| Race details[1][2][3] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 7 of 36 in the2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
 | |||
| Date | April 13, 2013 (2013-04-13) | ||
| Location | Texas Motor Speedway inFort Worth,Texas | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1.5 miles (2.4 km) | ||
| Distance | 334 laps, 501 mi (806.281 km) | ||
| Weather | Overcast with a temperature around 76 °F (24 °C); wind out of the E at 7 miles per hour (11 km/h). | ||
| Average speed | 144.751 mph (232.954 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Joe Gibbs Racing | ||
| Time | 27.509 seconds | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Laps | 171 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | Fox | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy,Darrell Waltrip,Larry McReynolds | ||
| Nielsen ratings | 3.8/7 (6.269 million viewers) | ||
The2013 NRA 500 was aNASCARSprint Cup Series stock carrace held on April 13, 2013, atTexas Motor Speedway inFort Worth, Texas,United States. Contested over 334 laps on the 1.5–mile (2.4 km) quad-oval, it was the seventh race of the2013 Sprint Cup Series championship.Kyle Busch ofJoe Gibbs Racing won the race, his second win of the 2013 season and first at Texas, whileMartin Truex Jr. finished second.Carl Edwards,Greg Biffle, andJoey Logano rounded out the top five.
By also winning the Friday night Nationwide Series race, Busch completed his second weekend sweep of 2013, having also accomplished this at Fontana. A Texas man committed suicide by putting a gun to his head and shooting himself after an argument with another fan near an infield.
Texas Motor Speedway is a four-turnquad-oval track that is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long.[4] 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.[4] The racetrack has a permanent capacity of 138,122 spectators, and an infield capacity of 53,000.[4]Greg Biffle is the defending race winner after winning the event in2012.[5]
Before the race,Jimmie Johnson was leading theDrivers' Championship with 231 points, whileBrad Keselowski stood in second with 225 points.Dale Earnhardt Jr. followed in the third position, 17 points ahead ofKyle Busch and 20 ahead ofKasey Kahne in fourth and fifth. Biffle, with 199, was seven points ahead ofCarl Edwards and 20 ahead ofClint Bowyer, asPaul Menard was seven points ahead ofMatt Kenseth and twelve ahead ofJoey Logano in tenth and eleventh.Jeff Gordon completed the first twelve positions with 164 points.[6]
(R) - Denotes rookie driver.
(i) - Denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
The race's sponsorship by theNational Rifle Association of America (NRA) proved to be controversial prior to the race. Although race sponsorships are negotiated with the track owner, not NASCAR itself, the sanctioning organization has final approval and did not object to the sponsorship.[7][8][9][10] Both NASCAR's acceptance of this sponsorship, and its timing, has been controversial, and offensive to gun control activists.[11][12][13][14] Because of the sponsorship, SenatorChris Murphy askedRupert Murdoch, whoseNews Corporation ownsFox Sports, which was scheduled to air the race, to not broadcast it.[15] Fox broadcast the race as scheduled, not least because failure to do so would have been a breach of the network's contract with NASCAR. However, Fox only used the official sponsored name once per hour (the minimum mandated by NASCAR) and otherwise referred to it generically (in this case as the "Texas 500"), the network's usual practice when a race's title sponsor does not buy ads during the race broadcast; the NRA reportedly did not seek to purchase any such ads.[7]Duck Commander replaced NRA as the sponsor for the following year's race, while NRA would return as a race sponsor in 2016 for theBristol Night Race in August at Speedway's ownedBristol Motor Speedway.[16]
Two practice sessions were held in preparation for the race; both on Friday, April 12, 2013. The first session and second session lasted for 90 minutes each.[17] During the first practice session,Martin Truex Jr., for theMichael Waltrip Racing team, was quickest ahead of Earnhardt Jr. in second and Johnson in third.[18]Jamie McMurray was scored fourth, andKevin Harvick managed fifth.[18] Edwards,Jeff Burton, Kenseth, Biffle, andCasey Mears rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session.[18]
Marcos Ambrose was quickest in the second and final practice session, ahead of Kyle Busch in second, andAric Almirola in third.[19]Kurt Busch was fourth quickest, and Truex Jr. took fifth.[19]Juan Pablo Montoya, Burton, Biffle,Paul Menard, and Keselowski followed in the top ten.[19]
During qualifying, forty-five cars were entered, meaning only two cars were not able to start because of NASCAR'squalifying procedure.[20] Kyle Busch clinched his secondpole position of the season, with a record-setting time of 27.509 seconds.[21] After his qualifying run, Busch commented, "Not too shabby of a day. ... I feel like we have a good piece for the race. It felt that good. Sometimes you feel that good and it's not very fast."[3] He was joined on the front row of thegrid by his brother, Kurt Busch.[21] Almirola qualified third, Ambrose took fourth, and Truex Jr. started fifth.[21] Earnhardt, Johnson,Jeff Gordon, Edwards, and Montoya completed the first ten positions on the grid.[21] The two drivers who failed to qualify for the race wereScott Speed andScott Riggs.[21]
Three teams were issued penalties after the race. The No. 56Michael Waltrip Racing car ofMartin Truex Jr. was fined six driver points and Michael Waltrip was penalized six owner points for the front car height failing to meet NASCAR specifications. Crew chief Chad Johnston was fined $25,000 and placed on probation until June 5. MWR did not appeal the penalty. The No. 2 and No. 22Penske Racing cars were considered more controversial. The teams were fined for unapproved suspension parts. Penske Racing appealed the decision, but the only reduction involved the suspension from seven races to three (two plus the Sprint All-Star Race).
The penalties for the No. 2 car:
The penalties for the No. 22 car:
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