TSN 10: the 10 big races to watch this year.

Track Skinny

This place was designed for speed The backstretch is 4,000 feet long, wide enough to rein five- and six-wide, should the drivers grow that daring. Unique to `Dega. the start finish line is well down the frontstrecth, nearly to Turn 1. It may be the most deceptive speedway. Nowhere are ears traveling faster; nowhere, when watching a distant corner, do they appear to be moving more slowly.--From The Racetracks Book

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DALE EARNHARDT JR. GIVES US THE RUNAROUND

Dale Earnhardt Jr., winner of last year's Aaron's 499, took contributing writer Lee Spencer for a virtual lap around Talladega Superspeedway.

Coming down the front straightaway, you're on the gas--you let off particularly early. You turn into the corner, and the car might want to bottom out. You push going into (Turn 1), and it's kind of hard keeping the car on the bottom around Turns 1 and 2, especially if you're a little bit tight there. Then you've got to be ready because the car is going to snap-turn--it's not going to snap loose, but it's going to turn immediately, and you have to be ready to turn the throttle real hard and get up off the corner.

There's a little bit of a jump there where the car is going to hop up and get loose on the back straightaway. You have to steer through that in order to make it a straight line and be able to stay on the throttle on the back straightaway. (Turn) 3 is almost like a bigger corner. It's like Darlington, where it's a little bit egg-shaped to a driver. (Turns) 3 and 4 are like one big corner. You get down in there, and the car wants to get free going in, and you can get on the throttle running through the center and ride all the way through the center. You lift (off the ...