Saturday 13th September 1969

“Alabama International Motor Speedway” opened at a cost of $4 million. The name would remain for twenty years until 1989 when the facility’s name was changed to “Talladega Superspeedway”. In the first race at the track, all the original drivers abandoned the track due to tire problems, which allowed Bill France to hire substitute drivers with the winner being Richard Brickhouse. After the first race, Talladega hosted two Cup Series races a year, one of which would become part of the 10-race NASCAR Cup Series playoff format. Since its opening year, Talladega has hosted many races and has been repaved four times. Talladega also has had many first-time winners, such as Richard Brickhouse, Ron Bouchard, Bobby Hillin, Davey Allison, Brian Vickers, Brad Keselowski, and, in 2017, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.