History
There's an old adage about the Lone Star State: "Everything is bigger in Texas." When the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teams arrived at Bruton Smith's Texas Motor Speedway, a first glance gave them the idea that the racing would be similar to sister track, Lowe's Motor Speedway. After all, both tracks have a double dog-leg frontstretch, two short chutes that connect on both sides of the start/finish line straightaway and wide 24-degree banked turns.

The teams soon found out that Texas Motor Speedway was, in fact, quite different. The turns were longer than the Lowe's facility and that allowed the cars to carry more speed through the corners. Thus, the chassis setups and gearing used at Lowe's would not be useful at Texas and the tires were subjected to more wear.

The inaugural event was plagued by rain - some three days worth. Because Texas Motor Speedway was new to the schedule, qualifying was abandoned so that the teams could get more practice on the tricky track. The field was set by owner points.

Track Length: 1.5 Miles (334 laps = 501 miles)
Race Length: 500 Miles
Grandstand Seating Capacity: 154,861
First Race: April 6, 1997 - Interstate Batteries 500
Banking in Corners: 24 degrees
Banking on Dogleg: 5 degrees
Banking on Backstretch: 5 degrees
Frontstretch: 2,250 feet
Backstretch: 1,330 feet

Cup Qualifying Record
Bill Elliott, Dodge, 194.224 mph; April 5, 2005

Cup Race Record
Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 144.276 mph; Mar. 28, 1999

Team notes: Chase drivers take battle to Lone Star State
Updated 11/1/2006 9:21 PM ET
NASCAR team reports as the Chase for the Nextel Cup heads to its eighth round, the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway:
Matt Kenseth

No. 17 Ford, Roush Racing

This week: Kenseth's average finish of 12.1 at Texas Motor Speedway ranks second, behind Dale Earnhardt Jr., among the 10 drivers in the Chase. TMS is one of four tracks in the Chase where Kenseth has won during his Cup career. The other three are Dover, Charlotte and Phoenix. Kenseth is the all-time lap leader at Texas in NASCAR competition with 611 — 313 in Cup and 298 in Busch. He will drive RK-267, the same car that he drove to fourth place at Atlanta. "When we went to Texas in April, we were really fast at the end of the race, and if Kasey (Kahne) hadn't been on another planet we could've challenged for the win," Kenseth said.

Last week: A fourth-place finish at Atlanta allowed Kenseth to retain first in the standings.

Etc.: Kenseth's 10.9 average finish in the first seven Chase events is the best of any Chase driver.

Jimmie Johnson

No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

This week: Johnson is second in the points race, 26 behind Matt Kenseth, after earning two second-place finishes and a victory in the last three races. Johnson, who has left Atlanta second in points in all three years of the "Chase," has two top-five and five top-10 finishes in six races at Texas. Johnson will be driving chassis No. 48359, which won at Indianapolis in August.

Last week: Johnson's second-place finish at Atlanta has moved him into prime contention to win the 2006 Nextel Cup. "I feel great about it," Johnson said. "But I'm sure every team feels that way."

Etc.: Johnson's Driver Rating of 106.9 in the first seven Chase events is the highest of any Chase driver. Johnson is second in the season's Driver Rating with a 100.8. Johnson's 7.6 Average Starting Position in the seven Chase events is the best of any Chase driver. His Average Finishing Position of 6.3 at Texas is second among all drivers.

Denny Hamlin

No. 11 Chevrolet, Joe Gibbs Racing

This week: The Dickies 500 will be Hamlin's third career start at TMS in a Nextel Cup car. Hamlin ran well at Texas in the spring, qualifying eighth and finishing fourth for one of his six top-five finishes of the season. Hamlin will drive JGR 121, the same car he drove to victory at both Pocono races, leading 234 of a possible 400 laps.

Last week: After fighting a loose car and dropping off the lead lap, Hamlin found his way back to finish eighth. The result moved Hamlin into third in the Chase for the Nextel Cup standings, 65 points behind leader Matt Kenseth.

Etc.: Hamlin made his Nextel Cup debut at Texas in November 2005, the same weekend he was introduced as the driver of the No. 11 Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2006. Hamlin followed up the announcement by taking the checkered flag in seventh after starting 14th, recording his third top-10 finish in only his fifth career Cup start.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

No. 8 Chevrolet, Dale Earnhardt Inc

This week: Earnhardt always looks forward to returning to TMS. It's the track where he won his first Busch Series and Cup races. "Texas was the place where I realized I could make a career out of racing," he said. Earnhardt won his first Cup race in just his 12th career start when he won there in 2000. Since then he has accumulated six top-10 finishes in eight races there, finishing 12th or better in each race except one. He has led five races at TMS for 253 laps.

Last week: Earnhardt led a season-high 95 laps at Atlanta, his most since the same race last year, when he led 142. He finished third.

Etc: Earnhardt's 119 Quality Passes at Texas gives him the lead in that category. Earnhardt's quality pass total has helped him achieve an Average Finishing Position of 9.7 over the last three Texas events. A quality pass is a pass of a driver running in the Top 15 under green-flag conditions.

Jeff Burton

No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

This week: Burton has scored four top-10 finishes in the seven races in the Chase, one of four drivers to do so. He has 19 top-10 finishes and 25 top-15s in 33 races this season. Burton has one victory and four top-10s in 11 races at Texas. His victory came in the first Texas race in 1997 and marked his career-first Cup Series victory. He finished 30th in this race one year ago and sixth there in April, the latter his only top-10 in his last seven races at Texas. He has led in three races at Texas but not in his last seven races there. Burton's 17.454 average finish at Texas ranks seventh among the 10 Chase drivers.

Last week: Burton finished 13th at Atlanta and dropped further in the standings. He is 84 points out of first place.

Etc: Burton has an Average Finishing Position of 16.0 over the past three Texas events; his worst-among-all-Chase-drivers Average Starting Position is 31.3.

Kevin Harvick

No. 29 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

This week: Harvick has one top-five and two top-10 finishes in seven races at Texas and has led in four of the races. "Texas is a good track to rebound at because we've run good there," Harvick said. "... Historically we've been pretty good there, but running 10th isn't going to get it at this point. We have to win and things have got to happen to everyone else to get us back in the hunt." His fifth-place finish at Texas in April is his career-best Texas finish. A year ago he started 33rd and finished 16th in this race.

Last week: After a disappointing 31st-place finish at Atlanta, Harvick lost the most spots among Chase participants, dropping four places to sixth. "I think it's going to come down to luck, myself," he said.

Etc.: Harvick will be behind the wheel of a new chassis, No. 179, which recently made its debut at the NASCAR mandated Homestead-Miami Speedway test.

Jeff Gordon

No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

This week: In 1997, Gordon was leading the inaugural Texas event for 69 laps but was involved in a wreck and finished 30th. He then finished 25th or worse from 1998 to 2000 before coming up with four consecutive top-five finishes from 2001 to 2004. Last year marked the first time the Cup Series visited Texas twice during a season, and Gordon scored 14th- and 15th-place finishes in those two events. He was 22nd at Texas earlier this year. "I've said from the beginning that this race was the one I was most concerned about performance-wise during the Chase," Gordon said.

Last week: Gordon finished sixth at Atlanta.

Etc.: Texas, Phoenix and Homestead, the three remaining tracks on this year's schedule, are also the only tracks where Gordon has yet to visit Victory Lane in Cup events. Earlier this year, he won at Chicagoland for the first time, giving him victories at a record 19 of the 22 tracks on the Cup schedule.

Mark Martin

No. 6 Ford, Roush Racing

This week: Martin will drive RK-231, a car that finished 19th in its last run at Pocono in July. He has one win, four top-fives and six top-10 finishes in 11 races at Texas. Martin posted a Cup win at Texas in the second race there in 1998. Martin has won three times in the Busch Series at Texas in only four races, including the inaugural Busch race there in 1997. Martin will take part in both the Busch and Cup races this weekend at Texas, marking his final Busch race of 2006.

Last week: A late-race crash took Martin out of the Atlanta race, dropping him to a 36th-place finish. "Our luck has really taken a turn for the worse in the last few races," he said.

Etc.: Martin's Driver Rating of 89.8 for the season is the lowest among all Chase drivers and 12th overall, but his Driver Rating at Texas is 102.7, third-best among all Chase drivers and fifth overall.

Kasey Kahne

No. 9 Dodge, Ray Evernham Motorsports

This week: In the first Texas race this year, Kahne drove chassis No. 128 to victory from the pole. He led 63 laps on the way to posting his second win of the season. Kahne has qualified in the top three in three of his four starts at Texas and has finished in the top five twice. In his first start at Texas, Kahne started third and finished second in the spring race of 2004. He led 148 laps but finished a close second to Elliott Sadler, now a teammate. His only Texas finishes outside the top five came as a result of engine issues that took him out of the race early. Kahne will drive chassis No. 131, the same car he drove to victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway last month.

Last week: Kahne finished 38th at Atlanta after he was involved in a crash with David Stremme.

Etc.: Kahne will run a special paint scheme promoting the launch of the 2007 Dodge Nitro.

Kyle Busch

No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

This week: Busch will drive chassis No. 349, which finished a solid sixth at Lowe's Motor Speedway last month. Busch again will race in all three NASCAR series this weekend. The last time Busch attempted it was in August at Bristol, where he finished sixth in the Trucks, seventh in the Busch Series and second in the Cup Series. Busch finished 40th in this race at Texas one year ago and 15th there in April, his only top-15 finish at Texas. He was running in the top 10 in the latter race before a late crash.

Last week: Busch crashed on the fourth lap and finished 27th at Atlanta.

Etc.: Busch has two Craftsman Truck Series starts at Texas. At age 16 in 2001, Busch qualified fifth and finished 25th in his first start there. Upon his return to the track in a Chevy Silverado last season, he qualified fourth and finished third with a strong run for Billy Ballew Motorsports.

Tony Stewart

No. 20 Chevrolet, Joe Gibbs Racing

This week: In nine starts at Texas, Stewart has finished in the top-10 six times, but he is still looking for his first win there. In April, Stewart led 99 laps before finishing third. "We've really come on with our 1.5-mile program, so I think we're going to be a lot better (this weekend)," says Stewart.

Last week: Stewart led seven times at Atlanta for a race-high 146 laps, including the last 11, to win his fourth race of the season and second in the Chase. The victory was Stewart's 28th of his career, which ties him for 20th on the all-time win list with Rex White. "We did what we wanted to do," he said. "We got up front early and stayed up front all day."

Etc.: Stewart finished third in the final International Race of Champions (IROC) event of the season to score his first IROC series championship and the 11th championship of his career.

Carl Edwards

No. 99 Ford, Roush Racing

This week: Edwards' last Cup victory came at Texas a year ago. And that is why he says, "Texas Motor Speedway is one of my favorite tracks on the NASCAR circuit. It's a place where you can carry a lot of speed, which makes for some great racing."

Last week: Edwards finished seventh at Atlanta to extend his streak of top-15 finishes to six. But neither Edwards nor crew chief Wally Brown was happy with how the car performed. "The car was just inconsistent," said Edwards.

Greg Biffle

No. 16 Ford, Roush Racing

This week: Biffle won the spring race at Texas in 2005, but that is his only top-10 finish in five starts at the track. He'll be driving a new car that was tested at Homestead.

Last week: After finishing fifth for his fifth top-10 finish in the last eight races at Atlanta, Biffle pointed out, "We had a third-place car for sure and maybe a winning one if we could have gotten a crack at them. But I wanted to let Matt (Kenseth) duke it out with Junior for the spot. I could have got by them both easy, but I'm trying to help him (Kenseth) win the championship."

Casey Mears

No. 42 Dodge, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates

This week: Mears has three top-10 finishes in the last four races at Texas, including back-to-back fourth-place finishes in 2005. While he didn't run as well as he had hoped in the spring race (he ended up 14th), Mears believes this weekend might be his best shot at getting a victory before moving to Hendrick Motorsports in 2007.

Last week: Mears seemed headed for a top-15 finish at Atlanta when he got caught up in a crash on lap 310. He finished 28th.

Brian Vickers

No. 25 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

This week: Texas has not been a good track for Vickers. His best finish there is 12th, in his first race at the speedway in 2004.

Last week: Vickers struggled during the first half of the Atlanta race, but crew chief Lance McGrew made major changes to the car on lap 198 and Vickers was able to rally from 32nd to 19th. Vickers has finished in the top 20 in the last five races to close to 27 points back of 14th place in the standings.

Kurt Busch

No. 2 Dodge, Penske Racing South

This week: Busch has an impressive five top-10 finishes in seven starts at Texas but hasn't won there. He tested on Tuesday at Kentucky Speedway.

Last week: Busch rallied in the final 100 miles to finish 14th at Atlanta. "We got real, real loose, made adjustments on it and didn't get the handle on it until the end," said Busch. "The sun went down and the track tightened up. We had a 10th-place car at the end, but we just got too far behind early."

Ryan Newman

No. 12 Dodge, Penske Racing South

This week: Newman's March 2003 victory at Texas is his only top-15 finish in six starts there. "Texas has been a difficult track for this team to figure out, even more so than the other mile-and-a-half tracks," says Newman.

Last week: It was a long afternoon for Newman at Atlanta. Major handling problems dropped him two laps off the pace in the first half of the race, and then he brushed the second-turn wall on lap 231. Twelve laps later, Mike Bliss ran into the back of Newman, who ended up 30th.

Clint Bowyer

No. 07 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

This week: Bowyer finished 19th in the spring race at Texas, but it could have been better — he was involved in a last-lap crash.

Last week: Bowyer was an unhappy driver after finishing 25th at Atlanta. "The car was good all night," said Bowyer. "We had a top-10 car, no doubt. We got the side of the car torn off coming down pit road, and then we had to come back and fix it. We just can't catch a break. We can't buy a break."

Bobby Labonte

No. 43 Dodge, Petty Enterprises

This week: Labonte has three top-five and five top-10 finishes at his home track. Labonte, a native of Corpus Christi, Texas, finished 10th in the spring race.

Last week: Labonte overcame an overheating race car to finish 12th at Atlanta and move up one spot in the standings to 19th. "Finishing 12th was good, but we had a car that was going to be in the top 10," said Labonte. "We had a fast car. We went from 20th to eighth before the first caution (on lap five). So that was exciting."

Scott Riggs

No. 10 Dodge, Evernham Motorsports

This week: Riggs finished seventh in the spring race at Texas, his first top-10 finish in four starts there. Riggs is optimistic that he can run even better this weekend.

Last week: Riggs finished 22nd at Atlanta. "We were just too loose at the start, and we got caught a lap down," said Riggs.

***

Notes provided by The Sports Xchange

Performance PR Plus For Dupont Racing, Press Release

FORT WORTH, Texas (October 31, 2006) – Only three remain, and Texas Motor Speedway may be the toughest challenge for Jeff Gordon and Team DuPont.

Gordon, who is seventh in the standings, is 146 points behind leader Matt Kenseth with only races at Texas, Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway remaining this season. Coincidentally, those three are the only tracks where Gordon has yet to visit Victory Lane in NASCAR’s premier series.

Earlier this year, the four-time Cup Series champion captured his 75th career victory at Chicagoland Speedway – his first win at the 1.5-mile speedway. Gordon has now collected victories at a record 19 of the 22 tracks currently on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup schedule.

“This is a difficult race track,” Gordon said. “It’s very fast, the transitions in the corners are very abrupt and the walls come at you pretty fast. It’s a track that challenges all of us, but one that I enjoy.

“I’m looking forward to this weekend’s race, and having two races a year here will help us get our first win.”

In the inaugural event in 1997, Gordon led 69 laps but was involved in an accident and finished 30th. After three more finishes of 25th or worse from 1998 to 2000, the driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet collected four consecutive top-five finishes from 2001 to 2004.

However, it was 2004 when Gordon thought he had a real shot at the win. Leading with less than 26 laps to go, he lost power on his No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet. After switching to his backup battery, he recovered to finish third.

“That was very disappointing,” Gordon said. “We had a great shot at the victory – with probably the best handling car I’ve ever had here – but electrical problems ruined that opportunity.

“We haven’t been the same here since.”

Last year marked the first time the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series visited Texas twice during a season, and Team DuPont scored 14th and 15th-place finishes in those two events. Even after finishing 22nd here earlier this year, Gordon is full of optimism heading into the Dickies 500.

“I’ve said from the beginning that this race was the one I was most concerned about performance-wise during the Chase,” said Gordon. “We don’t have a good track record here recently, which gives us concern.

“But we’ve made a lot of changes with the car, the set-ups and the team, and our intermediate program has improved since we last visited Texas.”

Which means this could be his last trip to Texas without a “W.”


This Press Release and any images that are used,
are used with permission. Do not duplicate or
redistribute in any form without permission or credit.

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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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I read this article this morning and was pretty amazed at the history of the races at Texas. This truly could really be any drivers win, because Texas if famous for that. The track loves the dark horse and the long shot. After all people, this is Texas and everything is supposedly bigger! Anyhow, I really liked this article and thought maybe some of y'all would too!





By Dan Beaver, Special to NASCAR.COM
November 2, 2006
03:17 PM EST (20:17 GMT)


Back-to-back races on the cookie-cutter tracks give drivers a chance to build momentum, but fantasy owners should not get lulled into a false sense of security because the final two events of the season will be held on totally difference courses.

More than one-third of the Nextel Cup races are run on similarly configured, 1.5- and 2-mile tracks, and in order to contend for the Cup, drivers have to excel on these courses. For that reason, the favorites this week are not going to catch anyone by surprise and the Dickies 500 is a good time to play conservatively.

There's not much more to be written about the style of racing on the cookie-cutter tracks because that has been so well covered in the first 33 races of the season, but the proof of how fast-paced the action is on this track can be found in the grandstands. Texas Motor Speedway regularly hosts approximately 200,000 screaming fans. They keep coming back for one reason alone: the action on this unrestricted, intermediate speedway is intense.

There were 25 lead changes among 14 drivers last spring, 23 lead changes among 11 drivers last fall, and 22 lead changes among 12 drivers this spring. Winning at Texas is a bit like playing Roulette; the wheel keeps spinning until it stops, and one hopes their favorite driver's number gets called.

Oftentimes, the winner of this race is an unlikely hero. Mark Martin won in 1998 after finishing 38th in the inaugural race. Elliott Sadler won on this track in 2004 after finishing 41st the previous season and Greg Biffle's 2005 spring victory was wedged between a 31st in 2004 and a 20th in fall 2005.

This spring's winner, Kasey Kahne, finished 35th and 42nd in last year's pair of races. In fact, the average finish of nine previous winners who did not score a trophy in their inaugural attempt was 30th in the race preceding their victory, which is likely to cause some head-scratching among fantasy owners this week. Likewise, three of the last four cookie-cutter victories this season have gone to drivers who finished worse than 30th in their previous attempt on this same style track.

There have been 11 winners in the first 11 races held at Texas, and all of them will be in the field racing to be the first repeat champion. With that many drivers gunning for a second win, what are the odds of this streak being kept alive? Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon are to be counted among the winless here, and they each have great records on this type of track.

The Favorites

If history is to be trusted, the first-place finisher of this race could be an unlikely dark horse, since six previous first-time winners finished worse than 30th in the race preceding their victory, but the cream always rises to the top.

The favorites this week will not catch anyone by surprise as Johnson has never finished worse than 11th in six previous starts, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finished worse than 12th only once in eight previous tries, and Stewart has six top-10s in nine previous Texas races. If these drivers are still on your roster after last week's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, there is very little incentive to use an allocation to swap them.

Matt Kenseth should be added to the favorite's list as well. The points leader ascended to the throne by being both consistent and strong during the season. His cookie-cutter races have not all been impressive, but dating back to last year's runner-up at Chicagoland Speedway, he's finished with a worst result of only 26th in 13 races on the similarly configured, 1.5-mile tracks; the majority of these finishes have been top-fives. Four of eight cookie-cutter races this season have ended in top-five finishes as well, and he would have likely counted a fifth at Chicagoland if Jeff Gordon had not sent him into a spin in the closing laps.

A vigorous green flag should be waved over Carl Edwards as well. He finished 36th in Texas' spring race, but as we've already pointed out, that does not hurt his chances of victory in the slightest. After struggling through the first half of the season, the No. 99 team has turned a corner. Five top-10 finishes in the last eight races of the regular season proved to be too little too late to help him make the playoffs, in light of the fact that his other three races in that span ended in results of 22nd or worse. Edwards has swept the top 20 during the playoffs, however, and his last six races have all been 12th or better.

Last week at Atlanta, he ran in the top 10 all night but couldn't find the delicate balance to make his way to the lead. He finished seventh in Georgia, was eighth at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and sixth at Kansas Speedway to give him a three-race top-10 streak on the cookie-cutters.

Dark Horses

A.J. Allmendinger has a history of getting off to a strong start in every series he's raced. In his first CART attempt in the 2004 Grand Prix of Long Beach, he started on the pole and finished 12th. In his first Grand Am race this February, he finished second in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, and in his first two Craftsman Truck Series attempts, he was 13th at New Hampshire International Speedway and fourth at Talladega Superspeedway. Last week, he started on the front row at Atlanta before spinning out when teammate Johnny Benson took the air off his spoiler, but even that ill-fortune has added to his experience.

Allmendinger has to make the show on time, but he is well-qualified to do just that. The best news is, as a late addition to the game, he is going to be dirt cheap.

Brian Vickers blew an engine and finished dead last here in the spring. Last week, he got a little damage from his teammate early in the Bass Pro Shops 500 and never came up to full speed, but in the topsy-turvy world of Texas Motor Speedway that might just work in his favor. Hendrick Motorsports has a great record on the 1.5-mile tracks, and the No. 25 team has posted victories on these courses with virtually every other driver who sat behind the wheel.

Vickers has not finished that well on the cookie-cutters yet, but entering Atlanta last week he had a two-race streak of top-10s and a three-race top-15 streak on this type of track.

Underdogs

We're going to wave a red flag over Jeff Gordon this week even though there is a possibility he could prove us 100 percent wrong by visiting Victory Lane. The reason to ignore him in the Dickies 500 is that overall his record at Texas has been one of bad luck and bitter disappointment.

He got off to a slow start on this track by finishing outside the top 25 in his first four attempts. It's not that he ran badly, but fate had other plans for him in those early years. After that, he knocked off four consecutive top-fives beginning with a second in 2001, but his last three results have all been outside the top 10. This spring he struggled from the drop of the green flag and finally finished 22nd.

Gordon will be a much better value next week at Phoenix International Raceway, and he led the open testing session at Homestead-Miami Speedway last month, so be patient for another week.

The science experiment at Evernham Motorsports seems to still be in full force. As soon as the Chase for the Nextel Cup began, Scott Riggs' results began to tank. He finished 34th or worse in his first three races during the playoff, has failed to crack the top 15 a single time, and has an average finish of 27th in the last seven races. He was one of the most valuable dark horses in the game until the Chase began, but with Evernham's teams putting all their effort behind Kahne, he should be avoided until next year.


P.S. ~LOL~ Hey Darkside and Curves, don't count your man out of it yet! He's got momentum from Atlanta and he really wants this win. I predict that unless something happens "not of his own making" we had all better watch Gordon this week!

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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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cool.. thanks for posting.

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