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Mayhem At Talladega

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 3, 2007

MAYHEM AT TALLADEGA

Here are just a few of the more recent incidents that have made Talladega Superspeedway NASCAR's most notorious track:

•2007 spring race: Jeff Gordon's 77th career victory moved him past Dale Earnhardt Sr. on NASCAR's career win list, and some of the fans in the Earnhardt-loving crowd showered the track with beer cans and other debris.

•2006 Chase race: Jimmie Johnson tried to pass Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the lead on the last lap, but Brian Vickers took them both out and grabbed his first victory.

•2005 Chase race: Twenty laps in, Johnson turned polesitter Elliott Sadler into traffic, causing Michael Waltrip to flip and collecting several cars. Four Chase drivers took a big hit in the points because of crashes. Dale Jarrett scored his only victory in the last 170 races.

2005 spring race: Some 70 cars were turned into twisted metal between the Nextel Cup and Busch races, including 25 in one crash in the Nextel Cup race.

2004 Chase race: Earnhardt Jr. won the first Chase race at Talladega as a huge wreck broke out behind him on the last lap. Sadler's car flipped spectacularly for the second year in a row at the track.

2003 spring race: Earnhardt Jr. damaged his car early in a 27-car pileup. He came back in a machine plastered in duct tape, made what many said was an illegal pass of Matt Kenseth under the track's yellow line, and won the race.

WHAT THEY'VE SAID

Here are a few of the more memorable quotes from Talladega in recent years:

•'This is pitiful. I swear, if there is anything in my entire power I can do, I will not let my son race here.' - Mark Martin after crashing in the 2004 Chase race.

•'It's just silly racing. You're out there in a demo derby.' - Kevin Harvick after a 2005 crash.

•'NASCAR makes us put three pedals in these cars. The middle one is the brake. Most of the time it works; I guess his didn't work today.' - Elliott Sadler after Jimmie Johnson ran into him in 2006.

•'Basically you're just white-knuckling it all day long, just waiting for five laps to go. Then it gets worse. You're just at the mercy of the restrictor plate.' - Jeff Gordon in 2005.

•'They wrecked on the straightaway again. It's ridiculous professional drivers can't run three deep without hitting each other.' - Sterling Marlin in 2005.

•'Do you want the commercial of Matt Kenseth being a robot to come to fruition? If anybody was offended by that word ... I don't know why they would have tuned into the race in the first place.' - Dale Earnhardt Jr., arguing that he shouldn't be penalized for letting a profanity slip in his winner's interview. He got penalized 25 points and knocked out of the points lead.

•'If I spent two days at this place, I'd never have to do any more research.' - Self-described 'redneck' comedian Jeff Foxworthy, who was the grand marshal for this year's spring race.

Tony Fabrizio

MAYHEM AT TALLADEGA

WHAT THEY'VE SAID

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