The race was the 30th in the 2002 Winston Cup season, and was broadcast by NBC. Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports was awarded the pole position after qualifying was canceled,[3] while Dale Earnhardt Jr. of Dale Earnhardt, Inc., who won the previous race, led the most laps and won his second consecutive EA Sports 500. The race was also the first Winston Cup race at Talladega after the track had installed SAFER barriers. Vocal group Little Big Town performed the national anthem, while former National Football League quarterback Ken Stabler was the grand marshal.[3]
To spread out the tightly grouped packs, NASCAR officials reduced the size of the fuel cells from 22 US gallons (83 L) to 13 US gallons (49 L).[3] The race also featured a record $250,000 leader bonus if the winner of the race becomes the Cup points leader, with Johnson, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Rusty Wallace being the eligible drivers.[4]
On the warm-up lap, Mark Martin's steering box locked, causing him to crash into pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson.[5] As a result of the incident, Martin was black-flagged, while Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus requested NASCAR to inspect the car and repair the damaged right front fender. Johnson made a pit stop on lap one.[3] Jeff Gordon led the first three laps, but on lap 125, he was forced to move the car to the garage after his crew found smoke under the hood, ending his race. Gordon was not the only Hendrick Motorsports to fail to finish; the other Hendrick drivers, Johnson, Terry Labonte and Joe Nemechek, also failed to finish due to engine problems. As a matter of fact, the MB2 Motorsports cars in Johnny Benson Jr. and Ken Schrader, who were also using Hendrick powered engines, also had their engines fail during the race.
In the end, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his third consecutive Talladega race after leading the last 39 laps,[2] making him the first driver to win both Talladega races (EA Sports 500 and the Aaron's 499) since his father accomplished the feat in 1999.[3] Though Talladega has been known for featuring crashes known as "The Big One",[6] no cautions occurred during the race. It would be the last incident-free race in NASCAR's premiership until the 2012 Auto Club 400, which raced 125 laps of 200 before the caution took place for rain that ended the race on Lap 129, and the 2019 Pennzoil 400, which only was stopped twice for end-of-segment breaks.[3]
Source:[2]
* Driver failed to finish race
