There's no reason why they can't. The record for different leaders is 26 in the race here in July of 1986 in the days before the use of carburetor restrictor plates. You can get up to a certain point, but it's hard to get past that block of the first 10 or 12 cars because they're three wide, four rows back. There's no doubt that every car here is capable of leading the race. It's a pretty typical Talladega, except that now, you never lose the draft.
Nobody loses the draft.
Gordon said that this is one weekend where he feels that he earns what he makes as a Winston Cup driver. But really, there are risks at every place we go and in every situation when you're a race car driver. You don't really think about it much. Unless you ride about a half a straightaway behind the whole pack, that's really almost the only safe place. You're trying to be just as straight and smooth as you can and hoping that that car on the inside doesn't clip you.