 |
|
| Venue | Texas Motor Speedway |
| Corporate sponsor | Samsung |
| First race | 1997 |
| Distance | 501 miles (806.3 km) |
| Number of laps | 334 |
| Previous names | Interstate Batteries 500 (1997)
Texas 500 (1998) Primestar 500 (1999) DirecTV 500 (2000) Harrah's 500 (2001) |
The Samsung 500 is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas USA. Even though is advertised as a "500 mile" race, because TMS is a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) track, the actual distance is 501 miles (806.3 km). There were 12 different winners in the first dozen races, the longest such streak for any NASCAR track in the Cup Series. Jeff Burton, the winner of the first Cup race, broke that streak by getting his second Texas win in a last lap pass in 2007.
Grandfather Clause
Samsung sponsors the race, and RadioShack was previously a co-sponsor. The joint sponsorship was grandfathered in 2003 by NASCAR's grandfather clause when Nextel became a NASCAR sponsor, as they banned rival wireless sponsorships (Nextel uses Motorola exclusively); the ban was lifted after the 2005 merger of Sprint and Nextel because Sprint is sold at RadioShack, and Sprint offers Samsung products.
Past winners
| Year | Date | Driver | Car Make | Winner's Prize (USD) |
Distance (miles) |
Average Speed (mph) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interstate Batteries 500 | ||||||
| 1997 | April 6 |  Jeff Burton |
Ford | $354,350 | 501 | 125.111 |
| Texas 500 | ||||||
| 1998 | April 5 |  Mark Martin |
Ford | $356,850 | 501 | 136.771 |
| Primestar 500 | ||||||
| 1999 | March 28 |  Terry Labonte |
Chevrolet | $376,840 | 501 | 144.276 |
| DirecTV 500 | ||||||
| 2000 | April 2 |  Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Chevrolet | $374,675 | 501 | 131.152 |
| Harrah's 500 | ||||||
| 2001 | April 1 | Dale Jarrett |
Ford | $444,527 | 501 | 141.804 |
| Samsung / RadioShack 500 | ||||||
| 2002 | April 8 (1) |  Matt Kenseth |
Ford | $418,275 | 501 | 142.453 |
| 2003 | March 30 |  Ryan Newman |
Dodge | $406,500 | 501 | 134.517 |
| 2004 | April 4 | Elliot Sadler |
Ford | $507,733 | 501 | 138.845 |
| 2005 | April 17 |  Greg Biffle |
Ford | $522,250 | 501 | 130.055 |
| 2006 | April 9 | Kasey Kahne |
Dodge | $530,164 | 501 | 137.943 |
| Samsung 500 | ||||||
| 2007 | April 15 | Jeff Burton |
Chevrolet | $526,766 | 501 | 143.359 |
| 2008 | April 6 |  Carl Edwards |
Ford | $541,150 | 508.5 (2) | 144.814 |
| 2009 | April 5 |  Jeff Gordon |
Chevrolet | $541,874 | 501 | 146.372 |
(1) - Race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain.
(2) - Race extended to 339 laps / 508.5 miles due to Green-white-checker finish.
Manufacturer Wins
| Rank | Manufacturer | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford | 7 |
| 2 | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 3 | Dodge | 2 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
This motorsport-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
