Your pocket guide to AAron’s 499Thursday-sunday, april 22-25 ♦ Talladega superspeedway

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ThursDAY7 a.m. – arCa, nasCar nationwide series garages open10 a.m. - 1 p.m. – arCa practice3 p.m. – nationwide series practice4 p.m. – nationwide series final practice5:05 p.m. – arCa qualify-ing7 p.m. – nasCar sprint Cup haulers enter7:30 p.m. – arCa, nation-wide series garage closes

FrIDAY6 a.m. – sprint Cup, nationwide series garage opens8 a.m. – grandstands open9:30 a.m. – arCa final practice10:30 a.m. – nationwide series qualifying1 p.m. – nsCs practice2 p.m. – nationwide series garage closes2:30 p.m. – nsCs final practice4 p.m. – arCa series race 250 (94 laps, 250 Miles)6:30 p.m. – nsCs garage closes

sATurDAY6 a.m. – nsCs garage opens

8 a.m. – grandstands open

9 a.m. – nationwide series garage opens

10:35 a.m. – sprint Cup qualifying, then impound

1:30 p.m. – nationwide series driver introductions

2 p.m. – nationwide series aaron’s 312

2 p.m. – sprint Cup garage closes

sunDAY8 a.m. – grandstands open

8 a.m. – sprint Cup garage opens

11:30 a.m. – sprint Cup driver introductions

noon – sprint Cup Aaron’s 499 (green flag scheduled at 12:19 p.m.)

The schedule ParkingTalladega superspeedway has announced some changes to its traffic plan to get fans in and out of the track faster.

sATurDAY. north parking lots 2n & 3n (located across from the main entrance) will remain closed on saturday only. race fans should park in lots 1e–4e and 1w–9w.

. west parking lots 10w & 11w (located off new Jackson Trace) will remain closed on saturday only. if entering the facility from new Jackson Trace, lot 9w will be open.

. allison grandstand custom-ers will have a new express lane that leads to speedway Boulevard without waiting on cross-traffic exiting the gate V9 infield Crossover.

sunDAY. north park Free Camping lots will be held for two hours while traffic exits the Free day parking lots.

. reserved Family Camping lots will be held for two hours while traffic exits the Free day parking lots.

. allison grandstand custom-ers will again be able to use the new express lane that leads to speedway Boulevard without having to wait on cross-traffic exiting the gate V9 infield Crossover.

CAr no. / DrIver / AuTomAker

00 David reutimann, Toyota 1 Jamie mcmurray, Chevrolet 2 kurt Busch, dodge 5 mark martin, Chevrolet 6 David ragan, Ford 7 robby Gordon, Toyota 09 mike Bliss, Chevrolet 9 kasey kahne, Ford 1 1 Denny hamlin, Toyota 1 2 Brad keselowski, dodge, 1 3 max Papis, Toyota 1 4 Tony stewart, Chevrolet 1 6 Greg Biffle, Ford 1 7 matt kenseth, Ford 18 kyle Busch, Toyota

1 9 elliott sadler, Ford, 20 Joey Logano, Toyota 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 26 David stremme, Ford 29 kevin harvick Chevrolet 3 1 Jeff Burton, Chevrolet 3 3 Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet 3 4 Travis kvapil, Ford 35 Aric Almirola, Chevrolet 36 Johnny sauter, Chevrolet 37 robert richardson Jr., Ford 38 kevin Conway, Ford 39 ryan newman, Chevrolet 42 Juan Pablo montoya, Chevrolet 43 A J Allmendinger, Ford 46 Terry Cook, dodge

4 7 marcos Ambrose, Toyota

48 Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet

55 michael Waltrip, Toyota

56 martin Truex Jr, Toyota

66 Dave Blaney, Toyota

7 1 Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet

77 sam hornish Jr., dodge

78 regan smith, Chevrolet

82 scott speed, Toyota

83 Brian vickers, Toyota

87 Joe nemechek, Toyota

88 Dale earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet

97 Jeff Fuller, Toyota

98 Paul menard, Ford

99 Carl edwards, Ford

The drivers Who To WaTch for

Jimmie Johnson leads sprint Cup points race

no. 2 kurt Busch

no. 11 Denny hamlin

no. 24 Jeff Gordon

no. 48 Jimmie Johnson

no. 88 Dale earnhardt Jr.

no. 99 Carl edwards

Talladega coverage in PrinT & online. daily in the sports section of The Birmingham news . Follow Doug Demmons’ Blog of Tomorrow at blog.al.com/blogoftomorrow. Online updates at al.com: al.com/birmingham

NEWS STAFF

TALLADEGA TRACK FACTS

Start/finish lineGrandstands

North tunnel

Old runwaysThe track was built on the site of a decommissioned Army training base.

Frontrunners Club 2

Frontrunners Club 1

Talladega Sheriff’s DepartmentContains holding cell and can accept fines on race day.

Scoring tower

RV parking

RV parking

RV parking

RV parking

Automobiles and tents

Talladega AirportMore than 700 airplanes land on race day.

Nationwide Garage

Sprint Cup Garage

Ticket office

South tunnel

Merchandise and displays

To Birmingham42 miles

TURN 2TURN 1

TURN 3TURN 4

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Built: 1969 ♦ Distance: 2.66-mile tri-oval course ♦ Grandstand seating capacity: 143,231 ♦ Size: 3,000 acres ♦ Infield: 212 acres

tAllAdegA superspeedwAY trAck fActs