o’reilly auto parts 500 Tag

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

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Heading into Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, it’s clear that Stewart-Haas Racing is the team to beat, just as they have been on 1.5 mile tracks all season long. With wins in three of the last four 1.5-mile tracks, dating back to last November at Texas, and a perfect record on these types of tracks thus far in 2018, Kevin Harvick leads the way for the team. Stewart-Haas as a whole has been extremely fast from the start of the weekendRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor It’s been a banner day for Kurt Busch and Stewart-Haas Racing at Texas Motor Speedway. Earlier on Friday afternoon, the Las Vegas native put down the fastest lap in practice, followed by two of his SHR teammates, and qualifying for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 was more of the same as Busch was at the top of the board at the end of the first round of qualifying, with two of his teammates in tow once more. While there were two other rounds scheduled, MotherRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor For Clint Bowyer, his win two weeks ago at Martinsville has been just what the doctor ordered for him and his No. 14 team at Stewart-Haas Racing. Entering this weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, it’s clear that he and the organization as a whole are still riding the wave of momentum that comes with winning in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and breaking a 199-race winless streak in the process. “Man, everybody knows everything that comes with a win,” said Bowyer. “We haveRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a much needed weekend off to recharge the batteries, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is back to business as they head to the Lone Star State and Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s 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. For the second time the season, drivers will get a crack at the track that was repavedRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Keeping with tradition, Texas Motor Speedway has once again brought innovation to the fan experience. The 1.5-mile oval will be starting construction to create an area designated as the Restart BAR Zone Club, which will be located at the beginning of the dogleg on the frontstretch. The expectation is that the new indoor/outdoor lounge will be ready for use for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series comes to town April 6-8. The development comes roughly a year after the facility elected to undergo a reconfiguration andRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series headed to the newly repaved and reconfigured Texas Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott was riding a wave of momentum. Elliott has yet to finish worse than 14th all season, and earned his fourth Top 10 of the season last weekend at Martinsville Speedway. In the first practice for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, Elliott placed his No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet SS 20th on the charts. He improved to fifth fastest in the second practice. However, Elliott drifted wide offRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas -– Jimmie Johnson proved on Sunday that you can’t keep a good driver, a good car and a good team down for long—even if you change the playing field at one of his favorite race tracks. The seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion passed Joey Logano for the lead on Lap 318 of 334 and pulled away for his first victory of the season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at newly repaved and reconfigured Texas Motor Speedway. The winRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — For the first 170 laps of Sunday’s 334 lap O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, it was all Ryan Blaney. The 23-year old driver for the Wood Brothers Racing Team had led 148 laps — the first time that the No. 21 team has led more than 100 laps in an event since October of 1982 — But a caution near the end of Stage 2 set up a disappointing conclusion to the race for Blaney. While Blaney optedRead More