Talladega lived up to its billing on Sunday when a fuel-saving race ended with a dramatic, wreck-filled conclusion.
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Blocking late at a superspeedway race seems to have been a constant over the years. A driver tries to block a run in the aerodynamic draft and often makes it too late, creating a big accident. Getting to that point is what has changed from time to time. Decades ago, fans would see drivers run in single file for much of the race until the last 20-40 laps when they would start making moves. For a couple of years, drivers could race in tandems as the fastest way around the track.
found ways to make that move obsolete. And now it has come to the point of fuel mileage. With the stage-racing format, drivers can complete a stage the fastest by actually going slower and saving fuel, meaning less time needed on pit road to get enough gas to make it to the end of the stage. It is a style of racing that can frustrate fans to see drivers going a few seconds slower than they could be going.
can do anything with stage lengths or minimum speed requirements remains to be seen. 'There was so much riding around saving fuel,' Alex Bowman said after this fifth-place finish. 'And then when we finally all would go run around wide-open, there weren't really many moves to make, and we were buried and stuck on the bottom. We just never had a hole to get up or do anything.
for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, Scene magazine and The News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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