Gordon talks 'Dega

"If we were talking about the old rules, he was even more of a factor then because he knew the air, he knew how to make those passes," said Jeff Gordon. "He was a huge factor. It's not the same coming to Talladega without him.

"He was so awesome and I learned so much from him here. The race, because of the rules here now, it's anybody's race. Yes, Dale Earnhardt won it last October, but the last couple laps of the race were still anybody's race."

Gordon is the defending winner of this event, having defeated Mike Skinner and Earnhardt last April. That was the last race at this track using the old restrictor plate rules.

By the time Winston Cup came back to Talladega last October, a combination of a larger restrictor plate and an aerodynamics package was implemented to make the racing even more competitive. But a by-product of those rules is it kept the cars together in one tight pack, which can created mayhem if one driver makes a mistake on the race track.

"It's just trying to stay out of the wrecks," Gordon said. "I saw a quote from Dale Jarrett and he was right on the money with it - `It's an awful lot to ask 43 guys to be perfect at 190 miles an hour, three or four wide. Somebody is going to make a mistake.' You just hope it is a mistake where somebody doesn't cause a big wreck.

"I don't think this is a race any of us look forward to, but we go out there and do our jobs and try to have a good day and leave here with a sigh of relief."

If it were up to Gordon, he would prefer to have the old rules back in force at Talladega.

"Obviously, I don't favour the rules as they are," Gordon said. "I don't favour anything that bunches us up even tighter. Put the driving back into the driver's hands. The rules we used to have, you used to have to work to make a pass. You had to do things with the air to make the pass. Now, you don't have a choice but to make a pass. You pass, pass, pass - get passed. You hope it's your turn at the right time at the end of the race.

"To me, winning the race here comes down to circumstances."

The new rules have created a high level of anxiety in NASCAR's first return to a restrictor-plate race track since Earnhardt was killed in the last turn of the last lap of the February 18 Daytona 500.

"I liked the old rules here better," Gordon said. "We came here in October with these rules. We had a great race. It was nerve-racking, but we didn't have a wreck. It's obvious that we can do it. It is a spectacular race when it is all over for the fans and everybody watching.

"If it was up to me, I like what we did here at the beginning of the year last year where it was still a good race, two- or three-wide, a lot of passing, but it was a little bit harder to pass. We just weren't bunched up quite so much. I've always been in favour of that. When we tested that at Daytona last year, it would probably work at Daytona, but we didn't need it at Talladega. We needed something at Daytona. At Daytona, it was single-file racing and we couldn't pass each other. Here, it's always been great racing."

One positive byproduct of Earnhardt's death is the awareness it has created to increase driver safety in Winston Cup racing. More is being done by the teams inside of the race car to help ensure a driver's survivability in a crash.

"Any time there is a wreck and there is an injury, especially if there is a fatality, it helps us be aware and continue to make things safer," Gordon said. "We are all trying to make things safer. A situation like that does open our eyes a little more. It's an unfortunate situation, but there are some positive things that can come out of it. There are a lot of driver compartments out there that are better than they were at Daytona."