Expect wild Sunday at Talladega to shake things up in the Chase

Take a good look at the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings, because according to the drivers at the top, things might look a lot different after Sunday's AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

The 2.66-mile track hosts the only restrictor plate race in the 10-race Chase, which makes it the wild card in the championship picture.

"I can assure you that there are going to be some people in the Chase that have trouble at Talladega," said Jeff Burton, who comes into the weekend fourth in the standings and 121 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

"It is what it is. Everybody gets nervous about it and rightfully so. I know we haven't won at Talladega, but I feel good about the track. Talladega's a wild card. Chances are people that are involved in the Chase are going to get into wrecks at Talladega. It's that simple."

"The Big One" is part of the racing process at Talladega, and drivers know the potential for a multicar accident lurks around every lap.

"Wrecks can start anywhere," said Burton's Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick. "There is really no safe spot. You just go and you push and shove as hard as you can all day and try to keep yourself out of all the wrecks. Hopefully, it's your lucky day and you don't wreck. You have a 50-50 shot of survival when you go to Talladega, and that is just kind of how it is."

Kevin Harvick: 'You have a 50-50 shot of survival when you go to Talladega.' (AP)

There hasn't been one foolproof strategy for avoiding the inevitable Talladega pileup, although drivers approach a race at the lightning-fast track in a variety of ways.

"My mentality is going to be to just drive as good as I can drive, keep the fenders on my car and stay out of the treacherous lane," said Greg Biffle. "Whoever is beating and banging the hardest, I'll try to pick a different spot to be in on the race track." "At the beginning of the race, I might be at the back, or I might try to get to the front. If we qualify well, maybe try to stay up front with track position, but it's kind of the luck of the draw. You just pick where you think is the best place to run and try to get your car there."

Points leader Johnson has tried a couple of strategies with varying degrees of success.

"You either race or you ride," said Johnson, who won the spring 2006 race at Talladega. "We've seen guys caught up in wrecks in both philosophies. I have no clue what to do when we get there. We've tried the ride thing, and it's worked out. In the spring, it didn't work. We got torn up. Last fall, it worked out. You don't know. "That's the part that makes it exciting for everyone else. The guys dealing with these race cars and driving them, it drives us crazy. We do not like Talladega in the Chase."

You can understand Johnson's trepidation. Only once in the four years of the Chase has the points leader coming into Talladega held the same spot when the checkered flag flew.

"To say it's a little stressful is an understatement, yes," said Johnson, who will no doubt have to deal with two of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates -- Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- in his quest for a second Talladega win on Sunday.

Gordon is the defending race winner and has also won six times at Talladega in 31 career starts. He also has 13 top 5s and 16 top-10 finishes there and won from the pole in the spring race in 2007. "I feel this is a race we can win, said Gordon, who sits sixth in the Chase standings. "We just need to be in a position at the end to challenge for the victory."

Earnhardt figures to be in position for a win as well, based on his stellar mark at Talladega.

Junior has won five Cup races there, following in the footsteps of his famous father, who is the all-time track winner with 10 trips to Victory Lane.

"To me, it's a pretty important place, because my family's done so well there," he said. "The way the fans treat us there makes it exciting."

A sixth win would not only excite Junior Nation but help Earnhardt make a move up the standings. He trails Johnson by 190 points, and without a strong run on Sunday, he could be among the championship also-rans by the time the haulers roll out of Talladega.

"We just have to go for broke and take some chances," Earnhardt said. "At Talladega, you can make some pretty ridiculous moves. Some of them pay off, some don't."