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Lapping Talladega with Dale Jarrett
Posted: Saturday April 24, 1999 02:50 PM
TALLADEGA, Ala. (CNN/SI) -- "A lap around here is still fast and it's up to the car a lot more than the driver. "It's basically a lap that anyone who's not scared to go fast, could drive one of our cars around the track in race configuration. "Qualifying is a little more difficult because of the springs and shocks we run to try and make the car go faster. In qualifying, you really try to use up as little racetrack as you possibly can. "You keep the car very low entering into Turn 1, right on the bottom going into the corner and coming out of the corner instead of letting the car drift back towards the wall. "There are two reasons for this. One, you're using up less racetrack, and two, you get the air that bounces off the wall that creates a drag on the car. So you're going down the backstretch, a car width away from the wall. "Turn 3 is the same thing, except it's a little rougher on the entrance than Turns 1 and 2, you stay right on the bottom until you come out of Turn 4 and let the car sweep down to the bottom, away from the wall. All the time, you're holding the steering wheel as straight as you can, not turning the wheel anymore than you have to, because that creates more friction and drag. "How I look at Talladega -- first gear, second gear, third gear and fourth gear? Wide open."
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