NASCAR Preview: New title format heightens Talladega unpredictability

TALLADEGA, AL - Talladega Superspeedway and unpredictability have been joined at the high-banked hip not long after the place opened the gates for its very first NASCAR Sprint Cup race in September 1969.

You know. The race that almost never happened. The one derailed by drivers' concerns about tire wear while approaching 200 mph on a 2.66-mile tri-oval that had risen from the Alabama countryside, looking like Daytona on steroids.

Drivers boycotted. NASCAR President Bill France, Sr. got things back on track