Texas

Texas Motor Speedway

Track Length: 1.5 miles
Race Length: 501 Miles
First Race: April 6, 1997 – Interstate Batteries 500
Banking: 24° (Corners); 5° (Dogleg); 5° (Backstretch)
Lengths: 2,250 feet (Frontstretch); 1,330 feet (Backstretch)
Seating: 159,585

Track History

Mailing Address
P.O. Box 500
Fort Worth, TX 76101

History
There’s an old adage about the Lone Star State: “Everything is bigger in Texas.” When the NASCAR Cup Series teams arrived at Bruton Smith’s Texas Motor Speedway, a first glance gave them the idea that the racing would be similar to sister track, Lowe’s Motor Speedway. After all, both tracks have a double dog-leg frontstretch, two short chutes that connect on both sides of the start/finish line straightaway and wide 24-degree banked turns.

The teams soon found out that Texas Motor Speedway was, in fact, quite different. The turns were longer than the Lowe’s facility and that allowed the cars to carry more speed through the corners. Thus, the chassis setups and gearing used at Lowe’s would not be useful at Texas and the tires were subjected to more wear.

The inaugural event was plagued by rain – some three days worth. Because Texas Motor Speedway was new to the schedule, qualifying was abandoned so that the teams could get more practice on the tricky track. The field was set by owner points.