RICHMOND DATA

TRACK RECORDS

Most Wins: 13 – Richard Petty
Most Poles: 8 – Bobby Allison, Richard Petty
Most Top Fives: 34 – Richard Petty
Most Top 10s: 41 – Richard Petty
Most Lead Changes: 25 – 2 times,
most recently 3/3/96
Fewest Lead Changes: 2 – 7 times,
most recently 2/23/75
Most Leaders: 12 – 4 times, most recently 5/6/07
Fewest Leaders: 2 – 6 times, most recently 2/23/75
Most Cautions: 15 – 2 times, most recently 5/2/09
Fewest Cautions: 1 – 3 times, most recently 3/1/70
Most Caution Laps: 123 – 2 times, most recently 9/8/74
Fewest Caution Laps: 6 – 6/5/60
Most on the Lead Lap: 32 – 9/7/08
Fewest on the Lead Lap: 1 – 22 times,
most recently 10/12/75
Most Running at the Finish: 43 – 9/7/08
Fewest Running at the Finish: 1 – 4/19/53
Most Laps Led by a Race Winner: 488 – 9/13/70
Fewest Laps Led by a Race Winner: 4 – 2/23/86
Most Wins by a Manufacturer: 34 – Chevrolet
Closest Margin of Victory: 0.051 Seconds – 9/12/98
Greatest Margin of Victory: 6.184 Seconds – 9/7/02
Margins of Victory under electronic timing since 1993.

STARTING POSITIONS OF RACE WINNERS

Races won from Pos. No. 1...............22
Races won from Pos. No. 2...............13
Races won from Pos. No. 3...............16
Races won from Pos. No. 4.................8
Races won from Pos. No. 5.................4
Races won from Pos. No. 6.................7
Races won from Pos. No. 7...............10
Races won from Pos. No. 8.................2
Races won from Pos. No. 9.................2
Races won from Pos. No. 10...............3
Races won from Pos. No. 11...............1
Races won from Pos. No. 12...............2
Races won from Pos. No. 13...............2
Races won from Pos. No. 14...............3
Races won from Pos. No. 16...............3
Races won from Pos. No. 19...............1
Races won from Pos. No. 20...............1
Races won from Pos. No. 21...............1
Races won from Pos. No. 22...............2
Races won from Pos. No. 23...............1
Races won from Pos. No. 24...............1
Races won from Pos. No. 25...............2
Races won from Pos. No. 28...............1
Races won from Pos. No. 31...............1

RACES WON FROM POLE (22 of 109)
Buddy Baker.................................1956
Speedy Thompson ........................1958
Cotton Owens...............................1959
Richard Petty ...........1961, 1967, 1968,
.................................1970, 1974, 1975
Junior Johnson.............................1965
David Pearson ....................1966, 1969
Bobby Allison ......................1974, 1982
Darrell Waltrip...........1978, 1980, 1984
Donnie Allison...............................1988
Bill Elliott ......................................1992
Kasey Kahne.................................2005
Jimmie Johnson ...........................2007
Kyle Busch ...................................2010

Richmond International Raceway:

Richmond International Raceway:


History
· Originally known as the Atlantic Rural Exposition Fairgrounds, Richmond International Raceway held its first race in 1946 as a half-mile dirt track.
· The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was April 19, 1953.
· The spring 1964 race was run on a Tuesday night under temporary lighting.
· The track name changed to Virginia State Fairgrounds in 1967.
· The track surface was changed from dirt to asphalt between races in 1968.
· The track name changed to Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway in 1969.
· Track was re-measured to a half-mile in April 1969; then to .542-mile in September.
· The track was rebuilt as a three-quarters-mile D-shaped oval following the Feb. 21, 1988 race.
· The first race under permanent lights was Sept. 7, 1991.
· The first season with both races as night races was 1999.

Notebook
There have been 109 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Richmond since the track opened in 1953.
The current 400-lap race length was established on the .542-mile measurement in March 1976.
Buck Baker won the pole in 1953.
Lee Petty won the first race in April 1953.
There have been 48 different pole winners, led by Bobby Allison and Richard Petty (eight).
Jeff Gordon (five) leads active drivers with five poles.
47 different drivers have posted victories at Richmond, led by Richard Petty (13).
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Terry Labonte (three) lead active race winners.
Car owner Richard Petty has won 15 races at Richmond, more than any other team.
63 of 109 races have been won from the top five starting positions, including 22 from the pole.
The last driver to win from the pole was Kyle Busch in May 2010.
13 of the past 16 races have been won from the top 10, but three of the last six have been won from a starting position outside the top 10.
\The est back in the field a race winner has started was 31st, by Clint Bowyer in 2008’s spring race.
Kyle Petty became the first third-generation NASCAR race winner when he won his first race, at Richmond, on Feb. 23, 1986. Richard Petty posted his first Richmond victory in 1961 and Lee won the very first Richmond race in 1953.
Three active drivers have a finish inside the top 10: Kyle Busch (5.2), Denny Hamlin (8.0) and Clint Bowyer (9.8).
Five of the last six races have had a margin of victory less than one second.

CAMPINGWORLD NASHVILLE FACTS-DATA

TRACK RECORDS

Most Wins: 3 – Ron Hornaday Jr.
Most Poles: 3 – Mike Skinner, Jack Sprague
Most Top Fives: 5 – Dennis Setzer
Most Top 10s: 7 – Rick Crawford, Ron Hornaday Jr.,
Jack Sprague
Most Lead Changes: 17 – 9/17/05
Fewest Lead Changes: 3 – 7/21/01
Most Leaders: 8 – 5 times, most recently 9/13/08
Fewest Leaders: 3 – 2 times, most recently 9/18/10
Most Cautions: 12 – 9/16/06
Fewest Cautions: 3 – 9/19/09
Most Caution Laps: 67 – 9/18/04
Fewest Caution Laps: 14 – 9/19/09
Most Finishers on Lead Lap: 22 – 9/17/05
Fewest Finishers on Lead Lap: 8 – 2 times, most
recently 7/21/01
Most Running at Finish: 32 – 2 times, most
recently 9/15/07
Fewest Running at Finish: 18 – 9/8/96
Most Laps Led by a Race Winner: 183 – 7/21/01
Fewest Laps Led by a Race Winner: 1 – 9/8/96
Most Wins by a Manufacturer: 6 – Chevrolet
Closest Margin of Victory: 0.189 seconds – 7/20/02
Greatest Margin of Victory: 4.211 seconds – 9/15/07
Margins of Victory under electronic timing since 1993.

GOSSAGE RELISHES ROLE ON NASCAR HALL OF FAME

GOSSAGE RELISHES ROLE ON NASCAR HALL OF FAME


NOMINATING COMMITTEE, VOTING PANEL

FORT WORTH, Texas (April 20, 2011) – NASCAR announced the list of 25 nominees Tuesday for the 2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction class and Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage was delighted to be part of the process.
Gossage is on the 21-person nominating committee that consists of representatives from NASCAR, the NASCAR Hall of Fame and track owners/promoters from both major facilities and historic short tracks. The group voted for 20 nominees to return from last year’s group and added five first timers in Bobby Isaac, Leonard Wood, Cotton Owens, Les Richter and H. Clay Earles.
Gossage will now focus on the next phase of the Hall of Fame process as he also is a member of the 54-person voting panel that will determine that third induction class that will be enshrined in January 2012.
“It is an honor to be one of a small number of people on both the nominating committee and the voting panel for the NASCAR Hall of Fame,” Gossage said. “There are people on these panels that I have always looked up to like Bud Moore, Junior Johnson, Harry Gant, Mike Joy and Jim France. The charge before these groups is to properly represent the sport in recognizing the people that have built NASCAR into one of the largest professional sports in the world. It is a privilege to have been in this sport for more than 30 years and I take the obligation very seriously.”
Joining Isaac, Wood, Owens, Richter and Earles on the nomination ballot are Buck Baker, Red Byron, Richard Childress, Jerry Cook, Richie Evans, Tim Flock, Rick Hendrick, Jack Ingram, Dale Inman, Fred Lorenzen, Raymond Parks, Benny Parsons, Fireball Roberts, T. Wayne Robertson, Herb Thomas, Curtis Turner, Darrell Waltrip, Joe Weatherly, Glen Wood and Cale Yarborough.
The Class of 2012 will be announced June 14 live on SPEED from the NASCAR Hall of Fame, located in Charlotte, N.C.

Talladega Superspeedway:

Talladega Superspeedway:


History
· Construction began on what was then known as the Alabama International Motor Speedway on May 23, 1968.
· The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was held on Sept. 14, 1969.
· The name changed to Talladega Superspeedway in 1989.
· Fourth repaving completed on Sept. 19, 2006.

Notebook
· There have been 83 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Talladega Superspeedway since the track opened in 1969; two a year every year except the inaugural season, which had just one.
· Richard Brickhouse won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
· Bobby Isaac won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup pole in September 1969. Isaac won the first three poles there.
· 35 different drivers have won poles. Bill Elliott leads all drivers with eight poles.
· 41 different drivers have posted victories, led by Dale Earnhardt Sr. (10). Eighteen drivers have won more than once.
· Jeff Gordon leads all other active drivers in victories, with six. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is second among active drivers in victories with five.
· Richard Childress Racing has won 11 races, more than any other organization. Hendrick Motorsports, with 10 wins, can match that mark this weekend.
· 32 of 83 races have been won from a top-two starting position, including 13 from the pole; 23 have been won from a starting position outside the top 10. The most recent driver to win from the pole was Jeff Gordon in 2007 (spring).
· The furthest back in the field a race winner started was 36th, by Jeff Gordon in 2000.
· Mark Martin’s pace in the 1997 spring race set an all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup record for the fastest race ever. He won the caution-free race with an average speed of 188.354 mph and covered the 500-mile distance in two hours, 39 minutes and 18 seconds.
· Last season’s spring race set the all-time and track records for lead changes (88) and lap leaders (29). The previous highs were 75 lead changes (set on May 6, 1984) and 28 lap leaders (set on Oct. 5, 2008). Both previous records also were set at Talladega.
· Dale Earnhardt Jr. had four consecutive victories (October 2001 through April 2003), the most ever by a driver there. Buddy Baker (three – May 1975 through May 1976) is the only other driver to win more than two consecutive races there.
· Since the inception of electronic scoring in 1993, every race that has ended under green has had a margin of victory under half a second.

PHOENIX NEW TRACK

PHOENIX – Race fans will get to experience four days of on-track action and entertainment this November at Phoenix International Raceway when the Kobalt Tools 500 returns as the semi-final race in NASCAR’s playoffs – the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The fall event weekend at PIR, November 10-13, will be the first event held on the facility’s new, reconfigured racing surface.

In February, PIR President Bryan R. Sperber announced details related to the NASCAR facility’s first major track pavement project since 1990. Construction – including the removal and reuse of the facility’s old racing surface and subsequent installation of a new surface to go with a series of changes designed to promote side-by-side racing – began in March and will continue up to September.
“Our goal for the track pavement project was to not radically change a venue that’s celebrated by fans and drivers alike, but to utilize new technology to give us the best opportunity to create not just a new Phoenix International Raceway, but an improved PIR,” said Sperber. “We’re pleased with the progress made on the project thus far and are eager to present the new PIR during NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup in November.”
Aside from the installation of a new, four-layer asphalt and aggregate surface, PIR’s track pavement project includes the following adjustments:
- Widen the front stretch from 52 to 62 feet
- Reconfigure pit road with the installation of concrete pit stalls
- Push the dog-leg curve between Turn 2 and Turn 3 out 95 feet
- Tighten the turn radius of the dog-leg from 800 to 500 feet
- Implement variable banking to ensure the immediate use of two racing grooves, including 10-
11 degree banking between Turn 1 and Turn 2; 10-11 degree banking in the apex of the dog-leg; and 8-9 degree banking in Turn 4

TALLADEGA DATA

TRACK RECORDS

Most Wins: 10 – Dale Earnhardt
Most Poles: 8 – Bill Elliott
Most Top Fives: 23 – Dale Earnhardt
Most Top 10s: 27 – Dale Earnhardt
Most Lead Changes: 88 – 4/25/10
Fewest Lead Changes: 13 – 5/6/73
Most Leaders: 29 – 4/25/10
Fewest Leaders: 4 – 5/16/71
Most Cautions: 11 – 4/25/04
Fewest Cautions: 0 – 3 times, most recently 10/6/02
Most Caution Laps: 62 – 5/7/72
Fewest Caution Laps: 0 – 3 times, most recently 10/6/02
Most on the Lead Lap: 31 – 10/31/10
Fewest on the Lead Lap: 1 – 2 times,
most recently 5/6/79
Most Running at the Finish: 40 – 4/22/01
Fewest Running at the Finish: 14 – 7/27/86
Most Laps Led by a Race Winner: 153 – 8/23/70
Fewest Laps Led by a Race Winner: 1 – 2 times,
most recently 4/26/09
Most Wins by a Manufacturer: 36 – Chevrolet
Closest Margin of Victory: 0.005 Seconds – 7/25/93
Greatest Margin of Victory: 0.388 Seconds – 10/21/01
Margins of Victory under electronic timing since 1993.

STARTING POSITIONS OF RACE WINNERS

Races won from Pos. No. 1...............13
Races won from Pos. No. 2...............19
Races won from Pos. No. 3.................6
Races won from Pos. No. 4.................7
Races won from Pos. No. 5.................4
Races won from Pos. No. 6.................3
Races won from Pos. No. 7.................2
Races won from Pos. No. 8.................1
Races won from Pos. No. 9.................3
Races won from Pos. No. 10...............2
Races won from Pos. No. 11...............3
Races won from Pos. No. 12...............2
Races won from Pos. No. 13...............3
Races won from Pos. No. 14...............1
Races won from Pos. No. 15...............1
Races won from Pos. No. 16...............2
Races won from Pos. No. 17...............1
Races won from Pos. No. 18...............2
Races won from Pos. No. 20...............1
Races won from Pos. No. 22...............2
Races won from Pos. No. 24...............1
Races won from Pos. No. 27...............1
Races won from Pos. No. 34...............2
Races won from Pos. No. 36...............1
RACES WON FROM POLE (13 of 83)
Donnie Allison...............................1971
David Pearson ..............................1974
Buddy Baker.................................1975
Dave Marcis .................................1976
Cale Yarborough..................1978, 1984
Bobby Allison................................1981
Bill Elliott ............................1985, 1987
Bobby Labonte .............................1998
Dale Earnhardt..............................1990
Sterling Marlin ..............................1995
Jeff Gordon...................................2007

TEXAS TRACK RECORDS

TRACK RECORDS
Most Wins: 3 – Carl Edwards
Most Poles: 2 – 4 drivers
Most Top Fives: 8 – Matt Kenseth
Most Top 10s: 12 –Mark Martin
Most Lead Changes: 33 – 11/7/10
Fewest Lead Changes: 13 – 2 times,
most recently 11/8/09
Most Leaders: 17 – 4/2/00
Fewest Leaders: 4 – 11/8/09
Most Cautions: 12 – 3 times, most recently 11/4/07
Fewest Cautions: 5 – 2 times, most recently 11/8/09
Most Caution Laps: 73 – 4/6/97
Fewest Caution Laps: 26 – 2 times,
most recently 11/8/09
Most on the Lead Lap: 25 – 11/6/05
Fewest on the Lead Lap: 6 – 11/8/09
Most Running at the Finish: 40 – 2 times,
most recently 11/2/08
Fewest Running at the Finish: 29 – 3 times,
most recently 4/19/10
Most Laps Led by a Race Winner: 278 –11/5/06
Fewest Laps Led by a Race Winner: 1 – 4/15/07
Most Wins by a Manufacturer: 9 – Ford
Closest Margin of Victory: 0.028 Seconds – 4/4/04
Greatest Margin of Victory: 25.686 Seconds – 11/8/09
Margins of Victory under electronic timing since 1993.

Texas Motor Speedway

Texas Motor Speedway:
History
· Construction began in 1995.
· The first NASCAR race was a NASCAR Nationwide Series event on April 5, 1997.
· The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was on April 6, 1997.

Notebook
· There have been 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Texas Motor Speedway, one per season from 1997 through 2004 and two races per year since 2005.
· Four drivers have competed in all 20 Texas races: Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin.
· Jeremy Mayfield was the first pole winner, in 1998. Qualifying for the inaugural race in 1997 was canceled.
· Jeff Burton won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
· 14 drivers have scored poles, led by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bobby Labonte, Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon with two.
· 16 drivers have won races, led by Carl Edwards, with three. Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton each have two wins.
· 14 of 20 races have been won from a top-10 starting position. Only one has been won from the pole (Kasey Kahne in 2006).
· Matt Kenseth started 31st en route to his victory at Texas in 2002, the deepest in the field that a race winner has started.
· Both Jeff Burton (1999) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2000) scored their first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Texas, and 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne made his first series start at Texas (11/07/10).
· Martin Truex Jr. scored his first series pole at Texas (11/04/07).
· Three of the last four races have had a margin of victory under one second.
· Denny Hamlin (8.8) and Matt Kenseth (9.3) are the only two active drivers to average a top-10 finish.
· Roush Fenway Racing leads all owners in victories, with seven. Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports have three wins each.
· There has been two season sweeps, by Carl Edwards in 2008 and Denny Hamlin in 2010.

Texas Motor Speedway Data
Race No.: 7 of 36 (04-09-11)
Track Size: 1.5 miles
Race Length: 501 miles
· Banking/corners: 24 degrees
· Banking/straights: 5 degrees
· Frontstretch: 2,250 feet
· Backstretch: 1,330 feet

Driver Rating at TexasTony Stewart 104.5
Matt Kenseth 101.9
Greg Biffle 99.4
Jimmie Johnson 99.3
Denny Hamlin 99.2
Kyle Busch 97.6
Carl Edwards 96.9
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 93.0
Jeff Gordon 91.6
Kurt Busch 91Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2010 races (12 total) at Texas.

Qualifying/Race Data
2010 pole winner: Tony Stewart (191.327 mph, 28.224 seconds)
2010 race winner: Denny Hamlin, 146.230 mph, 04-19-10)
Track qualifying record: Brian Vickers (196.235 mph, 27.518 seconds, 11-03-06)
Track race record: Carl Edwards (151.055 mph, 11-06-05)