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The fourth and final restrictor-plate event of the 36-race season is this Sunday at the vast 2.66-mile oval that is Talladega. And while 43 cars jockeying around in a tight pack at speeds nearing 200 mph does produce a few anxious moments for even the most veteran drivers, the anxiety level ratchets up a few notches more in October at Talladega when a championship is on the line.
For those at the top of the standings, namely Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle – all of whom are separated by only 30 points – Talladega is indeed worrisome. But for drivers like Stewart and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, who join Stewart at the bottom of the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings in the 10th and 12th positions, respectively, Talladega is simply opportunity, for there is nowhere to go but up.
Stewart in particular has high hopes for Sunday’s AMP Energy 500. The driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing has finished second at Talladega six times in his 10-year Sprint Cup career. And while the championship points that have come with those second-place finishes have been nice, Stewart can’t put them on display in his trophy room.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing:
Is the fall race at Talladega slightly more nerve-wracking, because when you’re in the Chase there’s more on the line?
“It is if you’re leading the points. I don’t think for us, with the situation we’re in, that it’s at all nerve-wracking. We’re looking at it as an opportunity to gain some points and positions. We can’t go much lower than where we are now, so unlike the teams ahead of us, we really don’t have to worry about losing points. I really never worried about it. Every time you’re at Talladega you try to take care of yourself and your equipment by not getting yourself in compromising positions that are going to take you out of an opportunity to get you to the end of the race. For me, it’s no different whether the race is in April during the regular season or in October when I’m in the Chase.”
You’ve finished second at Talladega six times in 19 career Sprint Cup races. But you finally earned a breakthrough win at Talladega back in April when you won the Nationwide Series race there. How much of a confidence booster was that win for you, especially in your return trip to Talladega this weekend?
“It’s a different deal in the Cup Series. It’s a different group of drivers and a different competition level. I’m just happy that I got a chance to finally win a race at Talladega. It’s a track that means a lot to me. We’ve got a ton of friends down there and colleagues from the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department there too. It’s a place I always look forward to running well because it means so much to me.”
You’ve been in Sprint Cup for 10 years. When you first started in the series, you seemed frustrated after getting out of the car at Daytona and Talladega because you weren’t used to the draft and that style of racing. Now, you appear to be a master of the draft. Do you feel like you’ve come full circle when it comes to restrictor-plate racing?
“If you’re smart, after 10 years, surely you’ll learn something. We’re not sending a space shuttle to the moon here, so it’s not like it was something that was out of our reach as far as trying to be able to learn. You hope that with 10 years of experience, you’d at least learn enough to keep yourself competitive. I don’t think we’re a master of the draft, but I do feel like we’ve learned enough about it. I think our record speaks for itself for how many laps we’ve led and where we’ve been. We obviously know how to get ourselves in position to win. It’s just sometimes finishing the race off has been the hard part.”
In order to win a restrictor-plate race, you’ve got to have drafting help. How do you get that help? Is it something you develop over time?
“I think it’s more a situation of guys finding the fast cars, and you finding the guys that you know are going to go with you because they know you’re quick. If they go with you, they’re going to get you to the front, which is going to get them to the front. It’s kind of ‘help me, help you.’”
