{"id":15798,"date":"2018-04-05T17:39:56","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T22:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=15798"},"modified":"2018-04-05T17:39:56","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T22:39:56","slug":"nascar-texas-weekend-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/05\/nascar-texas-weekend-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Texas Weekend Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Big names hunt for first win at Texas<\/b><\/p>\n

When one driver dominates a venue as Jimmie Johnson has done at this week\u2019s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race stop, Texas Motor Speedway, it\u2019s easy to forget how many of the sport\u2019s very best have not donned that Texas winner\u2019s cowboy hat. Yet.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The crew of Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, work on the car during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 13, 2017 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Reigning Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. and former title-winner Brad Keselowski top the A-list of names still working for that first celebration in Texas\u2019 one-of-a-kind Victory Lane.<\/p>\n

Of the drivers taking the green flag in Sunday\u2019s O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts 500 (2 p.m. ET on FS1), only three \u2013 Johnson (seven wins), Denny Hamlin (two wins) and Kyle Busch (two wins) \u2013 have multiple victories on the 1.5-mile Fort Worth high banks.<\/p>\n

Truex is 0-for-25 at Texas. Last week\u2019s Martinsville, Virginia, winner Clint Bowyer is 0-for-24 and Keselowski is 0-for-19.<\/p>\n

Johnson is the defending winner of the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts 500. Kevin Harvick\u2019s win at Texas last November was his first in 30 tries.<\/p>\n

The three drivers directly behind Harvick that day drove Toyotas and that included race runner-up, Truex, who was leading with 10 laps remaining.<\/p>\n

The Monster Energy Series champion is six-for-six in top-10 finishes since joining Furniture Row Racing and working with crew chief Cole Pearn. And he arrives in Fort Worth on a streak of five straight top-five finishes in 2018.<\/p>\n

In two of the last four Texas races, Truex has led the most laps \u2013 141 laps in spring of 2016 and 107 in last year\u2019s fall race. Nine of his career 16 victories have come at 1.5-mile tracks, like Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mile-and-a-half tracks have been good to us and that\u2019s why we go into a race like Texas with plenty of confidence,\u201d Truex said. \u201cBut at the same time, you can\u2019t depend on what you had or did in the past at these tracks. Rules and track conditions continue to change and you have to be ready to make the right adjustments to offset the changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems that something has always come up to bite us late in the race at Texas. There\u2019s not much you can do but just keep plugging away and hope that the chips will fall in our favor this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson also arrives with plenty of motivation to add his historic win totals. He\u2019s on a career long 29-race winless streak and uncharacteristically hasn\u2019t led a lap of competition yet in the famed No. 48 Chevrolet. He sits 17th in the points standings, his lowest ever position for this point in the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a great vacation and Easter break so we are recharged and ready to get back to it,\u2019\u2019 Johnson said. \u201cWe left Texas scratching our heads last fall but again have been making small gains this season with the new Chevy Camaro ZL1 and are ready to get back to work.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

BACK TO WORK<\/b><\/p>\n

The Xfinity Series returns to action after a two-week respite and JR Motorsports drivers continue to lead the way atop the standings. Veteran Elliott Sadler \u2013 who has a Monster Energy Series win at Texas in 2004 \u2013 leads two JRM teammates, rookie Tyler Reddick (by 4 points) and Justin Allgaier (by 5 points).<\/p>\n

Sadler is the only Xfinity or Cup driver with five \u201csingle-digit\u201d finishes in the season\u2019s first five races. And he\u2019s never finished lower than 10th place in his four starts with the JR Motorsports team at Texas.<\/p>\n

Allgaier is coming off three top-three finishes in the three-race West Coast Swing and his 90 laps out front in that span is the most among Xfinity regulars. Reddick has a win and three top-five finishes in his six career 1.5-mile starts in the Xfinity Series and JRM driver Michel Annett has led more laps at Texas than any other 1.5-miler he\u2019s competed on in the series.<\/p>\n

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/b><\/p>\n

Next Race:<\/b> O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts 500<\/p>\n

The Place:<\/b> Texas Motor Speedway (Fort Worth, Texas)<\/p>\n

The Date:<\/b> Sunday, April 8<\/p>\n

The Time:<\/b> 2 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

TV:<\/b> FS1, 2 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Radio:<\/b> PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio<\/p>\n

Distance:<\/b> 500 miles (334 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 85), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 170), Final Stage (Ends on lap 334)<\/p>\n

What to Watch For: <\/b>Kyle Busch is a two-time Texas winner and looking to score his first win of 2018 on the high banks. With three runner-up finishes in the season\u2019s first six races, he holds the championship lead by eight points over reigning Cup champ Martin Truex Jr. \u2026 Denny Hamlin (who swept the 2010 races) and Jimmie Johnson (who won three straight from 2014-2015) are the only two drivers entered this weekend to have won consecutive races at the track. \u2026 Team Penske\u2019s Joey Logano became the youngest Texas winner in 2014 at the age of 23 years, 10 months. \u2026 Xfinity standout Daniel Hemric will make his Cup debut this weekend in the Richard Childress Racing No. 8 Chevrolet. \u2026 Jamie McMurray hopes to break what is the longest Texas winless streak among this week\u2019s drivers. He is 0-for-28. His Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyle Larson is also winless at the track, but finished runner-up to Johnson in this race last year. \u2026 Texas native Chris Bueschler, who got married during the Cup off-weekend, is still looking for his first top-10 at his home state track. He had one (ninth place) in 2015 en route to the Xfinity Series championship.<\/p>\n

NASCAR Xfinity Series<\/b><\/p>\n

Next Race:<\/b> My Bariatric Solutions 300<\/p>\n

The Place:<\/b> Texas Motor Speedway<\/p>\n

The Date:<\/b> Saturday, April 7<\/p>\n

The Time:<\/b> 3 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

TV:<\/b> FOX, 3 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Radio:<\/b> PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio<\/p>\n

Distance:<\/b> 300 miles (200 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)<\/p>\n

What to Watch For: <\/b>Erik Jones is the defending and three-time Texas race winner in this series, sweeping both races in 2017. He also won at Fort Worth in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series in 2015. \u2026 The average age for the top-10 in the Xfinity standings is 26. Four of the top drivers are 22 years old or younger, including current championship runner-up Tyler Reddick (22 years old). \u2026 Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Blaney, and Ty Dillon are the Cup regulars entered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service   Big names hunt for first win at Texas When one driver dominates a venue as Jimmie Johnson has done at this week\u2019s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race stop, Texas Motor Speedway, it\u2019s easy to forget how many of the sport\u2019s very best have not donned that Texas winner\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,413,21],"class_list":["post-15798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-oreilly-auto-parts-500","tag-texas-motor-speedway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-46O","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/MENCS-TSS-No48Car-10132017.jpg?fit=3672%2C2448","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15798"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15800,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15798\/revisions\/15800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}