Courtesy of Texas Motor Speedway Media Relations
FORT WORTH, Texas – For Carl Edwards, Texas Motor Speedway will forever hold a place in his heart.
Site of the final victory of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career, Edwards will return to world-renowned motorsports facility on Saturday, Nov. 3 during the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR tripleheader playoff weekend, where he’ll be inducted into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Edwards will become the 20th member inducted into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame when he is honored during a special ceremony held in The Grand Ballroom of The Speedway Club, beginning at 11 a.m. CT. Other honorees include team owner Joe Gibbs, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick and NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Christopher Bell.
The Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame ceremony serves as a major fundraiser for the Speedway Children’s Charities-Texas Chapter. Tickets are priced at $75 and includes a gourmet Texas barbecue.
Edwards wasted little time trying to find his way to Victory Lane at Texas Motor Speedway, winning in just his second career Cup Series start on Nov. 6, 2005 in the Dickies 500. Three years later, he became the first driver to sweep both Cup Series races in the same weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, taking April’s Samsung 500 and November’s Dickies 500 in 2008. And on Nov. 6, 2016 – exactly 11 years after his first victory at TMS – Edwards picked up the final win of his Cup Series career when he took the checkered flag in the rain-shortened AAA Texas 500.
Edwards was also a two-time winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, having won the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge in November 2010 and the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 in April 2011.
Gibbs will receive the Bruton Smith Legend Award for his leadership in his role as a championship-winning team owner. With more than 300 wins in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series, Gibbs has already solidified himself as one of the top owners in NASCAR history. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, winning three Super Bowls as head coach of the Washington Redskins. Joe Gibbs Racing has won four Cup Series championships, five championships in the Xfinity Series and has been successful at Texas Motor Speedway, earning seven total wins with four different drivers, including victories in three of the last five races. Gibbs is also the author of the New York Times Bestselling book “Game Plan For Life”, which also is the name of his corresponding ministry (www.gameplanforlife.com)
Harvick will be honored with the 2017 Racer of the Year Award after a pair of strong finishes in April and a drought-ending victory in the fall. A day after placing third in the My Bariatrics 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race, Harvick led 77 laps and finished fourth in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.
Last November, Harvick returned to Fort Worth as a man on a mission. With only a road course win on his 2017 resume through 33 races, Harvick punched his ticket to the Championship 4 when he overtook Martin Truex Jr. with 10 laps to go and pulled away for the first Cup Series victory of his career in 30 starts at TMS.
Christopher Bell could be well on his way to a NASCAR Xfinity Series championship in 2018, but it was the compassion he showed en route to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship in 2017 that earned him the Sportsmanship Award.
Calling it “a dream come true” to finally win at his home track of Texas Motor Speedway in June of 2017, when Bell reached Victory Lane his initial thoughts were not about raising the trophy but the status of Timothy Peters, Austin Wayne Self and Johnny Sauter after the trio was involved in a violent white-flag wreck that forced the race to finish under caution.
Said Bell moments after arriving in Victory Lane: “First off, I want to make sure everyone is okay. It’s kind of a sorrow victory. … That was a pretty bad flip and I’ve taken my fair share of flips and it hurts a lot worse whenever it’s in the grass like that one was, so I hope he’s (Peters) okay. That’s the most important part.”
For more information or to purchase tickets to the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Luncheon, call Speedway Children’s Charities at (817) 215-8421 or visit www.scctexas.org.
The Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame, traditionally held during Texas Motor Speedway’s spring NASCAR weekend, will revert back to that tradition in 2019.
The November NASCAR Playoffs weekend features the Camping World Truck Series JAG Metals 350 on Friday, Nov. 2; Xfinity Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 on Saturday, Nov. 3; and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA Texas 500 on Sunday, Nov. 4.
For more race information or to purchase tickets to the AAA Texas 500 tripleheader weekend, please visit www.texasmotorspeedway.com or call the speedway ticket office at (817) 215-8500.
