Snapshot: fred's 250 at Talladega

Posted on October 17, 2014 by

Get up to speed for the 18th Camping World Truck Series race of 2014

What: Ninth annual fred’s 250 powered by Coca-Cola 
Where: Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama
When: Saturday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m. ET
TV: FOX
Distance: 94 laps, 250.04 miles
Defending race winner: Johnny Sauter

Pit road speed: 55 mph
Fuel window: 40 laps

On The Front Row | Full lineup
1. Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski Racing No. 19 Ford (186.827 mph)
2. Tayler Malsam, Turner Scott Motorsports No. 32 Chevrolet (186.714 mph)

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Fastest in practice: Ben Kennedy, No. 31 Chevrolet, Turner Scott Motorsports (188.902 mph)

Best consecutive 10-lap average: Darrell Wallace Jr., No. 54 Toyota, Kyle Busch Motorsports (181.877 mph)

Former winners in the field:  Johnny Sauter (2013)

About the sponsor:  fred’s is a discount general merchandise store with more than 700 locations centered around the southeastern United States.

Shake-and-bake: "Actually a couple days ago I was talking with some friends in Mexico. I talk very often with them and they asked me where is going to be my race this weekend, and I told them Mexico and Talladega and they told me, ‘Hey, Talladega like the movie?’ So, definitely there is a lot of history in this race track." — Daniel Suarez, who is making his first career Camping World Truck Series start this weekend

Not as easy as it looks: "It sounds simple — holding it wide open and being in the draft, but at the end of the day there is a lot of things that you can do with it. I’ll just be trying to learn as much as I can in practice and early in the race and be ready for when it matters." — Erik Jones, who is making his first start at Talladega

Keeping your head: "I’ve never raced at Talladega Superspeedway, but I already know that it’s going to be a wild one. Something crazy always happens here. We ran well in Daytona earlier this year and we’re bringing back the same truck, but I know Talladega can be a whole different animal. The key is racing smart so that you can make it to the last lap, and then it’s game on until you can cross the finish line." — Ben Kennedy, who is also making his first start at Talladega

Relying on fate: "Racing at Talladega is just like going out and buying a lottery ticket — you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. There’s just no telling — but you’ve got to play the game." — Matt Crafton, the defending series champion and current points leader

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Posted on October 17, 2014 by

Johnson on outside looking in on advancing to Eliminator Round

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson is in unfamiliar territory. A favorite coming in to the new elimination format of the post-season, Johnson is in position to be dropped from the list of title contenders come Sunday evening after the GEICO 500 (2 p.m. ET, ESPN). Yet the Hendrick Motorsports driver is quite relaxed. After all, it’s Talladega Superspeedway, and there’s no use preparing for what you can’t predict.

"Talladega takes a lot of pressure off of a driver until race time, because there’s not much you can do," Johnson said Friday before getting in his No. 48 Chevrolet for the first practice session of the weekend. "I think the majority right now of my head and the relaxed week and my calmness right now is just due to it being Talladega, and my job’s really not important until Sunday."

"And then, I’m sure, the pressure will kick in," he added.

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The No. 48 team’s take-it-as-it-comes attitude isn’t the only one in the garage. Jamie McMurray, driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing, was also expecting a low-key weekend until the green flag on Sunday.

"Talladega is one of the more laid-back weekends for all of us. It’s typically one practice to see if the car feels good," he said. "I’m glad they base qualifying if it gets rained out on your practice speed, because it gets all the cars on the lap for at least one session. Then it is pretty laid back for the rest of the weekend until the race starts. So, it is one of the calmer weekends we get to have.”

That’s not to say there won’t be any excitement at the 2.66-mile restrictor-plate track. Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in a position to be eliminated after a 39th-place finish at Kansas and another disappointing finish at Charlotte. Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth, who made contact on the track at Charlotte and later ended the evening with a scuffle, are also looking to move into one of the eight positions that will continue into the eliminator round.

Matt Kenseth is only one point behind eighth-place Kasey Kahne. Keselowski is 19 points out of the last transfer spot, with Johnson and Earnhardt each seven points behind Keselowski. A win is the only sure way for each of the five to advance.

"We’ve seen races very competitive and aggressive, we’ve also seen races where the lead group of cars decide to ride around the top and makes it a single file race," Johnson said. "There is no rhyme or reason why that happens. So I think its hard to predict what the race will be like. I can promise you, though, with four guys needing to win to transfer that at the end of the race there will definitely be some racing. It might just be us four at the bottom trying to find our way around or in a different lane trying to get to the front, but there’s at least four that have a really big reason to take chances and to be aggressive and to win."

Aggression and frustration seem to be the common themes woven through this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup storylines, especially in light of the relaxed preparation for the carnage that is always expected at Talladega. Both emotions were evident on Johnson’s radio last weekend, as the driver and his crew chief took part in an expletive-laden discussion about a poor-handling car. The brewing tensions that boiled over between Kenseth and Keselowski last weekend embodied that frustration, as well — and it’s clear that they haven’t been forgotten this week.

“I think there’s definitely an increase of intensity on the track and off the track; there’s no doubt about that," Ryan Newman, currently fourth in the Chase standings, said. "You’ve opened it up to more competitors, which makes the intensity even more. You get more attitudes and egos in there. That, I think, is kind of expected."

With one last chance to advance deeper into the Chase, Kenseth, Keselowski, Junior and Johnson aren’t there to make friends — as Kenseth and Keselowski proved last weekend. That also goes for the Hendrick Motorsports duo, whose other teammates, Jeff Gordon and Kahne, are sixth and eighth in the standings, respectively.

"At the end of a race, it doesn’t matter if it’s Junior or my mom or anybody –- I have to win," Johnson said. "My quest to win a seventh championship is the thing I’m most concerned about. I know my teammates are going to think the same way and have the same approach. We’re out there to win for our teams and ourselves to move on and have a shot at the championship."

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