Teams test bigger plate, new spoiler at Talladega

Autoracing Betting Lines

03/16/2010 - Talladega, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Twenty-five Sprint Cup Series teams participated in a one-day test session at Talladega Superspeedway to determine the potential size of carburetor restrictor-plate openings and familiarize drivers with the new rear spoiler on the current cars.

While no announcement has been made yet, NASCAR is expected to replace the rear wing with the spoiler on the Car of Tomorrow (COT) prior to the April 25 Aaron's 499 at Talladega.

The wing has been a fixture of the COT since its debut three years ago at Bristol, where the series runs later this week. Teams have raised concerns about the wing, since it has reduced downforce on the cars. The spoiler was used on the previous cars.

NASCAR has been looking at ways to improve the COT, particularly after Carl Edwards' spectacular crash last April at Talladega. Edwards' car flew into the safety fence along the frontstretch on the final lap, injuring several fans in the grandstands. The incident raised concerns about the car.

Teams used various plate hole sizes in Tuesday's testing at Talladega.

"With the bigger plate and the bigger spoiler, the car accelerates a lot faster," Martin Truex Jr. said. "The cars definitely get up to speed a lot quicker. They feel like they have a lot more drag on them."

The morning session featured single-car runs, while drafting took place later in the day.

"I felt like we learned some things, enough to where we could go ahead and start getting in the draft," Jeff Gordon said after the morning session. "There was about five of us out there. It was definitely productive. Nothing eye-opening. Felt like it went well. The cars have a little bit more turbulent air when you're behind other cars."

NASCAR might also make modifications to the restrictor plates for Talladega.

"Today is primarily a confirmation test that the gear ratio we select is right and is compatible with the restrictor plate size," NASCAR manager director of competition John Darby said.

NASCAR used a bigger restrictor plate for last month's Daytona 500 to allow drivers to have more horsepower. The size of the plate holes was increased to 63/64ths of an inch, making it the largest restrictor plate since the 1989 Daytona 500.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.