The Frontstretch Newsletter: Christopher Bell Fastest in Truck Practice, XFINITY Announcements Made
Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Nov. 4, 2016
What to Watch: Friday
by The Frontstretch Staff
Records and facts
In last year's AAA Texas 500, Brad Keselowski dominated the race, leading 312 of the 334 laps. However, Jimmie Johnson ran him down and passed him with four laps to go and stole his third straight win at Texas. Keselowski had to settle for second, followed by Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.
Jimmie Johnson is the all-time leader in triumphs at Texas Motor Speedway with six career victories, including three of the last four visits. Carl Edwards has three career wins. Six separate drivers (Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and the retired Jeff Burton) have two wins. Ten more drivers have a win a piece.
Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 1.5-mile quad-oval, 334 laps (501 miles)
Banking: 24 degrees
Frontstretch: 2,250 ft., banked 5 degrees
Backstretch: 1,330 ft., banked 5 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 128,655
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace Car Speed: 55 mph
Opened: 1997
Website: http://www.texasmotorspeedway.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/texasmotorspeedway
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TXMotorSpeedway
Pre-Race Schedule:
Practice No. 1: Friday, November 4, 12:30 - 1:55 p.m. on NBCSN
Qualifying: Friday, November 4, 6:30 p.m. on NBC Sports App/Live Extra
Practice No. 2: Saturday, November 5, 10:30 - 11:25 a.m. on CNBC
Happy Hour: Saturday, November 5, 1:30 - 2:25 p.m. on NBCSN
*Note: Qualifying will air via tape-delay on NBCSN at 10:30 p.m. on Friday night.
Say What?!
"The surface at Texas is pretty rough which is a good thing for our cars because you have a lot more tire fall off. We’re down to the final few races and I’m going to race hard and if I have the chance to win, I want to make that happen." - Kasey Kahne
"I’d say at Texas you need to have a well-balanced car. It’s a very fast racetrack, but I think as you look at the bumps and the way that the asphalt has worn out, cars drive pretty tough and become more difficult to drive as you get later in the run. So you need to have a well-balanced racecar to try to make as much speed as possible." - Kevin Harvick
"Texas has been one of those bread-and-butter racetracks for us where we expect to go there and get a good, solid finish. The way we can improve and get better with the Haas Automation/Monster Energy Chevy is to be able to do better on like a two-tire sequence. Right now, our car wants four tires every time we pit and, when we do two tires, our handling really goes off. That limits our ability to spend less time on pit road. We lose some spots on pit road by putting four tires on each time, but we can work our way back up. We just can’t hold onto those positions later in the race when we are trying to do two tires. That is one thing we are going to try to work on in practice." - Kurt Busch
"We always have a little extra pressure at the home track to run well. It's my home track as well as Love's Travel Stops' home track with them being up the road in Oklahoma City. The first race was pretty early in the year, so it's been a long time since we were last there. I feel like we made some great gains throughout the season at Front Row Motorsports. We've been able to pick up our mile-and-a-half program quite a bit. We haven't always gotten the results from it, but we've definitely seen the speed from it. And I just feel like Texas Motor Speedway is a place where we can apply some of what we've learned and be better this time around.
"One thing that's different about Texas is it's a bumpy racetrack. There's a lot of character in it. But it's not the high-frequency, jarring bumps. It's more of just dips in the racetrack. They're more gradual, rolling bumps in the track that make it unique for a place that's as worn out as it is." - Chris Buescher
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at ashl...@mail.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TODAY ON FRONTSTRETCH:
by the Frontstretch Staff
Q: The 1998 Texas 500 race weekend had some infrastructure issues (in addition to a bunch of wrecks and multiple drivers sent to the hospital). What happened?
Thursday's Answer:
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!