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T E X A S M O T O R S P E E D WAY
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october 20, 2016
Marshal quaid
Award-winning actor and Texas native Dennis Quaid to serve as Grand Marshal at AAA Texas 500 PAGE 2
on the track
Harvick searches for first win at TMS; Byron starts quest to be youngest NCWTS champion PAGE 4
FINAL Flight
Iconic F-4 Phantom’s final public flight will be AAA Texas 500 flyover PAGE 5 Te x a s M o t o r S p e e d w a y | O c t o b e r 2 0 , 2 0 1 6 | A A A Te x a s 5 0 0
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MARSHAL QUAID
TEXAS NATIVE DENNIS QUAID TO SERVE AS GRAND MARSHAL
Award-winning actor Dennis Quaid will serve as the Grand Marshal for the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday, Nov. 6, at Texas Motor Speedway. Quaid, a Houston native, returns to his home state to deliver the command for the 40-car field to start their engines for one of the largest-attended, single-day sporting events in Texas. He will be giving the command for the eighth race in the 10-event, elimination-style Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship playoff format live on NBC for the 1 p.m. CT race start. “As a Texan, I’m thrilled to be the Grand Marshal at the AAA Texas 500,” Quaid said. “It is a great honor to say the greatest words in motorsports and I’m looking forward to it.” Quaid, renowned for his distinct portrayals in
both comedic and dramatic roles over the past 40 years, currently is starring and serving as an executive producer in season two of Crackle’s onehour scripted auction drama, “The Art of More,” premiering on Sony’s free streaming service with all 10 episodes on Wednesday, Nov. 16. Quaid stars as charismatic real-estate shark Samuel Brukner, a Machiavellian master of money and power who is one-part charm and one-part intimidation. The opening season of “The Art of More,” which premiered in November 2015, garnered rave reviews and generated more than two million views within the first month with more than half of those viewers being new to Crackle. The second season delves deeper into the high-stakes arena of New York’s cutthroat fine art and memorabilia world and continues to explore the blurred lines between ambition and greed, revenge and crime.
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Quaid was most recently seen in the fact-based drama “Truth” and has completed filming the second season of the BAFTA award-nominated television series, “Fortitude.” He will next be seen in Universal’s “A Dog’s Purpose” that is scheduled for a January 2017 release and also begins production on the sci-fi thriller motion picture “Kin” with James Franco in November.
Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. In 2010, he was nominated for numerous awards including a SAG Award®, an Emmy©, and a Golden Globe© for his portrayal of Bill Clinton in the television movie, “A Special Relationship.”
Quaid’s career began to gain attention in the late 1970s for roles in such films as “Breaking Away” before earning public and critical acclaim for his role in the 1983 release, “The Right Stuff.” Other notable credits include “The Rookie,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Traffic,” “Vantage Point,” “Frequency,” “The Parent Trap” and “Soul Surfer.”
The AAA Texas 500 is part of a NASCAR tripleheader weekend at Texas Motor Speedway that also includes the Camping World Truck Series Long Horn 350 on Friday, Nov. 4, and the XFINITY Series O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge on Saturday, Nov. 5. For tickets or additional information, please visit www.texasmotorspeedway.com or call the speedway ticket office at 817.215.8500.
For his role in Todd Haynes’ “Far From Heaven,” he won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Chicago Film Critics
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ON THE TRACK
NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF NASCAR
IS IT HARVICK’s Time? Kevin Harvick punched his ticket to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Round of 8 with a win last weekend at Kansas. Harvick has won two of the five previous Chase races this playoff season, but if he wants to make a run at the Championship 4 at Homestead in November he might need to win his first race at Texas. The 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, who has 35 career wins, has never put on a cowboy hat or fired off the six shooters in Victory Lane in his 27 previous Cup starts at TMS. Even though he doesn’t have a win, his recent results at the 1.5-mile track are ones many drivers would envy. He has finished among the top 10 in seven of the last nine races, including consecutive second-place finishes in the fall of 2014 and spring of 2015. He was third in the AAA Texas 500 last year after starting second. He also holds the current mark for driving the most laps at TMS - 8,716 - without a win. “With the way we have run there the last few years, it (not winning at Texas) is something that I think about when I drive through the tunnel when I come to the track,” Harvick said. “And then the first time I see (Texas Motor Speedway President) Eddie (Gossage) he reminds me of it. “So hopefully, one day, we can get a win there, but then I don’t know what Eddie and I would have to talk about,” he added with a smile.
BRYON’s quest to be youngest champion GOES Through texas
William Byron was the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver to qualify for the Round of 6, which starts at Martinsville on Oct. 29, with his win at New Hampshire in September. The 18-year old will be looking to make it consecutive victories at TMS after winning the Rattlesnake 400 in June. If he were to accomplish this, he would be just the fourth driver in track history to sweep both truck races in a single year. Johnny Sauter won both in 2012, Ron Hornaday Jr. did so in 2008 and Brendan Gaughan accomplished this in 2002 and 2003 as he won four consecutive races. Todd Bodine did win backto-back truck races at TMS, but they came over the course of the second race in 2005 and the first one in 2006. Byron will be looking to become the second rookie in a row to win the NCWTS title after Erik Jones did so a year ago. Jones became the youngest champion in series history last year as he was 19 years, 5 months, 21 days old when he finished off the title at Homestead. Byron would break that mark as he would be 11 days shy of his 19th birthday if he could wrap up the title at Homestead. Te x a s M o t o r S p e e d w a y | O c t o b e r 2 0 , 2 0 1 6 | A A A Te x a s 5 0 0
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SPLASH ’N GO
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NOTES FROM TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FINAL FAREWELL TO THE F-4 PHANTOM The F-4 established 16 speed, altitude and time-to-climb records. In 1959, its prototype set the world altitude record at 98,556 feet (30,000 meters). In 1961, an F-4 set the world speed record at 1,604 mph (2581 kph) on a 15-mile circuit. By the end of production in 1985, McDonnell-Douglas had built 5,068 Phantom IIs, and Mitsubishi, in Japan, had built 127.
The F-4 Phantom of Lt. Col. Ronald “Elvis” King will be making its final public flight as part of the flyover before the AAA Texas 500.
Fans attending the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday, Nov. 6, at Texas Motor Speedway will get the rare opportunity to witness the final public flight in the United States of one of the most revered military aircraft during the pre-race flyover. A pair of McDonnell Douglas QF-4 Phantom II fighter jets, retired by the United States Air Force in 1997, will conduct the flyover in the aircraft’s final public appearance before officially retiring from flying on Dec. 21 and eventually destroyed as aerial military target drones. Lieutenant Colonel Ronald “Elvis” King, commander of the 82nd Aerial Target Squadron, Detachment 1 who in 2015 became the
last pilot in the Air Force to ever learn to fly the QF-4, will lead the flyover for the AAA Texas 500. It will be his third flyover at a NASCAR event, including his second at Texas Motor Speedway. He will be joined in the other QF-4 Phantom by James Harkins, a civilian pilot in the same squadron who actually taught King to fly the QF-4. The McDonnell two-place, twinjet, all-weather F-4 Phantom II, with top speeds more than twice that of sound, was one of the most versatile fighters ever built. It served in the first line of more Western air forces than any other jet. Just 31 months after its first flight, the F-4 was the U.S. Navy’s fastest, highest-flying and longest-range fighter. It first flew May 27, 1958, and entered service in 1961.
F-4s saw combat in both the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm and served with the air forces of 11 countries in addition to the United States. Both U.S. military flight demonstration teams, the Navy Blue Angels and the Air Force Thunderbirds, flew the Phantom II from 1969 to 1973. The 5,000th Phantom was delivered on May 24, 1978, in ceremonies that also marked the 20th anniversary of the fighter’s first flight, and McDonnell Douglas delivered the last St. Louis–built Phantom II in October 1979. By 1998, approximately 800 were still in service around the world. In 2014, modified Phantoms designated QF-4 were being used as remotely controlled aerial targets over the Gulf of Mexico to test pilots, aircraft such as drones and weapons at Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City, Fla. In September 2014, the first unmanned QF16 Viper was successfully tested there as a proposed replacement for the aging QF-4s.
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NSCS POLE AWARD features henry repeating arms “golden boy”
AAA Texas 500 media credential deadlinE FRiday
Texas Motor Speedway is known for its unique Texas-themed awards for race and pole award winners. This November will be no different as Henry Repeating Arms will provide the long-gun pole award this year Carl Edwards holds the Hen- for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA ry Repeating Arms Golden Boy after winning the pole in Texas 500. The pole the April NSCS race at TMS. award winner will be presented with a one-of-a-kind engraved Henry Repeating Arms Golden Boy lever-action rifle in Victory Lane. The Henry Golden Boy is a masterpiece of fine-crafted gunsmithing. It is known for its excellent fit, finish and overall visually elegant design. The Golden Boy rifle’s stunning 20-inch blued octagonal barrel, American walnut stock, brass buttplate and gleaming Brasslite receiver transports the user back to America’s Old West. Its users appreciate its substantial 6¾-pound heft and it balances well and makes for highly accurate offhand shooting. The smooth action associated with Henry rifles opens and shuts with the effortless slickness lever-lovers long for.
The credential deadline for the AAA Texas 500 weekend is FRIDAY. Credentials can be requested through www.smicredentials.com. Those not yet registered for the website will first need to apply for access through the site. Once a registration confirmation e-mail is received, the credential request can then be submitted. Requests following the deadline will not be accepted.
0.028
Fraction of a second in which the closest NASCAR Sprint Cup race was decided by at Texas. Elliott Sadler held off Kasey Kahne by this margin in 2004. Earlier this year, INDYCAR had its closest race in track history as Graham Rahal held off James Hinchcliffe by 0.008 of a second.
Salute to Veterans fueled by the texas lottery qualifying days Texas Motor Speedway announced the Texas Lottery has signed an entitlement deal for the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR tripleheader weekend scheduled for Nov. 3-6. The Salute to Veterans Fueled by the Texas Lottery will serve as the event’s qualifying day sponsor for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series. The Salute to Veterans Fueled by the Texas Lottery Qualifying Days will feature Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series qualifying Friday, Nov. 4, and XFINITY Series qualifying Saturday, Nov. 5.
DID YOU KNOW? The AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway is the highest paying race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
They treat everybody good here. It’s one of the biggest purses of the year for Cup drivers so these are races (here at Texas Motor Speedway) that everyone looks at. The crowd here is awesome. It’s (Dallas/Fort Worth) is a great, great market for our sport. - Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart on TMS
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FINAL PIT STOP
SPEEDREADS
VIDEO SOUND BITES, SOCIAL MEDIA SNAPSHOT
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LIL’ HOSS TV
Kevin Harvick talks about his team being able to find a way to win Chase races when they have needed to. Click on photo to watch video.
social gathering
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PUBLIC SCHEDULE
AAA TEXAS 500 WEEKEND EVENTS
SATURDAY, October 29 8a
VIP & Outside Campgrounds open
TUESDAY, November 1 9a-5p
Texas Motor Speedway Credential Office Hours
WednesDAY, november 2 9a-5p 10a 10a
Texas Motor Speedway Credential Office Hours Reserved Infield Camping Opens (South Tunnel) Burnout Alley Load In
ThursDAY, november 3
9a-5p Texas Motor Speedway Credentials Office Hours 10:00a NCWTS Haulers Enter 11:00a-5p NCWTS Registration Open 11:30a-6:30p NCWTS Garage Open 2:15p Gate 4 Open 2:30p-3:25p NCWTS Practice 3:30p NXS Haulers Enter 4:30p-5:25p NCWTS Final Practice 6:00p NSCS Haulers Enter
FRIDAY, november 4
8a-7p NSCS Registration Open 8:30a-7:30p NSCS Garage Open 9a-7:30p Texas Motor Speedway Credential Office Hours 10:00a-7p NXS Registration Open 10:30a-9p NXS Garage Open 10:30a NCWTS Garage & Registration Open 11:00a Gate 4 Open 11a-1:30p NSCS “HOT PASS” IN EFFECT 11:30a-12:55p NSCS Practice 1:30p-2:25p NXS Practice 2p Gates 2, 3, 5 & 6 Open for Luxury Suites and Victory Lane Club Only 2:45p NCWTS Qualifying 4p-5:25p NXS Final Practice 5:15p-7:30p NSCS “HOT PASS” IN EFFECT 5:45p NSCS Qualifying 7:00p NCWTS Registration Closes 7:30p NCWTS Longhorn 350 (147 Laps, 220.5 Miles)
SATURDAY, November 5 7:30a 7:30a 8a-2p 9a
NXS Garage & Registration Open NSCS Garage & Registration Open Texas Motor Speedway Credential Office Hours Gates 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 Open for Luxury Suites and Victory Lane Club Only 9a-11a NSCS “HOT PASS” IN EFFECT 9:30a-10:25a NSCS Practice 10:45a NSCS Qualifying 12p-2p NSCS “HOT PASS” IN EFFECT 12:30p-1:20p NSCS Final Practice 2:00p NXS O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge (200 Laps, 300 Miles) 2:30p NXS & NSCS Registration Closes 4:00p NSCS Garage Closes
SUNDAY, November 6 7a 8a-1p 9a 9a 11a
NSCS Garage & Registration Open Texas Motor Speedway Credential Office Hours Gates 2-8 Open Luxury Suites and Victory Lane Club Open Loud & Proud Pre-Race Show Fueled by American Ehtanol Concert featuring Jake Owen 12p-7p NSCS “HOT PASS” IN EFFECT 1p NSCS AAA Texas 500 (334 Laps, 501 Miles) 1:30p NSCS Registration Closes 30 min Portacool Post-Race Show featuring post race Jason Boland & The Stragglers
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