2018 AAA Texas 500 explained

Type:	NASME
Race Name:	AAA Texas 500
Details Ref:	^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9] ^[10]
Year:	2018
Race No:	34
Season No:	36
Location:	Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas
Course Mi:	1.5
Course Km:	2.4
Distance Laps:	337
Distance Mi:	505.5
Distance Km:	808.8
Scheduled Laps:	334
Scheduled Mi:	501
Scheduled Km:	801.6
Avg:	150.558mph
Pole Driver:	Ryan Blaney
Pole Team:	Team Penske
Pole Time:	26.932
Most Driver:	Kevin Harvick
Most Team:	Stewart-Haas Racing
Most Laps:	177
Car:	4
First Driver:	Kevin Harvick
First Team:	Stewart-Haas Racing
Network:	NBCSN
Announcers:	Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ratings:	1.4/1.5 (Overnight)^[11]
Radio:	PRN
Booth Ann:	Doug Rice and Mark Garrow
Turn Ann:	Rob Albright (1 & 2) and Pat Patterson (3 & 4)

The 2018 AAA Texas 500 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on November 4, 2018, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Contested over 337 laps – extended from 334 laps due to an overtime finish, on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) intermediate quad-oval, it was the 34th race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, the eighth race of the Playoffs, and the second race of the Round of 8.

As of 2024, this is Trevor Bayne's most recent NASCAR Cup Series start.

Report

Background

Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The track measures 1.5miles around and is banked 24 degrees in the turns, and is of the oval design, where the front straightaway juts outward slightly. The track layout is similar to Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway (formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway). The track is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., the same company that owns Atlanta and Charlotte Motor Speedways, as well as the short-track Bristol Motor Speedway.

Entry list

	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
00	Landon Cassill (i)		Chevrolet
1			Chevrolet
2			Ford
3			Chevrolet
4			Ford
6			Ford
7	Reed Sorenson (i)		Chevrolet
9			Chevrolet
10			Ford
11			Toyota
12			Ford
13			Chevrolet
14			Ford
15	Ross Chastain (i)		Chevrolet
17			Ford
18			Toyota
19			Toyota
20			Toyota
21			Ford
22			Ford
23	J. J. Yeley (i)		Toyota
24	William Byron (R)		Chevrolet
31			Chevrolet
32			Ford
34			Ford
37			Chevrolet
38			Ford
41			Ford
42			Chevrolet
43	Darrell Wallace Jr. (R)		Chevrolet
47			Chevrolet
48			Chevrolet
51	Joey Gase (i)		Ford
66	Timmy Hill (i)		Toyota
72			Chevrolet
78			Toyota
88			Chevrolet
95			Chevrolet
96	Parker Kligerman (i)		Toyota
97	David Starr (i)		Toyota
99			Chevrolet
Official entry list

First practice

Ryan Blaney was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 27.139 seconds and a speed of 198.976mph.^[12]

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time
1	12				27.139	198.976
2	4				27.210	198.456
3	41				27.254	198.136
Official first practice results

Qualifying

Ryan Blaney scored the pole for the race with a time of 26.932 and a speed of 200.505mph.^[13]

Qualifying results

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	12			Ford	27.043	27.182	26.932
2	14			Ford	27.220	27.188	26.969
3	4			Ford	27.115	27.068	27.008
4	10			Ford	27.251	27.277	27.030
5	2			Ford	27.361	27.273	27.064
6	11			Toyota	27.488	27.162	27.101
7	41			Ford	27.201	27.070	27.070
8	22			Ford	27.302	26.964	26.964
9	24	William Byron (R)		Chevrolet	27.273	27.181	27.126
10	18			Toyota	27.187	27.142	27.142
11	21			Ford	27.428	27.262	27.262
12	20			Toyota	27.276	27.130	27.130
13	78			Toyota	27.396	27.278	—
14	31			Chevrolet	27.451	27.283	—
15	6			Ford	27.544	27.312	—
16	9			Chevrolet	27.506	27.316	—
17	17			Ford	27.425	27.329	—
18	88			Chevrolet	27.505	27.336	—
19	19			Toyota	27.441	27.356	—
20	1			Chevrolet	27.313	27.358	—
21	37			Chevrolet	27.364	27.399	—
22	42			Chevrolet	27.538	27.437	—
23	48			Chevrolet	27.418	27.449	—
24	13			Chevrolet	27.519	27.479	—
25	47			Chevrolet	27.550	—	—
26	3			Chevrolet	27.646	—	—
27	38			Ford	27.661	—	—
28	95			Chevrolet	27.728	—	—
29	34			Ford	27.767	—	—
30	43	Darrell Wallace Jr. (R)		Chevrolet	27.778	—	—
31	32			Ford	28.066	—	—
32	00	Landon Cassill (i)		Chevrolet	28.148	—	—
33	15	Ross Chastain (i)		Chevrolet	28.228	—	—
34	96	Parker Kligerman (i)		Toyota	28.256	—	—
35	23	J. J. Yeley (i)		Toyota	28.381	—	—
36	99			Chevrolet	28.598	—	—
37	72			Chevrolet	28.598	—	—
38	7	Reed Sorenson (i)		Chevrolet	28.785	—	—
39	51	Joey Gase (i)		Ford	29.496	—	—
40	97	David Starr (i)		Toyota	29.784	—	—
Did not qualify
41	66	Timmy Hill (i)		Toyota	0.000	—	—
Official qualifying results

Practice (post-qualifying)

Second practice

Aric Almirola was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 27.856 seconds and a speed of 193.854mph.^[14]

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time
1	10				27.856	193.854
2	18				27.863	193.805
3	14				27.868	193.771
Official second practice results

Final practice

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.074 seconds and a speed of 192.349mph.^[15]

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time
1	17				28.074	192.349
2	41				28.114	192.075
3	78				28.142	191.884
Official final practice results

Race

Stage Results

Stage 1Laps: 85

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	10
2	41	Kurt Busch	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	9
3	20	Erik Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	8
4	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	7
5	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	Toyota	6
6	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	5
7	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	4
8	21	Paul Menard	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	3
9	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	2
10	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	1
Official stage one results

Stage 2Laps: 85

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	10
2	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	9
3	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	Toyota	8
4	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	7
5	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	6
6	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	5
7	20	Erik Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	4
8	41	Kurt Busch	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	3
9	19	Daniel Suárez	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	2
10	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Results

Stage 3Laps: 164

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	3	4	Kevin Harvick†	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	337	20
2	1	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	337	31
3	8	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	337	45
4	12	20	Erik Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	337	25
5	22	42	Kyle Larson	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	337	32
6	16	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	337	34
7	7	41	Kurt Busch	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	337	42
8	4	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	337	35
9	13	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	Toyota	337	42
10	26	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	337	27
11	17	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	337	26
12	5	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	337	32
13	11	21	Paul Menard	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	337	27
14	18	88	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	337	23
15	23	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	337	22
16	9	24	William Byron (R)	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	337	21
17	10	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	337	24
18	14	31	Ryan Newman	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	335	19
19	20	1	Jamie McMurray	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	335	18
20	25	47	A. J. Allmendinger	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	335	17
21	15	6	Trevor Bayne	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	335	16
22	24	13	Ty Dillon	Germain Racing	Chevrolet	335	15
23	21	37	Chris Buescher	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	335	14
24	27	38	David Ragan	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	335	13
25	30	43	Darrell Wallace Jr. (R)	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	335	12
26	2	14	Clint Bowyer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	334	11
27	28	95	Regan Smith	Leavine Family Racing	Chevrolet	332	10
28	19	19	Daniel Suárez	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	332	11
29	29	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	331	8
30	6	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	331	7
31	34	96	Parker Kligerman (i)	Gaunt Brothers Racing	Toyota	329	0
32	33	15	Ross Chastain (i)	Premium Motorsports	Chevrolet	326	0
33	38	7	Reed Sorenson (i)	Premium Motorsports	Chevrolet	326	0
34	36	99	Kyle Weatherman	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	323	3
35	32	00	Landon Cassill (i)	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	321	0
36	35	23	J. J. Yeley (i)	BK Racing	Toyota	321	0
37	39	51	Joey Gase (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	317	0
38	31	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Go Fas Racing	Ford	300	1
39	40	97	David Starr (i)	Obaika Racing	Toyota	287	0
40	37	72	Corey LaJoie	TriStar Motorsports	Chevrolet	269	1
Official race results

† Kevin Harvick was penalized 40 points and the win is encumbered due to a spoiler infraction post-race.^[16]

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 16 among different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 8 for 37
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 3 hours, 21 minutes and 27 seconds
• Average speed: 150.558mph

Media

Television

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Two–time Texas winner Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and 2000 Texas winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast reported from pit lane during the race.

Radio

PRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Standings after the race

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Kyle Busch	4,128
	2	Martin Truex Jr.	4,125 (−3)
1	3	Joey Logano	4,119 (−6)
1	4	Kevin Harvick	4,103 (−25)
	5	Kurt Busch	4,100 (−28)
	6	Chase Elliott	4,086 (−42)
1	7	Aric Almirola	4,068 (−60)
1	8	Clint Bowyer	4,052 (−76)
	9	Ryan Blaney	2,283 (−1,845)
	10	Brad Keselowski	2,259 (−1,869)
	11	Denny Hamlin	2,220 (−1,908)
	12	Kyle Larson	2,211 (−1,917)
2	13	Erik Jones	2,204 (−1,924)
1	14	Jimmie Johnson	2,195 (−1,933)
1	15	Alex Bowman	2,187 (−1,941)
	16	Austin Dillon	2,184 (−1,944)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

	Pos	Manufacturer	Points
	1	Ford	1,235
	2	Toyota	1,211 (−24)
	3	Chevrolet	1,123 (−112)
Official manufacturers' standings

• Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

• After the race Kevin Harvick was issued a L1 penalty after the race, his win will not count and he is deducted 40 points as well as his crew and car chief were suspended.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2018 schedule. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. October 2, 2018. May 5, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171224004109/http://www.jayski.com/news/pages/story/_/page/2018-NASCAR-Cup-Schedule. December 24, 2017. dead.
2. Web site: Texas Motor Speedway. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. October 2, 2018. January 3, 2013. October 30, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151030043513/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/texas-motor-speedway.html. dead.
3. Web site: Entry List. MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. October 30, 2018. October 30, 2018.
4. Web site: First Practice Results. MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. November 2, 2018. November 2, 2018.
5. Web site: Starting Lineup. MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. November 2, 2018. November 2, 2018.
6. Web site: Second Practice Results. MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. November 3, 2018. November 3, 2018.
7. Web site: Final Practice Results. MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. November 3, 2018. November 3, 2018.
8. Web site: AAA Texas 500 Results. MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. November 4, 2018. November 4, 2018.
9. Web site: Points standings. https://web.archive.org/web/20190129080946/http://www.jayski.com/stats/2018/pdfs/34tms2018racereport.pdf. dead. January 29, 2019. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. November 5, 2018. November 5, 2018.
10. Web site: Manufacturer standings. https://web.archive.org/web/20190129080946/http://www.jayski.com/stats/2018/pdfs/34tms2018racereport.pdf. dead. January 29, 2019. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. November 5, 2018. November 5, 2018.
11. Web site: Final Texas TV ratings . . . 20 November 2018.
12. Web site: DeGroot. Nick. Ryan Blaney leads Friday's lone Cup practice at Texas. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. November 2, 2018. Fort Worth, Texas. November 2, 2018.
13. News: Hawkins. Stephen. Blaney 200-mph Texas pole; all 4 Stewart Haas cars in top 7. November 2, 2018. Associated Press. Associated Press. AP Sports. November 2, 2018. Fort Worth, Texas. https://web.archive.org/web/20181103091829/https://racing.ap.org/article/blaney-200-mph-texas-pole-all-4-stewart-haas-cars-top-7. November 3, 2018. dead.
14. Web site: Utter. Jim. Almirola leads the way in Saturday's first Texas practice. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. November 3, 2018. Fort Worth, Texas. November 3, 2018.
15. Web site: Utter. Jim. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. tops Kurt Busch in final practice at Texas. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. November 3, 2018. Fort Worth, Texas. November 3, 2018.
16. Web site: No. 4 team assessed L1-level penalty, docked 40 points . The Official Site Of NASCAR . November 7, 2018.