This article is about the race formerly called the Aaron's 312 held in Talladega. For the race formerly called the Aaron's 312 held in Atlanta, seeNASCAR Xfinity Series at Atlanta § Spring race.
From its inception in 1992 through 1996, the race was held in the summer, as a support race to theAlabama 500. When that race moved to the fall, this race moved to the spring as a support race to the corresponding Cup race. The fall Talladega date regained a companion second-tier date from 2020 (originally due to COVID-19 rescheduling) to 2022, and again in 2024.
Large wrecks involving 20 or more cars have occurred a number of times in the history of the event, most notably in2002, when 31 cars were involved in an accident on the backstretch on lap 14, with 19 of them knocked out at that point. The remainder of the race, following a long red-flag period, had little resemblance to typicalrestrictor plate racing as only two cars were within short distance at the checkered flag and only three finished on the lead lap.
At its inception, the event debuted as a 117-lap, 500.86-kilometer (311.22 mi) event, the longest race on the Busch Series schedule. Automobile races in the United States measured in kilometers, especially those in NASCAR, are few. Through their history,ARCA races held at the track carried the more attractive and marketable "500" distance, even if it meant "500 kilometers" instead of miles (a custom also used atRiverside andPhoenix). The Busch Series race mimicked that precedent.
In1998, fans complained about the use of kilometers, which was seen as a European custom. They argued that kilometers are rarely used in the United States, noting that the track measurement itself was still advertised in miles. Management changed the race to a 300-mile (480 km) event from 1998 to 2001. The change shortened the race distance by just four laps.
In2002,Aaron's assumed title sponsorship and returned the race to a 312-mile (≈500 kilometer) event. The race distance is only coincidental to that of 1992–1997. The distance, advertised unequivocally in miles this time, was set to reflect the sponsor'sslogan ("3 ways to buy,12 reasons to shop at Aaron's"). In 2015, the race returned to 300 miles.
1993: The race lead changed 24 times at the stripe and several other times elsewhere asDale Earnhardt battledErnie Irvan and others. In the final lapsMichael Waltrip squeezed ahead of Earnhardt but fell to second; Irvan led a three-car draft from several seconds back to challenge for the win, but on the final lap was hit byTracy Leslie and flew twenty feet off the ground before landing on all four wheels; Earnhardt chopped off Leslie in Turn Three andRandy LaJoie stormed three wide to finish second.
1994: The lead changed 30 times and was interrupted by only two cautions, none for any kind of accident, asKen Schrader andTerry Labonte rocketed to the 1–2 finish with two laps to go.
1995:Ward Burton andRandy LaJoie both went for wild rides in separate accidents. LaJoie's crash came when he was driving in relief ofTommy Houston; with eight laps to goJeff Fuller spun out of fourth and LaJoie slid sideways then got launched into a tumble; behind themRobbie Reiser hit the wall, plowed through another car's nose and his throttle stuck open, sending him into a savage crash into the pit wall.
1996: In the final laps, amid a 20-car battle behind leaderGreg Sacks,Todd Bodine was tagged, flew into the air, landed on his wheels, and pounded the inside wall. Sacks held on for the win, his first in NASCAR since 1985.
1999:Terry Labonte andJoe Nemechek got into a last-lap drag race and crossed the finish line nose to nose. It took nearly three minutes of examining the photo-finish video before NASCAR declared that Labonte had edged Nemecheck by inches at the stripe. It was Labonte's final Busch series win.
2001:Mike McLaughlin scores a surprising victory in the unsponsored #20Joe Gibbs RacingPontiac. McLaughlin won the race controversially, however, as he swerved his car below the yellow line to block other cars. The move drew the ire of veteranJimmy Spencer, and NASCAR subsequently declared the double yellow line at Daytona and Talladega an out-of-bounds area.
2002: In the largest Big One in the Modern Era of NASCAR,Johnny Sauter flipped halfway down the backstretch and sparked a thirty one-car melee on lap 14 includingGreg Biffle,Shane Hmiel,Randy LaJoie,Joe Nemechek,Mike McLaughlin,Jay Sauter,Scott Riggs, and others.Jason Keller,Stacy Compton, andKenny Wallace and a few drivers behind the wreck did not get damage.Michael Waltrip had a save close to colliding. On lap 46, Stacy Compton's decal ripped off his hood and got stuck at the base of the windshield, leaving a blank hood. With 8 laps to go, Kenny Wallace blew an engine and finished 9th, leaving three cars on the lead lap and two in contention to win. Jason Keller won the race, Stacy Compton came in second, and supposedstart and parkTim Fedewa (driving a second car forBiagi Brothers Racing, whose main driverMike Wallace was involved in the big one) came in third, half a lap down.
2004: NASCAR mandated the roof blade aerodynamic package for the Busch Series cars, the return of this package since it was run in Winston Cup in 2001.Dale Earnhardt, Inc. cars finished 1–2 asMartin Truex Jr. led the last 23 laps. A seven-car crash erupted in Turn One with two to go, ending the racing under yellow. The lead changed 21 times.
2005: Rain forced the race to start later than schedules, at 4:30 p.m., and the first pileup occurred on lap 17 whenMike Wallace andCasey Mears got together in front of the entire pack heading towards turn 1 and leaving the track blocked for everyone behind them. The wreck involvedKyle Busch, points leader entering the dayCarl Edwards,Michael Waltrip,Kenny Wallace,J. J. Yeley,Shane Hmiel, eventual winnerMartin Truex Jr., and others. A second rain delay occurred on lap 64, leaving the hopes of getting in the entire race in jeopardy. On lap 83, the 2nd pileup occurred when the 87 ofJoe Nemechek came across the 20 ofDenny Hamlin and Mears, sending Mears on to his roof, collecting several cars. The second-place point manClint Bowyer was caught in three separate incidents, but still finished 19th. By race end, only 23 of the 43 cars finished the race, with 16 on the lead lap. The race ended at 8:20 P.M., with the track in near-darkness. It was the first race in NASCAR's second-tier series to have aired on broadcast network television in prime-time, as the final 20 minutes of theFox NASCAR broadcast entered prime-time television.
2007: The lead changed hands 36 times, a record that stood until 2011.Casey Mears led 22 laps untilTony Stewart grabbed the lead with two to go, but thenBobby Labonte drafted past for the win on the final lap.
2009: The lead changed 33 times among 15 drivers.Matt Kenseth flipped over during the race. In a near-photo finishDavid Ragan rocketed from fourth in the final mile as leadersRyan Newman andDale Earnhardt Jr. got together and Ragan squeezed to the win on the high side.
2010: Due to a rain delay, this race was double-headed with theSprint Cup race earlier in the day. Due to that race extended twelve laps due to three green-white-checker finish attempts (another first), there was only a half-hour break for drivers doing the doubleheader. Many drivers hence ended up doing over 840 miles of racing (combining the overall distances that the Sprint Cup and Nationwide races went). In a wild finish,Brad Keselowski stormed from the middle line of a three-abreast battle for the win, overtaking Sprint Cup race winnerKevin Harvick, while behind him, the Sprint Cup race's second-place finisherJamie McMurray got spun out andDennis Setzer flew into thecatch fence in turn 4, in the spot where a nine car crash happened in the Sprint Cup race on lap 189.Carl Edwards also suffered from a crash in the early part of the event. Combined, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide races saw 121 lead changes (88 in the Sprint Cup, 33 in the Nationwide race).
2011: Points leaderRicky Stenhouse Jr. hit the wall and caused a red flag, then on Lap 88Michael Waltrip got turned into the backstretch wall byJamie McMurray, who was attempting to draft pole sitterElliott Sadler. The wreck ended up taking out sixteen cars and bringing out another red flag.Kyle Busch andJoey Logano finished 1-2 whileMike Wallace got blasted by Sadler and flipped on his roof once, crossing the finish line in 17th. The race also broke the record of the most lead changes in Nationwide Series history with 56.
2013: NASCAR's new Air Titan track-drying system was able to dry the entire track in three hours despite heavy persistent rain. The first half saw over 20 lead changes and only two yellow flags. After a ten-car crash erupted with 25 scheduled laps to go, NASCAR decided to cut 10 laps off the distance to 107 due to incoming darkness. The race restarted on Lap 101 and seven laps to go but another yellow with two to go flew. Despite protests from drivers about pending darkness NASCAR set up one lone attempt at a Green-White-Checkered finish. The race restarted with 108 laps completed, and Regan Smith rocketed from outside the top six into a three-abreast pass onJoey Logano andKasey Kahne; a huge wreck in the tri-oval erupted coming to get the checkered flag and it took NASCAR a few minutes to decide the winner due to the caution, thinkingKasey Kahne won in a three-wide finish at the line. The tape showed Smith ahead at the moment of caution, and was declared the winner, coming just 7 laps short of the scheduled 117 lap distance. The lead changed 47 times among 16 drivers.
2014: For 2014 NASCAR announced it would ban any form of push-drafting in the corners of restrictor plate races. The lead changed 27 times asElliott Sadler, in aJoe Gibbs Racing Toyota, led 40 laps;Chris Buescher edged ahead of him at the white flag but Sadler drafted to the win on the final lap, his first in the Nationwide Series since 2012 and first with JGR. Daytona winner,Regan Smith, led 20 laps en route to a close third.
2020: A second race in October called the Ag-Pro 300 was added to the schedule in support of theYellaWood 500.[2] It marked the first time that the Xfinity Series raced at Talladega in the fall.[3]Justin Haley got his 3rd straight restrictor-plate track win, joiningDale Earnhardt Jr. in that regard.
2023: The race featured two flips. The first one was fromBlaine Perkins. Perkins got hooked by a spinningDexter Stacey and his car turned right and got hit byJade Buford. Buford lifted Perkins' car up in the air and flipped over and tumbled violently down the backstretch six times before coming to a rest on its wheels. During the wreck,Kaz Grala hit one of Perkins' wheels as he went to avoid the wreck. Perkins walked out of his car under his own power but was transported to a hospital for further evaluation.[4] The second flip was fromDaniel Hemric. Hemric was leading in the closing laps of the race when he went down to blockSheldon Creed but misjudged it and got turned by Creed triggeringthe big one. Hemric's car got ramped up byRiley Herbst and his car rode along the turn 3 and 4 wall while also taking out the turn four camera in the process before his car flipped and came to a rest onto its roof. Hemric climbed out uninjured.Jeb Burton would win his second career Xfinity Series race and his second at this track while also scoring the first win for ownerJordan Anderson.[5]
This article is about the race called the United Rentals 250 held in Talladega. For the race called the United Rentals 300 held at Daytona, seeDaytona 300.
The event was created in 2020 as a temporary round after theMid-Ohio Sports Car Course race was canceled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic; the inaugural running marked the first time that the Xfinity Series raced at Talladega in the fall.[40][41]Justin Haley won the race to complete a sweep of the season's Talladega rounds.[42] The race joined the Xfinity schedule in 2021 and is the second race in theseries' playoffs.[43]
The race was not on the schedule in 2023, as it was replaced by theChicago Street Race. However, because of logistics of scheduling the second half of the Xfinity Series season in 2024 as part of NBC Sports' forced two-week break for theOlympic Games inParis, the race return as part ofYellaWood 500 weekend.
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