Samsung Mobile 500

Samsung Mobile 500
Venue Texas Motor Speedway
Sponsor Samsung
First race 1997
Distance 501 miles (806.281 km)
Laps 334
Previous names Interstate Batteries 500 (1997)

Texas 500 (1998)

Primestar 500 (1999)

DirecTV 500 (2000)

Harrah's 500 (2001)

Samsung / RadioShack 500 (2002-2006)

Samsung 500 (2007-2009)

The Samsung Mobile 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 10 different winners in the first ten 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. Now starting in 2011, the race will become a Saturday night event, whereas before it was always a Sunday afternoon race. This was done since the night race at Phoenix was moved to February and became a day race. The 2011 race was run on April 9, 2011 and it was the first scheduled night race of the year.

Contents

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 Team Manufacturer Race Distance Race Time Average Speed
(mph)
Laps Miles (km)
1997 April 6 Jeff Burton Roush Racing Ford 334 501 (806.281) 4:00:16 125.111
1998 April 5 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 334 501 (806.281) 3:39:47 136.771
1999 March 28 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 334 501 (806.281) 3:28:21 144.276
2000 April 2 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Chevrolet 334 501 (806.281) 3:49:12 131.152
2001 April 1 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford 334 501 (806.281) 3:31:59 141.804
2002 April 8* Matt Kenseth Roush Racing Ford 334 501 (806.281) 3:31:01 142.453
2003 March 30 Ryan Newman Penske Racing Dodge 334 501 (806.281) 3:43:28 134.517
2004 April 4 Elliott Sadler Robert Yates Racing Ford 334 501 (806.281) 3:36:30 138.845
2005 April 17 Greg Biffle Roush Racing Ford 334 501 (806.281) 3:51:08 130.055
2006 April 9 Kasey Kahne Evernham Motorsports Dodge 334 501 (806.281) 3:37:55 137.943
2007 April 15 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 334 501 (806.281) 3:39:41 143.359
2008 April 6 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 339* 508.5 (818.351) 3:30:41 144.814
2009 April 5 Jeff Gordon* Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 334 501 (806.281) 3:25:22 146.372
2010 April 19* Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 334 501 (806.281) 3:25:34 146.230
2011* April 9 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 334 501 (806.281) 3:21:26 149.231

Manufacturer Wins

Rank Manufacturer Wins
1 Ford 8
2 Chevrolet 4
3 Dodge 2
4 Toyota 1

Television broadcasters

Year Network Lap-by-lap Color commentator(s)
2011 Fox Mike Joy Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2010 Fox Mike Joy Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2009 Fox Mike Joy Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2008 Fox Mike Joy Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2007 Fox Mike Joy Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2006 Fox Mike Joy Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2005 Fox Mike Joy Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2004 Fox Mike Joy Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2003 Fox Mike Joy Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2002 FX Mike Joy Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2001 Fox Mike Joy Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
2000 CBS Mike Joy Ned Jarrett and Buddy Baker
1999 CBS Mike Joy Ned Jarrett and Buddy Baker
1998 CBS Mike Joy Ned Jarrett and Buddy Baker
1997 CBS Ken Squier Ned Jarrett and Buddy Baker

Notes

External links