2008 Samsung 500

The 2008 Samsung 500 was the seventh race for the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and run on Sunday, April 6th at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The race was broadcast on television by Fox starting at 1:30 PM US EDT, and broadcast via radio and Sirius Satellite Radio on the Performance Racing Network beginning at 1 PM US EDT.

Pre-Race News

*Richard Childress Racing announced plans to add a fourth Sprint Cup team in 2009, with sponsorship from General Mills, coming over from Petty Enterprises on the #33 Chevrolet. No driver has been announced as of yet. On a related note for Petty Enterprises, Chad McCumbee replaced Kyle Petty in the #45 Dodge ride this week, however for the second straight race, the #45 car failed to qualify.
*BAM Racing will skip both this week's race and the following race at Phoenix as their transition to Toyota has been taller than they thought.

Qualifying

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won his first pole as a member of Hendrick Motorsports, with a speed of just under 191 mph. However, the major story to come out of this was the spectacular crash of Michael McDowell into Turn One during his second qualifying lap in the Aaron's #00 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing, plowing head first into the SAFER barrier, yet escaping without injury but destroying his primary car and forcing him into the rear of the field in a backup.

Failed to qualify: Burney Lamar (#08), Dario Franchitti (#40), Chad McCumbee (#45).

Race

The race was won by Carl Edwards.