Three wide, 12 rows deep. Depending on your perspective, this is either the most exciting or most nerve-wracking style of racing.

The Winston Cup Series heads to Talladega (Ala.) this weekend for the final restrictor plate race of the season. As usual, the story lines revolve around aerodynamics, the big wreck, safety and Dale Earnhardt Incorporated.

We begin with the latter.

DEI's franchise driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., has won the last four Talladega races. Out of pure respect he is this week's obvious favorite. However, Junior enters the EA Sports 500 a little banged up.

Earnhardt Jr. suffered a mild concussion and sprained right foot during a crash at Dover last Sunday but is in high spirits heading into this weekend.

"My foot gets a lot better every day," said Earnhardt Jr. "I usually use all of this ice to keep the Budweiser cold, but I've stayed off my feet, kept ice on it, and the swelling and soreness is much less than it was on Monday."

Indirectly, an injury that Earnhardt Jr. sustained last season could have sidelined him this week. After admitting that he raced nearly the entire second half of the 2002 season in a haze due to a concussion he suffered in a California crash, NASCAR implemented a rule which requires all drivers who were injured in a race to undergo a thorough physical examination before being cleared for the next event.

Because of this provision, Dr. Jerry Petty reexamined Earnhardt Jr. on Monday. Extensive paperwork was then filed with NASCAR, which finally cleared him to race on Wednesday afternoon. The situation created a ripple of drama but Little E says he's ready to go.

"It would take a heckuva lot more than this to keep me out of the race," said Earnhardt Jr. "Plus, Talladega is about intense mental focus -- it's not a physical track like Bristol or Martinsville where your body takes a beating."

Speaking of beating, few people have beaten Ryan Newman lately. After last week's victory, the sophomore sensation now has a series-leading seven wins in 2003. The last time anyone won this many races in a single season was 1999, when Jeff Gordon won seven.

	Newman had a wild ride at Daytona.

The modern era record for single season victories is 13 (Richard Petty 1975 and Jeff Gordon 1998). Newman would have to win six of the final eight races to hit that mark.

For Newman, no win would be sweeter than one this week. Restrictor plate events have been his nemeses. He flipped in the Daytona 500, triggered the big wreck during the last Alabama swing and struggled during July's Pepsi 400 in Daytona, ending up 22nd. Now, after learning how difficult this style of racing can be, his approach is clear. "Our strategy for Talladega is just to hang on," Newman said. "That's really all you can do, just hang on when you get in a superspeedway situation. When you're up front at Talladega or Daytona, it's a piece of cake -- anybody can drive those cars. But when you're in the back and you're trying to get to the front and there's no air on the car, it's really a handful."

Last week, NASCAR successfully debuted its no-racing-to-the-caution rule. It's a procedure they called "a work in progress." But it seems that's a phrase that could apply to the entire rule book. This week, NASCAR will unveil two more significant changes.

First, NASCAR has completed its research and approved the long awaited escape hatch. The modification will allow drivers to climb out of the car's roof instead of a side window; implementing the roof hatch will be optional beginning this week.

NASCAR will also introduce a new restrictor plate aero package this week. The size of the restrictor plate holes will be increased to provide more throttle response. And the spoiler height will be raised to increase drag.

"To be honest, I don't really know how much the rules are going to change things that much from what we had," said John Andretti, who tested with the new aero package. "With the bigger blade on the back, if a guy helps push you along in the draft, you'll see the speeds pick up there. It will also make it easier to catch a guy in front of you because the nose is going to make a bigger hole in the air."

Jeff Gordon agrees.

"It will be interesting to see how much, if any, effect is noticed from these new changes," Gordon said. "We always seem to be racing three and four wide in packs of 40 here and I don't think you'll see that change this weekend."

One thing that will change is the fuel mileage, which has already become a major factor in Winston Cup racing this season.

"We anticipate that the new modifications will alter fuel strategy by backing us up a lap or two," said Gordon's crew chief Robbie Loomis. "We'll figure out our fuel range during Saturday's practice sessions."

The rule's primary objective is to find a way to decrease speeds and break up the large packs. Drivers fully support this agenda.

"I just want them to come up with something that keeps us from having to run three-wide all day long," Tony Stewart said. But the only way to find out ways to do that is to try different things. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens during the race."

That's the idea. And some of us can't wait.

Mike Massaro covers NASCAR for ESPN and ESPN.com.