Perhaps the most telling statistic relative to the difficulty of Texas Motor Speedway is the active streak of top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile track.
Daniel Suárez leads the category with three straight top 10s. Austin Dillon has two. No other NASCAR Cup Series driver has more than one.
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“That’s not very long,” Suarez said with a laugh. “We’ll take the small victories, right? It’s just very tricky. It doesn’t take a lot for you to crash or get out of the groove. I love it, though. I think it’s a great race track.
“I would say that five, eight years ago, more drivers used to hate this track, but right now, the race track is getting to a point where it’s not a brand new race track anymore. It’s tough. There are some bumps. It’s getting some wear. So, it’s a lot of fun.”
The consensus among Cup drivers is that passing is difficult at Texas because of the narrow nature of the racing line. Suarez doesn’t see it that way.
“I think it’s already to the point where we have two-and-a-half lanes in (Turns) 1 and 2 and maybe two or two-and-a-quarter lanes in 3 and 4,” Suarez said. “I think it’s getting wider every single year, so that’s positive.”