation well the car's really good you know we had a set of tires there to begin a little bit free on the entry and we got that taken care of and we got the thing too hot you know we were tucked up behind harvard there and the temperature got real hot so we backed off there and let the thing cool down and got that caution and just for safety reasons we just felt like we'd go ahead and just run some water through it just to make sure that we didn't push any water out of it you know since my father uh fields engines he's probably hollering at the tv right about now saying you have too damn much tape on the thing so we took a little bit of tape off too for you dad so benny was yelling at you too about that just so you know you know it's always a heated discussion at the dinner table you know he wants his motors to run cool and i'm trying to make the cars run fast i'm sure our motor guy said the same thing but everything's fine i mean cars good we're just uh playing chess get 200 miles an hour alan rook tonight three here's his dad was chess manzar his dad is terio it's the chief engine builder bill davis racing for ward burton and dave laney and that's the tradeoff we've talked about in other shows is that you put more tape on these cars they're better they're better aerodynamically they will go faster and they'll handle better with more tape but trade-off is that's not enough air to the engine so you run higher temperature so there's a real close balance you have to work with there 62 laps to go in talladega bonnie lavonte is the leader watching nascar on nbc 30 cars are on the lead lap in the ea sports 500 in talladega presented by dodge nascar on nbc with race 31 of the 2001 season bobby labonte is the leader dale earnhardt jr is second bobby hamilton is third they're side by side from fourth on back kenny and mike wallace there leading that parade of cars mike wallace has helped bobby hamilton then 55 car move into the third spot and hamilton looks like he's going to stay up there and try to help mike wallace go with it bobby hamilton continuing to march forward in that outside lane he was way at the back of the field at one point with the overheating problem we talked about earlier you know how sometimes you can't trust those crew chiefs to tell you the truth all right here we go hamilton goes blowing by erner moves into the second spot can he and mike wallace get by the 18 car and i guess one thing that jimmy elledge was not kidding about is that his car is very good [Applause] boy look good yesterday happy hour he went from the back to the front he was in every single lane new leader bobby hamilton if he's just making a round to the line caution there's debris on the racetrack they're coming to the yellow flag second one of the race debris and they'll race back to this yellow there it is piece of metal or something off one of the cars oh that's that's below the out of town somebody might have hit it from where it originally landed on the racetrack and knocked it down just off of turn two that is [Music] regular never get in line to figure out who's going what position they're going to make their pit stops probably not oh they'll come down pit road two or three wide exactly now pit stops will be with 57 laps to go that'll make things interesting but how many 67 57 57 yeah some cars can make it yeah and a lot can't yeah you are right so would you stay out an extra lap or two come in right at the end get fuel you know what that was that was that lower molding they use on the bottom of the front air dam lower front air dam skirt is now missing from half of somebody's car and that will make that car not handled too well and that was in the tri-oval by the way okay that was out here on the front side so that was the correct piece of debris for the caution we had the wrong debris road is open two tires are four got to get it full of fuel i think that if you've got to stop again you'll change four tires if you're going to make the rest away you'll probably change four times so i expect see most cars change four tires critical pit stops dave burns and of course giving up second place now is mike wallace they remove tearaway to give mike better vision he needs all he can get running up front as he has been all day they're going to change four tires get fuel and send him on his way bill well bobby hamilton is in they'll tear away the windshield plastic coating and give him four tires and fuel they'll be very close on getting to the end marty jeff gordon trying to make it six straight years with a restrictor plate win they are a little bit loose but better than they've been all day long half a round of wedge into the left side this will put them one lap short of being able to make it all the way on fuel they'll need some help with some cautions to matt yoakam no adjustments for sterling marlin just four tires and they pack the fuels up full of fuel but sterling will have to stop again lee mccall told me they are six laps shy from their estimates of making it to the distance so four tires and a top off of the fuel tank but if the caution doesn't wave again so people are going to not have enough gasoline to get to the checkers back to talladega still under caution here's our nascar bush series update kevin harvick leading jeff green and jason keller in the championship four races to go phoenix next saturday you'll see it on tnt craftsman truck series update what a championship race they've got going 108 points between the top three only 200 to fifth place ted musgrave and two races remaining in the truck series season back to talladega after this that's that's worth oh they stood up that was worth a circle the six can make six can where is it [Music] nobody's listening nobody's listening no i i think we need to work on getting some sunglasses for somebody i can handle it i'm telling you 88's coming in now by the way he just didn't come to the right source it's always about the source yeah can all the roush cars make it [Music] i'll bet i'll bet we'll yeah they're getting as much fuel as they can if you've been listening sam the one can make it the one back on the grill of the 10 and adding water if gary putnam can get it in it's marty hello the uh 17 can make it all the way i would say all the roush cars and the 18 and 20 they might be in good shape 88 thinks they can make it i asked tommy baldwin if they could make it he goes we're going for it answer the question junior back at talladega super speedway getting ready to go back racing in the aaa sports 500 on nbc presented by dodge the round of pit stops brings dale earnhardt jr back to the point but people's ability to make it to the checkered flag on the fuel they just took on is very much in question and there's going to be several cars that can make it the rest of the way and several that can't so the guys that can't they really need another caution flag to get that extra fuel and the guys again are gonna wait the last second to come in right before they go green they'll come down pit lane and top it off and get every drop of fuel in it well we're already on the one-to-go signal so that opportunity is gone dale jarrett stayed out for a couple extra laps to lead and collect five bonus points then topped off his fuel so he's got a couple more laps caution flag laps of gas than everybody else but the jack roush cars and again the guys and fish during the commercial break said they believe that the jack rausch cars the six 17 99 can make it what about it guys are they still saying can they make it marty well the 17 benny told me they can make it all the way on fuel i talked to dale earnhardt jr they're just close enough where they will not take a risk as of right now going all the way on fuel but his teammate michael waltrip will take that chance of taking the risk to go all the way on fuel to bill weber well talking about dei let's start with the one car they say they can make it they will go for it and try to reach the finish the 55 of bobby hamilton cannot make it but the six car mark martin can the green is back out guys mike wallace has been great on restart since getting into that 12 car he jumps to the outside of bobby labonte back there for fourth but mike wallace is on the outside but he has no one to go with him and we see jeff gordon pulls up behind bobby labonte and leaves mike wallace a 12th car in the dust but now kenny wallace his brother the one car pulls up behind the 12. that will help his progress 53 laps to go dale earnhardt jr leads bobby hamilton is second the 97 and 29 cars are not on the lead lap harvick and bush are in 31st and 32nd the first car is one lap down also in that mix among those cars jerry nader in the 25 he is in 36th place four laps down after they had a broken shock earlier in the race jeff gordon for third make it fourth spot on mike wallace [Music] 13 different drivers have led today jeff gordon is not one of them let's finish our discussion of pit strategy and who can make it and who can't dave burns how about your end the 18 car bobby labonte the lap before the caution came out they reached their pit window so they are good to go guess which other window they caught the left front tire with a hole in it window they found that out after he came on pit road so they were really glad they got that caution as for the 12 car of mike wallace he can make it all the way as well matt if dale jared did not pit with the leaders he waited one extra lap so he could lead a lap and then he came back into gun four tires and fuel his couching top turret said he feels like they can go the distance but he told his driver to go in the fuel conservation mode it will be close meanwhile johnny benson they are very iffy if they can go they are minus or plus one lap or two laps but they did come back in put a piece of tape on the grill and put some more water in that tent car and topped it off with fuel just in case so it appears that a lot of the cars think they can make it the one notable who can't right now is the second place runner bobby hamilton [Applause] you know but once what happened is with a lap or two to go when these cars are really closed up and bumper to bumper somebody's gonna run out of gasoline and that's when you're gonna have a big big problem and all of this of course if we get no caution flag between here and the finish we got three wallace brothers running right together the one kenny walsh the two rusty wash on the 12 mike wallace rusty's still in the hunt for that million dollar bonus this is from michael waltrip's car hey that napa machine has been strong all day too outside for the lead bobby hamilton on dale jr [Music] and harvick sitting here right where he really needs to be sitting to try to get a lap back but i'll guarantee those cars behind him are probably yelling to their spotters they'd rather him not be there hamilton with a half of a nose out in front at the start finish line leads that lap by three one hundredths of a second he led that lap still working on that fuel calculation down in dale junior's pit they are still working allen and here's the quandary for dale earnhardt jr his car is best when it's out front but when he's out front they turn more more rpms the more rpms he turns the more fuel he uses and the less likely it is they can make it all the way but they are definitely going to try and go all the way that is jeff clark the engine man for dale and hart jr they are calculating and recalculating they are going to go for it but they still come up that they will be one lap short allen you'd have a hard time doing this i don't know where you guys come up with this thing about me having a hard time with math we'd be running out of gas five last five laps to go yes sir you'd be lucky to make it to the finish because you'd hit something by then yeah did you see and the way you drove at the go-kart track last night you would did you see michael waltrip as soon as he had the chance to dive in behind his teammate dale earnhardt jr the 8th car these two guys are going to try to do exactly what they did in the pepsi 400 in daytona i was thinking that was kind of a quandary for michael when he got up there behind hamilton and was pushing him up up to the side of junior there's a seven car kevin lepage he's back in the 15th position earnhardt jr and rusty wallace two of the five drivers eligible for the million dollar bonus running in the first four positions five-story tall banking here at talladega that blue car on the outside i think that's buck shot jones kind of had his hands full and held up that line didn't yes he did and junior able to get away from these guys whoop here they come sorry about that junior early call [Applause] [Music] they're going to run like this all the way to the finish more drama to come from talladega don't go away dale earnhardt jr is your leader nbc's coverage of the nascar ea sports 500 presented by dodge is brought to you by nascar thunder 2002 ea sports it's in the game by dodge you can take life as it comes or you can grab life by the horns dodge buy stacker ii the world's strongest fat burner burn fat crush cravings and supercharge your energy and buy goodyear reminding you to take all your journeys on the wings of goodyear coming up on the 400 mile mark of the ea sports 500 from talladega on nbc presented by dodge 30 cars are on the lead lap they're all in the pack right there dale earnhardt jr bobby labonte michael waltrip they've been the three dominant drivers of this race earnhardt jr has led the most laps michael walsh second most [Applause] talk about county cars being on the lead left that is the lead the eight car the red car dale earnhardt jr the 55 bobby hamilton and the 88 card dale jarrett is 30th he is three seconds behind these leaders which now is the eighth car of dale earnhardt jr it's probably easier for me to tell you who's not on the lead lap than who is because as you see the pack they're racing for those wow look at that what happened to michael waltrip how did junior get away like that michael looks like he's been trying to get down he's got underneath that yellow line twice i don't know why looks like he's running fine though maybe just laying back to try to get a run and do this and see how good his car is but hamilton moves over and blocks that move waltrip looks to the outside there's our williams race chase earnhardt back to 30th place dale jarrett and that three second gap benny was telling you about [Applause] now the wallace brothers there and the rusty walls of the two mike ross and the 12 trying to take them to the third spot so of the 43 who are in the race todd beline eliot sadler casey atwood they're all out after a lap 95 accident jeff curvis had a rear end failure at lap 86 jimmy spencer an engine failure at lap 18. those are the only cars off the track not on the lead lap kevin harvick kurt busch dave blaney and ken schroeder are one lap down four laps down are jerry nady when john andretti hot strickland is seven laps down ron hornaday is 25 laps down if i did not mention your favorite driver's name there he's on the lead left and in that path well the wallace brothers have finally gotten by these cars and here comes the other brother kenny wallace wide stacey compton on the outside ricky rudd bobby hamilton in the middle bobby the body down low sterling marlin running ninth [Applause] kenny lost his car didn't look too good in that corner did he wally no it did not it was a handful only two cautions in the race so far a crash at lap 95 that i mentioned a minute ago and a degree caution to lap 131 it's been a very clean race so far but the tension is building as we close in on the finish 40 laps to go at talladega we're under caution in the ea sports 500 third one of the day and it happened off of turn four just moments ago involving jerry nedu all by himself one car accident he was back he was four laps down there he see him start the car all by himself just around it goes he spins down to the bottom of the racetrack and we did hear radio communication between himself and tony fur and he said something broke yeah a car turned like that here at talladega it's very unusual unless something breaks or watch up here in the right-hand side that car just turned sideways yikes ron horned a close call there now nadu's car he tried to drive it back in it's come to rest in the center of pit road so the pit lane is closed we'll take a break while they clear that car away and come back for the pit stops after this [Applause] keep the camera in mind see how many cars pit pit roads closed i understand there'll be a couple of them coming well maybe not here comes one here comes the car in the pits mike is that nemechek mike cars coming in the pits that's the whole point to the right there you go no no no no no hey guys a broken left front shock that car was bouncing around like crazy on the left front so they they came in early because uh they don't mind taking the penalty because they need to change the shot well there you go that's what we needed that's what you need better than a cocktail i would have to take a vote on that say you'd lose that one they run their own front shocks right yes not the nascar man they do on the front there's a cow tail just two sharks are broken today but they've both been the front sharks which are the teams he's got beads too he's wearing beads good man he's been in the infield 250 i'd stay out you can make it on field yeah we can make it on fuel let's up let's take a chance michael if they all come let's just stay out and hopefully we can hold them off slugger i wanna i'll do whatever y'all think good on fuel and motorman says we'll be okay i mean um if they all stay out i mean it's gonna be a tough call to make you know what i'm saying i can't see up there on pit road but if they all come in i'd stay out i think every one of them is going to stay on the racetrack i don't think anybody's going to pit it's coming down to crunch time back at talladega listening to michael waltrips radio traffic discussions between he and crew chief slugger labby pitt road is open who's coming in who's staying out michael is fifth in line and he's going to stay on the track dave burns and the two-car of rusty wallace will come in crew chief robert pemberton radio to him where our fuel mileage is getting worse every time it's too close to risk rusty rusty will go on his call no tires fuel only for the two car matt sterling marlin only needs three and a half gallons jerry schweitz got the cannon and sterling pulls away to build this saves bobby hamilton he would have been three laps short on fuel marty junior's already gone he only got one gallon of fuel one second on pit road that's all they needed to bill ever getting four tires for bobby hamilton and a track bar adjustment to free him up just a little he'll be at the pack but they think this car and this strategy is good enough to sweep talladega well most everybody just took a splash of fuel hamilton got tires jeff gordon got tires well jeff gordon got tires because he needed him 334 point lead he cannot take any chances with just a few laps to go for the nascar winston championship michael waltrip ricky rudd ward burton kevin lepage robbie gordon jeff burton kenny wallace they all stayed on the track a couple of more as well let's see robert presley bobby hamilton jr mark martin matt kenseth and dale jarrett all stayed out and did not pit under this caution back for the restart after this 35 laps to go in the ea sports 500 from talladega presented by dodge it's going to be a dramatic finish to this one and then we pick up and head off to the valley of the sun next weekend our nascar action starts on friday with bud poll qualifying at 4 30 eastern time on cnn sports illustrated next saturday it's the outback steakhouse 200 from phoenix for the nascar bush series at 3 eastern time followed immediately by coverage of winston cup final practice then next sunday nascar winston cup racing from the phoenix mile at 2 eastern time on nbc there'll be five races to go in the season and that's always a good one very good race we'll look forward to that one next sunday we're still not ready for the restart here so let's take another break and come back for more the budweiser.com airship is with us today at talladega reminding all race fans that budweiser is nascar's official beer 33 laps to go green flag michael waltrip is the leader this is where it gets touched normally in the past the closer we have restarts towards the end of the race that's normally when we have trouble that's when the big wrecks happen so hopefully we can keep it clean 30 cars on the lead left bobby hamilton and jeff gordon who took tires on that caution are restarting in 21st and 22nd positions the top 12 did not stop first one on the line robbie gordon going after kevin lepage for fifth not working too good earnhardt jr back in 13th on the restart he was the leader to the caution and he is on the outside there's a lot of drivers that would rather be someplace else than where they are right now some of those guys right there stuck in the center would rather be up front while we watch this frantic action what about the decision to leave michael waltrip on the track marty snyder's with his crew chief slugger labby actually as crew chief why did you not pit he said hey two reasons one we can make it all the way on fuel and secondly the car is running hot if the cars out front it'll cool the engine a little better so we really had an overheating problem and i also asked him are you nervous he said absolutely i'm nervous i've never won a winston cup race would you be nervous to matt yoakam marty robert yates made the call to keep both his race cars out the 28 crew chief michael fatbach mcswain told me they can go to lap 189 no problem which is one lap past the checkered flag and the 88 cars stayed out as well both are confident they can go the distance and hopefully one can go to victory lane that eight car junior just got in the back of mark martin there a little little bit again i'll tell you that was a heck of a save through the tri-oval all it takes is one slip one mistake and it'll be 15 cars in the big wreck the tension is getting thick and especially back there where junior bobby hamilton rusty wallace all those cars are jeff gordon right in the middle of all that the championship leader he's back in 19th [Music] [Applause] look at junior go look at that a car just blow my car he's been the strongest all day he's led the most laps in the race oh contact there with robbie gordon robbie trying to jump up in front of him yep he tried blocking that loose so junior wouldn't put him in the middle kevin lepage jeff burton there side by side that's for fifth on board dale jr remember this 97 card kirk bush is not on the lead lap he's back in 31st the 93 car dave blaney is not on the lead lap nor is the 25 of jerry nader who's getting down out of the way junior just turns left coming off turn two and goes by the 97 car then which car is he going to choose the 97 9 or the seven or will he go three wide by himself doesn't look like he needs much help when he wants to pass somebody jr has decided to go with jeff burton and it looks like 2x2 i started saying it was a wise decision but the seventh car lepage is still right there marty schneider boy guys this looks a lot like the pepsi 400 from daytona remember at the end of that race junior restarted six with six laps to go today he restarted 13th with many more laps than that to work with and it looks like he's headed back to the front again he's got a long way to go 28 laps that's a long way here at talladega right on the back bumper of jeff burton [Applause] here they come outside of ricky rod for [Music] second [Music] dale jr on a million dollar ride toward the front remember he's one of the five drivers that can take the noble fly bonus jeff burton to the lead dale jr to second and they just blew by michael walter it's michael waving his hand at ricky rudd for michael waltrip was waving his hand inside the car when ricky rudd ducked to his outside i thought maybe you would say it come on hook up with me but he's losing spots he's on the bottom of the racetrack it looks like michael walter has a problem he's not coming to pit road you're missing oh [Music] man might be a red limiter going bad is what he said tough break for michael he's fallen back into the field jeff burton is the leader dale earnhardt jr is second 26 laps to go in the ea sports 500 from talladega on nbc bobby hamilton has just taken the lead in the ea sports 500 at talladega presented by dodge not going to be the last lead change we see the way this thing's shaping up in the final laps 30 cars on the lead lap they're all in a big bunch a couple of lap cars mixed in the guy that helped him get there his 29th car of kevin harris who they had a little contact last week and some words at martinsville but like they said earlier you got to put that behind you when you strap in a race car it's a new day it's a new race especially when you come places like talladega where you really even can't think about paybacks or anything like that 22 laps to go waldo you got a couple of lap cars up there at the front of the pack harvick in the 29 kurt busch in the 97 in among the leaders if i'm on the lead lap i'm screaming wanting them guys to get out of there so we can go racing but if i'm a lap down i gotta i gotta stay there in case yellow comes out trying to get my life back well i think those guys have every reason every right to be there until about 10 laps to go they should stay there and i agree with you betty 10 laps to go they should get out of there let those guys race earnhardt jr rides hamilton up off the bottom lane back out front his teammate kenny wallace is pushing him last year kenny wallace pushed dale earnhardt senior to his 10th victory here at talladega in a frantic dash over the final miles in the car that he's right next to the 55 car yeah kenny wallace was driving that 55 last year jeff gordon hanging in there there's the scoring cereal on junior he took the green flag 13th on that restart here goes hamilton back on the outside it really is amazing how the inside outside line all of a sudden seems like one offensive event is an advantage checking the race for the championship six races to go including today's jeff gordon and ricky rudd gordon running seventh run shuffled back to 18th he was second on the restart [Music] 2-0 20 laps to go bill weber why they stand down that bobby hamilton fits last thing they said to him benny was take it easy cowboy be smart on tuesday at the shop the 55 team didn't know if they should be mad frustrated disappointed or happy after what happened in martinsville on monday they thought they had a car that could win the race and then it got taken away from him so they came in here knowing what they did at talladega in april not only to win this race but to get back the one that was taken from them last monday they desperately want to go to victory lane today after what happened look at rusty wallace riding the rim four wide back there and i tell you what rusty waltz went in turning three that time on the outside four wide and here he still comes on three deep on the outside he's still not too far back to win it and he's got an awfully good car and robbie gordon winning the 31 car mike wallace pushing up through the center kenny wallace trying to decide if he stays in front of jeff burton he doesn't burton shuffles kenny wallace away johnny benson comes through to third here comes tony stewart who's been hanging around the back all day michael waltrip leading the race moments ago he's on pit road now marty and remember we told you that's one of the reasons he stayed out allen was because the car was overheating and that eventually looks like what we'll do in michael walter today an overheated and cooked engine as he sits on pit road dale earnhardt jr to the lead bobby hamilton shuffled back a couple of car lengths in the outside less than 50 miles to go tony stewart and bobby labonte tag teaming their way the joe gibbs racing teammates up that inside line of cars now this is about the time of the race here where you start getting your spotter to start working and finding guys who will work with you for the end of the race now is when you're starting to look for your dancing partner so to speak say let's stick together and go to the front they're pushing michael waldrop's car behind the wall this day will end how about those joe gibbs cars dave tony stewart finished second in the spring here so that strategy does work i checking craigslist elliot's crew chief they changed four tires on this last stop and did put fuel in it and he said the car was very well balanced all day long as we said before tony was just hanging back and waiting until now to race and he thinks he has a car that can win [Music] looks like junior's going to be awfully hard to beat matt kenseth bobby hamilton this is for fourth looking back from johnny benson's car this is a brand new race car that johnny benson's team brought here qualified far better than they thought started in fourth position dropped back early in the race it's go time now matt yoakam i spoke with james is johnny benson's crew chief i said why'd you take on four tires he says well when you look at our history we lost the daytona 500 in 1999 because we took on no tires we lost the pepsi 400 today total last round because we took on two tires we were not gonna take a chance we took four tires and this is a brand new race car what a way to christen it if johnny can pick up his first win four times so far this season a driver has scored his first nascar winston cup win michael waltrip kevin harvick elliott sadler last week at martinsville ricky craven benson runs third [Music] stuart is trying everything he can as soon as he clears that 55 i wouldn't be surprised to see him move up to that top lane he tried to crowd the 55 off the bottom lane there he tried moving up on the 55 but he wasn't having any of it he's kind of boxed in yep as long as hamilton keeps him pinned down he can't go anyplace [Music] looks like the 17th car might be a little bit loose getting that get that last corner there [Music] and you can see these cars moving around and you say isn't that uncomfortable to the drivers yes it's very uncomfortable because you can feel it when these cars start moving around dale earnhardt jr has led 57 of the 175 laps that have been run so far today he has had the dominant car he's been right up the front of the pack all race long [Music] we heard the report from pitt road earlier how even after his dominating win in the pepsi 400 at daytona the dale earnhardt incorporated team went back to work on their engines to bring further increased horsepower here i guess if they felt they needed validation from their pepsi 400 win after some people threw around the fixed word see kyle petty up there in the 45 car very high something has happened to kyle's car he has now gone one lap down to this group of cars [Music] hmm jeff burke haven't talked about him a whole lot but he's started in the back deep in the field 33rd place they had to fix the left front fender on his car after the happy hour crash yesterday he got up to the front of the pack early in the race i think what another guy that's done a great job the last few laps is joe nemechek on that last car supply they came in early replaced a baldy shock absorber on the left front and nemechek has worked his way back up to the 10th position marty hey guys look who i found in dale earnhardt junior's pits i think wilson is afraid of these high speeds and all this close racing here at talladega wilson has been evicted from the car he now sits on the pit box too much bad luck they said so dale jr said get it out of the car put it on the pit box maybe it'll change our luck this week and uh looks like it might be working out pretty good for these guys if you're not familiar dale earnhardt jr carried wilson the volleyball from the movie castaway with him to a couple of victories to dover he had it on board won the race right that was the first time that he took wilson for a ride and they pulled off the win i set a couple of victories to that one victory then he had him on board the next week and things didn't work quite as well 11 to go 11. ten laps to go next time when that last last time by when dale jr was going down the back stretch when we were getting marty's report he's waving to jeff burton behind him yeah he's just waving come on stay with me let's go let's get away from those guys you about to find out who who your friends are here and bobby hamilton in that very very fast square d car number 55 cannot make it go on the outside now tony stewart has cleared hamilton you said wouldn't be surprised to see him jump to the outside problem for him is his drafting partner bobby labonte can't clear hamilton right he's got to wait till the 18 card gets behind it before tony can make any kind of a move unless the 17 makes a move he'll follow 17 but i think it looks like the 20 car is quicker than the 17 of matt cancer star dave burns just checked in bobby labonte's pit bobby came on the radio and said tell me when there's five laps to go i want to be in the middle [Music] well there's somebody likes the middle bp wow marty and guys jeff gordon said the same thing he actually said it before the race he told robbie loomis as crew chief when it comes down to it i want to be in the middle find my way to the middle because i think that will be the lane that will move i talked to mike wallace this morning down in the garage and he said the same thing about the middle lane with the the cars configured the way they are seeming to be the one that always moves bill allen remember here in april it was bobby hamilton that came charging from the back to win allah earnhardt now desperately needing to catch up with that pack in front of him but several drivers waiting for the 55 to do something that's the car they want to latch onto and i think they're right that's the only car that's they're gonna have a chance to get by the eight car then once they're by the eight car then it's gonna be a free-for-all but it's gonna be real tough to do that with these five or six cars behind dale jr lined up with the laps running out bobby hamilton had to get down in that inside lane and fill that drafting hole now things are going to get interesting the line is closed who's going to be the first one to break out and make the move to the outside among this lead group eight laps to go [Applause] well i'll tell you they need to hurry because if that other line gets up next to him the one that kenny wallace is leading they're not going to have a chance to make a move there goes tony stewart and bobby hamilton they've moved up high stewart bails back out to the inside was he just trying to shake hamilton and get bobby up behind him could be if he did it worked now the two gibbs cars are together you got two roush cars up there kenzeth and burton jr is all alone he lost his drafting partner when michael waltrip went out of the race kenny wallace there in the yellow car hung back in traffic here comes stewart outside of kenseth and bobby labonte quickly jumped on the back bumper and his teammate now by the 99 i'm going to jump out right now right in front of that 20 car and let the 20 car push me by the eight car tony stewart rode around at the back of the pack all race long hoping to avoid the big wreck now in the final laps he's on the charge racing benson for third now to the outside of burton for second [Applause] and hamilton is in the middle is that the spot to be bobby the body gets hung on the outside [Music] [Applause] six laps to go [Applause] [Music] [Applause] have got run down there too though the same exact thing that happened at daytona three wide up front coming to five to go [Music] the only thing the flag went held out that time five fingers please don't anybody make a mistake it's three wide behind you well there's the middle lane ty norris taylor and heart junior spotter bobby labonte gonna try the outside junior's gonna move up and crowd him here comes mark martin where did he come from where did he come from and kenny wallace he was back about 10th or 12th just a few laps ago martin pushes bobby labonte out to the lead [Applause] four to 24 laps earlier today he's got a very strong car look at bobby hamilton force a hole to the inside of kenny wallace i tell you what right now if it's about 12 feet wide they're going to put a car in it [Music] there's robert preston the 77 car low lines moving look at tony stewart look at that run stewart to second hamilton by dale jr [Music] oh three laps ago [Applause] what drama here in talladega bobby labonte leads tony stewart is second bobby hamilton is third all 30 cars on the lead lap in a big pack and brad beaudine is 28th position 1.4 seconds behind the leader jeff gordon drawing within range of the leaders keep an eye on that 24 car it's money time he usually shows up about then and junior drives up the racetrack right in front of bobby hamilton he knows hamilton is a very good race car look at the move by dale jr cuts out from underneath stewart off turn four second place [Music] and two more laps this is unbelievable we've seen the a car hasn't needed any help to get by other cars ricky craven looking low dale jr moves down to block tony stewart but when the eight card does go around the 18 the 20 will go with the 18. ricky craven drops up behind the 55 car trying to help bobby hamilton to the front the white flag is up final lap in talladega who's it going to be lebanese earnhardt jr steward or maybe somebody out of the pack look at this move by junior at the white flag and tony stewart is with you blocks bobby hamilton cannot believe the toyota contact bobby labonte's over it's the big wreck on the final lap they're racing back for the win dale earnhardt jr and tony stewart are side by side this is for the victory as jeff burton gets in the middle of it at least 10 cars involved in the wreck of the back stretch [Music] burton stewart are side by [Applause] has won the million dollar bonus here in crash in the back talladega [Applause] the big crash happened on the final lap racing for the win bobby labonte's car upside down ricky craven just flying from his car terry labonte driving back around dave burns allen the 18 crew heard a radio transmission from bobby labonte that he was okay we understand now he is out of his car so they're gonna pick up here they know bobby's okay yeah we are looking at him now dave he has climbed from the car good news and what was wielder still spinning and ricky craven climbed from his car and just set [Applause] down there i see him sitting on the ground wow [Music] ricky rudd trying to make it around to the finish line [Applause] [Music] dale jarrett hasn't come around robert presley ward burton buckshot jones johnny benson [Applause] [Music] sterling marlin was involved that's his car all torn up going backwards up the pit lane on board with sterling there's robert preston's car bill elliot was involved he's coming backwards up the pit lane there's dale jarrett's car never made it to the checkered flag ward burton trying to get to the checkers and he's going to make it to the line and he'll turn around right here what a wild finish dale earnhardt jr being saluted by the 160 000 here in talladega for his victory in the ea sports 500 presented by dodge [Applause] let's mention that jeff gordon the championship leader did get through the wreck he came to the checkered flag in seventh a little surprised the teammates didn't work together their last lap bp let's go back and take a look at it white flag was up we were on the final lap of the race [Applause] [Music] you see bobby hamilton the 55 car trying to get on the outside of bobby labonte labonte comes back down the hill and now all of a sudden they're four wide and hamilton gets in the left rear of bobby labonte's car and we see the car start tumbling down the back stretch and there's not a whole lot you can do when you're behind that all you see is smoke and cars go sideways you just try to hold the steering wheel straight and get through it somehow rode the roof the whole way never flipped over just on the roof and that's how it rode the whole way down the back stretch hard crash for benson there mike wallace [Applause] [Music] there's rusty wallace in the grass [Music] ricky craven that bobby hamilton jr there in the fourth car one more shot once again helmet from drivers go on the outside bobby lemon of the 18 goes up to block him they make a little contact but everything's okay then hamilton drives to the inside and here they're going to get four wide there just isn't room coming off that corner for four wide and how jeff gordon got through that is amazing the car behind him mike wallace crashed they got within a half a lap of the checkered flag let's listen to this sterling marlins view he actually got hit it looks like he would he was trying to go straight through it and somebody got into the back of him and turned him sideways oh man that was close that was close buckshot jones they finally come to a meeting johnny benson oh [Music] [Applause] i mean all you're worried about all this time what johnny's worried about is somebody hitting him marty will bobby hamilton literally shaking take us through those last few laps and how nerve-wracking all this is well it was tight uh neil junior had a real good car and was able to run good together i got on the outside and i couldn't get any good help behind me but we were still pretty good out there so uh went in that last corner i had a real good run on him to go three deep and when i did 18 went to block me which he should and i turned up under and he turned down and blocked me and he didn't know why i was there and it turned him and scared me i come back around took the checker went back over the crash height and stopped checked on him make sure he was all right it was pretty bad crash but i hope everybody's all right in that deal and just come down the last lap and everybody's rooting and gouging but real happy guys on a square d chevrolet you know we won here in the spring out of top five and had a good call literally shaking bobby hamilton finishes fifth today helen dale earnhardt jr has won today chevy congratulates dale on the number eight monte carlo on a big win and he'll tell you the only thing that comes close to monte carlo's reputation on the track is its reputation on the street monte carlo more champions depend on chevy he'll be there bill whatever a small celebration here in victory lane at talladega super speedway in talladega alabama congratulations a wild finish and a great race for you dei wins three of the four plate races this year yeah i guess uh we proved that um wasn't no fix over in daytona but uh you're on a mission for that weren't you yeah i had to do it i mean i had to get really aggressive here at the end but hell everybody else was so uh block them or get run over and trying to do a little bit of both and had fun it's a great race car congratulations to budweiser remington all our sponsors uh it's a great day one million dollars for fans and can't be any happier you pitted late had to come through the field similar to your finish at daytona only here you had a little more time to do it and you had to come from deeper in the pack yeah it's a little bit harder to do that here i don't know why but there's two almost two different race tracks but i'm almost out of breath man it's a little bit sick this morning when i got up and uh didn't know if i was gonna feel good or not but this makes it all better obviously you know your dad had tremendous success here at talladega now another earnhardt comes to victory lane here yeah i'm really excited about that i mean he won this same race last year under the same circumstances uh we've done some crazy things this year winning at daytona uh winning uh after the terrorist attacks the race after that and now winning this race uh and you know just like my daddy did so it's crazy man i don't know what's going on yeah so wilson goes back on the wagon next week that was going every week in the car or on the wagon on the car he's been great luck man we needed this for the points too that's that's huge i got five races left and i want to finish in the top 10 in 40 points in my second season so i can get up on new york and get my piece to them and a million bucks for you and a race fan yeah yeah let me see here uh-oh hang on her name's uh carrie richter and uh she's from ohio so yesterday we run an ea sports race on a computer and some some little 15 year old dude won ten thousand dollars so we've been winning all kinds of money for people this week congratulations great race great win thanks a lot thanks guys dale earnhardt jr in victory lane here at talladega a million dollars for him and the noble bonus pays off again sure does bill top 10 in the ea sports 500 here at talladega tony stewart after hanging around the back of the pack all day comes up with a second place finish bobby hamilton comes through the wreck to finish fifth jeff gordon protects his championship lead with a seventh place run kevin lepage comes home with the top 10 also the last lap half a lap from the checkered flag it all went awry for 16 cars that's how many were involved in the wreck including sterling marlon whom you ride with threw it all [Applause] you

Channel: NASCAR

Views: 131,532

Keywords: NASCAR, motorsports, racing, stock car, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, chase elliott, fantasy sports, fantasy fastlane, glass case of emotion, ryan blaney, crash, wreck, pileup, pit road, penalty, race track, super speedway, highlight

Id: zZ6b4i8pino

Length: 153min 11sec (9191 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 01 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/diabretic]

Can’t wait to relive this one! That flip happened right in front of me and I vividly remember seeing the bottom of Bobby’s car. Broke my 13 year old Labonte fan heart.

[u/Nate2680]

I will never for the life of me understand why Labonte blocked Bobby Hamilton. Didn’t help that Bobby’s teammate in Tony Stewart totally ditched him for the run the 8 car had.

One of my earliest memories is watching this crash over and over on a NASCAR crash compilation VHS tape.

[u/rochat29]

Man everyone took the outside line on the choose rule there

[u/SkyfallCamaro]

What an epic last lap and broadcast call. Bestwick has/had the uncanny ability to know when to talk and when to let the action speak for itself. What a legend.

[u/pixarfan9510]

Oh hey I said this one. Cool!

[u/trophyguy]

I remember when all the tracks were packed to the gills with fans like that race. 160,000 fans at Dega must have been a blast. That hummmmm of those plate engines back then is awesome to hear too.

[u/kracer20]

Please, when posting these videos to YouTube, do your best to not reveal the winner in the title or thumbnail. Thank you!

[u/rochat29]

Gimme Fuel!

[u/rustyshackleford1993]

My first race I attended