Talladega Superspeedway

Originally known as the Alabama International Motor Speedway, this track is one of the biggest and fastest in the country.

The longest racetrack on the NEXTEL Cup circuit, Talladega Superspeedway measures 2.66 miles, and drivers can hold the throttle wide open all the way around the colossal speedway. Like its sister track in Daytona, Talladega is a restrictor-plate venue.

Though the cars don't travel as fast with their horsepower reduced, the use of restrictor plates tends to bunch the entire field in a large pack. Hence, drivers approach races at Talladega with a mixture of excitement and dread. Side-by-side racing is exhilarating at nearly 200 miles per hour, but one slip or bobble can send 20 cars spinning out of control, smashing into the retaining wall and into each other. That's what's known at Talladega as "The Big One."

The track is banked in the corners at 33 degrees and at 18 degrees in the tri-oval. Banking that steep ensures maximum speed around the circuit.

Talladega Superspeedway opened in September of 1969 for the running of the first Talladega 500, a race that gave Richard Brickhouse his only career Winston Cup victory. In fact, the quirky nature of drafting at the Alabama track has helped a handful of relatively obscure drivers find Victory Lane. Dick Brooks, Lennie Pond, Ron Bouchard, Bobby Hillin Jr. and Phil Parsons each won once in NASCAR's elite series-and each picked up his lone victory at Talladega.

Located south of I-20, just off Highway 399 in Talladega, between Birmingham and Anniston, Alabama, the speedway currently hosts two NEXTEL Cup events per year, in April and October. Bill Elliot holds the qualifying record of 212.809 mph, set during time trials for the Winston 500 in 1987, the last year of unrestricted carburetors at Talladega and Daytona.

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