For Chasers, it's all about surviving the 'Big One' at 'Dega

Pick whatever description of racing at Talladega Superspeedway works for you, because they all apply.

Unpredictable. Scary. Dangerous. Electrifying. Thrilling. Volatile.

Most drivers won't agree on any one word to sum up racing at the mammoth, 2.66-mile track, but there's one all hope to avoid in Sunday's AMP Energy 500.

The inevitable Talladega "Big One" once again casts its shadow over the seventh race of the Chase on Sunday, and every driver knows it's usually not a matter of if but when it will happen.

"The Big One is going to happen -- it's just whether you get caught up in the crash or not, or whether it comes early or late in the race," says six-time Talladega winner Jeff Gordon. "It's going to be an exciting race for the drivers and the fans."

David Reutiman agrees with Gordon and also believes it doesn't matter where you are on track when the potential multi-car crash can occur.

"We've seen the Big One happen at the front and at the back of the pack," Reutimann says. "You just run your race and hope that you can avoid the trouble."

That is, however, easier said than done.

Over the years, drivers and teams have employed several strategies to try and tame the Talladega beast, only to have the Big One reach out and swat down those plans.

But that hasn't stopped the plotting for Sunday's race.

"I'm going to go there and race and I am going to race like I am not concerned about getting in an accident," said Mark Martin, who comes into the weekend 118 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson in the standings and is never a fan of restrictor plate racing.

"And sometimes accidents are all around you and you don't get tangled up, and I am going to race like I am expecting it to happen around me and not catch me. I've thought about it and that is how I feel. If we wreck, then I am not going to worry about it. If we wreck, we don't have a chance to win the championship and if we win, we might -- we just might. So we are going to go there and just see what it turns out."

Like Martin, Juan Pablo Montoya needs to make up ground in the points standings. He moved up a spot after a top-five run at Martinsville last week and believes each driver's overall goal will determine what plans are employed.

"It will be interesting to see what kind of strategy you play during the race because there is always two ways of looking at it," Montoya said. "Do you need points and you want to try and lead as many laps? Or do play conservative and play it at the end? It is always a challenge, especially with the side-by-side restarts. It is going to be, 'Whew, pretty wild.'"

That's exactly how last April's Talladega race ended with the wild finish that saw Brad Keselowski score an upset victory while Carl Edward's car flew up into the main straightaway guardrail and nearly into the grandstands.

The track raised the catch fence since the incident and NASCAR mandated a smaller restrictor plate to slow the cars down and hopefully keep them on the ground in case an accident does break out.