| Race details[1][2][3] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 7 of 36 in the2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
 | |||
| Date | April 14, 2012 (2012-04-14) | ||
| Location | Texas Motor Speedway inFort Worth, Texas | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1.5 miles (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 andLarry McReynolds | ||
The2012 Samsung Mobile 500 was aNASCARSprint Cup Seriesstock car race held on April 14, 2012, atTexas Motor Speedway inFort Worth,Texas. Contested over 334 laps, it was the seventh race of the2012 season.Greg Biffle ofRFK Racing took his first win of the season, whileJimmie Johnson finished second andMark Martin finished third.
Texas Motor Speedway, is one of tenintermediate to holdNASCAR races; the others areAtlanta Motor Speedway,Kansas Speedway,Chicagoland Speedway,Darlington Raceway,Homestead Miami Speedway,New Hampshire Motor Speedway,Kentucky Speedway,Las Vegas Motor Speedway, andCharlotte Motor Speedway.[4] The standard track is a four-turnquad-oval track that is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long.[5] The track's turns arebanked at twenty-fourdegrees, 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 theDrivers' Championship with 226 points, andDale Earnhardt Jr. stood in second with 220.Tony Stewart,Matt Kenseth,Kevin Harvick andMartin Truex Jr. followed in the next four positions with 214 points.Denny Hamlin with 210 points, was eight points ahead ofRyan Newman and 18 ahead ofClint Bowyer in eighth and ninth.Jimmie Johnson, with 189, was ten points ahead ofCarl Edwards in eleventh.Brad Keselowski completed the first twelve positions with 175 points, 51 points behind Biffle.[6] In theManufacturers' Championship,Chevrolet was leading with 42 points, nine points ahead ofFord.Toyota, with 30 points, was three points ahead ofDodge in the battle for third.[7] Kenseth was the race's defending race winner after winning it in2011.[8]
(R) - Denotes rookie driver.
(i) - Denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
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 byA. J. Allmendinger,Regan Smith, andMarcos 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 andKurt Busch followed in seventh and eighth.[11] Truex Jr. andJoey Logano rounded out the first ten positions.[11]
Forty-six cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three raced because of NASCAR'squalifying procedure.[12] Truex Jr. clinched his seventhpole position during his career, with a time of 28.366 seconds.[13][14] He was joined on the front row of thegrid by Kenseth.[13] Biffle qualified third, Martin took fourth, andKasey 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 wereDavid Stremme,Joe Nemechek andStacy 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]
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