Talladega Fights

I hope you took my advice and watched the Nextel Cup race from Talladega yesterday. The newly-paved 2.6 mile high-banked sAlabama peedway provided the perfect platform for an outstanding race and a wild finish. The cars were running in tight packs all day and for the most part the drivers were on their best behavior. After a largely caution free race, things got wild in the last 50 laps or so.

A couple of multi-car wrecks led to a shootout with just a few laps to go. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had to the car to beat all day and was leading as he, Jimmie Johnson and Brian Vickers took the white flag (one lap to go) running nose to tail. Johnson and Vickers are ostensibly teammates (more on that later) and should have been able to team up and pass Earnhardt on the last lap. Earnhardt tried to make his car as wide as possible, but as they cars entered the backstretch, Johnson pulled out to pass and as Vickers pulled over to follow Johnson, the nose of his car tapped the right rear of Johnson. Johnson was turned into Earnhardt and the two leaders went spinning into the infield. The caution was thrown, freezing the field, and giving the win to Vickers, the guy who caused the wreck. It was a very unpopular win among the thousands of Budweiser red-clad fans and they let Vickers know about it when he climbed out of the car in Victory Lane.

Although this represents Vickers' first Nextel Cup win, I wouldn't be surprised if it's also his last race for his current team. Vickers was already planning to leave Hendrick motorsports for a new team in 2007, and had in fact been banned from Hendrick team meetings. His relationship with the team was tense at best, and with Johnson running for the championship and getting taken out by a "teammate", it will be interesting to see how Hendrick responds.

The Chase for the Championship has added a lot of drama to the Nextel Cup season, and this latest race will stir things up even more. Thanks to a late flat tire on the points leader's car (Jeff Burton), the points race is now very tight - just the way Nascar and the TV networks wanted it.