Fast Facts: Castrol EDGE Townsville 400

1. This year's Castrol Edge Townsville 400 returns to its original format with a pair of 200-kilometre races but it's an event where winners don't necessarily need to start at the front of the field to win.

Only once - on Saturday in 2010 - has the car that started on pole position (Jamie Whincup) gone on to win the race and 53.8% of Townsville winners have started beyond the first two rows of the grid.

Cars starting on the front row of the grid in Townsville have won just three of the 13 races held there.

2. Team BOC's Jason Bright will celebrate his 500th V8 Supercars Championship race in the Saturday race at the Castrol Edge Townsville 400.

The 1998 Bathurst winner will become the fourth man to start 500 races, joining Russell Ingall, Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander in the '500 Club'.

His last victory came at Pukekohe last year and he's still searching for his first Townsville podium finish given his best result there is a fifth in 2013.

3. Garry Rogers' Volvo team will also rack up a milestone in Townsville - the Saturday race will be its 600th V8 Supercars Championship race.

Only DJR Team Penske (formerly Dick Johnson Racing) and the Holden Racing Team have started more races.

The team holds a special place in Townsville V8 Supercar history books given it took pole position for the inaugural race in 2009 with Lee Holdsworth.

4. Despite their recent patchy form, Red Bull Racing Australia is the team with the runs on the board in Townsville.

It haswon seven of the 13 races held there and five of the last eight with a pair of 1-2 finishes included in that period.

5. An amazing fact about the Castrol Edge Townsville 400 is that only eight different drivers have finished on the podium over the course of its six-year and 13 race history.

Mark Winterbottom, Will Davison, Garth Tander, James Courtney, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup took every single podium finish in Townsville between them from 2009 to 2012 before Kiwis Fabian Coulthard and Shane van Gisbergen added themselves to the list in 2013.

6. The Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander may not have won as many Townsville races as Jamie Whincup (who has seven to Tander's three) but the three-time Bathurst winner has an incredible record of podium finishes in North Queensland.

He's finished on the podium in 10 of the 13 Townsville races and has only once finished outside the top 10 - an amazing run of performances.

7. Only four teams have won V8 Supercar races in Townsville.

Triple Eight (seven), Holden Racing Team (three), Prodrive Racing Australia (two) and Dick Johnson Racing (one) are the only teams to greet the chequered flag first in North Queensland.

8. David Reynolds may have broken his own winless streak at Hidden Valley in Darwin but no Ford driver has won a V8 Supercars Championship race on a street circuit since he and Dean Canto won on the Gold Coast in 2013 - a total of 58 races ago.

9. Ash Walsh and Andre Heimgartner are competing in the main races at the Castrol Edge Townsville 400 for the first time in their careers but they are no strangers to the circuit.

Heimgartner finished runner-up to Chris Pither in last year's Dunlop Series round and has also raced Porsche Carrera Cup in Townsville in 2012.

Walsh won last year's Sunday race in the Dunlop Series and has competed every year in the category in Townsville since 2011.

10. A unique stat in the six-year history of the Townsville event is the fact that no V8 Supercars Championship race there has been held where all cars that started the race have finished it!

It's a great reflection of the tricky nature of the Reid Park circuit.

Click here for all the TV broacast details for the July 10-12 Castrol EDGE Townsville 400.

The Castrol EDGE Townsville 400 will be shown on Saturday and Sunday on Channel TEN, with coverage beginning at 12pm and races LIVE from 4.15pm EST each day.

FOX SPORTS 506 will show the weekend in full kicking off on Friday and including all three practice sessions from 7am, as well as the weekend's qualifying and racing LIVE, starting at 7.30am on Saturday and 7.55am on Sunday.