The 2001 Talladega 500 was a Winston Cup Series (now Nextel Cup) event held at Talladega Superspeedway on April 22, 2001. With the shadows of the fatal accident of Dale Earnhardt hanging over from Talladega, the race was very cautious and caution-free. Bobby Hamilton took advantage of that to slide by Tony Stewart as they took the white flag and Hamilton won his fourth and final career race. The heat and the non-stop racing left many drivers tired, including Hamilton who did his interview after a few breaths from the oxygen machine. This was the first restrictor plate race run with the "yellow line rule" in effect. After Mike McLaughlin won the Subway 300 the previous day with a controversial blocking technique later dubbed "drifting," outcry from drivers (including Jimmy Spencer) caused N