AAA Texas 500 Tag

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — On an extremely busy day for Austin Dillon, he surprised everyone by capturing the pole for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. “I don’t know about the lap. I changed my line a little bit, looking at dart fish. It worked out for me,” said a stunned Dillon after his run. “I thought I hurt myself cause I changed my line, but it actually made me faster through one and two. I was watching Harvick’s line and I changed it to kindRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — Over the past couple of seasons, Kyle Busch has been arguably the best driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage. Friday at Texas Motor Speedway, Busch and his No. 18 team had one of their most trying days in recent memory. In the opening minutes of the first practice session of the weekend, Busch got loose coming off of turn four on his warm up lap and slammed into the outside wall before ever completing a timed lap. The contactRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — There was a bit of a rift between the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates after last week’s finish in Martinsville. In the closing laps, Jimmie Johnson held the lead, but there was a trio of JGR cars chasing him for the win. Matt Kenseth had been the dominant driver all day long in Martinsville as he led a race-high 176 laps, but he found himself trapped behind his teammate Denny Hamlin in the closing laps. Hamlin was fast on Sunday as well, asRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas — The weekend at Texas Motor Speedway got off to a rough start for one of the eight drivers still in championship contention in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase. Kyle Busch slammed into the wall coming to the start finish line to begin his first lap of practice. The damage from the contact with the wall was severe enough that Busch is now relegated to a backup car for the remainder of the weekend. “Unfortunate there with our practice crash that we had, kindRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer After the events that took place at Martinsville Speedway last year, Joey Logano was looking for redemption. Logano had been leading in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion when Matt Kenseth exacted revenge and wiped Logano out of the race, and ultimately, out of the Chase for the Championship. This time, Logano entered Martinsville without having to look over his shoulder after avoiding drama. With Martinsville being the first race in the Round of Eight, Logano was tied with the other seven Chasers. In theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After a trip to the smallest track on the circuit for some great racing at Martinsville last weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to the Lone Star State and Texas Motor Speedway to continue with the Round of 8 in the Chase with Sunday’s running of the AAA Texas 500. First joining the circuit in 1997, the 1.5 mile Texas track has provided some great racing over the years, especially as the track surface has worn out over time. With the new low downforceRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – Kyle Busch has continued to overcome the long odds this season and following a fourth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway, is just one race away from qualifying for the Championship Four in Homestead. The 30-year-old missed the first 11 races of the year following a horrific crash at Daytona International Speedway during an XFINITY Series race in February.  When Busch returned NASCAR required he win a race and be among the top 30 in points in order to qualify for the Chase.Read More

Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas—For Jimmie Johnson, it was business as usual in Cowtown. On Sunday, the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion completed a sweep of this year’s Texas Motor Speedway races, powering past hapless Brad Keselowski with three laps left to win the AAA Texas 500 for the fourth straight year. Johnson kept his record perfect, winning a race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the 12th consecutive season. His fifth victory of the year was also his record sixth at Texas—includingRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – Shortly before today’s ongoing AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR officials confiscated the front splitters from the No. 11, No. 18 and No. 19 of Joe Gibb’s Racing machines. It is believed that the crews altered the splitters by using bondo to create aerodynamic ‘concaves’ in them to create a small but meaningful aerodynamic advantage. The confiscated pieces will be taken to NASCAR’S R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina for further examination. It will then be decided if the teamsRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas—As a driver who likely must win one of the next two races to keep his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title prospects alive, Brad Keselowski took a giant step in the right direction during Friday’s knockout qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway. The 2012 series champion covered the 1.5-mile distance in 27.929 seconds (196.929 mph) in the money round to win the pole for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC), the second of three races in the Eliminator RoundRead More