Amp Energy 500 Qualifying Update

Talladega Superspeedway -- 10/05/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Saturday Oct 4 2008 11:57pm

Is Dale Earnhardt Jr. the latest victim of the long-rumored Talladega curseΔ

In case you are unfamiliar with the story of the curse, here it is in a nutshell (please excuse any political incorrectness): Legend has it that the land where the track was built was either an Indian burial ground or sacred land. Years ago, when Bill France announced plans to build a NASCAR track here, the Indian tribe sent a "medicine man" who asked France not to do so. France ignored the plea and built anyway. The medicine man responded by placing a curse on the site.

Is the story trueΔ No one knows for sure, but one part of the Talladega folklore involves NASCAR driver Bobby Isaac, whose accomplishments include winning the 1970 NASCAR Cup championship and setting a world closed-course speed record of 201.104 mph at the track that same year.

According to the website LegendsOfNascar.com, "In 1973, Bobby was
driving for Bud Moore. On August 12, during the middle of the Talladega
500, Bobby Isaac was leading the race when he pulled his car off the
track and into the pits and quit. He simply pulled in and got out of the car
and quit. It was said that he had heard a voice telling him to get out of
the car."

Isaac never raced full-time again.

I bring up the legend of the curse because of the bizarre events that befell Dale Jr. during practice on Friday. In the first practice session, Junior had been on the track for just eight laps when he experienced an engine problem necessitating an engine change. Then, just a few laps into second practice, Earnhardt's right rear tire exploded without warning, taking out the entire right rear quarter panel of his car.

Also involved in the practice crash were David Gilliland, Tony Stewart, David Reutimann, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne. Earnhardt Jr. and Bowyer, both in backup cars, will start at the rear of the field.

Despite the odd occurrences, Earnhardt Jr. is upbeat about his chances Sunday. His primary car was his Shootout car, but the backup is his Daytona 500 car which delivered a 9th-place finish in February.

The two Friday practice sessions were the only ones for this race, as Talladega is one of just a handful of impound races this season in which teams are prohibited from working on their cars after qualifying.

The first practice was paced by Jeff Burton in a Chevrolet with a 195.880 mile per hour lap, while second practice was topped by Brian Vickers (+2500) in a Toyota at 192.699 mph. Vickers ran in the top 10 in both practices, as did Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne (+3500), and Mike Skinner. A number of top teams, however, chose not to run the second practice.

As one might expect on an impound weekend, many of the top qualifiers were teams not normally seen up front, including Travis Kvapil, whose 187.354 mph lap gave him his first pole in 100 Cup starts.

Following Kvapil on the starting grid are Casey Mears, Aric Almirola, Regan Smith and Paul Menard.

Rounding out the top 10 are Mike Wallace, Joe Nemechek, Tony Raines, Brian Vickers and Martin Truex Jr. (+4000).

Sam Hornish Jr. and Patrick Carpentier failed to qualify. Regan Smith was the only Rookie of the Year candidate to make the field.

Below are the betting nascar odds of the 12 Chase contenders as of Saturday evening, along with their starting positions (in parenthesis), in order of their current points standing:

1. Jimmie Johnson (+700) - 20th
2. Carl Edwards (+1200) - 12th (highest of the Chaser contenders)
3. Greg Biffle (+2500) - 22nd
4. Jeff Burton (+2500) - 17th
5. Kevin Harvick (+1800) - 39th
6. Jeff Gordon (+500) - 26th
7. Clint Bowyer (+3000) - 35th
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+600) - 15th (starts in back; qualifying spot
will help with pit selection)
9. Matt Kenseth (+2500) - 31st
10. Denny Hamlin (+1200) - 36th
11. Tony Stewart (+700) - 34th
12. Kyle Busch (+600) - 37th

In 78 Cup races at Talladega, 31 have been won from the front row, 47 from a top-5 starting spot, and 57 from the top 10. The deepest starting spot for a race winner was 36th - Jeff Gordon in the spring of 2000.

In other notes, this year's Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman (+2000) will be racing with four stitches in his head after sustaining a lawnmower injury. Newman doesn't expect it to be a problem, though he said the helmet causes some discomfort. Jeff Gordon is still not 100% after last week's severe head cold, but will be fine in the car. Casey Mears (+4000) has Brad Keselowski on standby in case Mears' girlfriend, who is expecting and near her due date, goes into labor.

At this point in the season, Jimmie Johnson has to be considered the presumptive favorite until proven otherwise.