Tracking Glory with Hal Martin

The NASCAR Nationwide Series made a stop last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, and I was extremely excited to be competing at this track as it has a very special meaning to me. I have been attending races as a spectator at the 2.66-mile superspeedway since I was five years old, and I was finally going to be able to live out my childhood dream of racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Talladega Superspeedway.

The weekend began on Thursday with a couple of practice sessions. On the superspeedways, Daytona and Talladega, my team focuses more on how well the car drafts up to other cars as opposed to how well the car handles the corners because with the high banking of the corners, there isn’t much that needs to be done to get the car through the turns. We drive the superspeedways at full throttle and only drag the brakes as necessary. Practice went smoothly and we were satisfied with how the car reacted.

Friday was qualifying day, and I was one of the first cars to make my qualifying run. I timed in at 32nd fastest, which wasn’t very high on the speed chart, but my team and I weren’t worried about our starting position because we were confident that we had a car that would draft really well and be able to work our way up to the front of the field in the race. On Friday evening, a group of my friends in the turn one area of the infield had a Cajun feast prepared for my crew. It included gumbo, white beans, an assortment of fried seafood, and raw oysters. My team and I attended, and a great time was had by all!

Saturday was race day, and with the way it started, it looked to be a very wet one. Rain had fallen the previous night and didn’t let up into the morning and early afternoon. Fortunately, NASCAR brought their new track drying system, The Air Titan, to Talladega due to the forecasted weather, and was able to have the track dried once the rain stopped falling. The green flag flew and I quickly found my teammates, Mike Bliss and Eric McClure, on the track and we began drafting toward the front of the field. I knew I had a really good car to draft up to the front, and by lap 18 I had raced my way up to the 12th position. It was at that time that two drivers wrecked just in front of our drafting pack. The car directly in front of me slowed down drastically, and I ran into him. I had no way of avoiding him, and that damaged the front of my car enough to have to take it to the garage area for repairs, where I went multiple laps down to the leaders before being able to get back on the racetrack. I did get back out to try to earn as many points as I could and pass other cars who had trouble later in the race. It was a disappointing way to end my first NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway, but as the saying goes, there is always next year!

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