NASCAR heads to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend, where fans seem to love the racing in giant packs almost as much as some of the participating drivers hate it.
The mammoth 2.66-mile tri-oval, built by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., opened in 1969 with the goal of having the fastest track in racing. But from the first day, excessive speeds have been a safety issue, and that has brought about restrictor-plate racing, where one driver’s actions in the draft affect others.
“There are a lot of times that your outcome is out of your hands,” Richmond winner Joey Logano said. “You might have a really fast car, but if you get stuck in the wrong lane or make one wrong move, you can drop back outside of the top 20. And if someone else makes a mistake, you can get swept up in it.
“But it’s something that we’ve all come to deal with and understand. We just try and make the best of it. We try to keep ourselves in a good position to the end of the race. You want to win, but if you can come out of Talladega with the car in one piece and possibly a top-five or top-10 finish, it’s a pretty successful weekend.”
Brad Keselowski’s first Cup victory came at Talladega during one of Talladega’s darker moments.
He shocked the racing world in 2009 by winning the Aaron’s 499 in James Finch’s No. 09 Chevrolet. As Carl Edwards and Keselowski, then a young part-time Cup driver, raced toward the finish line on the last lap, Edwards moved low in an apparent attempt to block Keselowski. But the youngster held his ground and won the race, and Edwards sailed into the fence, with parts of his car injuring several spectators.
“Talladega has been a great track for me,” Keselowski said in a team release. “It has been the backdrop for a couple of self-defining moments. My first Cup victory comes to mind each time we head to Talladega.”
When Ryan Newman thinks of Talladega, he recalls several hard crashes he experienced there.
“Talladega is one of those tracks that is a necessary evil on our race schedule, especially considering my history at the track,” he said. “But, it’s like any other track, where it provides you with a legitimate chance and opportunity to win. I just have to figure out a so-called antitoxin to stop getting snake-bit there because it happens to me more often than any one there.”
Grandstand removed: The Allison Grandstand on the backstretch at Talladega Superspeedway has been removed as part of the track's "right-sizing" of its seating capacity. But the Alabama racing family still will be honored; the backstretch has been renamed "The Alabama Gang Superstretch" in honor of Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison and Red Farmer.
Large letters spanning 200 feet on the outside wall spell out the name, and the Allisons and Farmer will be part of the pre-race program this weekend. The Allisons will serve as the grand marshals for the International Motorsports Hall of Fame 200 ARCA race. Farmer will be the honorary starter.
Portions of the upper-deck stands on the frontstretch that have been covered in banners for several years also have been removed.
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