Catchfence

Talladega’s first weekend of the season was pretty much everything one could expect. The racing was stunningly competitive – far more so than last October – and a host of drivers left mostly behind in the scheme of things stormed to the front and offered reminder that racing is supposed to be more than just a few superstar drivers and teams. And the juncture at which the Alabama 500 took place helped give some more clarity to how the 2008 season is progressing. Some of what the sport has learned so far is worth remembering as the meat of the schedule is further penetrated.

Among what has been learned so far —

JOE GIBBS RACING TOYOTAS ARE THE SPORT’S CLASS NOW —– The Daytona 500 showed Toyota’s investment in JGR was going to be a good one; Talladega cemented the wisdom of the investment.

KYLE BUSCH IS THE SPORT’S FOCAL POINT —- Over and over we hear about Kyle Busch’s ability in loose racecars; believe the hype. Talladega was particularly notable because Busch proclaimed himself a big crash inevitability before the race; the big crash didn’t find him, instead he won the race and closed up on a very flimsy Jeff Burton point lead.

FORGET ABOUT THE REST OF THE TOYOTA FLEET —- Bill Davis Racing failed to qualify, a devastating setback for an organization that was supposed to regain competitive form with Toyota but instead saw its Jacques Villeneuve experiment flame out as soon as it started and now faces a season with no realistic hope of anything. That Michael Waltrip stormed to the lead late at Talladega is the exception that proves the rule about him and his team, the rest of which was MIA as far as race contention went. Only Brian Vickers redeemed anything for a non-JGR Toyota team.

THE ONLY SERIOUS CHALLENGE FOR JGR IS FROM ROUSH-FENWAY —- And at Talladega it wasn’t much of a challenge, between several blown tires for Roush cars and the organization’s general inconsistency on the plate tracks. It’s the intermediate supers where the Roush guys are strongest, but JGR has show over the years it can take down opposition there, too.

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAS FALLEN BEHIND —- Granted, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Junior are in the top five in points, but while they’ve managed stong runs, getting into contention to win has been far harder than last year. Talladega illustrated this trend sharply, as Jeff Gordon, Johnson, and Junior clawed into contention and then got slammed out of it, and they’re running as strongly as before.

CHEVROLET HAS FALLEN BEHIND —- Don’t be fooled by Jeff Burton’s point lead or the solid point positions of the other RCR Chevys – they are weaker than they look in the point standings, and it showed up at Talladega as they had a day that was more down than up and had nothing for anyone at the end; the horsepower edge they found in 2006 is as gone-gone-gone as a Robert Plant-Alison Krauss duet.

The other Chevrolets at th Sprint Cup level have degenerated to joke status. It was astonishing that Paul Menard ran as strong at Talladega as he did because that run was way beyond his talent level and well beyond DEI’s competitive level. Gene Haas’ team has sunk to the level of changing drivers mid-stream because it’s all they have left.

THE SPORT’S COMPETITION LOOP REMAINS CLOSED —- Several darkhorses stormed to the front but were swatted away at the finish, an it says something about both Talladega and the sport’s competition loop that October may be the only other tme they can surge into any kind of contention. The prospect for a first-time winner among drivers looks weak, with only David Ragan showing any promise; the rest of the first-time hunters look terrible. As far as first-time winning teams or comeback winners go, the have-have not gap has only widened since the COT debuted and promise of an opening of the closed loop requires some divine interventon right now. Certainly the sport needs it having not seen a new winning team since 2002 and with just two comback winning teams (Wood Brothers Racing in 2001 and Ganassi in 2007) in this decade.

DODGE CAME CLOSE TO RECLAIMING DAYTONA MAGIC —- But how does “close” work out? Penske, Ganassi, and a surprising effort by Gillett-Evernham turned up the competitive heat while Robby Gordon bounced back to a productve finish, but at crunch time the Dodge malaise of the past eight seasons was still there and only Juan Montoya got something out of it. Conspicuously missing was Petty Enterpises; Kyle Petty actually made the race but once again made no effort toward it while Bobby Labonte, who always does make an honest effort to win it, never got anything going and got crashed out, this after last October’s outstanding wildcard win bid and Daytona’s productive outcome.

GOODYEAR HAS MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS —- Saturday’s Grand National race saw numerous blown tires; Sunday saw more of the same. After earlier troubles this season, for Goodyear to have trouble on a track that’s usually easiest on tires of all the tracks doesn’t inspire much confidence going forward.

RACING IS STILL ABOUT LEAD CHANGES, NOT THE BRAND —- Talladega yet again showed how racing can get its ratings back – not through marketing or gimmicks or driver soap operas a la Tony Stewart’s possible contract squabble with JGR. Remember Gillian Zucker’s comment that Fontana should be made into a restrictor plate track? It’s worth remembering because it was out-of-the-box thinking plus some recognition of the importance of the racing itself as oppose to the brand in he sport’s scheme of things.

From its greatest superspedway the sport hits its classiest short track, the meat of the season still to be feasted.