While attending the Rough River flyin this weekend, I found myself watching the ARCA race at Talledega. This race was won by Craig Kinser, despite an incident where he was sent to the back of the line and had to work his way back to the front. Erin Crocker finished fourth. She led for a while, obtaining that track position by not taking tires on one pitstop, but then fell to the back of the lead group for a while with what looked like bad understeer which kept pushing her up the track after mid-corner, allowing other drivers to pass underneath her. She seemed to have a fast enough car, but not a good-enough handling car.
I missed a major wreck towards the start of the race, which looked pretty nasty (shades of the demise of Dale Earnhardt). Fortunately it seems that no driver was seriously injured.
A few observations:

1. The more I watch races from Talledega, the more I notice the state of the track surface, which is a mess, particularly on the high-banked corners. It has been patched all over the place, and the behaviour of the cars shows that it is far from smooth.

2. Restrictor plate racing is not real racing as I understand it. You are flat all the way round the circuit. A superior car cannot break away from the draft, so this is Nextel Cup racing, albeit with a smaller audience, a lower profile, and, of course, the inevitable Big Wrecking Session.

3. The best thing that NASCAR could do to address its restrictor plate issue is to force the circuits to change. Restrictor plates are not the answer - the drivers hate this form of racing, it's bloody dangerous, and I find it tedious to watch. Given the guaranteed payday of a Nextel Cup date or two, I am sure that the circuits would be able to make alterations if NASCAR wanted it to happen. The banking at Talledega needs to be reduced by 15 degrees and the corners re-engineered to provide multiple racing lines. Ditto the other high-banked ovals.

4. Erin Crocker has already mastered the art of the Complete Sponsor Check-Down in her post-race interview, and also has figured out how to give non-answers to leading questions like "what did you learn today?". I'm not sure that this is a good thing - the last thing we need is a female driver with no personality, and Erin sounds like a sponsor drone already. Also...change those sunglasses, for Christs' sake. They are deeply unflattering to your face and your hair color.