The 2017 AAA Texas 500 was a

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

race which was held on November 5, 2017, at

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway (formerly known as Texas International Raceway from September to December 1996) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. It has hosted various major races since its inaugura ...

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

. Contested over 334 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) intermediate quad-oval, it was the 34th race of the

2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series file:Erik Jones 2017 NASCAR Media Tour.jpg, Erik Jones, the 2017 NASCAR Rookie of the Year file:Martin Truex Jr. Sonoma 2017.jpg, Toyota won their second manufacturer's championship with 16 wins and 1292 points. The 2017 Monster Energy N ...

season, eighth race of the Playoffs, and second race of the Round of 8.

Report

Background

Texas Motor Speedway is a

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

located in the northernmost portion of the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

city of

– the portion located in

Denton County, Texas Denton County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 906,422, making it the seventh-most populous county in Texas. The county seat is Denton, Texas, Denton. The county, which ...

. The track measures 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 Atlanta Motor Speedway (currently known as EchoPark Speedway for sponsorship reasons, formerly known as the Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Hampton, Georg ...

and

Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway (known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009 due to sponsorship reasons) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It has hosted various major races since it ...

(formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway). The track is owned by

Speedway Motorsports Speedway Motorsports, LLC is an American company that owns and manages auto racing facilities that host races sanctioned by NASCAR, NHRA, World of Outlaws and other racing series. The company was founded by Bruton Smith and has its headquarters ...

, Inc., the same company that owns Atlanta and Charlotte Motor Speedways, as well as the short-track

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway (formerly known as the Bristol International Raceway from 1978 to 1996 and as the Bristol International Speedway from 1961 to 1978) is a oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in Bristol, Tennessee. The track ha ...

Entry list

Daniel Hemric Daniel Brian Hemric (born January 27, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 19 Chevrolet Silverado RST for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing and part-time ...

filled in for Menard for Qualifying, First and Second Practices as Menard and his wife, Jennifer, welcomed their second child that week.

First practice

Ryan Blaney Ryan Michael Blaney (born December 31, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 12 Ford Mustang (seventh generation), Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske. He i ...

was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 27.009 seconds and a speed of .

Qualifying

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American auto racing driver. He is best known for competing in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2000–2022, last driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. Busch is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series ch ...

scored the pole for the race with a time of 26.877 and a speed of .

Qualifying results

Practice (post-qualifying)

Second practice

was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.159 seconds and a speed of .

Final practice

Denny Hamlin James Dennis Alan Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing. He also co-owns and op ...

was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.203 seconds and a speed of .

Race

Race results

Stage results

Stage 1 ''Laps:'' 85 Stage 2 ''Laps:'' 85

Final stage results

Stage 3 ''Laps:'' 164

Race statistics

* Lead changes: 13 among different drivers * Cautions/Laps: 8 for 40 * Red flags: 1 for 10 minutes and 29 seconds * Time of race: 3 hours, 29 minutes, 52 seconds * Average speed:

Media

Television

NBCSN NBCSN (also known as NBC Sports Network) was an American sports television television channel, channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Lif ...

covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen and

Dale Jarrett Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is an American former race car driver and current racing commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series ...

had the call in the regular booth for the race. Two–time Texas winner

Jeff Burton Jeffrey Tyler Burton (born June 29, 1967), nicknamed "the Mayor", is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He is a member of the Burton racing family. He scored 23 career victories in the NASCAR ...

and

Steve Letarte Steven Letarte (born May 14, 1979) is an American professional NASCAR crew chief and TV sportscaster who works as a color commentator for ''Amazon Prime'', ''TNT'' and ''NASCAR on NBC''. He also works as a consultant for Spire Motorsports, a ...

had the call in the NBC's Stock Car Smarts Booth for the race. Dave Burns, Marty Snider and

Kelli Stavast Kelli L. Stavast is an American sportscaster who formerly worked for NBC Sports as a pit reporter for both their NASCAR (in both the Cup and Xfinity Series) and IndyCar Series coverage. She has reported for numerous other forms of motorspor ...

reported from pit lane during the race.

Radio

PRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on

Sirius XM NASCAR Radio The following is a list of channels on Sirius XM and Sirius XM Canada. There are over 150 full-time channels on Sirius XM, over 140 of which are on Sirius XM Canada. Not included are channels that are specifically used for live sports programmin ...

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings *Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

{{2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup 2017 in sports in Texas

AAA Texas 500 Stock car races in the NASCAR Cup Series have been held at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas since 1997. The race's trophy is in the shape of a cowboy hat on top of a piston. Traditionally, the winning driver wears a black cowboy ha ...

NASCAR races at Texas Motor Speedway