NASCAR Category

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — Dale Earnhardt Jr. returned to his old form in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Being mired deep in the starting lineup didn’t faze him, neither did a new track configuration. The only obstacle that really challenged Earnhardt all day was the intense Texas heat. During the race, on a bright sunny 81 degree day, Earnhardt’s helmet cooling fan malfunctioned. A gassed Earnhardt talked about his boiling day after climbing from his racecar. “It was warm. I thought the carRead More

By Beth Lunkenheimer, Contributing Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — The offseason brought about some pretty major changes to Texas Motor Speedway. While many drivers were quite fond of the rough surface at the 1.5-mile oval, nestled just north of Fort Worth, Texas, something had to give after the porous surface held rainwater through multiple race weekends last season. The speedway announced a major improvement project back in January that brought a fully repaved surface. Additional drainage was added, and the surface was reconfigured. The banking in Turns 1 and 2Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — It had been a rocky start to the season for NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year contender Cole Custer. Through the first five races of 2017, the 19-year-old driver had already crashed out twice (Daytona and Fontana), and had finished 21st-or-worse in three races. In Saturday’s My Bariatric Solutions 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, Custer flipped the script and had one of the best races of his brief Xfinity Series career. Custer rolled from the grid in the sixth position toRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The beginning of the 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series season has not brought the results that Joe Gibbs Racing driver Matt Tifft had been expecting. After opening the season with an 11th at Daytona, Tifft has been hovering just outside of the top 10. In comparison, Tifft’s various Joe Gibbs Racing teammates have recorded one win, five top fives and six Top 10s between themselves. The newly repaved and reconfigured Texas Motor Speedway presented a new opportunity for Tifft and his No. 19 SiriusXM Toyota CamryRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Tex. – What a difference a pit stop made. Erik Jones gained two seconds over Ryan Blaney on his final trip to pit road, and that was all the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota needed for a convincing victory in Saturday’s My Bariatric Solutions 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. In winning for the second time at Texas, the first time this season and the seventh time in his career, Jones led 112 of theRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — Bubba Wallace came into Saturday’s My Bariatric Solutions 300 at Texas Motor Speedway riding a four-race streak of finishing his No. 6 Ford Mustang in the sixth position. Early in the running of Saturday’s race he looked like a safe bet to have another good run, but at lap 66 it looked like the streak had been busted. Contact by Tyler Reddick, who was running the high lane at the treacherous reconfigured 1.5-mile speedway, sent Wallace spinning and the spin collectedRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — Trevor Bayne comes into this weekend’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway 15th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series point standings. It has been a great start to the season for the 26-year old Roush Fenway Racing driver. However, if Bayne is going to get his fifth top-15 finish of 2017 on Sunday, he will have to overcome a lot of adversity. In Saturday’s final practice session, Bayne, who was 10th fastest in the session, just pushed theRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — Nine drivers were unable to take a qualifying lap on Friday for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. All nine were stuck in the technical inspection line after failing on their first pass through. Among the nine drivers were some really big names like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Erik Jones, Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne. Saturday morning, those drivers got their first shot to prove how fast their cars really are, and spoiler alert someRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Tex. – Kevin Harvick needed a do-over in the second round of Friday’s knockout qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway, but putting the extra lap on his tires proved well worth the effort. Harvick led not only the second round but also the first and third in winning the pole for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (1:30 p.m. ET on FOX). “I just didn’t feel like I got through Turns 1 and 2 like I needed to,” HarvickRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer FORT WORTH, TEXAS — When walking around Friday afternoon before qualifying for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, I couldn’t help but notice there were a ton more fans sitting outside the grandstands checking out the midway than what were actually up in seats watching the racing action. When I asked many of them if they were going to go inside to watch qualifying, they said that they didn’t think qualifying was worth the price of admission. Once qualifying began, I immediatelyRead More