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The rear wing doesn't allow followers to see through the back glass as easily.

Vision could be a problem in tight packs at Talladega

Biffle says rear wing problematic in seeing others' signals

By Joe Menzer, NASCAR.COM
April 26, 2008
09:59 PM EDT
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TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Greg Biffle would like to see a change made in the current Sprint Cup Series car.

And he does mean "see" -- literally. He said that one of his worries heading into Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway is the lack of ability to see into the cockpit of the car directly in front of him.

Autostock

The one thing they say at the driver's meeting, 'If you're coming to pit road ... Wave the guy off.' Well, they can leave that out of the speech because we can't see.

GREG BIFFLE

"One thing I wish they would do -- we've asked them to do it over and over and they're not hearing us -- is to make some kind of clear wicker on the back of the wing so that we can see inside the car in front of us," Biffle said. "We had Nationwide practice here [Thursday], and a bunch of times I saw the guy's hand up waving in the window. Guys are checking up, and when you see that it's easy getting out of the gas.

"These [Cup] cars, you can't see inside the cars; you can't see the guy in front of you."

Biffle said that in his opinion the lack of vision is likely to contribute to a big wreck before Sunday's event is over.

"The one thing they say at the driver's meeting every week, 'If you're coming to pit road, make sure you wave your hand. Wave the guy off.' Well, they can leave that out of the speech because we can't see," Biffle said. "We cannot see their hand. So when guys get bottled up, that's how a big wreck happens. Guys get bottled up a little bit, and then all of a sudden it's a chain reaction."

Not everyone agrees with Biffle. Drivers Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin both said the lack of vision through the rear wing, which was added to the Cup car just last year, is not that big of a deal -- even though they agreed that it not only affects a driver's vision of what is in front of him, but also to a certain degree what is behind him when looking in the mirror.

"That's where a good spotter comes into play," Busch said. "Being able to tell you what is happening in the back of the pack or a few cars back, and what line has the run coming and what's going on, that's important. With all of that happening and with the [limited] visibility because of the wing, it's just something that everybody fights. But there are some who are pretty good at still being able to figure out what's going on."

Asked if he was concerned about it, Hamlin shrugged and added: "Not really, because even in the Nationwide car, I couldn't see past one car in front of me. I was really concerned with it when we first came here with these cars [last year], but now I think everyone has gotten used to it and realized there are different ways of looking around the car in front of you." (Continued)

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Aaron's 499

Race Lineup
Pos. Driver Make Speed Time
1. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 187.386 51.103
2. Tony Stewart Toyota 186.896 51.237
3. Ken Schrader Chevrolet 186.499 51.346
4. A.J. Allmendinger Toyota 186.423 51.367
5. Kyle Busch Toyota 186.416 51.369
6. David Ragan Ford 186.303 51.400
7. Denny Hamlin Toyota 186.300 51.401
8. Brian Vickers Toyota 186.177 51.435
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 185.974 51.491
10. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 185.837 51.529

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