Texas Odds & Ends: AAA Texas 500

compiled by Mike Forde

NASCAR Media Services

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 19 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 19 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.

·         13 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. Jeff Gordon won at Texas for the first time, last season. Gordon has won at every track he has run except Homestead-Miami Speedway.

·         14 of 19 races have been won from a top-10 starting position. Only one has been won from the pole (Kasey Kahnein 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. Denny Hamlin started 29th in his win earlier this season.

·         Both Jeff Burton (1999) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2000) scored their first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Texas.

·         Six of the last eight races have had a margin of victory under one second. Last November’s race had an MOV of 25.686 seconds, the largest since the inception of electronic timing and scoring in 1993.

·         Denny Hamlin (9.6) and Matt Kenseth (9.9) are the only active drivers to average a top-10 finish.

·         Roush Fenway Racing leads all owners in victories, with seven.

·         There has been one season sweep, by Carl Edwards in 2008. Edwards is looking to break a 69-race winless drought. Jeff Gordon’s last win came at Texas, 62 races ago.

Race #: 34 of 36 (11-7-10)

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

  

Driver Rating at Texas 

Tony Stewart               105.7 

Matt Kenseth               101.6

Jimmie Johnson            99.0

Kyle Busch                   98.3

Carl Edwards                 97.8

Denny Hamlin                97.2

Dale Earnhardt Jr.          96.4

Greg Biffle                     95.5

Kurt Busch                    94.5

Jeff Gordon                    93.7

Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2010 races (11 total) at Texas.

Qualifying/Race Data

2009 pole winner: Jeff Gordon (191.117 mph, 28.255 secs.)

2009 race winner: Kurt Busch, 146.372 mph, 11-8-09)

Track qualifying record: Brian Vickers (196.235 mph, 27.518 seconds, 11-3-06)

Track race record: Carl Edwards (151.055 mph, 11-6-05)

Pit Window: Every 50-55 laps, depending on fuel mileage.

NASCAR in Texas

·         There have been 28 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:

Driver	NSCS	NNS	NCWTS
Terry Labonte	22	11	1
Bobby Labonte	21	10	1
A.J. Foyt	7	0	0
Billy Wade	4	0	0
Bobby Hillin Jr.	1	2	0
Johnny Rutherford	1	0	0
David Starr	0	0	4
Colin Braun	0	0	1

LAS VEGAS HILTON SUPER BOOK ODDS TO WIN TEXAS AAA 500

Texas Storylines: Three Driver Race is Getting Good

Only three races remain, and it looks like a high-stakes, three-driver battle for the big prize – the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

A near record-breaking race at Talladega did exactly what Jimmie Johnson had fretted about all these weeks – tightened the points like never before. Only 38 points separate the top-three drivers (Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick).

Race No. 8 of 10 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is set for Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, the AAA Texas 500. Last year, Johnson wrecked, severely affecting the points standings.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series returns to action this weekend, also at Texas, for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge. The event will have a championship feel, as Brad Keselowski could clinch the series title if he leaves the race with a 390-point advantage over second place. He is currently up by 485 points.

The triple-header weekend begins with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and its points got a little tighter after the usual Talladega melee. Points leader Todd Bodine wrecked, and saw his lead dwindle to 216 points. This weekend’s event is the WinStar World Casino 350k on Friday night.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

A Three For All: With Three Races Remaining, A Three-Man Hunt For The Championship

This 2010 championship is tight. Very tight. In fact, it’s the closest in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup era.

The points margin between the top-three drivers is the closest with three races remaining since the inception of the Chase in 2004. Four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson leads Denny Hamlin by 14 points and Kevin Harvick by 38. The 14-point spread between first and second is the second closest since 2004.

The “Big Three” All Strong At Texas

There’s no reason to think the championship picture will become any clearer after Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. All three frontrunners – Johnson, Hamlin and Harvick – have had success at the 1.5-mile track. Johnson won there in 2007, and finished second in the spring race. Hamlin won in the spring and was the runner-up in this race last season. Harvick is coming off two consecutive top-10 finishes at Texas.

Texas, The Great Unknown

To a man, every driver pointed to last weekend’s race at Talladega as the big question mark in the Chase. But, historically, Texas might deserve that title. 

Last year, Jimmie Johnson wrecked and finished 38th, tightening the points gap dramatically. In 2005, then-contender Greg Biffle had a lug-nut issue on pit road, essentially killing his title hopes. Seems bad luck follows those in contention.

Another angle to consider: Texas is a headache-inducer for crew chiefs. Texas races often come down to fuel mileage strategy, and getting it precisely right could be the difference between victory and standings disaster. That will put the impetus on Chad Knaus (Johnson’s crew chief), Mike Ford (Hamlin’s) and Gil Martin (Harvick) to nail the call. Last year, Kurt Busch and Pat Tryson got it right, leading to the largest margin of victory since the inception of electronic timing and scoring in 1993 – 25.686 seconds.

Spoiler List Grows

In past weeks, a spoiler could be defined as any driver outside the top 12. Now, with positions 4-12 seemingly out of the championship hunt, anyone outside the top three could wear the spoiler tag.

Two spoilers to consider: Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Gordon’s career-long winless drought has reached 62 races, but could end this weekend. His last victory came at Texas, in April of 2009, and he has led a total of 581 laps at Texas, more than any other driver.

Despite a poor Talladega finish by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (39th), he did lead a race-high 24 laps after leading 90 laps at Martinsville. Earnhardt is the only non-Chase driver who ranks in the top 10 in pre-race Driver Rating at Texas (96.4).

Hunter To Be Remembered At Darlington

The sport lost a true giant last Friday night with the passing of Jim Hunter, NASCAR’s Vice President of Corporate Communications. Here are the arrangements for Hunter, which will take place Tuesday and Wednesday of this week:

Tuesday, Nov. 2, 5–7 p.m. – Visitation at Darlington Raceway.

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 11 a.m. – Celebration of Jim’s life at Darlington Presbyterian Church, 311 Pearl Street, Darlington, S.C. followed by a reception at Darlington Raceway.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The NASCAR Foundation at NASCAR Plaza, 550 South Caldwell Street, Suite 2000, Charlotte, N.C. 28202 or to Halifax Health-Hospice of Volusia/Flagler, 3800 Woodbriar Trail, Port Orange, Fla. 32129.

- NASCAR Media Services

Clint Bowyer Wins at Talladega as RCR Drivers finish 1-2

Sporting News Wire Service

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Just in case, Clint Bowyer started his celebratory burnout several minutes before NASCAR declared him the winner of Sunday's Amp Energy Juice 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

A multi-car crash behind the leaders at the start of the final lap had thrown the outcome in doubt, and it wasn't until Bowyer drove a quarter-mile and stopped his No. 33 Chevrolet at the entrance to the garage that shouts and high-fives from the crew that surrounded the car let the crowd know Bowyer indeed had won his second race in the Chase.

If the win was vindication for Bowyer, whose victory in the opening Chase race at New Hampshire was tainted by a 150-point penalty when his car failed inspection at NASCAR's tech center, it was little more than a push for points leader Jimmie Johnson and second-place Denny Hamlin.

Johnson and Hamlin dodged trouble Sunday and finished seventh and ninth, respectively, allowing Johnson to expand his lead over Hamlin from six to 14 points. Kevin Harvick, Bowyer's teammate at Richard Childress Racing, came home second despite sustaining damage in a multi-car wreck on Lap 141 and cut his deficit to Johnson from 62 to 38 points.

"It's going to be an awesome championship battle all the way to Homestead, and I'm really looking forward to it," said Johnson, the four-time defending champion.

Bowyer had nosed ahead of Harvick in Turn 1 on the 188th and final lap when a violent wreck behind them sent A.J. Allmendinger upside down into the inside wall, causing the fifth caution of the race and freezing the field.

With a push from David Reutimann, Harvick had led at the start/finish line on Lap 187, but a shove from third-place finisher Juan Montoya sent Bowyer back in front by a nose as the cars rolled into Turn 1 and the caution lights came on.

"I thought we had it for sure," Bowyer said. "When two cars hook up, they just drive off from them and they [Harvick and Reutimann] were coming on the outside and ran us down, and then I quit dragging my brakes and we kind of took off again.

"Door to door there and all of a sudden ... [spotter Mike] Dillon is yelling at me in my ear that the caution was coming out. I looked over to make sure I was ahead of him. I thought I was, but I didn't know."

"About 6 inches ..." said Harvick, who won at Talladega in April. "It's just one of those deals where we've won a few by a few inches and we've lost a few. It's hard to complain because you can wind up on the wrecker pretty easy."

Bowyer's first victory at a restrictor-plate track was the fourth of his career.

"Happy we kept the trophy at RCR," Harvick added. "If you're going to lose to somebody, it's good to lose to your teammates and keep the trophy and the money in the right house."

A caution for debris set up a restart with four laps remaining, and Harvick received unusual help from Reutimann, who as a Toyota driver probably shouldn't have pushed Hamlin's competition to the front.

"If you had your preference of helping a Toyota, if you have a choice, I think we would try to pick a Toyota," explained Reutimann, who wound up fourth. "But sometimes you don't have a choice and you have to go with whatever's going to benefit your team the most."

Harvick wasn't all that surprised to get the push from Reutimann.

"It's hard when you line all those cars up at the end," Harvick said. "When you get down to the end, I mean, unless you're just going to let off, I just don't think that's in many's nature that sits behind the wheel of these cars. You have to just push whoever's in front of you and go for it."

Hamlin made no mention of Reutimann's help of Harvick, but despite rallying to the top-10 finish, he seemed disappointed with the final result.

"It wasn't very fun. I didn't get to race as hard as I'd like to at times," he said.

Anxious moments for Hamlin began on Lap 77 when he was shuffled to the back of the field and lost the draft. Falling behind at a rate of almost 4 seconds per lap, Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota went a lap down when Harvick passed him through Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 105.

Hamlin didn't recover the lost circuit until Lap 144, when he got a free pass back to the lead lap under caution for a seven-car wreck on the backstretch that damaged the front end of Harvick's No. 29 and the rear of Johnson's No. 48. The damage, however, wasn't sufficient to hurt either car significantly, and throughout the remainder of the race, all three drivers worked their way toward the front.

Hamlin knew it could have been worse, and took solace in how tight the race is as they move on to Texas, where Hamlin won in April.

"It's what I asked for," he said. "I asked for nobody to really get killed [in the standings] here this weekend, and let us settle it on the race tracks where our cars and our teams can make a difference and us as drivers can make a difference. And that's what we got."

The race was marked by 87 lead changes, second most in NASCAR history.

Talladega Results