| By Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
April 28, 2005
03:16 PM EDT (19:16 GMT)
ATLANTA -- The good news for Jeff Gordon is that he won the most recent restrictor-plate race in the Nextel Cup Series -- the Daytona 500 earlier this year. More good news: Gordon is the defending winner of this weekend's Aaron's 499 at Talladega.  | | |
| Inside the Numbers |
In his 24 career starts at Talladega Superspeedway,
Jeff Gordon has 10 top-fives |
| Date |
Start |
Finish |
| April 30, 1995 |
6 |
2 |
| July 28, 1996 |
2 |
1 |
| May 10, 1997 |
11 |
5 |
| April 26, 1998 |
6 |
5 |
| Oct. 11, 1998 |
6 |
2 |
| April 16, 2000 |
36 |
1 |
| Oct. 15, 2000 |
8 |
4 |
| April 21, 2002 |
10 |
4 |
| Sept. 28, 2003 |
5 |
5 |
| April 25, 2004 |
11 |
1 |
|
|
Here's the bad news: Gordon's best restrictor-plate car -- the car he won the Daytona 500 with -- is on display at Daytona USA and won't be available for Gordon to use this weekend. "It took about five or six months to build the car that's in Daytona USA," Gordon said. "You hate to lose a good car that the team spent so much time on, but it's an honor to have it there and to be the 2005 Daytona 500 championship team." But... "With only two months since that win, the team hasn't had enough time to build a new one so we'll bring another car out of our stable." As back-up cars go, "Limbo," as the car is being called, isn't that bad. Gordon won last year's Pepsi 400 and last year's Aaron's 499 with the car. Gordon says while it's easy to lump Daytona and Talladega together, the two restrictor-plate tracks are far from the same. "Talladega is not a handling track while Daytona is," Gordon said. "At Daytona, the car must handle well through the corners. At Talladega, handling is not much of an issue." Still, working well with others is always an issue at restrictor-plate tracks. "During the race, you'll work with teammates and other drivers to put yourself in the best possible position," Gordon said. "But don't expect too much. You can work with a driver all race long, just don't expect them to be your friend when a victory is on the line. "I enter this weekend's race knowing I don't have any friends, but hoping I don't have any enemies." FOX had a few less friends tuning in last Saturday night for the race at Phoenix. The Subway Fresh 500 drew a 4.5 overnight rating and an 8 share. That is the lowest rating for any Nextel Cup Series race so far this season. A rating point represents 1,096,000 homes. A share is the percentage of the households watching television at any given time. Mike Wallace, Martin Truex and Michael Waltrip are among the guests scheduled for Trackside this week at Talladega. If you're heading there this weekend, the SPEED Stage truck will be located outside the track near Turns 1 and 2 near the family campgrounds. In this week's "Ask The Producer," Tom Snead of parts unknown wants to know if he's missed something on recent FOX broadcasts. "I have not seen the brake cameras this year. Are you using them at all or did I just miss them? It is interesting to see the effects of braking on the rotors." |  | | NASCAR on FOX producer Neil Goldberg |
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NASCAR on FOX producer Neil Goldberg said changes to the NASCAR schedule has affected his production in that respect. "Thanks for watching NASCAR on FOX. You did not miss it," Goldberg said. "We usually do the brake camera at Martinsville. Due to the new impound rule that is effect at a number of the tracks, we were not able to get it installed. "Everyone is adjusting to this new rule and it has affected TV as well. The camera usually get installed after practice. In this case the cars were impounded and nobody could touch them." Each week, we'll choose one fan's question to ask a NASCAR on FOX producer. Does something on the broadcast leave you shaking your head? Have you always wondered how or why the TV crew does something? Use the link to the right to e-mail your question and you just might read the answer right here. In this week's version of "The Rant," Shirley X. of California says watching a race just isn't enough for her anymore. |  | EMAIL | |
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"Why is it that qualifying and all the practice sessions are no longer on TV for the person who doesn't have SPEED Channel? We sure do miss them. You don't only get your fix on Sunday but build up to the big one (so to speak, the Sunday race). "We have watched NASCAR for several years and I have to tell you that we are all disappointed because we don't get them (all the practices during the week) anymore. Now to this weekend's schedule: Track: Talladega Superspeedway • 2.66-mile oval
• 33-degree banking in turns
• Length of frontstretch: 4,300 feet
• Length of backstretch: 4,000 feet Race length: 188 laps/500.08 miles TV schedule (All times ET) • NASCAR Live: Noon Fri., SPEED
• NASCAR Live: 1 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• NASCAR Live: 3 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• Bud Pole Qualifying: 4 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• Trackside: 7 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• NASCAR Live: Noon Sat., SPEED
• NASCAR Performance: 6:30 p.m. Sat., SPEED
• NASCAR Live: 7:30 p.m. Sat., SPEED
• NASCAR This Morning: 11 a.m. Sun., SPEED
• Pre-race: 12:30 p.m. Sun., FOX
• Race: 1:20 p.m. Sun., FOX One year ago, Gordon seized the lead from Dale Earnhardt Jr. with six laps remaining and barely beat him in a controversial finish, ending DEI's winning streak at Talladega Superspeedway. The most recent checkered flag went to Kurt Busch, who got Roush Racing its fourth win in eight races this season after a dominating performance at Phoenix International Raceway. Keep an eye on DEI. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has five career wins at Talladega, has jumped from 26th to 12th in the point standings over the past four weeks, a stretch that includes top-five finishes at Bristol and Phoenix, a top-10 finish at Texas and a 13th-place finish at Martinsville. Waltrip, with one career win at Talladega, has mirrored Earnhardt Jr.'s recent improvement. Mired at 30th in the standings three weeks ago, he ranks 18th heading to Talladega thanks to a sixth-place finish at Texas and last week's runner-up effort at Phoenix. Track: Talladega Superspeedway • 2.66-mile oval
• 33-degree banking in turns
• Length of frontstretch: 4,300 feet
• Length of backstretch: 4,000 feet Race length: 117 laps/312 miles TV schedule (All times ET) • Busch Pole Qualifying: 5 p.m. Thurs., SPEED
• Race: 2 p.m. Sat., FOX One year ago, Martin Truex Jr. beat his Chance 2 Motorsports boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., to snag his second career Busch Series victory. The most recent checkered flag went to Greg Biffle, who spun early, but came out on top at the end of a wild Bashas' Supermarkets 200 on Friday night at Phoenix. After 14 caution periods and two red flags, Biffle beat second-place Elliott Sadler by more than two seconds. Keep an eye on Joe Nemechek. Nemechek has two wins at Talladega, most recently in 2000. He also has five Busch poles there. His pole run of 193.517 mph in 1997 still stands as the qualifying record for this event. Track: Gateway International Raceway • 1.25-mile oval
• 11-degree banking in Turns 1 and 2
• 9-degree banking in Turns 3 and 4
• Length of frontstretch: 1,922 feet
• Length of backstretch: 1,976 feet Race distance: 160 laps/200 miles TV schedule (All times ET) • Race: 8 p.m. Sat., SPEED One year ago, David Starr became only the second driver in Craftsman Truck Series history to win by leading only the final lap, bumping his way to victory last July. The most recent checkered flag went to Bobby Labonte, who became the 12th driver to win in all three of NASCAR's major series when he held off Ricky Craven to capture the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway. Keep an eye on Rick Crawford and Jack Sprague. Each of them are the only drivers to have three top-five finishes at Gateway. Mark Spoor is an interactive producer for NASCAR.COM. The Domino's Viewer's Guide runs each Thursday during race weeks. | 
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