Samsung/Radio Shack 500 <p>Texas Motor Speedway hosts this week’s NASCAR events as the Samsung/ Radio Shack 500 will be the Winston Cup series’ seventh race of the season. This is the only race held at TMS each year, though that could change as track representatives have campaigned hard to NASCAR officials to add a second race at the state of the art facility. In essence, the entire Texas Motor Speedway might represent the future in NASCAR racing, as it holds over 150,000 spectators and offers luxury boxes, access, and other accommodations unmatched on the circuit. The racing here is also competitive and fast, with speeds reaching into the 190’s mph on the 24 degree banked 1-1/2 mile oval. In addition, since hosting its first Winston Cup event in 1997, the track has seen six different drivers capture the checkered flag.
This year’s Samsung/ Radio Shack 500 very well could see the first repeat winner at TMS though, as series point leader Matt Kenseth looks to defend his Texas win of a year ago. He is one of the two hottest drivers on the circuit, as his second place finish last week at Bristol was his fourth top five finish of the young season. Only Kurt Busch, the Bristol race winner, can come close to matching Kenseth’s early season success. Busch’s win was his second in a row at the Food City 500, and pulled him to within 138 points of the series lead. Tony Stewart hung on to third place despite a 26th place finish. The performance of the top two drivers last week highlighted an incredible week for the Roush Racing team, who rebounded well from weeks of engine frustrations to place four drivers in the top five. Aside from that effort, it was a fairly quiet week at Bristol, with a minor squabble between Jerry Nadeau and Ryan Newman’s Alltel Ford Team being the only noteworthy altercation at the normally controversial race.
Alongside Kenseth, Dale Jarrett and Bobby Labonte are also past Texas winners, and they lead the series with three top five finishes in this event. Jimmie Johnson has the best average finish, sixth, but he has only started one race here. The real surprise at TMS though is the performance of Terry Labonte, who has earned the nickname of “Texas Terry” with his history here. Starting in all six previous races, Bobby’s elder brother has won a race and averaged a seventh place finish overall. He also holds both the track race and qualifying records, those coming in ’99 & ’00 respectively. You’ll notice the conspicuous absence of Jeff Gordon’s name from the stat leaders at Texas, as prior to the past two years he had a well documented history of struggling here.
Its normally a wide open field at TMS, and with no clear cut favorite, the Samsung/ Radio Shack 500 should once again be exciting. The action heats up with qualifying on Friday, followed by happy hour practice and the Busch series event scheduled for Saturday. The NASCAR main event is slotted for 12:30 PM ET on Sunday. As always, prepare for all of racing action with the StatFox NASCAR FoxSheet! <p> <p>
Track Information
Track Name: Texas Motor Speedway
Location: Ft. Worth, Tex.
Track Type: LONG SPEEDWAY
Track Length: 1.5 miles
Track Layout: OVAL
Banking: 24 Degrees
Seating Capacity: 154861
Home Page: http://www.texasmotorspeedway.com
Track Weather Info: Texas Motor Speedway - Weather


Race Information
Race Name: Samsung/Radio Shack 500
Date, Time: 3/30/2003, 12:30 p.m.
Race Number: #7 of 37 races in the 2003 season
Track Name: Texas Motor Speedway
Race Distance: 501 miles, 334 laps
Past Race Averages
Average race finish time: 3:9:00
Average Speed: 136.92 MPH
Average # of cautions: 9 - 50 laps
Average # of lead changes: 21
Average # of drivers leading: 11
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Samsung/Radio Shack 500 - Recent Top Finishers
Year 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
2002 Matt Kenseth Jeff Gordon Mark Martin Ricky Rudd Tony Stewart
2001 Dale Jarrett Steve Park Johnny Benson Kurt Busch Jeff Gordon
2000 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Jeff Burton Bobby Labonte Rusty Wallace Kevin Lepage
1999 Terry Labonte Dale Jarrett Bobby Labonte Rusty Wallace Jeremy Mayfield
1998 Mark Martin Chad Little Robert Pressley Joe Nemechek Johnny Benson
1997 Jeff Burton Dale Jarrett Bobby Labonte Terry Labonte Ricky Rudd