Q: During last Sunday’s Texas NASCAR race, a car spun during the last 10 laps, barely touched the wall, and kept going at speed. NASCAR threw a three-lap yellow. Why? After getting the green with about six laps left, another car spun, kept going and another yellow was thrown causing the race to go into overtime. Why these unnecessary yellows? Total nonsense!
Jerry, Houston, TX
KELLY CRANDALL: NASCAR will tell you that no two incidents are the same and every incident is looked at differently. There are certainly times when it appears the tower is quick on the trigger. As to why those particular cautions were called, I can’t give you an exact reason because I wasn’t in the tower and don’t know their reasoning. But officials were either quick to hit the button because they thought the incident was going to be worse than it was, or they saw debris or something that was warranted to slow the field down.
Q: First, I will say that the weather gods were with NASCAR this past weekend in Talladega. Looking at the forecast on Friday morning, it looked like odds would be more in favor of a Monday race. But whatever nasty weather that was forecasted all weekend appeared to move out quick, as it was blue skies for this past Sunday’s race.
And second, I would assume that the folks at Ford are probably not yet over what could’ve been on Sunday. The Blue Ovals dominated and were up front all day, and were just a couple hundred yards from their first win of the season. Now they must wait yet another week to seek that elusive first win of 2024!
Kevin, Arizona
KC: The forecast didn’t look good all weekend and yet everything was on track as scheduled all three days. It’s why NASCAR doesn’t make decisions early in the week when people look at a weather app and think they know what’s going to happen. As for the last lap, it could not have gone worse for Ford and a fellow media colleague and I said that to each other on pit road. There were three Fords clear of the field coming off Turn 4 and a Toyota won. But it’s been a theme with Ford at the superspeedways — they are dominant and fast but it’s someone else going to victory lane.
Q: I’m planning on going to Talladega for the fall race. I’ve been to the Indy 500 25 times so familiar with parking, places to stay, getting in and out of the track, pit passes, places to sit…
Any suggestions for a first visit to Talladega? Where to stay, where to sit, parking, getting in and out, local bars and restaurants?
Big Possum
KC: Talladega Superspeedway is a great experience. The crowd and atmosphere are always fun and there is plenty to do in the fan zone. A lot of folks stay in Birmingham during race weekend, but it honestly comes down to how much you are willing to spend. There are plenty of options from Anniston to Oxford to Pell City to Birmingham. And all of those areas have plenty of restaurants — local and chain. One of my favorites is a Mexican restaurant (El Patron in Lincoln) off Route 77. As for seating, Talladega Superspeedway is huge, so my suggestion (having never sat in the grandstands there) would be high up so you can try and see as much as possible. And judging by where most of the crowd sits, I would lean toward the trioval or Turn 1 since the start/finish line is after the pit exit. The parking situation is pretty straightforward because the property is so huge there are plenty of options that use the main entrance.
THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, April 22, 2015
Q: Recently on Australian TV they showed highlights of the 1964 and 1973 Indy 500s. It was interesting to see all the names you often mention in your articles for the first time. My question is, did you get to have any of Mother Unser’s chili?
Mark Scriven, Brisbane, Australia
ROBIN MILLER: Oh yeah. They rushed me to the Hanna infield medical facility with third degree burns.