'Dega a breeding ground for first-time Cup winners

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Since Richard Brickhouse came home a surprise winner in NASCAR's debut at the 2.66-mile Alabama International Motor Speedway in 1969 -- mainly because many of the sport's biggest names boycotted the race for safety reasons -- the biggest track on the circuit has been a magnet for drivers making their first trips to Victory Lane.

So will Sunday's Amp Energy 500 see a fresh face join the likes of Dick Brooks (1973), Lennie Pond (1978), Ron Bouchard (1981), Bobby Hillin Jr. (1986), Phil Parsons (1988) and Brian Vickers (2006)?

Amp Energy 500

Race Lineup

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Travis Kvapil	Ford
2.	Casey Mears	Chevrolet
3.	Aric Almirola	Chevrolet
4.	Regan Smith	Chevrolet
5.	Paul Menard	Chevrolet
6.	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet
7.	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet
8.	Tony Raines	Chevrolet
9.	Brian Vickers	Toyota
10.	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet

• Complete Lineup click here

Travis Kvapil, the 2003 Truck Series champion, hasn't been able to find Victory Lane in 99 Sprint Cup starts. But for race No. 100, he'll bring the field to the green flag after winning the pole Saturday with a fast lap of 187.364 mph.

"I've always enjoyed running the Trucks at Daytona and Talladega," Kvapil said. "I've always enjoyed restrictor-plate running on the Cup side. I feel like the driver has more of a say. You can have the fastest car, but at the same time, if the driver doesn't put it in the right situations, you're not going to get it to the front."

With Doug Yates' engine under the hood, Kvapil knows he has the power needed to run near the front. But after finishing sixth here in the spring, he gained confidence in his ability to make the right moves on the track.

"That's what I really learned so much in the spring race here," Kvapil said. "I knew I had a pretty fast car but throughout the race, I would put myself in positions to see if I could make a pass or if I could pull a line, or who would or wouldn't work with me. At the end of the race, I learned what I needed to do and worked my way up to a decent finish."

So why is Talladega so conducive to first-time winners? Kvapil thinks it's because restrictor-plate racing evens the playing field.

"The cars are all pretty equal," he said. "Obviously, the fast stuff usually finds its way to the front. But as a driver, you have to put yourself in the right lane. If it looks like somebody's coming with a run, you can get up in front of them and use that draft to your advantage. Or if you've got a big push coming, how do you weave your way through there? So it's definitely a thinking man's racetrack, for sure."

Teammate David Gilliland has the same goal but he'll have to do it from the other end of the grid. He qualified 44th out of the 45 cars which made an attempt -- but knew he'd be at the back of the pack anyway for going to a backup car after Friday's incident with Dale Earnhardt Jr (watch video).

"Each and every week, that's our goal, to go out and run as well as we can, but I really want that first win," Gilliland said. "You go to tracks where you've run well at, and the thought pops up in your mind. And this is a track where we have as good a chance as anybody. It's a good thing coming into it."

Paul Menard, who will join Yates Racing in 2009, is also looking for his first win. He's had rotten luck here in the past, failing to make it to the finish in each of his first three Talladega starts. But in the spring race, he led three laps and finished 14th.

"It's a great equalizer," Menard said. "In the draft, basically all of the cars are the same, so it's up to the driver to make some good moves and get some good teammates to work with. We've got both of that, so we'll see what happens."

Another driver who may be overdue for a victory is David Ragan. He has five top-five finishes so far this season, including a fourth-place effort here in the spring.

"I think about it a little bit but I think we have as good a shot winning Charlotte next week as we do Talladega or Martinsville," Ragan said. "There have been a lot of first-time winners and that's a cool statistic. But for the most part, we feel like we've got a shot to win most every weekend."