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NASCAR - Sprint Cup - Samsung Mobile 500 Preview
From The Sports Network
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| DATE: Saturday, April 9th |
| SITE: Texas Motor Speedway (1997) -- Fort Worth, Texas |
| TRACK: 1.5-mile oval- 2,250 feet (Frontstretch); 1,330 feet (Backstretch) |
| CAPACITY: 138,122 (Total Permanent Seating) |
| ANNUAL: 15th |
| TELEVISION: FOX |
| ANNOUNCERS: Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds |
| RADIO: Performance Racing Network (PRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio |
| START TIME: 7:30 p.m. (et)/Green Flag: 7:45 p.m. (et) |
| DEFENDING CHAMPION: Denny Hamlin |
| RUNNER-UP: Jimmie Johnson |
| POLE WINNER: Tony Stewart (Finished 32nd) |
| LAPS: 334 |
| MILES: 501 |
| QUALIFYING RECORD: Brian Vickers, 2006 (196.235 m.p.h.) |
| RACE RECORD: Carl Edwards, 2005 (151.055 m.p.h.) |
| TOTAL PURSE: $7,094,253 (2010 figures) |
| PAYOUTS: 1st Place - $502,075; 2nd Place - $359,678; 3rd Place - $277,981 |
| 2010 Finish |
| Finish | Driver | Start | Finish | Driver | Start |
| 1 | Denny Hamlin | 29 | 6 | Mark Martin | 30 |
| 2 | Jimmie Johnson | 4 | 7 | Kevin Harvick | 19 |
| 3 | Kyle Busch | 7 | 8 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | 9 |
| 4 | Kurt Busch | 11 | 9 | Martin Truex Jr | 14 |
| 5 | Kasey Kahne | 5 | 10 | Greg Biffle | 3 |
| 2010 Samsung Mobile 500 Facts and Figures |
| AVERAGE SPEED: 146.230 m.p.h. |
| TIME OF RACE: 3 hours, 25 minutes, 34 seconds |
| MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.152 second |
| CAUTION FLAGS: 7 for 32 laps |
| LEAD CHANGES: 29 among 12 drivers |
| POLE WINNER: Tony Stewart (191.327 m.p.h.) |
| Past Samsung Mobile 500 Winners (Starting Position) Car -- Speed |
| 2010 -- Denny Hamlin (29th) -- Toyota -- 146.230 m.p.h. |
| 2009 -- Jeff Gordon (2nd) -- Chevrolet -- 146.372 m.p.h. |
| 2008 -- Carl Edwards (2nd) -- Ford -- 144.814 m.p.h. |
| 2007 -- Jeff Burton (2nd) -- Chevrolet -- 143.359 m.p.h. |
| 2006 -- Kasey Kahne (1st) -- Dodge -- 137.943 m.p.h. |
| 2005 -- Greg Biffle (5th) -- Ford -- 130.055 m.p.h. |
| 2004 -- Elliott Sadler (19th) Ford -- 138.845 m.p.h. |
| 2003 -- Ryan Newman (3rd) -- Dodge -- 134.517 m.p.h. |
| 2002 -- Matt Kenseth (31st) -- Ford -- 142.431 m.p.h. |
| 2001 -- Dale Jarrett (3rd) -- Ford -- 141.804 m.p.h. |
| 2000 -- Dale Earnhardt Jr (4th) -- Chevrolet -- 131.152 m.p.h. |
| 1999 -- Terry Labonte (4th) -- Chevrolet -- 144.276 m.p.h. |
| 1998 -- Mark Martin (7th) -- Ford -- 136.771 m.p.h. |
| 1997 -- Jeff Burton (5th) -- Ford -- 125.111 m.p.h. |
| NOTE: Previously called Interstate Batteries 500 (1997), Texas 500 (1998, |
| 2000-01), Primestar 500 (1999), Samsung/Radio Shack 500 (2002-06), |
| Samsung 500 (2007-09). |
| Past Samsung Mobile 500 Pole Winners (Finish) |
| 2010 -- Denny Hamlin -- 29th |
| 2009 -- David Reutimann -- 11th |
| 2008 -- Dale Earnhardt Jr -- 12th |
| 2007 -- None -- Weather |
| 2006 -- Kasey Kahne -- 1st |
| 2005 -- Ryan Newman -- 16th |
| 2004 -- Bobby Labonte -- 25th |
| 2003 -- Bobby Labonte -- 37th |
| 2002 -- Bill Elliott -- 9th |
| 2001 -- Dale Earnhardt Jr -- 8th |
| 2000 -- Terry Labonte -- 8th |
| 1999 -- Kenny Irwin Jr -- 15th |
| 1998 -- Jeremy Mayfield -- 23rd |
| 1997 -- None -- Weather |
| Last Race Results |
| RACE: Goody's Fast Relief 500 (April 3rd) |
| SITE: Martinsville Speedway -- Martinsville, Virginia |
| MILES: 263 |
| LAPS: 500 |
| WINNER: Kevin Harvick |
| RUNNER-UP: Dale Earnhardt Jr |
| THIRD: Kyle Busch |
| FOURTH: Juan Pablo Montoya |
| FIFTH: Jeff Gordon |
| POLE WINNER: Jamie McMurray (Finished 7th) |
| TIME OF RACE: 3 hours, 32 minutes, 41 seconds |
| AVERAGE SPEED: 74.195 m.p.h. |
| MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.727 second |
| CAUTION FLAGS: 11 for 72 laps |
| LAP LEADERS: J. McMurray 1-31; K. Kahne 32; R. Newman 33-34; D. Hamlin 35-54; |
| J. Johnson 55-77; Kyle Busch 78-107; D. Hamlin 108; J. Johnson |
| 109-123; D. Hamlin 124-133; C. Bowyer 134-176; D. Hamlin 177; J. |
| Johnson 178-204; D. Hamlin 205; C. Bowyer 206-250; J. Gordon |
| 251-256; C. Bowyer 257-259; D. Hamlin 260-314; Kyle Busch |
| 315-320; J. Gordon 321-324; R. Newman 325; A. Allmendinger |
| 326-331; C. Edwards 332-334; K. Harvick 335; Kyle Busch 336-352; |
| D. Hamlin 353; Kyle Busch 354-364; J. Gordon 365-391; Kyle Busch |
| 392-466; K. Harvick 467; Kyle Busch 468-479; D. Earnhardt Jr. |
| 480-496; K. Harvick 497-500. |
| Samsung Mobile 500 Entry List |
| Car | Driver, Hometown | Car/Name |
| 00 | David Reutimann (Zephyrhills, FL) | Toyota/Aaron's Dream Machine |
| 1 | Jamie McMurray (Joplin, MO) | Chevrolet/Bass Pro Shops |
| 2 | Brad Keselowski (Rochester Hills, MI) | Dodge/Miller Lite |
| 4 | Kasey Kahne (Enumclaw, WA) | Toyota/Red Bull |
| 5 | Mark Martin (Batesville, AR) | Chevrolet/GoDaddy.com |
| 6 | David Ragan (Unadilla, GA) | Ford/UPS Freight |
| 7 | Robby Gordon (Orange, CA) | Dodge/Speed Energy |
| 09 | Landon Cassill (Cedar Rapids, IA) | Chevrolet/Security Benefits |
| 9 | Marcos Ambrose (Launceston, Australia) | Ford/Stanley |
| 11 * | Denny Hamlin (Chesterfield, VA) | Toyota/FedEx Office |
| 13 | Casey Mears (Bakersfield, CA) | Toyota/GEICO |
| 14 | Tony Stewart (Columbus, IN) | Chevrolet/Mobil 1 |
| 16 | Greg Biffle (Vancouver, WA) | Ford/3M |
| 17 | Matt Kenseth (Cambridge, WI) | Ford/Crown Royal Black |
| 18 | Kyle Busch (Las Vegas, NV) | Toyota/Interstate Batteries |
| 20 | Joey Logano (Middletown, CT) | Toyota/Home Depot |
| 21 | Trevor Bayne (Knoxville, TN) | Ford/Motorcraft/Quick Lane |
| 22 | Kurt Busch (Las Vegas, NV) | Dodge/Shell/Pennzoil |
| 24 | Jeff Gordon (Vallejo, CA) | Chevrolet/DuPont |
| 27 | Paul Menard (Eau Claire, WI) | Chevrolet/Menards/Quaker State |
| 29 | Kevin Harvick (Bakersfield, CA) | Chevrolet/Budweiser |
| 31 | Jeff Burton (South Boston, VA) | Chevrolet/Caterpillar |
| 32 | Terry Labonte (Corpus Christi, TX) | Ford/VA Mortgage Center |
| 33 | Clint Bowyer (Emporia, KS) | Chevrolet/Cheerios/Hamb. Helper |
| 34 | David Gilliland (Riverside, CA) | Ford/Gander Mountain |
| 36 | Dave Blaney (Hartford, OH) | Chevrolet/Accell Construction |
| 37 | Tony Raines (LaPorte, IN) | Ford/TBA |
| 38 | Travis Kvapil (Janesville, WI) | Ford/Long John Silver's |
| 39 | Ryan Newman (South Bend, IN) | Chevrolet/U.S. Army |
| 42 | Juan Pablo Montoya (Bogota, Colombia) | Chevrolet/Target |
| 43 | A.J. Allmendinger (Los Gatos, CA) | Ford/Valvoline |
| 46 | J.J. Yeley (Phoenix, AZ) | Chevrolet/Red Line Oil |
| 47 | Bobby Labonte (Corpus Christi, TX) | Toyota/Bush's Baked Beans |
| 48 | Jimmie Johnson (El Cajon, CA) | Chevrolet/Lowe's/Kobalt Tools |
| 56 | Martin Truex Jr. (Mayetta, NJ) | Toyota/NAPA |
| 60 | Todd Bodine (Chemung, NY) | Toyota/Big Red |
| 66 | Michael McDowell (Glendale, AZ) | Toyota/HP Racing LLC |
| 71 | Andy Lally (Northport, NY) | Ford/Eco-Fuel Saver |
| 78 | Regan Smith (Cato, NY) | Chevrolet/farmamerican.org |
| 83 | Brian Vickers (Thomasville, NC) | Toyota/Red Bull |
| 87 | Joe Nemechek (Lakeland, FL) | Toyota/NEMCO Motorsports |
| 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Kannapolis, NC) | Chevrolet/Amp Energy/Nat'l Guard |
| 95 | David Starr (Houston, TX) | Ford/WRL General Cont. |
| 99 | Carl Edwards (Columbia, MO) | Ford/Scotts |
| Leading Contenders (Finish the last nine years) |
| Driver | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Denny Hamlin | --- | --- | --- | --- | 4th | 9th | 5th | 12th | Won |
| Jimmie Johnson | 6th | 8th | 9th | 3rd | 11th | 38th | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd |
| Kyle Busch | --- | --- | --- | 21st | 15th | 37th | 3rd | 18th | 3rd |
| Kurt Busch | 23rd | 9th | 6th | 7th | 34th | 11th | 23rd | 8th | 4th |
| Kasey Kahne | --- | --- | 2nd | 35th | Won | 20th | 25th | 19th | 5th |
| Mark Martin | 3rd | 5th | 17th | 20th | 9th | 3rd | 8th | 6th | 6th |
| Kevin Harvick | 25th | 15th | 13th | 13th | 5th | 29th | 11th | 27th | 7th |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr | 42nd | 2nd | 4th | 9th | 12th | 36th | 12th | 20th | 8th |
| Martin Truex Jr | --- | --- | --- | --- | 8th | 7th | 36th | 25th | 9th |
| Greg Biffle | --- | 28th | 31st | Won | 42nd | 6th | 39th | 3rd | 10th |
| Ryan Newman | 40th | Won | 39th | 16th | 40th | 32nd | 4th | 15th | 11th |
| Jeff Burton | 39th | 20th | 27th | 12th | 6th | Won | 6th | 9th | 12th |
| Brad Keselowski | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 23rd | 14th |
| Matt Kenseth | Won | 6th | 16th | 18th | 2nd | 2nd | 9th | 5th | 20th |
| Joey Logano | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 30th | 28th |
| Jamie McMurray | --- | 10th | 10th | 2nd | 37th | 5th | 14th | 38th | 30th |
| Jeff Gordon | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | 15th | 22nd | 4th | 43rd | Won | 31st |
| Tony Stewart | 5th | 34th | 8th | 31st | 3rd | 25th | 7th | 4th | 32nd |
| Carl Edwards | --- | --- | --- | 19th | 36th | 12th | Won | 10th | 33rd |
| Juan Pablo Montoya | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 8th | 19th | 7th | 34th |
| Paul Menard | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 15th | 17th | 13th | 35th |
| Clint Bowyer | --- | --- | --- | --- | 19th | 16th | 10th | 22nd | 36th |
| David Reutimann | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 41st | 11th | 37th |
| Brian Vickers | --- | --- | 12th | 34th | 43rd | 14th | 16th | 16th | 38th |
| Mover of the Week |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr - Started in the 26th position and finished 2nd |
| Sports Network Selections |
| Pick to Win - Carl Edwards |
| Darkhorse - Greg Biffle |
| Last Week's Pick to Win (Jimmie Johnson) - Finished 11th |
| Last Week's Darkhorse (Clint Bowyer) - Finished 9th |
| NOTES: |
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Starting from the 29th position, Denny Hamlin finagled his way to the top
with just 12 laps remaining and hung on to clip Jimmie Johnson by less than a
second for his 10th career Sprint Cup title.
2009 winner Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart dominated most of the race, as Gordon
led for 124 laps and pole sitter Stewart 74, but it was Hamlin, who nineteen
days earlier underwent surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his
left knee, came out on top.
Rain delayed until Monday, Hamlin took the lead for the first time when he
stormed past Jeff Burton just after the last restart with 12 laps remaining.
He then held off a furious charge from Jimmie Johnson in the final laps for
the second of eight wins last season.
Jeff Gordon was finally able to scratch Texas Motor Speedway off his bucket
list, as he raced to victory in 2009. It took 17 tries, but Gordon was able to
cross the finish line first, as he held off Jimmie Johnson for his 82nd career
victory. Although currently 12th on the 2011 points list, Gordon added to his
win total earlier this year in Phoenix.
After three lackluster finishes in this race, Carl Edwards dominated the
Samsung 500 in 2008, as he led three times for a race-high 123 laps for his
10th career checkered flag. Edwards regained the lead on lap 233 and led the
rest of the way to defeat Jimmie Johnson by less than a second. Pole sitter
Dale Earnhardt Jr placed 12th. Edwards posted nine wins that year and now owns
19 career Sprint Cup titles.
In 2007, Jeff Burton overtook Matt Kenseth on the final lap to record his 19th
career Sprint Cup title. Burton, who started second on the grid, led only one
lap, as he edge Kenseth by 0.410 of a second. Jeff Gordon, who started on the
front row, led for most of the race, leading 173 laps, but finished fourth.
Only five of the 43 cars failed to finish the race, including Dale Earnhardt
Jr, who led for 96 laps, but placed 36th due to engine problems. With the win,
Burton became the first and only multiple champion of this race.
When pole sitter Kasey Kahne raced to victory in 2006, he outdistanced Matt
Kenseth for his third career Sprint Cup title. In all, Kahne led five times
for 63 laps, including the final 37 as he posted a 5.229 seconds win over
Kenseth. Tony Stewart, who placed third, led twice for a race-high 99 laps.
Jimmie Johnson had his string of four straight top-10's at this race snapped,
as he finished 11th. Kahne still remains as the lone pole sitter to ever win
at TMS.
In 2005, Greg Biffle overtook Casey Mears with just 24 laps remaining to take
the lead for the seventh and final time, as he crossed the finish line over
three seconds ahead of Jamie McMurray, collecting his second win of that
season and fifth of his "Cup" career. Mears, who started in the 32nd position,
finished fourth, while pole sitter Ryan Newman finished 16th.
Construction on Texas Motor Speedway began in 1995, with the original
configuration calling for an unusual dual banking system that had 24 degrees
of banking for stock cars and eight degrees for open-wheel cars. The first
NASCAR race at Texas was a NASCAR Nationwide Series event on April 5, 1997.
The first Sprint Cup race at Texas was held the following day. In 1998, Turn 4
at Texas was reshaped to ease the transition from the turns to the front
straightaway. A second renovation started after the 1998 race which eliminated
the dual banking and gave the track its current configuration. In all, there
have been 20 Sprint Cup Series races at Texas Motor Speedway, one per season
from 1997 through 2004 and two races per year since 2005.
When Matt Kenseth started in the 31st position in 2002, it was the lowest
starting position of a race winner at Texas. Jack Roush has posted seven
victories at Texas, more than any other car owner. Carl Edwards has won three
of those races (2005, 2008 spring and fall). 14 of the previous 20 races at
TMS have been won from the top-10 positions, 11 of which have come from the
top-5. When Hamlin doubled in 2010, he won from the 29th position in the
spring and he started from the 30th spot in the fall.
Jeff Burton will become the ninth driver to start 900 NASCAR national series
races on Sunday. The breakdown thus far: 589 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series,
306 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, four in the NASCAR Camping World Truck
Series. If Kyle Busch leads 117 laps this weekend, he will reach 20,000 in his
NASCAR national series career. He can reach the milestone in the NASCAR
Nationwide race on Friday, which is scheduled for 200 laps.
The next Sprint Cup Series race is the April 17th running of the Aaron's 499
at Talladega Superspeedway, as Kevin Harvick defends his title.
04/05 17:06:46 ET
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As of April 5, 2011, at 05:07 PM ET
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