o’reilly auto parts 500 Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Qualifying in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has become the true hot bed of controversy in recent weeks. Many drivers have been critical, but for one team, they’re as vocal than most and that’s Stewart-Haas Racing, who’s quartet competitors of Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Daniel Suarez endured the emotions and drama the latest qualifying format provided Friday at Texas Motor Speedway. The best way to describe the session is none other than Clint Eastwood’s classic 1966 film “The Good, the Bad andRead More

By Lee Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas – Jimmie Johnson is back in the saddle again. After leading first practice at Texas Motor Speedway and the first two rounds of qualifying, the seven-time champion bumped his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott from the top spot with seconds remaining in the final round with a lap at 188.890 mph to win the pole for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The Busch Pole Award is the first for Johnson in 96Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Following last weekend’s first short track race of the season at Martinsville, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to a 1.5-mile track with Sunday’s visit to Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. First joining the circuit in 1997, the 1.5-mile Texas track has provided some great racing over the years as the surface wore down as each season passed before being repaved and reconfigured prior to its 2017 race dates. As a refresher, the reconfiguration affected Turns 1 andRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor For the second time this season, Chase Elliott’s No. 9 team has found themselves in hot water with NASCAR. On Wednesday, the sanctioning body penalized the Hendrick Motorsports entry for violating Section 20.4.87.1 of the NASCAR rule book, pertaining to the Rear Window Support and Structure. Per the rule book, “Rear Window Support Braces must keep the rear window glass rigid in all direction at all times.” As a result of the penalty, crew chief Alan Gustafson has been suspended for two races and finedRead More

By: NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas – In a race that saw two of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ elite drivers play chase to the checkered flag, Kyle Busch held off Kevin Harvick to win Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Harried by Harvick for 23 laps after a restart on Lap 312 of 334, Busch powered his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota across the finish line .300 seconds ahead of the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. The key to Busch’sRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – It may have taken pit strategy to do so, but Darrell Wallace, Jr. will leave Texas with his best finish since the Daytona 500, scoring an eighth-place finish. After regrouping over the off weekend, Wallace and Richard Petty Motorsports came into the Lone Star State looking to turn things around after they have been on a backslide since the season opener. The team had failed to finish higher than 20th in the five races since but were bound and determined toRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – Ryan Blaney’s Ford ended the day in Texas looking like he had been through a demolition derby, but even with the damage, Blaney was still able to come away with a top-five finish. After winning Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race and dominating two out of three stages in last year’s Texas spring race, Blaney was one of a handful of drivers everyone agreed would be in the hunt for the win. But Sunday was anything but smooth for Blaney and hisRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Erik Jones and his No. 20 Reser’s Toyota Camry race team delivered in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth, finishing a season-best fourth after leading 64 of 334 laps. It’s Jones first top-5 of the season and improved from 12th to 11th in points, 123 markers behind points leader and race winner Kyle Busch. “The Reser’s Camry was really good. We didn’t qualify where we wanted to this weekend,” said Jones. “It was kind of a – kind ofRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – Texas Motor Speedway has not been kind to drivers that have found themselves in contention for a decent finish in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. After blown tires ended the day early for Martin Truex, Jr. and Kyle Larson, a handful of other contenders saw their races come to a close just as the final stage began. When the green flag flew at lap 177, Kyle Busch, who was up near the lead got loose and started backing up through theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – In Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, blown tires became public enemy No. 1 for two drivers that were among the favorites, Martin Truex, Jr. and Kyle Larson. When it comes to 1.5-mile tracks, Truex, Jr. had been one of the most consistent over the past year and a half, not finishing outside the top-10 since the 2016 season finale. Unfortunately for Truex and Furniture Row Racing, that streak would come to an end at Texas as heRead More