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White-knuckle time New rules could make Talladega even more scary
TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) -- Talladega hasn't been just another race for a long time. Ever since NASCAR began requiring carburetor restrictor plates at the track in 1988, races on the 2.66-mile oval have been 500-mile cavalry charges - wild, fast and every man for himself. The stock car sanctioning body's latest rules changes have made it almost a certainty that Sunday's Winston 500 is going to be even wilder. “I'm not sure how much this will affect this place,” said Jeff Gordon, who won the spring race at Talladega Superspeedway. “Talladega is already a drag race. We already go three- and four-wide around here, sometimes 60 laps at a time, and do all that crazy stuff we do.” With restrictor plates keeping the cars from reaching 200 mph in the interest of driver and spectator safety, the biggest complaint from the drivers has been lack of throttle response in tight situations. “You'd push the pedal down and there was nothing there, or it just took too long to respond,” Gordon said. The latest change by NASCAR widens the holes in the plates from seven-eighths to one inch, creating more horsepower and better response. To offset the additional horsepower, the new rules include a new rooftop strip, a higher rear spoiler and a lowered front air dam. The changes were tested recently on the 2.5-mile oval at Daytona International Speedway, the only other track where the plates were used until this year. “The first thing is that you definitely can close up on the cars faster,” Gordon said. “You can get a run on someone and get by them.” Bobby Labonte, the runaway series leader, was also among the drivers who took part in the test. “The new rules package has its good points and its bad points,” Labonte said. “There is definitely a bigger hole punched in the air with the way the spoilers are and that strip on the roof, which will enable someone to pull back up on a car or a group of cars. “At the same time though, I don't see anyone being able to pull away, which means the pack of cars that will be racing together just got bigger.” Labonte heads into Sunday's race with a season-high 252-point lead over runner-up Jeff Burton and 258 ahead of seven-time series champ Dale Earnhardt - the only drivers with a realistic chance of catching the leader with five races remaining. He has built that lead with consistency, with 21 top 10s and 16 top fives in 29 starts. Sunday's race could be Burton and Earnhardt's last real chance to make any big inroads into Labonte's lead. In April, Labonte's Pontiac never handled right and he wound up being part of a typical Talladega multicar crash late in the race. Labonte was able to continue, but finished a lap behind Gordon in 21st. Other than a 26th-place finish in May in Richmond, that's his worst showing all season. “We were just terrible in April,” said Labonte, who struggled with handling problems before the crash. “We just couldn't get it going that day. I took a provisional to make the field and never really did come up through the pack. “We have the same car we ran in the Pepsi 400 with us this weekend,” added Labonte, who finished 12th in the race at Daytona International Speedway. “We expect to be a lot better than what we showed here last time.” Whatever happens, though, Labonte's Joe Gibbs Racing team is likely to adapt quickly, just like it did last month at New Hampshire International Speedway, where NASCAR mandated a restrictor plate on the track where drivers Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin Jr. were killed this year. “It's been amazing, but anytime NASCAR makes a change of some sort to the rules, we have been able to adapt pretty well and still be successful,” Labonte said. “You look at what happened in New Hampshire. No one knew what was going to happen up there with the engines and all, and we were able to win the pole position and finish second. “I kind of look at this weekend as an opportunity to jump out in front of everyone else.”
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