I'm going out on a limb this week, predicting the stunning demise of "slam drafting" at Talladega Superspeedway. After an endless string of senseless, multi-car crashes at the Alabama superspeedway in recent years, NASCAR finally took action this season, mandating lighter front bumpers that will collapse on heavy impact, leaving "slam drafters" will nothing to show for their effort but a busted radiator and a DNF.
There will still be a bit of "bump drafting" Sunday; the comparatively harmless practice of of giving another driver a gentle nudge in the backside on straightaways. But amazingly, the very drivers that declared "slam drafting" to be an unavoidable part of restrictor plate racing will suddenly discover the God-given ability to avoid harpooning each other in the trunk, after all.
Like "bias-ply tires" and "Driver Escape Hatch," the term "slam drafting" will be wheeled out to the NASCAR graveyard following this weekend's race, never to be heard from again. And best of all? The racing will not suffer for it.
The National Motorsports Press Association award-winning online home of Dave "The Godfather" Moody.
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