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Last year at Talladega, Dale Earnhardt Jr. congratulated Jeff Gordon on passing his father on NASCAR's all-time wins list.

By the Numbers: Talladega

By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
April 24, 2008
03:38 PM EDT

type size: + -

When the Cup Series schedule falls on Talladega, two names emerge: Earnhardt and Gordon.

It was July 31, 1983, when Dale Earnhardt won his first race at Alabama International Motor Speedway driving the No. 15 yellow and blue Wrangler Ford for owner Bud Moore. Earnhardt went on to win nine more races at Talladega, the rest of which came in his more famous No. 3 car.

On July 28, 1996, Jeff Gordon won his first race at the renamed Talladega Superspeedway, holding off Dale Jarrett in a rain-shortened Die-Hard 500. Gordon has collected six total victories at the 2.66-mile track, the most recent coming last year when he swept both races.

Gordon's win a year ago was his 77th, the one that put him ahead of Earnhardt on the all-time list of victories.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. carried on the Talladega tradition beginning on Oct. 21, 2001, when he beat Tony Stewart to win the EA Sports 500. It began a 'Dega seven-race stretch when Junior won four consecutive races, finished second in back-to-back events, then won again in the fall 2004 race.

Earnhardt (10), Gordon (6) and Earnhardt Jr. (5) rank 1-2-3 on the all-time victories list at Talladega. Their combined 21 victories in the last 49 races at Talladega mean either an Earnhardt or a Gordon has won 43 percent of the time in the last 25 years.

2Races at Talladega that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has not led in his 16 starts at the track. The first was his initial race there in 2000 when he started sixth but finished 42nd after an engine failure. The other was the fall 2005 race when he crashed just 19 laps into the event.

2Races in the last six at Talladega that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finished on the lead lap. He completed all 188 laps in the fall 2006 event and finished 23rd. In the spring 2007 race he completed all 192 laps and was seventh.

2Tracks at which Jeff Gordon has more victories than his six at Talladega: Darlington (7) and Martinsville (7).

2Races that have been won at Talladega by a driver starting 30th or worse, both won by Jeff Gordon. In the fall 2007 event he started 34th, and in the spring 2000 event he started 36th.

Earnhardt or Gordon

Talladega victories by two families

Date	Winner	Start	Make	Avg. Speed

7/31/83	Dale Earnhardt	4	Ford	170.611
7/29/84	Dale Earnhardt	3	Chevrolet	155.485
5/06/90	Dale Earnhardt	5	Chevrolet	159.571
7/29/90	Dale Earnhardt	1	Chevrolet	174.430
7/28/91	Dale Earnhardt	4	Chevrolet	147.383
7/25/93	Dale Earnhardt	11	Chevrolet	153.858
5/01/94	Dale Earnhardt	4	Chevrolet	157.478
7/28/96	Jeff Gordon	2	Chevrolet	133.387
4/25/99	Dale Earnhardt	17	Chevrolet	163.395
10/17/99	Dale Earnhardt	27	Chevrolet	166.632
4/16/00	Jeff Gordon	36	Chevrolet	161.157
10/15/00	Dale Earnhardt	20	Chevrolet	165.681
10/21/01	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	6	Chevrolet	164.185
4/21/02	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	4	Chevrolet	159.022
10/06/02	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	13	Chevrolet	183.665
4/06/03	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	13	Chevrolet	144.625
4/25/04	Jeff Gordon	11	Chevrolet	129.396
10/03/04	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	10	Chevrolet	156.929
5/01/05	Jeff Gordon	2	Chevrolet	146.904
4/29/07	Jeff Gordon	1	Chevrolet	154.167
10/07/07	Jeff Gordon	34	Chevrolet	143.438

Back in Time

May 10, 1997Mark Martin won the Winston 500 in the No. 6 Ford, the fastest 500-mile race in NASCAR history with an average speed of 188.354 mph and a time of 2 hours, 39 minutes, 18 seconds. It was the first of three caution-free races at Talladega. The others were the spring 2001 event won by Bobby Hamilton and the fall 2002 event won by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

10 Key Facts

0Victories at Talladega for the three best average finishers: Kurt Busch (10.0), Tony Stewart (12.6), Kevin Harvick (13.6).

0DNFs for Kevin Harvick in his 14 starts at Talladega. Only Denny Hamlin (4), David Gilliland (3) and Juan Montoya (2) have more than one start without a DNF.

3Winners in the last six Talladega races that started from the front row: Jeff Gordon (spring 2005), Dale Jarrett (fall 2005) and Jeff Gordon (spring 2007). Thirty-one of 77 races have been won from a top-two starting position.

6Times that Tony Stewart has finished second at Talladega. He has led 183 laps in his 18 starts at Talladega, the most among drivers who have not won there.

8Drivers who have won at Talladega and are on the entry list for Sunday's race.

11Top-10 finishes for Kurt Busch in his 14 starts at Talladega, or 78.6 percent of the time. His other finishes were 29th (fall 2001), 19th (spring 2003) and 36th (spring 2004).

12Restrictor-plate victories for Jeff Gordon, tops among all drivers.

17Victories recorded by Chevrolet in the last 18 Talladega races, including the last four.

31.7Average finish for Kyle Busch in six starts at Talladega, ranking him 52nd among drivers who have made a start there since 2004. His best finish is 11th and he has four DNFs.

299Career starts for Dale Earnhardt Jr. He has 16 starts at Talladega and ranks second among active drivers with five victories there, including four in a row from 2001-03.

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Talladega Superspeedway

Active drivers, based on victories

Driver	Starts	Wins	Top-5	Top-10

Jeff Gordon	30	6	13	16
Dale Earnhardt Jr.	16	5	7	9
Sterling Marlin	48	2	10	17
Ken Schrader	45	1	6	12
Brian Vickers	7	1	2	3
Bobby Labonte	30	1	6	11
Jimmie Johnson	12	1	4	5
Michael Waltrip	43	1	7	13

• Chart only includes drivers on entry list.

Active drivers, based on average finish

Driver	Starts	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish	Led

Ku. Busch	14	22.3	10.0	81
T. Stewart	18	16.7	12.6	183
K. Harvick	14	21.4	13.6	55
D. Earnhardt Jr.	16	18.3	14.3	570
J. Gordon	30	11.6	14.9	801

• Chart only includes drivers on entry list.

Sprint Cup Series

Official Standings

Pos.	+/-	Driver	Points	Behind

1.	--	Jeff Burton	1215	Leader
2.	+1	Kyle Busch	1135	-80
3.	+1	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	1129	-86
4.	+2	Jimmie Johnson	1116	-99
5.	-3	Kevin Harvick	1115	-100
6.	+1	Denny Hamlin	1078	-137
7.	-2	Tony Stewart	1057	-158
8.	+3	Clint Bowyer	1044	-171
9.	--	Carl Edwards	1041	-174
10.	-2	Greg Biffle	1039	-176
11.	+1	Kasey Kahne	929	-286
12.	-2	Ryan Newman	915	-300