2006 Talladega NASCAR Cup Series Full Race May 1, 2006

back up together speaking of pit road speed 500 miles 55 miles per hour pit window with these smaller fuel cells about 13 and a half gallons 35 to 38 laps now the fedex racetrack keys first thing avoid the big one we've seen it here time and time again oh by the way second thing avoid the big one and the most important thing avoid the big one that's all i can say for more information including strategy larry hot spots log on to foxsports.com keyword fx monday monday let's go well dw it's a day late it's monday but it doesn't matter she's still the biggest she's still the baddest talladega reach up there and pull those belts tight one more time let's get this party started look at this let's go racing boys [Music] [Applause] hung out to drive the six car is that's what you call that help's coming from casey mears [Music] get those five points he will in that 38 cards larry he was his qualifying speed was so much faster than everyone else's and he showed that on that first lap he drove off and just left these guys they eventually suck back up to him but that car is bad fast [Music] sadler edwards bush jarrett stewart leading the outside lane with the carburetor restrictor plate they run here it took a little over a lap for these this field of cars to get them to full speed now at over 190 miles per hour point leader matt kenseth started last gained five positions on that first lap right behind you're with dale jarrett kirkbush just ahead third and fourth as the speeds build to over 190. that's 192 miles an hour through this 8 degree 18 degree bank try oval i got to tell you the most treacherous part on this track for trying to stay under control is right through this dog league we have a score monitor up here that tells us what cars change positions that time only two of the 43 cars stayed in the same position that they were the lap before tony stewart with help from joe nemechek trying to forge into the lead the rider joe nemechek here and the 0-1 army car definitely could use a good run here still looking for his first top ten finish of the year well the only four that's won here in the last uh 13 races larry has been the car of dale jarrett who won here last year chevrolet has won the last stop tony stewart has led a left in the first eight races check that make that now nine races and he's gotten so many more bonus points and i think he's got 55 bonus points making 60 now compared to i think jeff gordon or somebody who's only got 25 for leading or leading the most laps usually we have a little fun before the start of the race and each of us picks a car that we think will win today today we all pick the same car it was kind of like our fedex racetrack keys we all did the same yep i won't tell you who but he's in the lead and he started second and that's two big things right there that's kevin lepage just in front of dale earnhardt jr wearing the black paint scheme honoring the memory of his dad and dale earnhardt day this weekend in mooresville north carolina but this tells you how the draft works he started back in 27th position he's just about to bump into the top 10 up in 14. remember what junior told us in practice he wanted a car that could run out front the team wanted the car set up so it could pull alongside and pass the team won well here's what happened to some of the guys kevin harvey jeff burton some of those guys at the back they had to hide gear in what they liked for the race they went out late got a big the win really picked up it hurt their qualifying times so some of those guys had compromise gears and to qualify with just right for racing okay for qualifying outside line is trying to make another run jackie mcmurray trying to push joe two and demons three by three the rest of the way through the field nemechek cannot clear and come down in front of stuart but now but murray gets a run he gotta run off of two over there he didn't have anywhere to go but he sure didn't close fast jimmy mcmurray had a great run here last year when he was driving the uh 42 car and here he is today he needs a great run in that 26 car you hear the sounds of the engine they never waver flat out all the way around they're starting to make it four wide here coming out of the triangle oh it doesn't take long everybody says oh my car feels good it's handling all right i'm gonna go where i want to now and kevin lepage is the lone soldier in the third lane they stream past him on both sides and this track is plenty wide enough for three wide four wide but it's so rough you're running over 190 miles per hour the car is bouncing and buffing around all it takes is one bad move and you're in trouble that center lane is a great lane for picking up positions but it's it stalls out and you got to quickly get in one side or the other once you get near the front we'll have a new leader this lap will it be nemechek or mcmurray well i'll tell you the way the roush cars and the gates cars qualified here larry it doesn't surprise me see that ford if they're leading the race and you know what else it doesn't surprise me to see up there right behind jamie mcmurray in that 24 car he started back in the 14th position he's up there wanting the lead he's won the last two spring races here we're riding with him here seven laps complete and the errands 499 on fox [Music] double foul [Music] great job three wide back all the way one back [Music] okay gotta crash behind you jeff crash behind you plenty of room four okay hey uh if they all hit pit road here let's stay out eddie lead a lap right here get it over with them [Music] spring in the right front start working on that right front fender there get it beat out and get you some bare bones and stuff whatever you need on the right rear just right sides right here y'all work on it really keep it posted halfway down the back yeah middle three and four there looks like about a dozen cars strong just nowhere to go there's david stremi up against the wall there's just so many here just so gets into the left rear gets him loose and sends him up the hill in front of everybody the 99 had brian vickers passing under him under him it's just too many cars and so little of a space but this is what we talked about just a couple laps ago plenty wide enough for four or five wide but if somebody just touches someone this is the results mark took a pretty hard lick there he got a good hard shot in the door and then he got another hard shot down at the bottom of the track at least nine cars involved and because we're about a third of the way through this run all the leaders are hitting pit road dick berger and tony stewart is on pit road right now two tires that's all they're gonna do stewart's out of here already think jeff gordon saying that he's a little bit tight even by himself in the lead he also doesn't have a lot of front down fours four tires and a chassis adjustment matt junior's already down and away taking two tires now jimmy johnson's crew chief chad can ask if we are going to go for four probably lose a lot of track position i want to be more safe than sorry and maybe have themselves in a better position later on cycle wise i think the 38 only took fuel and again i think it you know it's a good point just to take at least fuel get that fuel cell full of fuel right let's again look and find the initial contact of what happened here this is watching the aaron's car hermie sadler such a god back here back down back down back it down oh no right track is blocked was that who was that that spun way off the bottom of the racetrack off the apron way behind the accident i don't know one thing there's a hard licking harvick slowed down hermes sadler did not there they go that's the two down there on the bottom here comes the 25 there right there look at that one two three four five and you wonder why you wreck at talladega just nowhere for david streaming to go right to the side of mark martin in the six the 40 car there you see casey kane talked about him man third in the points and bob i believe the car that locked up the brake and spun up in front of harvick may have been bobby labonte will double check on that but at least 10 cars are involved in this crash at turn three we'll update you in a minute as to who is out of the race who might get repaired [Music] got it all right buddy wreck a lot of good cars right there so uh we'll just stay on our game keep doing the best we can stay clean or get that chassis a little better for you all right i'll go too wide you know like every single fall i'll go to the outside but if we're too wide i'm not going anywhere but in the middle hey jim you know one thing just rides a good point we were on this will be the first time there aren't stickers i don't know if it'll affect the handling or not there you see it kenny schroeder's car is wrecked now you talk about what they did to the front but they didn't do a whole lot to the rear as far as bars are concerned and hermie sadler you see front end damage from where he got into the back of harvard and we're still trying to check and see we let's have another look and see i believe it's bobby labonte who's down on the apron who comes up and spins not positive here let's watch again casey kane was down there too that was that blue car which i think is lemani yeah that is bobby labonte that was the 43. yeah yeah looked like to me kevin harvick was slowing down and hermie sadler what at all and you know going back to ryan newman that has been the tale of his season right there a victim again well and when you start in the back this is what you got to worry about these guys first caution flag of the day at lap nine race car but uh you know it looked to me like we made it five wide there and it's way way way too early in the race to be doing that kind of stuff but uh i was just minding my own business running along in my line i was following a 26 there and then we got four wide and i kind of got sucked back a little bit nobody wanted to fall in behind me because i was going backwards because of the air and whatnot so you know they made it five wide and there just wasn't quite enough room for that you know getting into turn three i thought i had enough room on the bottom side for uh for the 25 and the 99 there but um i didn't think i could go up any further otherwise i would have hit newman which you know i ended up getting hit in the left recorder panel which knocked me sideways and then up into newman anyway so uh just unfortunate circumstance and um you know i'm terribly sorry if everybody wants to put the blame on me but um you know it's just one of them deals where uh you're in the wrong place strong time not much you can do and the sound of sledgehammers is behind us mike they're working on his car to try to get it back out on the racetrack because last year he didn't finish either race here at talladega i think we've made our point that wreck was not kyle busch's fault no it wasn't anybody's fault casey cain's car is being worked on but kane is awake and alert but he has been taken to a local hospital for further evaluation matt well kevin harvick's team just reminded him there are three cars currently in the garage that are ahead of him in the championship standings now harvick has been on pit road four times they've used this caution to its fullest todd barrier and his team calmly and quietly went to work to try to cosmetically get this car in better shape after the huge rear end you still see they've got a lot of work to do on the right rear corner but with one to go they're going to work on what they can do the next time they get a caution but so far they could have been in a lot worse shape harvick feels like he has a little bit of a fender rub but they are good to go to the next stop let's show you kevin harvick's view of what happened in turn three that's kyle petty just ahead pretty well had this thing missed i believe i mean he gets slowed down he sees it happening up there back it down back it down they're coming down the track pretty good shape right there then he gets nailed now bobby labonte got turned whoever that car behind labonte uh turned bobby labonte around and that's he spun up the car looks okay i don't know damage see much damage on it and he's still on the lead left bobby labonte in the 43. now dick how about mark martin oh man this car is an absolute mess mike they are going to have to put a brand new rear end in this automobile other rear end is going to have to come out mechanics all over the place as we're getting ready for a start so the man fourth and points with 12 consecutive top 15 finishes that started in atlanta last october that's probably going to come to an end here today 43 cars started this race there are now 10 behind the wall or on pit road under repair tell you what larry at this joint i'd get her fixed and get her back out there that's exactly right now we do need to mention kevin harvick in the 29 just like bobby labonte he's still on the lead left yeah i think probably kevin i don't think that rear end damage is going but that hitting the right front end of the wall now that could be a problem steve burns was telling me that reed sorensen he had made about a dozen trips to pitt road in the 41 car he's actually still on the lead lap as well making repairs we did not list kirk chalmerdine or clint boyer add those two drivers to the cars involved that's we're back under green with joe nemechek leading elliott sadler and you know we talked about all the time here at qualifying 20 that hurts you got draft can get to the front pretty easily but that's the one element that you cannot predict is that big wreck in front of you early in the race when they're all wided up the way they are you know we talked about ryan newman though he just had came by the start finish line in third place the lap before that nick bergeron with clint boyer his car on jack stands behind us as mechanics work on hip how bad is it can you get it back out oh we can get it back out but it's going to take a whole lot of work it ain't going to go very fast but uh it's just stupid you know way way way too early to be uh four wide saw the five car four wide and uh you know it's just uh kids got to learn take up a lot of cars right there and jack damn chevrolet was good i was just trying to stay out of trouble and you know just somebody got in behind in the back of me and knocked me into mark martin and from there it's history but it's just too bad way too many cars to work way too early thank you and let's update casey kay in a correction casey had the wind knocked out of him but he is okay he's going to be treated and released from the infield care center kane is okay tell you what the hendrick cars they're starting to form a little brigade up there you see brian vickers in the 25. jeff gordon and the 24 ride with him and the other teammate jimmy johnson in the 48. three of the 400 cars still out there starting to form a little uh alliance up there at the top group right behind dale earnhardt jr in the eighth steve well mike i heard jeff gordon under the caution talking to steve lettard as crew chief and the rest of the team and he said guys he said i know why we're bump drafting here it's hard not to the way these cars are running matt and dale earnhardt jr with the help of the 25 i think is behind pushes up to the lead he loves riding the high line his car looks great either on the bottom or a pie but that's where he normally likes to run a little higher up off the bottom that eight out front again here in alabama well vickers did such a great job here yesterday in the bush race i think he had a car that had he gotten a little help and gotten in the right spot at the uh at the end he could have easily won and mike you talked about the big crowd here when dale earnhardt jr led that lap everyone almost standing up waving now the hendrick cars are all at the bottom of the racetrack with brian vickers leading them pushing each other and remember joe nemechek of the l1 has hendrick power let's add the david strimmy and ken schrader have been released from the infield care center dick and martin truax was standing beside me here in the garage area mike and he heard the crowd roar above the shot of the engines he looked at me and said did junior just take the lead yes he did now on saturday talk about the highs and lows in talladega on saturday this guy rolled into victory lane the winner now the car's crashed you get it fixed well it's pretty tore up uh just hate it for all the guys on this best pro team they've been working hard and we had a really good car just riding around there you know trying to lock some laps and i guess uh some guys got a little impatient or i'm not sure what happened i was way up by the wall when it happened they just ran into my door so uh car's pretty torn up and not a good day mechanics are earning their living today and then some mike mike district look at this so i mean the 32nd place car chad chapman is 10 laps down you get your car fixed and you get back out there you go from 42nd or 43rd you can move up to the top 30 there and that's a lot of points at this point in the season only one car has been officially retired that is the little debbie's 21 the wood brothers car of schrader sodium just get it out run a few laps larry i mean you're going to gain some spots and that's what the guys are thinking and that's as much as 30 points oh yeah that's huge time for our first singular crew chief question virtual gucci question of the day dale jarrett one last ball that's the only forward to break the chevrolet stranglehold on victory lane here will it be a chevy in victory lane today you know how to enter text the word crew to 191 from your singular wireless phone or go to foxsports.com singular each time you play you're entered to win jeff burton's payday at daytona in july i don't think the dodgers one here larry since about like 1976. since dave marcus and i was just about to mention that when you've got curt bush up there in the two car he's trying to get the lead of this race had a great car at daytona during speed weeks look at the high side carl edwards he came across the start finish line just about side by side for fourth but that high line did not work boy we've seen this uh several times this year already that's ryan newman in there just pounding away on his race car and a lot of that is just frustration and anxiety just give me something to beat on this would be the third race in a row that newman has fallen out due to a crash if you can't get that car repaired a crash that was not of his making right yeah he's only had one top 15 finish this year since he finished third in the daytona 500. same thing happened to him last week at phoenix he got caught up in that mess with kyle petty and dale jr kurt busch goes for the lead on junior turn two brian vickers is junior's shadow victor's in the 25 followed by jeff gordon jimmy johnson now do you believe that uh jamie mcmurray driving kurt's old car would be willing to help her today i think jamie's willing to help anyone that can help him just help myself right i don't care anything you know this place daryl your friends are where you find them yeah matt moments ago earl barbin jimmy johnson spotter told him keep in mind let's go with the daytona game plan just stay on the bottom on the yellow line and be careful of the old one anemic you were moving around a little bit he was kind of ducking down sniffing a little bit don't get yourself out of position got to remember i preach it all the time the yellow line is your best friend why because you can't go to the left so all you got to do is protect the right so you're just one less place for somebody to get by you and look at that big crash darryl the drivers that were in the bottom lane were not involved it's uh it's an extension what we used to say on short tracks but in this case it's 20 wheels corner better than four that's exactly right now you want to know how the draft works here is this group here which is about the top 24 25 cars have been jockeying back around this group here with tony raines leading them in the 96 car if they'll stay lined up i've been watching the score monitor they're running that lead pack down but they've got to stay in line and this lead pack they keep mixing it up it'll go from 24 cars to about 30 cars a lead pack pretty good you can't get away from anybody here you can get in front of them but you can't get away from them you can run but you can't hide still 31 cars on the lead lap and 10 in the garage from a big crash on lap 9. so three watts too wide still outside hey i mean i can't go anywhere so i don't see the reasons getting all this bill that man 10 4 that's smart somebody a little bit i ain't going nowhere so i might just pay back here watch a little bit stand for pit stop is gonna be crucial today fellas you're gonna have to knock them out on pit road n4 [Music] see why you're in the middle you want it oh double way back in the middle pretty wide you're in the middle [Music] metal rewired you in the middle [Music] wide you're in the middle [Applause] right double file double file behind you outside there double file behind you three wide you're in the middle three wide you're in the middle rewind you in the middle it's disappointing to have something like that holes and this type of racing holes open up and and people take them early on and uh i'd say we probably should wait and do that kind of stuff uh lap hundred and fifty not lap ten paul hart was the hit i got hit pretty good a couple of couple ways a couple of different directions didn't feel too good that's for sure ken schrader's car must have gotten hit pretty well as well he came by and had a couple of words with uh casey and told me that he is all done for the day schroeder and street clothes on his way out of here mike thanks to kirk chalmerdine ken schroeder and hermie sadler's cars have been retired from the event he's just kind of almost like he's trying well i don't know you know what he might be doing there's his old buddy back here might have fell back there and said hey i'll help you get back to the front dude matt mike he's trying to settle in now a number of drivers who are running that bottom line they have slowly moved up to the middle lane because several drivers like brian vickers complaining their car is now tight and it was slowly one by one you could see guys move up to the middle or the high side and basically it was juniors to lead car down the bottom so he's trying to tuck himself up in that middle line as well steve matt that's exactly what jeff gordon in the 24 said he said i can't run on the bottom i need to be in the middle or on the outside so that's exactly what he's done as they drift to the back robbie gordon number seven drafts toward the front he started 27th and now gordon is in the top 10. right behind him greg before that 16 car i will guarantee you that's a car that's just wanting to see a good solid top 10 finish today how about that 17 car a barrel bouncing his way into first place he just bounced off of curt bush of course it didn't hurt or uh jamie mcmurray there he just bounced off of him sending him a sailing you know daryl you were talking about jamie mcmurray in the 26 car gotta be feeling good about this i look at those two cars behind him casey mears the 42. remember finished second in the daytona 500 been backsliding and how about scott riggs in that 10 car he missed the daytona 500 starting to rebound two out of the last three races top 10 finishes you want to see racer here comes robbie gordon on the outside as other people try to hold station gordon trying to push that menard's number seven to the front and he's getting closer every lap closer would be the key word of all this right here we're getting awfully close robbie gordon's been doing it on the high side it's 2.66 miles around this racetrack he's been running about three and a half miles a lap getting there trying to sort out this log jam three wide from third on back with 33 laps complete check this one out here we go so the idea is to get your legs you want it [Music] in the middle be wise in the middle double bow the 11 behind you up top the 20 is on the bottom [Music] [Applause] [Music] still inside 11 0 1 in your mirror [Applause] three wide three wide [Applause] [Music] too wide hello if you need it clear all around right there the 20 is in the middle lane behind you [Applause] outside outside clear high behind the four if you'd like the 20s with you [Music] i [Music] three wires in the middle [Music] [Music] big back debris down the back somewhere [Music] three there before we get in here y'all get it beat out and all this stuff my guess says larry he bent that probably bent that in enough that it just added a lot of camera to that right front and he's actually used to tire up and he was real close to going a lap down now he's going to go a lap down here because he's got to come to pit road but he was running about two and a half three seconds slower than the lead pack got a tire down almost as if he knew it because there he heard him before he ever got to the corner obviously he didn't know it he was squeezing up out of the throttle and he didn't go up and hit the wall yeah if he'd have been wide open on the throttle and that tire went down here he'd have been in the wall so harvick gets the tire replaced the pit's not yet open officially of the four drivers that qualified last in the order had the big headwind and started at the back of the pack harvick and reed sorensen both involved in the crash on lap nine jeff burton up in the front pack and jeff green running 14th it's pretty safe to say uh it'll be feeding time on pit road because we were only about 10 laps away from what would have been green flag stops again the smaller fuel cells you can only run about 35 to 38 laps on fuel well the drive of the day so far matt kenzeth from last to first back in old three i don't remember him doing that a lot you know they change engines that have a problem to go the back they'd come to the front they did that a lot and he's uh he's on track to have another old three season looks to me like larry we saw a lot of cars change just two tires on that last stop jimmy johnson chad can now say change four i've just got to believe we'll probably see a lot of four tire stops here since that was almost a full run yeah and elliot sadler i think i recall he only took fuel so yeah they're going to need some tires field comes off turn four and they'll head for pit road which will be open this time we have 30 cars on the lead lap and none of the lap down cars were on track so no one eligible for the free pass i think one of the reasons the guys couldn't run the bottom is because they needed tires to be able to do that dick matt kenza's average good starting position for his wins mike is 22.5 that number could grow today he has a fabulous car he has called for just minor air pressure adjustments in the rear tires he will have an easy out now for the rest of the day chad chapman had been in front of him chaffing out steve scott rick running in the top five dick trying to lead a lap for the first time in this 2006 season no adjustment to that number 10 car for scott riggs matt no tape off the grill for jimmy johnson the concern was tucked up in traffic the water temperature climbed to well over 240 degrees but it was 2 30 and the 17 goes by chassis adjustment to try to free him up the aid of dale earnhardt jr he takes four tires he's down and away and i got to believe 18 positions gained by michael waltrip derek feeling the 55 car you've almost got to believe probably just two right side tires but we did have two cars stay out trying to legal up on the caution scott wilmer and greg biffle there i think that's the tail of the tails right there you see how much quicker the time was on the 55 card my brother's caught between a rock and a hard place he can run good he knows he can he runs great at daytona and talladega but he's got to finish the race today to get out of the top 35 look at him you know what a big dummy i don't know where he rates as a driver but he is unquestionably the best all-time salesman ever in nascar by the way happy birthday it was his birthday yesterday yeah we got it buddy we we got it we got it what's inside your mis nascar nextel cup ticket uh the 41 guys get behind right now how many are behind us [Music] get somewhere and ride around safe we're gonna get a better voice so this is just a guess but kind of watch it on tv he looks tight also like he's having a hard time keeping right on the bottom on old tires good job guys and get ready to play seriously you guys will be honest uh and uh we'll see what we got now just to give you a heads up also michael on the point steal the 14 right now is wrecked out in 40th we need to beat him by i believe i got 29 spots so if we can get 11th place you know what i'm getting at keep doing the math on that you got the 21 that's back there with us too stand for i've already got the math figured out the 21 we got to get uh another seven spots we gotta get like 36 on him derek they had knowledge 21 is out of the race he's not going to come back out so coming to the green [Music] i saw the chart it said he was only on pit road for 20 some seconds he did not get in his pit and uh did a drive through and had to come around and pit the next time by that's why i spent so little time on pit road let's show you michael coming down the pit lane i think what you'll see bobby labonte is pit casey right here so michael did get his fuel and tires now he's at the tail end of the lead lap line back under green matt henson scott riggs full suiter elliot sadler kirk bush and casey we were talking mears reed thornton who's running 13th in a 41 car larry he has a lot of damage to the right side of his car but it's maybe in an area where it obviously isn't hurting it's all in front of the rear tire but like mike pointed out the nose is good and the spores good that's it the right sides came in but that's not going to hurt it you see resource right there in the 41 car with jeff gordon 24 behind him man that led this race quite a bit while ago jimmy mcmurray the 26 right in front of him as robbie gordon the seven just slides up in front of sorenson that's what happened see the seven slid up in front of 41. here comes the 24 in the eighth they got to go eat one's got to go high one's got to go low because they had a run unfortunately behind gordon come the 11. denny hamlin and tony stewart hanlon's teammate boy second place riggs just got shuffled [Music] sadler goes by and bush but he's got a lot of help behind him you see casey neistat 42 without two hendrick cars johnson and vickers right behind him pushing i think i'm a little puzzled about though is this the lead group dale jr just seems to not be able to get up to speed and i don't know if that's by design or if he's having some car issue well i look at him daryl and i look at tony stewart in the 20 the home depot car back there and i just get a feeling they're doing a little bit of big picture racing here early in this race as we mentioned a lot of guys at the top of the points like casey kane mark martin having problems could be a good point today for this group it just it's so not typical of dale jr though and tony they want to be up front where it's safe not back here where you might get caught up in something stewart got left behind in that run down to turn one you know dale jr hamlin and stewart were nose to tail and then a gap developed about 10 car lengths now stewart's starting to close back up on hamlin but that car is not drafting up tightly as you might expect but it could be by design yeah but it's just not tucked up right up underneath it just hard for me to believe at the end of the day that stuart dale earnhardt jr won't be there at the front oh i i totally agree with you i just they're running different kind of races than they normally run here and the natural tendency here when the pack strings out is to say look at a car and go oh what's wrong but the wind will pull them all back together again it's like fishing cast out reel in just hope your line don't break in this kind of situation you have the spotters on the roof and spotters talking to other driver spotters but a lot of the communication goes on from right here by the driver talking if you will to the driver ahead or the driver behind with his hands as daryl waltrip showed us in the richard petty driving experience car drivers we have hand signals when you're behind somebody and you don't want you he wants you to stay behind him he'll put his hand up stay right there stay then when he gets ready to go he'll do this come on when he wants you to stay in line single file let's just ride let's don't try to do anything you'll do this tell him to stay in line you'll do that tell him to hold hold what you got let's stay right here and then stay in line then when you get ready to go you'll give him a signal come on let's go let's go this way or let's go that way so the driver is constantly making pickles with his hands in the car for the guys i'll double file two bags [Music] us three wise too wide still inside that's the 20 in your mirror about two car lengths back this one inside last year second in points on the final day of the season and nothing but trouble in 2006. yeah come in here 21st in points remember a year ago at this time he was third and he'll backslide from there coach gibbs told me several years ago when he first got in this business he said you know this is the hardest thing i've ever done roger penske has told me that this is the most unpredictable sport i've ever been a part of coach kipp said you can put a team on the field 11 guys you know whether we're going to win or not because you know what kind of people you got he said here toddler drop the green flag and hope tell you what casey mears leading this race right now this is the first laps he's led in 2006 even though he finished second in the daytona 500 17th lead change of the day but he's been doing you know he hasn't had a lot of great runs since the early in the season but he's been able to stay in the top 10 in points and this is a good point they but hello for the 38 card elliot sadler our poll sitter tried to slide down in front of scott riggs but matt yokum he's caught in the middle now talking about spotters up on top of the spotter stand now his spotter brett griffin told him make a mental note turn three is the only place that i see that they're really gaining on you so you may want to try to protect yourself a little more coming down that long back stretch in that big sweeping turn three thanks matt or casey mears we were talking about him as the leader just a lap ago and now he's back in the middle tail of this pack on the outside lane you get shuffled here you can drop like a rock yeah you just you just make one you don't even make a move other people make a move and you did react to it but the spotters that's the other part of why you're so worn out here at the end of the day they never get out of your ear they are constantly telling you what's going on all around you and again we don't know did casey mears want to lead a lap and then drop back and get out of the eye of the storm that's possible too yeah he went from first to 14th in the distance of about 500 yards robbie gordon helping jeff gordon no relation down on the bottom push forward toward the lead we talked about nears look at where he's been the last four laps fourth first first fourth yeah now he's working his way back towards the front on the high side but we're gonna talk to dick about what happened in just one second but if you're a smart driver you'll do that fall back come back to the front but you time it out how many laps did it take me to get from 14th to first what are they saying dick well what there's what they're saying daryl is that casey was told by his spotter that the 38 eliot sadler was coming he wanted to get out of the way didn't want to cause an incident in the incident he got out of the way they all freight trained him well that's why we talked you cannot lift if he happened to squeeze up a little bit to make room for the 38 you'll go back to 14th right in four laps fourth first first fourteenth if you owned that stock you'd fire your broker craig biffle has retired from the errands 499. ah [Music] wow oh double pile two back right on your deck lid four back let's take a look at this for me all the way back clear all around clear all around double far behind you behind about half a car [Music] right [Music] crawl around double fire all the way back behind you double bow [Music] one back two back double file all the way [Music] [Music] well behind you [Music] so behind you [Music] double bar behind you are you driving any better buddy [Music] who's breaking out right now june the seven car two car links back he's coming to help you seven car your back bumper just inside just inside that's the zero one in your mirror zero one's up top with you he has the seven with him three wide you've got the best push too wide just inside inside we lost the seven you still have help up top that helps the 42 still two inside still two inside one inside just the 41 in the middle one inside just the one inside now we're starting to see a little deal making because we're about halfway through this run there you see one of the members from kurt bush's the two cars crew talking to robbie riser matt kansas crew chief you don't want to pit here by yourself on the green because you'll lose the draft junior almost got in the back of vickers there did he if he didn't get into him vickers thinks he did because it turned him sideways right through the trials and i want to point out something you can go to another guy's pit box and make a deal you went there as a friend when you go there hostile that's when you have an issue well let's see uh if there was bump draft here coming out of the tri-oval watch the black number eight i think he just slides up there and touches him just ever so slightly maybe no contact but close call between denny hamlin and jeff green in a 66 here this has happened so often here you squeeze the guy on the outside just don't give him enough room don't really know he's there or if you do know he's there you don't care can you see the hand come out the window from jeff green sorry dude i'll let you go by on the outside next corner yeah green was trying to stay in the tire tracks of the car ahead but sometimes mike when a car runs up behind you like it just sucked you over to him and you don't mean to do it and daryl we talked during the bush race that trialable area especially the exits are the most treacherous parts of this racetrack hang on sloopy because they get a little slide slide ways coming through there four wide into turn one and they're gonna make it steve mike jeff gordon was just coaching brian vickers from his race car you talked about how jeff was using those rear view mirrors to look behind him he just said tell brian don't worry about junior on the outside he needs to worry about junior making a move to the inside tell him not to worry about the high side matt the pack entering turns three and four and that's what jimmy johnson just told his team he feels like his car is pushing at that end of the racetrack do more to the wind well he needs the nose down a little bit more about the only thing you can do there is maybe a little air out of the front tires or maybe a little tape some kind of an adjustment to get the nose down because it's fine to know it's getting in the corner there were about 13 or 14 laps from what would be green flag pit stops in that earlier long run this is about the times a lot of the guys could not keep their cars on the bottom because they were shoving the front tires and remember the cars they we adjust them diagonally left to right front to right left front right front to left rear a little wedge down a little screw down on the right rear could that nose down on the left front and help that situation jeff gordon on point dale jr right behind him they are the only two drivers who have won more than once in the last 10 restrictor plate races held at daytona and talladega jeff gordon four out of the last eight and dale junior two they run one two as we complete 65 laps of the aaron's 499. see what i continue to be impressed with that little rookie back there reed sorenson in that 41 car back there in fourth right now with the smaller fuel cells used at these two tracks pit stops will come more often and they are coming up still one inside just the tent car inside still inside three cars now junior three cars [Music] [Music] so how long do we pick tony junior looking at about eight laps seven now thank you [Music] sad inside you brought two all the way back now [Applause] the best help is up there with you naturally still inside clear low clear low 38 in your mirror two wide behind him [Music] you ride behind you junior too right behind you 26 and 99 behind you 26 and 99 38 is three cars back on the bottom [Music] here we go we're clear 26 has helped behind him 24 is by himself side by side behind you junior side by side hell the grandstands are shaking it's a 26 in your mirror then it's 2x2 behind him [Applause] 26 getting ready to get a big pushy two car lengths back one car length back side outside outside both of you have helped still outside [Music] side inside here your clear high still inside [Music] we'll try to get down [Music] the left side and you've got to hope somebody else in that group just changes two tires or you'll be out there by your lonesome matt elliott sadler making his way to his pit stall elliott does not want any changes they do not need to be tightened up because if we go three wide that may help bind the motor up then i'll have to lift so no adjustments air pressure wise for the 38 the 31 of burton is already in and away air pressure adjustment for the 31 of jeff burton the aida dale jr should pick next time bye here comes a big pack onto pit road about a dozen cars will fit this time but daryl this is worked out about like you were talking about little groups of eight to ten cars that's what keeps them out of trouble and that's a lot about communication between the crew chiefs and spotters steve burns and larry back his crew chief steve flettark just said four tires four tires for jeff gordon at the 24. he should have a clear shot out because scott weber has not stopped in front of him reed swords and right behind him on pit road matt clean windshield for dale earnhardt jr already pulled the tear off his car a little on the tight side meanwhile jimmy johnson is in already track bar adjusted for the 48 machines as a 24-25 the other hendrick two teammates drive by most of the rest of the lead lap cars will come in this time you see tony stewart the 20 locking the right front up right there carl edwards in the 99 kirk bush of the two all these are scheduled green flag stops and that chances taking his pit stop just behind his teammate the 99 of carl edwards kenseth once again has all the adjustments he watched to the car waved him off and he'll take off with his teammate down pit road they'll be drafting partners 17 two tires and i don't know if they got that car full of fuel a good sign is you'll see fuel run out to overflow out the back looks like jackman may have dropped that jack a little quick i don't know this is it i wouldn't i don't think i take two right now everybody else is taking four get four that way you're good to go i'm not sure about that strategy unless they were having an issue [Music] scott wimmer comes to the pit lane he'll be one of the last of the lead lap cars to pit under this sequence david stremi who was involved in the crash back on lap 10 came out made one lap went back to the garage did pick him up about 10 spots on the board see mark tricks junior the one car remember he was involved in that crash on lap nine they've been trying to get the car back out there but they've got problems underneath the rear of that car a lot of the back like something's leaking but they're black flagging carl edwards we believe it may be a catch can violation let's see yeah it's the overflow can hanging out the back of the car that's what they catch excess fuel with he left pit road obviously with equipment he's got to come back to pit road this is the kind of mistakes you cannot have under green flag conditions here there you see the gas men talking about the problem they've encountered the catch can man is usually a busy guy on fuel stops he may have a wedge wrench in one hand but he has to maintain contact with that can some teams have kind of like a force fit for that can so that he doesn't have to hold it too tightly to keep it in position but this time it got away without him now at a two and a half mile race track you would think you could make an extra green flag stop and be just find a problem he's gonna end up out there without a drafting partner he's gonna be running about a second half two seconds or better slower than the lead pack so edwards will go from leading this race to the penalty box yeah probably going to end up coming out in about 29th place now that's our leaders right there matt kenseth in the 17 with jj yaley in the 18 car it's pretty much noted that those guys went with just two tires and the group behind them is trying to gang up and run them back down well they're topping off to 99 and now they're putting four tires on i'm not sure about that strategy leaders in the back straight away as edwards comes out but again the problem when he gets out on the racetrack he's going to have little to no help from any drafting partners well if he took two when he came in daryl i guess if you got to come back in you might as well get your other two well he took four that was the whole thing that's what i'm not quite sure about and here comes the leader oh he's going to have he's going to have drafting partners as he's about to go a lap down but one of the big questions is whether or not matt kenseth got all the fuel he should have gotten in his gas tank on that last pit stop and i asked three different people involved in putting fuel in that car did he get it all two of the three said nothing they didn't want to answer at all the third said they got the tank pretty full now you make that whatever you want but that's the kind of question that guys on pit road absolutely do not want to answer and they're the only ones who really have the answer to that question if we stay green we'll know in about 30 laps or so right because the problem is it's a pretty small tank oh yeah here and at daytona yeah 13 gallons and you got a pretty full so here is carl edwards he is by himself so his car cannot be as fast as two cars drafting along together and those two cars they're not going to be two cars for very long because that big pack right there they are a coming but i tell you what jj yaley in the 18 car now that car has one here with bobby labonte driving it he won here from the pole matter of fact in 1998 so he's sitting there in pretty good shape too clint boyer in the 07 he's returned to the race after being involved in that crash on lap nine 79 laps complete two caution flags so far 24 lead changes among 15 different drivers and our leader is the nextel cup point standing leader matt kenseth 55 is silly to you june do the middle if you need it a little help right there june no help right there [Music] outside outside help is coming [Music] three wide behind you [Applause] [Music] [Music] outside [Music] double file [Music] clear high clear high clear high 43 in your mirror 43. [Music] [Music] all the way back bush has made a penalty stop he is still a lead lap car yeah that's a lug nut on him gas can on the 99 catch can on the 99 and we're not sure if the 17 got fuel full of fuel so those green flag stops create havoc down there for those pit crews there's bush's interval he's 42 seconds behind the leader who is lapping this track in 50 seconds so it's eight seconds from bush back to the lead path he's losing about a second a half a lap so he'll be in the same situation as carl everton in 99 right now carl is at the tail in the lead lap and then kirk bush is still on the leg left as you mentioned in the two what they need to do though if they're smart if carl can stay in front of this crowd then the two car needs to be the first car one lap down they both win that way both of them be back on the lead lap in business nascar's goal in going to the small fuel cell at daytona and talladega more green flag pit stops break up the big packs how well has it worked see for yourself well it worked for about five laps they got strung out but they just get sucked back together like they are right now one lap ago brian vickers got up and against the wall and then gmac25 turned two over there you get i tell you you get such a huge push over there when you're in the outside like that there's not a lot of grip up high sadler 38 yaley the 18 with vickers gordon kenzit that's your lead pack now we talk about the problems carl edwards and kurt bush had as far as problems and penalties on that pit stop some cars that were up at the front of this pack before those green flag stops they just had problems on pit road in general in particular scott riggs and the 10 casey neistat 42 right now they're almost 16 seconds behind the leader there you see they have ganged up together there with scott wimmer in the four kevin lepage in the 61. they've got to stay in the line like that but right now even staying in line that group will never catch the lead pack without a caution knowing it just again it just shows all the issues you can have on pit road best they can hope for is to run a quick enough pace to stay on the lead lap when the next caution comes out and that's a perfect example is a driver can make up a few hundreds on the track but a key a big crew can lose our game seconds in the pits brian vickers your leader sadler second gordon third and in the midst of that pack reed sorensen steve and mike as you guys have documented he's done a great job battling back from some right side body damage on that big wreck on lap number eight now right after the green flag stop reed told his crew chief jimmy ellage he said this car doesn't like clean air trouble earnhardt jr is around slid up the racetrack into another car and tony stewart just catches i don't think him with the right nose i don't think it hurt either car junior didn't hit anything he got in the same situation that caused that first wreck had a car down under him the car kept coming up junior didn't have anywhere to go third caution comes out on lap 88 and he's [Music] in the grass that's wet from yesterday's rain tony just kissed him i mean i don't think he did any damage at all probably more to tony's nose than junior's car i think he's going to luck out i'm gonna have four flat tires see daryl they're three wide see michael go down on the bottom and junior's four wide again and he gets loose and he just can't he can't hang on to it carl edwards in the 99 on the outside of it boy and that tony basically i believe tony probably saved him because he would have probably backed up there and hit the fence again now here you go he's going to go through this little hole right here but there's another car over on the other side over there making it full wide getting down in here and it just gets him a little loose can't hang on to her see his car walk up the racetrack just ever so slightly and get loose let's watch as stewart comes in nope all right junior's in matt's there mike they've already changed the right side tires now they're going to work on that left front valence area marty odey has already beated out pretty well with a hammer just slight cosmetic damage but it sure could have been a lot worse remember this is really nothing for this team when they won here a couple years ago they pitted 13 times before they finally got it right and then he went to victory lane that day this caution may have been bad luck for dale earnhardt jr tony stewart but the caution was just right for carl edwards gets the free pass kirk bush stayed on the lead left is where scott riggs scott scott wimmer kevin lepage casey means they needed that caution as well steve mike jeff gordon saying that his entries are good but he's a little tight at three and four because of the wind so they're gonna add just a little bit of air to the right rear of that 24 car they discussed two tires but they will change four nick well tony stewart is in the pit he has definitely got some right front damage crew chief greg zimpinelli has told the crew take your time don't rush get it right that is most important the reminder matty just gave it to you back in 2003 that the eighth car with junior at the wheel won with a badly damaged nose stewart's car a lot of people thought he was going to win and they're working on his nose two who knows it might even be faster after all this seems like a number of guys are complaining about entry into turn three we heard jimmy johnson say that we heard jeff gordon say that we've seen two wrecks over there basically where guys are going in and the cars won't turn and then they get pushy loose and get in somebody and i think one of our guys reported that a lot of the drivers were complaining about the wind i've been watching that american flag down and turned four definitely there is a crosswind there as well must be affecting the cars a lot particularly in traffic so dale jr in the midst of cars entering turn three four wide goes for a spin light contact from tony stewart third caution turn three turn four let's get started fire's on just hang tight deal with it here a little bit let's go slide forward just a little bit come forward just a little bit down here go forward forward all right go [Music] not want to pull the right rear quarter panel because uh i ran into somebody on that run and that might have been wise our entire got cut down that might be why i ran into somebody real hard with the right rear yeah all that's around here dale jr we'll fit again we're in good shape tony jr yeah if you caught up here come back down pit road i want to fix it just don't look right we'll come this time pace cars just in the middle of one and two 3 900 june 3900 29 will not be there 29 will not be there the nose when it come down the bank it rolled the nose underneath it okay so you got to hit the front of the nose and kick it back out just rolled under that's why it's against the tire get it where he can do a green flag pit stop [Music] you are watching the aarons 499 from the talladega super speedway on nascar in car only available on digital cable turn it to the left car all right get the hammers out go you don't want to go so just be careful going off [Music] staying out in that left front corner the valence area it was pushed in about two and a half three inches they have pulled that back out now they were just tweaking it on that left front corner meanwhile the chevrolet of jimmy johnson he was in they made a chassis adjustment the car still too tight and dw was talking about that wind out in three and four jimmy has said it feels like it has picked up jimmy's teammate to 25 of brian vickers he brushed the wall and turned two when the 17 brian told his team backed him up a little bit so he bounced off the wall they fixed that cosmetic damage not a dick after matt kenzeth had pitted for four tires in fuel he had to re-pit again to be sure all the lug nuts were tight the way he parked the car was partially on the air hose and they weren't absolutely positive that they had all the lugs tight so for safety sake he came back in again but that certainly cost him positions on the racetrack thanks dick getting set for the restart as we get close to halfway and here is the number nine the evernham dodge dealers dodge uh casey kane done for the day hermie sadler replaces kane as a relief driver kane is okay talk to us earlier gonna sit the rest of this one out though fox tracks the three leaders and show you as they come up to speed takes a full lap and more to get to full speed here yeah it seems like the 17 is uncharacteristically having trouble in the pits today uh miscommunication had to come back in again not a normal day for them in the pits probably need to include him i think that caution was pretty timely because we're not sure if he was full of fuel give a call to rodney childers scott riggs is crew chief for the 10. remember he was in that group that was losing a lot of ground they elected to go with two tires he's now sitting there on the street starting fifth position track position jeff gordon at pace car speed leading them around i think that's kyle petty on the inside who is the only car one lap down kevin harvick is three laps back and everyone else who's still running 30 or more laps behind out of the race biffle shelmerdin schroeder and hermie sadler's own car dale earnhardt jr restarting 24th tony stewart will restart the 20 car and 23rd both involved in that last cost i'm thinking they're both just real happy to be restarting anywhere right yeah after that little deal we're back under green moving through 150 miles an hour turn two again with this carburetor restrictor plate under the carburetor cuts the horsepower basically in half it takes almost a good three quarters of a lap to a full lap to get up to full speed and you'll run the thing in third gear almost all the way to the back straightaway before you pull it back into high gear just trying to pick up as much speed as possible we're not even halfway and we've had 30 lead changes now the most lead changes we've had this year was 32 in the daytona 500 so i think we're going to well surpass that record today for 2006. 17 different drivers who've led this race see our post-seller elliott saturn at 38 car trying to get a run on the high side around brian vickers in the 25 we're riding with our leader jeff gordon in the 24. he just uh elliot just shot to the outside i thought he was really maybe going to go backwards but i think he's going to get a little help here and he might be all right he got such a run on the vickers there through the dog leg here that he could go to the outside and now he's going to go for the lead jeff gordon in the 24 jumps up in front of him he's going to let elliot sadler in the 38 push him through three and four now there are many reasons why it's good to have teammates and they're going to come up on mark martin's car we'll show you another one he's got greg bethel's hood mark's was not usable biffle's out of the race with engine trouble so they took biffo's hood put it on mark's car and away he goes and a lot of tape an amazing thing right now we got mark martin in the six ryan newman the 12 the nine car with hermie sadler they are all out there on the same lap 80 laps down racing for position are you sure that's not the 16 he just left the one off got torn off i guess you're just a six now nascar will give all these teams one opportunity to put their car back out there but it has to maintain minimum speed they come up with a minimum speed they'll be clocking the cars making sure they can run around here safely jeff gordon has now led three times as many laps as in the first eight races of this season well we know when he comes to daytona and talladega they got a great car and we know when he goes to martinsville he's got a great car bristol included so those are four racetracks that he has a really good chance of winning at all the time 26 talladega starts he has led a total of 640 laps here that's over three complete races see mcmurray in the 26 car moving to the high side of scott riggs in the 10. he's got a little bit of a push from jeff burton in the 31 for a moment burton moves back behind riggs i tell you what that 26 car when you can do what he just did there with no help from behind you and maintain you're pretty strong yeah but you know he seems to run really good on new tires and i notice the car gets a little squirrely with him long later into a run so he's got his hands full it's real good on the new tires seems to be able to run up front he's a little bit loose i think on the uh when the tires were down now he's getting the push from the man that drove this race car last year kurt bush in that two car now they worked really well together early in the race haven't seen him hooked up together uh here until just now strange bedfellows kurt busch left the ride that jamie mcmurray is driving to go to roger penske and the number two jack roush responded by changing the car number from 97 to 26 a number he had previously used with other drivers but now bush had a lug nut problem had to make another stop after his green flag stop in the pits but stayed on the lead lap when the caution came out he was right back with the pack and here he is challenging for top five well stranger yet the 42 car mcmurray's old car so i mean you got those guys working together even though they're in totally different circumstances and right alongside them jeff burton former teammate of kurt busch he was with roush racing for many years oh and by the way the car that casey mears drove last year's right behind him the 41 car you see reed sorenson in the 41 car now there comes dale earnhardt jr in that eight car he's running back toward the top ten after a lot of repairs to that thing on the last caution well larry sometimes when you work on them here at the track during the race you just seem to be able to make them run better that's kind of what i've seen in the past jeff gordon leads we've crossed halfway in the errands 499 on fox you're all around no threat from behind all clear [Music] clear by two anywhere you want car behind you now 20 cars fall behind you congratulations to greg biffle on a terrific 2005 season here's to an even better 2006 far behind subway one still outside 20-7 behind you got help coming [Music] outside outside three wide behind you three wide directly behind you [Applause] two by two all the way back now that's the 99 in your mirror now 99 outside still covered up [Music] 99 with a push right here choose your own views and replays listen to the teams i get scoring points updates and more all in real time as you still outside [Music] another one inside clear low clear low still outside june [Music] they've done a talladega kind of race they've been back in there they've run over each other not what i would say typical for them watch stewart under attack from casey mears in the texaco car here oh that was i bet you'll see a hand signal here in a second what do you think probably may not see it here but you'll see what he can gather back up may not have time right now a little busy right now tell you what give a call to that orange 31 car right there jeff burton he's about the only children's car carrying the banner kevin harvick and clint boyer both involved in that crash on lap nine burtons up there in the top 10 in the 31 car after starting 40th matt junior trying to gather it back up into that earlier spin trying for his first play win since fall 2004 right here now the only thing junior said mike on the radio is the car is a little darty he's been working more of the middle to the bottom on this green flag run but he hasn't said anything else about the race car but you know darty is kind of what got him in trouble going into three over there the thing kind of started doing a little d-die though with him and uh that's what got him in trouble i think that's uh maybe an issue that he's still got tell you what right in front of dale earnhardt jr in an eight car if you look up there in front of him how about scott wimmer in that four car sitting here running in the top 20. a lot of effort put into their speedway program after missing the daytona 500 here he's still on the lead lap right up there in lead pack larry i was watching the eight car in the camera there and and the thing is it's kind of just kind of dipping and diving with him and it's causing him to really juke on the wheel quite a bit back to matt daryl he just came on the radio and said this setup just is not any good now he's trying to work the high line around the 66 of jeff green looks like problems may be continuing for driver eight and again remember in practice he told us he wanted the car set up to lead and the team did what they felt best so that car could pull out and pass but not working out quite that way well and then getting spun out or and spinning out and going down across the apron and everything you knock the toe out and uh toe mess the toe up on these cards they drive miserably once that happens we don't run a lot of tow here so if you knock it out or knock it in uh then you got your hands full what an up-and-down day for kurt bush and carl edwards going a lap down edwards got the free pass fought his way back up into the top ten there he is presently seventh in the office depot four and there's the two of bush similar circumstance had to replace a lug nut and make an extra stop but stayed on the lead laps cycled around when the caution came out now he's fighting up there for the lead but how about matt kinser than the 17 car he had to make an extra stop on that last caution the double check luck nuts here he's up there battling for the lead well there they all three are 17 2 and 99 they're the ones that we talked about having trouble they're back they're going again that'll car's been pretty steady today though he's been right up there near the front other when he had that problem as jeff burton forges into third place here's our next singular virtual crew chief question can a driver win today without a teammate is peanut butter any good without jelly you know we've seen a lot of teams be able to win here i think here a teammate is someone that can help you yeah they don't necessarily have to be from the same organization remember our word from a year ago competition right that's when the competition works together for the betterment of someone there's a driver without a teammate robbie gordon single-car team robbie owns his own team that number seven but i wouldn't be surprised to see him work with that eight car that we're riding with here dale earnhardt jr remember robbie gordon runs the dei engines dale earnhardt jr has lost his teammate mark trex jr who's still making repairs on pit road could see these two cars stay hooked up yeah i think robbie feels like a part of that family remember last week at phoenix when he asked them do they need any tires when he fell out of the race so they work pretty closely together remember a game he used to play oh everybody drove around this tire thread and caution has come out one car is down on the apron in turn two likely the car that lost that tread and that's a chad chaffin one of the cars that was involved in that wreck back on lap nine well let's uh see if it was him or who was the rubber band man right here oh that's way out in front of chaffin see burton in 31 lead pack just kind of split and it looks like possibly mcmurray and the 26 didn't miss it oh yeah he nailed it fourth caution of the day that's a pretty flimsy piece of rubber there that uh comes off those trailers because the big question remains where did it come from and did it do any damage to the front valence on mcmurray's car it's kind of i'm sure it probably did a little bit of damage it's flimsy but it's got all those belts in it it's been about 20 laps since all the leaders were on pit road i'd say feeding time will be busy because this actually will put them within one stop of making it to the end of this 188 lap race chaffin was uh down on the apron coming out of the pits to where he will return as we run this fourth caution flag of the day remember a game in uh in grade school called telephone kids all sit in the circle and i tell you something you tell larry and by the time it got back around to me it was a whole different story that's kind of what happened to robbie gordon the other evening he was riding through the infield in his golf cart and was having a bit of fun jumping the berms and the fun police decided that was enough and they asked ravi if he'd take a ride back with them to the coach slot and come get his golf cart in the morning and that's what happened trouble was by the next day the store had been blown all out of proportion here's our answer to our question right there mike that one and looking back here on reed swords and both those cars got damaged from apparently that piece of rubber and they'll have to fix that because that'll kill those race cars yeah i heard about robbie's little excursion there a little adventure and uh it was not it was of course by the time i heard about it it was a lot worse than than you expected by the time you heard about it i think it was a felony yeah he was led away in handcuffs and all this and there's a big story none of that happened there's a telephone telegraph telling the garage area [Laughter] i thought when i was in school we called that gossip now i don't know well it was everybody called something different but yep i'd say all of our lead left cars all 28 album will be on pit road we may see one or two stay out to try to get those five points for lead but trust me when this caution's over they will all be there quicky yellow which means everyone can pit even the cars that are a lap down dick and carl edwards pitch in the sixth position remember the last time he pitted he carried a piece of equipment with him they are going to make very sure there are no mistakes because wally brown the crew chief has just told him to make it error-free steve dick jeff gordon trying to win this race for the third time in a row tying the great david pearson four tires he said he's just a little bit tight when he's out front air pressure adjustment matt johnson slid into his box he's going to have a bad angle possibly for his exit very close to the wall a number of extra pumps for anderson he finally is away meanwhile the 25 no changes for brian vickers trying to score his first nextel cup series win here jeff gordon gets off pit road first uh jeff burton right there with him picking up a couple of spots looks like possibly michael waltrip in the 55 i'm going to assume he found his tip box this time i hope he stopped this but i got to believe it was just two tires 34 seconds looks a little more reasonable much more oh by the way did he handle an 11 car they did decide to stay out for one more lap and lead a lap get five bonus points here's that race-off pit road you see elliot sadler right there what makes him so good getting off pit road remember he's set on the pole he gets first pit selection he's in that very end pit just has to move a few feet to be in the thick of the battle of the race off now the damaged race cars are under repair dreed sorensen and jamie mcmurray trying to smooth out those front valences sorensen has got damage on the right side so he's got a little damage on the left front denny hamlin becomes the 18th different leader of the aarons 499 on fox who had a plan the 34 car you guys are just getting ready to lap them and it came off right there in front of you so as long as it's going to be clay should just be one more lap here should we get to one to go any of those guys pit you pit with them negative nobody came speedster is daryl waltrip and his victim is jeff hammond let's go ride and all drive jeff's gonna come out in the face he's gonna be doing 55 miles an hour i'm coming in my race car i want you to look so looks like just one lap car restarting ahead he hit a six coming to the green our texas instruments dlp ultimate picture cam in hd tv giving you this you see where the start finish line is here at talladega not up in the middle of the tryova like in daytona makes it more sight often times it changes the outcome tan green flag jeff gordon elliott sadler jeff burton brian vickers jimmy johnson michael waltrip matt kinsen i might add pass kyle petty in the 45 car got the free pass so we're at 29 cars on the lead lap with 74 laps to go what i do see though 300 cars up there in the top five gordon vickers and johnson i've been impressed with the the hendrick organization this weekend saturday and today yesterday or saturday in the bush race brian vickers and kyle busch ran together the whole race stayed together helped each other we're about to be one two three brian vickers dropped to the bottom down the back stretching the 25 his teammate jimmy johnson in the 48 following in his footsteps we come around this time they very well could be running one two three and remember they can talk to each other they can talk to each other on their radios teams that have multi cars can talk to each other yeah they have to adjust the volume knob a little to do that why don't you adjust your volume knob on that surround sound and see what 190 miles an hour feels like just cranking on had an email from somebody saying why do you have to have that graphic to crank it down as jeff burton goes for the lead on the outside and they split elliot sadler gordon side by side of course that fella must be listening on the old six by nine speaker in front of his little round tube type set it's because we don't want folks to blow out the speakers in their surround sound when we get back up on the wheel ride with jeff burton here in the 31 car you can see on that camera a lot of look like grime and dirt on that rear bumper possibly maybe getting a little bit of leak in the rear end or something here with 72 laps to go i'll tell you what else we're starting to see a little bit on those rear bumpers and somebody's front bumper dale earnhardt jr the eight car back up in the top ten they're kind of playing they've been playing around but as we always know it's all fun and games till you get down near the end of the race pushing yourself into a position to win 27 cars within less than two seconds of each other i think that dale jr in that eight car may have made some critical adjustments in this last little round of pit stops you know left 88 dale earnhardt jr and tony stewart the 20 got together spun over and turned three and four both of them fighting their way back right now cody stewart in the 20 back in the 15th position junior's got lady luck riding on his shoulder hard to believe you could spin in turn three at talladega and come back not that many laps later running in the top ten top five that is stewart's had an up and down day he said on the radio earlier that he backed out of harm's way there were two cars he was quite concerned about how they were running the racetrack and stuart just kind of backpedaled and let them go at it for a while you'll do that if you're smart that tony is smart i'll tell you the old 38 car now he made a power move there just a minute ago to get to the lead now he's hanging right there fighting with these guys matt [Music] dw that car has been great all day in fact tommy baldwin has not made a change on that car their last three stops elliot sadler told his team i'm trying different lines i'm trying the bottom like i am right now behind the 24. he's trying the middle and the high line trying to see what works best for his race car thinking ahead being proactive where he needs to have himself what position can we get down to five or six laps to go and you saw that he kind of fell off the back end there of the 24 and then got a great run down the back just to see what he could do when he got to turn three i feel for jeff burton darrell that car won't run in front of a pack sucks up real well gets right up drafts up right up to the front but he got in front of those cars couldn't maintain pace and drifts back into the pack look how high look how high these guys are starting to run through this triangle though protecting that outside the trial is the most treacherous part of this racetrack think about tony's car on saturday flipped over like a leaf just looked like a feather rolling through there that's how light you feel coming out of the trout oval tell you what though jeff burton the 31 he's not had a lot of friends today pushing him well it could be larry we'll keep hearing about somebody losing a little fluid and it could be him and nobody wants to run behind nemocheck behind him now junior drops to the middle and there is the 11 of hamlin in the middle of that part of the group junior in the middle up front sweeps to the high side and the fans come back to their feet as he looks for the lead three wide for second place jimmy johnson squirts through boy larry they have really they helped that eight car that last time in yes they had it was it was diving all over the place it looks like they've gotten it much better but it's been an air pressure adjustment but junior had no better luck than jeff burton trying to bring a group to the front on the outside now right underneath junior in the middle the 25 of brian vickers matt's in his pit and vickers mike he's being proactive as well trying to score his first next hill cup series win right there at the front of that pack as he dives on the inside told his spotter remind me chucky later in the race my car works best higher up the racetrack right now he's on the bottom side by side with a 38. but daryl it's like you said earlier in the race about jeff gordon you've got to make mental notes of everything in this this part of the race where you can use it at the end yeah that's right and of course you've got to remind the spotter and everybody else remind me because man you get busy and you forget 18 different leaders jeff gordon has led the most laps the last race in which he led the most laps was right here at talladega one year ago they're coming for me 20 inside by a fender one inside one outside one inside one outside clear high back outside back outside one inside one outside one inside by a fender clear low one outside one outside one outside he's got one with him one outside so just the one outside still lined up one outside one inside one outside one inside one outside inside [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] 26 in your mirror 26-7 in your mirror still inside [Music] still inside june hold your line bottom lane has no help right now [Music] side inside you see that three wires [Music] staying on the front straightaway no yellow no yellow no yellow yellows out yellows out june get them waved off good [Music] [Applause] fifth caution flag lap 127. for marlin sliding out of the tri-oval across the grass and then down the pavement at the inside of the racetrack i'd like to say i don't know what's wrong with this car but i think you can look at it until the car's a mess it has a lot of problems again he was involved in that crash on lap nine i think he had a i think he had a tire go down but he could have just lost it you'll see this come on come into view she's coming through the trial well like i said that is a man i i can't even express to you how your car feels right there by yourself or in traffic it's just light carl edwards in the 99 dale jr in the eight junior pointing rubbing oh this is that's all happening a little over 190 oh by the way that's that's just casual contact now watch elliot sadler fourth place right here behind mcmurray drop to the bottom and jump to third second on kenseth and to the lead he got to run down the hill turn off into three and he got a little bit of a push from that 24 car jeff gordon tell you what larry if he had some help if he had somebody that was sticking with him like 24 and a 48 do and at 25 he could be bad to deal with he does have a teammate in this race but dale jarrett who won here last october is running 27th on the lead lap just remember he sat on the butt pole by over one mile per hour over the second place car of tony stewart we know he's got a fast racer hey one thing that baby likes to rock it it's been about 16 laps since all these cars were on pit road but once again that's getting close to half of a fuel run i feel pretty sure we're gonna see everyone come to pit road you can't make it from here to the end without stopping again i think we'll see some dice roll with just two tires but if it was me with 61 laps to go i'd put four on now then i may be good to go to the end by just changing two on the last stop i'm with you brother well the way this day has gone you've got to stop now because you don't know when you might next get the chance yeah you do everything you can of the caution has always been my theory and then if you got to do something really bizarre do it under the green when it might win you the race and the reason i say two at the end dick bergeron that last stop you won't have to stay there for both cans of fuel yeah oh yeah kenzeth is going to want to get all the fuel in his car that he possibly can it will be a four tire stop ketchus has asked the crew to take a good close look at his front bumper he's obviously been pushing some people out there some bump drafting to steve dick jeff gordon saying his race car is still just a little bit tight they've made small air pressure adjustments to that number 24. they talked about two tires but they're gonna change four matt now the top of your screen elliott sadler no changes again for the 38 meanwhile jimmy johnson still tweaking the air pressure on the bottom of your screen the 38 will not win the battle off hit row that's because matt kenseth had a 12.8 second pit stop that was as good as you can you can see joe nima checked the 01 i was watching his pit stop gained 13 spots two tires only on that army car i tell you what that 17 took four in the amount of time it normally takes to take two you see right there six seconds less on the 01 car that pretty much tells the tail about two tires kevin harvick who got heavy damage in the first caution flag on lap nine got the free pass he's now just two laps down celebration this time not frustration in matt kansas pit [Music] we want to go this time bo want to go so we're in front of the 24 38 01 24 there you go you got it right so all right joe 58 to go 58 to go one more stop to go well i just getting set for the restart at 130 laps 40 different 40 lead changes today huge crowd for a monday green flag matt kinsey leads him across with sadler nemechek johnson vickers mcmurray edwards and greene jeff green the top ten roush may have two cars that are out biffle and of course mark martin's not out he's still out there 86 laps down but he's got three cars in the top ten kensington mcmurray and edwards the weirdest restart i've ever seen i mean it got all all broken up you got three cars it's way out in front of the group of about seven or eight and then uh the rest of the pack just like a rubber band give them about four laps all be back together yeah they'll reel them in but i'm not sure what caused that separation like a good thing it's not a green white checkered steve hey mike under caution jeff gordon told his crew he said when we restart tell the 38 elliot sadler i'll help him get to the front and lead a lap but if he does all bets are off i've noticed guys they don't want to run with me too much today the crew chief steve letarte said yeah funny about that the better you get the less friends you have here he comes on the outside looking for the lead right up against kenseth nowhere to go now i figured it out if it was a green white checkered where would the 24 be up there racing for the win coming to the coming to the checker taylor jr and eight beating on that rear bumper the 24 going down the back stretch the only way kenseth held off jeff gordon to 24 he had to put the block on him you're clear high if you'd like no help in the bottom look out you're not clear high either dude you got the 24 out there be careful nobody is sitting down in this crowd here in talladega i got to give you i got to use this this is an incredible statistic dale jr is average finish in 25 restrictor plate races is a is a 11th place and you know what his dad's average finish in 53 races was a 9.3 wow now do they know how to do restrictor plate racing in that family one here 10 times dale earnhardt senior and dale jr has won five matt junior's back in line now diving to the inside under that last caution nascar passed along a message for the drivers of the 8 and the 99 just to settle down a little bit when they told junior says 10-4 i'll call him down but when we were side by side he just kept running me up the racetrack every single lap junior's car was both loose and tight they made a track bar adjustment as he works on the inside is that the 99 again up front it's roush against hendrick on point the roush forwards came up the high side kenzith and mcmurray the hendrick chevy splitting the hendrick chevys they worked vickers on the inside out of that threesome so now it's gordon and johnson and chevy's on point then the two roush forwards dick well sense of fair play carl edwards came on the radio and said he was not happy with junior either he said that junior continues to run into the side of his car even under caution watch this deal with the 99 and the eight they don't like each other very much this afternoon they will they will if they get nose to tail and they can help each other well it makes the answer to our singular virtual crew chief question do you need a teammate to win a talladega well you know there hadn't been a lot of races larry where dale jr hadn't had a teammate pretty even i would have thought that one would go 90 10. no you know what i kind of agree with that okay i don't really think you do i think back to my work competition you work with the competition you're online for a chance to win jeff burton's payday in daytona when you play tell you what they're at the bottom of the racetrack look at that best foster play the 66 car of jeff green went to the bottom tony stewart that 20 followed him right down there and i mentioned him a while ago look at scott wimmer in that four car up there banging up there in the top ten this is the team that missed the daytona 500 at one time this race team morgan mcclure owned this racetrack remember larry what you said uh things are practice qualifying show they went to the wind tunnel they went to the proving ground they've been on a chassis dyno they've done a lot of work the fords did what they had to do here daryl first they worked brian vickers out of that three-car tight draft now they work jimmy johnson away from jeff gordon and here come the forwards on the outside tell you what right behind them there's another guy that has fought his way back up there scott riggs and that 10 kind of the only dodge up there in the top 10 except for kurt busch and the two that's starting to make some moves yeah those two cars have been pretty good all day long though the two and the ten the two's been at times has looked pretty good but i don't know it seems like he can't stay he doesn't have the staying power but you see all those hendrick cars up there jeff green and the 66 goes to the bottom of jeff gordon the 24. that's a hendrick engine there in that thing he just drives by gordon yeah but he's looking a little lonely down there on the bottom larry no help all by myself no one will help me make a deal you sing we'll go to commercial 136 down 52 to go i'll double file behind you they're all around double file behind you far behind i'll walk back and double foul oh ready back not on you there [Music] behind you all clear too wide still inside inside [Applause] [Music] three wide two wide just inside now [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] clear to the middle they're low they're low outside outside [Music] [Applause] you've got help that's the 11 behind you three wide just outside now clear all around 11 in your mirror [Music] [Applause] [Music] inside outside still outside they're high if he's like [Applause] [Music] outside outside they're all around outside outside helps coming [Music] outside three wide [Music] three wise [Music] too wide and i thought he did i think the other thing these guys know they've got one more pit stop that'll be coming with about 20 or 22 laps to go if we stay on the green speaking of that pit stop a little deal making going on i've always wanted to say this deal or no deal we'll know here shortly when we come back [Music] double bow i'll clear all around can't drive it i'm shaking too bad get up in the middle of it about wreck slow cars up ahead on the bottom we need to go about 13 more laps and we'll have to do four tires here behind you of a far behind you [Music] three wide three wide [Music] still three wide limited help in the bottom lane three wide three wide [Applause] [Music] too wide just one outside june just one car outside hi if you'd like inside now still inside three wide too wide still got one down there [Music] still inside [Music] [Applause] [Applause] inside inside [Music] here at dega including kirk bush in second place and they're gonna sandwich jimmy johnson now notice we're getting close to another time to a pit stop notice how wide it up everything is that's because some guys are better on new tires some guys are a little bit better on old tires still outside sadler coming back for the lead on the outside gordon up to block mike larry i am i tell you if you want to win this race there's two cars you got to work with the 24 and the 38 and you better pick one they have definitely been two of the strongest cars all day long they can fall back and catch back up and there's not a lot of guys that can do that consistently jeff gordon trying for his third talladega win in the pepsi paint scheme and his third in a row to tie david pearson clear everybody it blew up tony junior all righty huh thank you tires for jeff gordon everybody off pit road behind gordon look like for the most part everybody knows this will be their final stop here with 35 laps to go looks like almost everyone went with four tires full of fuel a little bit more air pressure on the get-go here the car will just come into him a little bit better later in the run dale jr went up scrape the wall and turned number four got on the radio except blow it up watch for the number eight going down into turn three and there she goes a big puff of smoke and a hearty how silver trying to get up there out of the way of traffic and i'm corrected it does not appear that he scraped the wall no it just was the uh when the engine floated smoke boom right in front of denny hamlin at 11. you can see i did the same thing i'm sure to denny hamlin's windshield he was drafting along with his favorite partner tony stewart remember earlier at lap 88 yeah junior had that spin and turn three the this can do harm to an engine when when the car spins the engine starts to turn backwards when the wheels are spinning uh it can it can do some damage to an engine it can uh hurt the valve train think about it you're going 190 mile an hour forward the next minute you're going 150 mile an hour backwards you know these guys that put four fresh tires on it's not that four fresh tires will make you faster it just lets you maneuver the race car dick you get out of the car after that blown engine came up here and just slunk down how physically mentally demanding is this race today i just disappointed really uh we had a pretty decent car and got loose getting into threes four wide and i got loose and got into cars found myself out might have spun the motor backwards that's my might be why i blew up but right there just now just blew up quit running so tough day for us but oh well could you sense the crowd when you were passing people and notice they're all standing up with the red shirts the black shirts cheering for you i'm doing everything i could try to get to the front i mean everything and uh it's just when you're when you're about sixth seventh or eighth or on back you really got nothing to do but go with the guy in front of you go to the bottom bottom's not working today uh which is interesting but uh really not many people making things happen on the bottom so everybody's running in the middle and chop and just sit there in line hopefully somebody pulls out the bottom and you just feel that hole you know but pretty good cart to start a race i spun out uh got the toe in messed up drove out after that but uh the blown motor's gonna end today well dale earnhardt jr fan favorite terribly disappointed this afternoon mike thanks dick the number of leaders is now past 20 kevin lepage is out front in talladega the errands 499 on fox is sponsored by visa i haven't seen them all in a while let's see they must be ahead of us because i don't see him behind trying to find him here [Applause] it's time to go yeah 43's ahead of us they're not hitting pit road right now 3700 michael no he's taking four you're clearing all the way to the grass clear all the way out 37. you're there hey that's our car go see the difference dlp technology makes just couldn't wait dlp only from texas instruments it doesn't get any more real than this get free shipping and low prices on a great selection of dlp hd tvs at amazon.com i've been waiting for this all day oh yeah you owe me both let's do it okay bud it's giddy up time let's go make sure everything gets tight first off schrader and sadler it'll be 32 laps to go when they come by now everyone pretty much pitted with 35 to go and we know they could all make it from there without stopping but when they got the one to go we saw about a dozen cars come back on the pit road including tony stewart to top off in case we go into overtime in this race and go beyond 188 laps and that's a pretty good insurance policy to take 27 cars are on the lead lap before cassie and rhonda elliot sadler our posted in the 38 car first car to stick his nose out there is anybody going to go with him looks like that top group's going gonna stay lined up and kick him into the bottom with no help well when you go to the bottom like that i believe he needs if i was anybody in that front group i'd say i'm gonna work with you to the end dude because he is bad fast but they're leaving him hung out and i just don't think that's a good idea i would have got down there with him and pushed him i thought it was a little early getting up to speed to go to the bottom of the racetrack normally on the first lap they stay at the top to get them wound up might have been experimenting might have been saying okay maybe i'll try this on the last time see what happens i wonder darryl if that's the one car can't beat why help him to help yourself okay i need to get up there you know if you don't have a chance of beating that 24 uh you got to get with somebody that does and i believe he's got the best chance goes kurt bush and that two car the dodge to the high side he'll slide in front of matt kenseth in the 17. and remember we saw matt and the matt kentz's crew chief and kurt's crew chief talking to each other about working together and pitting together now bush has one potential friend at the front and that's the 10 of scott riggs that's the other dodge in this lead pack well and reed sorensen in the 41. that's also a dodge tell you what he just drove by jeff gordon to 24 on the inside kenseth goes on the high side but now gordon's got his teammate jimmy johnson in the 48 behind that 24 car jumped a little bit right there coming through down toward turn one but uh he gathered her back up how about only it's sadler matt he's got to be a little frustrated right this minute they just reminded him mike just be patient still a long way to go under the caution they were concerned whether they were one lap short of making it to the finish talked about even bringing in the top them off but they left them out the 25 of vickers he's good if we don't get a green white checkered the 48 of johnson on the inside the lowest car he's good as well now we heard dale jr say the bottom's not working today uh that more cars are running middle to the top but i got to believe at that 24 48 in the 38 they're going to find a way around the bottom steve what about fuel on jeff gordon it's close for jeff gordon as well mike crew chief steve latark total before the restart try to save us a little gas if you can now if it does go to overtime as larry mack said it's going to be tight which is the reason those dozen cars stopped and topped off now here all you can do to save fuel here is to run behind somebody but you still have to be careful lifting in and out of the throttle working those quarters in the carburetor that burns up a lot of fuel here too if we get a late race caution flag if necessary nascar will extend the length of the race past 188 laps and make one attempt at a green flag then white flag then checkered flag finish so this race could go past the advertised distance if needed so the fans can hopefully see an attempt at a green flag finish of course a few caution laps would solve everybody's problems right and they are working real hard to solve everybody's problem as we update these fuel stories let's go to dick bergeron on matt kenseth just talked to robbie reiser asked him if he could make it to the end he said he thought he probably could asked him about a green white checker situation thought he probably could make it through that too but you know it's definitely a guessing game down here at this point a lot is determined by how many caution flag laps we have and how intense the racing gets at so many variables involved and what robbie tagged his conversation with me with is that's what makes it so interesting we don't really know 27 laps to go this time by that's definitely what makes it a challenge curt bush out in front has never won a restrictor plate race daytona or talladega he's been second twice at daytona and third twice here let me add to that penske racing other than the budweiser shootout they've never won a restrictor plate points race bush kenseth mcmurray lead the errands 499 on fox wish for you was scott right there [Music] behind you [Music] [Music] clear all around i'm sorry i had to take that yeah you're clear all around can't leave any opening [Music] right now whoever goes slow goes to the back 25 laps to go 10 25 to go keep an eye on your mirror [Music] [Music] so [Music] all clear [Music] creeping up to help yellow is out yellow is out questions out and caution waves bobby labonte appears to have grenaded an engine it had come by here the last few laps sounding very rough stp 43 and there's labonte going to the garage after bringing out the seventh caution flag of the day stp stay together please didn't work today want to take a minute to thank our fox production and technical crew for their efforts on this unscheduled day monday a lot of our folks would like to have been up in new york for the sports emmy awards tonight both production and technical of nascar fox nominated for several awards but our producer neil goldberg would like to be helping his son zach celebrate her birthday today and richie basiley directing pam miller pit producing and all of our production and technical staff thanks for hanging with us it's been an exciting one so far and the grand stand is still about 98 percent full few earnhardt jr fans have headed to the house when he headed to the garage but we're still 23 laps from the finish here bobby labonte the 43 car we had been listening to him come by the last 10 or 12 laps was not sounding good and finally expired now here's the situation we feel like most teams can make it to the end we've got 23 laps to go we've only been on this set of tires for 23 laps the guys that were a little close on fuel these cautions could help make that difference up i got to believe though maybe some of the guys at the back on the lead lap possibly come to pit road put insurance on the fuel maybe even go ahead and get fresh tires we'll see what happens here well we've seen good cars be able to get from the back to the front all day long and here they come there they all come except for mcmurray elliot sadler so looks like only kurt bush and matt kenseth brian vickers jimmy johnson at the very front will go to pit road you know i i like four tires if enough people come and get them and they did and we've talked about it many times it gives you maneuverability dick well i think that must have hurt you daryl because as kurt bush was coming down pit road the decision was to take two he was about six pits away and roy mcauley said four push now four fresh tires let's see what he can do matt going to be four tired change dick on the 48 to jimmy johnson now the 30 alias sadler they just came on the radio said we made a great call as the 25 of vickers johnson's teammate he's already away i like your logic daryl i'd rather have four tires to get to the front than have four worn tires and try to hold everybody off if i got to go high low middle wide everywhere else so you know move all around the racetrack i want some grip and they can't block all those lanes at once can they it's about half and half half stayed out half pitted for mr feelgoods and i'll show you something all right you better show me thanks for coming with me dale you might want to keep your ignition fan the blower on blower yes ignition fans should be on me for a while okay i didn't quite understand you but i think uh yeah there will be about 20 to go when we take the green here talk to the two in front of you and the one behind you boss new the french toast sandwich stricter plate race in nascar the daytona 500 the winner jimmy johnson and jimmy talked with us about his psychology of where to be and when the race really is so long and you spend the whole in my mind before the whole three the first three quarters of the race just trying to get in position and and really there's a lot i i needed to be patient a lot longer than that um until the last three or four laps if you if you can just be in the top three top five at that point then you have a chance at winning the race because whoever's in second or third or fourth they're going to pull out and try to make a move and there's no telling what's going to happen so i think in the past i've been a little impatient i've made my moves too soon then i've cycled myself out of the top three or five and haven't had a chance to win in daytona i just almost in some way said i don't care if i sit here in second or third something's going to happen in front of me there's going to be a chance for me to advance myself and it kind of worked itself out that way we're about to see how it works out here kurt busch was the race leader when he pitted under this caution now jimmy johnson is also well back he and his teammate brian vickers together 17th and 18th they are right behind bush who was the leader but came in for tires at the behest of his crew chief yeah the top 13 cars stayed out from mcmurray all the way back to dave laney matt kenseth won the battle off pit road is in 14th right now the cars that pitted jimmy johnson the 48 was the fifth car off pit road as far as the cars that pitted now of the cars that did not look at second and third place the two dodges scott riggs and reed sorensen here's steve mike great job by reed swords and heavy damage to that 41 car on lap eight and then on lap 110 he drilled the tire damage to the left front corner of that race car they battled back now you said they're both in dodges they're with different teams riggs with ever and ham reed sorensen with ganassi but both of those drivers know they're going to have to work together if they have a shot to win this race matt a lot of humor on the 38 radio elliot sadler just said hey tell dj to come on up here i'm tired of being tag team and then they're joking as well he's got the senior citizen discount now he's rested and ready he'll get up there and help you out remember elliott's up there all by himself with the teammates of the hendrick guys and a few other rcr guys and he needs some help dj's back in 11th i believe he's coming he sat there pretty quietly all day so we've noted a couple of times time to go those top 13 cars have about 10 more laps on their tires than the guys that pity and just think about the race he won here last year we never even heard his name mentioned until about 10 to go dale jarrett will talk about it here goes sadler by himself now he picks up a little drafting help nope not anymore boy i'll tell you one thing he doesn't have any problem going it alone he'll drop that thing to the inside when nobody else will that's how much confidence i think he has in that car he keeps thinking somebody will say come on man get out of here with me what's wrong with you guys but he goes to the bottom immediately on a restarted seat i can hear him now i got an awesome race car get out here with me slides up just in front of jeff gordon the 24 car right there now that's two of a kind right there the 38-24 i believe they're the two fastest race cars tell you what though there's a line on the bottom forming led by your brother michael walker from the 55 car he's got tony stewart in the 20. now elliot sadler has some push back there by that group as well as jeff gordon 24. michael waltrip couldn't hold the bottom and jarrett gets past dale jarrett in the 88th ups car only three car lengths away from his yates racing teammates hello big orange yeah spent all day hiding out in the back now he's come to the front stewart the defending series champ looking for some racing room behind jeff gordon people we haven't talked about much all day are all of a sudden emerging at the front of the field imagine that tony stewart and the 20 being one of them remember he was involved in a caution earlier tony raines in the 96 car in troy's car michael waltrip way up high and four all but scrape the wall and right now mcmurray in that 26 car he's driving out the rear rearview mirror more than he is at the windshield sorensen has been kicked to the back of that pack jeff gordon in the 24 car just by the start finish line jumped up in front of scott riggs and tim but there comes tony stewart gordon's gonna fall down in front of him down the back stretch now see to me right there's where elliot savage should have come down in front of jeff got the push and took the lead now there comes those four fresh tires though matt kintz at the net 17 car up through the middle with brian vickers in the 25. i don't know about all that but i do know i see that big 2-0 right there looking for the lead oh four wide again between three and four this can't be good still four wide coming to the tri-oval oh yeah 16 to go this time boys that's incredible fellaini on the bottom bush in the middle with briggs edwards up high and no contact i want to reevaluate my uh my prediction the three fastest cars and one of them just showed us uh how fast he is tony stewart he just drove by mcmurray in the 26 guard takes the lead coming over the back stretch i think his timing is impeccable you think this was the last lap there's still four wide back in this pack heading for three there comes dale jarrett though in that 88 car the ups car to the inside look at him over here three and four wide now that's what tony's been watching but now he's watching it from a better perspective well we told you to buy that stock at the top of the show didn't we yes sir stewart in the lead 15 laps to go this time trouble trouble two cars hard four in the wall nevichek bounces off catches waltrip who keeps going waffle another near miss but he spins and four cars are wrecked lepage nemechek blaney and sorensen i'm gonna tell you what though you mentioned travis quapple how he missed getting in that i know he spun out but it was so close you just wouldn't believe it yeah that far was close he's not moving anymore that's nemechek talking about his car and he'll climb out you know they fixed it last week with a torn up pretty badly so he could keep his string of racing running at the finish but it's a little late today i'm afraid he had been running at the finish of what 40 races in a row but he'll have to climb out this time yeah 40 consecutive races without a dnf well over a full season sorenson gets going that car is not raceable though what a mess daryl they went four wide for two laps in a row something had to give here oh we see i believe kevin lepage into 61 and blainey and the 22 got together i'm not sure the 11 down on the bottom though didn't start you know forced everybody to move up yeah denny hamlin i believe got into blaney and it was a chain reaction from the second time of day somebody's gotten into blaney and forced him up into somebody else happened to the 42 car see uh the levin's down on the really down on the flat and he forces blaney up into the 61. great swanson has nowhere to go joe doesn't and michael i don't know if he was forced down there but the 11 was kind of down in the no zone with two wheels [Music] look at that thing holy smoly well who should we ride with how about two uh stay up high this seems like it never ends yeah around around you go and where she stops just please stop michael waltrip was right behind [Applause] stay low time to give our dlp cable cam a workout here get some pretty good shots from this oh 22 car was airborne there for a second watch 32 watch the tide car come in here right there for the second time today he spins out but he really doesn't hit anything you know what's sad there were some cars involved in that that had great runs going that that needed a good finish joe nemechek michael waltrip dave blaney kevin lepage all of them had avoided trouble all day long and reid sorensen was in the first wreck but stayed on the lead lap and in the top 10 most of the day 32 did get some damage to the right front i think it's serious not as serious as this the state water heaters ford that's lepage there's the man riding in second right now jeff gordon in that 24 car will probably get this thing restarted roughly with about 10 or 11 laps to go now after this race these teams are going to have a short turnaround there's a two-day open test at lowe's motor speedway on the new pavement and then everybody has to reload for richmond we'll be there with the next cup series saturday night it's a good time at richmond the fans love the racing there a lot of history at the track yeah it's just uh you know the saturday night special uh you know let's get it on top of racing feels like a big track and it puts on a great race you know you know the cars bottom out a little bit you see sparks and it's a nighttime event to me it just makes the racing that much more exciting you know you have the shadows you have just different elements you just don't have a regular day race the track's always faster because the cooler temperatures that's what makes it tough there because everybody's so close and it's so hard to pass that you know you need to do what you need to do sometimes you get by a guy and that'll make tempers you know flare definitely a big necessity to keep your emotions in check and make sure that you've got you know a good cool head on your shoulders and make it to the end you know it's a lot better finishing fifth than it is 36. i really like nighttime race sad bright saturday night good old short track uh racing richmond is the place i ain't 17 eighty eight two four got a good hunch the uh 38 will try to hook up with the 88 big motors thanks eddie for doing that when you get that right front off we need to do some code work here just leave that right front off somebody tell me what to do with my wheels center of the back straightaway one to go with the line pace guard turn three plenty of time michael they won't let us go out they said the rotor is broken break i got rear brakes tell him i got tons of brakes somebody's got tons of brakes how he stopped him from the pit stall let me stop stop yeah they want you behind the wall michael pescar's off of four all right tell them i ride around the infield since i'm already down here i'll ride around the bottom of the racetrack with will be less than 10 laps to go remember you cannot get a free pass when there's less than 10 laps to go uh it's not going to end up being a really good day for him no and you'll restart behind all the lead lap cars so he blaney and harvick and reed sorensen will be the cars one lap down when we go back to green didn't take much contact to get all that started just a little bit right back there was all it took to send blaney into lepage into nemechek into the wall yeah well he forced his way in and he got a little bit below the line plus there was not enough room i'm sure he would say well i was forced down there but you got to take that into consideration as a driver so hamlin serving the penalty he was the leading rookie in the race that honor will now go to his joe gibbs racing teammate j.j yayley who is in 21st place and the only rookie left on the lead lap and you mentioned earlier we've had a rookie finish in the top 15 every race so far in 2006 so yaley's got a little bit of work to do to keep that streak alive we had three of them in the top 20 there up until this episode and that took out uh of course hamlin did it to himself and sorensen got involved in the wreck so uh yaley's got a good race car and he was running right there about 17. so we'll have 23 lead lap cars when we go back to green with about 10 laps to go like so much of the day we've got three of those hendrick cars up there in the top five jeff gordon brian vickers and jimmy johnson vickers trying to win his first nextel cup race that's happened here on eight occasions kenny schrader davey allison richard brickhouse bobby hillen phil parsons lenny pond dick brooks and ron bouchard scored their first wins here they've got to beat stewart and gordon to do it this was early in the day dale jr going around at lap 88 and tony stewart got into him having to make repairs on the right front corner sorry after watching that replay again there's no doubt in my mind that all that engine turning backwards and forwards that dale jr did right there in that spin i'm thinking that's what hurt that engine yeah wasn't that many laps after that that the engine expired on the budweiser car there's the patch on the right front corner on stewart's nose his last five plate races all of 2005 and daytona this year average finish 3.4 a win two seconds a fifth and a seventh and the good thing about the repair work that greg zippidelli and that group did on this car they did a nice job of fixing it you have a lot of time here on the caution you have about two and a half minutes or better but you can kind of take your time and make sure it's right yeah that's a little band-aid compared to some of these guys damage they've had today looking pretty confident right now i would stewart leading jeff gordon second vickers mcmurray and what about jimmy johnson our daytona winner matt well mike humor is plentiful on the 48 radio as well as a number of other team radios underneath this car under this caution now jimmy just said after talking to a spider earl barbie commenting about what a great job he has done today in fact when all the debris down by start finish he was telling me exactly where to and where not to go and then jimmy said you know what you're doing a great job and earl just said you know what just call me allstate the good hands people it's his insurance policy well as far as these last eight or nine laps the crew chief can do nothing those guys right up there are the guys that can really help their drivers out there those spotters remember the big variable about this racetrack the start finish line is way down here not in the middle of the triable like a daytona and so much can happen in that extra nearly 2000 feet or so scdw can you say 1981 i tell you a lot can happen right you can lose a race in that distance i know that well you know it probably better than anybody you had terry labonte beat i've got a picture from the start finish line in 1981 of you looking over at labonte making sure you had him beat yeah i was i rubbed on him i bounced off the road a little bit tried to break his momentum i said i got that sucker i looked over got down to the start finish line i said i don't remember passing any cars here it is waltrips in the green car labonte's on the outside in red this is on the last lap trying to block terry because he had a good run and uh that was because the bashar gotta get gave him a push and i'm banging him i think i got him i got him and all of a sudden i looked over and said man where'd that guy come from ron bouchard driving for jack bibi went to victory lane that day his first and only then winston cup win so a lot can happen between right about here and where the finish line is down toward turn one will larry mack well i know it's nine laps to go next week at richmond nine laps is not much it's like eternity here at this racetrack stewart big jump out in front of jeff gordon but gordon has help from his teammate brian vickers saw gordon do this earlier in the day i said what kind of restart was that do you remember what he did he sucked up there and blew right by i think it was elliot sadler at the time this is the johnny cash move i hear a train account around this bend see what dale jarrett in that 88 car the ups car he jumped to the high side he's been hunting his teammate elliott sadler elliott sadler's been hunting him there's curt bush in the two with those guys here the eight to go next time by that slow car on the bottom hope it makes it back to pit road and you see who took the lead and you see what happened to the 20. he is a sitting duck jamie mcmurray jumped to the high side tried to get in front of his teammate matt kenseth but the two hendrick cars block them through the trial all three hendrick cars up there one two three eight laps to go mcmurray now working with on the outside trying to get around gordon the two hendrick cars battle side by side now looks like a pay slap but over 180 miles an hour look at tony rains in that 96 car hall of fame racing getting a shove by carl edwards in the 99 he's up there battling the top five stewart to the high side four wide again this gets dodgy every time we've seen this somebody has paid the price this didn't work earlier four wide through the trial jeff green wisely backed out he was the car on the bottom now it's just three wide and there they are dw on the high side jamie mcmurray in the 26 getting a push from the two car kirklands we've seen these guys together a lot today we really haven't again i'll just say it i've been impressed with the way the hendrick motorsports guys have hung together too thick and thin matt yocum sadler's been the fastest car all day but now he's stuck in seven can he get back there he's on the outside looking for his teammate dale dj radioed under the last caution he works the bottom better would everyone work in the middle of the high side that's where he's gonna try to make his move but you see he's stuck back in the middle falling back more and more whoa edward's up into jeff burton tell you what mcmurray and jimmy johnson got together last time on the back stretch but mcmurray moves up the second behind brian vickers six to go right now is when all those mirrors are full and you use every one of them topside stewart with sadler but they're back about 10th and 12th can't go reigns came up jumps out and there's his teammate matt kids if he jumps out like a planned move kirk bush comes down to pick them up so does mcmurray and so does vickers out front trying to be the ninth talladega first-time winner and there's tony up on the high side trying to get a run down here to the tri-oval and get back up to the front i'll tell you he's got a long way to go in a short time to get there ride with tony range right here in the d.o.p car five to goal yeah man mcmurray's car gets so loose sometime headed sideways going into one he's going to get a push up through the middle though from jeff gordon in the 24 jimmy johnson in the 48 and gordon's been the best car to send somebody to the front all day jamie mcmurray got a run and gordon's gonna go with him the 24 car he goes to the high side with mcmurray larry he's got to you got to go with the fast guy whoever it is and look at gordon he's got jimmy johnson until his other hendrick teammate it's just really treacherous coming off of fours three wide that makes look at stewart he fell back here he comes he's not out of this thing by any means looking to the bottom three wide stewart under kensington and four to go stewart with vickers on the bottom better believe mcmurray he's gonna try to keep that 24 car in his rearview mirror here comes vickers fighting back with him from tony stewart 300 cars battling for second while mcmurray gets away he's not going to get very far away this isn't no alabama breakaway i can tell you that through the middle of the ten car pushing kisses remember riggs has those fresh tires lead change jeff gordon who's led the most laps today duck in jamie duck in are you going to get sacked jeff gordon back to the front double and he has those two hendrick teammates back behind him we've seen them together all day long like daryl was talking about they have really done a good job of taking care of each other kenseth went down vickers down to block kensis up to the middle nowhere to go there comes stewart that 20 car he's fighting back three to go matkins is going to be matter and a hornet he made a great move and got blocked low then got blocked high watch him off for four y'all are off at two over there patience there's no more patience this is all about who's got the most nerve right now put it where you would dare not to go no more patience no more teammates vickers goes to the bottom right behind him now will vickers be the good soldier and follow jeff gordon home or does he want his first win that bad he's got to get his first win i think i think he's going to be a good soldier two laps to go up there and stewards pushed it in the 20 card they go to the high side of jeff gordon but here comes johnson to push court kenzith in the middle again stewart comes down now that was it vickers did a really good thing he got out front now drop down and pick up continue slow car turn one on the bottom hopefully it'll turn in and not be a factor vickers don't want to get too big of a lead here they'll get a run on him here comes 17. watch out here comes kansas remember what happened to stewart on the restart he got too big a lead became a sitting duck okay what tony stewart has been to the front to the back to the front and vickers blocking his teammate white flag this time one to go he's got to block two teammates to win it though gordon and johnson he slides way up high and takes the white flag johnson stayed in bounds in the 48 car he's got the push from tony stewart the 20 to kick vickers to the high side vickers couldn't block him both here comes kenseth around the top but no help for matt tony's pushing [Music] gonna up tight here guys gonna get tight gordon's at the bottom and then 24. not a lot of help down there it's just tire smoke they're beating and banging over there they're rubbing everything they got bottoms that's all he can hope for just remember it's a long way down here to the limit to the finish line oh yeah here it comes lock and stuart here they come jimmy johnson daytona 500 winner holds off tony stewart and wins the arrow 499. what a run wow stewart's second vickers third i say oh yeah jeff burton fourth jamie mcmurray fifth matt kent with turkbush carl edwards race guys awesome job but you guys robbie gordon rounded out the top ten talking about brian vickers what a great job he did and i agree that's a super job for him today 16 drivers finished within one second of each other and jeff gordon unofficially comes across in 15th pole sitter elliott sadler 16. i don't know how can a 38 end up 16th it's called talladega golly gee and he had one of them i know he has a fast car chad canals didn't get to go to victory lane in the daytona 500 he'll get to go there today that was an incredible finish and it didn't ring that's what i liked and the two fastest cars that led the most laps finish out of the top 10. 56 lead changes today jamie mcmurray up there oh jeff burton look at that great run cart wouldn't run out front but it could sure pull to the front [Music] you got to look you got to get these guys you got to give chad and jimmy a lot of credit guys they mind their manners all day long look at that car it isn't all beaten up like some of the others are [Music] so the lowest chevrolet will head to victory lane so will win you are watching nascar in car exclusively on digital cable [Music] from sprint what do you want with your pizza hut pizza wings cinnamon sticks red sticks hello wings no cinnamon red cinnamon red stems let's get them all that's right just get them the new side sampler from pizza hut get five wings with ranch sauce and order bread sticks with marinara and an order of cinnamon sticks with icing often 5.99 when you buy a large pizza at menu price now they can taste it all with the new side sampler everyone gets what they love when you go for the good to win stuff jeff gordon's gonna lead him into turn four you are the man in his time listen to every defining moment of your favorite driver live with race day scanner get it and other exclusive content online through aol.com sports nascar.com stealing may seem like the hard part but getting away is a killer thief the season finale when you fall at home life alert can get you help fast even when you cannot reach your phone when you have a heart attack like i did and there's no one there life alert was there for me thanks to life alert you can live alone without ever being alone and that's why i wear one please call 1-800-413-3535 for free information about life alert that's 1-800-413-3535 or visit us on the web at the address on your screen don't delay call us now get what you want right away go to comp usa today and get comcast high-speed internet for just 19.99 a month for six months you'll also get a free 50 gift check from comp usa so remember just go today and you'll be online by tonight comcast high speed internet it's comcast friday on fbx bus series racing kicks off the weekend under the lights enrichment then saturday the world's best drivers go head-to-head at nextel cup's perfect short track yes it all starts friday at 7 30 eastern 4 30 pacific coming to you live on fx anybody here so why i became a firefighter i run into a burning building i don't know if i'm going to get out of it alive welcome to the sprint post race show cheby congratulates jimmy johnson and the lowe's monte carlo ss on another great team chevy victory 25 the last 34. nascar manufacturers championships and counting chevy an american revolution jimmy did his donuts picked up the checkered flag and did his own polish victory style lap saluting the fans and then heading for victory lane [Applause] [Music] [Applause] your brother and his wife were expecting a new baby that new baby came the instant you crossed the finish line it was a new johnson connor how about that i obviously want to congratulate my little brother and trinity um you know bringing i'm an uncle i guess so that's that's hard to believe but i'm an uncle um so congratulations to them it's also rained or would be randy norton's birthday today and someone that would love and miss dearly great day frantic motorsports those hendrick cars were so strong all day long and at the end i felt bad in some respects because brian vickers was right there in the edge of winning his very first next cell cup race and i just had to get aggressive and get the lead win this for the lowest team now before this season started you talked about patience and how important patience was in these restrictor plate races you won the daytona 500 with patients how important was it this afternoon and there were so many times today that i just uh didn't block didn't make a move didn't do anything just you got put in the middle three wide and slid back and just dealt with it and fought my way back through and at the end it was interesting to see uh you know dj in the 20 how much they were saving their stuff and how hard they pushed at the end and dj gave me a couple big pushes that helped me out um and i don't know who was pushing me when i got the lead but i had a heck of a run and got inside the 25 and coming through three and four i was asking the crew how many more laps i had to go and they said just bring it to the checkered flag good deal congratulations well done let's go to maddie tony stewart finishes second for the sixth time here at talladega two laps to go take us through your game plan of what you were trying to do with the 25. i don't even remember where i was at with two laps to go i mean normally the last 10 week or 10 lap stretch like that it gets pretty crazy it's hard to remember where you're at with two laps to go but uh just an awesome run for home depot monte carlo ss you know kept that string alive of lead and lap in every race here under green and you know like you said we this is our sixth top two finish in uh 11 races so i think our average is pretty strong here we just uh you know can't get that little bit extra we need to win and real quick the spin with junior yeah i don't know what happened who got him sideways up there but uh you know he was sliding across the racetrack and mark robertson my spotter was telling me to go high and i stayed high and kept slowing slowing down and slowing down and when i did see him he was sliding back up across in front of us and with the wheels locked up i couldn't get it to turn down so it wasn't really a big hit didn't really hurt a lot on i don't think either of our cars so uh you know we were both fast at the end of the day like that thanks smoke steve thanks matt with brian vickers who finished right behind tony stewart and uh you haven't pulled off that first win yet but you got awfully close today brian what'd you learn yeah i learned a lot you know we we missed the big wrecks we we passed at the right opportunities and we blocked when we could and uh you know jimmy did an awesome job but this gmac crew did a tremendous job in the pits all day consistent we got out right where we left or better lance made some good calls and it was a race to the finish at these speedway races it's tough you know you got a 50 50 shot when they're coming with a momentum to block higher block low and and uh missed it brian standing here right now is there anything you could have done differently as you play those last couple laps back in your mind well you always think it's something you could have done differently you know maybe not let them get so far back but what happens is you try to back the car up and and uh but then they get side by side and they just keep dropping back so then they have a run when they catch it and it's tough um you know i wish i would have i would have you know pulled harder down to the bottom to try to block jimmy uh but you know we could erect too so who knows it was still a good point today for the gmac crew nice job thanks let's have a look at the next cup standings jimmy johnson regains the point lead up 21 on matt kenseth as we head for short track saturday night at richmond now here's jeff gordon in third place side by side with vickers watch what happens it's just like you put a parachute out you just start getting cars passing left right left right there's nothing you can do no help and finally he picks up elliot sadler and what had been the two fastest lap leading as cars all day end up 15th and 16th yep that's amazing to me those were the two best cars but they didn't get the very good finish jimmy johnson patient took his time got there how about brian vickers great race you know two races in a row here the bush race on saturday and also the race today not only would see brian vickers run a smart race in both races but pretty amazed daryl talked about a lot the cool oppetition between those hendrick cars looked like maybe on qualifying day ford's had their arms around them but on race day it was a chevrolet's richmond one of our favorite racetracks coming up this week virginia's for lovers but not next saturday night game final short track race of the first half and you'll see it on fx coming up next on fx dharma and greg on the east coast and spin city on the west coast coming up tonight over on speed the inductions of the international motorsports hall of fame this weekend jack roush janet guthrie harry gant honor dale earnhardt among the class of 2006 and special awards to tony stewart frank kimmel and photographer t taylor warren another wild one at talladega a five wide crash two four wide crashes and another thrilling finish promotional consideration bye at the finish 21 cars on the lead lap more than a dozen wound up in the garage

Channel: Racins Fun

Views: 4,554

Rating: 4.5294118 out of 5

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Id: p6Yo53SwW8E

Length: 219min 6sec (13146 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 26 2021