Nextel Cup: Texas track's second date is big all over
It took nine years and a lawsuit to get it, but Texas Motor Speedway is finally ready to put on the second NASCAR Nextel Cup race it coveted for so long.
The Dickies 500, the eighth race in the 10-race Chase for the championship, is set for Sunday. More than 200,000 spectators are expected for what could be a pivotal race in the championship.
The track on the north edge of Fort Worth also has put up a purse of more than $6.8 million, easily the biggest payoff in the Chase.
"NASCAR fans have waited nine long years for this race and there is a tremendous buzz going on about it," track president Eddie Gossage said. "The first camper showed up 17 days prior to the race."
When Bruton Smith and his Speedway Motorsports Inc. company decided to build the huge, luxurious Texas track, they got their first Cup event by buying half of the now-defunct North Wilkesboro, N.C., track and moving one of its dates to Texas.
The other North Wilkesboro date went to New Hampshire International Speedway.
From the beginning, though, Smith insisted that NASCAR's then-chairman, Bill France Jr., had promised him a second date. France insisted he had not made such a promise.
Finally, Francis Ferko, a shareholder in SMI, filed suit against NASCAR, contending the sanctioning organization breached agreements by not awarding a separate date to Texas. The suit, which Smith has repeatedly said he had nothing to do with, was eventually settled in May 2004.
Now, the second Texas race is here, and it is one of the most anticipated debut events in years.
"Perhaps the long wait makes it sweeter for all the fans," Gossage said.
•There have been nine different winners in nine previous races on the 1.5-mile Texas oval. Among them are current Chase contenders Greg Biffle, who won in April, Ryan Newman (2003), Matt Kenseth (2002) and Mark Martin (1998).
QBs call on Labonte
Two-time NASCAR champion Terry Labonte was introduced Thursday as the first driver for the new Hall of Fame Racing team, owned by former Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman.
Labonte, a native of Corpus Christi, Texas, will run the 2006 season-opening Daytona 500 and four more races before Tony Raines takes over.
Skinner tops qualifying
Mike Skinner tied a recrod with his third consecutive Craftsman Truck Series pole, clocking an average lap speed of 182.593 miles per hour at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth speedway. Bill Lester will start on the outside of the front row for today's Chevrolet Silverado 350.
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