Robby Gordon was fastest in Saturday's first practice. Credit: Autostock

Final practice at Talladega a mixed bag

Some teams work hard, others take it easy Saturday

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Different strategies were interspersed with minor problems in a pair of caution-free 45-minute practice sessions Saturday morning at Talladega Superspeedway.

And given the vagaries of the art of drafting and trying not to play your hand, only one Chase for the Nextel Cup contender was in the top 10 in the first session, while three championship contenders were in the top 10 in Happy Hour.

	J.J. Yeley led Saturday's final practice. Credit: Autostock
	Happy Hour Speeds UAW-Ford 500 Pos. Driver Make 1. J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 2. R. Gordon Chevrolet 3. J. Burton Chevrolet 4. D. Blaney Chevrolet 5. R. Wallace Dodge Happy Hour Speeds, click here 2nd Practice Speeds, click here

But Robby Gordon, whose No. 7 Chevrolet was fastest in the first practice with a lap in 49.423 seconds, an average speed of 193.756 mph; and second fastest in the second at 49.431/193.725, cited a couple other men as true contenders.

"Don't ever count out Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony (Stewart) looks really strong and Kurt Busch, I was running behind him for a long time there and I had a hard time (passing) even with Dale Jr. behind me," Gordon said. "I tried to move high a couple times and Dale went with me and we still couldn't clear (Busch), so I think he's got a pretty strong racecar."

Gordon said a dark horse might come from somewhere, and he cited himself as a candidate.

"Our car was pretty good, we got to get out there and run with some other cars," Gordon said. "We got to do a little bump drafting because at Daytona (Pepsi 400) we knocked the nose in, and we've gone back and reconfigured the whole front end of this racecar, so we can do a little pushing down the straightaway.

"I promise you, you don't want to push in the corners, but you do want to have something that you can push on the straightaways and not cave it in like we did at Daytona -- so I think our car is pretty fast."

Gordon said he had done a lot of work on brake bias, going so far as to flat spot his right-front tire on his last run as he came to pit road and flatten it as he drove to his garage stall.

"We worked on our braking, getting down into pit lane," Gordon said. "We've got to reconfigure some brake pads and master cylinders and stuff like that -- but we did it on purpose, just making sure we're good when it comes times to stop.

"If you can get four or five guys coming onto pit lane -- that's how I won that 125 (Gatorade Qualifying Race) at Daytona a couple years ago."

Following Gordon in practice one was Mike Bliss' No. 0 Chevy (193.263 mph), Travis Kvapil's No. 77 Dodge (193.166), Ken Schrader's No. 49 Dodge (193.022) and Chase contender Matt Kenseth's No. 17 Ford (192.975).

	Wallace is winless in 71 restrictor-plate starts. Credit: Autostock
	Lineup UAW-Ford 500 Pos. Driver Make 1. E. Sadler Chevrolet 2. D. Jarrett Ford 3. R. Newman Dodge 4. T. Stewart Chevrolet 5. J. Nemechek Chevrolet Complete Lineup, click here Up in smokeWallace loses an engine in qualifying at Talladega Pole winnerSadler nabs his third pole of 2005 at Talladega Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Rookie J.J. Yeley's No. 11 Chevy led Happy Hour with a lap in 49.382 seconds, 193.917 mph. Following Gordon was Jeff Burton's No. 31 Chevy (193.462), teammate Dave Blaney's No. 07 Chevy (193.388) and Rusty Wallace's No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge (193.333).

Seven cars didn't bother to practice in Happy Hour, including the front row starters, Robert Yates Racing teammates Elliott Sadler and Dale Jarrett.

"The car drives good and it sucks up good in the draft, so it's ready to go race," Jarrett said after one session. "You've got to know what your car is going to do and to make sure everything is OK, so you have to practice, some."

Wallace was one man who was pleased after practice. Wallace broke an engine qualifying, which relegated him to 41st on the grid Sunday, and he was only 32nd in the first practice. But his Charger improved in Happy Hour.

Fellow Chase contenders Mark Martin (sixth) and Stewart (10th) joined him in that session's top 10.

"The car is in good shape," Wallace said. "We blew that engine yesterday but we put a new one in and right now, it's up to speed and running great. The engine that's in it now is every bit as strong as the one I had in it yesterday, so I haven't left anything on the table at all, except I've got to start at the back.

"I put the same exact set-up in it as I ran in the spring, I went out and it felt perfect," Wallace said. "That's the thing about Talladega -- even if you've got some mistakes in the chassis, Talladega seems to eat them all up.

Wallace ran only a low-end total of 16 laps in the first session -- and only 13 in Happy Hour.

"That was the reason I kind of stopped a little early," Wallace said. "I knew I had my car handling good and those guys were just practicing relentlessly again -- three-wide, four-wide and four-wide through the trioval, so I just said, 'Geez.'

"I felt bad that I got into Tony, when he and I touched going through the trioval, because that could have been the big one. I was dead sideways coming through the trioval when we just met at one point."

Wallace said there were plusses and minuses to be gained.

"There's a lot to be learned, because you've got to know if your plug checks are right and all that," Wallace said. "But on the other hand, we started this race with no practice last time and had no problem whatsoever.

"Talladega is the great equalizer. It's a track that eats up a lot of mistakes in your chassis, if you do have any. There are guys, sometimes you look alongside you and you have no idea who they are -- and that's the reason this track is the great equalizer."

The biggest impacts from Saturday's practices came for Joe Nemechek, who broke the engine in his No. 01 Army Chevrolet after 22 laps in the first practice; and to Casey Mears and Michael Waltrip, who will have to drop to the rear of the field Sunday for transmission changes.

Nemechek was slated to line up fifth, while Waltrip had qualified his No. 15 Chevrolet 25th, next to Mears' No. 41 Dodge.

Nemechek was not particularly concerned, as his slate of laps in the first session were enough to determine how well his car was performing. It also pointed up the "less is better" strategy employed by a number of teams, including the six cars that did not bother to roll out in Happy Hour.

"We were just about ready to come in, get a tire sheet and call that practice over," Nemechek said. "We were just lucky that it happened when it did, because the way our luck's been this year, most of the time that would have happened during the race when the points counted.

"Starting in the back doesn't really matter. The U.S. Army Chevy drove good and we were able to go from the back to the front, so it just depends what line you're in and who you're around, and you can go."