CarDomain’s Going to Talladega: Shake ‘n’ Bake!

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I’m heading to Alabama on Friday for CarDomain’s next NASCAR adventure: I’m gonna try to hit both the Aaron’s 312 and the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega this weekend, and will of course be bringing you trackside photos and fan’s-eye-view coverage right here in the blog! Talladega Superspeedway is NASCAR’s biggest and fastest track: at 2.66 miles, it’s a behemoth, and just like at Daytona, the monster length and the steep banking combine to let the cars go so fast that they need to run restrictor plates to keep them from flying into the grandstands.

There’s quite a bit at stake this weekend: Jeff Gordon has won the last two Sprint Cup races at Talladega and will be gunning hard for a third, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be making his landmark 300th career start at the race on Sunday. But with the restrictor-plated cars all running in tight bumper-to-bumper packs at 200 mph, a multi-car wreck like this one in ‘96, which sent Ricky Craven flying through the air leaving tire-tracks on the roofs of passing cars, can be touched off by the slightest miscalculation. Let’s hope our guys drive safe this weekend on NASCAR’s wildest track!