Times certainly have changed as NASCAR Cup Series drivers have been forced to be less proactive and more reactive in the closing laps of superspeedway races.
Previous eras of NASCAR emphasized a driver's ability to make moves at Talladega Superspeedway. The Gen 7 era, however, has put greater importance on how they react to other competitors.
"It's a different type of game," Brad Keselowski, a six-time Talladega winner, said Tuesday during a sitdown with media members. "...Next gen has been a little bit fickle at Talladega in the way that it values different things than the car before did.
"It seems to really value the last pit stop and executing that at a very high level. And then the fuel saving stuff, which I think is going to be the word everybody hates after this weekend. So it's different. It's a different type of racing than what Talladega was four or five years ago."
Keselowki has seen how Talladega has evolved over the different generations of Cup Series cars. Some eras forced drivers to use air bubbles to push other cars instead of actually making contact. Other eras made it possible for two cars to tandem draft and control the race.
Certain eras even allowed drivers to create big runs and work their way through the field with barely any help.
One particular win in 2012 featured Keselowski and Kyle Busch using the tandem draft to build a big lead over other competitors. Once they took the white flag, Keselowski used a big arc to break the tandem and put some distance between himself and Busch. He went on to win for the second time at Talladega.
Gen 7 is a different beast. As Keselowski says, this new car can be fickle as more variables come into play at Talladega and NASCAR's other drafting-style tracks. He has to be reactive while accounting for decisions made by other drivers several rows behind him.
"This car is more reliant on getting a push, a physical push," Keselowski said. "Where we went through an era where the cars were not quite as reliant on that.
"This car has shown time over time that over the, I guess, six-race sample size at Talladega and arguably over a few races at Daytona, that really it's about the front two lanes and how they are able to get off Turn 4 and the physical contact between the cars.
"How that all plays out is just really dictated by the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth place cars. So I feel a little less in control."
Keselowski, much like other drivers, has changed his mentality in NASCAR's current era. He has had to embrace the mindset that he will likely crash in 50% of the races at drafting tracks.
If he doesn't crash, his focus turns to a top-10 finish at a minimum. Anything else just feels like a terrible loss.
The other main mindset change involves other competitors. Different drivers are more willing to work with each other based on team or manufacturer alliances, but Keselowski is far less picky. He can be friends with anyone who is willing to work with him as he tries to win for the seventh time at Talladega.
"There's no sacred cows. There's no bad pushers on the last lap," Keselowski said. "It's kind of funny how that works out.
"What do they say? There's no atheists in a hospital. There's no bad pushers on the last lap at Talladega."