The Untold Truth Of Talladega Nights

All the worries about whether or not NASCAR fans — and drivers — would embrace "Talladega Nights" quickly went up in smoke once the movie actually came out. It didn't take much longer to reveal that "The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" was now a part of NASCAR culture for good.

In a 2009 race at Talladega, Carl Edwards walked away from a seemingly catastrophic wreck — leading Larry King to describe him as "Superman" — only to run across the finish line. "I'm kind of a Will Ferrell fan. He did that at the end of ... 'Talladega Nights.' That was awfully close to give up. I had to go and finish the race."

In July 2021, Chip Ganassi's team worked together in the Quaker State 400, with one driver, Ross Chastain, deliberately slowing down the competition with a traffic jam so that his teammate, Kurt Busch, could snag the win. Afterwards, Kurt delighted in the strategy and gave a tip of the hat to "Talladega Nights," saying "shake and bake" in an interview with NBC Sports (qtd. NASCAR). Thankfully, unlike Ricky Bobby, he actually promised then and there to pay his teammate back for his assistance.

Kurt Busch is also responsible for our favorite homage to the movie ... actually, homages, plural. As an independent driver, he opted for Ricky Bobby's end-of-movie "Me" car with its cougar. And later, as Business Insider notes, he doubled-up on the "Talladega Nights"-themed cars by going full Wonder Bread.