FORT WORTH, Texas — There was a 13-car wreck in the first turn on the first lap of the first race. And the transition onto the frontstretch was tight and treacherous.

NASCAR drivers hated Texas Motor Speedway. After that inaugural Cup race in 1997, Rusty Wallace said the new 1Z\x-mile track would need "a total reconstruction to get it right."

More problems followed when NASCAR returned the next year. Qualifying had to be postponed because of water seeping through that first turn on a sunny day.

"Frustrating doesn't say it strong enough," TMS president Eddie Gossage said. "It was just so disgusting to go through those early years."

Much has changed since the problematic start — mainly, the perceptions that drivers have about the track. Texas wraps up its 10th season of racing this weekend, and now is considered by many to be one of NASCAR's best venues.

"Texas is a great race track," said Matt Kenseth, the points leader with three races left in NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup.

"It wasn't exactly what it needed to be when we started going there," Kevin Harvick said. "They did whatever it took to make the race track right."

A $4 million restructuring after the 1998 race included modifications of the entrances and exits of the turns and a new drainage system. The track was repaved again in 2001, and the high-banked quadoval has seasoned with plenty of racing since.

Drivers and their sponsors like more than the fast track. They love the big money and big crowds in Texas, where nearly 200,000 people have attended every Cup race — even 185,000 on a Monday makeup after a rainout in 2002.

The $7.1 million purse for Sunday's Dickies 500 is the largest of the 10 Chase races.

"When it pays as much as Texas pays, it has to mean something," said Kasey Kahne, who in April became the 11th different winner in 11 Cup races at Texas and won $530,164. "You have Indianapolis, you have Daytona, you have Texas and you have Charlotte. Those four tracks mean a lot."

Two years ago, Kahne was the runner-up in the closest Texas Cup race, a half-car length behind Elliott Sadler. Kahne still earned $335,550.

"To hear Kasey Kahne say that ... Wow, that is from one of the young drivers. That's pretty satisfying," Gossage said. "Even the older guys I've known for a long time, some of them tell me it's their favorite track. That's a radical departure from where it was the first few years. But I never doubted that."

When Bruton Smith announced in November 1994 that he was going to build TMS, the plans were for 75,000 seats. But Smith and Gossage kept adding. By the time the facility opened, there were 159,585 permanent seats — the most for a sports complex built from scratch.

"That's setting a standard that we want to be the best," Gossage said. "But now we have to fill it up. I was concerned, but it's worked just fine."

Thousands of fans showed up for the groundbreaking two years before the first race, many stuffing dirt in their pockets as a souvenir. Smith knew he had chosen the right location.

"That's when I knew it was going to be a success, that support that the fans had that day," said Texas native Terry Labonte, a two-time Cup champion who was part of that ceremony and this week starts the final race of his career at TMS.

Smith owns five other tracks that host NASCAR events: Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, Sonoma and Las Vegas.

"Texas is No. 1. There is no other speedway like it," Smith said. "It's head and shoulders above everything."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. got his first Cup (2000) and Busch (1998) victories at Texas, which is one of only three tracks where four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon hasn't won. It's a favorite track for both drivers.

"Everybody out there has done an amazing job reacting to the challenges that have been there since the beginning," Gordon said. "The track has matured now into a great race track. Yes, it has its challenges. Yes, it has its bumps and transitions. ... But it's probably the No. 1 facility, for sure, that we go to."

NASCAR awarded Texas a long-awaited second Nextel Cup date when a November race was added last year to the traditional spring race. That move helped settle a lawsuit filed against NASCAR by a track shareholder.

TMS officials filed their own lawsuit in 2001, against CART after the open-wheel series canceled a race a few hours before it was to start. The turbocharged cars were going too fast, more than 235 mph, creating concern drivers would black out during the race.

Indy Racing League cars have been a great fit at Texas, with some of that open-wheel series' closest and most exciting races. Before adding the second NASCAR weekend, TMS hosted two IRL races a year — usually the first after the Indianapolis 500 and the series finale.