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Talladega: Wild Card Of Nextel Cup's Chase(Tampa Tribune (FL) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Oct. 3--TALLADEGA, Ala. -- After crash-filled and controversial races the last two weekends, what's next for drivers in NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup almost seems cruel: Talladega. It's called the "wild card" of the 10-race championship because of the likelihood for massive pileups and other misadventures that can shake up the standings. And Sunday's UAW Ford 500 is a double wild card because it's also the first superspeedway race for the Car of Tomorrow. "I think there's going to be huge wrecks," team owner Jack Roush fretted in a conversation last weekend at Kansas Speedway. "I'm apprehensive that the drivers and teams will be powerless to avoid them, and it'll be like playing Russian roulette." Five-time Talladega winner Jeff Gordon, while admittedly nervous, prefers to look at the upside. "It is going to be spectacular," he said. "With the old car, it was a little more spectacular than you wanted as a driver. But it put on a heck of a show, and I think you are going to see the same thing, but even more so." NASCAR already has run the COT in 13 races this year. A recent COT test session at Talladega didn't produce any catastrophes. So some might ask, what's the big deal about the next-generation car's debut at Talladega? The racing at Talladega is unlike that on any other track on the circuit. Restrictor plates, used only at Talladega and Daytona to cut horsepower, keep the cars tightly bunched. Because Talladega is bigger and wider than Daytona, drivers race three- and four-wide, several rows deep. Two differences in the COT could make the racing more challenging at Talladega: The wing on the back of the car obscures a driver's view through the window of the car in front of him. And the car's bigger body creates a larger vacuum behind it. Within that vacuum, a trailing car has a faster closing rate in the draft. "I think it's going to be a crazy race," said Matt Kenseth, one of Roush's two drivers in the Chase. "I think you're going to be three-wide most of the time, and I would be surprised if nobody runs into anybody else because it's a little more difficult to see out of the COT cars, and they suck up faster in the draft. "Plus, they're really easy to drive, so when all that stuff happens, it usually makes everybody pretty brave and maybe do some moves or put their cars in places they maybe wouldn't put the other cars." Drivers use a combination of vision, radio communication with their spotters and sixth sense to know where the other cars are around them. When other cars make sudden moves, a driver has to react without imputing information, and if he can't see, he's guessing. "The wing, the rear glass angle, the way the sunlight hits the back window, it's kind of reflecting some light towards us now, and it's tough to see through the glass," points leader Jimmie Johnson said. "The other part of it is the roof itself is much larger ... and we didn't realize how that extra couple of inches really made a difference in the draft, following people to know where you're at. "Right now, you're driving blind out there, and if something happens in front of you, there's no chance in missing it because all you see is the back window and the framework of the car in front of you." Yet another uncertainty is how the new cars will perform in "bump drafting," the popular technique used at Daytona and Talladega in which a driver hits the driver in front of him to help both move faster in the draft. Bump drafting can cause wrecks, particularly in the corners. NASCAR has policed aggressive bump drafting with penalties the last few years at the two restrictor plate tracks, and that'll be the case at Talladega on Sunday, vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said. Kyle Busch notes that because the bumpers line up with the COT cars, it's easier to bump draft. "[But] when you do bump draft somebody, they get squirrelly," he said. "That's not too promising right there, but we're just going to have to see. You can't have four guys deep bumping each other because somebody's going to come spitting out of the middle." If the UAW-Ford 500 is anything like the last two races, there's no telling how the points will look Sunday night. Nine of the 12 Chasers were caught up in crashes or had other problems in the Dodge Dealers 400 two weeks ago at Dover, and seven finished 29th or worse Sunday at Kansas. Carl Edwards won at Kansas, but received a 25-point penalty after his car failed inspection, and non-Chaser Greg Biffle was declared the winner at Kansas even though it appeared he ran out of gas and was passed by Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson. Now comes Talladega, the double wild card of this Chase. "I feel concerned and worried," Johnson said. "But that's no different than any other plate race. And with all the new things coming along, it's still going to be a plate race and we still have the same issues to deal with. I think it's a little bit more difficult now. There are a lot of unknowns that we'll have to sort out. But it's still the feeling of a restrictor plate race in my stomach." Reporter Tony Fabrizio can be reached at (813) 259-7994 or [email protected]. To see more of the Tampa Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tampatrib.com. Copyright (c) 2007, Tampa Tribune, Fla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 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