Track Analysis: What Makes the Talladega Superspeedway so Notorious in the NASCAR Cup Series?

After a hectic race at the Texas, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway. William Byron drew first blood in the Round of 12, ahead of Ross Chastain and a disappointed Bubba Wallace. The 23XI Racing driver will now have a second chance at Talladega, which is home soil for him. Considering that he has won there in the past, he could be a strong contender to win, and this time with renewed energy as he is in the playoffs.

Speaking of the Talladega Superspeedway, it is a track that is steeped in history. This was where the term, The Big One meaning accident involving multiple cars, was born in the NASCAR community. In a nutshell, Talladega should be chaotic.

The Talladega Superspeedway race track is massive

According to reports, the iconic superspeedway is 2.6 miles long and 48 feet wide. Although it is a tri-oval, it is not as obvious as the Pocono Raceway. The track has four turns with a banking of 33°, and the tri-oval itself has a 16.5° banking. It is also worth mentioning that the front stretch is 4300 feet long, and the back stretch is 4000 feet, with a 1730-foot-long pit road.

This iconic superspeedway has borne witness to numerous massive accidents in its day. One of the biggest incidents involved Bobby Allison during the 1987 season. While racing, the right rear wheel of his car blew up and pitched him sideways and airborne. The flying #22 then smacked into the catch fence and careened back onto the track, destroying that section of the catch fence.

It was only thanks to two large steel cables that prevented the car from reaching the spectators. Without it, the scene could have resembled something similar to the 1955 Le Mans disaster.

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Who won the race at Talladega that year?

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Incidentally, it was Allison’s son Davey, who went on to win the race. Although his win was a bit subdued because of the severity of the situation, the good news was that nobody got hurt. From the drivers’ perspective, Dale Earnhardt was lucky to avoid the accident, because he was right behind Allison.

Coming back to the subject of The Big One, the term was first used during the 1998 Winston 500 at Talladega. Admittedly, there have been a few complaints that the term has been used often to glorify the accidents.

Now, with the 2023 edition of the Yellawood 500 approaching, will there be any big wrecks on the horizon? More importantly, if there are, will the Playoff hopefuls try and avoid being involved in them, or worse, be the cause of them?

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