All Times EDT
NASCAR
SPRINT CUP
SAMSUNG MOBILE 500
Site: Fort Worth, Texas.
Schedule: Thursday, practice (Speed, 5:30-7:30 p.m.); Friday, practice (Speed, 3-4:30 p.m.), qualifying (Speed, 6:30-8 p.m.); Saturday, race, 7:30 p.m. (FOX, 7-11 p.m.).
Track: Texas Motor Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles).
Race distance: 501 miles, 334 laps.
Last year: Matt Kenseth won to end a 76-race victory drought. Clint Bowyer was second, followed by Kenseth’s Roush Fenway teammates, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle.
Last race: Ryan Newman won at Martinsville on April 1 to snap a 22-race winless streak. He took the lead off the first green-white-checker restart when a three-wide accident took out leaders Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. A.J. Allmendinger was second.
Fast facts: Roush Fenway has eight Texas victories. … Tony Stewart won at the track in November, holding off Edwards. … Denny Hamlin swept the 2010 races for Joe Gibbs Racing. … Biffle leads the season standings, six points ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. … Earnhardt is winless in 135 races since his fuel-mileage victory at Michigan in June 2008, his lone win in 150 starts for Hendrick Motorsports. He had 17 victories in 291 starts for Dale Earnhardt Inc. … Kenseth won the Daytona 500.
Next race: STP 400, April 22, Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan.
Online: http://www.nascar.com
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NATIONWIDE
O’REILLY AUTO PARTS 300
Site: Fort Worth, Texas.
Schedule: Thursday, practice; Friday, practice, qualifying (ESPN2, 5-6 p.m.), race, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN2, 8-11 p.m.).
Track: Texas Motor Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles).
Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.
Last year: Carl Edwards raced to his second straight victory at the track, leading 169 of 200 laps.
Last race: Joey Logano gave Joe Gibbs Racing its eighth consecutive Nationwide victory at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., winning March 24.
Fast facts: Elliott Sadler, the winner at Phoenix and Bristol, leads the season standings. Las Vegas winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is second, 18 points back. … Dale Earnhardt Jr. is making his fifth Texas start in the series. He won at the track in 1998. … Denny Hamlin is driving Gibbs’ No. 18 Toyota. … Kurt Busch is piloting Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 54 Toyota. … Trevor Bayne won at the track in November.
Next race: NASCAR Nationwide Series 250, April 27, Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, Va.
Online: http://www.nascar.com
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CAMPING WORLD TRUCK
GOOD SAM ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE 200
Site: Rockingham, N.C.
Schedule: Friday, practice; Saturday, practice, qualifying; Sunday, race, 1 p.m. (Speed, 12:30-3:30 p.m.).
Track: Rockingham Speedway (oval, 1.017 miles).
Race distance: 200 miles, 200 laps.
Last year: Inaugural race.
Last race: Kevin Harvick won the spring race at Martinsville for the third time in the past four years, leading all but two laps March 31. Richard Childress Racing teammate Ty Dillon was second.
Fast facts: The race is NASCAR’s first at the track since 2004. Andy Hillenburg bought the facility from Speedway Motorsports owner Bruton Smith in 2007. … The 20-year-old Dillon, racing for grandfather Richard Childress, won the 2010 ARCA season finale at the track to wrap up the series title. … Sprint Cup driver Kasey Kahne is competing. … Daytona winner John King leads the season standings.
Next race: STP 250, April 21, Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan.
Online: http://www.nascar.com
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INDYCAR
GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH
Site: Long Beach, Calif.
Schedule: Friday, practice; Saturday, practice, qualifying (NBC Sports Network, 6-7 p.m.); Sunday, race, 4:15 p.m. (NBC Sports Channel, 3:30-6:30 p.m.)
Track: Streets of Long Beach (street course, 1.968 miles).
Race distance: 167.3 miles, 85 laps.
Last year: Mike Conway raced to his first career IndyCar victory, taking the lead from Ryan Briscoe with 14 laps left. Conway was making his third race since a crash in the 2010 Indianapolis 500 that left him with multiple leg fractures and a compression fracture in his back.
Last race: Team Penske’s Will Power won the Grand Prix of Alabama for the second straight year, holding off Target Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon on April 1.
Fast facts: The race is the third of the season. Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves won the opener at St. Petersburg, Fla. … Conway has moved from Andretti Autosport to A.J. Foyt Racing. … Ryan Hunter-Reay won the 2010 race for Andretti Autosport. … The 11-turn circuit encircles the Long Beach Convention Center. … The Indy Lights race also is Sunday.
Next race: Sao Paulo Indy 300, April 29, Streets of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo.
Online: http://www.indycar.com
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FORMULA ONE
CHINESE GRAND PRIX
Site: Shanghai.
Schedule: Friday, practice (Speed, 2-3:30 a.m.); Saturday, practice, qualifying (Speed, 2-3:30 a.m.); Sunday, race, 3 a.m. (Speed, 2:30-5 a.m., 3:30-6 p.m.).
Track: Shanghai International Circuit (road course, 3.39 miles).
Race distance: 189.7 miles, 56 laps.
Last year: McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton raced to the first of his three 2011 victories, passing Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel for the lead with five laps remaining. Red Bull’s Mark Webber charged from 18th to finish third.
Last race: Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso won the Malaysian Grand Prix. Sauber’s Sergio Perez was second in the race stopped for 51 minutes because of rain.
Fast facts: The race is the third of the season. McLaren’s Jenson Button won the opener in Australia. … Michael Schumacher won the 2006 race for the last of his record 91 victories. … Hermann Tilke and Peter Wahl designed the track. The course is shaped like the Chinese character “shang,” which stands for “high” or “above.”
Next race: Bahrain Grand Prix, April 22, Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain.
Online: http://www.formula1.com
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NHRA FULL THROTTLE
NHRA 4-WIDE NATIONALS
Site: Concord, N.C.
Schedule: Friday, qualifying; Saturday, qualifying (ESPN2, 5-7:30 p.m.); Sunday, final eliminations (ESPN2, 7-10 p.m.).
Track: zMAX Dragway.
Last year: Del Worsham edged teammate Larry Dixon by 0.0048 seconds in the Top Fuel final. Jack Beckman (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also won.
Last event: Robert Hight raced to his third straight Funny Car victory, beating Bob Tasca III in the final in Las Vegas on April 1. Spencer Massey (Top Fuel) and Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) also won.
Fast facts: The event features racing in four lanes instead of the traditional two. A center wall separates the second and third lanes. … Hight has an 83-point lead over Mike Neff in the Funny Car standings. Antron Brown leads the Top Fuel standings, four points ahead of Morgan Lucas. … The series will return to zMAX Dragway in September for the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals.
Next event: O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals, April 27-29, Royal Purple Raceway, Baytown, Texas.
Online: http://www.nhra.com
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OTHER RACES
AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES: American Le Mans Series at Long Beach, April 14 (ESPN2, 7:30-10 p.m.), Streets of Long Beach, Long Beach, Calif. Online: http://www.americanlemans.com
WORLD OF OUTLAWS: Sprint Car: Friday, Paducah International Raceway, Paducah, Ky.; Saturday, Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55, Pevely, Mo. Online: http://www.worldofoutlaws.com
U.S. AUTO RACING CLUB: Sprint Car: Saturday, Lawrenceburg Speedway, Lawrenceburg, Ind. Online: http://www.usacracing.com
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