Monday, April 4, 2011

Texas Motor Speedway Odds & Ends: Samsung Mobile 500

NASCAR Texas Style!!!
At Texas Motor Speedway:

History
· Construction began in 1995.
· The first NASCAR race was a NASCAR Nationwide Series event on April 5, 1997.
· The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was on April 6, 1997.

Notebook
· There have been 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Texas Motor Speedway, one per season from 1997 through 2004 and two races per year since 2005.
· Four drivers have competed in all 20 Texas races: Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin.
· Jeremy Mayfield was the first pole winner, in 1998. Qualifying for the inaugural race in 1997 was canceled.
· Jeff Burton won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
· 14 drivers have scored poles, led by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bobby Labonte, Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon with two.
· 16 drivers have won races, led by Carl Edwards, with three. Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton each have two wins.
· 14 of 20 races have been won from a top-10 starting position. Only one has been won from the pole (Kasey Kahne in 2006).
· Matt Kenseth started 31st en route to his victory at Texas in 2002, the deepest in the field that a race winner has started.
· Both Jeff Burton (1999) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2000) scored their first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Texas, and 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne made his first series start at Texas (11/07/10).
· Martin Truex Jr. scored his first series pole at Texas (11/04/07).
· Three of the last four races have had a margin of victory under one second.
· Denny Hamlin (8.8) and Matt Kenseth (9.3) are the only two active drivers to average a top-10 finish.
· Roush Fenway Racing leads all owners in victories, with seven. Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports have three wins each.
· There has been two season sweeps, by Carl Edwards in 2008 and Denny Hamlin in 2010.

Texas Motor Speedway Data
Race No.: 7 of 36 (04-09-11)
Track Size: 1.5 miles
Race Length: 501 miles
· Banking/corners: 24 degrees
· Banking/straights: 5 degrees
· Frontstretch: 2,250 feet
· Backstretch: 1,330 feet

Hamlin, surprisingly, swept both Texas races in 2010
Driver Rating at Texas
Tony Stewart 104.5
Matt Kenseth 101.9
Greg Biffle 99.4
Jimmie Johnson 99.3
Denny Hamlin 99.2
Kyle Busch 97.6
Carl Edwards 96.9
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 93.0
Jeff Gordon 91.6
Kurt Busch 91.3
Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2010 races (12 total) at Texas.

Qualifying/Race Data
2010 pole winner: Tony Stewart (191.327 mph, 28.224 seconds)
2010 race winner: Denny Hamlin, 146.230 mph, 04-19-10)
Track qualifying record: Brian Vickers (196.235 mph, 27.518 seconds, 11-03-06)
Track race record: Carl Edwards (151.055 mph, 11-06-05)

NASCAR in Texas
There have been 29 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Texas.
73 drivers in NASCAR’s three national series (all-time) have their home state recorded as Texas.
There have been eight race winners from Texas in NASCAR’s three national series.

- compiled by Ray M. Smith, NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications


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