Motorsports Venues - Talladega Superspeedway Creating Special Award For 100 Lead Changes

TALLADEGA, Oct. 9, 2011: Talladega Superspeedway has long been known as NASCAR’s Most Competitive Track…and now it’s looking to back up that reputation with cold hard cash. Track officials believe that this month’s running of the Good Sam Club 500 could eclipse 100 lead changes during the race and should that happen, the driver who takes the lead the most times throughout the race will earn $100,000.

“There’s a real excitement and buzz going into our race weekend,” said Talladega Superspeedway Chairman Grant Lynch. “Our fans look forward to seeing a lot of passing and a lot of lead changes. It makes sense to put an extra incentive on giving our fans what they want. The new rules package, that includes a larger restrictor plate opening, should give drivers the opportunity to really mix it up and pass even more in traffic. This is going to be an exciting race on Oct. 23 and we look forward to potentially setting another NASCAR record.”

Talladega Superspeedway currently holds the NASCAR record of 88 lead changes in a race, a mark that has been reached twice. Both instances occurred in the spring race at Talladega Superspeedway (2010 & 2011) with the 2010 fall race narrowly missing the mark with 87 lead changes.

Talladega also holds NASCAR records for leaders (29), fastest average race speed (188.354 mph) and fastest qualifying speed (212.809 mph).