Monday, April 18th 'What If' Question

Noah's Ark racing. Two-car tangos. Dancing partners. Speed dating.

The list could go on to describe the new style of drafting that has taken over the racing at Daytona and Talladega. Drivers pair up for three in a half to four hours and never leave the back bumper unless they're perfecting the switch. There are no longer big packs of racing where drivers are three and four wide row deep for hours on end where one wrong move can cause a 20 car wreck.

While many can sit and compare and contrast the racing and whether or not they like it, that's a conversation for a different day, there have been fantastic finishes in 2011 with the new style of racing in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series. In the season's first exhibition race, the Budweiser Shootout, the finish had Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin side-by-side at the line and even though Hamlin was disqualified, it was still a photo finish.

In the season-opening race for the Nationwide Series they too had a photo finish when four cars, two-by-two crossed the finish line with Tony Stewart beating Clint Bowyer. In Saturday's Talladega Nationwide race it could have been a photo finish had the race ended under green. Kyle Busch was being pushed by teammate Joey Logano on the outside while Joe Nemecheck was being pushed on the inside by Brad Keselowski heading into turn three on the final lap.

And then on Sunday it was a four-wide finish with eight cars coming to the line as Jimmie Johnson beat Clint Bowyer by 0.02 seconds, the closet in NASCAR history since they went to electronic scoring. The finish actually ties that of Kurt Busch and Ricky Craven at the Darlington Raceway in March of 2003.

On Sunday there were also again a Talladega record tying 88 lead changes.

It all through the new style of racing that drivers will 'swap' at the last possible time to get a big run on their competitors with a fresh new pushing. In doing so they close the cap to those in front of them and come down to the finish line

But ...

What if Sunday's race was old style plate racing with big packs, would the Aaron's 499 still have ended in a three-car photo finish? #NASCAR
@MattEmbury: Nope, wouldn't of happened

@Talon64: It probably would've only finished 2-wide at best, with the usual spread-out by guys getting every last position possible.

@nathanmedic: Probably. Either way, it would have been exciting for 25 laps and a parade (1x1 or 2x2) for the rest.

@DonRohr: yes

@DRLDeBoer: No

@RoushGirl17: Doubt it. Probably more like last year with two cars.