TALLADEGA, Ala. (WIAT) — Happening this weekend, the Yellawood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. 12 drivers are vying for a seat in the top 8 in this year’s Cup Series.

The crew has been hard at work and has so much planned for fans to enjoy this weekend on and off the track.

Friday before races start, you’ve got NASCAR Foundation’s Bike Build event for local children, a full day of STEM activities and fireworks to close out the night.

Saturday, fans can experience the Camping World Truck Series race and then party with Hardy who is headlining tomorrow night’s concert. According to Talladega Superspeedway officials, all you need is a ticket to Sunday’s race to attend the concert.

This all leads up to the big showdown with the Yellawood 500 race Sunday afternoon.  

“We always say this is more than a race,” said VP of Business Operations, Russell Branham. “This is Talladega because competition says it all here, but the other things you can do here- the atmosphere, the pre-race festivities, we’re going to have a lot of high school bands here performing on Sunday. There’s just a feeling in the air whenever you come on the grounds here. There’s a lot of noise. There’s a lot of music, there’s bands, there’s horns. You just feel it when you get on the grounds here.”

Lots of fans are camping out as excitement builds for a weekend full of fun and racing.

CBS42 talked to fans coming from all over the country. They said getting into all the fun at the campgrounds between races is where it’s at.

Swede Olander and his crew told CBS42 they have held the exact same camping spot for 20 years. They said Talladega brings everybody together like one big family reunion and they look forward to it every year.

Olander said Talladega race weekends are as big as it gets.

“I’ve been to a lot of NASCAR Races,” said Olander. “Talladega- I would call it the Marti Gras of NASCAR. It’s Just a party.”

“It’s fun when you get to enjoy it with everybody,” said another camper and fan, Michael Forrest. “If we can bring our friends down here and just have a good time that’s kind of what it’s all about and if we bring more people, we have more fun.”

Branham told CBS42 Talladega Superspeedway is by far the most competitive racetrack in any form of motorsports. So, they are not going to miss a chance to put on a big show.

With almost 3,000 acres, Branham said there’s so much work to get done ahead of a race weekend. There’s a lot of painting, cutting grass and preparing campsites.

Branham adds it’s a true to team effort to make sure the venue alongside all business partners and fans are taken care of because race week takes things to a whole new level.

“But when you drive up here during race week, there’s a total difference in color because now we’re putting up the big flags that you see that line I-20,” said Branham. “We’re putting up the flags from the main entry way that you come to see. There’s just a new sense of color here. There’s a new sense of enthusiasm. It’s just different at race time.”

For information about tickets to Talladega race weekend events you can click here.