Texas Motor Speedway

Texas Motor Speedway
Location	3545 Lone Star Circle, Fort Worth, Texas 76177
Active from	February 29, 1996 - present
Major events	NASCAR Sprint Cup Series NRA 500 AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Nationwide Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge NASCAR Camping World Truck Series WinStar World Casino 400K WinStar World Casino 350K IZOD IndyCar Series Firestone 550
Surface	Asphalt
Length	1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Turns	4
Lap record	0:22.542 (Paul Tracy, Team Green, 2001, Cart FedEx Championship Series)

Texas Motor Speedway Club building in Fort Worth, Texas

Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas.

The track measures 1.5 mi (2.41 km) around and is banked 24 degrees in the turns, and is of the oval design, where the front straightaway juts outward slightly.

The track layout is similar to Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway (formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway).

The track is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., the same company that owns Atlanta and Charlotte Motor Speedways, as well as the short-track Bristol Motor Speedway.

History

The speedway has been managed since its inception by racing promoter Eddie Gossage.

Based on qualifying speeds in 2004, 2005, and 2006 (with Brian Vickers shattering the qualifying record at Texas with a speed of Template:Convert/mi/h in the 2006 Dickies 500 qualifying), the Texas Motor Speedway was once considered the fastest non-restrictor plate track on the NASCAR circuit, with qualifying speeds in excess of Template:Convert/mi/h and corner entry speeds over Template:Convert/mi/h. However, as the tracks' respective racing surfaces continue to wear, qualifying speeds at Atlanta have become consistently faster than at Texas (2005 and 2006). Brian Vickers holds the qualifying record at TMS. In 2006, he posted a Template:Convert/mi/h speed. Elliott Sadler beat the record before Brian, qualifying in the 49/50th spot. Being the last person out on the track, Brian nipped Elliott Sadler's qualifying time. The NASCAR records still fall short of the all-time TMS qualifying record though. Driving a Lola Ford Champ Car, Kenny Brack took pole for the aborted Firestone Firehawk 600, with an average speed of 233.447 mph in 2001.

Two racetracks formerly on the Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup Series) schedule were closed to make room for Texas Motor Speedway's two race dates, with the North Wilkesboro Speedway being bought by TMS owner Bruton Smith and New Hampshire International Speedway owner Bob Bahre. The track was closed with one of the track's two dates going to both new owners. The North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina was also sold to Smith as a result of the Ferko lawsuit with the track's one remaining date also being handed over to Texas.

Texas Motor Speedway is home to two NASCAR Sprint Cup races: the NRA 500 and the AAA Texas 500, as well as two Nationwide Series races, the O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 and the O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge and the Indy Racing League IndyCar series race, the Firestone 550. The track also hosts two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races, the WinStar World Casino 400K (which takes place on the same weekend as the Indycar Firestone 550) and the WinStar World Casino 350K.

For a short time during construction in September 1996, the track's name was changed to Texas International Raceway. SMI's customary track naming convention had planned to have the "Motor Speedway" as part of the name. However, in August 1996, a small quarter-mile dirt raceway in Alvin, Texas (now known as Texas Thunder Speedway) had filed suit to use the name. On December 2, 1996, a settlement between the two tracks saw the "Texas Motor Speedway" name reinstated to the 1.5 mi (2.41 km) oval, and the small number of Texas International Raceway merchandise instantly became collectible. The following is a map of Texas Motor Speedway:

Between 2001 and 2002, the track, after the reconfiguration in 1998, was repaved because of a hole in turn three. On August 17, 2010, a press conference was held and it was announced that TMS's spring race will become a Saturday night event in 2011. The Samsung Mobile 500 will be held on Saturday April 9, 2011. The same year, the apron of the speedway was repaved.

Jeff Burton (1997) and Dale Earnhardt, Jr (2000) both earned their first Cup win at Texas Motor Speedway. Earnhardt's victory was a then-record for fewest races to notch a victory in the "modern era" on the Cup circuit, winning in just his 12th start, breaking the record held by his father, Dale Earnhardt (16 starts). (The record has since been broken three times, by Kevin Harvick (3 starts), Jamie McMurray (2 starts) and Trevor Bayne (2 starts))

On October 13, 2000, Tony Roper was racing in the Craftsman Truck Series O'Reilly 400 at Texas Motor Speedway when he attempted to pass Steve Grissom. However, another truck veered up the racetrack in the tri-oval, forcing Roper to evade, turning him into Grissom's front bumper. The contact caused Roper's #26 Ford to take a sudden hard-right turn, which then caused the truck to slam head-on into the concrete wall of the tri-oval. Roper died the next day as the result of the injuries he sustained from the crash.

In fall of 2012, Gossage added a carnival outside turn two to promote the track's "Wild Asphalt Circus" theme.

Firestone Firehawk 600

Main article: Firestone Firehawk 600

The Firestone Firehawk 600, a CART race, was to be held on April 29, 2001. During practice and qualifying, however, 21 of 25 drivers complained of dizziness and disorientation during two days of practice. Drivers experienced sustained G forces over 5 Gs, more than the typical human tolerance. With their powerful turbocharged engines and superspeedway downforce packages, the Champ Cars were averaging speeds well in excess of 230 mph (The track record, set by Paul Tracy, was 239.552 mph). This was much faster than IRL machinery of the time, and faster still than the speeds seen regularly by Sprint Cup cars.

With the possibility of drivers blacking out on the track, CART cancelled the race two hours before the scheduled start.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series statistics

The pace car leading the field at the 2007 fall race

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series records

(As of 11/6/11)

Most Wins	3	Carl Edwards
Most Top 5s	10	Matt Kenseth
Most Top 10s	13	Matt Kenseth
Starts	22	4 Drivers
Poles	2	4 Drivers
Most Laps Completed	6997	Jeff Burton
Most Laps Led	756	Matt Kenseth
Avg. Start*	8.0	Steve Park
Avg. Finish	8.7	Matt Kenseth

* from minimum 5 starts.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winners

• An asterisk (*) indicates that the race was extended beyond the scheduled distance due to the green-white-checker finish rule

Season	Date	Winning Driver	Car #	Sponsor	Make	Distance	Avg Speed	Margin of Victory
1997	April 6	Jeff Burton	99	Exide Batteries	Ford Thunderbird	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	4.067 sec
1998	April 5	Mark Martin	6	Valvoline	Ford Taurus	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.573 sec
1999	March 28	Terry Labonte	5	Kellogg's	Chevrolet Monte Carlo	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	UC
2000	April 2	Dale Earnhardt Jr	8	Budweiser	Chevrolet Monte Carlo	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	5.920 sec
2001	April 1	Dale Jarrett	88	UPS	Ford Taurus	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.73 sec
2002	April 8	Matt Kenseth	17	DeWalt	Ford Taurus	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.888 sec
2003	March 30	Ryan Newman	12	Alltel	Dodge Intrepid	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	3.405 sec
2004	April 4	Elliott Sadler	38	M&Ms	Ford Taurus	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.028 sec
2005	April 17	Greg Biffle	16	Post-it/National Guard	Ford Taurus	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	3.244 sec
2005	November 6	Carl Edwards	99	Office Depot	Ford Taurus	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.584 sec
2006	April 9	Kasey Kahne	9	Dodge Dealers/UAW	Dodge Charger	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	5.229 sec
2006	November 5	Tony Stewart	20	Home Depot	Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS	508.5 mi (Template:Convert/508.5*1609.344)*	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.272 sec
2007	April 15	Jeff Burton	31	Prilosec OTC	Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.410 sec
2007	November 4	Jimmie Johnson	48	Lowe's/Kobalt	Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.944 sec
2008	April 6	Carl Edwards	99	Aflac	Ford Fusion	508.5 mi (Template:Convert/508.5*1609.344)*	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.399 sec
2008	November 2	Carl Edwards	99	Office Depot	Ford Fusion	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	8.310 sec
2009	April 5	Jeff Gordon	24	DuPont/National Guard GED Plus	Chevrolet Impala SS	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.378 sec
2009	November 8	Kurt Busch	2	Miller Lite Operation Homefront	Dodge Charger	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	25.686 sec
2010	April 19	Denny Hamlin	11	FedEx Ground	Toyota Camry	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.152 sec
2010	November 7	Denny Hamlin	11	FedEx Office	Toyota Camry	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.488 sec
2011	April 9	Matt Kenseth	17	Crown Royal Black	Ford Fusion	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	8.315 sec
2011	November 6	Tony Stewart	14	Office Depot	Chevrolet Impala	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	1.092 sec
2012	April 14	Greg Biffle	16	3M/Filtrete Filters	Ford Fusion	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	3.235 sec
2012	November 4	Jimmie Johnson	48	Lowe's	Chevrolet Impala	502.5 mi (Template:Convert/502.5*1609.344)*	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.808 sec
2013	April 13	Kyle Busch	18	Interstate Batteries	Toyota Camry	501 mi (Template:Convert/501*1609.344)	Template:Convert/mi/h	0.508 sec

IZOD IndyCar Series statistics

IZOD IndyCar Series race winners

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
						Laps	Miles (km)
1996-97	June 7, 1997	Arie Luyendyk*	Treadway Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	2:19:48	133.903	Report
1998	June 6	Billy Boat	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Dallara	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	2:08:46	145.388	Report
	September 20	John Paul, Jr.	Byrd/Cunningham Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	2:21:53	131.931	Report
1999	June 12	Scott Goodyear	Panther Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	2:00:06	150.069	Report
	October 17	Mark Dismore	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	2:14:16	135.246	Report
2000	June 11*	Scott Sharp	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	1:47:20	169.182	Report
	October 15	Scott Goodyear	Panther Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	208	312 (502.115)	1:43:36	175.276	Report
2001	June 9	Scott Sharp	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	200	300 (482.803)	1:55:44	150.873	Report
	October 6*	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Panther Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	200	300 (482.803)	1:43:36	168.523	Report
2002	June 8	Jeff Ward	Chip Ganassi Racing	G-Force	Chevrolet	200	300 (482.803)	1:45:50	164.984	Report
	September 15	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	300 (482.803)	1:46:29	163.981	Report
2003	June 7	Al Unser, Jr.	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Toyota	200	300 (482.803)	1:43:48	168.213	Report
	October 13	Gil de Ferran	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	195*	292.5 (470.733)	1:48:56	156.268	Report
2004	June 12	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:53:24	153.965	Report
	October 17	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	200	300 (482.803)	1:49:32	159.397	Report
2005	June 11	Tomas Scheckter	Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	300 (482.803)	1:45:47	165.047	Report
2006	June 10	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:34:01	185.71	Report
2007	June 9	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	228	342 (550.395)	1:52:15	177.314	Report
2008	June 7	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	228	342 (550.395)	2:04:36	159.74	Report
2009	June 6	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	228	342 (550.395)	1:55:16	172.677	Report
2010	June 5	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	228	342 (550.395)	2:04:47	159.508	Report
2011	June 11	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	114	171 (275.197)	0:54:47	181.649	Report
		Will Power	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	114	171 (275.197)	0:48:09	206.693
2012	June 9	Justin Wilson	Dale Coyne Racing	Dallara	Honda	228	342 (550.395)	1:59:02	167.217	Report
2013	June 8	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Chevrolet	228	342 (550.395)	1:52:17	177.257	Report

• 1997: Billy Boat took checkered flag as the winner due to scoring error; Luyendyk declared official winner the following day.
• 2000: Postponed from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon due to rain.
• 2001: Postponed from September 16 due to 9/11.
• 2003: Race shortened due to crash involving Kenny Bräck.

Current races hosted

Texas Motor Speedway

A glimpse of the Texas Motor Speedway stadium before the crowds arrive.

• IZOD IndyCar Series – Firestone 550
• Sprint Cup Series – NRA 500
• Sprint Cup Series – AAA Texas 500
• Nationwide Series – O'Reilly Auto Parts 300
• Nationwide Series – O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge
• Camping World Truck Series – WinStar World Casino 400K
• Camping World Truck Series – WinStar World Casino 350K
• ARCA Racing – Rattlesnake 150
• Global RallyCross Championship

Other races such as the Lone Star Legends series take place during the summer. The dirt track facility hosts the occasional Monster Truck show as well as motocross and short course racing.

Other events

On June 14, 1997 Texas Motor Speedway hosted the Fruit of the Loom CountryFest for an estimated 185,000 spectators. Featured performers were Jo Dee Messina, Bryan White, Wynonna Judd, Vince Gill, The Charlie Daniels Band, Hank Williams Jr., LeAnn Rimes, Travis Tritt, and Randy Travis.

On June 21, 1997 Texas Motor Speedway hosted the Blockbuster Rock Fest where an estimated 385,000 fans bought tickets and attended. The 15 hour plus and 16 band concert featured the likes of Bush, No Doubt, Collective Soul, Matchbox Twenty, Jewel, the Wallflowers, the Counting Crows, Third Eye Blind, Sugar Ray, Paula Cole as well as many others. Because fans started arriving the night before, VH1 organized a kickoff concert on that Friday night. The concert remains one of the top attended concerts ever.

Ongoing classes and events are held regularly at the facility, such as the Texas Driving Experience and Team Texas. 87-year old Don Krusemark was killed in an accident during an event at the speedway hosted by the Texas Driving Experience.

The Traxxas TORC Series held the series' first off-road racing event in 2009 at Texas Motor Speedway. The 0.4 mile clay oval at the facility was transformed by adding jumps and whoops. Winners in the two-race weekend were: Pro-4 winner Rick Huseman won twice; Pro-2 events were claimed by Ricky Johnson and Scott Taylor; and for Pro Lite class winners were Marty Hart and Casey Currie. It was the only TORC event held at the track as of 2013.

The first annual Christian alt-rock festival FortyFest was held at the Texas Motor Speedway "Little Texas" facility in August 2010.

Texas Motor Speedway made an unsuccessful overture to move the annual Texas-Oklahoma rivalry football game from the Cotton Bowl to the infield of the modern racing facility in 2004.

See also

• List of NASCAR race tracks
• Sports in Texas

External links

• Texas Motor Speedway Interactive Map
• Trackpedia guide to driving Texas Motor Speedway
• Texas Motor Speedway Official Site
• Texas Motor Speedway Page on NASCAR.com
• GNEXTINC.com: Texas Motor Speedway Page – Local area information, track specs, mapping, news and more.
• Jayski's Texas Motor Speedway Page – Current and Past Texas Motor Speedway News
• Texas Motor Speedway Fan Page – Photographs and articles on past speedway events.
• Dale Jarrett Racing Experience at Texas Motor Speedway
• High Resolution image from Google Maps

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Texas Motor Speedway. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.