The fall edition of the twice-yearly trip to Talladega Superspeedway certainly put the sanctioning body's electronic timing and scoring system through its paces. The sanctioning body placed scoring sensors at various checkpoints in regular intervals around the 2.66-mile track, as it does at every track, and they didn't get the day off.
Indeed, the system was tested to the limits as NASCAR had to fall back on the information to establish running orders at the point of caution flags, including a finishing order that established Clint Bowyer as the winner by a fender.
At the same time, the system tracked some interesting race-within-a-race statistics.
Take this, for example, involving a driver in just his second race with a team.
Aric Almirola, driving Kasey Kahne's old Budweiser digs for Richard Petty Motorsports, surpassed Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s April Talladega tally by completing 501 green flag passes. Almirola, though, needed about 20 more on the last lap of green, as he came home 20th.
Two drivers who finished in the top five made more than 400 passes Sunday, including second-place Kevin Harvick (400 passes) and fourth-place David Reutimann (458).
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