From the October, 2006 issue of Stock Car Insider

UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway Recap

A race at Talladega Superspeedway is exactly what this year's Chase for the Championship needed! After last week's Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway, the drivers in the Chase were beginning to segregate themselves. However, nothing blocks segregation more than a good 'ole restrictor plate race where anything could happen.

Again, there were only 4 Chase drivers who finished in the top 10. Surprisingly, buddies Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch led the way finishing in 2nd and 3rd respectively. The other drivers faired as follows:

1. (Leader) Jeff Burton had one of his typical finishes at Talladega, 27th. The current point’s leader has never faired that well at Talladega and simply wanted to avoid disaster in yesterday's race. Disaster he avoided, and was able to maintain his points lead.

2. (-6 points) Matt Kenseth had a strong car for most the day, even led the race at various times to pick up the 5 bonus points. The former champion is once again that you don't have to win races to win a championship.

3. (-10 points) Mark Martin has posted two consecutive top ten finishes to solidify his 3rd place standing. At only ten points out, the fan favorite could overtake the lead at next week's Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway

4. (-33 points) Kevin Harvick gained over 60 points this week by finishing 6th at Talladega. Could the current Busch leader win both the Busch and Nextel Cup series in the same year?

5. (-51 points) Denny Hamlin is NASCAR's new golden boy. Even on his bad days, he still comes out squeaky clean. On lap 174 it appeared Hamlin was done when he came onto pit road with steering problems. However, golden boy persevered and finished in 21st position.

6. (-106 points) Dale Earnhardt Jr was set to make up some serious ground in the points by winning yesterday's UAW-Ford 500. However, those hopes were dashed when a last lap wreck caused by Brian Vickers took the #8 Chevy out.

7. (-147 points) Jeff Gordon would be leading the points if you could discount your worst 150 miles over the previous two races. Gordon was running in the top of the field for most of the day until a wreck with 50 laps remaining took out the 4 time champion.

8. (-156 points) Jimmie Johnson is not feeling the love for teammate Brian Vickers right now. Johnson's hopes of winning the championship were slim heading into Talladega. However, that 2nd place finish he was set to receive before Brian Vickers wrecked him on the last lap would have been nice.

T9. (-185 points) Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch cannot seem to get enough of each other these days! Wherever one finishes, you'll be sure to find the other. Both had strong days yesterday with Kasey finishing 2nd and Kyle 3rd.

See complete 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Race Schedule