2009 AMP Energy 500 Reflections

I came to the AMP Energy 500, my seventh consecutive Talladega  weekend, ready to see Carl Edwards right the wrongs from the Aaron’s 499 in April. It was a cool, sometimes cold, weekend that featured a Mountain Dew 250 ran late in the evening and won by Kyle Busch with a push from his teammate Aric Almirola. We sat in the Moss-Thornton Tower, section E, right on Start/Finish. I was pulling for Rick Crawford, who made a late race charge to the front, but he was wrecked by Mike Skinner. Sunday morning was cool, but dry. The sun made for a nice day at the track. Many people would comment that the race was “boring” but I find every race at Talladega unique in some way. This race featured several laps where the entire field was in a single-file line. My driver, Carl Edwards, played his usual smart strategy of riding in the back to avoid “The Big One” but could not muster a run to the front in the end. Jamie McMurray held off charges from several drivers late in the race to claim victory after a green-white-checker finish was cut short by a crash in the tri-oval on the final lap. Overall, I believe NASCAR’s ruling to disallow bump drafting did lead to a less exciting race but I’m sure they will work on it for 2010. Happy HALLOW-DEGA!

No Track Comes Close To Matching Talladega Eight Races Into Chase

A fact lost in the furor surrounding the competition during the AMP Energy 500, is that Talladega Superspeedway produced at least 10,000 more green-flag passes than any other Chase track and doubled the next-closest amount of lead changes with 58.

Talladega Superspeedway produced 13,438 green-flag passes during the AMP Energy 500 on Nov. 1.  The most competitive race behind that was Lowe’s Motor Speedway, with 3,170 green-flag passes.  Auto Club Speedway in California produced 29 lead changes among 9 different drivers, half of Talladega’s 58 lead changes among 25 different drivers.  What makes Talladega’s number even more impressive is that the AMP Energy 500 is typically only a 188-lap event, the fewest number of laps among Chase tracks in which a lead change can be recorded. 

“I believe it’s important that we keep things in perspective as we look back at the 2009 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup,” said Talladega Superspeedway President Rick Humphrey.  “Talladega has a tradition of some of the best and most competitive racing in NASCAR and once the stats are taken into account, I think tradition was upheld.” 

Likes/Dislikes

Loved Kids Zone - especially the air wrench tire change station, spent an hour there with our six year old. Maybe more pit crew activities would be fun.  Did like Champions Corners campground - it is the best, loved the hosts!  Loved the courtesy golf cart drivers that helped my husband get around because he had total knee replacement surgery in September, that made our trip. Did not like all the smoke from the campfires that were burning green wood, the smoke was too much.

Pre race ceremony

Looking for photo’s or video that was taken during driver introductions at the pre race ceremony of Ryan Newman recieving a check from Direct tv. please let me know………….thanks