Daniel Suarez led all drivers in speeding around a chilly Texas Motor Speedway in Saturday’s early practice session, wheeling his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota around the track at 198.998 mph.
Suarez’s JGR teammate Denny Hamlin was second-fastest in the No. 11 Toyota, driving 198.800 mph in preparation for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
William Byron in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was third-fastest at 198.741 mph. Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford rounded out the top five.
Drivers battled newly cold conditions Saturday when the temperature hovered around 35 degrees during the first practice session, as the forecast in Fort Worth called for a high of 53 degrees.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. scraped the right side of his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford when navigating Turn 4 with about 15 minutes remaining in the session. He will go to a backup car.
Harrison Rhodes in the No. 51 Chevrolet served at 15-minute hold at the end of the 55-minute practice session for being late to qualifying inspection.
Seven-time Texas winner Jimmie Johnson led a rain-shortened final practice Saturday afternoon when he wheeled his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet around the track at 198.143 mph.
Kevin Harvick was second-fastest after speeding around Texas Motor Speedway at 197.984 mph in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Daniel Suarez in the No. 19 Toyota, Kurt Busch in the No. 41 Ford and Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 78 Toyota rounded out the top five.
Rain and track-drying efforts delayed the start of practice that was scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET by 37 minutes. What was originally scheduled to be a 50-minute practice session was shortened to 23 minutes.
Ryan Newman served a 15-minute practice hold for his No. 31 Chevrolet failing qualifying inspection twice.
Native Texan Chris Buescher may not be able to dance the Texas Two Step, but he took one very important step in his life during the Easter break in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule.
Buescher got married to long-time girlfriend Emma Helton.
“We went and got married over Easter weekend, so that was really good,” Buescher said. “Emma and I started planning last year before there was a schedule out for this season, and that made it very difficult because she didn’t want a winter wedding, and we didn’t know our off-weekends yet.
“We knew we wouldn’t be racing on Easter. And then it threatened to rain out Atlanta and threatened to snow out Martinsville. It seemed like Easter weekend was always the fill-in date. So it definitely had us nervous through all of that.”
But a wedding meant a wedding dance, and that’s what really had Buescher nervous.
“We took dance lessons,” Buescher said. “We did two lessons. The woman that did it did a fantastic job. We met up with her in uptown Charlotte, and she asked what we wanted to know and first off, what you already know.
“I don’t know anything. I can’t sway. I can’t even do that. I can’t sit here and act like I know what I’m doing. And she’s like, ‘OK, what do you want to learn?’ I said, ‘The Dirty Dancing lift at the end.’ And she said ‘All right, we’re going to back that down a bit.’
“We compromised, and it actually came out really good. We were able to at least look like we had some clue of what we were doing out there.”
FORT WORTH, Texas – Right off the truck, Kurt Busch’s No. 41 Ford was as fast as greased lightning.
That’s a good thing, because Busch’s first attempt in knockout qualifying put the No. 41 on the pole position for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – when the threat of lightning in the area halted time trials after the completion of the first round.
Busch turned a lap in 27.360 seconds (197.368 mph) in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford at the 1.5-mile track, edging teammate Kevin Harvick (197.116 mph) by .035 seconds. With Martinsville winner Clint Bowyer taking the third qualifying spot, Stewart-Haas will start 1-2-3 in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race for the first time in the organization’s history.
The track record holder at TMS with a lap at 200.915 mph last November, Busch claimed his third Busch Pole Award at the track, his first of the season and the 23rd of his career.
With afternoon storms threatening to shorten qualifying, Busch and his team made a concerted effort to put down a strong lap in the first round.
“You’ve got to play all three rounds as smart as you can,” Busch said. “And so we went a little bit aggressive on that first round, and it paid off. I think in Round 2 we would have picked up even more speed, and then Round 3, that would have been where we would have needed to make a big gamble to see if we could maintain that pace.
“But I’m glad that we had the pace right off the truck, thanks to (crew chief) Billy Scott, Doug Yates and the engine department – those guys are building some good steam… It’s really neat to have our Fords at Stewart-Haas hauling the mail like this. When you go to attack the track and really stand on the gas hard, it’s a great feeling to know that it’s going to stick.”
Harvick was just a tick off Busch’s pole speed.
“We kept it in the family, and that’s a good thing for Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Harvick, a three-time winner already this season. “And maybe we can continue the trend of running well for the rest of the weekend.”
Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney qualified fourth, giving Ford drivers the top four starting spots for the season’s seventh race. Denny Hamlin will start fifth on the grid, next to reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr.
Joey Logano, series points leader Kyle Busch, seven-time Texas winner Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Larson claimed the seventh through 10th starting positions, respectively.
FORT WORTH, Texas – Those new kids on the track, you’ve got the right stuff, babies. But those wily vets? They’re hangin’ tough, hangin’ tough.
Are they tough enough?
That’s more than plenty New Kids on the Block lyric references for one day, but you might find yourself asking … why are they even necessary to begin with and what does it have to do with NASCAR?
Here’s a … step-by-step (that’s right – snuck one more in) … guide to why drivers young and old are being asked about the vintage boy band, especially when some of them were born well after NKOTB first disbanded.
It all started at January’s NASCAR Media Tour presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The sport has seen some driver turnover the past few seasons, seeing the old guard (Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards) make way for a new crop of drivers (Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, etc.).
While there will always be fond memories of races past with the above retired, there’s plenty to be excited about regarding the prospects of these fresh faces. As such, plenty of attention, media opportunities and general spotlight arose for the young talent, leaving some of those in-betweeners – the veterans of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series still in the prime of their careers — to feel a bit left in the dark.
Voice their opinions, they did. Former series champ Kyle Busch, 32, issued the first salvo, and Ryan Blaney – the personable, 24-year-old Team Penske driver that more than backs it up on track – fired right back.
Things then quieted down a bit … before Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer went out and won five of the season’s first six races before the off-weekend.
Veteran, veteran, veteran.
Harvick, ever the pot-stirrer, made sure this didn’t go unnoticed.
In case anyone was wondering average age of the winners in the first six races 38.5. #oldguysrule
Upon arrival at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, the walk up to the media center displayed an unmissable (seriously – the thing is huge) banner featuring Suarez, Darrell Wallace Jr., Blaney, Elliott, Jones, Byron and Bowman, proclaiming them the “New Kids on the Track.”
Branden Williams | NASCAR
Average age? 23. Combined wins? One.
Next to the banner is a small (think diecast : full-size stock car) printout of Harvick’s tweet.
Pat DeCola/NASCAR
It’s the unmistakable work of track president Eddie Gossage – arguably NASCAR’s most … unique … track promoter – and it was easily the talk of No Limits, Texas on Friday.
Drivers young and old were asked about the banner during their availabilities, with some very interesting viewpoints.
Harvick
“It is a cool promotion. I like the promotion. If you like good marketing, it is good. If you like winners, you go for the old guys. I love every one of those kids on that poster and I think they are all great for our sport. I am not taking personal digs on them, I am trying to have fun with it and I told them that they should have fun with it, too. That is really what it is about. The dad and kid sitting in the grandstands from two different generations and mom and daughter sitting in the grandstands from two different generations. They root for the old guys and you root for the young guys. That is great for our sport, it really is. It makes it fun to be able to have that banter back and forth. Most of those guys probably don’t even know who New Kids on the Block are. I would venture to say that.”
Suarez
“You know, sometimes I look to myself and I feel like I’m getting old and I’m glad Texas Motor Speedway keeps looking at me like a kid. I like that. I feel like that’s very cool. I’ve been racing with some … all of those guys in the banner for a long time, since the K&N days. So it’s very cool to see all these guys now in the Cup Series with myself and racing each other in the highest level of racing. Because I remember back in 2011 and ‘12, we were racing in K&N. It’s very cool how things change in the sport and in the young drivers and in the young series. It’s very cool for me to see that kind of pictures or banners because it gives you a lot of memories from back in the day.”
“I think (the older drivers are) a little bit (jealous of the promotion of the younger drivers). The way I think is that all of the veteran drivers, they are very strong. They have a very strong fan base and they have, obviously, a lot of support. They have pretty much the path already made and I feel like for young drivers sometimes we need that extra push to start making that path and to start building that fan base and this is nothing wrong to have some extra support. I’m sure – I mean, I can’t guarantee this because I wasn’t around – but I’m sure that when Kevin or Kyle or when any of the veteran drivers, when they were young, in their middle 20s, I’m sure that they had some good exposure as well to help build their brand and to help build that fan base. You know, I – that’s what I think. But maybe that’s part of racing too. Everyone is competitive, sometimes not just on the race track but as well outside of the race track.”
Stewart
“I’m not one of the dogs in the fight, but … the stats prove that you don’t have to be a teenager to win races. The guys that have experience are the guys that have won the races this year.”
Jones
“Well, I’ve seen (the banner). So, we were actually just talking about it in the hauler and I don’t know the New Kids on the Block. I was born in 1996 and the last year they were a group was 1995. They asked me what new kid on the block I was and I was like ‘Man, I’ve got to be honest with you, I have no idea.’ I saw that though. It’s cool. It made me laugh. I liked the sign they put next to it better. At first I thought Harvick actually put it there. I was like ‘That, that’s pretty funny,’ but then I realized the track did it.
“I think it’s just cyclical. We haven’t had a young group – crop of guys all enter the sport at once in I don’t know, probably 15 years now. When you see this many young guys coming at once, obviously I think NASCAR’s done a good job trying to promote us and give us an advantage early on to get our names out there and get some more fans and get some more exposure and you know we all appreciate it. I mean we’re willing to take advantage of those events and I think Blaney said it well. Well, I guess it was back at Media Day now in Charlotte – I think we’re just more willing to take some of these opportunities that they’re not willing to. You know a lot of them have families and want to spend as much time at home as they can and for us to take a trip to wherever or spend some extra time somewhere isn’t as big of a deal. I think we’re just more willing right now to take advantage of some of those opportunities.”
Blaney
“I’ve heard of the New Kids on the Block. I’ve never listened to any of their songs. I may know one of their songs. I get them and Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch mixed up. I thought that was pretty funny. I saw a picture of it last night. I don’t know who tweeted it, (Jeff) Gluck or somebody. I thought that was pretty neat.
“Eddie has always done really well at making things fun and light and things like that. I saw the average age sign and the small one next to it. I thought that was pretty funny. It’s just cool to be a part of that group. I’ve said it all along. It’s just really fortunate to be involved in not only in NASCAR but involved in this younger driver group with some of those guys. I don’t really look at age. They’re just competitors to me. I don’t really understand the hate that everyone gets for the younger veterans. It’s not a rivalry. It’s not a competition. I don’t care if you’re 18 years old or 50 years old, we’re just competitors. I think it was a pretty neat thing that Gossage did. I laughed at it. I like how it has me throwing up the peace sign too. I’ve never done that in my life.”
Call it what you want, but this one (may be) for the children.
NASCAR announced this offseason that it will standardize at-track team rosters across all three national series in 2018, providing a structure for the number of personnel working on each vehicle during the course of a race weekend.
Official team rosters for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) were unveiled.
Simply click the “print” icon above, next to the headline and social media icons, to get the full list.
Kurt Busch set the early pace in Friday’s opening practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, leading a 1-2-3 sweep for Stewart-Haas Racing at Texas Motor Speedway.
Busch, a one-time Texas winner, turned a best lap of 196.200 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford in the first prep for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Busch won the pole position at the 1.5-mile track last November with a qualifying record lap of 200.915 mph.
Kevin Harvick was second-fastest at 195.943 mph in SHR’s No. 4 Ford. Harvick, who scored his first victory at the Fort Worth track last fall, has won three of the series’ first six races this season.
Clint Bowyer, who broke a 190-race drought two weeks ago at Martinsville Speedway, was third-fastest to seal the Stewart-Haas sweep. He ran a best lap of 195.426 mph in the No. 14 Ford.
Kyle Busch claimed fourth place on the leaderboard with Ryan Blaney completing the top five in the 55-minute session.
Rookie William Byron managed only the 33rd-fastest lap in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet. The team confirmed that it would change engines before Busch Pole Qualifying. Qualifying will set the field for Sunday’s event and is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. ET (FS1).
Posted on by
FORT WORTH, Texas – Kevin Harvick wants to reclaim his throne.
Since joining Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014, the veteran driver has owned intermediate tracks, with 15 wins and an average finish of 9.0 on surfaces between 1-2 miles in length. This mastery propelled him to the 2014 championship and three Championship 4 appearances.
But it’s reigning champion Martin Truex Jr. that has commonly been known as the man to beat on 1.5-mile tracks the past few years. Over the same period, Truex has 11 wins and an average finish of 9.8.
“We’re better than Truex,” Harvick said Friday at Texas Motor Speedway during the unveiling of the Busch Restart Zone at the Fort Worth facility.
Harvick, the most recent winner at Texas and a three-time winner already in 2018, is looking to make a statement and put an end to the Truex talk in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
He’s off to a great start, joining teammate Kurt Busch atop the leaderboard in the weekend’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at a blistering 195.943 mph. Truex pulled into the garage P10 at 194.384 mph.
“As you look at the mile-and-a-half program in general, it’s been really good for us. I think the thing that (the media forgets) is up until last year we dominated the mile-and-a-half race tracks and have continued to do that at the end of last year and the first part of this year,” the 40-time winner said. “We did switch manufacturers last year and it did take some time to get everything situated and back to where it needed to be. Once the playoffs started last year, you really saw where the car were and the increase in performance, especially on the mile-and-a-half race tracks.”
And he’s right, of course. The difference was immediately noticeable once the NASCAR Playoffs kicked off last September.
Those eighth (Charlotte-1) and ninth-place-finishes (Atlanta, Kentucky) we saw out of the No. 4 car in the first half of 2017 at the mile-and-a-halves started trending towards classic Harvick top fives and higher (Chicago, Charlotte-2, Texas, Miami).
With a full season of transition behind them, Harvick and Co. came out firing on all cylinders – the stats don’t lie there; he won three of the first four races of 2018, two of which were on intermediate tracks – so it stands to reason that the No. 4 crew is the cream of the crop in the series at the moment, at least on these type of tracks. Truex is certainly the driver Harvick is vying for the top spot with right now, but might be the 1B to Harvick’s 1A.
It’s still (ridiculously) early, but given the intermediate-heavy makeup of the 10-race postseason, you can almost pencil the duo in for Miami seven months from now, where they’ll battle it out for what would be the second title for each driver. On a 1.5-mile track, no less.
The scary part? Harvick doesn’t even think his organization has reached its apex yet.
“It took us some time, but I think when you see what Stewart-Haas Racing has done with Ford, we still haven’t reached the potential of where we can be, in my opinion,” he said. “I think that’s the biggest reason that we made the switch. The potential of the resources and the things that come with our partnership with Ford, we have, in my opinion, the most stable team in the garage from a financial standpoint to a manufacturer standpoint.
“In the end, it’s all about good people and we feel like we have a very committed manufacturer and ownership group and we’re just the drivers lucky enough to be in the position that Stewart-Haas Racing is in right now. We have a very solid foundation and I believe that in this day and age is something to hang your hat on.”
Trackside Live is bringing fans at Texas Motor Speedway a Lone Star-sized event on Saturday, April 7 (5:30 p.m. ET) and Sunday, April 8 (10:30 a.m. ET).
Don’t miss your chance to meet your favorite drivers and have some fun along the way. Watch the video above and get excited for a Wild, Wild West showdown at the 1.5-mile speedway.
The 21-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver paid a visit to what folks around town call “The Loveliest Village in the Plains” — or more commonly known as Auburn, Alabama.
Jones met up with Auburn’s head football coach Gus Malzahn to do a helmet swap. Thankfully, Malzahn didn’t drop the custom gift.
On Friday, Talladega Superspeedway announced that Malzahn will be the Grand Marshal for April 29th’s GEICO 500 race. He was the honorary pace car driver in 2014.
The Michigan fan even had a special tour guide: former Auburn football captain and SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic. Jones may know a thing or two about going fast.
