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FORT WORTH, Texas – Kyle Busch has eyed Greg Biffle as a potential driver for his Kyle Busch Motorsports organization for years.

When Biffle stepped away from a full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ride in 2016, Busch approached his longtime friend with an idea: a full-time ride in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

RELATED: Biffle back in action | Full schedule for Texas

“I asked him, ‘Hey, if we could put something together for a full-time Truck gig, would you do it?’ And he was like, ‘I’m going to step away for a bit, I don’t think I’m ready for that yet,’ ” Busch told NASCAR.com on Friday. “(A) couple years have gone by and now he’s asking me, ‘Can I run a Truck race or something like that, do you have anything available for me?’

“He wanted to run Las Vegas in the spring and I’m like, ‘Man, I already got that one, I’m running that triple, but I do have a race available for you.’ ”

The available race ended up being Texas Motor Speedway’s June 7 event, which Biffle announced via Twitter on March 27 that he would pilot the KBM truck for a one-off run. The 49-year-old driver also practiced in Busch’s No. 51 Toyota in Friday’s Gander Trucks practice in the Lone Star State.

According to Busch, though, Texas’ warm, late-spring event wasn’t Biffle’s first choice.

“He’s like, ‘Texas in June? Ah, that’s going to be hot. I don’t know if I want to do that,’ ” Busch said with a smile. “I’m like, ‘Don’t be a pansy, come on, get it.’ ”

MORE: 2019 Gander Trucks schedule

While Busch would love to have his friend run for Kyle Busch Motorsports in a larger capacity, he doesn’t envision Biffle going down that path.

“I don’t necessarily think of him and I don’t know that he really wants to do what the (Ron) Hornaday-type thing was or the (Mike) Skinner-type thing was, which they went back to the (Gander Outdoors) Truck Series, ran the Truck Series races before they were done and kind of walked away from NASCAR entirely,” Busch said.

“If that’s what he wants to do, I’d be happy to have him in our fold at Kyle Busch Motorsports and that’d be a fun gig to have.”

Posted on by NASCAR Wire Service

FORT WORTH, Texas — Kyle Busch continued his winning ways out west.

Busch held off Stewart Friesen by 1.269-seconds for his fourth-consecutive NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series victory of the season and his fourth-career win at Texas Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Race results

Busch led a race-high 97 laps in the Vankor 350 en route to his 55th career series win and his 202nd among NASCAR’s top three national series.

“Those guys were able to keep up with us just way too much throughout the night,” Busch said. “You know, it’s a better race that way when they’re able to keep up. That means we need to go to work and work harder in order to get ourselves faster.”

Johnny Sauter, Grant Enfinger, Matt Crafton, Tyler Ankrum, Ross Chastain, Tyler Dippel, Brennan Poole and Ben Rhodes rounded out the top 10 finishers. The race was slowed by 10 cautions—tying the series track record.

Enfinger led the field to green. Stage 1 was slowed by four cautions the first involving Todd Gilliland, Chastain and Brennan Poole coming out of Turn 4 on Lap 3. Gilliland slid through the front stretch grass but continued on.

Harrison Burton, who started 10th, spun into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 11.

“I got loose on corner entry and just lost it,” said Burton, who finished 31st. “Happy I’m ok. Happy I’ve got a good team behind me.

WATCH: Burton spins, wrecks

Angela Ruch and Gus Dean triggered the third caution in Turn 2 on Lap 18. Dean’s damage was too much to overcome. He wrecked again on Lap 26 and called it a night.

Enfinger won his first stage of the season. He beat ThorSport Racing teammate Ben Rhodes to the line by .034-seconds. However, a pit road penalty mired Enfinger in the back of the pack and he spent the next two stages working his way forward.

“This was our first normal race of the season,” Enfinger told the No. 98 ThorSport team following his third top-five finish of the season. “Let’s keep doing this and the wins will come.”

Busch inherited the lead to start Stage 2 on Lap 42. Six laps later, Anthony Alfredo, who restarted sixth, lost control of his truck following contact with Stewart Friesen entering Turn 1. The No. 54 truck hit the wall and erupted into flames. NASCAR red-flagged the race for 15:51. Busch remained on the point with Crafton, Chastain, Bubba Wallace and Brett Moffitt in tow for the Lap 57 restart. Busch held on for his sixth stage win in 2019.

With a fuel-only pit stop, Sauter took the lead out of the pits on Lap 75. He quickly faded allowing Busch to regain the lead followed by Moffitt. Moffitt barreled past Busch on the outside exiting Turn 2 on Lap 99 with Rhodes, Friesen and Enfinger in pursuit. Four laps later, Korbin Forrister spun in Turn 2 to ignite the ninth caution.

Busch held the lead through the 10th and final caution on Lap 116. Friesen, who started from the rear after an engine change, battled Busch on the final restart. Although it took Friesen 10 laps to lead one circuit, his time at the point was short-lived. He would settle for second—the fifth runner-up result of his career.

“The last couple of laps were just mad,” Friesen said after his best finish of the year. “We were just tight. I just got loose underneath him. He gave me some room. Originally, I thought he was right there on my quarter. But he was doing what he had to do. After that, I was just tight. Proud of my guys. Proud of Halmar. Man, just a bummer. I thought we could have got him if we had got cleared.”

With 21 laps to go, Moffitt made contact with Rhodes battling for fourth, causing his left rear tire to go flat. Although Moffitt kept the No. 24 Chevrolet off the wall, he was forced to pit for tires and dropped to 19th, two laps off the pace.

“The No. 24 (Moffitt) was who I was really worried about and then something happened to him and then (Friesen) was really fast and on our tailgate the whole finish of that race until about the last five laps,” Busch said.

“I don’t know if he just got heated up or what back there. He put up a good fight and about got to me a couple times there and fortunately I was able to hold out and keep this truck up front. We just lacked a little bit of overall speed tonight and we didn’t have exactly what we wanted.”

Busch returned to the lead with 20 laps to go and held the point to the finish. Friesen leads the Gander Outdoors Truck Series standings by six points over Grant Enfinger.

RELATED: All of Kyle Busch’s national series wins

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Jay Fabian responded strongly to Friday’s three-round group qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway, one which was marked by a lack of activity in the opening round that saw some drivers eliminated earlier than anticipated.

“We’re disappointed with what we saw,” Fabian said. “Nobody deserves to see that, our fans don’t deserve it. We’re going to take whatever steps we have to to clean it up so we don’t have this problem again. Pretty much everything’s on the table as far as what we’ll do moving forward.

“It’s certainly disappointing what happened. Moving forward, we’ll do what we have to do to make sure the fans get what they want to see.”

RELATED: Full lineup in pics

The most notable instance involved Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman. After NASCAR officials instructed Newman to move up toward the middle of pit road in the opening round while cars were waiting on pit road, Bowyer felt he was being blocked by Newman’s No. 6 from making his lap. Bowyer, who ended up with a qualifying position of 25th, offered frustrated commentary after his elimination to FS1.

“I’m going to assume that he thought the 6 was going out to qualify,” Fabian said of Bowyer. “And he didn’t — he was just following what we told him to do. He followed the 6 car that he thought was going out to make a run, and he didn’t. He stopped, we asked him to move up. That’s what happened.

“There’s plenty of TV views that show that there was room to go by him. I’m sure he’s upset.”

RELATED: Jimmie claims Busch Pole

Fabian elaborated on his disappointment further in terms of the drivers’ inaction, citing that the No. 41 of Daniel Suarez went out and transferred to the next round twice on his own, without waiting to try and draft with another car. Suarez qualified fourth in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

“It’s disappointing that they sit out there as long as they do,” he said. “It’s disappointing that they give reasons why they don’t go and then someone goes and they choose to not follow him. So, a lot of what they say doesn’t add up to their actions on pit road. I guess that’s the disappointing part. When you see someone roll, you would assume that somebody would follow them and they chose not to, which kind of leads you to being landlocked at the end of pit road.

” … We’ll put more thought into it and react the way we feel like we need to,” he continued. “Again, whatever we have to do to give the fans what they want to see with cars qualifying is what we’re going to have to take steps to achieve.”

MORE: NASCAR’s qualifying tweaks

Posted on by 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 96 races, 36th of his career and his second at the 1.5-mile track.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Full schedule for Texas

“It’s been a long couple of years and we still have a ways to go and certainly race day is much more important than Friday,” said Johnson after earning his 36th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup pole. “We’re working so hard and I think we’re a bit guilty of trying too hard and maybe stepping outside of our comfort zone at times and putting set-ups on the car that just quite aren’t proven yet.

“With all that said, we were very aggressive coming here, changed a lot of stuff around on our mile-and-a-half program. Top of the charts all day long. It’s a great start. I’m really proud of everybody keeping the faith and working hard.”

William Byron, who crossed the line after Johnson, topped Elliott for second in time trials.

“That is just a credit to the guys really, just giving us a fast car,” Byron said. “Teamwork man. Just keeping the communication down to get that hole that we did. Just teamwork. So it’s all good. It’s awesome.”

Daniel Suarez’s strategy of making a single-car run and not relying on the draft paid off for the driver of the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang. He finished fourth in Round 2 to advance to the Final Round. He’ll roll off fourth on Sunday.

“I was planning to go by myself without helping anyone, so I waited until everyone was shut off so I could go quick and they didn’t have time to re-fire and then go,” Suarez said. “That part played out well. The part that we just missed a little bit is that we were expecting them to make more mistakes or to wait a little bit longer, but they didn’t.

“It was a good effort. That was our gamble. We were out of trouble and the car was good, fast and we didn’t have to work as hard as they did that’s for sure.”

WATCH: Bowman scrapes wall

Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Hemric, Joey Logano, Ty Dillon and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top 10.

With four minutes remaining in the first round of qualifying, Alex Bowman bounced off the wall in Turn 2. He had posted the seventh-fastest lap to advance to the next round, but was unable to continue. Bowman was seen and released from the infield care center.

“I think Alex would have been right there if he hadn’t had his problems in Round 1,” Johnson added.

Jimmie Johnson, currently on a 65-race winless streak, has won seven times at Texas Motor Speedway in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series; including once from the pole (2012).

Posted on by Staff Report

The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for driver Erik Jones failed on two attempts through the inspection line before Friday’s Busch Pole Qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Texas Motor Speedway.

As a result, NASCAR officials ejected car chief Jason Overstreet from the No. 20 team’s 12-person road crew. The team was also penalized with a 15-minute deduction of practice time, which will be enforced in Saturday’s final practice at the 1.5-mile track.

RELATED: Full schedule for Texas

After starting the season with two consecutive top-10 finishes, Jones has absorbed four straight finishes of 13th or worse. He’s set to make his sixth Texas start in this Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).

Jones has three Texas victories in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and one in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

Posted on by Staff Report

Jimmie Johnson scooted to the top of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leaderboard Friday, leading a 1-2 sweep of opening practice for Hendrick Motorsports at Texas Motor Speedway.

Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet led the 50-minute session with a best lap of 189.747 mph on the 1.5-mile track. Johnson, a seven-time Texas winner, was just ahead of Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman, who secured second place with a 188.363 mph lap in the No. 88 Chevy.

RELATED: Practice 1 results

Defending series champ Joey Logano posted the third-fastest lap of the opening practice, clocking in at 188.180 mph in the Team Penske No. 22 Ford. William Byron, another Hendrick driver, was fourth-fastest, with Brad Keselowski completing the top five in the first on-track activity for the series ahead of Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).

Kyle Busch, a three-time Texas winner who prevailed in this race last year, was just 31st-fastest in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota.

The session was slowed by a caution period at the 13-minute mark to check the track for fluid.

Busch Pole Qualifying to set the starting lineup is scheduled for Friday at 7:40 p.m. ET (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM).

RELATED: Odds to win at Texas

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Trackside Live is back! Put your cowboy hats on because this weekend we’re heading to Texas Motor Speedway with a new live show to get you excited for a Sunday afternoon showdown in The Lone Star State.

MORE: Full Texas schedule | Buy tickets

The first and only show of the weekend will be at 11:30 a.m. ET to 12:30 p.m. ET on Sun., March 31 before the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), so you don’t want to miss it.

Versatile and critically acclaimed actor Brendan Fraser, who will serve as the Honorary Pace Car Driver for the Cup Series race, will also make an appearance on Trackside Live.

Fraser’s current project, “Doom Patrol,” has been met with strong reviews and praise from the Television Critics Association. Fraser plays both a race car driver and Robotman in the program.

RELATED: Brendan Fraser to drive pace car prior to Sunday’s race at Texas

Expect to hear from drivers like Matt Tifft, William Byron, Chris Buescher and Michael McDowell. NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace will make an appearance as well.

The Trackside Live hosts are coming prepared with games and giveaways so be sure to come out and watch the live show if you’re at Texas.

If you’re not able to be there in person, bookmark this page so you can catch the livestream on NASCAR.com.

Posted on by Holly Cain

After a two-week break, the series returns to action in Saturday’s My Bariatric Solutions 300 at Texas Motor Speedway (at 1 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Monster Energy Series regular Ryan Blaney is the defending winner of this spring race, however, perennial championship contender Cole Custer is the most recent winner – taking the checkered flag last November. In fact, Custer has quite the enviable record on the Fort Worth high banks.

He’s finished top-five in all four of his NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, including a fourth-place finish in this race last year capping the effort with a Playoff win in the fall. His average finish is a highly impressive 3.75. And he’s never started worse than 10th.

RELATED: Full Texas schedule | Learn more about the Dash 4 Cash program

Custer currently trails reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, current points leader Tyler Reddick by only seven points heading into Texas. Christopher Bell is ranked third, 14 points behind Reddick – those drivers making up three-fourths of last year’s championship field at the Homestead-Miami season finale.

Beyond the tight championship situation, the Texas race is the opening qualifier for the 2019 Dash 4 Cash program. The top four finishing Xfinity Series championship contenders in Saturday’s race will be qualified for the first Dash 4 Cash event April 6 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The highest finishing of those four drivers at Bristol will earn a $100,000 bonus.

The $100,000 Dash 4 Cash continues April 12 at Richmond, April 27 at Talladega and May 4 at Dover with the top four Xfinity regulars eligible the following week. Last year, Ryan Preece (at Bristol), Elliott Sadler (at Richmond and Talladega) and Justin Allgaier (Dover) won the big money from Xfinity.