Posted on by Staff Report
Kyle Busch hugs son, Brexton, after winning in Texas.
Branden Williams | NASCAR.com

When Brexton Busch woke up Sunday morning, he turned to his father and said one thing: “Daddy, you’re going to win today.”

Considering his Daddy is Kyle Busch, and that Busch had finished second in three of the first six races of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, it wasn’t exactly a bold prediction.

MORE: Busch family Texas photos

Still, it was enough for both Kyle and Samantha Busch to praise their young prognosticator after Busch did, indeed, tally his first victory of the season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500.

“You were right!” Kyle Busch said before wrapping Brexton in a hug in Victory Lane. “You said we were gonna win today.”

Kyle, of course, also celebrated with his now-standard tossing of the nearly 3-year-old into the air in Victory Lane.

— NASCAR.com’s Branden Williams contributed 

Kyle Busch tosses son, Brexton, into the air after winning in Texas.
Jonathan Ferrey | Getty Images
Posted on by Reid Spencer

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’s victory was a mistake-free run over the final laps.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photo gallery
SHOP: Kyle Busch gear

“(Harvick was) probably just a tick faster overall, but I just had to make sure to do everything I could to hit all my marks and everything to focus on making sure that I did the right things to block his air a little bit,” Busch said.

Harvick acknowledged that Busch did a good job of protecting the bottom lane and avoiding errors over the closing laps.

“Kyle’s car was good enough to where he could get out there and run pretty good in clean air,” Harvick said. “It took us the whole run to be able to get everything back together and do everything we needed to do to make up a position.

“We weren’t as good behind him as we were in front of him. His car would run fast enough. There is only so much you can make up.”

The win was Busch’s first of the season after three runner-up results, his third victory at Texas and the 44th of his career, tied with NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott for 16th on the all-time list.

“It feels awesome,” Busch said. “Any time you can win at a track that kind of isn’t maybe one of your favorites or isn’t one of your best, then it definitely means even more because it just – you try to focus on those tracks and make it a little bit more meaningful and a little bit more special to get it done.

“So cool though to be in Victory Lane here – finally this year and punch our ticket into the Playoffs and of course, you know also just continue our hot streak of being the points leader right now and keeping these guys focused on what we need to do all year long.”

Harvick was the poster child for Murphy’s Law on Sunday, and it was a minor miracle that he was there at the end of the race to challenge Busch. The 2014 series champion won the first stage of the race under caution after building a lead that exceeded 12 seconds but lost the top spot to Busch off pit road on Lap 86.

That was just the beginning of Harvick’s troubles. He came off pit road ninth, losing eight spots, after a flying lug nut jammed the jack on a Lap 129 stop and prevented it from lowering. On Lap 136, he brought the No. 4 back to pit road with a loose wheel and lost a lap, only to regain it by staying on the track during an extended cycle of stops.

WATCH: Lug nut flies into No. 4 team’s jack

During a Lap 237 pit stop under caution for Paul Menard’s blown right front tire, one of Harvick’s crew members fell into his pit stall trying to corral a tire, resulting in a too-many-men-over-the-wall penalty.

By Lap 278, however, Harvick had regained the second spot with a pass of eventual fourth-place finisher Erik Jones, and a caution on Lap 303 for Ryan Newman’s hard crash into the Turn 1 wall gave him the opportunity to close up on Busch.

RELATED: Harvick talks about ‘pathetic’ pit road day

That was as close as Harvick got. Busch pulled ahead after the Lap 312 restart and stayed in front the rest of the way.

Jamie McMurray ran third, the best finish for the driver of the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet since a second place at Talladega in May of last year. Jones likewise collected his first top five of the season.

Ryan Blaney overcame brake problems to run fifth. Joey Logano, pole winner Kurt Busch, Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr., Clint Bowyer and William Byron completed the top 10. The 10th-place result was a career-best for Byron, a contender for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors.

Wallace collected his first top 10 since running second in the Daytona 500.

Busch expanded his series lead to 38 points over second-place Logano. Blaney is 51 points back in third.

Note: As has been done in the past, NASCAR will capture cars from each manufacturer for the purposes of a wind tunnel test at a time in the season deemed as appropriate. The cars going to the wind tunnel after Texas: 1, 4, 9, 18, 20, 22.

Posted on by Staff Report

What channels are NASCAR races on this week? We answer that and provide all the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: Get the NBC Sports App |  How to find FS1, FS2 | Get FOX Sports GO | How to find NBCSN

Monday, April 9
5 p.m.: NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m.: NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Tuesday April 10
3:30 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, FS1 (re-air)
5 p.m.: NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m.: NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Wednesday, April 11
5 p.m.: NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m.: NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, April 12
5 p.m.: NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m.: NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Friday, April 13
Noon: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series opening practice, FS1 (Canada; TSN 3)
1 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series opening practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO)
2 p.m.: NASCAR Race Hub Weekend Edition, FS1
3 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO)
4 p.m.: NASCAR Race Hub, Weekend Edition, FS1
4:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, FS1 (Canada: TSN 3)

Saturday, April 14
6 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series opening practice, FS1 (re-air)
7 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, FS1 (re-air)
8:30 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series second practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO)
9:30 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO)
10:30 a.m.: NASCAR Race Hub, Weekend Edition, FS1
11 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO)
Noon: NASCAR Race Hub, Weekend Edition, FS1
12:30 p.m.: NASCAR RaceDay, Xfinity Series, FS1
1 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300, FS1 (Canada: TSN 3, 5)
3:30 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series post show, FS1

Sunday, April 15
3 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300, FS1 (re-air)
11:30 a.m.: NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
12:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pre-race, FOX
1 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500, FOX (Canada: TSN 1, 3, 4, 5)

Posted on by Staff Report

A seven-car melee took out some top contenders following the restart to begin the final stage of Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The incident occurred in Turn 4 on Lap 177 when Denny Hamlin lost control of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, tagging Aric Almirola’s No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and sending him into the outside wall. Hamlin then slid up the banking, taking out Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson in the process.

Austin Dillon, Trevor Bayne and David Ragan also received significant damage during the crash.

RELATED: Stages recap | At-track photo gallery

Hamlin shouldered the blame for triggering the incident, placing himself in a precarious spot when Kyle Busch lost ground and stacked up the pack in the previous corner. But he also accepted his part in putting the No. 11 team behind with a pit-road speeding penalty in Stage 1.

“I shouldn’t have been in that position, but obviously the 18 (Busch) was falling back there and I made a move to the inside and everyone is fighting for the bottom,” Hamlin said. “I was obviously running the bottom there – the 10 (Almirola) tried to squeeze and I realized that he was going to come down and I got out of the gas and I got loose underneath him. It’s my responsibility to keep the car under me, but we were just in such tight quarters there that it was nearly impossible to do.

“It all starts with me at the beginning of the race, it’s my fault and I hate it for this race team. We had a car that I thought was very capable of winning this race and unfortunately we’re back here.”

Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet was pinballed in his second DNF of the season. Johnson’s car bounded into Hamlin’s car and the outside wall, then impacted the inside wall and Bayne’s No. 6 before coming to a halt.

“I was in the outside lane and knew I was in the wrong lane at that point and probably going to get caught up in it,” said Johnson, whose ninth-place starting position was his best of the season. “Unfortunately, we did, but a lot to build on from the weekend. We had a strong Friday, a fantastic Saturday and today we had plenty of speed, but just a lot of things worked against us. We just need a good clean weekend and we will go to Bristol next week and see if we can do it there.”

Said Keselowski: “Somebody got loose and the net thing I knew there was a big mess in front of me and it was either pick left or pick right and I made a quick decision to pick right and it was the wrong decision. Tough break. I hate it for everybody on the team.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Larson was knocked out of Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway after a heavy crash in Stage 2.

“I’m OK, thankfully. Thanks to NASCAR and their safety because that was a huge hit,” Larson said. “Just hate that I blew a right-front (tire) there.  I was pretty tight but didn’t really expect to blow a right-front.”

Larson cut down a tire driving into Turn 2, sending the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet hard into the outside wall on Lap 126.

RELATED: Larson explains ‘unexpected’ wreck

After starting from the rear of the field due to the No. 42 team failing pre-race inspection three times, Larson rocketed up to the front, finishing fifth in Stage 1. He was running in the fourth position when his hardship struck.

“Just needed to get by Joey (Logano) there and I felt like I was one of the faster cars out there,” Larson said.  “So, felt like we could have had a shot at the end of the race, but it was cut short.”

Another O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 contender, Martin Truex Jr., also wrecked after blowing a right-front tire.

Posted on by Staff Report

Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota took significant damage when it hit the outside wall in Turn 4 on Lap 80 in Stage 1 of Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500.

Truex, who has never won at Texas Motor Speedway but came in as a pre-race favorite, took his car to the garage and was done for the day — last in the 37-car field.

The defending series champion was running in second place when the problem with the right-front tire knocked him out of the event.

RELATED: Harvick, Kyle Busch split stage wins

Truex indicated the problem was with a tire going down, but he wasn’t sure what caused the issue.

“I don’t know if I ran something over,” Truex said after being released from the infield care center. “Speeds are really fast here today with the cool temperatures and I don’t know if that had something to do with it or not. We’ll just have to go back and evaluate that, but all in all we were going to be in for a good day.

“We were making the car better and still had room to go. We were as fast as anybody. At least that’s a positive and we’ll go on to next week and see what we can do.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Kevin Harvick won the first stage of Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, leading 73 of the 85 laps.

Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford started second in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM), then took advantage of teammate and pole winner Kurt Busch’s first-lap bobble. The stage victory was his fourth through seven races this season.

RELATED: Stage 1 results

Harvick, a winner at the 1.5-mile track for the first time last fall, lost the lead only during the mid-stage exchange of green-flag pit stops. Denny Hamlin took over for 12 laps on an alternate strategy, but lost ground with a pit-road speeding penalty.

Kyle Busch finished second in the opening stage in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota. Kurt Busch and Joey Logano completed the top four. Kyle Larson rallied from the rear of the field to finish fifth in the first stage. His Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet failed pre-race technical inspection three times, requiring him to drop to the tail end of the pack during pace laps.

Defending series champion Martin Truex Jr. was poised to finish well in the points at the end of Stage 1, but crunched the outside retaining wall while running second on Lap 80. His Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota was done for the day and the stage ended under the yellow flag.

A Lap 2 incident off Turn 4 damaged the hopes of Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez and Paul Menard. All four continued, but were scored laps down in the running order.

Finish Driver Team Race points
1 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 10
2 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing 9
3 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing 8
4 Joey Logano Team Penske 7
5 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing 6
6 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing 5
7 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing 4
8 Brad Keselowski Team Penske 3
9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 2
10 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing 1

Stage 2

Kyle Busch prevailed in a topsy-turvy second stage of Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Busch jumped to the lead late in the segment, passing his brother, Kurt, with four laps left in Stage 2. The driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota wrapped up his second stage win of the season.

RELATED: Stage 2 results

Kurt Busch, the pole-starter, was second at the end of the stage. Joey Logano, Erik Jones and Clint Bowyer completed the top five.

Stage 1 winner Kevin Harvick lost ground with a sluggish pit stop when the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 team’s jack jammed after a stray lug nut that stuck in the mechanism. That incident dropped him from the lead to ninth place, and he fell further back with an unscheduled pit stop to remedy a loose wheel.

Harvick, who won last November at Texas for the first time, ended the stage in 15th place.

The race was scheduled for a 334-lap full distance.

Finish Driver Team Race points
1 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing 10
2 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing 9
3 Joey Logano Team Penske 8
4 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing 7
5 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing 6
6 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 5
7 Brad Keselowski Team Penske 4
8 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing 3
9 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 2
10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 1

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Larson will start at the rear of the field for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) after his Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet failed pre-race inspection three times.

RELATED: Starting lineup

NASCAR officials handed down the grid penalty after the No. 42 did not pass the Optical Scanning Station three times. Car chief David Bryant has also been ejected from the race as part of the penalty.

Larson initially was slated to start 10th.

Posted on by

With lightning shortening Friday’s Busch Pole Award Qualifying to one round, opening round leader Kurt Busch will start Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) from the pole position. After three practice sessions for this race were in the books, we’ve dissected the numbers and 10-lap averages to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration as you go to make roster decisions for the seventh Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of 2018.

PLAY NOW: Set your Fantasy Live lineup | How the new Fantasy Live works
MORE: Fantasy analysis for Texas | Driver stats | Full lineup | 10-lap averages

Jessica Ruffin’s revised Fantasy Live lineup following practices and the lineup being set:
1: Kevin Harvick
2: Martin Truex Jr.
3: Kurt Busch
4: Erik Jones
5: Ryan Blaney
Garage: Kyle Larson

Analysis: Kevin Harvick was a must-pick for me heading into the weekend and he’s still at the top of my list after one shortened qualifying session and three practice sessions — the final practice cut short by rain, as well. Not only has he shown speed in all three practice sessions, he’s also starting second, which could result in additional bonus points for stage wins if he were to get out front. I’m also taking his teammate and pole-sitter Kurt Busch.

Truex was also a must-pick for Steve Letarte and I earlier this week and I’m standing my ground on that; while he’s never won at the Fort Worth track, his Texas consistency — both in past races and during practice — show me that he’s a solid play that could contend for the win on Sunday. Couple that with the fact that he’s the mile-and-a-half ace, and you’ve got a winner.

If you’re playing veterans like Truex and Harvick, I would pay special attention to your garage driver; burning a Truex or Harvick pick for a top-15 finish isn’t ideal when both of these drivers are win contenders on a consistent basis. That brings me to my new garage pick; Kyle Larson. He’s starting in the top 10 and his strong 10-lap averages lead me to believe that he’ll stay there. He’s also a good backup option if your must-starters have an issue. I substituted Larson for my original garage pick Chase Elliott because the No. 9 hasn’t been quite as fast as I would have liked this weekend at Texas.

Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney are both strong, under-the-radar picks for me. Jones nearly matched Harvick in 10-lap average speeds during the final practice. Even though he’s starting 21st, I think that speed that he’s shown all weekend will get him to the front quickly. Blaney, on the other hand, has a strong starting spot (fourth) to go with speed in his No. 12 Ford. He led 148 laps in this race last year and I see no reason why the No. 12 will have issues running up front come Sunday.