Around the Track: Talladega

Jeff Burton felt like all there was to discuss was how the regulations have created a massive pack of up to 43 cars all circling the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway trioval in close proximity.

For the Nextel Cup Series' 29th race of the season, the driver of Richard Childress Racing's No. 31 Cingular Chevrolet addresses racing in such close proximity, how a big wreck can be avoided, what's a concern if an accident does happen and how Talladega might impact the Chase.

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You certainly go into the race with the mindset of 'let's miss the big wreck.' You have to think the big wreck is coming, and if you don't think the big wreck is coming, you haven't been watching racing very much.

Everyone says 'we're waiting on the big one.' Well, yes we are because the big one always happens.

All you can do is put yourself in position to run the best you can run. If the wreck happens in front of you, it happens in front of you. You have to just do your best not to cause the wreck. The thing about Talladega isn't so much the racetrack -- it's all the cars. You are going to be in a pack of 35 to 40 cars all day long.

You have to be very patient, take your time, pick a line and stay there.

The corners are wide enough to run three-wide. You can run four-wide for sure, but three-wide is very comfortable and four-wide is pushing it.

You'll see a lot of bump drafting. If done properly it's no problem, but if done wrong it can cause the big wreck.

I've used this analogy of Tony Stewart. I think he was running fifth at the time (at a restrictor plate race in Daytona Beach) and got up in the air and landed on his teammate's (Bobby Labonte) car that was running 20th.

There's something wrong with that situation, but there's nothing you can do about it with packs that big, other than not cause the wrecks because if nobody causes the wreck, then the wreck never happens.

It's just Talladega if you're running 20th and the fifth place guy wrecks and you have no place to go, but it's not 'just Talladega' for the guy that spun the fifth place guy out -- that's just a mistake.

Everybody blames the wrecks on the cars or the restrictor plates or says, 'that's just Talladega,' but at the end of the day we're the ones who control the gas pedals.

If nobody starts the wreck we never have them because these cars don't wreck themselves. So really, the only thing you can do is put yourself in a position of not causing the wreck, although that's easier said than done because it's very easy to cause a wreck.

Around the TrackJeff Burton and EASports take you for a lap at Talladega Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Once the wreck happens, there's not a lot you can do -- it's more about luck and where you are in reference to the cars that are wrecking around you.

Talladega's not just about wrecks, though -- because from a driver's seat, there are so many wrecks that don't happen.

I don't think the fans or even NASCAR has an appreciation for how many big wrecks are avoided because somebody just lifted at the right time or someone got himself in a hole and said to himself, 'Oh, I don't really need to be here' and he backs off.

I'm telling you it happens so many times. So when (a wreck) does happen, for us, it's no big surprise because we've been watching it for 100 laps and we're just sitting there waiting for it.

So at some point someone doesn't lift or doesn't know they need to lift and it all goes away.

It's because of instances like that that I think this race will have a huge impact on the Chase for the Nextel Cup. You cannot finish 43rd in this race, I don't think and still win the championship.

Because there are a lot of multi-car wrecks at Talladega, 'missing the big one' is something you'll hear all the guys in the Chase talk about.

They are not going to talk about winning this race -- they are going to talk about surviving this race. That's going to be a real key.

Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Cingular Chevrolet, will take fans Around the Track each race week during the 2005 Nextel Cup season.