And now we arrive at the one true wild card in NASCAR's playoffs, 500 miles at Talladega Superspeedway, where speed-sapping horsepower rules equalize the field and allow the Have Nots to race with the Haves.

This is where some non-playoff driver can add a highlight to his otherwise lackluster season. But more likely, it's the place where someone's playoff hopes will get strapped to the back of a tow truck.

Let's learn a few things about this monster speedway near a map dot in eastern Alabama.

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∎ Let’s break out a “Tale of the Tape” familiar to old boxing fans. Talladega is considered the sister track to Daytona. The younger sister, by 10 years, but also the bigger sister. Let’s compare the two tri-ovals ...

Length: Daytona is 2.5 miles, Talladega is 2.66 miles around. That .16 of a mile falls somewhere between a long par-3 and a short par-4 — 281 yards.

Banking: Daytona’s turns are banked at 31 degrees, Talladega at 33 degrees. Daytona’s tri-oval banking is 18 degrees, compared to Talladega’s 16.5 degrees.

∎ The deeper pages of Talladega’s NASCAR history say Big Bill France originally wanted to build his second speedway in Spartanburg, S.C., a city with lots of stock-car history. But he met roadblocks and, long story short, found willing partners in Alabama’s Talladega County.

∎ The mammoth speedway was originally known as Alabama International Motor Speedway. Big Bill put his son, Bill Jr., in charge of the track. Talladega opened for racing in September, 1969, but not without serious issues.

∎ A tire test a month before the scheduled race first raised issues with the track surface. Those concerns amplified as race week arrived. When the green flag eventually waved, nearly all of the NASCAR regulars — including Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison and others — boycotted the race, which was won by Richard Brickhouse, a racer few fans heard about before or after.

∎ The safety issue in 1969 wasn’t just track surface and tire wear, but surface and wear at the speeds Talladega invited. Many issues going forward involved raw speed, including Buddy Baker’s first-ever average lap speed of over 200 mph. But along with speed, there was also “the curse,” which was apparently the brainchild of the late Jim Hunter, the early Talladega PR director who’d enjoy various roles in his long NASCAR career.

∎ Hunter suggested the track was built on an Indian burial ground, which he touted to help explain many odd and unfortunate events. Example: NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Isaac retired during the 1973 Talladega 500. Yes, during. He came to the pits, exited the cockpit and quit. He phoned his wife from the infield and told her a “strange voice” told him to get out.

∎ In 1986, a spectator named Darren Crowder, a Birmingham native who’d apparently been dramatically overserved, snuck past pre-race security, hopped in the empty pace car and went on one of the most famous joyrides in history. While Darren was going through the city-jail routine, Bobby Allison outdueled Dale Earnhardt off the final turn to win the Winston 500.

∎ The next year, Bill Elliott’s pole speed was over 212 mph for the Winston 500. On Lap 21, Bobby Allison’s car slid through the tri-oval, got up on its nose, tore down a bunch of fencing and scared the hell out of the flag man. That brought an end to the superspeedway horsepower wars, as restrictor-plate racing was introduced.

∎ Plate-racin’ is also pack-racin’, which introduced NASCAR to The Big One, which has become common at Daytona and Talladega, though even here Talladega is bigger. A 2002 crash collected 24 cars. A year later, The Big One numbered 27 cars.

∎ Outside of NASCAR, Talladega’s earlier years included races with the IMSA GT Series (six events in the ’70s) and AMA Superbikes (1980-83).

∎ Talladega Superspeedway is located just off Interstate 20, some 45 miles east of Birmingham and 100 miles west of Atlanta. Aside from the speedway, there’s not a lot to see over that stretch of 145 miles.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR Talladega history may involve Indian burial ground. Might not