page_title: 2010 AAA Texas 500
section_title: Practice and qualifying
hierarchical_section_title: 2010 AAA Texas 500 / Report / Practice and qualifying
caption_attribution_description: NASCAR driver en:Elliott Sadler in August 2007 at en:Bristol Motor Speedway. Cropped from original.
context_page_description: The 2010 AAA Texas 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on November 7, 2010, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Contested over 334 laps, it was the thirty-fourth race during the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and the eighth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The race was won by Denny Hamlin of the Joe Gibbs Racing team. Matt Kenseth finished second, and Mark Martin clinched third.
  There were nine cautions and thirty-five lead changes among fourteen different drivers throughout the course of the race. It was Hamlin's eighth win in the 2010 season, and his second at Texas Motor Speedway. The result moved him to first in the Drivers' Championship, 33 points ahead Jimmie Johnson in second. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, 40 ahead of Toyota and 91 ahead of Ford, with two races remaining in the season. A total of 156,000 people attended the race.
context_section_description: Three practice sessions will be held before the Sunday race — one on Friday, and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, while the second session lasted 45 minutes. The third and final practice session lasted 60 minutes. During the first practice session, Biffle, for the Roush Fenway Racing team, was quickest ahead of Edwards in second and Juan Pablo Montoya in the third position. Kenseth was scored fourth, and Elliott Sadler managed fifth. Regan Smith, Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr., Johnson, and A. J. Allmendinger rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session.
  Forty-nine cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three were able to race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Sadler clinched his eighth pole position during his career, with a time of 27.363, his first since May, 2006 at Talladega Superspeedway. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Biffle. Edwards qualified third, Montoya took fourth, and David Ragan started fifth. Johnson, one of the drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, qualified seventeenth, while Hamlin was scored thirtieth. The six drivers that failed to qualify for the race were J. J. Yeley, Scott Riggs, Michael McDowell, Jeff Green, Josh Wise,  and Brian Keselowski. Once the qualifying session completed, Sadler commented, "I’m feeling Superman today! I could sit here and say it is me, or this or that, but [crew chief] Todd Parrott is the man. He can do so much as a crew chief. He is good for me from the mental side and we have been qualifying so much better here the last six weeks or so... that is a really fast lap for me. I got all I can get out of it."
  On the next morning, Kyle Busch was quickest in the second practice session, ahead of Edwards and Truex in second and third. Ryan Newman was fourth quickest, and Burton took fifth. Stewart, Montoya, Kurt Busch, Bowyer, and Biffle followed in the top-ten. Other drivers in the chase, such as Hamlin, was eighteenth, and Harvick, who was thirty-first. During the third, and final practice session, Kyle Busch, with a fastest time of 28.696, was quickest. Ragan and Truex followed in second and third with times of 28.765 and 28.884 seconds. Kurt Busch managed to be fourth fastest, ahead of Smith and Sam Hornish Jr. Sadler was scored seventh, Menard took eighth, Gordon was ninth, and Johnson took tenth.
caption: Elliott Sadler (pictured in 2007) won the pole position, after having the fastest time of 27.636 seconds.
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