10 - Carl Edwards (No. 99 Aflac Ford)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 88.7
2009 Rundown
• Seven top fives, 13 top 10s
• Average finish of 14.6
• Led 11 races for 162 laps
Talladega Superspeedway Outlook:
• One top five, three top 10s
• Average finish of 24.5 in 10 races
• Average Running Position of 24.4, 39th-best
• Driver Rating of 67.3, 29th-best
• 31 Fastest Laps Run, 10th-most
11 - Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 88.8
2009 Rundown
• Two wins, six top fives, 13 top 10s
• Average finish of 15.1
• Led 7 races for 247 laps
Talladega Superspeedway Outlook:
• One top five, one top 10
• Average finish of 23.5 in 11 races
• Average Running Position of 22.3, 30th-best
• Driver Rating of 65.0, 34th-best
• 2,691 Green Flag Passes, 11th-most
12 - Brian Vickers (No. 83 Red Bull Toyota)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 84.1
2009 Rundown
• One win, four top fives, 13 top 10s; six poles
• Average finish of 16.5
• Led 10 races for 101 laps
Talladega Superspeedway Outlook:
• One win, three top fives, five top 10s
• Average finish of 19.7 in 10 races
• Average Running Position of 15.8, eighth-best
• Driver Rating of 90.1, sixth-best
• 926 Laps in the Top 15 (61.2%), seventh-most
• 1,682 Quality Passes, seventh-most
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 race was held on Sept. 14, 1969.
• The track changed to Talladega Superspeedway in 1989.
• Track’s fourth repaving completed on Sept. 19, 2006.
Notebook
• There have been 80 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.
• Richard Brickhouse won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
• Bobby Isaac won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup pole in September 1969. Isaac won the first three poles there.
• 35 different drivers have won poles. Juan Pablo Montoya won the pole in this season’s spring race, his first career pole.
• Bill Elliott leads all drivers with eight poles.
• 38 different drivers have posted victories, led by Dale Earnhardt Sr. (10). Eighteen drivers have won more than once. Brad Keselowski became a first-time NASCAR Sprint Cup winner with his win earlier this season.
• Jeff Gordon leads all other active drivers in victories, with six.
• Hendrick Motorsports has won 10 races, more than any other organization.
• 31 of 80 races have been won from a top-two starting position, including 13 from the pole; 22 have been won from a starting position outside the top 10. The most recent driver to win from the pole was Jeff Gordon in 2007 (spring).
• The furthest back in the field a race winner started was 36th, by Jeff Gordon in 2000. Two of the last four races have been won from the 34th starting position (Jeff Gordon in 2007 and Tony Stewart in 2008).
• Mark Martin’s pace in the 1997 spring race set an all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup record for the fastest race ever. 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. had four consecutive victories (October 2001 through April 2003), the most ever by a driver there. Buddy Baker (three - May 1975 through May 1976) is the only other driver to win more than two consecutive races there.
• Since the inception of electronic scoring in 1993, every race that has ended under green has had a margin of victory under one second.
Talladega Superspeedway Data
Race #: 33 of 36 (11-1-09)
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
Brad Keselowski* 98.9
Denny Hamlin 94.8
Tony Stewart 92.4
David Ragan 92.3
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 90.1
Brian Vickers 90.1
Joey Logano* 88.8
Kurt Busch 87.7
Matt Kenseth 86.0
Jeff Gordon 85.9
Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2009 races (9 total) at Talladega.
* - Keselowski and Logano have each run one Talladega race.
Qualifying/Race Data
2008 pole winner: Travis Kvapil (187.364 mph, 51.109 seconds)
2008 race winner: Tony Stewart, 140.281 mph, 10-5-08)
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
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