2012 Samsung Mobile 500

2012 Samsung Mobile 500
Race details[1][2][3]
Race 7 of 36 in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Date April 14, 2012 (2012-04-14)
Location Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas
Course Permanent racing facility
1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Distance 334 laps, 501 mi (806.3 km)
Weather Scattered thunderstorms; wind out of the south at 21 miles per hour (34 km/h).
Average speed 160.577 miles per hour (258.424 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Michael Waltrip Racing
Time 28.366
Most laps led
Driver Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports
Laps 156
Winner
No. 16 Greg Biffle RFK Racing
Television in the United States
Network Fox Broadcasting Company
Announcers Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds

The 2012 Samsung Mobile 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on April 14, 2012, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Contested over 334 laps, it was the seventh race of the 2012 season. Greg Biffle of RFK Racing took his first win of the season, while Jimmie Johnson finished second and Mark Martin finished third.

Report

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Background

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Texas Motor Speedway, the race track where the race was held.

Texas Motor Speedway, is one of ten intermediate to hold NASCAR races; the others are Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Homestead Miami Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.[4] The standard track is a four-turn quad-oval track that is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long.[5] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is five degrees. The back stretch, opposite of the front, also has a five degree banking.[5] The racetrack has seats for 191,122 spectators.[5]

Before the race, Greg Biffle led the Drivers' Championship with 226 points, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. stood in second with 220. Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. followed in the next four positions with 214 points. Denny Hamlin with 210 points, was eight points ahead of Ryan Newman and 18 ahead of Clint Bowyer in eighth and ninth. Jimmie Johnson, with 189, was ten points ahead of Carl Edwards in eleventh. Brad Keselowski completed the first twelve positions with 175 points, 51 points behind Biffle.[6] In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 42 points, nine points ahead of Ford. Toyota, with 30 points, was three points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.[7] Kenseth was the race's defending race winner after winning it in 2011.[8]

Entry list

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(R) - Denotes rookie driver.

(i) - Denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

No. Driver Team Manufacturer Sponsor
1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats
2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge Miller Lite
5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Farmers Insurance
9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Stanley Tools / DeWalt
10 David Reutimann Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet Accell Construction
11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota FedEx Office / March of Dimes
13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Ford GEICO
14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy
15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 5-hour Energy
16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 3M Filtrete
17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford Best Buy
18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Interstate Batteries
19 Mike Bliss (i) Humphrey Smith Racing Toyota Humphrey Smith Racing
20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Dollar General
21 Trevor Bayne (i) Wood Brothers Racing Ford Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center
22 A. J. Allmendinger Penske Racing Dodge Shell / Pennzoil
23 Scott Riggs R3 Motorsports Chevrolet North Texas Pipe / Embassy Suites
24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet DuPont
26 Josh Wise (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford MDS Transport
27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Quaker State / Menards
29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Budweiser
30 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Toyota Inception Motorsports
31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Caterpillar
32 Reed Sorenson (i) FAS Lane Racing Ford Jani-King
33 Tony Raines Circle Sport Chevrolet Precon Marine
34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford Scorpion Window Films
36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet Jimmie Johnson's Anything with an Engine
38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford ModSpace
39 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet U.S. Army
42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Target
43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Smithfield
47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota Bush's Beans / Tom Thumb
48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Lowe's / Kobalt Tools
49 J. J. Yeley Robinson-Blakeney Racing Toyota JPO Absorbents
51 Kurt Busch Phoenix Racing Chevrolet Phoenix Racing
55 Mark Martin Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota Aaron's 2011 Best of the Rest
56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota NAPA Auto Parts
74 Stacy Compton Turn One Racing Chevrolet Turn One Racing
78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet Furniture Row / Denver Mattress
83 Landon Cassill BK Racing Toyota Burger King / Dr Pepper
87 Joe Nemechek (i) NEMCO Motorsports Toyota AM/FM Energy Pellet & Wood Stoves
88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Diet Mountain Dew / 7-Eleven
93 Travis Kvapil BK Racing Toyota Dr Pepper
98 Michael McDowell Phil Parsons Racing Ford Curb Records
99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fastenal
Official entry list

Practice and qualifying

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Martin Truex Jr., shown here in 2007, won the pole position for Michael Waltrip Racing

Two practice sessions were held before the race; the first on April 12, 2012 which lasted 120 minutes. The second and final practice session was held on the following day and lasted 90 minutes.[9] Mark Martin was quickest with a time of 28.507 seconds in the first session, less than four-hundredths of a second faster than Biffle.[10] Harvick was just off Biffle's pace, followed by A. J. Allmendinger, Regan Smith, and Marcos Ambrose. Kenseth was seventh, still within two-tenths of a second of Martin's time.[10] In the second and final practice session, Trevor Bayne was quickest with a time of 29.246 seconds.[11] Biffle followed in the second position, ahead of Kenseth, Bowyer, and Allmendinger.[11] Harvick was sixth after posting a time of 29.355 seconds, while Hamlin and Kurt Busch followed in seventh and eighth.[11] Truex Jr. and Joey Logano rounded out the first ten positions.[11]

Forty-six cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three raced because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure.[12] Truex Jr. clinched his seventh pole position during his career, with a time of 28.366 seconds.[13][14] He was joined on the front row of the grid by Kenseth.[13] Biffle qualified third, Martin took fourth, and Kasey Kahne started fifth.[13] Newman, Ambrose, Keselowski, Jamie McMurray, and Johnson rounded out the first ten positions.[13] The drivers who failed to qualify for the race were David Stremme, Joe Nemechek and Stacy Compton.[13] Once the qualifying session concluded, Truex Jr. said, "That's our main goal. This team's good enough. We can get to Victory Lane. We're going to do it soon. I feel good about this team. I'm just having so much fun coming to the race track and driving these cars. We're going to make them proud here pretty quick."[15]


Notes

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  • The last 234 laps went green, setting a NASCAR record for the longest consecutive green flag run on an intermediate track.

References

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  1. ^ "Sprint Cup Series Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  2. ^ Brown, Brian (April 11, 2012). "The Samsung Mobile 500". Rotoworld.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  3. ^ "Truex on Texas Sprint Cup pole". InRacingNews.com. April 14, 2012. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  4. ^ "Tracks". NASCAR. Archived from the original on January 1, 2013. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  5. ^ a b c "Track Facts". Texas Motor Speedway. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  6. ^ "Pre-race Driver's Championship Classification". NASCAR. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  7. ^ "Manufactures' Championship Classification". Jayski.com. Archived from the original on November 30, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  8. ^ "2011 Samsung Mobile 500". racing-reference.com. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  9. ^ "Jayski'sŽ NASCAR Silly Season Site – Sprint Cup Race Info / Rundown Page". Jayski.com. Archived from the original on April 14, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  10. ^ a b "Practice One Timing and Scoring". NASCAR. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  11. ^ a b c d "Practice 2 Timing and Scoring". NASCAR. April 13, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  12. ^ "Qualifying Entry List". NASCAR. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  13. ^ a b c d e "Race Official Lineup". NASCAR. April 13, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  14. ^ Hembree, Mike (April 13, 2012). "CUP: Truex Jr. Leads 190-Mph Charge". Speedtv.com. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  15. ^ "Truex streaks to his first pole of 2012 at Texas". NASCAR Wire Service. NASCAR. April 13, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.


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