Smart Stewart: A Wreck Could Have Been Costly

Tony Stewart made the right choice to bail out Considering just how physical Sunday’s race turned out to be, Tony Stewart clearly made the right decision to get out of his car and hand over the wheel to relief driver Ty Dillon under the first caution period. Stewart, who returned the previous weekend at Richmond after missing the season’s first eight races while recouping from a back injury, was advised by his doctors to play it safe at Talladega – where a hard hit could have been a devastating setback to the three-time Sprint Cup Series champion’s efforts to fully heal. Had…

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Read more about the article Brad Keselowski takes checkers in action-filled Talladega race
during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on May 1, 2016 in Talladega, Alabama.

Brad Keselowski takes checkers in action-filled Talladega race

May 1, 2016 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – Taking control in the final three laps of Sunday’s wreck-filled GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Brad Keselowski claimed his fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at the 2.66-mile race track and solidified his spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Choosing the top lane for a restart on Lap 186 of 188, Keselowski powered his No. 2 Team Penske Ford past Kurt Busch with two laps left and crossed the finish line as a gaggle of cars wrecked behind him coming to the stripe. “The last three or…

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Read more about the article Elliott Sadler ends drought with wild win at Talladega
during the NASCAR XFINITY Series Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 30, 2016 in Talladega, Alabama.

Elliott Sadler ends drought with wild win at Talladega

Apr. 30, 2016 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – On his 41st birthday, Elliott Sadler got an unexpected present. When Saturday’s Sparks Energy 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race ended under caution in overtime with the front-runners just short of the finish line, Sadler had the lead, after Joey Logano’s last-ditch attempt to block Sadler in the tri-oval ended with Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford plowing nose-first into the outside wall. Brennan Poole got to the finish line first and thought he had won the race, until NASCAR officials reviewed the video of the finish and determined Sadler was…

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Read more about the article Milestone Moment: Bill Elliott’s Lap Record Changed NASCAR
1 Jan 1993: Team owner Junior Johnson, left, holds up the winners trophy with driver Bill Elliott after winning the race in Darlington, South Carolina. Mandatory Credit: Bill Hall/ALLSPORT

Milestone Moment: Bill Elliott’s Lap Record Changed NASCAR

By Keith Waltz The Winston 500 on May 3, 1987, at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway was a turning point in the balance between speed and safety in NASCAR racing. With Bill Elliott winning the pole at more than 212 mph, the sport avoided a major catastrophe on lap 22 when something cut the right-rear tire on Bobby Allison’s Buick exiting the tri-oval portion of the 2.66-mile track and the car flew into the catch fence. The impact ripped out nearly 100 feet of the fence, but the steel support cables did their job and kept Allison’s car out of the grandstand. “I looked…

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Talladega Preview: High Speeds, Avoid the ‘Big One’

Moving from one of its shortest and slowest tracks to the longest track and easily one of its fastest, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway for Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 after a wild weekend of racing at three-quarter mile Richmond International Raceway. Talladega, long synonymous for crazy finishes, major and sometimes frightening wrecks and controversy in a variety of forms, is one of only a couple places on the Sprint Cup Series tour where just about anyone can win. Thanks to the horsepower-choking restrictor plates that keep drivers bunched in one or more tight packs from the drop of…

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I’m Just Sayin’: Kudos to Busch For Being Good Teammate

By Jared Turner After getting knocked out of the way by teammate Carl Edwards on the last lap of Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400, Kyle Busch had every reason to be miffed and even downright mad. But if Busch was ticked at his teammate, he did a really good job of hiding it. Asked about the last-lap contact, the reigning Sprint Cup Series champion all but avoided the question, instead praising his team and the speed in his No. 18 Toyota. It was classy move for a driver who as recently as a few weeks ago threw an all-out temper tantrum and even…

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