The NASCAR Cup Series will race at the Talladega Superspeedway this coming weekend and there’s a lot of uncertainty that comes along with it. Superspeedway racing is chaotic, to say the least, and with the Next-Gen car, there have been significant changes in the style of racing. Back in the day, the best drivers were always able to move up the field if they found themselves at the back of the pack. That, unfortunately, is just not possible anymore given the nature of the car.
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Instead, Superspeedway racing has become more fuel-centric than ever. Drivers know that they’re sort of gridlocked and cannot pass each other for the most part so what do they do? They save as much fuel as possible so that in the subsequent pit stops, they can hopefully come out in front and be in a good position to win the races. It’s clear that strategy plays a big role nowadays in such races but it’s not really that interesting if everyone has the same plan and there’s no passing involved.
“It’s just wherever you are in line is where you just kind of are at, like there’s nothing you can do to change that. So with that, everybody kind of learned, ‘Hey, we can’t pass, so we’ll save as much fuel as we can and hope you come off pit road in the lead of that line. And then if you do that, you’re going to be in a really good position to win the race,” Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe explained in a recent media interaction.
The YellaWood 500 is the last Superspeedway race of the year and the playoff drivers will be hoping to win this one. But at a track like Talladega, anything can happen. Someone unexpected could win the whole event or a championship favorite could find themselves in a desperate position going into the Charlotte Roval race.
Commonly used defensive maneuver causes chaos at Superspeedway races
Fuel management is a strategy that is used to gain position but that’s just half the work. You have to keep that position as well. Passing may be tough but cars with fresher tires will have a good shot taking one’s position away. So to counter that, the most common defensive maneuver is, of course, blocking. With the Next-Gen car, blocking happens at every stage of the race, and the situation the driver is in determines how heavy the block is. It is one of the reasons why Superspeedway racing is so chaotic.
“I mean, guys are going to block really from the get-go. The guy getting blocked is going to be less and less lenient of the guy doing the blocking, and that’s when you normally see the chaos start. It’s going to be a lot of blocking, a lot of pushing, and that’s the way it is whenever you go to Daytona and Talladega,” Briscoe added.
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver is desperate to win to make it into the next round along with a few others. The race promises to have some degree of chaos and it will be interesting to see who can overcome that and take the checkered flag.
