2014 O'Reilly Auto Parts 300

The 2014 O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 was the sixth stock car race of the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series season, and the 18th iteration of the event. The race was held on Friday, April 4, 2014, in Fort Worth, Texas at Texas Motor Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent tri-oval shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete. In the closing laps of the race, JR Motorsports driver Chase Elliott would manage to pull away from the field to win his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series victory and his first of the season.^[1] To fill out the podium, Kyle Busch, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, and Kyle Larson, driving for Turner Scott Motorsports, would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The track measures 1.5 miles (2.4 km) 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 and Charlotte Motor Speedway (formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway). The track is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., the same company that owns Atlanta and Charlotte Motor Speedway, as well as the short-track Bristol Motor Speedway.

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

Practice

First practice

The first practice session was held on Thursday, April 3, at 5:00 PM CST. The session would last for one hour.^[2] Ty Dillon, driving for Richard Childress Racing, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 29.916 and an average speed of 180.505 miles per hour (290.495 km/h).^[3]

Final practice

The final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Thursday, April 3, at 6:30 PM CST. The session would last for one hour and 30 minutes.^[2] Ty Dillon, driving for Richard Childress Racing, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 29.940 and an average speed of 180.361 miles per hour (290.263 km/h).^[4]

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Friday, April 4, at 3:10 PM CST.^[2] Since Texas Motor Speedway is at least 1.25 miles (2.01 km) in length, the qualifying system was a multi-car system that included three rounds. The first round was 25 minutes, where every driver would be able to set a lap within the 25 minutes. Then, the second round would consist of the fastest 24 cars in Round 1, and drivers would have 10 minutes to set a lap. Round 3 consisted of the fastest 12 drivers from Round 2, and the drivers would have 5 minutes to set a time. Whoever was fastest in Round 3 would win the pole.^[5]

Kevin Harvick, driving for JR Motorsports, would win the pole after setting a time of 29.195 and an average speed of 184.963 mph (297.669 km/h) in the third round.^[6]

Full qualifying results

*Time not available.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 3 1 Chase Elliott 224 1 2 Regan Smith 222 (-2) 3 Ty Dillon 214 (-10) 1 4 Elliott Sadler 208 (–16) 3 5 Trevor Bayne 206 (–18) 6 Brendan Gaughan 193 (–31) 7 Brian Scott 192 (–32) 8 Dylan Kwasniewski 179 (–45) 9 James Buescher 176 (–48) 2 10 Ryan Reed 141 (–83) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References