Backstretch Motorsports

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 29, 2008) – Talladega Superspeedway is dubbed the “wild card” in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for a reason. Standings shuffling – and championship hopes shattering – races have been staged at Talladega:
2004: Jeff Gordon came into Talladega as the points leader. He finished 19th in the race, and was bounced from atop the standings by eventual series champion Kurt Busch. Gordon finished the year in third.

2005: Leader Jimmie Johnson had a seven-point lead going into Talladega. He finished 31st, though, and was knocked out of the top spot by Tony Stewart. Johnson finished the year in fifth.
2006: In the Chase era, Burton is the only driver to enter and leave Talladega with the points lead. Still, the race greatly affected his championship chances. Burton entered that year’s race with a 61-point lead. He left with a six-point advantage after a 27th-place finish. Burton finished the year seventh.
2007: Jimmie Johnson entered Talladega in first, but left in second. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon won that race, vaulting ahead of Johnson in the standings by a slim nine-point margin. Johnson rebounded to win the second championship of his career.
This season, Johnson is once again the series leader, 10 points ahead of Carl Edwards and 30 points in front of Greg Biffle.
Of the three, Johnson is the clear favorite at Talladega. He has a win there (2006) and a Driver Rating of 86.7. Plus, he finished second to Gordon in each of last season’s Talladega races.
Edwards has the 24th-best Talladega Driver Rating of 70.5, and Biffle has the 28th-best at 68.0.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Top 12 at Talladega Superspeedway

Driver Races Poles Wins Top Fives Top 10s DNFs Average Finish Driver Rating

1 Jimmie Johnson 13 1 1 4 5 5 17.5 86.7
2 Carl Edwards 8 0 0 1 3 2 24.0 70.5
3 Greg Biffle 11 0 0 0 0 4 25.3 68.0
4 Jeff Burton 29 0 0 2 10 5 19.1 80.2
5 Kevin Harvick 15 1 0 3 7 0 14.3 75.9
6 Jeff Gordon 31 1 6 13 16 7 15.0 96.9
7 Clint Bowyer 5 0 0 0 1 2 26.0 58.4
8 Dale Earnhardt Jr 17 0 5 7 10 4 14.1 86.6
9 Matt Kenseth 17 0 0 3 6 2 17.5 83.0
10 Denny Hamlin 5 0 0 2 2 0 14.2 96.8
11 Tony Stewart 19 0 0 8 11 4 13.9 94.4
12 Kyle Busch 7 0 1 1 1 4 27.3 70.7

Selected Driver Highlights – Talladega Superspeedway-specific
Note: All driver statistics that follow are from Talladega Superspeedway. The Loop Data statistics – Driver Rating, Average Running Position, etc. – in this release, however, cover the last seven races at Talladega. NASCAR’s scoring loops began collecting data for statistical purposes in 2005.

Greg Biffle (No. 16 Dish Network Ford)
• Average finish of 25.3
• Average Running Position of 24.2, 37th-best
• Driver Rating of 68.0, 28th-best
• 26 Fastest Laps Run, tied for 10th-most
• 382 (28.8%) Laps in the Top 15, 22nd-most

Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge)
• Six top fives, 11 top 10s
• Average finish of 11.9
• Average Running Position of 13.8, fourth-best
• Driver Rating of 87.8, sixth-best
• 2,441 Green Flag Passes, fourth-most
• Series-high 912 (68.7%) Laps in the Top 15
• Series-high 1,836 Quality Passes (passes of cars in the top 15 under green)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet)
• Five wins, seven top fives, 10 top 10s
• Average finish of 14.1
• Average Running Position of 16.8, 12th-best
• Driver Rating of 86.6, eighth-best
• 36 Fastest Laps Run, second-most
• Average Green Flag Speed of 192.211 mph, seventh-fastest
• 2,070 Green Flag Passes, 11th-most
• 766 (57.7%) Laps in the Top 15, seventh-most
• 1,370 Quality Passes, ninth-most

Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford)
• One top five, three top 10s
• Average finish of 24.0
• Average Running Position of 24.4, 39th-best
• Driver Rating of 70.5, 24th-best
• 499 (37.6%) Laps in the Top 15, 16th-most

Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet)
• Six wins, 13 top fives, 16 top 10s; one pole
• Average finish of 15.0
• Average Running Position of 13.8, third-best
• Series-high Driver Rating of 96.9
• 869 (65.4%) Laps in the Top 15, second-most

Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Toyota)
• Two top fives
• Average finish of 14.2
• Average Running Position of 12.4, second-best
• Driver Rating of 96.8, second-best
• Average Green Flag Speed of 192.217 mph, sixth-fastest
• 595 (63.0%) Laps in the Top 15, fifth-best percentage
• 1,043 Quality Passes (average of 208.6 per race), sixth-best average

Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet)
• One win, four top fives, five top 10s; one pole
• Average finish of 17.5
• Average Running Position of 16.1, eighth-best
• Driver Rating of 86.7, seventh-best
• 1,760 Green Flag Passes, 16th-best
• 742 (55.9%) Laps in the Top 15, ninth-most
• 1,446 Quality Passes, fifth-most

Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DEWALT Ford)
• Three top fives, six top 10s
• Average finish of 17.5
• Average Running Position of 17.0, 13th-best
• Driver Rating of 83.0, 10th-best
• 23 Fastest Laps Run, tied for 16th-most
• 772 (58.1%) Laps in the Top 15, fifth-most
• 1,508 Quality Passes, third-most

Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Toyota)
• Eight top fives, 11 top 10s
• Average finish of 13.9
• Series-best Average Running Position of 12.2
• Driver Rating of 94.4, third-best
• 27 Fastest Laps Run, ninth-most
• 2,298 Green Flag Passes, ninth-most
• 864 (65.1%) Laps in the Top 15, third-most
• 1,378 Quality Passes, seventh-most

Brian Vickers (No. 83 Red Bull Toyota)
• One win, three top fives, four top 10s
• Average finish of 19.2
• Average Running Position of 14.1, fifth-best
• Driver Rating of 91.3, fifth-best
• 647 (65.8%) Laps in the Top 15, second-best percentage
• 1,312 Quality Passes (average of 218.7 per race), third-best average

At Talladega Superspeedway:

History
• Construction began on what was then known as the Alabama International Motor Speedway on May 23, 1968.
• The first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race was held on Sept. 14, 1969.
• The track name was changed to Talladega Superspeedway in 1989.
• The first NASCAR Nationwide Series race was held on July 25, 1992.
• The second NASCAR Sprint Cup Talladega race was moved from July to October in 1997.
• Talladega Superspeedway completed its fourth repaving on Sept. 19, 2006.
• The first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race was held on Oct. 7, 2006.

Notebook
• There have been 78 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Talladega Superspeedway since the track opened in 1969; two a year every year except the inaugural season, which had just one.
• Bobby Isaac won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup pole in September 1969. Isaac went on to win the first three poles there.
• 33 different drivers have won poles.
• Bill Elliott leads all drivers with eight poles.
• Joe Nemechek leads all other active drivers in poles with four.
• Richard Brickhouse won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
• 36 different drivers have posted victories, led by Dale Earnhardt Sr. (10). Eighteen drivers have won more than once.
• Jeff Gordon leads all other active drivers in victories with six.
• Hendrick Motorsports has won 10 races, more than any other organization.
• 31 of 78 races have been won from a top-two starting position, including 13 from the pole; 21 have been won from a starting position outside the top 10.
• The furthest back in the field a race winner started was 36th, by Jeff Gordon in 2000.
• All of the NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Talladega have been scheduled for 188 laps, 500 miles.
• There have been four green-white-checkered races at Talladega: May 2005 (194), October 2005 (190), April 2007 (192) and April 2008 (190).
• Mark Martin’s pace in the 1997 spring race set an all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup record for the fastest race ever run. He won the caution-free race with an average speed of 188.354 mph and covered the 500-mile distance in two hours, 39 minutes and 18 seconds.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 42nd and 14th in his first two races at Talladega. In his 14 races there since, he finished in the top 10 ten times, including five victories and two second-place finishes. His four consecutive victories (October 2001 through April 2003) are the most ever by a driver at Talladega. Buddy Baker (three - May 1975 through May 1976) is the only other driver to win more than two consecutive races there.

NASCAR in Alabama
• There have been 97 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Alabama.
• 65 drivers in NASCAR’s three national series (all-time) have their home state recorded as Alabama, including Bobby Allison who is tied for third on the all-time winners list with 84.
• There have been seven race winners from Alabama in NASCAR’s three national series:
Driver NSCS NNS NCTS
Bobby Allison 84 2 0
Davey Allison 19 0 0
Neil Bonnett 18 1 0
Donnie Allison 10 0 0
Red Byron 2 0 0
Steve Grissom 0 11 0
Rick Crawford 0 0 5

Talladega Superspeedway Data
Race #: 30 of 36 (10-5-08)
Track Size: 2.66 miles
• Banking/Corners: 33 degrees
• Banking/Frontstretch: 16.5 degrees
• Banking/Backstretch: 2 degrees
• Frontstretch: 4,300 feet
• Backstretch: 4,000 feet

Driver Rating at Talladega
Jeff Gordon 96.9
Denny Hamlin 96.8
Tony Stewart 94.4
Jamie McMurray 92.1
Brian Vickers 91.3
Kurt Busch 87.8
Jimmie Johnson 86.7
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 86.6
Ryan Newman 85.6
Matt Kenseth 83.0
Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2008 races (7 total) at Talladega.

Qualifying/Race Data
2007 pole winner: Michael Waltrip (189.070 mph, 50.648 seconds)
2007 race winner: Jeff Gordon, 143.438 mph, 10-7-07)
Track qualifying record: Bill Elliott (212.809 mph, 44.998 seconds, 4-30-87)
Track race record: Mark Martin (188.354 mph, 5-10-97)
Estimated Pit Window: Every 34-36 laps, based on fuel mileage