From what I've noticed, there's an announcer that very well could be loaded up on the sauce in the booth. "Woooaaahhh, Kubitza (Kubica) gets nasty hard on the brakes pulling into the pits! He'll be lucky if he didn't bleeewww out a muffler bearing on that one." I like that guy, he makes it worth tuning in for awhile.

There is some truth to what Byron says. Or there was at one time and not that long ago. For instance, in Richard Petty's last year of driving, he "won" the pole at the Daytona 500. He was 10th by the 2nd lap and 30th before long. They let him have a bigger restrictor plate for qualifying. I guess that was kind of a way to honor a man like Petty who was not up to speed for a few years.

My B-I-law was in charge of the South Central Bell phones at the track for many years. They worked for 2 weeks out there before each race stringing wire, upgrading and repairing. There was always a 2 phone secure line from Bill France's suite to the stater stand. NO radios there. Draw you own conclusions.

FWIW, drivers that have a choice because they are driving part time like Bill Elliot and Mark Martin (last year) skip Talladega for good reason. The problem is NASCAR doesn't know what to do about the 2.5 mile tracks. Qualifying is faster at several tracks that don't use restrictor plates. W/o them, qualifying and race speeds would be beyond reasonable. Elliot ran 212 MPH in a Thunderbird 22 years ago the last time the race was run on the track w/o a plate.

In 2004, Rusty Wallace ran a test lap w/o a plate at an average of 221 MPH hitting well over 230 on the long back straight. That was as fast as Donohue drove the 917 Porsche in 1975.

I think Talladega would be well served by a change in the back straight that would provide a high speed chicane. Sorta like a mirror image of the dog leg front. And, that would differentiate Talladega from Daytona.

Look at JR after his dad was killed, one race he cut through the grass, no problem, the next week, someone else dropped 2 wheels over the line, but they had to drop to the back of the pack:confused: Then, look at what has happened to the Rolex 24 a few years back, when they were still building JR's star status, the ran most of the night under yellow, and it wasn't raining hard, not nearly as hard as other years, then they Red flagged it:mad: The Rolex is being run more like nascar every year. When I had clients in GA & SC in the 90 as a parts rep, I got to talking to some of those Good ol Boys about the movie (I had never been interested in short attenion span racing before meeting these guys) and one of the old timers explained what scenes in the movie were true and the real stries behind them. Other shops in other states had guys with the same stories, and they didn't varie. One thing they would say (some weeks you could tell they were not happy, other very happy) shops would get a call "Suggesting" they check the restricker plates, other times they were told to go for it.. All I know is guys who worked in the, and I use this term loosely, "Sport" tell me who to watch and who "may" be fast and 90% of the time, they were correct in what they told me, use to piss of an old girlfriend who was a major fan:p

Lore is a funny thing. It's gets told and retold and before you know it, none of it is true. I didn't spend a lot of time looking up and comparing stats, just this one page I referenced at the bottom. So if it's wrong, then my bad.

In July 1992 during his farewell tour, he did qual 2nd in the Pepsi 400 which is run at Daytona. He led 5 laps early, but retired from the race later due to fatigue. He was in his mid 50's by then and it was probably a hot-humid July day in Daytona.

His last pole was 1979.

http://www.racing-reference.info/driver?id=pettyri01

There's no doubt that 20+ years ago NASCAR was like a gunfight. You had to cheat to beat the other cheaters. That no longer exists to the degree it once did. Cheaters are now scorned, not only by the owners but by their sponsors. There is too much at stake on both ends to tolerate blatant cheating. The new rule books have been rewritten so many times, the infamous "gray areas" are all but removed. Ask Michael Waltrip about cheating... he almost lost his Toyota backed team before it began.

As for Dale Jr., yeah, I think there was a little favoritism. Ironically, no one was madder and more embarrased about it more than Dale himself. He is genuine and carries a tremendous load day in day out for his sport. He does not seek any special treatment.

Again, I think most of this and what you write about in the 90's is past-tense. There are just too many billions at stake to think NASCAR would endorse or tolerate cheating. Like any governing body, they won't please everyone all the time.

Okay, I'm done and I'm not going to defend or debate NASCAR ethics or whether it's a sport. If you can't appreciate the efforts of these drivers, then your head is in the sand and nothing anyone could say would make a difference anyway.

Well said, Terry!

Jimmy Johnson also said after he 'got crashed'... "I hate this place" on camera. I lost interest when the dailey rule changes started happening and it became spec racing. They should call the cars like any other form of racing @ Porsche/Riley, Lexus/Riley. Ford/Nascar, Chevy/Nascar, Toyota/Nascar, etc.

Sorry, I have to disagree with you, I was working a pit a few down from his during his 2nd 24HR race, he would climb out of the car whining about driving in the rain & at night, nothing but a pussy fro the display that I saw, at that time,m and when that race was run all night under caution after he spun in the infield a few time, no one else was, but since he couldn't drive, whined & cried, most of the track was misty, yet they ran a full course caution:confused: If you really think nascar fdoesn't hand on choose the tops in class, I have some swamp land to sell you. Now, I'm only saying what I have seen at the track, while crewing, and from those who biuld the cars, not TV or websites. And having been on teams racing in the Rolex, before & after the changes, I can tell you, that Rule Book does bend, sometimes a whole lot. Sponsors & popularity choose the winner more than the drivers & equal cars do... If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't feel so strongly about it.