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Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the last to weekend sweep Talladega and he will look to do it again.

By the Numbers: Talladega

Fifteen will look to match record only three have done

By Bill Kimm, NASCAR.COM
April 23, 2009
09:43 AM EDT

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Talladega Superspeedway takes a tremendous amount of focus and endurance for drivers to survive. Three-plus hours in a pack of 43 cars at speeds pushing 190 mph takes every ounce of energy a human can muster. Yet, 15 drivers not only will race 312 laps on Sunday in the Aaron's 499 (1 p.m. ET, FOX), but another 117 on Saturday in the Nationwide race.

Double-dipping is nothing new, but at Talladega it's a little more intense. And winning both races at the 2.66-mile track in Alabama is almost unheard of. Just three times has a driver won both 'Dega races the same weekend: Ernie Irvin, 1992; Dale Earnhardt, 1993; and Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2003.

Of the 15, only Junior has won both a Nationwide and Cup event at Talladega, while four other drivers have won at least one race at the track (Cup: Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers and Michael Waltrip; Nationwide: Joe Nemechek).

The other 10 drivers: David Ragan, David Reutimann, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Eric McClure and Michael McDowell all hope to get that first 'Dega victory and maybe turn it into a two-fer.

Inside the Data

Drivers entered in both Talladega races that have past weekend sweeps

Driver	Year	Track	Series

Kyle Busch	2007	Phoenix International Raceway	Nationwide/Truck
	2008	Atlanta Motor Speedway	Cup/Truck
	2008	Chicagoland Speedway	Cup/Nationwide
Dale Earnhardt Jr.	2003	Talladega Superspeedway	Cup/Nationwide
	2004	Daytona International Speedway	Cup/Nationwide
	2004	Bristol Motor Speedway	Cup/Nationwide
Carl Edwards	2005	Atlanta Motor Speedway	Cup/Nationwide
	2008	Michigan International Speedway	Cup/Nationwide
	2008	Atlanta/Memphis	Cup/Nationwide
	2008	Homestead-Miami Speedway	Cup/Nationwide
Matt Kenseth	2006	Bristol Motor Speedway	Cup/Nationwide
	2007	Auto Club Speedway	Cup/Nationwide
Joe Nemechek	2004	Kansas Speedway	Cup/Nationwide

Did you know?

4For just the third time since 1975, the top-four in points are all past Cup champions. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart have 10 titles between them and are ranked 1-4. This is the second-latest in a season the phenomenon has happened. In 1986, after the 10th race of the season, the top-four were: Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison and Terry Labonte.

Necessitous Numbers

0Number of drivers entered in Sunday's race with an average finish inside the top 10. Kurt Busch has the best average finish among active drivers at 12.5.

3Believe it or not, three 500-mile races were run caution-free at Talladega. Mark Martin won the first one in the spring 1997 race followed by Bobby Hamilton in the spring 2001 event and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the fall 2002 race.

3.5Average finish for David Ragan in last year's Talladega races, tops among all drivers. Ragan finished fourth in the spring and third in the fall and was the only driver to post two top-fives at Talladega last season.

4Dale Earnhardt Jr. holds the Talladega track record with four consecutive wins. In a stretch from 2001-2004, Junior finished either first or second in seven consecutive races. Since then though, he has just two top-10 finishes and an average finish of 24.2.

12.4Average starting position of the winner at Talladega in the last 10 Cup races. Only once has the winner come from the pole and two of the last three race winners have started 34th.

13If Jeff Gordon can take his No. 24 to Victory Lane on Sunday at Talladega, it will give him 13 wins at the two restrictor-plate tracks -- Daytona and Talladega -- and will tie him with Dale Earnhardt for most wins at those two tracks.

13Thirteen of the last 20 Cup races at Talladega have been won by either a Gordon or an Earnhardt (Dale Earnhardt, 3; Dale Earnhardt Jr., 5; Jeff Gordon, 5).

28Last year's fall race at Talladega featured 28 different leaders -- a Cup Series record for any track.

136Number of laps Matt Kenseth has led at Talladega, tops among active drivers without a win. In 18 starts, Kenseth has three top-fives and six top-10s but has finished 26th or worse the last three events there and he has three DNFs at the track.

622Number of points Jimmie Johnson has earned at Talladega in the last four races, tops among all drivers. In that stretch he has finished no worse than 13th with two second-place finishes. Jeff Gordon is second with 550 points and David Ragan is third with 508.

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Talladega Superspeedway

Drivers with multiple wins at the track

Driver	Starts	Wins	Top-fives	Top-10s

Dale Earnhardt	44	10	23	27
Jeff Gordon	32	6	13	16
Dale Earnhardt Jr.	18	5	7	10
Bobby Allison	37	4	13	19
Darrell Waltrip	55	4	14	19
Buddy Baker	43	4	15	20
Davey Allison	15	3	5	10
Cale Yarborough	34	3	14	19
David Pearson	25	3	11	11
Richard Petty	46	2	11	18
Dale Jarrett	42	2	11	16
Mark Martin	42	2	10	22
Bill Elliott	54	2	10	22
Sterling Marlin	50	2	10	17
Pete Hamilton	5	2	4	4
Terry Labonte	53	2	14	23
Donnie Allison	21	2	7	9
Ernie Irvan	21	2	9	12