UAW-Ford 500 Notes and Recap

by Bruce Simmons

If you only count the last 50 laps or so, that was an exciting race.. and more to the point, it was a fun finish to watch the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

But the first 168 laps was anything but super with the new aero package in the form of the COT and everyone having to deal with NASCAR's new restriction on anyone bump drafting, the race was a nothing but a high speed train of cars through most of the event.

With that being said, we were still treated to a few engine failures, wall scrapings and the wreck that ABC called the "Big One", which it only involved a few cars, but ABC did it's best to drum it up for the audience.

The bigger wreck of the day occured on lap 145 for the 6th yellow as Bobby Labonte's car just lost it, and that event collected Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray, David Reutimann Paul Menard, Dave Blaney, Brian Vickers, David Ragan and Robby Gordon.

Michael Waltrip showed he still had his restrictor plate skills, but his day was cut a bit short when he had a flat tire around lap 176, which ended up also involving Elliott Sadler, Greg Biffle and Tony Raines.

This was the last yellow that led to the 20 lap dash to the checkers.

We watched Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch working together, but then the garage as a whole seemed to show who they'd rather do with as Jimmie Johnson pulled down on the inside and everyone followed suit, leaving the Penske cars to fend for themselves.

The battle was between Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dave Blaney, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch and Juan Montoya but on the last lap, as Stewart went to the outside to pass Johnson, Jeff Gordon leapt from behind Johnson to tag along with Stewart, but when Stewart chose to block another line of cars, Jeff Gordon ducked down inside and took the lead in the backstretch on the last lap to win the race. This victory netted Jeff Gordon his 12th career plate win.

Unlike the rest of the race, this was fun to watch. Martin Truex Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr. both suffered blown engines, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. even said it was a boring race to be in during his post race interview, but NASCAR had to do what it needed to, to make sure this first COT restrictor plate event came off without a hitch. Hopefully, they let the excitment back in at the next event.

The top 10 finishers for the day were:
1. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet
2. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet
3. Dave Blaney Toyota
4. Denny Hamlin Chevrolet
5. Ryan Newman Dodge
6. Casey Mears Chevrolet
7. Kurt Busch Dodge
8. Tony Stewart Chevrolet
9. Tony Raines Chevrolet
10. Reed Sorenson Dodge

See the unofficial results at nascar.com