GEICO 500
| Venue: | Talladega Superspeedway |
| Main sponsor: | GEICO |
| First race: | 1970 |
| Distance: | 500.08 miles (805 km) |
| Number of laps: | 188 |
| Former names: |
Alabama 500 (1970)
Winston 500 (1971-1993, 1997) Winston Select 500 (1994-1996) DieHard 500 (1998-2000) Talladega 500 (2001) Aaron's 499 (2002-2014) |
The GEICO 500 is a race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and takes place at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega , Alabama in late April or early May . The GEICO 500 is one of four restrictor plate races on the Nextel Cup calendar. The 1997 race that Mark Martin won was the fastest in NASCAR history with an average speed of 188.354 mph (303.126 km / h).
Between 1970 and the end of the Grand Slam in 2004 through the so-called Ferko process , the GEICO 500 was the second race to the Grand Slam. It was also part of the Winston Million .
The former name of the race (Aaron's 499) was derived from the main sponsor Aaron's, a household item leasing company . The 499 was meant to reflect the trend towards leasing products for $ 99 a month. Despite the name, the race itself was a little over 500 miles.
GEICO has been the main sponsor since 2015 , which is why the event was renamed GEICO 500.
winner
- 1970: Pete Hamilton
- 1971: Donnie Allison
- 1972: David Pearson
- 1973: David Pearson
- 1974: David Pearson (170 laps / 452.2 miles due to the oil crisis )
- 1975: Buddy Baker
- 1976: Buddy Baker
- 1977: Darrell Waltrip
- 1978: Cale Yarborough
- 1979: Bobby Allison
- 1980: Buddy Baker
- 1981: Bobby Allison
- 1982: Darrell Waltrip
- 1983: Richard Petty
- 1984: Cale Yarborough
- 1985: Bill Elliott
- 1986: Bobby Allison
- 1987: Davey Allison (178 laps / 473.48 races shortened due to darkness due to lengthy repairs to the safety fence on lap 22)
- 1988: Phil Parsons
- 1989: Davey Allison
- 1990: Dale Earnhardt
- 1991: Harry Gant (race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain)
- 1992: Davey Allison
- 1993: Ernie Irvan
- 1994: Dale Earnhardt
- 1995: Mark Martin
- 1996: Sterling Marlin
- 1997: Mark Martin (race postponed by two weeks due to rain)
- 1998: Bobby Labonte
- 1999: Dale Earnhardt
- 2000: Jeff Gordon
- 2001: Bobby Hamilton
- 2002: Dale Earnhardt junior
- 2003: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- 2004: Jeff Gordon
- 2005: Jeff Gordon (194 laps / 516.04 miles due to Green-White-Checker finish)
- 2006: Jimmie Johnson (race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain)
- 2007: Jeff Gordon (192 laps / 510.72 miles due to Green-White-Checker finish)
- 2008: Kyle Busch
- 2009: Brad Keselowski
- 2010: Kevin Harvick
- 2011: Jimmie Johnson
- 2012: Brad Keselowski
- 2013: David Ragan
- 2014: Denny Hamlin
- 2015: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- 2016: Brad Keselowski
- 2017: Ricky Stenhouse junior
- 2018: Joey Logano
- 2019: Chase Elliott
Notable races
- In 1987, the safety fence was badly damaged by Bobby Allison's car when his car took off in an accident on lap 22, flew into the safety fence and tore it down. Due to the incident, the use of air flow limiters , the Restrictor Plates, became mandatory in this race, the autumn race and both races in Daytona .
- In the race of the 2003 season, Dale Earnhardt Junior won his fourth consecutive race at Talladega, but this victory was not free of controversy. After the 2001 spring race, NASCAR drew a yellow line at the bottom of the track at both Talladega and Daytona. It serves as the lower limit of the lane and a driver who crosses this line when overtaking has to return the position he has gained. An exception is if the driver was pushed under it while overtaking. Earnhardt Jr. was well below that line when he passed leader Matt Kenseth . NASCAR decided that Earnhardt Jr. was forced under the line and that the overtaking maneuver was correct, although a different decision was made in similar circumstances.
- Jeff Gordon's 2004 win was marked by Brian Vickers spinning with four and a half laps to go. At this point in time, the regulations stipulated that if there were less than five laps to be driven in a race, no red flag would be shown during a yellow light phase in order to allow a finish under green. When the race went yellow, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had just passed Gordon, but Gordon was still in the lead the last time he crossed the finish line. When the race came to an end under yellow and Gordon did his lap of honor, the fans threw rubbish on the track to protest against the finish. Since this was the second incident after the Pepsi 400 in Daytona in 2002, NASCAR decided two months later to introduce the so-called Green-White-Checker, in which the race is extended accordingly to ensure a finish under green.
- In the last lap of the 2009 season, an accident similar to that of Bobby Allison occurred 22 years earlier. In the last corner, Brad Keselowski tried to overtake Carl Edwards, who had been leading up to now, on the inside. When Edwards also pulled in to block Keselowski, the two cars touched. Edwards turned, his stern lifting slightly. At that moment, his stern hit the front of Ryan Newman , who was in third place at the time , whereupon Edwards' car took off several meters, turned once on its own axis during the flight and finally hit the safety fence. Seven spectators were injured by flying parts. As a result of the accident, the safety fences on the route were raised.
- In 2011 there were a total of 88 management changes. In 2010, 88 leadership changes took place during the race, but the last was in "stoppage time" during the Green-White checker phase. Jimmie Johnson won ahead of Clint Bowyer with a margin of 0.002 seconds, which equaled the previous record (set on Darlington Raceway in 2003) for the tightest finish.