O'Reilly Auto Parts 500

The O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 is a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) in Fort Worth, Texas. Even though it is advertised as a "500-mile" race, because TMS is a track that is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in length, the actual race distance is 501 miles (806.3 km).
==Race history==
The first two runnings of the race were controversial, crash-strewn affairs, with universal criticism that the track's design was one groove; Kenny Wallace argued, "They're so busy building condos they don't have time to fix the racetrack."
There were 10 different winners in the first ten races, the longest such streak for any NASCAR track in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. This list includes Texas Native Terry Labonte, who won in 1999, and Dale Earnhardt Jr winning his first race in 2000. Jeff Burton, the winner of the inaugural race, broke that streak by getting his second Texas win in a last lap pass in 2007. In 2011, the race became a Saturday night event, whereas before it was always a Sunday afternoon race. This was done since the night race at Phoenix was moved to February and became a day race. The 2011 race was run on April 9, 2011 and was the first scheduled night race of the season, and in Texas Motor Speedway history for the Cup Series.
In 2013, NASCAR became involved in controversy when the National Rifle Association (NRA) began to sponsor the race; although race sponsorships are negotiated with the track owner, not NASCAR itself, the sanctioning organization has final approval and did not object to the sponsorship. Both NASCAR's acceptance of this sponsorship, and its timing, has been controversial, and offensive to gun control activists. Because of the sponsorship, Senator Chris Murphy asked Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation owns Fox Sports, which was scheduled to air the race, to not broadcast it. Fox broadcast the race as scheduled, not least because failure to do so would have been a breach of the network's contract with NASCAR. However, Fox only used the official sponsored name once per hour (the minimum mandated by NASCAR) and otherwise referred to it generically (in this case as the "Texas 500"), the network's usual practice when a race's title sponsor does not buy ads during the race broadcast; the NRA reportedly did not seek to purchase any such ads. The NRA would return as a race sponsor in 2016 for the Bristol Night Race in August at Speedway's owned Bristol Motor Speedway.
In 2014, the race returned to being a Sunday afternoon race because of the NCAA Men's basketball Final Four games being held at AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington, so that the race occurs on a day in between tournament games."Texas Motor Speedway alters race schedule with NCAA Final Four in Dallas" On February 6, 2014, Duck Commander, the business that is the subject of the TV show Duck Dynasty, bought the naming rights for the race. The race returned to its Saturday night date in 2015.
In 2017, the race would once again return to Sunday afternoon and the race was renamed under a new sponsorship deal with O'Reilly Auto Parts.
===Grandfather clause===
Samsung sponsored the race from 2002–2012, while RadioShack was previously a co-sponsor. The joint sponsorship was grandfathered in 2003 by NASCAR's grandfather clause when Nextel became a NASCAR sponsor, as they banned rival wireless sponsorships (Nextel used Motorola exclusively); the ban was lifted after the 2005 merger of Sprint and Nextel because Sprint is sold at RadioShack, and Sprint offers Samsung products.
==Past winners==
Year 	Date 	No.	Driver 	Team 	Manufacturer	Race Distance	Race Distance 	Race Time	Average Speed(mph)	Report
Year 	Date 	No.	Driver 	Team 	Manufacturer	Laps 	Miles (km) 	Race Time	Average Speed(mph)	Report
1997 	April 6 	99 	Jeff Burton 	Roush Racing 	Ford 	334 	501 (806.281) 	4:00:16 	125.111 	Report
1998 	April 5 	6 	Mark Martin 	Roush Racing 	Ford 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:39:47 	136.771 	Report
1999 	March 28 	5 	Terry Labonte 	Hendrick Motorsports 	Chevrolet 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:28:21 	144.276 	Report
2000 	April 2 	8 	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc. 	Chevrolet 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:49:12 	131.152 	Report
2001 	April 1 	88 	Dale Jarrett 	Robert Yates Racing 	Ford 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:31:59 	141.804 	Report
2002 	April 8* 	17 	Matt Kenseth 	Roush Racing 	Ford 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:31:01 	142.453 	Report
2003 	March 30 	12 	Ryan Newman 	Penske Racing 	Dodge 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:43:28 	134.517 	Report
2004 	April 4 	38 	Elliott Sadler 	Robert Yates Racing 	Ford 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:36:30 	138.845 	Report
2005 	April 17 	16 	Greg Biffle 	Roush Racing 	Ford 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:51:08 	130.055 	Report
2006 	April 9 	9 	Kasey Kahne 	Evernham Motorsports 	Dodge 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:37:55 	137.943 	Report
2007 	April 15 	31 	Jeff Burton 	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:39:41 	143.359 	Report
2008 	April 6 	99 	Carl Edwards 	Roush Fenway Racing 	Ford 	339* 	508.5 (818.351)	3:30:41 	144.814 	Report
2009 	April 5 	24 	Jeff Gordon 	Hendrick Motorsports 	Chevrolet 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:25:22 	146.372 	Report
2010 	April 19* 	11 	Denny Hamlin 	Joe Gibbs Racing 	Toyota 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:25:34 	146.23 	Report
2011*	April 9 	17 	Matt Kenseth 	Roush Fenway Racing 	Ford 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:21:26 	149.231 	Report
2012 	April 14 	16 	Greg Biffle 	Roush Fenway Racing 	Ford 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:07:12 	160.577 	Report
2013 	April 13 	18 	Kyle Busch 	Joe Gibbs Racing 	Toyota 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:27:40 	144.751 	Report
2014 	April 7* 	22 	Joey Logano 	Team Penske 	Ford 	340* 	510 (820.765) 	3:39:02 	134.191 	Report
2015 	April 11 	48 	Jimmie Johnson 	Hendrick Motorsports 	Chevrolet 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:33:57 	140.5 	Report
2016 	April 9–10*	18 	Kyle Busch 	Joe Gibbs Racing 	Toyota 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:37:16 	138.355 	Report
2017 	April 9 	48 	Jimmie Johnson 	Hendrick Motorsports 	Chevrolet 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:24:18 	147.137 	Report
2018 	April 8 	18 	Kyle Busch 	Joe Gibbs Racing 	Toyota 	334 	501 (806.281) 	3:32:07 	141.714 	Report
===Notes===
*2002, 2010, & 2014: Race moved from Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon due to rain.
*2008 and 2014: Race extended due to a NASCAR Overtime finish
*2011: First scheduled night event in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series history at Texas Motor Speedway.
*2016: Race was delayed by rain for 2 hours. Race was completed early Sunday morning at 2:45 am CT.
===Multiple winners (drivers)===
# Wins	Driver 	Years Won
3 	Kyle Busch 	2013, 2016, 2018
2 	Jeff Burton 	1997, 2007
2 	Matt Kenseth 	2002, 2011
2 	Greg Biffle 	2005, 2012
2 	Jimmie Johnson	2015, 2017
===Multiple winners (teams)===
# Wins	Team 	Years Won
7 	Roush Fenway Racing 	1997, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2012
4 	Hendrick Motorsports	1999, 2009, 2015, 2017
4 	Joe Gibbs Racing 	2010, 2013, 2016, 2018
2 	Robert Yates Racing 	2001, 2004
2 	Team Penske 	2003, 2014
===Manufacturer wins===
# Wins	Manufacturer	Years Won
10 	Ford 	1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014
6 	Chevrolet 	1999, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2015, 2017
4 	Toyota 	2010, 2013, 2016, 2018
2 	Dodge 	2003, 2006
==Television broadcasters==
Year	Network	Lap-by-lap	Color commentator(s)
1997	CBS 	Ken Squier	Ned JarrettBuddy Baker
1998	CBS 	Mike Joy 	Ned JarrettBuddy Baker
1999	CBS 	Mike Joy 	Ned JarrettBuddy Baker
2000	CBS 	Mike Joy 	Ned JarrettBuddy Baker
2001	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2002	Fox FX	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2003	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2004	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2005	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2006	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2007	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2008	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2009	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2010	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2011	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2012	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2013	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2014	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2015	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripLarry McReynolds
2016	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripJeff Gordon
2017	Fox 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripJeff Gordon
2018	FS1 	Mike Joy 	Darrell WaltripJeff Gordon
===Notes===
*The 2002 race, which was to be shown on Fox, was postponed to Monday on FX due to Fox's weekday programming. Some Fox affiliates aired the race despite this.
==References==
==External links==
*NASCAR Commentators Crews and Networks
*Ratings For NASCAR's Spring Texas Race Since 1997