When the NASCAR Cup Series schedule was announced for 2025, it put Talladega Superspeedway’s fall race with one of the biggest football games of the year.
Especially for a track being located just an hour-and-half east of Tuscaloosa, there were concerns with the race weekend lining up with Alabama football’s rivalry with Tennessee, nicknamed the Third Saturday in October. It’s something that was new this year but the track is used to being up against college football.
This year the track is using the new date to its advantage, being able to pull more fans from Tennessee, according to Track President Brian Crichton. There is hope that fans will go to both Alabama-Tennessee on Saturday and NASCAR on Sunday.
“I think we’re seeing the same fans that are coming out. Absolutely this is SEC country and to be on the Third Weekend in October it worried all of us a little bit but what we’re seeing. Is we’re still seeing the Alabama fans that are coming out and we’re also seeing Tennessee fans that are coming down from Tennessee and they’re coming over here on Sunday, cause when you’re in the state of Alabama and have an Alabama-Tennessee football game and you got NASCAR. You’re coming out and making it a tremendous event weekend,” Crichton said.
The race weekend gets started on Friday with Truck Series qualifying and the Love’s RV 225 at 3 p.m. On Saturday, both Xfinity Series and Cup Series hit the track for qualifying ahead of the United Rentals 250. On Sunday the Cup Series YellaWood 500 starts at 1 p.m.
Maxwell Donaldson covers high school sports, Jax State athletics, the outdoors in Alabama and more for the Gadsden Times. Find him on Twitter/X @_Max_Donaldson and contact him at MDonaldson@gannett.com.
