Trucks: Peters wins under revised GWC at Talladega

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes had the fastest lap, topping Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

Matt Kenseth broke up the Hendrick party with a lap of 193.431 miles per hour and hopped over Johnson on a tie-break but Kasey Kahne, the 40th vehicle on the track, jumped to second on the speed chart with a lap of 194.050 miles per hour.

Jeff Gordon will go restrictor-plate racing for the last time Sunday at Talladega.

Racing at Talladega is the epitome of racing on the edge.

Peters became the third driver in series history to win consecutive races at Talladega, joining Todd Bodine (2007, 2008) and Kyle Busch (2009, 2010). The other 11 will have to rely on their results in Sunday’s race. “If anyone in this [media] room rode inside one of these cars on a green-white-checkered, there’s no doubt in my mind that every single one of you would say they really shouldn’t do that”.

“One thing about Talladega is you always have to expect the unexpected so who knows what’s going to happen”. It’s the last race in the Contender Round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and only eight drivers will advance to the Eliminator Round.

“We were up and down all day”, Hayley said of the race won by Timothy Peters.

Through five of 10 races in the Chase for the Championship.

Roush Fenway Racing’s Trevor Bayne will line-up alongside Earnhardt on row three, while row four sees resigning champion Kevin Harvick in the Stewart-Haas Racing #14 alongside JGR’s Denny Hamlin, who is in a strong position to make it through to the third round of the Chase as he’s now safely in second place in the points standings.

And although drivers generally seem to support the change, a few aren’t convinced it will change how they race at the end, knowing the race will end quickly. Majors sheds light on his methods and strategy going into, potentially, their most pivotal race of the year.

“But I can tell you that it’s a lot harder than it used to be; people are smarter, cars are more equal, and the draft and aerodynamics are different than they used to be”. “I don’t know if you need to put any added risk out there to do more than one”.

Martin Truex’s qualifying run Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway was disallowed by NASCAR for driving below the yellow line on the frontstretch of the 2.66-mile oval.

Did we mention how giddy Gordon is that this is his last race here?

“I’m starting to like these two-and-a-half mile tracks”, Hayley said after getting out of his truck. When you don’t believe in the auto, you make different decisions. We started in the back last time too. The team had to rush to make repairs and Allgaier was the final driver to qualify; he will start 39th Sunday, Bowyer 29th.