Notes: Gale gets big start at home track of Talladega (cont'd)

Ambrose, Wallace back In The groove?

The collective sigh that emanated Sunday from Mexico City was let loose by two drivers who came into this season with high expectations but thus far hadn't delivered.

Marcos Ambrose collected a runner-up finish, not a surprise for the veteran of road-course racing. More surprising was the career-best result for the Aussie, his first top-10 since last year's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway (10th).

Steve Wallace was due for his breakthrough top-10 finish but few figured it would be on a road course in his 61st start. Wallace finished 10th in Mexico and moved to 14th in the rankings, tying his career-best standing. He was 26th at Talladega in 2007.

Ambrose, who finished eighth in the final standings last year, had understandably lofty goals for 2008, but it's been his JTG Racing teammate, Kelly Bires, who's been the leader for the organization.

Bires is 10th in the standings and will make his track debut at Talladega. Ambrose was 25th at last year's race.

In The Loop

Saturday's race at Talladega Superspeedway looks like a perfect opportunity for Clint Bowyer to put some space between himself and a hard-charging Carl Edwards.

Edwards tightened the gap with a fourth-place finish at Mexico City last weekend, closing to within nine points of the series-leading Bowyer.

Now comes the unpredictable nature of Talladega, where Bowyer has performed well in the Nationwide Series (as opposed to his 30.2 average finish in the Cup Series). Bowyer finished fifth there in 2006 and 13th the last time the series raced at Talladega in 2007. In the last three races, Bowyer has a driver rating of 93.8, an average running position of 10.5 and has run 70.9 percent of the laps in the top 15.

Edwards, though solid with two consecutive 10th-place runs at Talladega, hasn't been as statistically strong as Bowyer. In his Nationwide Series career at Talladega, Edwards has a driver rating of 87.4, an average running position of 14.8 and has run 67.5 percent of the laps in the top 15.

Also watch for a strong run by David Ragan, who sits fifth in the standings. In his only series start at Talladega, Ragan scored a fourth-place finish, had a driver rating of 100.1, an average running position of 10.8 and ran 66.7 percent of the laps in the top 15.

Of the series regulars, watch for a solid run from David Stremme, who returns to the track for the first time since 2005. He finished fourth in that race, earned a driver rating of 89.1 and an average running position of 12.5.