Auto Racing Insider Pete Pistone Posted
Sunday, April 6, 2008
FT. WORTH, Tex. - They say everything is bigger in Texas and Texas Motor Speedway certainly lives up to that claim.
This gigantic speedway rises out of the barren land just south of Fort Worth and as you drive down the interstate it looks like a small city has dropped from the sky.
More than 200,000 fans packed the track for Sunday's Samsung 500 and while track officials wouldn't officially call it a sell-out, it was pretty darn close.
The economy in Texas is just as hard as it is on the rest of the country, but these fans turned out regardless, unlike some of the less than full crowds we've seen in the early-portion of the season.
Of course TMS was fortunate to have pretty much picture-perfect weather this weekend, something Fontana, Atlanta and Martinsville didn't.
And there is a downside to all those people showing up - traffic. TMS has to be by far the worst track on the schedule in terms of volume and traffic headaches. I left my hotel, a mere three miles from the track, six hours before Sunday's race and sat in an hour's worth of back-up before getting into the infield.
Texas lobbied hard for a much-deserved second Cup weekend and got it, after some wheeling and dealing by SMI's Bruton Smith, a fall date that also draws nearly 200,000.
But track officials would love to move off the first weekend of November slot, which as dumb as it might sound, conflicts with the opening of deer hunting season around these parts, a tradition that does seem to effect race attendance and awareness.
If Atlanta and California do indeed swap dates in 2009, moving the Labor Day weekend to AMS, maybe Fontana could slide over to inherit the Texas November weekend and TMS goes at the end of October.
Whatever management asks NASCAR should try its best to accomodate Texas Motor Speedway. As Bruton Smith pointed out earlier this year, he's never been "granted" a date by the sanctioning body, having to buy tracks and move races around.
If ever a track deserved two Cup races its Texas. Nearly 400,000 fans on two days is an impressive display of the fan support in this part of the country.
Jeff Gordon's dismal Cup career at Texas continued on Sunday when he battled a loose car before finally hitting the wall on lap 110. That gave him a 43rd place finish for only the second time in his Cup career and kept the four-time champion on a slide during the early going of 2008. The problem for Gordon is that it starting to be not so early in the season anymore and if the No. 24 team doesn't turn things around quickly, Gordon will find himself in a hole too big to climb from.
Most of the drivers complained about the new car being a "handful to drive," as the machine made its debut at Texas. That's a lame complaint in my mind, these cars should be hard to drive. However there does seem to be a problem aerodynamically with the car at these mid-sized tracks, the very problem that plagued the old-style Cup car. NASCAR needs to address it quick.
Mark Martin didn't miss a beat stepping back into the DEI No. 8 after giving the wheel to rookie Aric Armirola at Bristol and Martinsville. Martin came home eighth on Sunday and continued to show his ageless skills.
