Wallace Tops 228 MPH At Talladega

Many have wondered how fast a NEXTEL Cup car could run at Talladega without the restrictor plates that have limited speeds on the superspeedway for over 15 years, now we have an idea. In testing this week Rusty Wallace turned it loose at Talladega topping out at 228 mph at the end of the straight.

Rusty believes that with a little tuning his car had more in it and that 235 mph at the end of the straightaway is attainable.

His best lap of the session was a little over 216 mph average over the 2.6 mile tri-oval. This unofficially beat the track record held by Bill Elliott of 212.809 mph by seven tenths of a second.

Wow, can you even imagine 43 cars racing off into the turn at 235 mph? Those speeds were just Rusty running alone, cna you imagine what could happen with a good strong draft? Clearly this is not safe for the drivers, fans or for that matter the helicopters that hover over the race but it sure is fun to test.