Notes: Juniors prepare for final race together at DEI (cont'd)

If anyone thought Biffle didn't deserve to win last Sunday's LifeLock 400 (Race Review), in which he crossed the finish line with his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford struggling to extract the last of its fuel supply from the system, consider this: Biffle was in the top 10 for 194 of the race's 210 laps.

Favorite to some

Jimmie Johnson is considered a leading contender to win a second consecutive Cup title, but Chad Knaus says the 48 isn't the frontrunner.

• Complete story, click here

The next highest driver in that statistical category was Tony Stewart, who spent 151 laps there but didn't finish the race after being involved in two accidents in the day's final 55 laps.

When he talked about his lack of concern for his own personal safety versus losing points if he were to be involved in a "big one" at Talladega, Johnson brought his concern about Biffle's "questionable" win into perfect focus, though.

"I don't have any concerns [about my personal safety]. The racing itself [at Talladega] is a lot of fun but when you have this much to lose the racing isn't fun. It'd be nice if this race was in a different setting where it wasn't so much to lose here and then you could go out and have a blast. I don't have a fear for safety, just a fear of losing points."

Burton: Veterans can wreck, too

Richard Childress Racing veteran Jeff Burton, with 27 career starts at Talladega says he has no qualms about potentially racing at Talladega with Nextel Cup newcomer Jacques Villeneuve, who will make his series debut Sunday. (read more)

"I think that they're good drivers, they're skilled and I think that they obviously have the ability -- the only thing in question is the experience and the question is would they be better off and the rest of the field be better off for them having more experience somewhere else?" Burton said. "The answer is probably yes. Having said all that, if you watch these races most of the wrecks in these races start in front with the guys that normally run in the front so I'm contradicting myself a little bit because ... the veterans always cause the wrecks. So I've always thought that was an interesting phenomenon."

Carl Edwards has nowhere near as many Talladega starts as Burton, just six, but he's got a similar philosophy about newcomers.

"Somehow we manage to wreck cars without those guys. If we wreck them with those guys, that's fine," Edwards said. "I don't think those guys will be the deciding factor. I hope they're not.

"The bottom line is we all have to start somewhere and, like I said, we've wrecked each other without Jacques Villeneuve in this race plenty of times. I have a feeling with all the pressure he has, he'll be fine."

Earnhardt agreed.

"I get excited about being out there on the track with guys like [Villeneuve] and Juan [Montoya] that have won the Indy 500 and Formula One championships. That's awesome for me to be out there racing hard with them. Jacques doesn't have much experience in these cars, but he's a world champ -- he'll do OK.

"Hell, he can't be any worse than some of the other guys we've got out there."

Have you ever seen a 'bird-pile?'

Edwards had an interesting observation about Nextel Cup drivers sometimes being able to avoid wrecks -- likening them to birds, of all things.

"All of the drivers are so good," Edwards said. "I've been in situations here where it's like a flock of birds when they all change directions at once. All of the drivers in this garage are good enough to do that.

"If everybody is in a line and a guy in front has a problem and everyone sees it, we can all turn at the same time. But when you get a little bit of a delay, you get that effect where everybody piles up. I think that's gonna be a bigger factor now than it was, so if guys leave more room and are a little more careful, it'll all be even, but I have a feeling the last couple of laps when everybody is pushing and pushing, it's gonna be real tough because you can't see beyond the guy in front of you. Maybe some other guys can, but I can't."

Kahne waffles on plates

Asked Friday about restrictor-plate racing, Kasey Kahne did a pretty good job of summing it up, but he acted like he couldn't make his mind up.

"It's pretty fun," Kahne said. "It's pretty intense, pretty on edge. Things can happen. You can just be riding along and the next thing you know you're crashed.

"I think you are going to see cars all together. I think people are going to be pretty aggressive. It's going to be pretty wild. At the end of the day it's going to be pretty fun as long as you can push your car into the trailer."

But he's strong on Riggs

Kahne was more definitive about losing Scott Riggs as a Gillett Evernham Motorsports teammate after this season. (read more)

"I really think Scott's done a good job for what he's been given over the last two years -- I feel like it's been tough for all of us," Kahne said. "We made it into the top 35 this year early on and he never did. He's never been able to get there and it's been really hard for him and his team. It's just been a rough year.

"They're not going to be able to replace him with anybody better."