Track Specifications:
Track/Race Length: 1.5-mile D-shaped oval, 267 laps, 400.5 miles
Banking in turns...variable (17-20 degrees); previous banking: 15 degrees
Banking on front stretch... 10 degrees; previous banking: 10.4 degrees
Banking on back stretch... 5.5 degrees; previous banking: 5 degrees
Straights: front stretch - 2,721 feet; Backstretch - 2,207 feet
Asphalt surface is 55-feet wide
Pit Box Size 30’x18’, 44 individual pit stalls
Pit Road: 1,573 feet long, 60-feet wide
Attendance: 81,779, 68 luxury suites
Seating: approx. 74,000 in the grandstands
Camping: approx. 2,400 spaces
Repaved & Reconfigured: Summer 2012
Opened: 2001
Race Festivities/Officials:
Grand Marshal: TBA
Command to start engines: TBA
Honorary Starter/Wave Green Flag: TBA
Invocation: TBA
National Anthem: TBA
Flyover: TBA
Kahne and Truex Jr. qualifying times disallowed UPDATE:
after qualifying for the Aaron’s 499 Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR announced that the times for #5-Kasey Kahne and #78-Martin Truex Jr. had been disallowed. Kahne’s car did not meet the minimum weight requirement and Truex Jr’s car did not meet minimum height requirement that is used for restrictor-plate tracks. Kahne will start 41st and Truex Jr will start 42nd. #5 crew chief Kenny Francis and Truex Jr. offered these quotes about the situation:
Kenny Francis, Crew chief of the #5 Farmer Insurance / Thankamillionteachers.com Chevy on the #5 teams time getting disallowed: “Basically we had a malfunction with a ballast container. The cap that holds the ballast in came out. It could be mechanical or human error we are not really sure what happened. At the end of the day 25 pounds of ballast came out and we were 25 pounds light at the scales. The time was disallowed and we will have to start at the back.”
Martin Truex Jr., #78 Furniture Row Chevy - time was disallowed after failing post qualifying inspection: “After positing the fastest practice speed yesterday, today’s result and infraction were disappointing to say the least. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we have a fast car for tomorrow’s race, and as we have said many times, qualifying really doesn’t mean that much here.”(Team Chevy)(5-4-2014)
UPDATE: Kenny Francis, the crew chief for the #5 team that competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has been penalized for rules violations committed during qualifying May 3 at Talladega Superspeedway. The infraction is a P3 level penalty and violates Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 12-4.3(A)1-c (unapproved added weight and/or weight affixed improperly) of the 2014 rule book. As a result, Francis has been fined $25,000. The infraction was discovered in post-qualifying inspection.(NASCAR)(5-6-2014)