The Big One is looming; Johnson not into what-ifs

The next race in the Sprint Cup Series is Sunday's 188-lap Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, one of two tracks in NASCAR that require restrictor plates to dampen horsepower as a safety measure (Daytona is the other).

As a result, the cars run in tight packs at top speed. One wobble, blown tire or mistake can lead to a massive wreck -- known as the Big One -- involving many cars.

Plate racing also makes Talladega a wild card in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The championship contenders easily can get caught up in the Big One through no fault of their own.

Not every race at Talladega has a Big One -- seven races have been Big One-free this decade, including two that didn't have a caution at all. But, as the chart shows, that's an aberration.

There have been 16 Big Ones this decade (seven cars minimum involved, which is 15 percent of the field), and two collected more than half the field.

Jimmie Johnson enters the race with a 118-point lead, and many have conceded the only thing standing between the No. 48 and a fourth consecutive Cup Series championship is Talladega -- specifically, the Big One.

"Talladega, there's no telling," Johnson said after last week's second-place finish at Martinsville. "I'm so tired of answering this question. We all know what the answers are. It's the same stuff over and over again. The stuff we can't control is the stuff I'm worried about. The stuff we can control, I feel we're going to be great.

"It gives everyone something to talk about but I'm tired of talking about all the what-ifs."

Statistically, Talladega is one of Johnson's better tracks; his 17.7 average finish in 15 starts is third-worst behind Indianapolis (17.9) and Richmond (18.2). However, in his past 10 races at Talladega, Johnson has accumulated the third-most points (1,221) behind Kurt Busch (1,401) and Tony Stewart (1,366).