Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby - Plot

Plot

Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) is a NASCAR driver who wants to go fast. While he was working as the pit crew of Dennit Racing driver Terry Cheveaux (Adam McKay), Ricky replaces him and ends up finishing in third place, despite starting mid-race in last place. Ricky quickly soars to the top of NASCAR by achieving fame and fortune at Dennit Racing and meeting his future wife, Carly (Leslie Bibb). Ricky eventually persuades Dennit to field an additional car and arranges to have his best friend, Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly), on his team. While he and Cal are on top of the racing world, Ricky challenges his flamboyant French Formula One arch-rival Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen), who outperforms him on the track and becomes Dennit Racing's next top driver. Desperate to regain his dominance, Ricky pushes himself too hard during the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and ends up going airborne. While paramedics attempt to take him to the hospital, Ricky ends up running around on the track in his helmet and underwear erroneously insisting that he is on fire. While recovering from his accident, Ricky persists in believing that he is paralyzed, but he realizes that he is not after intentionally stabbing a knife into his leg. Attempting to regain a spot on his team, Ricky test drives at Rockingham Speedway before the next race, but fear causes him to flashback to his earlier delusions. Desperate to remain married to Ricky, Carly dumps him and later marries Cal, who moves into Ricky's old home before he returns back from the speedway. Ricky soon finds out about his divorce in which Cal invites him to his wedding to Carly, but despite Cal's desire to remain best friends, Ricky breaks off their friendship after he accused Cal of wrecking his life.

Ricky moves to his new home with his two sons, Walker and Texas Ranger (Houston Tumlin and Grayson Russell), and takes his job as a pizza deliveryman. However, Ricky is reduced to use a bicycle and ride the bus after losing his license for colliding his pick-up truck with a customer's shopping cart and the Sheriff later wrote him the ticket for this accident. With Ricky's life at his lowest point, his father, Reese (Gary Cole), teaches him to conquer his fear of driving fast. With Reese's retraining and guidance, Ricky finally regains his confidence, but decides not to after Reese intentionally walks out on him with the parting knowledge that the mantra around which Ricky had based his life was in fact meaningless. Ricky talks to his assistant and love interest, Susan (Amy Adams), who convinces him to return to NASCAR not because of his desire to live up to the expectations of others, but because it is his nature to drive fast. Ricky and Susan fall in love with each other in which Ricky decides to heed Susan's advice to race at the Talladega 500.

Before the race, Ricky makes amends with Cal, Girard, and Carly, and finally reunites with his pit crew chief and close friend, Lucius Washington (Michael Clarke Duncan). Ricky is forced to start the race from the back of the starting grid after Lucius rebuilds his car's engine from spare parts donated by other independent drivers and Susan customized the paint job. At the start of the race, Ricky manages to pass all the other drivers except Girard. Heading towards the race's final laps, Dennit orders Cal to knock Ricky out of the race. However, Cal refuses and instead pulls ahead of Ricky, in which Cal intentionally allows Ricky to slingshot around him to be in the lead with Girard. On lap 182, the replacement driver of Ricky's Wonder Bread car runs into Cal, which causes a massive wreck that disables all the other drivers except Ricky and Girard. On the final lap of the race, Ricky and Girard ends up colliding with each other and somersault down the front straightaway towards the finish line. Determined not to give up, Ricky and Girard exit their cars and sprint on foot to the finish line to the tune of the song "We Belong" by Pat Benatar. Although Ricky wins the foot race, he and Girard are disqualified for exiting their cars and Cal officially wins the Talladega 500 by default after finishing in third place during the wrecks. Ricky and Cal finally reconcile their friendship and family. At the end of the film, Ricky meet up with all of his extended family in the speedway's parking lot to reunite for a dinner party at Applebee's.