2008 Samsung 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 7 of 36 in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season | |||
 Map of the track | |||
| Date | April 6, 2008 | ||
| Location | Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.4 km) | ||
| Distance | 339 laps, 508.5 mi (818.351 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 334 laps, 501 mi (806.281 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures reaching up to 81 °F (27 °C); wind speeds up to 15.9 miles per hour (25.6 km/h)[1] | ||
| Average speed | 144.814 miles per hour (233.056 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Time | 28.344 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Carl Edwards | Roush Fenway Racing | |
| Laps | 123 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 99 |
Carl Edwards |
Roush Fenway Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | Fox Broadcasting Company | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds | ||
The 2008 Samsung 500 was the seventh race for the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and run on Sunday, April 6 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The race was broadcast on television by Fox starting at 1:30 PM US EDT, and broadcast via radio and Sirius Satellite Radio on the Performance Racing Network beginning at 1 PM US EDT.
Summary
Richard Childress Racing announced plans to add a fourth Sprint Cup team in 2009, with sponsorship from General Mills, coming over from Petty Enterprises on the #33 Chevrolet, and Clint Bowyer was subsequently announced as the driver. On a related note for Petty Enterprises, Chad McCumbee replaced Kyle Petty in the #45 Dodge ride this week, however for the second straight race, the #45 car failed to qualify.
BAM Racing will skip both this week's race and the following race at Phoenix as their transition to Toyota has been taller than they thought.
Qualifying
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won his first pole as a member of Hendrick Motorsports, with a speed of just under 191 mph. However, the major story to come out of this was the spectacular crash of Michael McDowell into Turn One during his second qualifying lap in the Aaron's #00 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing, plowing head-first into the SAFER barrier, causing his car to barrel-roll 8 times with fire coming from the engine compartment, yet escaping without injury, but because his primary car was destroyed, he was forced into the rear of the field in a backup.
Failed to qualify: Burney Lamar (#08), Dario Franchitti (#40), Chad McCumbee (#45).
Race
The race was won by Carl Edwards. Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin would round out the "top five" while Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer would be the remaining finishers in the "top ten" finishing order.[2]
References
- ↑ "2008 Samsung 500 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Archived from the original on 2013-06-21. Retrieved 2013-06-17.
- ↑ "2008 Samsung 500 finishing order information". Racing Reference. Archived from the original on 2013-06-21. Retrieved 2013-06-17.