• Race: Sunday, April 1, 2001 in Fort Worth, TX
  
  
• Texas in in Central time, all times listed here are Eastern Time(1 hour ahead)
  
  
• TV: Fox 1:00pm/et(pre-race at 12:30pm/et)
  
  
• Announcers: Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
  
  
• Pit Reporters: Dick Berggren, Matt Yocum, Steve Byrnes, Jeanie Zelesko
  
  
• Posted Awards/Purse: $5,048,203 (was $4,376,666 in 2000)
  
  
• Entry List: Entry List for the: Harrah's 500 from NOL
  
  
• 2000 Race Winner: Dale Earnhardt Jr, 131.152mph
  
  
• Track Race Record: Terry Labonte, Mar 1999, 144.276mph
  
  
• Track/Race Length: 1.5-mile quad oval, 334 laps, 501 miles
  
  
• Pit Road Speed: 45mph
  
  

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  Practice
  
  
• Practice: Friday, Mar 30th from 12:45 - 2:45pm/et
  
  
• Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, Mar 31st from 11:00am - 12:30pm/et, TV-FX tape delayed at 4:00pm/et
  
  

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  Qualifying
  
  
• Qualifying Draw: Friday, March 30th at 11:45am/et
  
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• Qualfying Order - Harrah's 500: at NASCAR Online or That's Racin'
  
  
• Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, Mar 30th at 4:00pm/et, TV-FSN(Fox Sports Net) and live via PRN radio/internet
  
  
• NASCAR.com will have live lap-by-lap coverage of Winston Cup qualifying via the web using it's Racecast feature
  
  
• Second-Round Qualifying: there is no longer a 2nd round of qualifying
  
  
• Track/Event Qualifying Record: Terry Labonte, Apr 2000, 192.137mph
  
  
• Last Year's Pole Sitter: Terry Labonte, 192.137mph
  
  
  
  

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• Track Specs:
  Degree of Banking: Turns: 24 degrees
  Straightaways: Banking: 5 degrees;
  Straights: Frontstraight - 2250 feet; Backstraight - 1330 feet
  
  
• Track Homepage: Texas Motor Speedway
  
  
• Scanner Frequencies: are linked on my Racing Links Page/ Scanners Section
  
  

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  Pole Winners at Texas
  
  2000 Terry Labonte, #5 Chevy, 192.137mph, finished 8th
  1999 Kenny Irwin Jr, #28 Ford, 190.154mph, finished 15th
  1998 Jeremy Mayfield, #12 Ford, 185.906mph, finished 23rd
  1997 none, rained out
  
  

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  Race Winners at Texas
  
  2000 Dale Earnhardt Jr, #8 Chevy, 131.152mph, started 4th
  1999 Terry Labonte, #5 Chevy, 144.276mph, started 4th
  1998 Mark Martin, #6 Ford, 136.771mph, started 7th
  1997 Jeff Burton, #99 Ford, 125.111mph, started 5th
  
  

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  RACE BONUS INFO

• The NASCAR Winston Cup Leader Bonus is $20,000 at Texas for leading the points and winning the race(Dale Jarrett last won the award, $50,000 at Darlington on Mar 18, 2001). The $360,000 annual award is paid at $10,000 per race to the point leader at the end of each event if he is also the winner. The award increases by $10,000 each week the it goes unclaimed. If the point leader is not the race winner at the end of the year, the balance of the award is distributed among the top-10 finisher in the point standings(3-25-2001)
  
  

IN-CAR AUDIO SITES

PREVIEW, FACT SHEETS and MISC News

• Texas Notes: the #66-Todd Bodine Ford has a different paint scheme this week, the Bluelight Special, it's dark blue on the rear with a lighter blue towards the front and a Bluelight logo on the hood. Bobby Labonte took teammate Tony Stewarts car out during practice on Friday, trying to sort out an ill handling car. #2 Miller Lite crew chief Robin Pemberton was not at the track Friday due to health reasons and is getting checked out in NC, he may return for the race on Sunday(fatigue is the reason story at NASCAR.com), JeffreyThousand will handle crew chief duties if Pemberton can't make it back. #43-John Andretti tagged the wall on his qualifying attempt but kept on his run and will use a provisional to make the field. Bill Elliott had a tire going down on his qualifying attempt and ended up with a provisional as did #2-Rusty Wallace who had an ill handling car and went up the track a bit on his run(heard from PRN radio coverage)(3-30-2001)
  
  
• Some Texas Facts: The top-five finishers in the 1997 Harrah's 500 all started from a top-10 starting position. Four of the top-five finishers in the 1998 Harrah's 500 started from a top-10 starting position. Only two of the top-five finishers in 1999 and 2000 started from the top 10. Bobby Labonte has finished third in three of his four races at Texas. Dale Jarrett has finished second in two of his four races at Texas. Rusty Wallace has finished fourth in the last two races at Texas.(NASCAR PR)(3-28-2001)
  
  
• That's Racin': Harrah's 500 Race Info
  
  
• CBS Sportsline: Harrah's 500 Preview
  
  
• Raceday Today - Harrah's 500(4-1-2001)
  
  
• Sporting News: This Week In NASCAR - Harrah's 500(3-26-2001)
  
  
• Yahoo: Harrah's 500 - Preview
  
  
• Crew Chief Club
  
  

• note: this is not to promote gambling but to offer readers odds and ideas on what the 'experts' think about the upcoming race and the Cup series season
  
  
• Don Best Sports - Harrah's 500 and the 2001 Winston Cup Championship(3-27-2001)
  
  
• Imperial Palace NASCAR Odds - Harrah's 500 and the 2001 Winston Cup(SportsFax News)(3-9-2001)
  
  
• NASCAR Odds - Early Odds for the Harrah's 500(3-30-2001)
  
  
• Stardust NASCAR Odds - Harrah's 500(WRAL)(3-30-2001)
  
  
• United Bet - Harrah's 500 Odds - click on Motorsports link(3-27-2001)
  
  

• Best Finishes of 2001: six drivers had their best finishes at Texas: #01-Leffler 17th; #4-Lepage 11th(in 2 races last week he was 15th); #10-Benson 3rd; #90-Sticklin 26th; #93-Blaney 6th; #97-Busch 4th. Two tied their season's best, #88-Jarrett of course for winning and #27-Wallace 25th(4-2-2001)
  
  
• DJ Wins at Texas: #88-Dale Jarrett won the Harrah's 500, after leading the most laps(122 to Dale Earnhardt Jr's 107). It is the 26th career win for Jarrett. Jarrett is the first repeat winner of the year. Jarrett increases his Winston Cup point lead over Jeff Gordon to 75 points. #1-Steve Park finished 2nd with #1-=Johnny Benson 3rd and rookie #97-Kurt Busch was 4th, his highest career finish. #18-Bobby Labonte, last year's champ, lost an engine and finished 42nd. #93-Dave Blaney had his best career finish of 6th. See unofficial results at NASCAR.com(4-1-2001)
  
  
• Rookies at Texas: where the six rookies started/finsihed in the Harrah's 500:
  #01-Leffler 187.110mph, starts 29th, finished 17th(best career finish)
  #14-Hornaday 187.585mph, starts 20th, finished 40th
  #19-Atwood 188.996mph, starts 10th(his best of 2001), finished 36th
  #29-Harvick 186.800mph, starts 33rd, finished 7th
  #96-Houston 188.877mph, starts 12th, finished 32nd
  #97-Busch 188.390mph, starts 16th, finished 4th(best career finish and first top five)
  (4-1-2001)
  
  
• Harrah's 500 Starting Lineup at Texas Motor Speedway(That's Racin')(3-31-2001)
  
  
• Happy Hour practice is over at Texas Motor Speedway for the Harrahs 500. From a Frontstretch Site Report: #10-Johnny Benson led Happy Hour practice with a fast lap of 186.677mph, followed by #8-Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at 186.117, 3rd was #24-Jeff Gordon at 186.079, #88-Dale Jarrett was 4th at 185.950 and #28-Ricky Rudd was 5th at 185.790. #22-Ward Burton hit the wall early in practice but his crew was able to repair his car to get back onto the track with about 30 minutes left in the session, actually NASCAR said the car was not damaged enough and told the team they could not use a backup(per Fox Happy Hour coverage). Burton ended up 38th fastest. #27-Kenny Wallace was the slowest car with a speed of 181.629 mph. See speeds at That's Racin': Saturday's `Happy Hour' speeds(3-31-2001)
  
  
• Best starts: a few drivers posted their best starting spot of the 2001 Cup season: #8-Earnhardt Jr starts 1st, #15-Waltrip 7th; #18-Labonte 2nd; #19-Atwood 10th; #21-Salder 11th(ties); #55-Hamilton 4th; #7-Mike Wallace 22nd; and #90-Stricklin 21st(Yates Engines now)(3-31-2001)
  
  
• Qualifying is over at Texas for the Harrah's 500. #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr wins the pole at Texas with a speed of 190.678mph(third pole of his career). Starting 2nd will be #18-Bobby Labonte with a speed of 190.463mph. Missing the race were #45-Kyle Petty(43rd in owners points) and #50-Rick Mast(45th). #4-Kevin Lepage who is out of provisionals and was last during practice Friday got the car in on speed with a lap of 186.703mph and will start 34th. Five drivers used their first provisionals this year including #2-Wallace, #40-Marlin and #9-Elliott. For more info see my Provisionals/Owners Points page(who else used provisionals and missed the field). See the results at That's Racin': Harrah's 500 qualifying results or at NASCAR.com: Harrah's 500 qualifying results or an unofficial lineup at Motorsports One(3-30-2001)
  
  
• Pole Progression for the Harrah's 500 at Texas:
  #93-Dave Blaney, went out 1st, 186.079mph, will start 43rd
  #44-Buckshot Jones, went out 2nd, 187.467mph, will start 24th
  #88-Dale Jarrett, went out 5th, 190.436mph, will start 3rd
  #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr, went out 6th, 190.678mph, will start 1st
  (3-30-2001)
  
  
• Friday Practice: at Texas is over for the Harrah's 500. #1-Steve Park was the fastest at 191.042mph with his teammate #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr 2nd at 190.799mph. Slowest was #4-Kevin Lepage at 185.331mph. Track record is Terry Labonte last year at 192.137mph. See the speeds at That's Racin': Winston Cup practice speeds(3-30-2001)
  
  
• Qualifying Order is up for the Harrah's 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. See above for the link(s). First driver scheduled out is #93-Dave Blaney, last driver of the 45 scheduled to go out is #92-Stacy Compton. Qualifying is scheduled to go off at 4:00pm/et and be televised on FSN and via radio on PRN(3-30-2001)
  
  
• Entry List Link is up for the Harrah's 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. See above for the link. Only 45 cars entered for 43 spots, no surprises seen(3-27-2001)
  
  
• More Happy Hour at Texas: Fans will see even more of their favorite NASCAR Winston Cup drivers as the traditional “Happy Hour” practice session is expanded for the Harrah’s 500 weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. In previous years, the final Winston Cup practice has been scheduled to follow the Saturday NASCAR Busch Series race. This year, the practice will run from 10:00-11:30am/ct(11:00-12:30pm/et) on Saturday March 31 prior to the Jani-King 300 and be televised from 3:30 - 5:00pm/et on FX(TMS Site)(3-8/31-2001)
  
  
• an interesting point: When NASCAR officials decided to disallow Jerry Nadeau's qualifying time yesterday, it raised an interesting question. With the Winston Cup series having only one round of qualifying the rest of the season, what happens if an unapproved part is found? According to NASCAR, drivers no longer have to post an official qualifying time to use a provisional, they only have to practice. So a driver could have a penalty on a qualifying issue but still have access to one of the seven provisionals for the race(Richmond Times Dispatch)(2-11-2001)
  
  
• How to break a tie during qualifying?(same speed/time) When drivers are tied for a starting spot during qualifying, it is broken by owners points standings(not drivers). For provisionals standings see the Jayski Provisional Status page(2-20-2000)
  
  
• Links: Practice speeds, qualifying and results can be found at these sites: NASCAR Online, Racin Network, and That's Racin'
  
  

TRACK/RACE NEWS

• TMS and Bootleggers: Texas Motor Speedway is stepping up measures to shut out bootleg merchandise operators who may be planning to profit from the Harrah's 500 race week. "With the passing of Dale Earnhardt, quite sadly, we have learned that there are bootleggers who plan to profit this weekend from his untimely death," said speedway general manager Eddie Gossage. "At our sister speedway in Las Vegas, our merchandise folks were confronted with numerous bootleg vendors who were peddling t-shirts and other items with Dale's likeness on them. Dale's estate doesn't see a penny from those items and the true fans won't buy them. "We're also aware that these same bootleg vendors will most likely have counterfeit Texas Motor Speedway merchandise. It's illegal, it's wrong and we're not going to tolerate it." The speedway has implemented a plan to monitor any illegal activities on speedway property. "We were successful in 1997 with our undercover group," said Gossage. "We have brought those folks back to help us again this year, if necessary."(Speedway Illustrated)(3-28-2001)
  
  
• Texas Grand Marshal: Christopher Titus, star of the Fox show, Titus(a Jayski favorite), will serve as the Grand Marshal of the Harrah's 500 Winston Cup Race on April 1, 2001(Harrah's PR)(3-20-2001)
  
  
• Texas Tix: Texas Motor Speedway will place 1,000 front-stretch tickets for the April 1 Harrah's 500 on sale Tuesday morning. The seats, priced between $75 and $100, were previously blocked off for sponsors. Purchases can be made at the speedway ticket office or through Ticketmaster(Dallas Morning News)(3-13-2001)
  
  
• AJ and Texas: Racing Legend, AJ Foyt, owner of the #14 Conseco Pontiac driven by Ron Hornday in the Cup series and of the #14 Harrah's Chevy in the BGN series for son Larry Foyt, will give the starting command at the Winston Cup race, the Harrah's 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 1st(Harrah's PR)(3-12-2001)
  
  
• How to Calculate Track Speeds: use the formula Speed = Distance divided by Time. Distance is Track Length, and Lap Time into Hours. Once hour is 3600 seconds, so the calculation for a 48 second lap at Daytona(2.5 miles) would be: Speed = 2.5 x (3600/48), = 2.5 x 75 = 187.500mph. For a 19 second lap at Bristol(.533 miles): Speed = .533 x (3600/19), = .533 x 189.474 = a speed of 100.990mph
  
  
• Past track news: posted in the past at Jayski's Past Track News/Rumors - Texas
  
  

DRIVER/TEAM NEWS

• Labonte Honor Postponed: Corpus Christi City Council members gave the green flag on Tuesday to renaming Nueces River Park after NASCAR drivers Terry and Bobby Labonte. The unanimous vote to change the name to Terry and Bobby Labonte Park was great news for NASCAR fans like David Gibson, a state construction inspector. In a time when news about athletes often is negative, such as drug abuse or domestic violence, it is great to recognize role models like the Labontes, said Gibson, 56.(Caller-Times 2/28) AND A ceremony to rename Nueces River Park in Corpus Christi, TX after NASCAR drivers Terry Labonte and Bobby Labonte has been delayed until June, officials said. The Labonte Brothers Special Recognition Committee initially wanted to rename the park to coincide with the April 1 NASCAR Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth(Caller-Times 3/18)(3-27-2001)
  
  
• See the 2001 Team Chart which has links to past news for each team
  
  

PAINT SCHEME NEWS

• #32 to look different at Texas: The familiar orange #32 Tide Ford has undergone a minor facelift for the Cup race at Texas, courtesy of regional grocery chain Albertsons. Albertsons has joined the Tide team as a race sponsor for the popular Texas Winston Cup event, adding their blue and white logo to the rear "TV panel" of the Tide Ford for race weekend(PPI Motorsports Site), no images seen yet(3-29-2001)
  
  
• #10 Paint: Team Valvoline's Johnny Benson will roll out the special Eagle One Pontiac at Texas Motor Speedway for the Harrah's 500 Sunday. The car features the "Screaming Eagle" design. It will be the first of three consecutive Eagle One cars for the coming weeks' Winston Cup races(Valvoline Racing)(3-28-2001)
  
  
• Billy Ray on the #90: Donlavey Racing will display the image from the cover of Billy Ray Cyrus' latest album, "Southern Rain," on both doors of the Hills Bros Coffee Ford at the Harrah's 500. The decal will be located just behind the familiar #90.(Keystone Marketing)(3-28-2001)
  
  
• Buckshot at Texas: Buckshot Jones' #44 Dodge, one of three Petty Enterprises cars, will carry a special "four generations of Petty's" paint scheme at TMS. The car will be unveiled in a news conference on pole qualifying morning (Friday, March 30). Adam Petty, the fourth-generation driver, made his Winston Cup debut last spring at TMS. He was killed a few weeks later in a crash at New Hampshire.(Dallas Morning News)(3-22-2001)
  
  
• More Paint Scheme news can be found on Paint Schemes Gallery, choose current news
  
  

STATS and STUFF thru the race before this one