Race fans were warned by Speedway officials Saturday about the possibility of severe weather. Because of that possibility, Saturday's race was postponed until today. Bob Crisp
NASCAR officials and representatives of Talladega Superspeedway met with officials from the National Weather Service as well as the Talladega County Emergency Management Agency multiple times Friday and again at 8 a.m. Saturday before deciding the safest course of action was to cancel Sprint Cup Qualifying and postpone the NASCAR Nationwide Series Aaron’s 312 until Sunday.
“We’ll start the Sprint Cup race per the rule book,” NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Hunter said in a press conference at the speedway Saturday. “The race will start at noon as scheduled. The Nationwide race will be run after the Sprint Cup race. The racetrack will honor tickets for both and will continue to sell tickets tomorrow (Sunday) for the Cup race, but people will actually be buying a ticket tomorrow for a doubleheader.”
Hunter said NASCAR officials do expect there to be enough time after the Sprint Cup race to run the entire Nationwide Series race.
“We think we’ll have enough time probably within an hour after the Cup race,” Hunter said. “We think if we can get it started within an hour, an hour and 15 minutes, we’ll have plenty of time to get it in.”
Talladega Superspeedway officials sent people to all of the campgrounds on the property Saturday morning to make sure all of the campers were aware of the potential for severe weather and to give them time to secure their belongings and make plans to keep themselves safe.
“We are encouraging them to do what they deem necessary for their own safety,” said Kristi King, senior director of communications and consumer marketing at Talladega Superspeedway. “At the end of the day their personal safety is their own responsibility.”
King said tickets for both the Aaron’s 312 and the Aaron’s 499 will be honored at the track today. Tickets for the Cup race are still on sale and a ticket for one race will be good for both events today.
“The 499 ticket holders will take first shot at the reserved seating per their ticket,” King said. “The 312 folks that have tickets need to see track ushers and track personnel on site to help them find available locations for seating.”
Grandstands open to the public at 8 a.m. today and parking lots are scheduled to open at 5 a.m. The Aaron’s 499 will begin at noon with the Aaron’s 312 to follow.
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