TALLADEGA RACE REPORT
- by Stenzo



SPEED EXTENDS RECORD WITH 14th WIN OF THE YEAR!

Talladega Superspeedway (11/10/00) -- Speed once again showed why he is the undisputed champion of Team Speedlan, sweeping the second race here at the famed Alabama track and holding off a late-race charge by “Dega Head” Stenzo to capture yet another record-breaking win in what has been an incredible season for the 1998 Champion. After starting 11th, he quickly made his way toward the front to challenge Stenzo for the lead, then made the pass to lead one lap before allowing him back by, when the two teammates drafted together to break away to a 6 second lead on the rest of the field. On lap 43, the first of 2 caution flags came out, which allowed the two leaders to pit, but a black flag relegated Stenzo to the tail end of the field, leaving Speed to assume the point, where he would stay to eventually grab the checkered flag. This marks Speed's 18th top 5 and 20th top 10 of the year, and the 4th track where he's swept both races!

Stenzo qualified 8th, and at the drop of the green flag, wasted no time proving he had a fast car by moving to the outside to pass the leaders on lap one to grab the lead, with Speed close behind in his wake. The two teammates swapped positions twice, then settled in to form a two-car breakaway, leaving the rest of the field scrambling to try to catch them. After leading a race-high 43 (of 65) laps, he was penalized for speeding on pit road during the first caution period, and dropped back to 21st and in danger of falling a lap down. But the second and final caution flag slowed the field once again, and allowed him to catch back up, where he restarted in 18th with only 5 laps to go. On the restart, he quickly muscled his way back up through the field, passing car after car until, with only 1 lap to go, he had moved into 2nd place and was closing very rapidly on Speed, but was unable to catch him in time, falling short by only .10 second at the stripe. This marks his 14th top 5 and 14th top 10 finish of the season.

Bob started 10th, but got mired down in the first lap traffic, allowing Speed to get by, while he and Coyote worked together to catch up. This proved to be more than they could accomplish, as they desperately swapped positions with each other and other cars in an effort to make up ground, while Stenzo and Speed continued to extend their lead every lap. On lap 39 he got together with another car two times, just narrowly avoiding a disastrous wreck, but managed to gather it back up while falling back to 10th in the process. Then, on lap 40, he slowed to pit with Coyote under green, but was going too fast and missed pit road, and was forced to pull back onto the track, losing more valuable track position and falling back to 20th. He came back around and pitted the next time by, but fell off the lead lap, right before the first yellow flag came out, which allowed the leaders to pit under caution, leaving he and Coyote to restart at the tail end of the lead lap. A short time later, the yellow flag was displayed a final time, which allowed them both to stay on the lead lap and circle the track to restart toward the back of the pack, where they stayed to eventually finish 17th and 18th respectively.

Coyote qualified 9th but got off to somewhat of a slow start. He and Bob tried in vain to draft back up to the leaders, but were unable to gain any ground, and slowly fell further and further back while switching second and third spots in an attempt to find the best drafting position. On lap 40, he went a little too high into turn 3 and got into the marbles, which caused him to slide up into the wall, seriously slowing his pace. Because he had slowed down so much, he decided to pit, which dropped him off the lead lap and into 23rd place, when the caution flag came out, trapping him a lap down. But because the entire field pitted under caution, he and Bob were able to restart up front at the tail end of the lead lap, where they stayed until the second caution flag came out and allowed them to come back around and catch up with the rest of the pack. After the restart, he was able to draft with Bob to make up a few positions, but they ran out of laps, leaving him to finish in 18th.