Aaron's 499

Aaron's 499

Venue	Talladega Superspeedway
Sponsor	Aaron's, Inc.
First race	1970
Distance	500.08 miles (804.8 km)
Laps	188
Previous names	Alabama 500 (1970) Winston 500 (1971-1993, 1997) Winston Select 500 (1994-1996) DieHard 500 (1998-2000) Talladega 500 (2001)

The Aaron's 499 is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car auto race held at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. The race has always been held in late April or early May. The Aaron's 499 is also one of four races currently run with restrictor plates, the others being the AMP Energy 500 (also at Talladega), plus the Coke Zero 400 and the Daytona 500 (at Daytona International Speedway). The 1997 event, won by Mark Martin, stands as the fastest NASCAR race to date ever run, at an average speed of 188.354 mph (303.126 km/h). It was the first race at Talladega run without a caution flag.

The race, from 1970 until the demise of the Grand Slam as a result of the Ferko lawsuit, was known as the second leg of the sport's Grand Slam. It was also previously part of the Winston Million.

The name is derived from a sponsorship agreement with the Aaron's chain of lease-to-own stores. The "499" advertised distance is designed to mimic the chain's tendencies to offer rentals "For $99" per month. Despite the name, the race is slightly over 500 miles in length.

Past winners

Year	Date	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
					Laps	Miles (km)
1970	April 12	Pete Hamilton	Petty Enterprises	Plymouth	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:16:59	152.321
1971	May 16	Donnie Allison	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:23:32	147.419
1972	May 7	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:43:15	134.4
1973	May 6	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:47:23	131.956
1974	May 5	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	170*	452.2 (727.745)	3:28:09	130.22
1975	May 4	Buddy Baker	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:26:59	144.948
1976	May 2	Buddy Baker	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	188	500.08 (804.8)	2:56:37	169.887
1977	May 1	Darrell Waltrip	DiGard Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:01:59	164.877
1978	May 14	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson	Oldsmobile	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:07:53	155.699
1979	May 6	Bobby Allison	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:13:52	154.77
1980	May 4	Buddy Baker	Harry Ranier	Oldsmobile	188	500.08 (804.8)	2:56:00	170.481
1981	May 3	Bobby Allison	Harry Ranier	Buick	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:20:52	149.376
1982	May 2	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson	Buick	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:11:19	156.597
1983	May 1	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Pontiac	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:14:55	153.936
1984	May 6	Cale Yarborough	Harry Ranier	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	2:53:27	172.988
1985	May 5	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing	Ford	188	500.08 (804.8)	2:41:04	186.288
1986	May 4	Bobby Allison	Stavola Brothers Racing	Buick	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:10:16	157.698
1987	May 3	Davey Allison	Harry Ranier	Ford	178*	473.48 (761.992)	3:04:12	154.228
1988	May 1	Phil Parsons	Leo Jackson Racing	Oldsmobile	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:11:40	156.547
1989	May 7	Davey Allison	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:12:30	155.869
1990	May 6	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:08:02	159.571
1991	May 6*	Harry Gant	Leo Jackson Racing	Oldsmobile	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:01:10	165.62
1992	May 3	Davey Allison	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	188	500.08 (804.8)	2:59:01	167.609
1993	May 2	Ernie Irvan	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:13:04	155.412
1994	May 1	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:10:32	157.478
1995	April 30	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	188	500.08 (804.8)	2:47:43	178.902
1996	April 28	Sterling Marlin	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:20:02	149.999
1997	May 10*	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	188	500.08 (804.8)	2:39:18	188.354
1998	April 26	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:30:40	144.428
1999	April 25	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:03:38	163.395
2000	April 16	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:06:11	161.157
2001*	April 22	Bobby Hamilton	Andy Petree Racing	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	2:43:04	184.003
2002	April 21	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:08:41	159.022
2003	April 6	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:27:28	144.625
2004	April 25	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:51:53	129.396
2005	May 1	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	194*	516.04 (830.485)	3:30:46	146.904
2006	May 1*	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:29:59	142.891
2007	April 29	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	192*	510.72 (821.924)	3:18:46	154.167
2008	April 27	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:10:37	157.409
2009	April 26	Brad Keselowski	Phoenix Racing	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:23:20	147.565
2010*	April 25	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	200*	532 (856.171)	3:31:58	150.59
2011*	April 17	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	500.08 (804.8)	3:12:01	156.261

• 1974: Race shortened due to energy crisis.
• 1987: Race shortened due to darkness - caused by a red flag that lasted for two and a half hours to repair the catch fence after a lap 22 crash.
• 1991 & 2006: Race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain.
• 1997: The race was postponed two weeks due to rain. Qualifying was held as scheduled, but rain on Sunday and Monday prompted officials to reschedule the race for the next open weekend (the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend). It became the first 500-mile race at Talladega to be completed without a caution flag.
• 2001: The first restrictor plate race following the death of Dale Earnhardt was run without a caution, the second such 500-mile race in Talladega history.
• 2005, 2007, & 2010: Race extended because of Green-white-checker finish; The 2010 race took three attempts, the first time the new three-attempt rule was used.
• 2010: Set record for most lead changes in regulation (87) and overall lead changes (88).
• 2011: Set record for most lead changes in regulation (88), and tied for closest margin of victory in the Sprint Cup Series (0.002 sec.)

Notable races

• The 1975 running featured the first win for Buddy Baker since 1973 and the first Winston Cup Grand National win for team owner Bud Moore since 1971. Tragedy struck on Lap 149 when race leader Richard Petty pitted with a burning wheel bearing; his brother-in-law Randy Owens was killed when he fitted a hose to a pressurized water tank and the tank exploded.
• The race has exceeded 40 official lead changes 18 times. In 1984 a motor sports record of 75 lead changes was set, but this record was broken in 2010 as the lead changed 88 times; this record was tied in 2011.
• 1987: On the 22nd lap, Bobby Allison cut a tire and his car went airborne into the catch fencing in front of the main grandstand. Several feet of the fence were sheared off and Allison's car rebounded back to the track where it was t-boned by another spinning car. The race was stopped, and track crews spent a couple hours repairing the safety fence. Despite the wreckage, no drivers or spectators were seriously injured. As a direct result, the next superspeedway race (the 1987 Firecracker 400), saw the cars using smaller carburetors in an effort to curtail speeds. Starting in 1988, all superspeedway races saw mandated carburetor restrictor plates, which are still used today.
• 1993 saw Rusty Wallace spun out on the front straight after being hammered in the back bumper by Dale Earnhardt; Wallace shot off the ground and tumbled violently across the finish line, similar to his Daytona crash in the same year.
• In 1994, race winner Earnhardt dedicated his race win to Ayrton Senna, who died earlier that day in a crash at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy. During the Big One, Mark Martin blew through 2 fences nearly hitting the infield road course.
• In 1996 Sterling Marlin rallied from the back of the pack three separate times to take the win. The race saw two airborne crashes; Bill Elliott flew down the backstretch in the air, and Elliott suffered a leg injury that sidelined him for several races. Later Mark Martin was turned into the wall by Jeff Gordon and bounced into traffic; Ricky Craven tumbled up the Turn One banking and hit the fencing before bouncing down to the ground.
• In the 2003 race (which was marred by a crash on lap 4 that damaged 27 cars, including Earnhardt), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won his fourth consecutive race at the track, but not without controversy. After the 2001 spring race (thanks in part to protestations from Jimmy Spencer over Mike McLaughlin's blocking in the Busch race en route to a win), NASCAR ruled that the yellow lines on the bottom of the track at both Talladega and Daytona were to serve as an out-of-bounds line (with any car that drops below to gain a position to be immediately black-flagged unless they gave the position back or were forced below it). As the cars reached the backstretch, leader Matt Kenseth made a lane change, going to the outside to block Jimmie Johnson. Earnhardt Jr. was on the inside and was drafting with Elliott Sadler when Kenseth started making a move low to attempt a block of Earnhardt; Earnhardt stormed well below the line entering the apron of turn three as he passed leader Matt Kenseth. NASCAR ruled that Earnhardt was forced below the line as the nose of his car had already passed the nose of Kenseth's car by the time Kenseth made the block, making it a clean pass, this even though Earnhardt was nowhere close to clearing Kenseth when he hit the apron of Three — what the rule was ostensibly intended to prevent. Some sanctioning bodies, such as the Indy Racing League, would have called Kenseth for violating the blocking rule — a driver may not make two lane changes on a straight, which is a penalty; the ethic against blocking, however, holds no weight in NASCAR given the fendered nature of the cars. The yellow line rule's absurdity belatedly led to discussion in the sanctioning body in January 2010 to possibly rescind it, though it was decided to maintain the rule "for the time being," according to NASCAR official Robin Pemberton.
• Following Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s 2003 win, Hendrick Motorsports won four straight — three by Jeff Gordon and one by Jimmie Johnson.
• Jeff Gordon's 2004 win was marked by a spinout by Brian Vickers with 4⅓ laps to go. In the wake of a dangerous incident between Casey Mears and Dale Jarrett the previous September at New Hampshire, the beneficiary rule was adopted, prohibiting racing back to the start-finish line. One ruling of the beneficiary rule was that if a race went past a specified point (Lap 183 in this case; five laps remaining) and had a caution, they would not throw out the red flag and stop the cars to ensure a green flag finish. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was side-by-side with Gordon and attempted a pass of Gordon for the lead at the time of caution. Television replays (which override previous scoring loops when less than five laps remain) declared Gordon was still ahead. The race finished under yellow and while Gordon did his victory burnout, enraged fans littered the track with garbage to protest the finish (it was believed that Vickers' crash and the subsequent cleanup would not have taken very long to clean up). This reaction, following a similar fan bombardment of the track at Daytona International Speedway after the 2002 Pepsi 400 ended under yellow, would result in the green-white-checkered rule being instituted in the NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series less than two months later.
• In 2009, a final battle to the finish between Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards ended in near-disaster, when Edwards' car made contact Keselowski while approaching the finish line and was hooked onto the trioval apron. The car spun into the air and was hammered by Ryan Newman, sending it flipping into the catch fence. The debris from the wreck injured eight spectators, all non-life threatening. Immediately after the car came to rest, Edwards walked away unharmed after jogging past the finish line as an absurd homage to the finale of the 2006 racing comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Keselowski went on to win the race in only his fifth Sprint Cup start, undoubtedly one of the biggest upsets of the decade. During the race, there were two Big Ones: one on the seventh lap involving eighteen cars, and the other on Lap 180 involving eleven cars. The lead changed 56 times among 25 drivers.
• In 2010, this race was called "The Greatest Talladega Race Ever" by Darrell Waltrip. Throughout the race, there was a record 88 lead changes, breaking the previous record of 75 in the 1984 Winston 500, with 87 of those in regulation. There was also a record 29 different leaders, breaking the record set in the 2008 AMP Energy 500. Among the strongest cars throughout the day were Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Denny Hamlin, David Reutimann, Jeff Burton (who led the most laps), Kyle Busch, A.J. Allmendinger, and Michael Waltrip. The new Green-white-checker finish rule was implemented for the first time to the maximum of three attempts. Jamie McMurray was leading on each GWC restart and on the final lap McMurray and Kevin Harvick pulled away and coming through the tri-oval, Harvick pushed McMurray up the track and moved low; unlike Carl Edwards the previous year, McMurray gave Harvick room, which allowed Harvick to beat him to the line by a wheel, with an official margin of victory set at .012 seconds. This ended a 115 winless streak for Harvick amid contract talks for the 2010 season and with sponsor Royal Dutch Shell leaving for Penske Racing. Harvick's contract was renewed shortly afterwards, and picked up primary sponsorship from Belgian brewer InBev, with Rheem, Okuma Corporation, and Jimmy John's alternating.
• In 2011, the race set the record for most lead changes in regulation (tying the all-time record for most lead changes overall, but the 88th lead change took place on lap 188, the last lap of regulation, unlike the previous year year, when it took place on Lap 200, the final lap of the third green-white-checker), and also tied the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 for the closest Sprint Cup finish in the electronic timing era (1993–present) when Jimmie Johnson beat Clint Bowyer by 0.002 seconds.

Television broadcasters

Year	Network/Networks	Lap-by-lap	Color commentator(s)
2011	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2010	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2009	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2008	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2007	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2006	FX/some Fox stations	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2005	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2004	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2003	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2002	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2001	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2000	ABC	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ray Evernham
1999	ABC	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons
1998	ABC	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons
1997	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1996	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Ned Jarrett and Rick Benjamin
1995	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1994	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1993	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1992	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1991	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1990	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1989	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1988	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Ned Jarrett and Gary Nelson
1987	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Larry Nuber
1986	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Larry Nuber
1985	NBC	Paul Page	Johnny Rutherford
1984	NBC	Paul Page	Johnny Rutherford
1983	NBC	Paul Page	Gary Gerould and Johnny Rutherford
1982	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Larry Nuber
1981	ESPN	Dave Despain	Larry Nuber
1980	MRN TV	Eli Gold	Barney Hall
1979	MRN TV
1978
1977
1976	CBS	Ken Squier
1975	CBS	Ken Squier
1974
1973
1972
1971	ABC
1970	ABC	Keith Jackson	Chris Economaki

Notes

• The 2006 race, scheduled for Fox, was rained out and shown on FX and some Fox affiliates.
• Rick Benjamin, who was the pre-race host for ESPN from 1993–1998, filled in as a color commentator for the 1996 race for Benny Parsons, who was feeling ill.
• Dave Despain filled in for Joe Moore on MRN's call of the 1997 race because of scheduling commitments after the race was postponed by rain to Mother's Day weekend.

External links

• NASCAR Commentators Crews and Networks
• Ratings/Viewership For the Aaron's 499 Since '98