Texas Motor Speedway Race Car Track

Texas Motor Speedway is a sight to be seen. Located near Fort Worth, Texas, TMS is a mile and a half track that hosts NASCAR races among other exciting car races. Its oval shaped, asphalt track lends itself to speeds of up to 200 miles per hour and much excitement for fans. The track opened in February of 1996.

Jeff Burton earned his first Cup win at Texas in 1997, three years later in 2000 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. got his first Cup win there. Kevin Harvick had his first Nationwide race there, as well. Sadly, that same year, Tony Roper was racing in the Truck series and lost his life in a crash where he hit the concrete wall in the tri-oval after attempting­ to pass fellow driver, Steve Grissom.

Texas Motor Speedway went by another name for awhile. There was a smaller track with the same name nearby and they wanted to keep it. After some legal wrangling, the original TMS became Texas Thunder Speedway and the new Texas Motor Speedway was born.

• Dale Earnhardt, Jr. got his first Nationwide win and his first Sprint win at TMS.
• Kevin Harvick had his first Nationwide win at TMS.
• After a rain-out in April of 2001, the Monday attendance was almost 90%
• There 24 degree banking.
• It is a mile and a half oval track.
• You can buy bacon flavored cotton candy!! That's enough to go right there!

Texas Motor Speedway is a mile and a half track. There is seating for 150,000 in the grandstands. The track sits on 1,500 acres.There is a front grandstand and a back grandstand that both provide a great view of the track that banks up to 24 degrees. Seats are available at all price ranges. You can sit close to the action near the start/finish line and pay a little more, or sit a little further away for a little cheaper. If you want to spend even more and get a different experience you won't forget, you can go for the Victory Lane Club. You get stadium seating, video games, private bathrooms and much more.

For the full experience, choose camping. Bring a camper or RV, or even a tent and camp out at the campgrounds next to the track. You will be steps away from all of the action and not get caught up in all of the traffic. It's a great way to get to know the other fans, play some games and have a great tail-gating experience.

The crowd is definitely one of the best parts of the experience at the track. When you first walk in to find your seats, you look around at the fans around you. Do they like the same drivers as you, or at least from the same team? Or do they root for your enemy? Either way you are in for a ton of fun. There are some drivers everyone cheers for - Dale, Jr. for instance. And then there are those that everyone boos as they go by - Kyle Bush is one of those drivers. As you sit and wait for the race to start you can give other fans a hard time or help them cheer. You can also share stories about past adventures at other tracks. Some people have made life long friends at Texas Motor Speedway.

At TMS the favorite races are the NASCAR races. The big race is the Sprint Cup race - this is the "major league" race. All of the superstars of racing drive in the Sprint Cup. Jimmy Johnson, Kyle Bush, Tony Stewart, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. are a few of the superstars that drive in the Sprint Cup.

Next is the Nationwide race. The Nationwide is the "minor league" race. This is a stepping stone to the Sprint Cup. This is where drivers get better at racing - they have experience already, but need more in order to move up to the Sprint Cup. The superstars of racing also use the Nationwide as a kind of practice race for the Sprint Cup.

The truck series is the stepping stone to the Nationwide. It runs a little slower than the Nationwide. This is another place where the drivers get experience. There are superstars that drive in the truck series - Kyle Bush is one, but mostly this is for up and comers to learn more about how to race.

The IndyCar series also runs at TMS. The IndyCar series are the open wheel cars. They are much faster than the NASCAR cars and can be more dangerous. There have been drivers that run the IndyCar series as well as NASCAR. Robbie Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Stewart, and Danica Patrick are a few drivers that came from IndyCar. It is quite a change to come from one series and go to the other.