NASCAR: Talladega ticket sales exceed pre-covid era

Sunday will mark 890 days since Talladega Superspeedway last hosted a NASCAR cup race in front of a capacity crowd. But after nearly two years of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, track officials are expecting the approaching weekend to be one of the most well-attended events to date.

“There’s so much excitement and so much passion for us opening 100% and we’re trending higher than we did in 2019,”  Talladega Superspeedway President Brian Crichton  told Patch in an interview Wednesday. “We loaded in some of our outside campgrounds starting on Monday, but had campers lined up last Wednesday who were here five days in advance. All of our sales trends are higher … we have 2,800 reserved RV campsites in [the infield] and those pretty much sold out. So we’re expecting a huge crowd, pushing up over 100,000 people when you count grandstands and all of the surrounding campgrounds.”

The buzz around Talladega Superspeedway is a welcome feeling for many ahead of the race weekend, following nearly two years of uncertainty. This is in tandem with NASCAR as a whole seeing its popularity diminish over the years.

“We still cater to every group that wants to be out here,” he said. “We still have Talladega Boulevard and it’s still a party area inside of there. While I would absolutely agree it’s calmed down a lot, the party is still here. We also have alcohol-free campgrounds, scout campgrounds, family campgrounds. We’re trying to expand the fan base here at Talladega, but still make sure we’re not leaving the core Talladega fan behind and providing that unbelievable experience to them, as well.”