Brad Keselowski would be OK with 260mph at Talladega

NASCAR reduced the restrictor plate holes to slow the cars down after possible tire rating limits were reached at Talladega – Was it too fast?

Jamie McMurray blew a tire in final practice at Talladega Superspeedway. This came the lap after he turned a 203.975. This raised the question that the tire might have blown due to the speeds being run at the 2.66-mile oval.

That speed was about 0.400 faster than the next fastest time in the session. NASCAR reacted by reducing the speed ahead of qualifying.

“My understanding of the speed rating on those tires is that they’re good for 210-230 mph. Although we were fastest we’ve been here in a couple years,” Brad Keselowski comments on the crash.

“That specific lap, Jamie would have been around 210. So, I would say he had a 10mph margin. Maybe he just ran something over. There’s a good likelihood of that.”

“Just by the nature of how a car rolls. Usually, it would be that something fell off the car. If you ran over something, it would have hit the front tires first.”

“I would hate to go on record saying speed is what caused his tire to blow out. I don’t know if we’ll ever know that one. But, he did run the fastest lap the lap before that. So, I could see where you’d see that and put a few question marks up.”

Was it too fast?

“Too fast is subjective. We could run around here 260 and I’d be O.K. with that.”

“It probably would not be what a lot of people expect when they buy a ticket. Because we’d be spread out, all the way across the track. Kinda like how it was in the mid-80’s.”

“I think a lot of people expect pack racing.”

“It’s not too fast for me as a driver. It’s what I signed up for. I’m happy to go whatever speed. It’s too fast for those that expect to see pack racing on Sunday.”

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Related: NASCAR introduces a new restrictor plate ahead of Talladega qualifying (Crash video)

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Talladega Superspeedway | NASCAR

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