This Weekend in NASCAR – Texas Motor Speedway

NASCAR is in the Lone Star State this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway located in the northwest part of Fort Worth. 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 Speedways, as well as the short-track Bristol Motor Speedway.

This weekend sees the first night races of the season for both the NASCAR XFINITY Series (Friday) and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Saturday).

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is off and returns to action May 8 at Kansas Speedway.

Weekend storylines follow…

Logano Looks To Lasso Texas Competition

Last spring, Joey Logano wrangled in the competition at Texas Motor Speedway and two-stepped into Victory Lane.

The 24-year-old Team Penske driver will attempt to repeat his spring Lone Star Statement, a feat no driver has ever accomplished, in Sunday’s Duck Commander 500 (7:30 p.m. ET on FOX).

After a breakout five-win season last year and a fourth-place final standings finish, Logano has picked up in 2015 right where he left off. In addition to his Daytona 500 win, the No. 22 Ford driver claims top-10 finishes in all six races and is tied with a series-best two Coors Light Pole Awards. Logano ranks second in the standings, trailing Kevin Harvick by 24 points.

In his last five Texas starts, Logano claims finishes of 12th, first, third, fifth and 11th.

And by the way, the record for consecutive top 10s to start a season is 11, by Morgan Shepherd in 1990.

Joe Gibbs Racing Aims To Build On Stellar Showing

Denny Hamlin’s win at Martinsville Speedway on March 29 gave Joe Gibbs Racing its first victory since May 4, 2014 at Talladega Superspeedway (also won by Hamlin).

The No. 11 FedEx Toyota driver’s performance led strong showings posted by the other three JGR competitors. Matt Kenseth finished fourth, while David Ragan placed fifth. Carl Edwards ran up front most of the race, logging a 7.5 average running position, but ultimately finished 17th following a late race spin.

JGR will try to continue its momentum Saturday at Texas where Edwards (three), Hamlin (two) and Kenseth (two) all have multiple wins to their credit.

Johnson Attempts To Rebound From Martinsville At Another Favorite Track

For the third consecutive week, Jimmie Johnson will travel to a track where he leads all active drivers in wins – Texas Motor Speedway. The six-time series champion has four victories at the 1.5-mile track.

Despite previous success at Martinsville – a track where he owns eight wins – Johnson struggled, finishing 35th.

He will attempt to rebound from that performance at Texas, a place he won last fall. In addition to his four victories, Johnson claims 11 top fives, 17 top 10s, one Coors Light Pole Award and a series-high 889 laps at the 1.5-mile track. The No. 48 Chevrolet driver also claims the second-best driver rating (105.7) and the third-best average running position (10.9) at Texas.

Parity Reigns Supreme At Texas

Although Jimmie Johnson has won the last three fall Texas races, the spring race there has been a party of parity.

Fourteen different drivers have won in 18 Texas spring races, including 10 active competitors: Joey Logano (2014), Kyle Busch (2013), Greg Biffle (2012, ’05), Matt Kenseth (2011, ’02), Denny Hamlin (2010), Jeff Gordon (2009), Carl Edwards (2008), Kasey Kahne (2006), Ryan Newman (2003) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2002).

Recent outputs at 1.5-mile tracks show that a new winner could join the group – Kevin Harvick or Brad Keselowski. In 13 races at 1.5-mile tracks since 2014, Harvick and Keselowski are tied with Johnson for the wins lead with three victories each.

Superstar(ter): Menard Strong Out of the Gates Again

Overused sports cliché No. 1: “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

Paul Menard understands it all too well.

For the last six years, Menard has been no lower than 14th in the points standings following the first six races, but has never finished higher than 16th (2012) or made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

This season, the No. 27 Chevrolet driver is in a familiar position after six races – sixth. He claims a best finish of fourth at Auto Club and has placed better than 15th in four events.

He will attempt to continue his solid showings in Saturday’s Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, a track where he claims one top-five and three top-10 finishes in 17 starts.

Maybe this will be the year he stays consistent and embodies overused sports cliché No. 2:

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Roush Revival?

The 2015 season has not been ideal for Roush Fenway Racing.

The storied organization has only one top-10 finish – Greg Biffle’s 10th-place showing at Daytona. A 12th-place finish by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Phoenix was its next-best performance.

RFR’s results show in the standings where its trio of Biffle, Stenhouse and Trevor Bayne rank 20th, 25th and 28th respectively.

But Roush may be primed for a Texas turnaround.

The organization boasts a track-record nine victories at the Fort Worth oval, three more than Hendrick Motorsports. One of his best courses, Biffle claims two wins, eight top fives (36.4%) and 13 top 10s (59.1%) in 22 starts at Texas.

History Lesson: NHOF Nominee Isaac Has ‘Big’ Win In Texas

In a record-setting season, one race stood above all for NASCAR Hall of Fame (NHOF) nominee Bobby Isaac. Despite setting a still-standing NASCAR record with 19 pole awards and winning a career-high 17 races, Isaac most cherished his 1969 season-ending victory at Texas World Speedway.

The two-mile track in College Station, Texas, was built as a “sister track” to Michigan International Speedway, which also hosted its first NASCAR premier series race in 1969. Its inaugural race, the Texas 500, was dominated by NHOF nominee Buddy Baker who led 150 laps in a Cotton Owens owned Dodge. Baker coughed up the potential victory, however, when he crashed under caution trying to read the pit board with 21 laps remaining. Isaac was in position to snatch the win, and led 19 of the final 21 laps to end the season in Victory Lane.

While the win was the 20th in Isaac’s short career, it was his first full-length race win at a track larger than one mile.

“We won a lot of short-track races, but we couldn’t pull it all together on the big tracks until the last race of the season at Texas,” Isaac told Greg Fielden for NASCAR: The Complete History. “That win was my biggest moment in racing.”

The momentum built by Isaac and crew chief Harry Hyde, also a NHOF nominee, carried over to 1970 when the pair won their only NASCAR championship. Despite reaching the pinnacle of the sport, Isaac never lost sight of his Texas World Speedway win.

“Winning the championship gave me personal satisfaction, but I’d rank it second to the Texas win,” Isaac said. “The way I look at it, it took me seven years to win a superspeedway race and only three years to win the championship.” (Note: Starting in 1963, Isaac ran parts of seven seasons before his Texas win. He didn’t try to run full time for a championship until 1968.)

Texas Natives Buescher, Poole And Starr Are Ready To Put On A Show In The Lone Star State

Texas natives Chris Buescher (Prosper, Texas), Brennan Poole (The Woodlands, Texas) and David Starr (Houston, Texas) will give fans from the state of Texas lots to cheer for Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 (FOX Sports 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET).

Currently, Roush Fenway Racing’s Chris Buescher sits second in the series standings, five points back from Richard Childress Racing’s Ty Dillon. Buescher’s consistency has been his strength thus far this season; in five starts he has three top fives and an average finish of 7.8. Buescher’s season-to-date driver rating is 100.5 (fourth-best in the series). One might say Texas Motor Speedway is 22 year-old Buescher’s home track – his hometown, Prosper, Texas, is just a mere 40 miles northeast of the oval. Buescher has made three starts at Texas posting a best finish of 13th last fall. Buescher has a busy weekend on tap. Following the NXS race Friday night, Buescher will stay and compete Saturday in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race driving the No. 34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports.

Keep your eye developmental driver Brennan Poole, who is stepping into the HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi No. 42 Chevrolet this weekend. It will be Poole’s third start of the season for HScott Motorsports. In his first two starts, he has posted one top 10 and an average finish of 17.5. Poole hails from The Woodlands (a suburb of Houston), Texas about 250 miles south of Texas Motor Speedway. Poole harnessed his skills racing for Venturini Motorsports in the ARCA Racing Series prior to his moonlighting in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. This will be his series track debut at TMS this weekend.

David Starr is running his first full season in the NASCAR XFINITY Series with TriStar Motorsports and car owner Mark Smith. Starr has competed part-time in the series for 10 years, but this season in his full-time stint he sits ninth in the series standings; 51 points behind the standings lead. Starr has posted one top 10 (Daytona) and an average finish of 17.0 in 2015. Starr calls the big city of Houston, Texas his hometown. Texas Motor Speedway sits 275 miles north of Houston. In Starr’s 10 starts TMS he has posted an average finish of 25.9.

Chase Elliott Returns To Defend His Win At Texas

Last season, Chase Elliot joined an illustrious group of drivers (Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Trevor Bayne) who posted their first career NASCAR XFINITY Series victories at Texas Motor Speedway. If he defends his win this season, he will be the first of the four drivers who posted their first win at Texas to do so.

While the odds look long for Elliott, there have been 14 different series winners at TMS and five of the 14 have multiple wins. Kyle Busch leads the series in wins at Texas with seven; including five consecutive victories from the spring of 2008 to the spring of 2010. Three drivers have won back-to-back races at Texas – Mark Martin (1999, 2000); Kyle Busch (2008 sweep, 2009 sweep and spring of 2010) and Carl Edwards (fall of 2010 and spring of 2011). Kyle Busch is the only driver since the NASCAR XFINITY Series started competing at TMS twice a year (since 2005) to win consecutive TMS spring events (2008, 2009 and 2010).

The defending series champion, Elliott, has regained his groove and is riding the momentum of his four consecutive top-10 finishes following his season-opening DNF at Daytona. In five starts in 2015, he has an average finish of 9.8, a driver rating of 100.0 (fifth-best in the series) and a percentage of laps run on the lead lap of 97 percent (second-best in the series).

Last season Elliott’s car came alive in the second half of the spring race at Texas. He traded the lead with his teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick in the final stretches of the event, but took the lead for the final time on Lap 185 and went on to win the race. Elliott posted three wins last season; he is still looking for his first in 2015.

Sunoco Rookie Update: Wallace, Suarez, Chastain Are Rising To The Top

After the first five races of the season, Darrell Wallace Jr. leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings by eight points over second-place Daniel Suarez and 11 points over third-place Ross Chastain.

Wallace has pulled ahead in the standings with his consistency this season; he hasn’t finished outside the top-15 in all five starts of 2015. His average finish is 11.4, and his season-to-date driver rating is 92.0 (eighth-best in the series). This will be Wallace’s first series start at Texas.

Just outside of Wallace sits Daniel Suarez who posted his fourth consecutive top-15 finish of the season at Auto Club Speedway a few weeks back. The Monterrey, Mexico native Suarez continues to improve each week, his average finish this season is 17.4 and his season-to-date driver rating is 78.4 (12th-best in the series).

Chastain continues to hold on to third in the rookie standings following his three top-20 finishes this season. Chastain kicked 2015 off red hot with a top 10 at Daytona, but since then he hasn’t finished better than 17th. This weekend at Texas, Chastain will make his series track debut at the 1.5-mile speedway.

Big Names Competing In The O’Reilly Auto Parts 300

Nothing gets the fans more excited than seeing their favorite drivers and this Friday they will get the chance to see all the NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers and some of the top NASCAR Sprint Cup Series contenders competing at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300.

NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be back in the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet this weekend. Earnhardt has made two starts this season posting one top 10 and an average finish of 11.0. He has made seven starts at Texas, posting one win (first series career win; 1998), three top fives, five top 10s and an average finish of 8.7. He finished fifth in this race last season.

2010 NASCAR XFINITY Series champion, Brad Keselowski will drive the No. 22 Ford this weekend with crew chief Greg Erwin. Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford currently leads the car owner standings by eight points over JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet. This will be Keselowski’s third start of the season. Keselowski has made 14 series career starts at Texas posting one win (2013), eight top fives, 10 top 10s and an average finish of 11.4.

2013 NASCAR XFINITY Series champion Austin Dillon will be in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet at Texas. The No. 33 is currently fifth in the owner standings 37 points back from the lead. Dillon has made five series starts at Texas posting three top fives and an average finish of 5.2.

Sam Hornish Jr will drive the No. 98 Ford owned by Fred Biagi this weekend. Hornish has made eight series starts at Texas posting one top five, three top 10s and an average finish of 16.0.

Denny Hamlin will be in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in place of the injured Kyle Busch. Hamlin has 11 NXS starts at Texas with six top fives and eight top 10s.

NASCAR XFINITY Series Etc.

Milestones Watch: Mike Bliss will be attempting to make his 350th NASCAR XFINITY Series start this weekend at Texas. If Bliss makes the start, he will tie Kevin Lepage and Randy LaJoie for ninth on the XFINITY Series all-time starts list. Bliss will be in the No. 19 TriStar Motorsports Toyota with crew chief Paul Clapprood this weekend. …Jeff Green will attempt to make his 675th NASCAR national series start (NSCS-269, NXS-395 and NCWTS-10) this weekend. Green is 35th on the NASCAR national series all-time starts list; six starts behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 34th 680). Green won the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship in 2000. He has posted 16 wins, 87 top fives, 127 top 10s and 23 poles in his NASCAR XFINITY Series career. Green will be in the No. 10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota at Texas this weekend. …

New Faces In The Series: Brandon Gdovic will take the next step in his career when he competes in the No. 55 Viva Motorsports Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. Friday’s race will mark the first start in the NASCAR XFINITY Series for the 23-year-old Virginian. Gdovic began his career short-track racing throughout Virginia. Over the past four seasons, Gdovic has competed in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and recorded his first career series victory in 2013 at Greenville-Pickens.

Welcome To The Booth: Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon will make his FOX Sports TV booth debut this weekend at Texas for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300. Gordon is one of the most revered drivers in the garage today. Along with his four NSCS titles he brings a lifetime of motorsports knowledge and insight that is almost unmatched.