First-Time Fan Experience: Talladega

Talladega Superspeedway is a bucket list racetrack for almost any NASCAR fan. I know many would rank going to Talladega right under attending the Daytona 500. I’m going to be honest with you, Talladega has never been that high on my NASCAR tracks list. Plate racing (yes, I still call it that) isn’t my favorite, I get very nervous and antsy. I pace at home listening to the scanner of my race team. It’s not easy to pace in the aisle at the racetrack, I do a bunch of repetitive standing up and sitting down over and over!

A number of years ago I decided that each year I would go to a new track for a race in addition to my regular races at Martinsville, Richmond, and Charlotte. For a handful of years, I was able to do that and it was so much fun. Then came COVID year and that ended my yearly new track tour. I decided that in 2024, I would once again visit a new track, but where should I go? Thanks to NASCAR Fan Rewards, that answer came easy.

Talladega tickets are not cheap. When they dropped the ticket rewards for this season I had enough points to redeem a whole weekend at Talladega. I quickly cashed out my points and started planning.

Heading to ‘Dega

I ended up bringing my nephew, Mitch, with me because what better way to celebrate turning 16 than going to Talladega! He’s only been to Martinsville, and had never been to the state of Alabama, so it was going to be fun. With the track being over eight hours away, depending on traffic, we left Virginia early Friday afternoon and stopped in Chattanooga, Tennessee for the night. I was able to take him around downtown and point out a bunch of places my friends and I used to hang out. I even took him by where I went to college and showed him where I lived when he was born. He is the typical 16-year-old boy, so he was real thrilled with this part of the trip.

Then, we left early Saturday morning and headed to the racetrack.

Pro- hitting Alabama gained us an hour, hooray!

Negative- Alabama’s roads are terrible and we very quickly felt like we were on a amusement park ride. I will forever call Alabama the pothole state after my three days there.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was no traffic until I drove into Lincoln, just a couple miles from the track. Additionally, I was very impressed how state troopers were already set up in anticipation of the traffic closer to race time and the congestion after the race. You rarely see that much preparedness surrounding other racetracks.

I rolled right up to the track and only had to stop about 100 feet before my turn onto track property. Immediately Mitch said, “Wow! It’s so big!”

I had bought a parking pass a couple weeks ago because I was a bit worried about what parking would be like depending on the crowd and I am so thankful I did. It was $25 plus convenience fee for preferred parking for the weekend – the best money I spent the whole trip!

Workers pointed me to a grass lot right in front of the stands. The only closer parking to the gate was handicapped parking.

Fun fact: The group parked beside us were from Virginia as well! We went all the way to Alabama and met people from home. What a small world!

We had all of a four-minute walk to the entrance gate and made our way up to our seats in time for the ARCA green flag.

First Glimpse

That was our “Aha” moment. We both looked out across the track, the massive camping crowd in the infield, squinting to see the backstretch and both agreed, “Holy cow this place is huge!”

The ARCA Menards Series race was a dud with single file most of the race and same leader the whole race. Very un-ARCA-like if you watch enough of their races. Mitch literally yawned near the end.

Midway Thoughts

We had two hours to kill until the Xfinity race so we decided to grab lunch and go out into the midway. Props to Talladega for all the picnic tables to sit and eat at. I wish more tracks had those.

However, huge thumbs down on the price of food! It was $23 for a hotdog, three chicken fingers and fries! My hometrack is Martinsville Speedway where I can get a dozen hotdogs for that price!

Also thumbs down on the bathrooms. There was very little lighting, tiny stalls, and both days were a bit frustrating because you had to search for toilet paper, hand soap, and paper towels because they weren’t being restocked. I rarely saw workers in the bathroom areas cleaning up.

But, the Midway was fantastic! I liked how they had it sections so you could easily walk around and not miss any display.  Our highlights of the midway were definitely all the freebies we scored! Yes, we are talking about you Idahoan mashed potatoes! And of course, the skee ball game in the Ally setup. We played that multiple times over the two days.

Mitch was so excited about the Wienermobile on Sunday. That was legit the only time he willingly took a photo AND he smiled! Apparently 16 year old boys think it’s cool not to smile in photos.

NASCAR Xfinity Race

The NASCAR Xfinity Series race was quite a bit better than the ARCA race. The first part of the race was mostly uneventful with Mitch saying, “Where are all the wrecks? It’s Talladega, that’s what they do!”

However, five laps later they started wrecking. Thanks kid. The ending was exciting and I thought we might have a surprise winner, but we did not. Though, it was neat to see Jesse Love get his first series win. Traffic getting out after the race was a breeze. We were out on I-20 headed to Birmingham in less than 20 minutes after we got in the car.

Dinner was another first for us. Neither of us had ever been to a Whataburger because they aren’t on the east coast, but I had heard about it from all my friends from Texas. It definitely lives up to the hype! So if you are ever near a Whataburger be sure to try it!

NASCAR Cup Series

Sunday we were shocked to wake up and it wasn’t raining. The forecast had looked terrible for the NASCAR Cup Series race and I was mentally prepared to inform Mitch we would be racing Monday and instead going to the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum and Bass Pro Shops to kill all our free time.

We headed towards the track and stopped at Buc-ee’s to grab sandwiches and snacks. Lesson learned: I was not paying racetrack prices on food again. And sure enough, there were a bunch of other race fans at Buc-ee’s doing the same thing!

Traffic wasn’t backed up until about three miles from the racetrack. Then we had to sit in a long line for those with parking passes. I didn’t get as good a parking spot as I had on Saturday, but we were more than satisfied with only a 10 minute walk to the entry gate. We went around the midway collecting more freebies before heading to our seats.

The security and bag check went fast considering the length of the lines, and everyone working was very nice. I love that the Talladega grandstands are all connected. You can easily get a different view of the track by going down in different sections. We did that before we found our seats.

Friendly Fans

Everyone sitting around us was so nice. In fact, there was a whole group of first time race fans in the row below us. That made for some fun pre-race conversations. We loved the flyover and the huge American flag brought around the track during the National Anthem.

I know the drivers were saving fuel but honestly, we couldn’t tell from the stands. The pack was still fast and there was jockeying for positions in the back half of the larger pack. TV can’t show every little thing, so seeing races in person can change a whole perspective on a race or a track.

It was a bit of a bummer watching part of every lap on a big screen but that’s what happens when the track is over two-and-a-half miles long. We always had something to look at and Mitch enjoyed listening to the scanner. I flipped back and forth between the RFK Racing cars.

You could feel the anticipation building as the laps counted down. With 10 to go, as every lap ticked by, more fans stood up. With two to go, practically everyone was on their feet. The big one happened and everyone was going nuts.

They kept showing replays and you would notice something different each time. Mitch kept saying, “They got JUNKED! That was awesome!” Over and over. He really enjoyed watching the tow trucks haul mangled cars back to the garage in front of us.

As the high of the ending started to wear off, we made our way back to the car. I was surprised that traffic was moving relatively well. It only took about an hour for us to be back on I-20 heading to our hotel.

Dover Motor Speedway still holds my record for fastest exit time of 15 minutes because they are just so efficient, but Talladega does a fantastic job of blocking traffic and making all lanes exit lanes and keeping everyone continually moving even if it’s only 10 MPH.

Overall, we had a great weekend at Talladega and I am so thankful rain didn’t dampen our plans. I’m glad I was able to check off Talladega on my NASCAR Track List. Will I go again? I’m not sure. Ask me in a couple years. Maybe I’ll have the opportunity to see the races from the media side. You never know. There are many more tracks on the schedule to visit.

NASCAR Fan Rewards

I will say that NASCAR Fan Rewards makes going to races easier for fans. You don’t get to pick your seats, the track assigns them but that’s okay with me. Both days we sat in the Hill North Tower. My tickets for the two days would have been almost $400 and there was no way I would spend that amount of money on just race tickets. That was a huge money saver and the whole reason I could go.

Talladega Tips

My tips for anyone thinking of going to Talladega would be buy a parking pass, bring all your food and drinks with you, and book your hotel as early as possible unless you’re camping. I booked my hotel back in December and closest I could get was 45 minutes away!

Then, go in with no expectations and just enjoy the experience with whoever you are with. Am I sad my driver didn’t win the race? Absolutely. Any fan wants to see their favorite driver win, but I saw a great race anyway. There’s always the next race and I made lifelong memories with my nephew that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Now we both have a story that we can share with others about our Talladega Superspeedway weekend.