On WJOX Larry McReynolds was asked, what he says is the most common question he gets during interviews, who's your favorite to win this weekend (at Talladega)?
Larry- I would put money on that 24 car. They just seem to be really clicking right now. The thing about that question is every weekend a dozen or so drivers can win. You would have to say the whole Hendrick orgination has a driver than can win it. RCR & EGR run well at plate tracks, Stewart Haas with Tony, Kyle won it last time so JGR can. Then there's a couple of dark horses that always climb into the picture, Regan Smith thought he won it last time and Robby Gordon ran as good as anybody at plate tracks last year. Kenseth won the Daytona 500. This is probably the hardest track to pick a winner. A driver can be leading at the white flag and finish 20th at the checkered, vice versa, a driver can be running 6th and win. This track is notorious for producing first time winners.
What about the "Big One"?
Larry - Of course the "Big One" is always lurking and some drivers like Bobby Labonte, Robby and even Jimmie Johnson last year has taken a page out of Dale Jarrett's old strategy book by running at the back, trying to avoid trouble and charge to the front the last stage of the race, It also is what makes plate racing so popular. Thye intensity is every lap. When you got a few packs of cars running inches apart at over 200 MPH it has all the ingredients of a big wreck. The anticipation of when it will happen is what makes Dega so exciting. I have seen drivers get out of their cars pumping their fist like they won, only because they finished and avoided the wrecks. It is truly a track where surviving is a victory itself.