o’reilly auto parts 500 Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer From a dominant hero last week at Martinsville to near absolute zero at the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway Sunday for Brad Keselowski after a sudden mechanical issue knocked him out of contention from scoring back-to-back wins and finished 36th. Keselowski’s woes capped off a miserable weekend after failing to finish Saturday’s Xfinity Series race due to an accident that was beyond repairable. Despite a frustrating Saturday, Keselowski had hoped to turn things around and build the momentum he has in Cup afterRead More

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 Seth Eggert, Staff Writer Sometimes it’s better to be lucky as Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rookie William Byron found out at Texas Motor Speedway. Byron had a rough start to the weekend before scoring his first career top-10 finish. In the final run to the finish, Byron was one of several that restarted on older tires. He fought with fellow Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Darrell Wallace, Jr. for position for several laps. Wallace closed the door on Byron, cutting his momentum, and taking the position. WhenRead More