TALLADEGA, Ala. — It's all about making fast friends at Talladega.
Even if they are the enemy.
"Love-bug" racing — all the rage at Daytona in January — is a sticky subject again this weekend at Talladega. The quirky phenomenon — two cars bunched together, only inches apart, to take advantage of the drafting aerodynamics and resurfaced tracks at super-speedways — is forcing strange alliances.
Limiting your draft partners to teammates would be foolish, if not logistically impossible, because of all the variables with track position. So as the boys get ready to roll here in the first restrictor-plate race since the season-opener at Daytona, everybody is opening up their lines of communication and keeping their options open.
All you have to do is monitor radio channels.
Drivers will be chatting up each other when chasing speed. Partners will change frequently, since there will be 188 laps and 500.08 miles in the mix Sunday afternoon. Drivers can plan all they want. Everything can change in the blink of a crash or blown engine. Commitment-phobia is recommended.
"It s totally different dynamic," said five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.
It's a strange deal all the way around. Drivers in the second car can't see anything in front of them, so they have to rely on the spotter for the lead driver.
Crazy, quirky times indeed in the world of restrictor-plate racing.
The strategy — unavoidable from a competitive standpoint — goes against the very nature a driver's personality. You don't buddy-up with the guy you are trying to beat.
Some critics will cringe and lament about the wussification of NASCAR. Imagine what the dearly departed Intimidator, Dale Earnhardt, would have said had he been asked to make nice with Rusty Wallace or Dale Jarrett.
But these are different times, with different race dynamics.
The big pack we usually see in these restrictor-plate scrums will give way to a cluster of twos, spread out throughout the track, just like Daytona.
There was much yada-yada about the love bugs back in July, but look how that played out:
Trevor Bayne became the youngest winner in Daytona 500 history by holding off veteran Carl Edwards.
People didn't snooze. Instead, the finish took their breath away.
All it takes is getting used to for the average fan ... and driver.
"It's pretty odd," said Jeff Burton, who drives for Roush Racing. "I mean, typically it's teams that try to communicate within the team. But for a Childress car to be talking to a Hendrick car, or a Hendrick car to be talking to a Roush car, and a Roush car to be talking to a Gibbs car, we've never seen that.
"... I'm not a fan of it because it's supposed to be us against them, you know. We are not supposed to be working together."
With 43 drivers in the mix and limited channels, some drivers will use two radios in their car to accommodate all possible combinations. Others, like Jeff Gordon, will stick with their teammates and keep the number down to six. Gordon plans on working with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin and adjust accordingly.
"You want to have a backup plan in case something happens in the race," Gordon said.
It takes two to dance.
Come Sunday, nobody will want to be on that dance floor alone, spinning around at 200 mph and going nowhere.
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