Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – Kyle Larson has been the master of qualifying lately in the NASCAR Cup Series and Texas Motor Speedway was no different as he claimed his third straight pole. Larson hustled his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet around the 1.5-mile quad-oval in 28.366 seconds, 190.369 mph to rocket to the top of the scoring pylon to score the pole position for Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400. “It was a pretty intense qualifying session,” Larson said. “I felt like the track was really slickRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – The Lone Star State comes calling this weekend when the NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s running of the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400. Texas first joined the circuit in 1997, but back in 2017 went through a reconfiguration, dropping the banking in Turns 1 and 2 from 24 degrees to 20 degrees, as well as widening the racing surface from 60 feet to 80 feet. Meanwhile, Turns 3 and 4 remain banked at 24 degrees and 60 feetRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas – Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron took the lead on a restart with six laps remaining and held off the field to claim Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 victory on a steamy-hot highly-dramatic afternoon of NASCAR Cup Series Playoff action at Texas Motor Speedway. It marks a historic 300th victory for the championship Hendrick Motorsports organization – the most in NASCAR history for a NASCAR Cup Series team – and is the series-best, personal-high single-season sixth victory of the year forRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas – Bubba Wallace turned in a dramatic final lap of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday to claim the pole position for Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Wallace’s qualifying lap of 188.337 mph in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota around the 1.5-mile Fort Worth high banks just edged the hometown favorite, Texas-native Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford by a slight .039-second. It’s Wallace’sRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Alex Bowman will not be driving his No. 48 Chevrolet on Sunday at Talladega after Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday that he has been dealing with concussion-like symptoms since a crash at Texas last weekend. In the closing laps of the second stage in last Sunday’s race, Bowman cut a tire and spun into the Turn 4 wall. Despite the damage sustained by the impact, he was able to limp the car to pit road, where his crew got it repaired enough to get him back inRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – The temperatures in Texas weren’t the only things that were heated after Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, so were Denny Hamlin and William Byron after their run-in during the marathon race. It all started as the two were battling off Turn 2 with 73 laps to go, when they touched coming off the corner, causing Byron to sideswipe the wall. Hamlin took the position as a result, while Byron was able to recover quickly to slot in behindRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas — They say everything is “bigger” in Texas and certainly NASCAR’s Round of 12 Playoff opener at Texas Motor Speedway lived up to the billing. From Playoff consequences to a red flag delay to bumper-banging aggression, tire fall-off and record statistical marks, there was no shortage of competitive drama in Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500. Ultimately Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick prevailed as race winner – taking the green flag by 1.190-seconds over Penske Racing’s Joey Logano in a final 24-lap green flagRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – Out of the three races in the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Texas Motor Speedway was supposed to be the least chaotic, but it was anything but for those still in the title fight. Drivers had hoped to bank a good finish in Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 to kick off this stretch of races on a high note, but for some of them, they will have a hole to dig out of over the course of the nextRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – To reconfigure or not to reconfigure, that is the question. With the NASCAR Cup Series in town this weekend for Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the attention has focused on the 1.5-mile track and what the future of the facility should be. While the drivers have a myriad of opinions on what they would like to see happen, the consensus is that it should be anything other than what it is now. Texas first joined the circuit inRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – Daniel Suarez comes into the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs already at a points deficit, but that hasn’t tempered the expectations he has for himself and his No. 99 Trackhouse Racing team starting this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Winning his way into the Playoffs via his first career Cup win at Sonoma earlier this season, the 30-year-old Mexican-born driver comes into Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 sitting 11th in points out of the 12 remaining Playoff drivers, sixRead More