Aaron's 499
Aaron's 499
| Venue |
Talladega Superspeedway |
| Sponsor |
Aaron's, Inc. |
| First race |
1970 |
| Distance |
500.08 miles (804.8 km) |
| Laps |
188 |
| Previous names |
Alabama 500 (1970)
Winston 500 (1971-1993, 1997)
Winston Select 500 (1994-1996)
DieHard 500 (1998-2000)
Talladega 500 (2001) |
The Aaron's 499 is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car auto race held at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. The race has always been held in late April or early May. The Aaron's 499 is also one of four races currently run with restrictor plates, the others being the AMP Energy 500, the Coke Zero 400, and the Daytona 500. The 1997 event, won by Mark Martin, stands as the fastest NASCAR race to date ever run, at an average speed of 188.354 mph (303.126 km/h). It was the first race at Talladega run without a caution flag.
The race, from 1970 until the demise of the Grand Slam as a result of the Ferko lawsuit, was known as the second leg of the sport's Grand Slam. It was also previously part of the Winston Million.
The name is derived from a sponsorship agreement with the Aaron's chain of lease-to-own stores. The "499" advertised distance is designed to mimic the chain's tendencies to offer rentals "For $99" per month. Despite the name, the race is slightly over 500 miles in length.
Past winners
- 1974: Race shortened due to energy crisis.
- 1987: Race shortened due to darkness - caused by a red flag that lasted for two and a half hours to repair the catch fence after a lap 22 crash.
- 1991 & 2006: Race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain.
- 1997: The race was postponed two weeks due to rain. Qualifying was held as scheduled, but rain on Sunday and Monday prompted officials to reschedule the race for the next open weekend (the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend). It became the first 500-mile race at Talladega to be completed without a caution flag.
- 2001: The first restrictor plate race following the death of Dale Earnhardt was run without a caution, the second such 500-mile race in Talladega history.
- 2005, 2007, & 2010: Race extended because of Green-white-checker finish; The 2010 race took three attempts, the first time the new three-attempt rule was used.
- 2010: Set record for most lead changes in regulation (87) and overall lead changes (88).
- 2011: Set record for most lead changes in regulation (88), and tied for closest margin of victory in the Sprint Cup Series (0.002 sec.)
Notable races
- The 1975 running featured the first win for Buddy Baker since 1973 and the first Winston Cup Grand National win for team owner Bud Moore since 1971. Tragedy struck on Lap 149 when race leader Richard Petty pitted with a burning wheel bearing; his brother-in-law Randy Owens was killed when he fitted a hose to a pressurized water tank and the tank exploded.
- The race has exceeded 40 official lead changes 18 times. In 1984 a motor sports record of 75 lead changes was set, but this record was broken in 2010 as the lead changed 88 times; this record was tied in 2011.
- 1987: On the 22nd lap, Bobby Allison cut a tire and his car went airborne into the catch fencing in front of the main grandstand. Several feet of the fence were sheared off and Allison's car rebounded back to the track where it was t-boned by another spinning car. The race was stopped, and track crews spent a couple hours repairing the safety fence. Despite the wreckage, no drivers or spectators were seriously injured. As a direct result, the next superspeedway race (the 1987 Firecracker 400), saw the cars using smaller carburetors in an effort to curtail speeds. Starting in 1988, all superspeedway races saw mandated carburetor restrictor plates, which are still used today.
- 1993 saw Rusty Wallace spun out on the front straight after being hammered in the back bumper by Dale Earnhardt; Wallace shot off the ground and tumbled violently across the finish line, similar to his Daytona crash in the same year.
- In 1994, race winner Earnhardt dedicated his race win to Ayrton Senna, who died earlier that day in a crash at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy. Also in The Big One, Mark Martin blew through 2 fences nearly hitting the infield Road Course
- In 1996 Sterling Marlin rallied from the back of the pack three separate times to take the win. The race saw two airborne crashes; Bill Elliott flew down the backstretch in the air,[1] and Elliott suffered a leg injury that sidelined him for several races. Later Mark Martin was turned into the wall by Jeff Gordon and bounced into traffic; Ricky Craven tumbled up the Turn One banking and hit the fencing before bouncing down to the ground.[2]
- In the 2003 race (which was marred by a crash on lap 4 that damaged 27 cars, including Earnhardt), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won his fourth consecutive race at the track, but not without controversy. After the 2001 spring race (thanks in part to protestations from Jimmy Spencer over Mike McLaughlin's blocking in the Busch race en route to a win), NASCAR ruled that the yellow lines on the bottom of the track at both Talladega and Daytona were to serve as an out-of-bounds line (with any car that drops below to gain a position to be immediately black-flagged unless they gave the position back or were forced below it). As the cars reached the backstretch, leader Matt Kenseth made a lane change, going to the outside to block Jimmie Johnson. Earnhardt Jr. was on the inside and was drafting with Elliott Sadler when Kenseth started making a move low to attempt a block of Earnhardt; Earnhardt stormed well below the line entering the apron of turn three as he passed leader Matt Kenseth. NASCAR ruled that Earnhardt was forced below the line as the nose of his car had already passed the nose of Kenseth's car by the time Kenseth made the block, making it a clean pass, this even though Earnhardt was nowhere close to clearing Kenseth when he hit the apron of Three — what the rule was ostensibly intended to prevent. Some sanctioning bodies, such as the Indy Racing League, would have called Kenseth for violating the blocking rule — a driver may not make two lane changes on a straight, which is a penalty; the ethic against blocking, however, holds no weight in NASCAR given the fendered nature of the cars. The yellow line rule's absurdity belatedly led to discussion in the sanctioning body in January 2010 to possibly rescind it, though it was decided to maintain the rule "for the time being," according to NASCAR official Robin Pemberton.
- Following Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s 2003 win, Hendrick Motorsports won four straight — three by Jeff Gordon and one by Jimmie Johnson.
- Jeff Gordon's 2004 win was marked by a spinout by Brian Vickers with 4⅓ laps to go. In the wake of a dangerous incident between Casey Mears and Dale Jarrett the previous September at New Hampshire, the beneficiary rule was adopted, prohibiting racing back to the start-finish line. One ruling of the beneficiary rule was that if a race went past a specified point (Lap 183 in this case; five laps remaining) and had a caution, they would not throw out the red flag and stop the cars to ensure a green flag finish. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was side-by-side with Gordon and attempted a pass of Gordon for the lead at the time of caution. Television replays (which override previous scoring loops when less than five laps remain) declared Gordon was still ahead. The race finished under yellow and while Gordon did his victory burnout, enraged fans littered the track with garbage to protest the finish (it was believed that Vickers' crash and the subsequent cleanup would not have taken very long to clean up). This reaction, following a similar fan bombardment of the track at Daytona International Speedway after the 2002 Pepsi 400 ended under yellow, would result in the green-white-checkered rule being instituted in the NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series less than two months later.
- In 2009, a final battle to the finish between Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards ended in near-disaster. The Ford of Carl Edwards chopped off Chevrolet of Brad Keselowski while approaching the finish line and was hooked onto the trioval apron. The car spun into the air and was hammered by Ryan Newman, sending it flipping into the catch fence. The debris from the wreck injured eight spectators, all non-life threatening. Edwards walked away unharmed after jogging past the finish line as an absurd homage to the 2006 racing comedy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Keselowski went on to win the race in only his fifth Sprint Cup start, undoubtedly one of the biggest upsets of the decade. During the race, there were two big crashes, one on Lap Seven involving eighteen cars, and the other on Lap 180 involving eleven cars. The lead changed 56 times among 25 drivers.
- In 2010, this race was called "The Greatest Talladega Race Ever" by Darrell Waltrip. Throughout the race, there was a record 88 lead changes, breaking the previous record of 75 in the 1984 Winston 500, with 87 of those in regulation. There was also a record 29 different leaders, breaking the record set in the 2008 AMP Energy 500. Among the strongest cars throughout the day were Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Denny Hamlin, David Reutimann, Jeff Burton (who led the most laps), Kyle Busch, A.J. Allmendinger, and Michael Waltrip. The new Green-white-checker finish rule was implemented for the first time to the maximum of three attempts. Jamie McMurray was leading on each GWC restart and on the final lap McMurray and Kevin Harvick pulled away and coming through the tri-oval, Harvick pushed McMurray up the track and moved low; unlike Carl Edwards the previous year, McMurray gave Harvick room, which allowed Harvick to beat him to the line by a wheel, with an official margin of victory set at .012. This ended a 115 winless streak for Harvick amid contract talks for the 2010 season and with sponsor Royal Dutch Shell leaving for Penske Racing. Harvick's contract was renewed shortly afterwards, and picked up primary sponsorship from Belgian brewer InBev, with Rheem, Okuma, and Jimmy John's alternating.
- In 2011, the race set the record for most lead changes in regulation (tying the all-time record for most lead changes overall, but the 88th lead change took place on Lap 188, the last lap of regulation, unlike last year, when it took place on Lap 200, the final lap of the third green-white-checker), and also tied the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 for the closest Sprint Cup finish in the electronic timing era (1993–present) when Jimmie Johnson beat Clint Bowyer by 0.002 seconds.
Television broadcasters
Notes
- The 2006 race, scheduled for Fox, but was rained out and shown on FX and some Fox affiliates.
- Rick Benjamin, who was the pre-race host for ESPN from 1993–1998, filled in as a color commentator for the 1996 race for Benny Parsons, who was feeling ill.
- Dave Despain filled in for Joe Moore on MRN's call of the 1997 race because of scheduling commitments after the race was postponed by rain to Mother's Day weekend.
External links
References
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