2002 EA Sports 500 From Talladega Superspeedway | NASCAR Classic Full Race Replay

nbc sports welcomes you live to the ea sports 500 for the nascar winston cup series racing at talladega is like a crowded rush hour traffic jam at warp speed but here a driver must balance desire with discipline because in this race there is no such thing as a small mistake welcome back to talladega you've met the stars you've heard the stories now let's see if you can hold your breath for 188 laps here are the three guys to call it for you alan wally and benny okay bill thanks let's start with the championship rusty wallace says bp this is a pivotal race for staying in contention for the title seven races to go just seven racers remaining in this championship chase other seven this is the race that has most of the teams concerned because things happen here you just simply cannot control a prime example was your last fall on the last lap two cars get together when they get together they spin in front of the field before it's over about 12 14 cars become victims you see all these cars run about the same speed around 190 miles per hour they're all in one group so when something happens it's so difficult not to be a victim and nascar came up with a great idea to help get these guys away from these big 40 car packs and that's what the fuel cell the small smaller fuel cell what that means is they're going to have to come in more often which puts a premium on not only the pit crews but the guys getting in and out of the pits coming off of turn four they're screaming down there 185 mile an hour don't lock your brakes up because if you do you're gonna have to change tires instead of just taking fuel so it's gonna be real important today on not only the drivers but the pit cruise today did i hear him right he said nascar had a great idea i know that's a shock coming from me but i do agree with this one all right be interesting to see what the championship standings look like at the end of the day today right now down below us at the start finish line the final pre-race opening ceremony is about to begin let's join it ladies and gentlemen would you please rise and remove your hats as the alabama army national guard from the 2025th in jacksonville alabama presents today's colors the flag raising by boy scout troop 199 out of pell city alabama please welcome eric quinn from motor racing outreach as he delivers today's invocation let's pray our heavenly father we want to say thank you today thank you for the beautiful weather we have in this awesome facility we thank you most of all for your son jesus christ we ask lord that you have safety over these drivers and crews today just watch over them be with their families as they wait anxiously for them be with the safety crews and the officials as they watch over the competitors i asked lord for the fans that you would give them a great day keep get them home safely so that they might share their experiences when they get home with their family and we ask all this in jesus name amen please welcome sony recording artists little big town as they sing our national anthem oh say can you see by the dawn's early light what's so proud [Music] [Applause] [Music] whose broad strikes and bright stars [Music] [Applause] streaming and the rockets [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that our flag was still there oh say does that star spangled [Music] [Applause] for the land [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] special thanks to the 50th flying squadron from columbus mississippi led by captain mark sadler [Music] all right now ladies and gentlemen for the most famous words in nascar racing nfl great and grand marshall can stabler gentlemen start your engine [Music] there are 143 000 seats in talladega most all of them sold they'll hardly be used over the next three hours you're watching nascar on nbc over the weekend more than ten thousand fans took part in the ea sports nascar thunder 2003 fan challenge here in talladega derek wood of elkhorn nebraska drove the fastest qualifying lap advancing into the final round against dale earnhardt jr and even though juniors won the last two races here at talladega derrick got past his nascar hero on the final dramatic lap earning him the title of ultimate nascar thunder video gamer and ten thousand dollars all right what about our nascar thunder 2003 bp well normally at this time of the race we tell you about the groove and the best best way around the racetrack today there is no group they're all over the racetrack we see the cars too wide you're going through the travel by the start finish lamp while it will probably see more cars wide than that it's going to get a lot busier 3-4 yesterday in practice we saw the cars 3-4 wide these cars at 190 miles per hour can run inside any of these lanes they want to and that's what it may take to get to victor lane and hoist that trophy nascar thunder 2003 now available in stores cars just rolling from the pit lane to start their three paraded pace laps a look at the starting lineup in the green flag is next from talladega [Music] nbc's coverage of the ea sports 500 is brought to you by nascar thunder 2003 from ea sports if it's in the game it's in the game by dodge you can take life as it comes or you can grab life by the horns dodge buy walmart always low prices always by wrangler and wrangler's new five-star premium denim jeans and by coca-cola the official soft drink of nascar nascar on nbc from the world's fastest speedway where the ea sports 500 is about to get underway at talladega cars about one and a half laps through three parade and pace laps they'll make before the green waves budweiser the official beer of nascar is proud to sponsor the blood pole award given to the fastest qualifier at each nascar winston cup race but not this one qualifying cancelled by rain on friday but there are the 14 drivers already qualified for next february's bud shootout and heiser bush awarding more than 7 million since 1979 as title sponsor of nascar's home award program now the walmart starting grid for today's ea sports 500 field lined up according to current owner points and other provisions so jimmy johnson the championship leader is on the pole and on the inside of row two is tony stewart restrictor plates his achilles this year he's averaged a 37th place finish last week's winner jeff gordon on the outside jamie mcmurray his nascar winston cup debut in sterling marlin's car he starts in row three with rusty wallace there's ryan newman the inside of row four hottest driver so far in the second half matt kenseth on the outside four victories this year a couple of drivers each making their 52nd start in talladega bill elliott and ricky rudd the veterans row row number five today and on the inside of row six current bush on the outside is dale j let's try to talk to dale jarrett dj benny parsons you got me i got you bp all right first of all how's the car i think it was going to be pretty good seems to be able to draft up and hang on i haven't had it out front that much in the draft but i think we'll be okay do you have your strategy all lined up with a small gas tank we've talked about a lot of different uh scenarios for sure and uh well we've got some action going on before we ever get started here but uh it's gonna be interesting to see how it plays out we think we know what we want to do if we can just make all of that happen yeah we had a couple of guys get together coming down for the signal one lap to go dj yeah it looked like mark was trying to warm up his tires and maybe got a little loose and came over into the 48th so uh i don't know if there's any damage but we'll have to see what happens oh man it's starting early dj good luck it is starting early uh hopefully that'll be as much action as we'll have today other than just a lot of passing all right man thanks and the rest of the starting field for an aca sports 500 what was that all about the 48 right front fender when i looked up was pretty well damaged man did i what do you do about that i'm monitoring nascar's radio i believe the six team is asking permission to pass the pace car to try and come to pitt road and check their car permission being denied of course you're never allowed to pass the pace car wow that's weird that is weird and the top two guys in the championship before we even get started and as i said there is damage i saw damage to the right front tire right front fender let's see what you can tell what might have happened oh you see mark on the outside front row he's talking like the way he's talking to ben lester is all of a sudden he just locked up he was turning it left and it would not turn back to the right he just locked up and ben is talking about the air pressure being so low matt what are they saying down there benny chad canales was lobbying nascar that they could bring the 48 down to hold off throwing the green they are not the way it sounds now they are not going to do that chad is still lobbing he says that his spotter told him that that there is damage to the right front fender chad is still lobbing rick hendrick is now coming into the mix helping to lobby on the 48 team's part and matt while that's going on they're putting mark martin's number up on the board he's being black flag dave what's up there it's okay it's perfect still posting us they're still posting all right having some troubles with dave's microphone we'll get him fixed in a minute you see mark martin following the pace card down pit road as the field comes to the green flag one championship contender in trouble before we even start and he we heard ben lester say nascar's posted us we've got to come down and raise the hood they do that they do that as the field goes green 188 laps to make up the distance in talladega today jimmy johnson and now jeff gordon lead the field to turn one but obviously jeff took a look at that fender when he pulled up next to jimmy johnson didn't think it was bad enough for jimmy johnson to come down pit lane and we see mark martin is rolling but he is completely out of the trap that means he'll be about three seconds a lap slower than these cars he needs to caution it fast to catch up to the field here's curtis [Applause] so the top two in the championship in trouble already well it is pretty bad then yes it is we see the damage to that right front fender jeff gordon leads lap one rusty wallace to his outside they're three deep right behind him matt joachim and what will seem like an eternity jimmy johnson finally comes to a stop you can see the right front cosmetic damage shane parstow going to work trying to pull out that front valence beating it with a hammer as they lose more and more time chad can house the crew chief underneath trying to beat out the front valets right underneath the monte carlo decal changing right side tires jimmy now is finally down and away a tough break for today's point leader he's going to lose yeah he's going to go lap down real quick here these engines the restricted engines take a long time to get up to speed and this pack is coming at him full steam why wouldn't you come in on the pace lap when they weren't up to speed you wouldn't have lost as much ground because mark martin was black flag had to come in and he's about a half lap behind where jimmy johnson is going to get past and probably five or six it's not even laps long i mean he's coming off turn two and this is the attack right he's gonna get over taking this lap but see they were just coming up to speed when mark came in so he had a lot more time what do you say matt milwauley one thing while under the pace laps chad canas radio jimmy johnson said is it smoking when they took the green coming out of two he says is it smoking his radio is breaking up chad could not take a chance that possibly it was smoking because it is a great disease from the front stretch to the back stretch dave matt mark martin radioed in before the problem occurred on the pace lap that he had a steering situation nascar required them to pit because they wanted them to check the steering problem apparently that was okay and when they also check for any damage on the six car that two is okay so mark martin is running 42nd on the back stretch the fields into turn one coming up on 43rd place jimmy johnson and this race is cutting bizarre right from the get-go i said it had to be some kind of radio communication problem because jeff gordon obviously saw that fender on his team i mean the car that he part owns and knew it was going to be a problem but maybe jimmy did not get the message best thing jimmy could do is try to tag on to jeff gordon here right [Music] try and stay up there and hope that you know somebody gives him a lap back and a caution yeah too late because now he's back about 10th spot at this point at this point now i would get out of the draft completely and just right in the back in case something does happen you're not going to be in it try to dodge the wreck okay so while we've been paying attention to what's been going on with the championship leaders the race lead has changed hands jeff gordon is shuffled back and matt kenseth goes to the point matt one of the five drivers who could win the million dollar bonus from winston today top five finishers from the richmond race second weekend of september if one of them can win the race today they get a million dollar bonus and a fan gets a million dollars as well they sure didn't take junior and michael waltrip long to get to the front did it there they are in second and well what's third now it's fourth as rudd goes to the outside in that 28 car that junior started 13th michael started 15th they were nose to tail when the green flag dropped and that's what the competitors have to avoid they need to get in between that 8 and 15 because everybody knows how strong they've been on the restricted plate races so watch the yellow line at the bottom of the track that's the out of bounds line here at talladega you saw jeff gordon flirting with it a minute ago we saw jeff green running down to that yellow line and gordon had no choice but back off the throttle nascar told the drivers in their pre-race meeting about two hours before green flag race above the yellow line on the track the quote from race director david hoots was if in nascar's judgment you go below the yellow line to improve your position you will be black flagged and penalized back on camera had a rock in the landscape yes sure did [Applause] top five have lined up single file two and three wide from their back and the reason a guy will go down a block like jeff green did is you don't want to be put in the position to be in the center because if a guy comes underneath him makes that move all of a sudden you're in the middle and you're going to lose a lot of positions on board ryan newman oh he had to back out of the throttle you hear that he squeezed out as he ran up on the back of tony stewart's car [Music] first six seven cars all in a single line but more behind that it is i think chaos is probably the best one i can think of check it out first the 41st 3.3 seconds on a track that it takes 50 some seconds to get around i think it'd be normally let's say charlotte next week how far would it be first to 41st oh 15 18 seconds this many laps your problem will be yeah at least half of 30 uh 15 seconds [Music] matt kenseth leads dale earnhardt jr is second michael waltrip third jeff green fourth rusty wall is fifth some bizarre moments at the opening here with the championship leaders jimmy johnson and mark martin already running last after starting first here's our wendy's race menu as we follow the race for the championship on nbc and tnt next sunday lowest motor speedway charlotte 12 noon eastern time followed by the final short track race of the season in martinsville virginia and it's on to atlanta rockingham it's going to be a great fight for the title be with us on nbc and tnt here at talladega matt kenseth is the leader of the ea sports 500. check this out jeff gordon trying to go by day or nard jr we haven't seen many cars past that eighth on a restrictor plate racetrack he's got the 20 car behind him with tony stewart tony was very strong in practice so got a good drafting partner right there just joining us the start of this race already bizarre the field lined up according to owner points because qualifying was rained out the top two in the championship jimmy johnson and mark martin are on the front row and watch martin as he's weaving back and forth to clean his tires and all of a sudden the steering locks up and he drives down right in the side of the right front fender of jimmy johnson's car i think he probably felt something was wrong vp that's why he was swerving like that i think he probably felt something back earlier and started swinging it around here's what yeah here's what they said on the radio i guess it happened when i tried to warm the tires up and uh [Applause] it might have it might have shoved the left front down so far that the tire hit the fender there mark and you see mark about to be swallowed up by the pack as they're coming up to put him a lap down he's in 42nd place jimmy johnson who pitted on the first lap of the race is one lap down in 43rd dave jack roush now jack we heard mark say on the radio that he might have gotten the left or actually been speculated he might have gotten the left front caught up underneath it do you have any idea what might have happened it seemed like a mechanical problem based on looking at the tv the monitor there the way it went across the racetrack i think that there must have been a rock that got up in there and uh locked up by the the steering as he tried to turn it or there was a wrench or a fastener or some kind of got in the way whatever the mechanical problem was it's cleared itself out now he doesn't have a problem now but there were certainly problems beginning okay and right now mark has been seeing debris on the racetrack trying to call it in but it's not anything that nascar will throw the caution for matt dave chad canal still shaking his head in disbelief jack you've worked on the damage how bad is it's pretty substantial you know anytime you get any type of damage in a super speedway car it just kills the drag on the car so the car is running well right now in the draft will it be fast enough to ever lead again i don't know i probably doubt it you know i don't know i hated something apparently happened to the six car right now they've got him listed the same lap as us where you know he pitted before they took the green that's supposed to be a one lap penalty and he's on the same lap as us so i don't really understand what's going on but you know it's early on in the race they're trying to get our lap back back and we can get up there and get a good solid top 10 out of this is that why you didn't come as well because of the one lap penalty they told me if i would have pitted before the green flag that i would have gotten a one lap penalty talladega it's the bermuda triangle wins the cup stock car racing the wild and wacky things happen and they've done again here today now my understanding we want to check with nascar and and confirm my understanding is i think most everybody if you stop on the pace lap and fuel the car then it's a lap penalty but i didn't realize that you could have stopped especially if it becomes an issue where you've got damage to the car i don't think they want a car out there that's got damage leading the pack to the green yeah well benny we're thinking the same thing that and obviously there's some confusion there somewhere but if you take fuel before the start that's a no-no yeah but i've never heard it said you can't pit before the start of the race because if you could fuel then all the cars back from 35th on back would stop every time on the one to go and put some fuel in the car just so they could have that extra gasoline it would be an advantage for them especially today yeah because it's going to be i think fuel's going to be a big issue today that kenzik leads mark martin now put one lap down see him running right behind his roush teammate kenza 17 marking the six dale earnhardt jr now in that outside lane trying to flex his muscles take that bud chevrolet to the front did you notice he's been separated from his uh identical twin there the the 15 car well that's what they're going to have to do like i said these guys know how fast those two cars are when they get hooked up so they need to keep those guys separated guys making a charge to the front here you got schroeder up there and mike skinner those guys started way back in the field so your cars are working real well right now in the draft and by the way just to back up and put the put the button on the jimmy johnson thing just confirmed with nascar race control he could have pitted on the pay slap as long as he didn't take fuel and there would have been no penalty that makes sense right because i know they wouldn't want a car out there that like i said it becomes a safety issue and that car had a lot of damage and where mark martin is concerned nascar asked him to pit because they didn't want to have a car out there starting the race that had a steering problem right marty well believe it or not in dale earnhardt junior's cars you ride looking out his bunker right now they debated on changing the engine in this car this morning yesterday and half the hour dell junior said he felt like the engine was starting to lay down the engine that won the last two races here is the backup engine it's on the truck they debated on whether to put it in or not they decided not to do that they felt like this was their best power plant as he continues to try to get front to the front he's trying that outside groove and doing it with tony stewart pushing him you know sometimes vp on the dyno and on the racetrack are two different things looks to me like he's picking them up and putting them down pretty good right now talking about the engine in the a car he led that last lap as a matter of fact is that the first time he's live today yep first slap juniors light today jeff gordon led three matt kenseth 14 and now junior for one here's our old navy race fact eight drivers won their first nascar winston cup race at talladega only two ever picked up a second career win davey allison ken schrader you know one of the guys that cut his first and only career winston cup win here my brother phil [Applause] matt kenz with dale earnhardt jr racing for the lead just underway in the ea sports 500 at talladega you're watching nascar on nbc nascar on nbc from talladega alabama with live coverage of the ea sports 500 for the nascar winston cup series our little debbie trivia question who is the last driver to win talladega and with the win take over the championship lead survey says i didn't even know this one i had to look at the back of the card to get the answer jeff gordon in july of 1996. yes this race used to be run the last weekend in july and we will be talking about it being hot today and it was hot then i can't tell what temperature was but it was hot jeremy mayfield in the middle of that the 19th car and wally i can't believe the line you're in a online poll this one read this out folks pay attention to this now our nbc.com nbcsports.com poll this is a benny and wally's special would you like to see a red flag rule used to talladega and daytona that could set up a potential one lap sprint for the win background on this the red flag last week at kansas and some of the other tracks the not red flag at daytona which would have resulted in a one lap race to the finish the driver is very much against that on these restricted tracks at daytona and talladega and we had some on-air debate about whether the fans would be in favor of it or not so that's true tell us let the fans just tell us what you think plus we've talked about so much about the pit road and what's going to happen today if you want to look at a pit map for today's race and find out where your favorite drivers stop and we'll cut that up at nbcsports.com too i can't believe the line that junior he took the lead on the outside when he got in front i thought he would drive back down to the very bottom of the right back but he's staying on the very top i have never seen him run around this racetrack in that high line yeah obviously he's got the car the car is handling well because he could run up there if it wasn't handling well he's got a lot of other guys are hanging with them too so working for him you see that bump out of turn fours what's tough to run that high line when you come out of four there's a pretty good bump but must not be affecting it much monitoring on dale junior's radio when he took the lead a couple of laps ago [Applause] well bp let me explain a little bit about two months ago dale earnhardt jr had a friend give him about 200 beta tapes those are pretty high quality videotapes of old races he bought a beta machine put it in his house and he's been watching these old races he said i'm running the top line at these old guys like bp used to do this is fun up here it's a little scary but i like it up here [Laughter] i don't know about that man oh man i've never seen it that high on this racetrack difference was when you did it you didn't have a restrictor plate yeah i was chasing that back end up there you know junior had a pretty good teacher for this racetrack too not just those old video games but his dad who won here 10 times i've had the same opportunity everybody else has as far as learning from a lot of these guys racing against it for a long time and know quite a bit about his style and probably picked up on a lot of things that he did but i take in a lot of confidence i guess of you know being ken to him that i have the ability to to carry that out on the racetrack and it just seems to have an effect on the rest of the field i don't know a lot of guys seem to want to work with me and when you get a lot of help out there it really makes you look good well he's getting a lot help right now from tony stewart but i'm not too sure that's enough because jeremy mayfield is taking that dodge up to the middle and just might take the lead sure looks like it looks like everybody's got a lot of help i mean they're three three wide and i don't know how deep they are got some guys in there that have come from the back of the pack the gold car on the inside mike skinner in the four he started 37th yellow car the m m's machine on the left ken schrader 36 he started back in 31st place and bill that rookie jamie mcmurray he got shuffled back for a little bit but now he's moving back toward the front been running inside the top ten for the last few laps here doing an outstanding job in the car not saying much on the radio but getting fantastic help from his two spotters lauren raniere and timmy mckeeken mckeekins on the back stretch lauren is on the front stretch he's their number one spotter the guy that usually spots for sterling marlin as well so not only is he getting to know the crew and the other drivers he's also learning two new spotters today at talladega and you can tell you can see just how important spotters would be to tell you to warn you that a car is trying to pass you on the inside that a car is trying to pass you on the outside look at brett beaudine that hooters car right behind the citgo jeff burton carr started 41st last time by he was 12th and might be farther up this time and by the way watching that 40-car armpit road sterling marlon was part of the discover card countdown to green said it's very tough to stand here and watch it could be difficult to race these events but if you're a winston cup driver the last place you want to be is on the sidelines that's where sterling is today again out for the season with a fractured vertebra in his neck especially in a place like here bill because i mean sterling is one of the best guys in the draft he's had a lot of success here and boy he had a good shot of winning this race and you know we saw sterling mall standing in the pits with the cervical collar on and why would he get out of the car he cracks the cervical number two c2 or whatever folks that's the same c2 is the same thing christopher reeve broke now that i understand so and he this one so there's no wonder why he's standing there and not in that in the great show might have had a great chance to win the championship this year but in the end it's not worth it oh i agree walking's a lot better yeah hey how about jimmy johnson 48 car has gotten in front of the pack he's on the tail end of the lead left caution comes out now and he can stay there back around to the yellow flag he's right back in the thick of these things hardest thing at talladega or daytona these restricted races is getting the lap back if you get one down all those his teammates swallow them up yeah team 18 team owners said you're one of these guys that got a beat here [Applause] all right well that's interesting isn't it and we talked about the big crash and how difficult it is to avoid the big crash i think now if you haven't watched the race at talladega before you understand just how tough it would be if something happens up in front of these cars and they make contact and start spinning these guys in the back have no chance you know i watch these races all the time and the phrase keeps popping into my head where'd he come from where'd he come from weren't we just talking about ricky craven dropping back he just took the lead 32 car about 15th or 16th just a couple of laps ago bill and the tension and the preparations building here on pit road allen already closing in on the first set of stops remember these teams are running a fuel cell today that holds about 13 gallons of fuel it depends on who you ask how much fuel they actually got in there but when they come in you'll see all kinds of different strategies probably two tires and get as much fuel as you can in there a lot of pressure on these guys on pit road today you're gonna see a lot of chaos getting to pit lane as well bill because these guys are really gonna be trying to get as much advantage as they can to get to the start of pit lane and these cars just don't stop that well vp no 3 400 pounds and very little break on these cars not enough break dave burns while they stand down there well bp we've been talking about running the high line here but several crews of radio to their drivers start working your way to the bottom because they don't want to surprise anybody and try to come from a high lane cut across to go to the pits that's a big concern if these guys try to push it the rest of the way and run out of fuel in front of the pack and i think i'd want to come in if i was the leader or up towards the start of the farther pack this way you've got a clean pit lane and you know you get in and out without any problems how about a bill here he comes and this will be the beginning of it so far i only see craven on pit road now he's got other help other drafting partners coming in these guys have to pin in bunches this is going to be fuel only for craven some guys stopping earlier one so they'll get a good gas mileage measurement and the other thing is they don't want to be on brick road when it's really crowded raven's got his fuel dave bill jeremy mayfield who has been at the front of the pack today changes to right side tires gets his car full of fuel no adjustments to the dodge boy what were cravings guys yelling about i don't know and bill elliott's service already completed right side tires and they filled it full of fuel the question 13 or more the dodge is not getting the fuel mileage the chevrolets and fords are boy that's going to be a big concern unless this carson flank mixes things up all right got some more dropping off to come to pitt road as jeff gordon comes back with the lead there's jeff burton the cenco car on pit road jamie mcmurray bill and this is his first pit stop as a winston cup driver gonna change right side tires again it's probably just one count of fuel although some guys to really pack it are going to use a second can not necessary this time mcmurray practiced pit stops yesterday stalls it has to get pushed out for the rookie man oh man that's about two or three seconds you just simply cannot afford to lose on pit road that's the mistake we talked about earlier you cannot make on this deal because if this throws go green that's a lot of space you're gonna have to it's gonna be almost a possible make up you see todd bowden and jimmy spencer also leaving pit road having just stopped who comes in this time while we watch these pit stops the ticker across the top of the screen the names you see now appearing in yellow will be those who have already made their stops in the cycle of green here's matt kensevin and it's right side tires for matt and a load of fuel a lot of concern for spotters and crew chiefs that their drivers can get from the outside groove onto pit road kansas made it he's got his jewel he's on his way six car mark martin one lap down full of fuel right side tires back out all right coming up on matt kenzit there's curt busch leaving pit road scott wimmer's been in kevin harvick how about dirk bush marty well with two tires and no changes for kurt bush pretty happy with the chassis they decided to make no chassis changes on the car and uh they have a car out of gas on the back stretch mike skinner has run out of gas meantime most of the guys who were front runners are coming in gordon is in wallace stewart newman dave jeff gordon radioed in we don't need to change a thing the car is great they will put two fresh right side tires on there and pack this fuel cell full of fuel 12 and a half 13 gallons maybe a little bit more and they'll send jeff on his way matt the most important guy on the 20s pit stop is jeff gooch patterson the gas man he's got to pack that fuel cell full of fuel stewards service complete did you hear jeff gordon revving the engine anticipation of letting that clutch out and leaving the pits he's still got to be careful you put right side tires on i think he got the hot sticky ones on the left the cold ones on the right and we used to break a lot of axles in the back boy that just took skinner out of the race unless this thing gets yellow elliot sadler stalled on pit road had to be pushed several pit stalls down here here comes junior down pit road junior michael waltrip getting a couple of more laps than everybody else make a note of that i'll see if junior changed his right size he did lock it up getting down in a pit lane you're going to see him come by dave blaney's car being pushed there marty michael walter comes on the pit road he is very happy with the chassis dale earnhardt jr at the very last stall on pit road take doesn't take very long to get all the fuel in this 13 gallon fuel cell it'll be right side tires for junior he was a little tight they decided to make no changes not so fast there michael walter beats junior ricky rudd also gets by dale earnhardt jr and now they've got to blend in with the pack that's coming up on them they're behind the start finish line i talked to richard gilmour the head engine man for dale earnhardt incorporated that owns the eight car the 15 car and he said that's what they've been working on since daytona fuel mileage since they announced a small gas tank they've been working very hard trying to get more fuel mileage with this restrictor plate engine jimmy johnson and gordon just blew by those guys that just came off the road yeah yeah now the theory of the smaller fuel cells and the reduced gas tank capacity was to create more green flag pit stops which break apart the field some and perhaps eliminate the chance of the big wreck we've just had the first green flag pit stop what do you think right now the cars are thinned out exactly the way nascar drew it up on the drawing board see we don't have that big pack of cars we have come some cars to abreast but we don't have three or four wide i think right now it's working perfectly as i say they go three wide and very long but i don't know if they're stressed out enough to stay that way i think they're still close enough they may accordion and get right back together again in that big pack just completed the first 100 miles of the ea sports 500 the first set of pit stops have been cycled through and jeff gordon has the race lead maybe not for long here comes michael waltrip to his outside johnson trying to find a way to stay up there on the tail end of the lead lap but he couldn't put the block on mike all right let's check out the coors pit summary oh ricky craven out 17th and we heard all those guys yelling and screaming they had some kind of problem in craven's pit that cost him 16 spots but the pack is drawing back together and he's right in the middle of it so he's still right in contention didn't hurt him nearly as bad as it would on another track like say charlotte next week nascar on nbc is coming to you from sweet home alabama [Applause] the ea sports 500 just passed 100 miles in talladega alabama and pretty fraught with tension right now man it didn't take long after the pit stops these cars are strung out single foul just double foul and now we're back just a few laps later that big group of cars again [Applause] bill we talked about ricky craven losing some spots in that pit stop and we heard kind of a lot of hollering and yelling while you're recovering the stop what's the what's the postmortem there but what they were yelling about was to make sure they got tape off the front of the grill craven in traffic was running a water temperature of 250 he would back out of traffic get off the bumper of somebody to get some air into the front of that car get it down to about 2 30. so when he pitted they wanted to take tape off the grill they were just shouting instructions to remind the crewman to grab the tape off the front of the grill they had plenty of time to do that because they had to get a you know a full load of 13 gallons of fuel in there the reason they lost all those spots basically is because they don't have a partner they don't have a team car and really didn't have a plan for anybody else to draft off of pit road with so that hurt them getting back up to speed that's right he did stop by himself didn't he and he stopped the lapper so earlier than most cars so when he's on the racetrack good point he was on the racetrack without any drafting help which is about a second or two let's follow up on dale earnhardt jr's pit stop over a minute ago wally you talked about how important it is not to slide the front tires if you're only changing two yeah watch watch here see him locking that right front tire up is is bad because that'll flat spot the tire and i'll put it out of balance and we caught this on junior's radio when he came in for the stop what tires did i slide on pit road [Music] right front stable yellow line stable on the yellow line [Music] you sure just the right front not the left front four dj your left foot never locked up buddy and then obviously that's a concern for him and it's hard to tell sometimes you know it's the front but it's good that he caught it that early what are they saying down there dave well here's the problem this is the right front tire off of joe nemechek's car when they took it off air pouring out of here but he got this flat spot when he put the brakes on coming onto pit road but the problem is you lock up both front tires and so they replaced the right side tires on that car the left sides who knows what that left front looks like and joe has recorded a vibration in the front of the car what exactly what you were talking about exactly your whole point man yeah that that can cost you right there and it's just and and looking at the cars there's a lot of guys that are running different size rotors there's there's the speedway rotors which are the real narrow rotors and then some intermediate track rotors which are thicker rotors and everybody's trying a little bit different deal to try to not block those brakes up when they come down and you see nemechek there he's in 37th place and he's the last car in the lead draft it if you feel a vibration you think you've locked up a tire bp that doesn't get any better and then it wears on your mind it only gets worse and that's one reason he probably that nema checking that 25 car fell to the back of the line because you certainly don't want to have a tire problem in front of these cars and here we are again three wide all the way back and harvick up there now see michael waltrip and dale earnhardt jr got back together after their pit stops they're drafting here are the championship standings as they run now of course this is going to change lap after lap all day it's going to change after this lap but most likely the big deal the fact that mark martin and jimmy johnson had their problems on the pace laps in their way back in the field now if you're not familiar with how the championship system works the winner of the race gets 175 points and they go backwards five points for a little ways then it's four points per position and so on so the second place gets 170 points third place 165 and so on then if you lead a lap you get five bonus points if you leave the most laps you get another five bonus points [Music] what you don't want is a 43rd because that only pays 34 points and it's possible for some guy to get 185. how did somebody like allen even get to explain that just a mathematician over here they wrote it down the screen it was my lucky day kevin harvey goes in front of curt bush just drives down the inside of gordon takes over second spot here's our online poll from the pre-race show which track will have the biggest impact on the 2002 nascar winston cup championship you agree with the drivers i agree yeah i agree with the majority as well [Music] phoenix just three percent we'll be out and see if they're right or wrong so far got the first two guys in points that are yeah having some trouble jimmy johnson running 40th mark mark and 42nd right now [Applause] here's ryan newman eighth last time across the start finish line that's one thing about the races here you can never say for sure where he's running except last time at the start finish line in the area of yeah kevin harvick is the eighth different driver to lead the ea sports 500 at talladega you're watching nascar on nbc hey baby [Music] the ea sports 500 from talladega alabama live on nbc 52 laps complete just about 150 miles in here's our nascar bush series update no race this weekend for the bush cars their tight fight for the championship will go on to charlotte this coming saturday coverage on tnt nascar craftsman truck series update just four races left there mike bliss trying to hold off rick crawford for their championship and that both of them along with the winston cup title will go right down to homestead florida in mid-november and the triple-header championship weekend there already coming up on another round of pit stops and ricky craven we showed you that he had fallen back to what 17th i think it the graphic said last time by craven was in the 11th spot there he is working his way forward michael and junior have gotten back together kurt busch is the leader jeff burton is second todd rodin third michael waltrip heading the outside charge racing him there on board with dale earnhardt jr the butt car let's check our telemetry you'll see that the mile per hour rpm pretty steady all the way around the racetrack [Music] 189 90. as he drops off down in the corner sometimes it will go up a little bit wow wow did you see that slide job to kurt busch what was that all about i see that slide job at talladega looked like he got an oil or something he came up the racetrack so quickly michael waltrip to second three deep for third ron hornaday is in that 55 car in the center there he's in the uh substitutes role for bobby hamilton this week marty junior still having fun oh yeah he's having a big time vp the one thing you could not see on his telemetry was the water temperature it was up to 240 a little while ago so you notice he dropped back from his teammate michael walker it dropped to 220 and then he started racing again now they're up front and a three three car pack three clark breakaway i believe it is and the 15 and the eight together again hornaday a terrific run going in that 55 car his first ride in the 55 remember bobby hamilton won here in that car what was it a year and a half ago that car also started when i was talking about things that happened because on the last lap last year the 55 and the 18 made contact and about 14 other cars involved [Music] [Applause] and folks no this is not hard work physically what these drivers are doing today because this racetrack really is easy to drive but mentally what they're going through is about as tough as it gets yeah there's no question about the only thing maybe physically bp would be the heat it's pretty warm out there today so the inside of the cars are a little bit hot but yeah you are your brain hurts after this race you're concentrating so much jeff burton with the inside move on dale jr for third and his brother ward coming up behind him in the 22 car i think kurt busch moved down to try to give some help to jeff burton he might have moved down and cost himself the lead yeah when you know you're looking you're looking in the mirror to see who's coming and if you see somebody coming you try to move up the racetrack in front of them and hoping that they'll push you a little bit so you're looking through the mirror a lot [Applause] see dale jarrett inside the ups car oh you know you're you've got a lot of room a lot of area to just rest here you've got a lot of straight away so like he says physically it's not so bad it's just that you've got no error not a whole lot of air coming inside that car to cool you off because these cars are built to go through the air aerodynamically the air goes by these windows and and nothing really comes inside the car so a lot of heat inside of these race cars when you get in really heavy rush hour traffic around the city you tend to grip the steering wheel a little bit tighter what about here you grip the wheel a little bit tighter than you might at another track i think so jeff burton and the burton brothers ward burton at 22 going to the front at 22 car a new crew chief this week frankie stoddart who was the crew chief of the 99 car when the season started yeah what an interesting dynamic that is huh i got somebody scrape the wall here wow that was what is that all about well like i said you're looking in the mirror for a guy that's coming up on you if you see a car coming up on you you want you drive up the racetrack and to get a push except there wasn't any room to drive up in front of michael on that one see if there's any damage on the fenders they got together pretty good defenders are your friends here at talladega and michael probably got the worst of it because the rear fenders aren't as important as the front ones well he's just a couple of laps away from another green flag pit stop that they might be able to try and do something about it so let's take a break and we'll come back in time for the stops jeff burton leads ninth different driver out in front of the ea sports 500 you're watching nascar on nbc still under green in the ea sports 500 jeff burton continues to lead and we are closing in on the second round of pit stops as for that first round of stops rusty wallace came in on lap 35 and basically was out of fuel they refueled him gave him right side tires and sent him back out car has been quite as good done this run as it was on the earlier run rusty by taking two tires to see if it takes any tires when he stops this time probably will take left because that's time can be used while they're fueling the car let's move further down pit road today burns and ward burton took on right side tires on his first stop he's very happy with this car not the car that won the daytona 500 of course they take that away from you and put it in the daytona usa attraction for a year this is actually a backup car to the one that ran here in april and he likes it he's going to keep running it marty dave michael waltrip team is a little bit concerned about the left front fender michael asks his crew chief slugger labbie take a look at it with binoculars he said it looks fine so not too much too worried about it left front fender for michael waltrip a little bit of concern this race is quickly turning into a fuel mileage race the longer it goes green the more story the fuel mileage becomes many teams can last until lap 72 michael walker's team might be able to stay out even longer than that matt already the point leader jimmy johnson runs back in the 40th position although he's up in about the sixth to 12th place on the racetrack trying to stay close to the front so if we get a debris caution or a caution for the big one he can try to get his lap back his car says it's not he says his car is not that bad bill he's just trying to stay up to the front and once again ricky craven leads the parade on pit road again the second round of stops under green not expecting any chassis adjustments here two right side tires packing that fuel cell which is with as much gas as they can get in it about 13 gallons 13 and a half maybe more he's on his way bill elliottson a two-time talladega winner they made an air pressure adjustment on his first stop because the car was a little bit tight he says it feels like it just quit turning service complete on elliot dave the 33 of penny wallace was very very tight they made you made a wedge adjustment to try to fix that put on two right side tires and then he stalled it trying to leave pit lane a lengthy pit stop jeremy mayfield ron hornaday casey atwood also in that lap no takers this time everybody comes past pit road well i tell you what if this thing goes green all the way they become the fuel mileage race those cars that just pitted cross them off they're in trouble robbie gordon up the third spot right now kurt bush riding the rim how about that got some good cars behind them but like i said earlier you're going to want to start getting down to that bottom groove because guy's going to start pitting boy you don't want to be on the high groove if you need to get the pits and this is where a lot of people were uncomfortable expecting the potential for trouble with guys starting to shuffle toward pit road in bunches yeah a lot of hand motion here on waving to the guys behind you letting them know that you're gonna come in a pit give me a little bit of room because i'm going to be slowing down kenny wallace back on pit road [Music] trying to get down to that 55 mile per hour speed limit on pit road on the racetrack the war rages on bill ken trader on pit road getting left side tires and fuel he had complained about a vibration right after his first pit stop no problem since then though apparently it went away he's on his way we go to dave left side tires now for joe nemechek remember he had reported that there was that vibration that he might have had from skinning the tires coming in and i'm going to take a look real quick on the left front just to see and he did not so there was some sort of vibration but it wasn't a huge flat spot like he had on the right front ken schroeder jimmy spencer terry lavonny johnny benson and joe niemeczek those who stopped this time and now jeff burton is out of line and coming to pitt road four or five others following him in bill and they told jeff burton that he had a parade of cars behind him including the 40 car which is pitted directly behind him again that's the rookie jamie mcmurray for jeff burton it is left side tires and fuel the fuel going in the tires going on mcmurray gets a fresh windshield gets a track bar adjustment right side tires and fuel spins the tires and takes off down pit road burton had a faster stop and burton got in pit lane excellent he got in there really hard did not lock the front tires up especially the right front that's a good thing vp because they changed less only and jamie mcmurray at that time did not stall the engine as he did the first time matt kenseth scott wimmer and brett beaudine following mcmurray and burton off the pit lane looking back who's going to come in this time most of the leaders stay out once more it's todd bodine and dave blaney coming in and dave burns is going to cover the tom bodine stop if todd bogaine can end up the leader at the end of the day gertrude smitch from schmidt from wooddale illinois will win a million dollars on the noble five challenge she's 80 years old guys i think she still knows how to cheer and she's hoping that these two right side tires will help todd matt dave on his last stop the 77 team gave dave blaney right side tires this time around laughs here's robbie gordon looking for the lead on curt bush and dale earnhardt jr pushing up through two of these cars are riding on board with ryan newman he's also racing for a million dollars and a million dollars for a fan so is dale earnhardt jr got about eight cars breaking off the pit road bill rusty wattus leads this parade mark martin follows him along with the 22 and the 14 and the 43 left side tires for rusty this time and fuel going in did not run out of fuel on this run wallace waiting on the fuel waiting and we go today ward burton still happy with this car right side tires again for ward burton they took on right sides last time they repeat the process i see that time that the signal forward burton to go was letting the jack down normally that is a signal for the driver to go when the jack goes down you go but i noticed with all these guys just changing two tires they're letting the car down and telling the driver verbally when the lead when the gas tank is full most of the leaders stay out again except the leader kurt bush is in at lap 70. a couple others following him in marty he ran out front for most of that segment alan he is very happy with the chassis of the car right now many teams are considering taking left side tires kurt's team considered that this time but they will go with right side tires this time slides him just a little bit as he comes down pit road getting pretty good fuel mileage better than most of his teammates matt marty the 29 and kevin hart they're gonna take right side tires on this stop service complete he's full of fuel he's down and away jerry nader and kevin harvick leaving behind curt bush and dale earnhardt jr is the leader of the race jeff gordon running second [Music] watching them come off turn four is this the lap they stop nope not yet robbie gordon and dale jarrett look like they're ducking in every lap junior and gordon can stretch that fuel that could be big good i mean this is turning in to be a real fuel race marty dale jarrett comes down pit road robbie gordon right in front of him robbie having a great run del jarrett pretty happy with the chassis just a little bit tight for dj the disappointing finish in kansas last week 39th they want to rebound from that it'll be right side tires and an air pressure adjustment for the 88 bunch junior stopped at lap 35 so he's been 37 laps now robbie gordon lost a little time there overshot the front of his pit and he had to push his car back in the pit box before they could do anything to the car all right who's coming in looks like gorge coming in this time ryan newman bobby labonte tony stewart dale jr stays out man they're getting some fuel mileage in that eight car today all right dave jeff just radioed in it's still running it's still running so they were closed on fuel robbing robbie lewis also reminded him go slow on pit road jeff one of the best at getting off and on pit road but he doesn't want to oh now it stalls the car stalls they spray ether trying to get it in the cowling and they're still spraying he re-fires he's gone matt they are still trying to pack that fuel cell full of fuel dave tony stewart left side tires he eased in to take care of those tires marty quick stop for the 12 bunch mat it was right side tires and no adjustments for ryan newman who kept it up in the front of that pack for most of that run very happy with his car right now and it looks like finally that the dei cars will come down pit road heard the report from marty earlier that the left front fender the crew didn't think was damaged on michael waltrip's car from that encounter with curt bush let's see as they get a closer look at it now on this pit stop [Music] marty here they come well and i or guys i tell you if this thing turns into a fuel mileage race this could be big because these cars are going further than anyone else there is a little bit of left front fender damage for michael waltrip it does bowed in just a bit you should be able to tell that from the shot they're going to pull it away it will be obviously no changes for the car that led most of that segment or ran out front most of that segment he is very happy with that 15 car look at ricky rudd and kyle petty dave matt 28 car they got it going today they do have it going buddy they actually changed two right side tires very quickly and then just waited a little bit longer for all of the fuel to get in the fuel cell i've heard a problem this weekend is getting the fuel to go in all the way because there's not as much fuel to force the air out that's been a problem they've been trying to fix by shaking the car or just waiting a little bit longer wow michael waltrip and dale earnhardt jr raced off of pit road side by side around one and two as the faster field came up on him and i thought junior was going to get right in the middle of the suit there for a second yeah it looked to me like he was he's going to be right in the middle of racetrack when a group of cars run across him but luckily his spotter told him just at the last instant to move down he did they're able to get by marty michael waltrips teams had a chance to get an up-close look at that fender too ellis has slugger lobby you got a chance to look at the fender damage up close what do you think yeah that's normal deal michael always seems to knock the left front fender when we come to these places he knows something about the area we don't but uh trying to make it a fuel mileage race we're hoping a big one don't happen and everyone that just pit on lap 74 is good to go and make it on one more stop so hoping that works out for us will that damage hurt you slugger no it's been running good you know we went from the back backed it up to the front so it's a normal deal for us all right that damage did make the car just a little bit tighter but again they did make no changes on that stop and marty i think he meant two more stops i don't believe he can run the rest of the way on one more stop under 13 laps not going to happen does your math agree with that i'm counting on you you're going to stop and pick up the pen in the paper and figure it out all right here's the leader kurt busch jeff burton is second jerry nadu is up to third 113 laps to go we're at 200 miles at talladega and we're having some fun the ea sports 500 from talladega alabama live on nbc just past 200 miles in the race and 35 cars in the lead draft among those 35 most of the coca-cola racing family kevin harvick dale jarrett jeff burton in the top 10. michael waltrip getting shuffled back just a little bit on that last pit stop same for bobby labonte and tony stewart kyle petty still right there in the middle of the pack also jerry they do have to come back in for something yeah he had an unscheduled start for something he was riding up in about the in the top five easily in the top five and came off turn four and ducked into the pits it had to be a loose wheel then if he came back in that quickly after the first pit stop good point good point probably the case but i'll bet we'll follow it up to be sure these tire changers they do it fast but you got to be sure that the lug nuts are tight kurt push is the leader one of 10 different drivers who've been out in front today kevin harvick's second ward burton third rusty wallace fourth and jamie mcmurray the rookie in sterling marlins car running fifth he's getting challenged from dale jarrett and they're three wide just a little bit behind him ricky craven that tied right on the inside that 32 car continuing his great run here this afternoon but if it does turn out to be a fuel mileage race once again he's doomed we've got cameras that are mounted low on top of the retaining wall in a couple of places around the racetrack we call speed shots and a number of you have expressed concern that we had a bug on our back stretch speed shot well it wasn't a bug watch this this was lap one rock something crack i i vote you go out and change that allen me yeah just jump out there and change it i'm sure they won't hit you you got 51 seconds but time they come back around yeah nice to know who my friends are how about dale jarrett trying to get it rolling toward the front bill what happening they do he thought he had a right side tire going down so he came down to pit road he actually had a right front fender rubbing on it so they came down pit road took the tires off pulled the fender out it wasn't going down but it wasn't down yet but it was probably going down with that fender rub on it so how to pull him in fix it send it back out that hurts he's about to go a lap down he's in 35th place and he's just in front of this pack of lead cars as we talked about earlier one mistake on pit road or whatever if you have to come in or there's any kind of problem you're done here really that's like mike skinner the four car we saw him charge from the back up to third or fourth spot and run out of fuel on that first stop he's a lap down and probably he's gonna have a struggle to try to get it back probably can't get it back got our lowes improvers and snoozers and we could do this about five times all day and this thing would shuffle back and forth you could find yourself starting 30th running second then running 40th then running fifth then running ninth it just that's how it is here at talladega okay let's go the other way and yeah we got to go to the front row because johnson and marlon mark martin on the first lap making contact and both cars had to go the pits and johnson has lost 41 spots so far mark martin 36. first lap it was the pace laps yeah i mean they didn't even get to the green flag and we had the only problem of the day so far that's 65 miles an hour yep manufacturers championship for the nascar winston cup series pretty tight 10 wins to nine for ford over chevrolet dodge not all that far behind rusty wallace in fourth spot looking up at the back of the dodge ward burton 38 career races at talladega for rusty only 11 top 10 finishes day what points have really tightened up now look at that in the top five and look at where rusty is wow 20 points out in fifth spot if the race were to end right now obviously matt it's not going to do that what's happening elliott styler matt well benny things have gone from bad to worse for elliot sadler now he's reporting he's got a broken shock they're just going to have to ride it out remember he finished second back in february at the daytona 500 they're hoping for more of the same here in the season's final plate race it's not going to happen today he's in 41st place right now that is too bad easier to tell you the guys that aren't on the lead lap kenny wallace is a lap down had to make an extra pit stop mark martin jimmy johnson both laps down remember the problems earlier on the pace laps we just talked about mike wallace mike skinner dave delaney all had pit problems that shook them out of the running order related to fuel and jay saunder is off the racetrack and the only one of the 43 starters not currently in the running [Music] coming up on 250 miles on the halfway point of the ea sports 500 at talladega 33 cars in the lead draft as we come up on halfway in the ea sports 500 to talladega caution free so far with the headline story of the day a collision on the pace laps between the front row starters mark martin and jimmy johnson the top two in the championship that have them both well back in the field martin 37th and johnson 42nd notre dame football next saturday the undefeated irish on nbc at 2 30 eastern time returning from south bend to take on the university of pittsburgh panthers five straight wins at the irish back among college football's elite they continue their return to glory against pitt next saturday at 2 30 eastern here on nbc i'll tell you one thing the fighting irish struggle that first quarter yesterday against stanford they did but they soon rotted the ship kurt busch is the leader jeff gordon is second baylon hart jr is third and you see all the way back to kyle petty the 32nd place car still in the lead draft while it doesn't look like the small gas tanks done a lot to spread these cars that's it it really hasn't although we have dropped what maybe 10 guys due to problems in the pits or getting on or off pit lane out of that big group but we still have a big group still got 33 cars in that large group and that's what nascar i think was trying to get away from they wanted five or six ten car groups yeah or five or six car groups you know you're talking about hand signals when guys are getting oh here comes jeff gordon for the lead on kirkbush boy he got a great push from dale earnhardt jr and michael watch up in the 15th car and just blew by kirkwood jeff gordon winner of three of the last six races on the nascar winston cup circuit fourth in the championship just 109 points behind leader jimmy johnson watch robbie gordon and dale earnhardt jr here on this replay guys crowded crowded crowded [Music] and don't do that anymore i think he was saying have a nice day yep junior in second and last lap by robbie gordon had been shuffled back to 19th how about jeff gordon dave alan i'm not sure how many laps that jeff gordon is going to leave because when you lead you don't get quite as good fuel mileage as if you follow and robbie loomis's crew chief radio doom just save us what you can we're a little close on fuel today remember they stalled it last time a lot more fun to lead though yeah i mean it really is a lot more fun you can plan all the strategy of trying to win but you know even if you win it's boring for 500 miles and you like to have fun while you're out there like junior a little bit ago when he's riding up high said hi is where it's at ryan newman there inside of ricky uh was that jeff burton he's inside of i'll make it ricky craig well his line isn't going any place so he's not inside a craven anymore oh that's tight all right they're coming halfway this time and jeff gordon is the race leader of the ea sports 500 at talladega you're watching nascar on nbc nascar on nbc from talladega alabama and the ea sports 500 just completed 250 miles coming up on another route of green flag pit stops and beginning to see some separation now at the head of the pack well so much for that allen yeah here comes junior and i tell you what these last few left with with jeff gordon in front i have seen some of the fastest speeds i've seen all day long couldn't pull it off need some help you know michael's gonna go up there help him here eventually it would be the smart thing to do waltrip in the 15 earnhardt jr in the eight corporate teammates and dale earnhardt incorporated and together have dominated the races at daytona and talladega in the last two seasons now they had a 12 about 12-14 car line there going to be pete if they would have stayed in line they would have broken away from that second pack but they just can't stand it they gotta have fun gotta have fun they gotta enjoy themselves gotta get out there and race and i've been doing so as you're right everybody else back in the race kevin harvick three wide gonna put michael waltrip in the box michael tried to squeeze into that low line in front of ward burton [Applause] you know i talked about dominance of the daytona talladega races by dale earnhardt incorporated in the past two seasons seven races they've had four wins four second place finishes and a top two sweep in three of those seven and that led 45 of all the laps run bill 32's in the pits again and he's about to be on his way but he did slide to a stop they only change left got fuel he's gone matt bale elliott's in left side tires they are probably gonna have to make it an extra stop in the competition they can only go about 32 laps every run rodney rhodes fills it full of fuel service complete for elliott yeah he can run 32 laps and the dei cars so far have run 38 laps when you stop four or five times you can see that's a pit stop jeff gordon able to hang on to the lead junior now slipped back to racing kurt bush for second place john andretti up there in the mix ready in seventh [Music] 33 car kenny wallace dave he took on right side tires the first time guys took on no tires no fresh tires the last time and he'll take on left side tires this time remember last time he got a penalty it was from leaving the pit box while he was still fueling he crossed the line yeah that was mentioned in the drivers and cruise meeting this morning that you have to disconnect that fuel can before you cross the front line of that pit you'll see a lot of these gas men try to run with the car to keep that thing plugged in for as long as possible i did not realize that was a penalty i'd have been guilty of that myself that would be taking equipment out of the pit box which is a penalty but again they were especially warned about that in the drivers meeting this morning 48 car the championship leader starting the day is in and he was a lone ranger out there running by himself without anybody to draft with they're going to make a right side tire change on jimmy johnson today joe nemechek two right side tires full of fuel down pit road [Applause] maybe those two rick hendrick own cars can link up together and try and give johnson a boost the kellogg's car is right behind himself too henry cars maybe they have a better shot getting hooked up i'm told that labonte stalled the car trying to leave the pitch that's why the nemechek was in front of him how about jeff gordon able to hold off dale jr that hasn't been done at talladega or daytona much the last couple of years pretty impressive whoever got more business on pit road yup a lot of business now matt kenzip is here he's getting left side tires and fuel still waiting on the fuel takes a little bit longer to put the fuel in than the tires on matt's on his way matt gotta fly from here in talladega up to his native wisconsin and head for the packers game monday night doesn't get a chance to do that much during racing season oh jeff gordon got to slide wide around some of the slower traffic curt bush moving through at the bottom wow evidently gordon at the back completely off the throttle because he's lost one two three four spots four car mike skinners not on the lead laps seven car of casey atwood is not on the lead lap that's what happened they came up on those cars so fast and they just kind of scattered and jack lost a lot of momentum having to get out of the gas there and he's still getting shuffled back on the outside so kurt busch is the new leader and we intercepted this on his radio a little while ago about what he's learning while leading this race we are hauling in now yeah i mean i was being a little bully i told you yesterday i needed to work on when i'm in the lead i did that today learned a lot of things just pitched the 15. and i will ride for a little bit and use that knowledge later [Music] [Applause] step back earlier when he when he uh pinched michael waltrip i guess that's what he's talking about i wouldn't be bragging about that though jamie mcmurray is he out of gas bill to run out yay ran out and he's concerned because you run out of fuel your attack doesn't work so they told him guess your best on pit road speed but don't go over it because you got to be a good guest how do you do that i don't know especially when it's your first winston cup race rusty wallace pulling out he got tires jeff burton's on his way he got tires now mcmurray's in his pit stall they spray a fluid into the intake to try and help him get it started they're going to make a chassis adjustment fuel going in left side tires are on still waiting to try and get it started will not start now they're going to have to push it push it push it they got a long way to go here trying to fire it no luck you got to get that thing fired fast because those guys are going to run out of gas like that car did yeah and there again there's a guy out of the pack now probably going to lose a lap because of that and if you're new to nascar there are no speedometers in these machines they judge their pit road speed limit by the tachometer the rpms that they're supposed to run and that doesn't work when the engines shut off and jamie mcmurray caught a break he had an early pit stop if he'd have to coast all the way down pit road there's no way in this world he'd ever guess 55 miles per hour yeah you're right michael waltrip is now out in front kurt bush is second dale earnhardt jr riding with him here he's in third toddler nine is fourth kevin harvick is fifth that's todd all the way down to the inside and harvick you're looking at the bumper of [Music] [Applause] skinner got back in front of these guys [Music] we have one of our crew cams our pit crew camera that's mounted on the helmet of a guy on one of jamie mcmurray's team members during that last we're out of fuel stop it's the front tire changer clay robinson pops it out plays quick a push clay push push nice job i'll tell you one thing it's good thing that al shufer the trainers got these guys in shape they push it a lot farther than i thought they could [Music] there's that kenzeth and the 17. don't forget the ticker across the top the guys that have already stopped will be shown in yellow and kenzik was one of the guys who was in just a few laps ago here's ward burton in dave boyd burton's going to get a chassis adjustment and left side tires he had taken rights on the first two stops he needed to take left and get a full [Music] frankie yelling something go hard go hard [Music] and warren rejoins the hunt the daytona 500 winner championship standings as they are on the track now tony stewart goes to the front i said at the top of our broadcast i couldn't wait to see what that looked like at the end of the day what happened to rusty rusty made a pit stop wally okay all right so that rusty that wasn't really fair to him then no it wasn't do over where is rusty in the running order 18th place now racing there with uh johnny benson oh he's not racing with benson johnny johnny is uh where is john johnny's in 21st well okay he is racing with him robbie gordon came in by himself he was fifth or six when he came in [Music] marty well robbie gordon that's all they had on fuel and it looks like his teammate kevin harvick might be out of fuel on the racetrack as well but kevin hamlin said that's as far as we can go on fuel they couldn't last any longer oh and harvick is out in the worst possible place just past pit road he's down inside turns one and two oh man we talked about that happy hour bp that's not where he wanted to run out of fuel talladega i mean he'll be three laps down before this deal is over with if he makes it that's what he's just gonna say this could bring out a caution everybody that's on the edge of a pit stop here is gonna be really nervous yeah because i'll tell you what he may not make that's a long way he's got well over a mile but if you need fuel you got to come in you know you can't take the chance on doing this yourself by hoping you get a caution so jeff gordon is coming in and kurt bush is coming in a couple of the lead cars dave burns and jeff gordon is in he'll take on left side tires this time because he took on rights two times in a row they're gonna make a chassis adjustment as well for jeff i haven't heard any report on what the car is doing we'll have to check on seeing why he won a chassis adjustment big revs he's out of here marty kurt busch's team dave will take on left side tires he was tight they thought that would make the car tighter so they take a half pound out of both left side tires del jared in front of him is pretty happy with this chassis left side tires for both of these cars as they race off pit road [Music] man gordon winds that thing up doesn't he on a pit stop sound again about 6 000 rpms when they let the cuts when they let it down [Music] he's still coasting but barely that's the inside of turn four well he's doing 40 miles per hour but the telltale sign zero rpm and it's one lap down he's gone already brian newman's in marty as he crawls down pit road he hears the voice of roger pinsky on the radio maybe a big announcement for this team this week at charlotte maybe going to dodge two tires for ryan newman and a slight air pressure adjustment matt this should be tony stewart second to last stop they took on right side tires no adjustments for the 20 car bobby labonte also in he made it he made it unfortunately for everybody involved he made it and we stay under the green leaders about to complete 300 miles here at talladega here comes junior michael waltrip on the pit road steve park the other dei car ride behind them now they got to get this car not just fuel they got to get it started and you know he's used every drop of fuel all right marty how about junior stop yeah in fact michael waltrip was wiggling the car as he came down pit road i saw slugger laffy kind of throw his hands off like he thought it was out of fuel but it's fine no changes they'll get the fuel in dale earnhardt jr has the first stall on pit road fueling that car as well no changes for either of these dei cars michael's going to get the roll on him 28 car ricky rudd took on left side tires he weighed vigorously for a crew member to hand him something through the window it was either a cool drink or an ice pack it's warm today guys oh don't wreck on the apron guys yeah that's we had that once already today okay that was the pace that third car got good fuel on it for children he stayed up there a long time and the 29 car ran out of fuel and the 31 was in before that yeah now we'll see how many laps it takes for the pack to come completely back together there's already one big knot of cars just behind where you're watching jeff gordon and ryan newman and we'll see if they can catch him down since they've got a little bit more momentum here here comes the cavalry charge off two and four [Applause] now this time it did split the pack up yeah that's exactly what the whole point of this small fuel tank was about was getting these cars split out like that all right matt what are they saying down the 29 pits not much huh well benny they were shocked they were gonna pit with a 97 card and then when he ran out they were gonna go with four tires since he'd already lost so much track position then he decided just to go in last and kevin in fact told his crew chief gil martin just take that computer that figures the gas mileage and throw it on the ground smash it jump up and down on it let's do it by hand from here on out and i'm sure you cleaned that up quite a bit over what he really said is michael just waving when he came through the picture all right we'll check the running order it is michael waltrip leading dale earnhardt jr second kevin harvick after his problems is two laps down in 40th place jeff gordon is third nine tenths of a second behind earnhardt jr talked about their dominance at daytona and talladega the dei duo they don't do too bad on these restricted plate race tracks where the nascar installs an aluminum plate under the carburetor that restricts the horsepower from about 800 down to 450 or so because they just can't let these cars run unrestricted they'd be 230 miles per hour all right second group is caught the first gordon newman curt bush dale jarrett right up there with earnhardt jr and waltrip and we're just past 300 miles in the ea sports 500 from talladega michael waltrip is the leader you're watching nascar on nbc friday night rookie jimmy johnson was among the many drivers and crew who took on talladega courtesy of ea sports nascar thunder 2003. and even when you're playing it you get a real true sensation of what it's like to be out there in the racetrack johnson went up against fella rookie ryan newman jeff gordon and kevin harvick in the ea sports drivers challenge and in the final ryan defeated last year's champion kevin harvick and picked up the w that's pretty cool i mean i won a truck race earlier today out here with the winston truck so i'm two for two today we didn't even get the qualify damn right now he's in the lead he's leading the ea sports 500 and his ford taurus pretty good weekend right now took the lead away from jeff gordon just a laugh ago and he's now the 11th different driver to be out in front of this race is that debris on the racetrack i see that on the apron yeah let's down the apron but way below the yellow line that's not an issue is it no i mean that's not any reason to put out the caution if you drive down there you're in trouble anyway yeah yeah jeff gordon for the lead and the more these guys up front raced side by side that pack that had been broken apart it's all right back together yeah that's usually in the past these guys will run they'll get five or six or eight cars a single file and try to break away but not today 29 cars in the lead pack lead lap cars plus a couple of others that are lapped down like mark martin and jimmy johnson and that car right there above jeff gordon sharing they do just now when the lap down after that unscheduled pit stop robbie gordon trying to hang a hard left off turn four but couldn't get alongside to make the move [Applause] by the way the uh lead change numbers that we showed you there a minute ago we're now up to 30 lead changes oh look at this four wide dale jarrett right up through the center the lap car of nadu slides out from in the middle of that and probably wisely so in fact dale earnhardt junior four wide on the outside mark martin jerry do oh jarrod trying to push his way to the front robbie gordon behind jeff gordon robbie cuts low and puts jeff in the middle and going backwards and that's what talk about that earlier that's why you got to be looking in your mirror because if you let a guy get underneath you on the left side you get put where you don't want to be right where jeff gordon is in the center lane 30-second lead change 12th leader of the day robbie gordon out in front in the singular car let's make our singular call to the pits you think jeff gordon is calling for some help dave well we'll find out because we'll talk to robbie loomis his crew chief he took on right side tires twice then left sides and made a little chassis adjustment now i grew up in truck racing where you took on two tires at a time under caution under green here you guys are pretty much forced to take on two at a time is it tough to adjust the car today it really is tough unfortunately you know the guys have built a great car for us we found chevrolet's handling great so we hadn't had to do a whole lot with it and what about putting on that that chassis you just went last time what was that for well it's going to be real tight we're going to see back here a little bit with 15 shakes down there all right now watch it through the entire run and see what they get marty well matt borland is ryan newman's crew chief dave and as the longer this race goes it gets more intense how's ryan doing out there and how's the car now ryan's doing great uh we haven't heard a lot from him he's got his hands pretty full but i'll tell ford's running pretty good right now the guys get big stops and uh we'll see what happens here at the end of the race i said he wanted to be more comfortable going in meaning he was a little bit loose in yeah he's pretty loose right now but he's hanging on to it so we're going to try and make it here so we can put a set of right sides on for this next stop and remember these guys finished 43rd here in the spring looking much better today yeah this is one place that driver doesn't do a whole lot of talking to either the spotter or the crew chief just listening just a lot of listening pack is starting to tighten up and things are getting a little more intense here at talladega 65 laps to go we're coming up on the 350 mile mark in the ea sports 500. robbie gordon is out in front he's rocking talladega right now [Music] for jeff gordon as we come back live to talladega he crossed the start finish line last time in 13th place but he has slowed on the back stretch and now he's coming to pit road under green another twist in the championship picture today and i see no smoke coming out from the car so looks like it could be a flat tire dave as soon as i finished my interview with robbie loomis he said get off the cart please jeff's talking to me now jeff started reporting that something was wrong under the hood he asked him down the down pit lane what what the problem was he said it's just in big big trouble smoke under the 24 hood now jeff gordon has been great or not great for about the last month he's got three wins in the last six races but other races in that time he had the engine problem at richmond where he failed to finish he had the crash at dover where he failed to finish and another title contenders in trouble today and unfortunately if they get the car fixed he gets back out and is running perfectly he can only pick up one spot jay saunders the only car that's the 71 car that's out of the race or 81 laps down yeah he's out of the race he bounced off the wall a little bit earlier and took the car to the garage with some damage so what do the standings look like now i don't see that 24 there one big gap for tony stewart 157 points back to the fifth spot and jeff gordon is going behind the wall looks like to the garage area so gordon behind the wall only the second car back there and the other gordon is the leader tony stewart though runs second other championship contenders rusty wallace is back in 17th place jimmy johnson 39th mark martin 31st and sterling marlin is out for the season as you know from the headlines of the week with that neck injury suffered in the crash at kansas you know benny we talked about the pivotal race and everybody used the phrase wild card and the unknown what they're talking about was losing points in the big wreck not these strange things that have happened today yeah i mean mark martin and jimmy johnson on the pay slap made contact and cost both of them all out had to make pit stop both off the cars lost the lap and now jeff gordon has an engine problem i guess dave they do bp they just said get the valve covers off we'll see which cylinder it is so they believe they've dropped a cylinder yeah and yeah the mark martin and jimmy johnson crashed but at 55 miles 65 miles per hour been a lot of talk in the garage about the championship that no one seems to be able to take control of nobody can get on that run and make the forceful statement to take command of this championship it's going to come right down to homestead in mid-november and we'll follow it for you all the way on nbc and tnt right now 59 laps to go at talladega robbie gordon's the leader 56 laps to go we are at 350 miles in the ea sports 500 nascar on nbc from talladega alabama been an unusual day in the championship as we check our pepsi race recap on the pace laps the front row starters jimmy johnson and mark martin top two in the championship something locks up the steering on mark's car he comes across and bumps into johnson mark pitts on the pace lap johnson takes the green flag on the track but then comes down the pit road on the first lap of the race with right front damage both drivers laps behind they haven't caught up since jeff gordon in traffic after leading earlier in the race for some 27 laps slows his car with engine problems is pushed behind the wall just moments ago the championship standings with a big shuffle here today dave burns is with jeff gordon now and jeff has stepped out of the car he's taking a look underneath talk to us guys jeff what have you determined so far uh i lost a retainer uh and in one of the valve springs and uh dropped a valve so and and probably some more things went from there that was probably the first thing to go and i felt a lot loose power there and dropped some rpm and didn't seem the same and you know that thing was pretty pretty strong man it was i was having a lot of fun i could go the back you know and come right back to the front man i was just having a ball out there my guys are just cranking out great stops but that's unfortunate you know that's that's our been our misfortune all year long we we can't seem to get you know back to back great finishes and wins and you know kind of carry the momentum so this is a big bummer today a tough break for him guys he was one of the few cars that could had the dei cars out there today jeff gordon was fourth in the championship coming in 109 points behind leader jimmy johnson he's not going to take a big hit a huge hit where johnson and martin are concerned but that orange car he could take a huge hit with him talking about the 20 car tony stewart is currently running in second spot there you see him the home depot car can't seem to do anything with robbie gordon doesn't need to be in too much of a hurry right now while this thing is strung out single file best things to stay in line right where are you preaching that earlier absolutely they're doing what they should be doing especially when it's getting close to these pit stops right now speaking of pit stops ricky craven has been in mike skinner brett beaudine elliott sadler casey atwood all those cars laps down those last four and bill elliot jeremy mayfield and kenny wallace have also been in four pit stops and remember the ticker across the top of the screen the names will change to yellow as we cycle through the series of stops and you saw richard childress nine victors here at the talladega super speedway robbie gordon the 31 car drives for richard jonas matt kenzer gives up that third spot to come on the pit road yes i don't think he can make it the rest of the way 53 laps 52 laps i don't think so i know he can't because i asked nope they're very disappointed not getting good fuel mileage good car can run at the front but they'll definitely need to stop again right side tires and fuel for matt waiting on the fuel waiting on the fuel he goes away we go to mass in both the 48-5 the hendrick cars are in with another hendrick corporate teammate in the 10 right behind they're all gonna have to stop one more time left side tires with a 48 dave joe nemechek not happy with the handling of his car four tire change for the 25 car and he stalls it trying to leave he re-fires is that the first four tire change we've seen all day yep sure is and dave ladies out of gas again second time today in the yellow car and about the same spot it re-fired again robbie gordon one of 12 drivers who traded the lead 32 times today we will easily break the record for most lead changes this season which is 32 that was done back in atlanta in march by the time we finished this cycle of the green flag pit stops look at him fanning out everywhere see the 99 car jeff burton back there he had slowed about five or six laps going looked like he had lost an engine but someone told us that an ignition box had failed in his car they have a backup system he went to that and now he's charging back to the front 99 car showing in 12th place last time by racing with john andretti there and rusty wallace you're on board with picked this up off of jeff burton's team radio a little while ago when those problems occurred okay we lost the [Music] i'll box back to box bay and it shut off again i went back to box b and he quit smoking [Music] he might have bigger problems than just an ignition box but he's right there in the thick of the lead pack [Applause] and working with his brother ward once again you know what an interesting dynamic that whole situation is with jeff burton splitting up with crew chief frankie stoddard at any time you're split up there are some hard feelings there's just no such thing as a completely friendly parting and then frankie ends up being the crew chief for jeff's brother ward you know it's junior i mean juniors all of a sudden can't keep up with these guys i wonder what's going on there by the way rusty in the fifth bill and he's getting right side tires and fuel kyle petty did blister right front with 65 laps on it right in front of rusty the 40 car of jamie mcmurray good stop for those guys mcmurray getting better at that as well and he's on his way those guys lost a lot of time earlier in the race when the car ran out of fuel a little ford parade in that outside lane kurt busch mark martin newman trying to push back toward the front remember mark's not on the lead lap he's the first car one lap down in 27th place ryan newman see the hose there on newman's car i think that's the hose that he drinks out of ken schroeder's just turned his car in behind the wall i think that's the hose that he has down to a thermos bottle if he needs a sip he can place that hose in his mouth see those gauges right there yeah he got one eye on that fuel pressure gauge right now and that's that one that's as that needle starts dipping then you know it's not picking up the fuel and you're gonna be running out of fuel pretty quick caution free races in talladega may 1997 april 2001 no addition of this race the ea sports 500 and its predecessors name wise has ever been run without the yellow flag waving and i'm knocking on wood as i say that right now that looks like kurt bush is making a little headway trying to find his way to the front mark wasn't able to stay with him though no right up against him and push him all right jeff burton's coming in we talked about his problems earlier bill and it's a lonely feeling only one other car on pit road that's all the way a pit in burton's getting right side tires gets fuel and goes on his way had that wacky problem with the ignition box but seems to have gone away at least for now we'll keep an eye on it [Applause] well i see dale earn our junior's been able to get by dale jarrett i wanted a moment ago why had fallen back but i guess he was just resting a little bit now he's got that bud car charging back toward the front maybe he was looking for somebody yeah maybe he was like a blue car well he was up two cars in front of him now okay you mean the blue car with the big yellow logo on the hood that's the one [Applause] on board todd bodine here comes mikey it's a battle for the fourth position [Music] [Applause] all right the leaders will be starting to make some green flag pit stops shortly so let's take a break so we can come back in time robbie gordon and kurt busch fighting up front wrangler presents five star finishes one of my favorites at talladega of all time the 1981 talladega 500 ron bouchard in the yellow car daryl waltrips leading he's paying attention to terry labonte watch bouchard through the trial will sneak to the inside and picked up his first nascar winston cup series victory the fitchburg flash from fitchburg massachusetts now saw ron while we were up at the loudoun race in july looking very fit these days for more on wrangler 5 finishes log on to nascar.com everything's right in the world michael waltrip and dale earnhardt jr back in front robbie gordon 31 car has made a pit stop a little gas and oil tires not oil gas and tires todd voting john andretti and mark martin also came in during the break a minute ago i thought robbie went further on fuel last time check our napa field summary 34 lead changes among 12 different drivers today equaling the season high and lead changes so far no cautions and the two cars out of the race jay sauter who went out early and jeff gordon who just went out with an engine problem [Applause] i think i mentioned a minute ago ken schrader went behind the wall valve spring they've got the hood up on that car uh-oh mark was just in on pit road and looks very very slow now left rear guys left here 3900 3900 well question asked question answered and it goes bad dave well it looks like left side tires from mark martin he must have had one going down off pit road now long day for mark yeah got a lot longer so how much longer can michael waltrip and dale earnhardt jr run we're at 41 to go now and they're probably about to make their last pit stop to this race if we don't see the caution flag well let's all right let's see we interest intercepted this on michael walters radio he must have liked the middle make a note can you hear that work to the middle well i think these guys are going to stop about 150 and that means they got 38 laps to go they've done that so they can make it the rest of the way tony's waving his hands to see the 20 cars gonna be hitting pit lane here in a second and who comes with him gotta have people come with you so that you build back up to speed more quickly in the draft if you stop by yourself you're going to lose ground well he might be in trouble certainly kurt busch is the only guy killing with it and his teammate bobby labonte a little bit farther behind 40 laps to go here he comes matt and this will be tony stewart's final scheduled pit stop chris woodward the engine tuner told me they are plus one lap meaning they can go to the finish and they will still have one lap still left in the tank getting great fuel mileage and keeping with the rotation they will now take on left side tires they can go the distance if jeff goose patterson gets every ounce of fuel in there they pack to full and he is gone marty it is right side tires for kurt busch and this will not unfortunately be his last stop of the day as he speeds off pit road with tony stewart they do have to stop one more time they're about a lap short [Music] but those two cars working together will get up to speed more quickly than if stuart or kurt bush would just come in by themselves right and i don't expect to see the 97 come in with one lap to go though all right here we go and ryan newman gets run out into the grass as they start all these cars lead lap cars are on pit road the dei cars newman jeff green our marty snyder goes to work michael waltrip comes in down pit road the car is excellent for michael they'll make no changes to the chassis ryan newman his team total we're one lap short as he goes over the line they have to push it back that will hurt on the front end of pit road dale earnhardt jr fuel and tires they say the car is not as dominant we're going to have to beat him on pit road and they do win that race off pit road a long stop for michael watson's punch they're having to push the car backwards and he stalled the car now they get it going there goes michael waltrip and there probably went the race the car rolled off the jack that was the problem [Music] didn't he have that problem a race or two ago pulling off the jacket bush series race at kansas last week yeah and i can't tell if the car was in gear and it rolled up and the reason they had to push the car back he couldn't just leave when they got the jack off money it was sitting on the air hose you see the air hose is under the car and you cannot run over the air hose as you leave they've got to roll it back get it off the hose as ryan knew and although he had his problems he's able to get away before michael walton michael's got his hand out the window man he's by himself back there isn't he yeah uh they're checking to see if the window net is up on michael's car might have knocked the window net down somewhere in the confusion also and he may have to come back to pit road well i saw something on the back stretch it looked like his hand after one of it might have been holding trying to hold the wind on that up it's certainly in the car now marty well i do see that the window net is up on michael waltrip's car so i don't think that's what happened or they may have seen his hand coming out the window but uh obviously a big disappointment for this team uh they're gonna need some help if indeed they are gonna be able to win this race they had one of the best cars but uh the window net definitely up so they will not have to bring them down pit road for a penalty like that winning that's catching on by air didn't it yeah it looked a little bit different there yeah i wonder if he's holding it up hoping for a caution oh it's hard it's hard to latch those window nets when you're inside the race car dale earnhardt jr leads 37 to go at talladega next weekend coverage of the chase for the nascar winston cup championship moves to charlotte and our coverage begins on tnt saturday with winston cup happy hour at noon eastern time followed by the nascar bush series race at one eastern and next sunday the uaw gm quality 500 from lowe's motor speedway charlotte nbc next sunday well you know we've seen a caution free race we've seen a lot of give and take but you know what we're getting down to where it's all going to be take not much giving in the next 32 laps or so yeah everybody's had enough with patience yeah now it's going to see whatever you can get and that's when the accidents generally tend to happen the big the big one the big wreck usually happens very late in the race when everybody's patience is just worn to a frazzle bp all right let's first we'll check the noble five drivers the guys who have a chance to win the million dollars if you're the fan paired with dale earnhardt jr debbie polson of manchester connecticut you might be feeling pretty good right now uh remember you gave the golden benny to randy dortmund and the hendrick engine bunch yeah i don't think they'll be celebrating tomorrow morning johnny benson hendrick engine just went to the garage ken schroeder we talked about the valve spring problem he's out jeff gordon is out and now joe nemechek has just gone behind the wall engine problems man dave tell those guys i'm sorry well yeah believe me next week when they see you they'll be telling you uh they uh they would like your condolences but uh joe nemechek the latest retiree with the hendrick power plant under his hood [Music] dale earnhardt jr leads tony stewart is second ricky rudd has eased his way up in the third spot kurt bush's fourth rusty wallace is fifth well you know i'm pretty sure that dale and arjuna could go the rest away we heard a report that tony stewart can go the rest of the way and you know i think maybe ricky rudd pitted at the same time as junior so it looks like he might be good to go kurt busch can those guys make the referee matt the 20 can't make it right yes he can but him room back to dover we aired a feature called sizing up the competition where drivers talked about drivers they're comfortable with they have confidence racing and riding along with especially in the draft and that's what tony stewart has in dale earnhardt jr usually at the plate tracks they draft a lot together during practice and during the race but tony doesn't have a lot of confidence and the guy is farther on back because he's told his spotter mark robertson to tell the 28th the 97 the 99 and the six to stay in line so we can protect the bottom so they don't try to make a run and shuffle us on back well you don't have to worry about the 28 much no because he's he is about the smoothest guy out there ricky rudd but there's one thing about these racing deals they're made to be broken they have a way of falling apart dave what you got now speaking of falling apart that's kind of what's happened to the 28 this year this team disbanding after this year ricky rudd going elsewhere they have had great pit stops today and after this last pit stop on which they took on two right side tires and had a had a fast pit stop uh he congratulated the crew on the radio everything very friendly between these guys right now because they know they can still win and they've had a great car all day long now the guy that may shake this up is that 97 car because i know he does not want to stay in line he wants to get to the front and here he goes look into the outside of ricky rudd for third rusty wallace is pushing him there [Music] and rusty wallace has the dei car steve park behind him kurt busch has finished third in two of three career tries to talladega he runs this place very very well jeff bert drops to the inside tries to take a spot away from rusty wallace but right now it's just seeing if an outside line can run well enough to get alongside dale earnhardt jr tension growing as we close in on the finish 27 laps to go in the ea sports 500 dale earnhardt jr trying to win a third straight talladega race can he do it again [Music] no boundaries takes an unusual twist you may remember that dale earnhardt is the winningest driver of all time here at talladega with 10 victories but what you may not remember is victory number one back then the man in black was 12 a man in blue and yellow in the 15 car driving you guessed it a ford to victory lane here at talladega with legendary car owner bud moore he won three races with bud moore the last of which came right here at talladega right now at talladega chevrolet is leading the field but behind him looming the forward of kurt busch and don't forget about ricky rudd in the 28th car and let's mention tom beline there pictured second in line behind dale earnhardt jr he is now the first car in one lap down todd dipped below that yellow line on the back straightaway a little while ago had to make a stop and go penalty on pit road the out of bounds rule it's getting tense 23 laps to go now 22 here at talladega up on the final 50 miles of the ea sports 500 lead lap 23 cars 20 of them in this lead draft along with some lap machines some of them are going to have to stop for fuel between here and the finish if we don't get a caution and the closer we get to the finish and the more intense the racing for position gets the higher the likelihood the big one may yet still happen caution free so far today 35 lead changes among 12 drivers and some of these cars might run out of fuel trying to make that extra lafferty just on kit road bill elliott jimmy spencer jeremy mayfield and brett beaudine and terry lavonte has just taken his car to the garage that is a hendrick motor sports car matt do i hear jimmy johnson's also struggling alan the hits keep right on coming for rookie jimmy johnson remember he had that opening action at the beginning of the race now he reports to his crew chief chad canals i'm down on seven cylinders and it's getting worse a bad day for the hendrick engine department man oh man [Music] last week was so great at kansas speedway for all those guys at hendrick and the ranching department today has been so far a disaster and jimmy johnson's team has been warned they're not meeting the minimum speed right now so they've only got another lap or so to try and pick that up and he'll be sent to the garage nascar winston cup championship standings going to take a shuffle today tony stewart running second could come out of here with the lead and we've still got a long way to go look at rusty wallace on the outside around the lap car of todd beaudine and try to pass tony stewart for second [Applause] [Music] all right last commercial break before the checkered flag if the race stays green let's take it now come back for the dramatic finish 20 laps to go from talladega nascar on nbc from talladega super speedway in alabama it's the ea sports 500 down to its final 17 laps championship pictures taking a tumble today with drivers having problems starting with the top two in the championship on the pace laps jimmy johnson and mark martin now dale earnhardt jr trying to win a third straight talladega race leading tony stewart and ricky rudd and some people needing to stop for fuel once more before the checkers [Music] don't believe the front two dude earnhardt jr and stewart both say they're good to go to the finish but some of the guys behind them yeah it's going to be a little bit iffy and some guys that think they can make it might run out of fuel yeah like you're just heavy peter there's gonna be some guys gonna if they're laps short they're gonna stay out oh yeah they got to and they're going to be right in the middle of this when they run out if they run out which is going to be pretty tense dale earnhardt jr trying to become only the second band ever to win three straight talladega races the other buddy baker 1975 he swept the season and he won the opening 76 race at talladega also nobody else has won three straight here even his father who won 10 times at talladega won a couple in a row on a couple of occasions here but never won three straight see john andretti back there he's in seventh position and the cheerios dodge hanging in there i'll tell you who's done a great job hanging with the group all day at the very end of that lead pack you're going to see a white car right there on the highway in the 49 stacy compton this is the bam racing team that's been trying to get a foothold in nascar winston cup racing stacey jumping in the car this weekend 16 lead lap cars in that pack and he's among them he's in the lead draft 14th right now yep that last time by and that's that's a great job for a team that's like i said just trying to get a foothold and establish themselves in this sport total of 23 cars on the lead lap remember michael waltrip the pit road problem last pit stop dropped him back he's in 16th place scott winner back in 17th matt kenseth and ricky craven bill elliott jimmy spencer jeremy mayfield they've already made their pit stops [Music] and it's dropped them a little bit farther behind and then you've got bobby labonte last on the lead lap in 23rd place his car stalled on his last pit stop he's 40 seconds off the lead here's rusty bill and this is just a splash 55 races since rusty wallace has gone to victory lane looks like it's going to be 56. good car just didn't get the fuel mileage they wanted snyder and the same story for ravi gordon good car just didn't get the fuel mileage he needed kevin hamlin on the radio counts one two three that's all the fuel they needed three seconds by the cost of the race because they led for a lot today and had a great car how many more of this lead pack are gonna have to stop for fuel you know the strange thing is ryan newman rusty wallace's teammate has run more laps than rusty you'd think that they would be about exactly the same thing they both have the same engines the jasper pesky engines but here he's still on the racetrack and uh benny that's exactly why the guys in the two pit have been scratching their heads very disappointed happy for ryan getting that mileage but cannot figure out why they aren't getting it these guys are going to have to gang up on the a-car if they're going to do it bp even if they can gang up on the a car trying to get by speaking of ryan newman marty well talking about the fuel mileage situation for ryan about midway through this race as crew chief matt borland said start conserving now and that may be one reason that has led to them staying out a little bit longer but not this many laps they are clearly getting better fuel mileage than the two car is but they think they're gonna try to make it all the way that's one of the reasons he's dropped back just a little bit right now saving as much fuel as he can he's been doing it for almost half the race dave has got ricky rudd's pit like to get him to check into this too and tell us whether that 28 car is going to stop between now and the finish or not and find out if he's going to be in the mix of things let's see jimmy johnson the 48 car the lowest car down low on the racetrack on those seven cylinders how those cars go by all right dave what about ricky rudd i would be happy to update you on that he can go the rest of the way when before he pitted they were discussing fuel and michael mcswain his crew chief told ricky you can go the same amount of laps we went last time without a problem he stayed out with the dei cars came in with them and can go to the end with them okay so that must mean that jarrett can as well but he might i think jarrett pitted the lap or two before those guys yeah i'm just kind of looking through this league group here the guys that are going to run to the finish on fuel to see what kind of teammates or manufacturer partners or anything might be up there this is pretty wide open right now you got the burton brothers running there in fourth and fifth but you got earnhardt jr in a chevy leading tony stewart in a pontiac second ricky running a ford third then the burton brothers fourth and fifth then a roush car kurt bush in sixth he could help his teammate jeff in theory and then john andretti in a dodge in seventh so you know we don't have the the dei pairing up there or any of that kind of thing this could be that's why i think you got some spotters up there and drivers everybody's starting to at least make an effort to wheel and deal benny on how they're going to get by that eight car if they can i mean tony stewart probably asking the 28 guys if they'll go with me if i pull out all right here come some cars on the pit road speaking of the burton brothers jeff ward coming in man oh man todd beaudine the 26 car went completely below that yellow line and looked like he was on a dirt track there for a minute oh baby glove saving a beauty glove save and a beauty remember todd had a uh penalty for going below the yellow line on the back stretch earlier so that's dropped him a lap down in 24th place well he was definitely below the yellow line he may have been forced down there i don't know that he was trying to pass someone but he was below the yellow line sideways check it out todd beaudine just a lap a go there he seems trying to get he got turned he got turned didn't he jeff green but look jeff was down there already and todd started coming down and jeff was not gonna lift listen to this and watch that was a great keep digging you're doing real good richard bostic says the spotter for todd beaudine yeah that's our autotrader.com absolutely love saving the beauty and he ties it up for the face-off todd bowdite autotrader.com move of the race our championship leader starting the day is going behind the wall benny if these guys are gonna do something they gotta they can't wait till the last couple laps we always see that but i think they gotta start doing it now if they can yeah i don't know if they can you know the thing is the more cars that were in that lead pack the more opportunities there would be to pass junior but the more these people stop for fuel and the more get cut out of the herd right the tougher it's going to be the better he looks 11 races of talladega settled by a last lap pass 12 b today they've been coming down here since 1969 so it's not 12 races quite a few of them championship standings as we close in on the finish with tony stewart running second mark martin running 30th ryan newman's in seventh and rusty wallace just off pit road is in 15th how about that ryan newman up to fourth we talked about jimmy johnson being their bestest rookie trying to win the championship eight let's don't count newman out yet maybe another million dollar day for dale earnhardt jr eight laps away from the checkered flag about to be seven at talladega and john andrade has had to make a pit stop get a splash of fuel i notice junior's running that low line now bp he's not gonna let anybody get underneath him if he can help it he's in protection mode nissan protection mode he goes down the back straightaway on the left side of the racetrack now we see tony back up there down in one and two he was backing up to see if he could get a run on junior down the straightaway if you stay right up next to the bumper you'll never get a run you've got to drop back a little bit and then as you come off the straightaway try to get that run but you think that they all pulled out on junior they could have got by if you know right now you got one two three four seven cars if they all pulled up to the right but it doesn't look like it i mean a car looks awfully strong you want seven guys to work together and do the same thing is that what you just said what do i think what are you thinking about gee whiz you know even if tony stewart finishes second today he'll have to consider that a victory of sort because in this season the restrictor plate races have been his achilles heel of the six races tony stewart has failed to finish this season three of them have been the three previous restrictor plate races i believe i said at the starting line of his average finish is like 37th on the restricted play races yeah he he had the engine failure early in the daytona 500 and then he crashed at talladega here in april and at daytona in july yeah he's not a big fan of these deals i was down there the other day him and i and hud were talking strickland were talking he said you know this is the one place if i could just take the green come in and let you guys drive the race i would do it just this one place [Music] ranks of potential winners thinned out by this long green flag run caution free in fact throughout the race and we're down to now five laps to go you know we talked about this being a big race as far as the points is concerned and we all thought we think about the crash and that was obviously what we were talking about but you know this place is hard on engines as the folks at henry found out today because to try to make horsepower with that small restrictor plate they do all kinds of trick things well today those tricks that random those guys tried backfired on them the tricks were no treats no they they yeah it was definitely no treat well we got rid of that big 40 car pack that's for sure anyway i don't know what the fuel cell deal you know kirk bush looked like he had such a great car earlier but he hasn't shown the ability back where he is in line he's got to make something happen now he's got to start going you talked about you can't wait till the last lap but if you're where he is in line and fourth i can't wait till three laps to go you gotta go jimmy johnson is out dave he is behind the wall he's just climbed out of the car you heard about the other cars going away did you try to adjust your driving style or anything to save your motor jimmy i'd be totally honest with you i didn't have a clue um we really don't talk about it on the radio we're afraid we'll jinx ourselves uh when i broke i looked up and i saw the five on the apron too so um it's one of those deals done wrong but another guy's trying awfully hard in the engine shop we had great power really competitive all day long uh our day was crazy from the get-go i don't know what the heck happened with martin at the beginning knocked the right front fender in on the tire and uh it's been a wild day but hey what the heck whoever's been leading this point is that nothing but problems so i'm glad we don't have to worry about that voodoo doll on our backs we'll just go on and see what happens all right he was the points leader coming in guys jimmy johnson out joining is hendrick teammates jeff gordon terry the body and joe nemechek plus the hendrix supplied cars of johnny benson and ken schrader you saw ryan newman in the 12 car the all-tail car tried to make a pass just a moment ago on steve park and all it did was cost him a spot jeff green gets behind now he's brought dale jarrett some other cars into the mix now jarrett stopped two laps before dale arnott jr and ricky rudd they're holding their breath they're holding his quest aren't they marty are indeed vp uh delgaire's team is and they're going to come down pit road this time he just radioed the tides here are we going to try and stretch the fuel he said no let's not do it let's come down let's get a splash of fuel we cannot make it so they are indeed short here comes dale garrett down pit road now and here comes dale earnhardt jr across the strike two laps to go next time the white flag flies if tony stewart's got something for him he better start showing it i think he's been trying to show it yeah 10 laps but that's it what you see is what you get jeff green trying to make something happen outside of steve park and takes the fifth spot farthest forward of the richard childress cars yeah i think a little bit a couple laps going tony backed up down in 1-2 and tried to get that run i think that's when he was trying to see what he had and i guess he assumed not much or not enough yeah dale earnhardt jr will have led 55 laps today at the start finish line 143 000 on their feet at talladega as the white flag flies final lap of the ea sports 500. spotter says keep it on the bottom junior will be more than happy to comply behind him steve park being challenged by ryan newman for a spot but the front five single file kurt busch looking for third can't do it ricky rudd with a brief peek kurt bush trying to find enough muster to run with him his father won here 10 times and now dale earnhardt jr is going to become only the second man in this tracks history to score three straight wins at talladega super speedway earnhardt jr to the checkered flag he wins the ea sports 500. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] two victories this season for dale earnhardt jr talladega and talladega and a new millionaire has joined the ranks of the american wealthy debbie poulton of manchester connecticut has won the million dollars as the fan and dale earnhardt jr has picked up the million dollar bonus junior great job don't forget they need his extra lead behind that money truck and the parade begins bernard jr led 56 of the 188 laps to pick up the victory his seventh career win for earnhardt junior and the bud team marty and tony yuri senior gets a high five from slaughter lab labby still talking to dale earnhardt jr on the radio the last driver to complete the season sweep at talladega dale earnhardt senior did that in 1999 here in 2002 dale earnhardt jr does the same thing you said you had to beat him on fuel strategy and pit strategy today and you did it yeah we uh we didn't know what this new fuel cell deal was gonna bring us and uh sat down on the truck this morning figured out what we did yesterday we knew uh it was gonna be tight if we could just get that first first run in there we could make it and i was just you know just hoping that the three pace left didn't mess us up but it's going to be close should run out probably behind this truck right here because it's definitely out of gas but uh richard gilmore all the guys were hitting the shot we had them worried yesterday uh we called him up we uh considered changing the engine this car because we was getting beat in practice yesterday but i guess we need to apologize to him but every car that was beating us in practice yesterday sitting over in that garage so uh hey guys you ain't let us down yet i think it's a good decision guys so keep that engine in and we talked about that early in the race they go on to win the day at talladega [Music] and some of that fake money being spread in front of dale earnhardt jr the seventh straight win for chevrolet at talladega dale earnhardt jr your winner today and chevy congratulates dale in the number eight monte carlo hale jr will tell you the only thing that comes close to monte carlo's reputation on the track is its reputation on the street more champions depend on chevy you'll be there [Music] all right they're going to sprinkle a little money around the racetrack and then earnhardt jr is probably going to get sprinkled with a little beer in victory lane and we'll come back for the celebration in a moment earnhardt jr the winner tony stewart the new championship leader post race coverage in a moment on nbc new leader in the nascar winston cup championship with six races to go tony stewart is out in front tony has wanted four of the six remaining tracks on the season after today in the middle of this pack of people matt yoakam yoakam's with tony stewart and tony stewart you said today would be one of the biggest hurdles in that bid for a winston cup championship congratulations for the first time in your career you are the new point leader well this is for bob nardelli and all the people at home depot and uh you know there are 280 000 associates right now i mean he's these people stuck with us through thick and thin and you know it's just a great day i mean we had an awesome day today and you know the biggest thing was just finishing you know not getting any trouble when we did that and you know now we get now we get to go back real racing again did you try to make a run at him not at all i told him i told my spot to go down there and tell his spotter that i wasn't leaving him i mean it was it wasn't top gun but i wasn't leaving my wing man you know he'd helped get us there and and we've always run good together i mean it's something about that budweiser chevy and the home depot pontiac you get those two cars together on a super speedway and if we don't have problems we can help him out a lot they always run well together tony stewart second at talladega for the third time in his career bill and dale earnhardt jr is in victory lane about to climb out of his budweiser chevy and celebrate as a million-dollar winner here at talladega his third straight win at this track and this is a celebration that's going to go on for a while high fives all around money in the air [Applause] a new million million-dollar woman well you were talking in the garage yesterday and you said you like this place now i imagine you do yeah we had some good times here i'll tell you that i'm more out but we had a good car i really surprised but not surprised at the same time tony stuck with me he tried real hard last time to beat me here and uh i guess it's a little harder to pass a leader than it was then so a good car good car and outstanding fuel mileage yeah well we weren't the only ones some guys had good fuel mileage too and uh the thing about it was as the pack kind of thinned down only four or five cars in line it's hard to push a guy by the leader i knew that was going to be my advantage to winning but this car won because of guys like tony junior richie gilmore tony senior everybody we heard you screaming when you took the lead yeah i was having a good time the car was he wouldn't do everything i wanted to do but just about everything i asked it dude so i can't complain i mean got a good enough car and uh shoot man i mean it's just i'm just holding the wheel congratulations thank you that's what happens when you get a beer dumped on your equipment in victory lane i think bill's microphone started sounded a little noisy we apologize for that here are the results from today's ea sports 500 dale earnhardt jr victory today his second straight excuse me his third straight at talladega he swept the season [Music] here this year this year big story of the day those who failed to finish and those who had problems all those cars that you see there still on the lead lap jeremy mayfield back in 20 spots scott wimmer the 23 car didn't talk about him a lot today but 17 spent place and 22 cars on the lead lap there it is 30th place mark martin went south for him on the pace lap when the steering locked up he slid across into fellow front row starter jimmy johnson and they were behind from the drop of the green flag a lot of guys failed to finish johnson one of them a lot of lead changes today most importantly lower right zero caution flags

Channel: NASCAR

Views: 53,575

Keywords: NASCAR, nascar, NASCAR Cup Series, nascar cup series, nascar full race, nascar full race 2021, nascar 2021, nascar 2022, nascar highlights, nascar youtube, #nascar, #NASCAR, 2002 EA Sports 500 From Talladega Superspeedway | NASCAR Classic Full Race Replay, 2002 EA Sports 500 From Talladega Superspeedway, talladega superspeedway, dale earnhardt jr., nascar cup series talladega, ea sports 500, talladega ea sports 500, 2002 talladega

Id: T58LnBpuOZ4

Length: 141min 59sec (8519 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 09 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/jmnordan]

Likely will be the last caution-free race in NASCAR history

[u/MeekloBraca]

A race that still gives mark martin fans nightmares.

[u/DIECASTCHARV]

Their facebook page today made a post saying this was the video, but the video that was included in the post was actually Gordon's 2007 Phoenix win when he tied Dale Sr. in wins lol

[u/dekewe1]

My parents were at this race with a friend. They said it sucked lmfao