NASCAR Sprint Cup Series...

04/25/2010

TOP-15 AT TALLADEGA SHOWS SPEED'S CONSISTENCY

+ DRAMA DOWN IN DIXIE

Recapping the Red Bull Toyotas after a wild and record-setting day at Talladega Superspeedway:

START/FINISH: 20/15

TOP 15 AT TALLDEGA:

There Speed was, minding his own business before his scheduled move to the front. Enter lap 182. Speed became a victim of circumstance as cars crashed on the top and into Speed’s No. 82 Red Bull Toyota on the bottom. He went spinning through the tri-oval grass, and with only minimal damage the team was able to make quick repairs and get Speed back on the track.

At the first attempt at a green-white-checkered, Speed was 28th. But he persevered through an action-packed series of events that sent the Aaron’s 499 into a 12-lap overtime, and Speed squeezed out a 15th-place finish.

VITAL SIGNS:

Dropped a spot to 21st in the standings. He’s 133 points out of the top 12.

DISASTER AVERTED:

“We did what we wanted to. We stayed out of the big ones. We did get caught up in one but nothing major, and we stayed on the lead lap. The green-white-checkers made me more nervous because you felt something coming.” — Speed

STAT THAT MATTERS:

Speed has finished in the top 20 in five of the nine races this season. He had only four top 20s in all of 2009, his rookie season.