{"id":22597,"date":"2018-11-02T17:07:59","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T22:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=22597"},"modified":"2018-11-02T17:12:20","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T22:12:20","slug":"nascar-weekend-preview-for-texas-motor-speedway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/02\/nascar-weekend-preview-for-texas-motor-speedway\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Weekend Preview for Texas Motor Speedway"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Martin Truex Jr.<\/strong> arrives at Texas Motor Speedway<\/a> still feeling perhaps a bit robbed of at least two Playoff victories, including last week at Martinsville Speedway when a final lap tussle between Truex and Joey Logano resulted in Logano\u2019s victory and a ticket for him to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship race later this month in Miami, Florida.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Bass Pro Shops\/Tracker Boats Toyota, leads Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 5, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The near-miss last week with Logano was the fourth-time Truex has been in late-race contention for a victory in the Playoffs and come just short of hoisting a trophy. So Truex may very well be the driver most looking forward to a hard-nosed redemption opportunity this week in the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

The reigning Monster Energy Series champion has never won at Texas, but he sure has come close. You\u2019d be hard-pressed to a find a more motivated organization this week than Truex\u2019 No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota team, which is disbanding at the conclusion of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have faced plenty of adversity in the Playoffs so far but we\u2019re still in it,” said Truex, who is fourth in the standings – tied with seven-race winner Kevin Harvick – 23-points behind Playoff standings leader Kyle Busch.<\/p>\n

The top four drivers in the standings will be championship eligible for the Nov. 18 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. That includes any race winners in the next two weeks among the eight current Playoff drivers, plus the highest ranking driver (s) in the standings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should have been in Victory Lane at both Charlotte and Martinsville and have a secured transfer spot for the championship round at Homestead,” Truex said, referring to a pair of races where he was overtaken by daring last lap passes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur guys at the track and at the shop are giving everything they have. They all want that championship as bad as I do. None of us are quitting because the team is shutting down at the end of the season. We all have one mission and that\u2019s to successfully defend our championship.”<\/p>\n

Frankly, there would be no better time for Truex to score his first Texas win than on Sunday. He had an incredible streak of six straight top-10 finishes at the track prior to this April; when his car had a flat tire and hit the wall only 80 laps into the 334-lap race.<\/p>\n

Truex was runner-up to Harvick in this race last year en route to a dramatic career first championship. He was runner-up in the spring of 2013 and has four top-three finishes at the track. He\u2019s led 363 of his 595 career laps led (61 percent) at Texas in just the last five races.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sure have had our opportunities to cash it in at Texas, but have not been able to close the deal there,” Truex said. \u201cIf we can stay away from mistakes, accidents and continue to have fast pit stops we should be right there battling it out as one of the contenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think strategy at Texas all depends on how the cautions fall, what\u2019s going on in the race and what kind of day the Playoff drivers are having. I try not to worry about all the things on the outside, what people are talking about. All the noise. Just block it all out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like that\u2019s one of my strong suits as a driver and hopefully that will work in my favor again.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

XFINITY IS UP FOR GRABS<\/b><\/p>\n

A first-lap accident collecting four Xfinity Series Playoff cars in this round\u2019s opener at Kansas Speedway two weeks ago shuffled the championship standings significantly and really makes this week\u2019s O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway (at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) even more significant in the title hunt.<\/p>\n

The two winningest drivers of 2018 were caught up in the Kansas melee \u2013 six-time race winner Christopher Bell and five-time race winner, regular season champion Justin Allgaier among them. The result is a points shuffle that has early season championship leader Elliott Sadler leading the way again.<\/p>\n

Sadler, who paced the championship field for 15 weeks early in the season, announced that this will be his final full season of NASCAR competition. And he\u2019d obviously, like nothing more than to hoist a championship trophy on his way out.<\/p>\n

He holds a one-point advantage on second place Daniel Hemric, who is three points up on third place rookie Tyler Reddick and 13 points ahead of fourth place Bell.  Just behind and needing to break into the top four to advance to the Nov. 17 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway are Matt Tifft (one-point behind Bell), Allgaier (-5), Cole Custer (-23) and Austin Cindric (-43).<\/p>\n

Although Sadler hasn\u2019t won an Xfinity race at the Texas track \u2013 nor have any of the 2018 title hopefuls – he does have an impressive 10 top-10 finishes in the last 11 races \u2013 the other result, 11th. His best showing is a runner-up finish in 1998 but he was fourth-place in the 2017 Playoff race \u2013 first among the Playoff contenders.<\/p>\n

GO TIME IN TRUCKS<\/b><\/p>\n

Johnny Sauter\u2019s victory last week at Martinsville Speedway marked a career-high six season wins and serves as the golden ticket for an opportunity to defend his 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship on Nov. 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.<\/p>\n

And there are no expectations for the veteran to slow down soon. He is the two-time defending winner at Texas Motor Speedway, site of Friday night\u2019s Jag Metals 350 (at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In fact Sauter (five wins) is one winner\u2019s cowboy hat away from tying Todd Bodine for the most series victories (six) at the track. A win would also put him one-victory shy of Brendan Gaughan\u2019s record of four consecutive wins at the track.<\/p>\n

And yet for all of Sauter\u2019s hard work, the 2018 championship remains very much in heated contention. With Sauter already in the Championship 4, Noah Gragson now leads the standings with a 24-point edge over Justin Haley in fifth place and 34 points over Matt Crafton in sixth.<\/p>\n

However, Haley is only two points behind fourth place Grant Enfinger and 15 points behind third place Brett Moffitt \u2013 keeping this weekend\u2019s Texas race crucial in a tightly-contested run to be championship eligible.<\/p>\n

Sauter and Crafton \u2013 who won in 2014 \u2013 are the only two drivers currently championship eligible with previous victories at Texas. In fact, this is only Moffitt\u2019s second race at the 1.5-mile speedway and the fourth ever for Gragson, Haley and Enfinger.<\/p>\n

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

Next Race: AAA Texas 500<\/b><\/p>\n

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

The Date: Sunday, Nov. 4<\/b><\/p>\n

The Time: 3 p.m. ET<\/b><\/p>\n

TV: NBCSN<\/b><\/p>\n

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

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

Stage 2 (Ends on lap 170), and Final Stage (Ends on lap 334)<\/b><\/p>\n

What to Watch For:<\/b> When it comes to Texas, Jimmie Johnson has proven himself the master. His seven wins is most all-time and includes an unprecedented three consecutive wins from 2014-15. His last win was April, 2017. \u2026. Johnson\u2019s seven win total is more than double that of any other driver in Sunday\u2019s race. \u2026 Kevin Harvick is the defending winner of the Playoff race at Texas \u2013 scoring his only victory in 31 starts. \u2026 Current championship leader and regular season champ Kyle Busch won this race in April, finishing just ahead of Harvick. It was Busch\u2019s first win of the season and he proceeded to win the next two races as well \u2013 at Bristol and Richmond. \u2026 Only four of the eight Playoff drivers have won on the Texas high banks \u2013 Kyle Busch (three times), Harvick (once), Joey Logano (once) and Kurt Busch (once). \u2026 For whatever reason TMS has lent itself to back-to-back winners more so than other tracks of similar age. Carl Edwards was the first to do it (2008), followed by Hamlin (2010) and then Johnson\u2019s threesome (2014-2015). These wins make up 20 percent of the races held at the track. \u2026The largest Margin of Victory in a Cup race was 25.6-seconds when Kurt Busch scored his only win at the track in 2009. Hamlin was second that day. \u2026 Current Xfinity Series championship leader Elliott Sadler holds the record for closest Margin of Victory at Texas. He edged then-teammate Kasey Kahne by .028-seconds to win in April, 2004. \u2026 Three times a non-Playoff driver has won the Playoff race at Texas. Tony Stewart did it in 2006 and Johnson did it twice in 2014 and 2015. \u2026. Chase Elliott\u2019s 7.4 average finish is best in the field among drivers with at least five starts. \u2026 David Ragan (April, 2011) and Martin Truex Jr. (Nov., 2007) won their first career pole positions at TMS. \u2026. Johnson leads all drivers in best average starting position (9.4) and Ryan Blaney is next best at 9.6. \u2026 Johnson is the all-time wins leader at 1.5-mile tracks, such as Texas. He has 28 victories. His former Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon is next on the list with 17. \u2026The deepest in the field a winner has started is 31st. Matt Kenseth won the race from that grid position in 2002. \u2026. Chevrolet has won twice as many Playoff races at Texas (seven) of the three manufacturers. Chevy and Ford are tied with 13 wins each in all races at TMS – best among the four manufacturers.<\/p>\n

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

Next Race: O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts 300<\/b><\/p>\n

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

The Date: Saturday, Nov. 3<\/b><\/p>\n

The Time: 4:30 p.m. ET<\/b><\/p>\n

TV: NBCSN<\/b><\/p>\n

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

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

Stage 2 (Ends on lap 90), and Final Stage (Ends on lap 200)<\/b><\/p>\n

What to Watch For:<\/b> Veteran Elliott Sadler has reclaimed the championship lead by a single point over Daniel Hemric. It\u2019s the first time Elliott has led the standings since the race at Kentucky Speedway this summer. \u2026. The first two TMS Playoff races were won by non-Playoff drivers. Kyle Larson won in 2016 and Erik Jones in 2017. In both races, the highest finishing Playoff driver was fourth. \u2026 None of the current championship eligible drivers have ever won at TMS. \u2026 Regular season champion and five-race winner Justin Allgaier is ranked sixth, 4-points behind fourth place Christopher Bell. He has never scored a top-five at TMS in 16 starts. His best finish is sixth \u2013 twice, in the 2011 and 2016 spring races. \u2026. Allgaier and the season\u2019s winningest driver – seven-time race winner Bell joined two other championship drivers in a Lap 1 incident in this Playoff round opener at Kansas Speedway two weeks ago. Bell is hopeful his fate improves this week as he has been good at Texas previously. He has two top-10 finishes in two starts including a runner-up to race winner to Ryan Blaney this April. \u2026 John Hunter Nemechek, a non-Playoff driver who won this round\u2019s opening race at Kansas two weeks ago, will be racing again in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet at Texas. \u2026. That 42-car has helped the Ganassi team to a 50-point advantage over JR Motorsport’s No. 1 Chevrolet in the series owner\u2019s championship. \u2026 Tyler Reddick reclaimed the rookie points lead following Kansas. He now holds a 10-point advantage over Bell. \u2026 Rookie Austin Cindric is ranked last among the eight Playoff drivers \u2013 43 points behind leader Sadler. He will be making his second series start at TMS. He finished ninth at the track this spring.<\/p>\n

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series<\/b><\/p>\n

Next Race: Jag Metals 350<\/b><\/p>\n

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

The Date: Friday, Nov. 2<\/b><\/p>\n

The Time: 8:30 p.m. ET<\/b><\/p>\n

TV: FS1<\/b><\/p>\n

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

Distance: 350 miles (147 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 35),<\/b><\/p>\n

Stage 2 (Ends on lap 70), and Final Stage (Ends on lap 147)<\/b><\/p>\n

What to Watch For:<\/b> Johnny Sauter earned the first of four positions in the championship round with a victory last week at Martinsville, Va. \u2026 Noah Gragson leads the points standings now with a 24-point advantage on the field. \u2026 Justin Haley (-2) and Matt Crafton (-10) are just below that championship four cutoff line – ranked fifth and sixth headed to Texas. \u2026Sauter is the winningest driver in the field this week with five previous Texas wins, one short of Todd Bodine\u2019s six-victory record. Twice he has won back-to-back races (2012 sweep, 2017 Fall and 2018 spring). \u2026. Sauter\u2019s older brother Jay Sauter won this race in 1999. They are the only racing brothers both to hoist a trophy in Texas Victory Lane. \u2026Brendan Gaughan holds the record for consecutive victories at the track. He won four straight sweeping the 2002 and 2003 seasons. \u2026. There are still two pairs of teammates among the six Playoff-eligible drivers. GMS Racing\u2019s Sauter and Haley. And ThorSport Racing\u2019s Crafton and Grant Enfinger. \u2026 Four Playoff drivers have fewer than four previous starts at the big Texas track. This will be Brett Moffitt\u2019s second start. It will be Gragson, Haley and Enfinger\u2019s fourth start. \u2026Six drivers are making their Texas Motor Speedway debut this weekend. \u2026While Sauter leads this week\u2019s field in wins (five), veteran Crafton leads all-time in most top-fives (14) and top-10s (23) at the track. \u2026 GMS Racing leads the owner\u2019s championship by 29 points over Kyle Busch Motorsports. \u2026 Toyota is the winningest manufacturer at TMS with 17 truck wins. Chevrolet has 15 and has won the last two races with driver Sauter. \u2026The closest Margin of Victory in this race is .116-seconds, when Todd Bodine beat Mike Skinner for the win in June, 2006.  \u2026. The championship veterans Sauter and Crafton \u2013 who won in 2015 – are the only winners from the last 10 Texas races entered this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Martin Truex Jr. arrives at Texas Motor Speedway still feeling perhaps a bit robbed of at least two Playoff victories, including last week at Martinsville Speedway when a final lap tussle between Truex and Joey Logano resulted in Logano\u2019s victory and a ticket for him to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":13827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_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}},"categories":[11],"tags":[366,16,21],"class_list":["post-22597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-aaa-texas-500","tag-nascar","tag-texas-motor-speedway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/TMS_MENCS_Pack5_110517-e1509931475780.jpg?fit=640%2C427","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-5St","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22597","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\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22598,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22597\/revisions\/22598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}