O'REILLY AUTO PARTS CHALLENGE -TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Nationwide Series Race #32 of 34 for the 2011 season
Last Race - Charlotte
Next Race - Phoenix
Bayne wins at Texas: #16-Trevor Bayne won the O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway for his 1st Nationwide Series win. #18-Denny Hamlin, filling in for Kyle Busch, finished second. The rest of the top 10: #60-Carl Edwards, #33-Clint Bowyer, #22-Brad Keselowski, #6-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., #12-Sam Hornish, Jr., #20-Joey Logano, #2-Elliott Sadler, and #32-Brian Vickers. There were 5 cautions for 20 laps and 11 lead changes among 7 leaders. The announced attendance was 69,500. Complete results are posted on the Texas race results page.(11-5-2011)
Texas Race Fast Facts:
Trevor Bayne won the 7th Annual O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge, his first victory in 77 NASCAR Nationwide Series races. His previous best finish was 3rd on multiple occasions most recently at Charlotte several weeks ago. He won the 2011 Daytona 500.
This is his first victory and 13th top-10 finish in 2011.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in five races at Texas Motor Speedway.
Denny Hamlin(i) (second) posted his fifth top-10 finish in eight races at Texas Motor Speedway. It is his fourth top-10 finish in 2011.
Carl Edwards(i) (third) posted his ninth top-10 finish in 14 races at Texas Motor Speedway.
Blake Koch (22nd) was the highest finishing rookie.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. leads the point standings by 17 points over Elliott Sadler. He entered the race with a lead of 15.
(NASCAR Statistics)(11-5-2011)
Lucky Dogs - Who got a lap back on each caution at Texas and their finish
Caution 1: none, no one on track a lap or more down
Caution 2: #31-Allgaier, 14th
Caution 3: #32-Vickers, 10th
Caution 4: #7-Patrick, 11th
Caution 5: #09-Wallace, 13th
(NASCAR PR)(11-5-2011)
Driver standings following Texas:
1) #6-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 1138
2) #2-Elliott Sadler 1121 -17
3) #31-Justin Allgaier 1039 -99
4) #88-Aric Almirola 1039 -99
5) #82-Reed Sorenson 1034 -104
6) #38-Jason Leffler 978 -160
7) #09-Kenny Wallace 925 -213
8) #11-Brian Scott 909 -229
9) #66-Steve Wallace 896 -242
10) #62-Michael Annett 884 -254
Complete standings are posted on the driver standings page.(11-5-2011)
Owner Standings following Texas are posted. The top 30 in owners points who have attempted all races are locked in at Phoenix.(11-5-2011)
Sadler on pole at Texas: #2-Elliott Sadler won the Coors Light Pole for the O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway with a speed of 186.348mph. #18-Kyle Busch will start second. The rest of the top 10: #20-Joey Logano, #6-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., #33-Clint Bowyer, #22-Brad Keselowski, #11-Brian Scott, #60-Carl Edwards, #12-Sam Hornish, Jr., and #16-Trevor Bayne. Did Not Qualify: #42-Erik Darnell, #49-Mark Green, #71-Matt Carter, #41-Johnny Chapman, #48-Dennis Setzer. The starting lineup is posted on the Texas starting lineup page.(11-4-2011)
UPDATE: With Kyle Busch being parked for the weekend, Denny Hamlin will drive the #18. He will go to the back fo the field for the start of the race.(11-5-2011)
Texas Qualifying Notes:
Elliott Sadler won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 7th Annual O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge with a lap of 28.978 seconds, 186.348 mph.
This is his 11th pole in 162 NASCAR Nationwide Series races.
This is his fifth pole and 23rd top-10 start in 2011.
This is his second pole in eight races at Texas Motor Speedway. His previous pole came in 1998.
Kyle Busch(i) (second) posted his 16th top-10 start of 2011 and his 12th in 14 races at Texas Motor Speedway.
Joey Logano(i) (third) posted his sixth top-10 start at Texas Motor Speedway. It is his 17th in 20 races this season.
Blake Koch (13th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
(NASCAR Statistics)(11-4-2011)
Leffler fastest in happy hour: #38-Jason Leffler was quickest during happy hour for the O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge with a speed of 183.592mph. He was followed by: #88-Aric Almirola, #33-CLint Bowyer, #16-Trevor Bayne, #6-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., #7-Danica Patrick, #22-Brad Keselowski, #60-Carl Edwards, #12-Sam Hornish, Jr., and #18-Kyle Busch. Complete results are posted on the Texas practice results page.(11-4-2011)
Sadler fastest in first practice: #2-Elliott Sadler was fastest during opening practice at Texas Motor Speedway with a speed of 186.845mph. #33-Clint Bowyer was second, followed by: #12-Sam Hornish, Jr., #60-Carl Edwards, #16-Trevor Bayne, #38-Jason Leffler, #6-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., #30-James Buescher, #32-Brian Vickers, and #20-Joey Logano. Complete results are posted on the Texas practice results page.(11-4-2011)
Entry List:There are 48 cars on the preliminary entry list for Saturday's O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway. Some notes:
Scott Riggs is in the #03 for R3;
Tim Andrews will drive the #04 for Go Green;
David Ragan will be in the #08 for Randy Hill Racing;
Brian Vickers returns to the #32 for Turner Motorsports;
Joey Gase will drive the Go Green #39;
Jamie Dick will drive the #52 for Jimmy Means;
Reed Sorenson remains in the MacDonald Motorsports #82.(10-31-2011)
See the complete list on the Texas entry list page.
Thursday, November 3rd
12:30 PM NNS HAULERS ENTER
1:30 PM NNS REGISTRATION OPEN
2:00 PM NNS GARAGE OPEN
7:00 PM NNS GARAGE & REGISTRATION CLOSE
Friday, November 4th
7:00 AM NNS GARAGE & REGISTRATION OPENS
8:00 AM NNS ROOKIE & SPOTTER MEETINGS & RANDOM DRAWING
9:00 AM-10:15 AM NNS PRACTICE
10:40 AM-11:55 AM NNS FINAL PRACTICE
5:35 PM (6:35 PM/ET) NNS QUALIFYING (TWO LAPS, ALL POSITIONS)
6:00 PM NNS REGISTRATION CLOSES
7:00 PM NNS GARAGE CLOSES
Saturday, November 5th
8:00 AM NNS GARAGE & REGISTRATION OPENS
9:45 AM NNS DRIVER / CREW CHIEF MEETING (VICTORY THEATER )
11:15 AM NNS DRIVER INTRODUCTIONS
11:55 AM (12:55 PM) NNS RACE (200 LAPS, 300 MILES)
12:30 PM NNS REGISTRATION CLOSES
Danica Patrick Goes All In
She’s back, and this time for good. Danica Patrick is now a full-time NASCAR driver, competing in the final three 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series races as she prepares to run the entire series schedule for JR Motorsports in 2012. In addition, she’ll run a limited schedule in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Texas will be her 10th start this year and her first since Kanas where she finished 15th.
Patrick has posted one top five and three top 10s in her previous nine races, including a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas that put her in the record books as the highest-finishing female in any NASCAR national series race.
Patrick finished 22nd last year at Texas in her series track debut. Heading to the 1.5-mile speedway this weekend her pre-race Driver Rating is 51.6 and her Average Running Position is 29th.
When she gets to Phoenix in two weeks – her city of residence – she’ll be running her third series race at the 1-mile track, her most starts at any NASCAR track other than Daytona. Patrick finished 32nd at Phoenix and 19th at Homestead to close out the 2010 season.
Patrick continues to improve each time out, her season-to-date Driver Rating is 79.9 and average finish is 16.1 – both better than last season’s average finish of 28.0 and a Driver Rating of 51.7.
Championships Abound: Three-Race Showdown To Decide It All
Only three races are left for the top contenders in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver and owner championships to showcase their talents and seal the deal on the 2011 titles. The spectacle couldn’t get any bigger as the series heads to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. Four heavyweights and two significant bouts – driver standings leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. vs. second-place Elliott Sadler and owner standings leader Joe Gibbs Racing vs. second-place Roush Fenway Racing – headline the bill this weekend.
The scene has been set for an epic final three races.
Not since 2005 and the standoff between Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer has the driver championship been this close this late. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. holds a 15-point lead over second-place Elliott Sadler in the driver standings. Which Sadler has closed from a 22 point margin after Dover.
Stenhouse has made three starts at Texas posting an average finish of 16.0. His pre-race Driver Rating is 98.0. While Sadler has made seven starts at Texas posting an average finish of 15.3 and a pre-race Driver Rating of 87.0.
On the owner side, all-time series wins leader Kyle Busch returns to pilot the No. 18 and Joe Gibbs Racing is going for its record-breaking fourth consecutive series owner title and has a scant three-point lead over the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing team, led by 2007 series driver champion Carl Edwards. The No. 60 has gained 47 points on the No. 18 since being 50 points behind the leader following the August race at Bristol.
Busch had won five consecutive races at Texas before Edwards won this event last year. Edwards also won the spring event at Texas this season.
Kenny Wallace To Become All-Time Starts Leader In The NASCAR Nationwide Series
Kenny Wallace will break the NASCAR Nationwide Series all-time starts mark this week at Texas Motor Speedway with No. 520. Wallace will surpass his longtime friend Jason Keller (519 starts) for the all-time starts record.
Wallace is 13th on the all-time NASCAR national series combined starts list with 874 starts among NASCAR’s three national series – 519 NASCAR Nationwide; 344 NASCAR Sprint Cup and 11 NASCAR Camping World Truck. Wallace has made 15 series starts at Texas posting one top-10 finish.
“When I was growing up in St. Louis as a 12-year-old and you would have said, ‘Hey, Kenny, you’ll be racing in NASCAR until you’re 48 or 50,‘, that’s a dream,” Wallace said. “There have been a lot of bumps, but it’s been a dream life.”
NASCAR Nationwide Series Etc.
Currently Timmy Hill has a one-point edge over second-place Blake Koch in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year race. Ryan Truex is third, two points behind Hill, but has just one more race on his 2011 Joe Gibbs Racing schedule, next week at Phoenix. … The two Rusty Wallace Racing entries driven by Steve Wallace and Michael Annett as well as Kenny and Mike Wallace will honor the late Russ Wallace by displaying his name above their driver and passenger side doors. Russ, who passed away last weekend, was Rusty Wallace’s father and Steve Wallace’s grandfather. … Reed Sorenson will finish out the season with MacDonald Motorsports in the No. 82 Dodge. Sorenson currently is fifth in the driver standings and has run with MacDonald Motorsports since Kansas. … Brian Vickers, the 2003 series champion, will drive Sorenson’s former ride, the No. 32 Dollar General Chevrolet for Turner Motorsports at Texas, which is the home base for team owner Steve Turner. James Buescher, a native of Plano who is in the running for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship, will be in the No. 30 Chevrolet for Turner at Texas this weekend. … The No. 23 Chevrolet driven by Robert Richardson, Jr., a resident of nearby McKinney, will be sponsored by Tia Rosa's Tortillas, a division of the Bimbo Bakeries USA, with headquarters in Mexico. Takis, a product of Barcel, also a Hispanic-owned company, will adorn the car and show a different scheme than normal – black, blue, purple and red. … Texas serves as home base for sponsors for series drivers Blake Koch and Joey Logano. Koch’s DayStar Television Network sponsor is based in Bedford, while Logano’s GameStop sponsor is located in Grapevine. … David Ragan will drive the No. 08 Texas Tech University Ford this weekend for Randy Hill Racing.
Tire: Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials
Number of Tires:
Sprint Cup: Left-side -- 1,325, Right-side -- 1,325;
Nationwide: Left-side -- 525, Right-side -- 525
Set limits:
Nationwide: 5 sets for the weekend
Tire Codes:
Left-side -- D-4392; Right-side -- D-4410
Tire Circumference:
Left-side -- 87.1 in.; Right-side -- 88.4 in.
Technical Inspection Inflation:
Left Front -- 30 psi; Left Rear -- 30 psi;
Right Front -- 50 psi; Right Rear -- 47 psi
Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front -- 23 psi; Left Rear -- 21 psi;
Right Front -- 49 psi; Right Rear -- 45 psi
Notes: Teams in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series will run the same Goodyear tire codes at Texas this weekend . . . while teams in the Camping World Truck Series will run the same left-side tire code (D-4392) this week, they will run a different right-side code . . . Sprint Cup and Nationwide teams are on the same combination of left- and right-side tire codes they ran at Texas in April . . . teams in these two series ran this exact tire set-up at Chicagoland this season and Homestead last season . . . they will also race on this same tire combination at Homestead again in two weeks . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required run inner liners in all four tire positions at Texas . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.
