Darrell Waltrip qualified 11th a month after a breakthrough win in the Rebel 500 at Darlington; it was the only time all season a Cup driver started outside the top-8 and ended up in victory lane.

Talladega Superspeedway is the longest NASCAR oval with a length of 2.66 miles (4.28 km), and the track at its peak had a seating capacity of 175,000 spectators.

[2] In turn one, Waltrip broke the draft and drove to the bottom of the track, gaining a five or six car length advantage.

The advantage disintegrated on the backstretch, as Allison showed his hand first, trying vainly to get by Waltrip but was trained by Yarborough who drove up the center and Parsons who rocketed on the inside.

Yarborough swept up Allison's draft high and banged into Waltrip as he tried to beat him out of four but nearly lost it as he kept his foot in the throttle of his ill-handling car.