NASCAR BGN: Fedewa counts four fenders as a good day at Talladega

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

April 17, 2001

"Talladega is another one of those places where if it's the end of the race and a team has all four fenders on the car and is on the lead lap, it's been a good day. We haven't had much luck since the first restrictor-plate race of the season. Maybe the second one will help us turn our luck around and get things heading in the right direction."-- Tim Fedewa, driver of the Phillips 66 Chevrolet

Tim Fedewa's Thoughts on Talladega . . . "Talladega, like Daytona, is intense. Restrictor-plate racing always is. A lot depends on the driver's ability to maintain control at 180 and 190 mph. Anytime you have a pack of 20 or more cars running 180 mph within inches of each other, it's pretty intense. It doesn't leave much margin for error either. If one person in that pack of 20 cars slips up and makes a mistake, it's time to hold on because anyone around that one car can expect to suffer the consequences. We didn't have the best race at Daytona earlier this year. We've done some different things since Daytona, and I'm looking forward to getting to Talladega to see how we've progressed. We need a good run at Talladega. Hopefully, with a bit of luck, we'll be able to do that."

Crew Chief Donnie Richeson On Talladega . . . "A driver needs to have a good handling car at Talladega, but it isn't the most important thing. The most important thing is aerodynamics and motor. The draft plays such a big part in the superspeedway races that it makes a bad-handling race pretty much null and void. What we as a crew try to do is develop a set up that makes it easy for the driver to draft up to the car in front without too much trouble."

Equipment . . . "Hubert" is the car Fedewa will compete with this weekend in the "Touchstone Energies 300" at Talladega Superspeedway. "Hubert" is the same machine Fedewa raced in the season-opening NAPA 300 at Daytona International Speedway. "Hubert" has since underwent a bit of a facelift. A new body was hung on the chassis for the second restrictor-plate event of the 2001 Busch Series season.

Text provided by Penny Copen

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