Posted on by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the races at Texas

PRACTICE 1 | RESULTS

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 42 Kyle Larson 34 43 187.312
2 24 Chase Elliott 8 17 186.148
3 48 Jimmie Johnson 13 22 182.561
4 95 Michael McDowell 1 10 173.801



PRACTICE 2 | RESULTS

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 20 Matt Kenseth 20 29 193.952
2 24 Chase Elliott 26 35 193.493
3 78 Martin Truex Jr. 13 22 193.299
4 18 Kyle Busch 10 19 193.050
5 42 Kyle Larson 21 30 192.575
6 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 24 33 192.513
7 22 Joey Logano 6 15 192.431
8 14 Clint Bowyer 20 29 192.356
9 2 Brad Keselowski 17 26 192.164
10 6 Trevor Bayne 8 17 191.517
11 34 Landon Cassill 4 13 191.421
12 3 Austin Dillon 17 26 191.238
13 5 Kasey Kahne 15 24 191.178
14 21 Ryan Blaney 14 23 191.157
15 4 Kevin Harvick 27 36 190.880
16 1 Jamie McMurray 28 37 190.712
17 41 Kurt Busch 23 32 190.469
18 47 AJ Allmendinger 20 29 190.235
19 31 Ryan Newman 15 24 190.168
20 7 * JJ Yeley(i) 15 24 190.101
21 48 Jimmie Johnson 12 21 189.954
22 11 Denny Hamlin 14 23 189.807
23 77 Erik Jones # 8 17 189.162
24 19 Daniel Suarez # 23 32 189.115
25 83 * Corey LaJoie # 11 20 187.682
26 38 David Ragan 14 23 187.624
27 72 Cole Whitt 17 26 187.110
28 10 Danica Patrick 13 22 186.896
29 23 Gray Gaulding # 8 17 185.300
30 32 Matt DiBenedetto 17 26 185.122
31 15 Reed Sorenson 8 17 184.900
32 95 Michael McDowell 16 25 184.464
33 27 Paul Menard 18 27 183.611
34 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt 17 26 183.455
35 55 * Derrike Cope 7 16 180.511
36 37 Chris Buescher 26 35 180.030


PRACTICE 3 | RESULTS

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 18 Kyle Busch 26 35 190.862
2 21 Ryan Blaney 16 25 189.950
3 42 Kyle Larson 14 23 189.835
4 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 16 25 189.621
5 41 Kurt Busch 17 26 189.555
6 2 Brad Keselowski 29 38 189.411
7 48 Jimmie Johnson 28 37 188.979
8 5 Kasey Kahne 20 29 188.949
9 37 Chris Buescher 18 27 188.866
10 77 Erik Jones # 18 27 188.829
11 3 Austin Dillon 13 22 188.777
12 11 Denny Hamlin 15 24 188.628
13 24 Chase Elliott 25 34 188.368
14 1 Jamie McMurray 13 22 188.041
15 10 Danica Patrick 23 32 187.804
16 13 Ty Dillon # 28 37 187.709
17 27 Paul Menard 17 26 186.368

* Car must run 10 consecutive laps on the track to be included in the above chart.
* Required to qualify on time, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Posted on by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the races at Texas
RELATED: Final practice speeds | Practice 2 speeds | Full weekend schedule

Jimmie Johnson claimed the top spot in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway.

 

Johnson, a six-time Texas winner, drove the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet to a best lap of 194.812 mph on the 1.5-mile track. The seven-time series champ is scheduled to start 24th in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) after a spin in the first round of Friday’s Coors Light Pole Qualifying.

 

Chase Elliott, his teammate in the Hendrick No. 24 Chevrolet, was second fastest at 194.252 mph. Series points leader Kyle Larson posted the third-best speed (193.618 mph) in the Chip Ganassi No. 42 entry, completing a 1-2-3 leaderboard sweep by Chevrolets.

 

Richard Petty Motorsports’ Aric Almirola was fourth-best (193.555 mph) in the fastest Ford. Matt Kenseth (193.465 mph) completed the top five in the fastest Toyota, the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20.

 

The session was marked by a pair of incidents on the repaved and reconfigured circuit. Trevor Bayne’s Roush Fenway Racing No. 6 Ford crunched the Turns 1 and 2 wall with heavy damage at the four-minute mark, leaving his team to trot out its backup car. Bayne had just risen to the top of the leaderboard before his wreck.

 

RELATED: See Bayne’s practice wreck

 

"I wrecked the fastest race car I have ever had," said Bayne, who was uninjured. "I got loose into one and touched the gray there and if you get out of the groove by a centimeter it is gone. It is unfortunate. I know that, I just stepped over the edge."

 

Kasey Kahne also clouted the outside retaining wall in Turn 2 near the end of the 50-minute tuning session. His Hendrick Motorsports team unloaded a backup No. 5 Chevrolet ahead of Sunday’s 500-miler.

 

Keselowski carries speed in early Saturday practice

 

Brad Keselowski aced second practice Saturday morning at Texas Motor Speedway, topping the speed charts at 196.143 mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

 

Next up was the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet of Kyle Larson, posting a fastest lap of 196.093 mph.

 

Ty Dillon in the No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet (196.043 mph), Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (195.943 mph) and Chase Elliott in the No. 24 HMS Chevrolet (195.837 mph) completed the top five.

 

RELATED: Blaney fastest in Friday’s practice

 

Polesitter Kevin Harvick was 19th fastest during the 55-minute session (194.112 mph).

 

Larson and Kasey Kahne served 15-minute penalties for failing inspections; Gray Gaulding and Derrike Cope served 15-minute penalties for being late to inspections.

 

Several cars hit the wall in Friday’s first practice, including Kyle Busch, Elliott and Erik Jones. Saturday morning’s practice was free of incidents.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the races at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas — When Danica Patrick pressed the button on Twitter last Saturday to announce her engagement to boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr., social media blew up with the news — until word got out it was an April Fools’ joke. Stenhouse was in on the prank, but he had forgotten about it.
 
"I was out in the woods working after Martinsville practice, and she says, ‘Hey, it’s April Fools’ — I want to send something out,’ " Stenhouse told reporters on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway. "She said, ‘I’ve got this idea. Are you in?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I guess so. Let’s do it.’

"Then I was on the phone talking to somebody for 30 or 40 minutes, and my phone kept going off, and I wasn’t sure why it kept going off, and I forgot she had sent that out. Then I realized real quick what it was all about."

Stenhouse said the joke hadn’t increased the urgency to make a bona fide proposal.

"I wouldn’t say there’s a ton of pressure, but I get it from fans a lot," he said.

Posted on by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the races at Texas

At a Glance 

What: O’Reilly Auto Parts 500
Where: Texas Motor Speedway, 1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth, Texas
Green flag: 1:46:30 p.m. ET
TV/Radio: FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Forecast: Mostly cloudy with a high near 82, according to the National Weather Service. South winds 15-20 mph, gusty at times.
National Anthem: Danielle Peck
Grand Marshal: Jim Rome, sports radio and television host
Race distance: 334 laps, 501 miles
Pit road speed: 45 mph
Caution car speed: 55 mph
Stage lengths: Stage 1 ends on Lap 85. Stage 2 ends on Lap 170. Final stage is scheduled to end on Lap 334.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the races at Texas


FORT WORTH, Texas — Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) promises to be one of the most interesting Monster Energy NASCAR Cup races of the season — and not just because the repaved, reconfigured speedway will pose an enormous challenge to the top drivers.


When the green flag waves Sunday, a large percentage of the speed in the field will be coming from the rear. The Chevrolets of series leader Kyle Larson and of Hendrick Motorsports drivers Chase Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne will start toward the back on owner points because their cars failed to pass pre-qualifying inspection in time to make a run during time trails.


Further expanding the contingent at the rear of the field are: Kyle Busch, who hit the wall during opening practice and did not make a qualifying attempt; Erik Jones, who destroyed his primary car during practice and went to a backup; and seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who spun during the first round of knockout qualifying, flat-spotted his tires and will start from the back on fresh rubber.


Those drivers will be trying to work their way forward as quickly as possible, and they’ll have the muscle to do so. Larson was second-fastest to Brad Keselowski in Saturday’s first practice session. Earnhardt and Elliott were fourth and fifth on the early speed chart, all but guaranteeing a free-for-all when the race starts.


"I ain’t too worried about it," said Earnhardt, who will start 37th on Sunday. "The race is pretty long. I don’t know what was wrong with our car going through tech, but if you don’t make it, you don’t get out there and I like that. I like the rules being the same for everybody."


Though he clearly has a fast car, Larson acknowledged the difficulty in starting from the rear on the new Texas asphalt.


"I don’t know exactly what happened — we just didn’t make it through tech," Larson said. "Yeah, this is not the place you want to not make it through tech. It will be really hard to pass, I think, on Sunday. Wherever we end up starting is going to hurt us."

Posted on by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the races at Texas
RELATED: Race results | Sunday Snapshot | Detailed breakdown

FORT WORTH, Texas – What a difference a pit stop made.


Erik Jones gained two seconds over Ryan Blaney on his final trip to pit road, and that was all the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota needed for a convincing victory in Saturday’s My Bariatric Solutions 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.


In winning for the second time at Texas, the first time this season and the seventh time in his career, Jones led 112 of the 200 laps and stretched his advantage to more than three seconds in the late going before driving conservatively over the last three laps and beating Blaney to the stripe by .512 seconds.


"I tiptoed a lot there in the segments and ended up letting the 22 (Blaney) catch us and pass us, but then I was just super aggressive the whole time in traffic just trying to make passes as quick as I could and get as many cars as I could between myself and Ryan, and it paid off," Jones said.


"I think we were probably a little slower than him for the last few laps – he had so many lapped cars to get around that there was no way he was going to get to us."


Kevin Harvick ran third, 21.383 seconds behind Jones, as only nine drivers finished on the lead lap. Austin Dillon was fourth, followed by Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Cole Custer, who posted a career-best fifth, and Darrell Wallace Jr., who finished sixth for the fifth consecutive race.


With the final stage of the race going green from a restart on Lap 98 to the conclusion, Blaney ran down Jones and passed him for the lead on Lap 131. Jones came to pit road for fresh tires and fuel on Lap 147, and Blaney followed a lap later.


In the exchange of stops, Jones went from a half-second behind to 2.178 seconds ahead of the runner-up, and from that point on it was game over.


"I thought our car was pretty good all day," Blaney said. "The 20 seemed to be a little better than us for 35 or 40 laps. Then I feel like we could start running him down. We passed him before the last pit stop, and I thought our car was pretty decent right there. I needed to turn a little better early in a run. I knew it wasn’t going to be that long for the next stint.

"We didn’t come out with the lead, and that hurt us. I think if we would have come out with the lead, I don’t know if I could have held him off. He was pretty good right away, but we kind of over adjusted and got too free that last run. I felt like we were kind of even with them 10 laps into a run, but then he got so far out ahead that we couldn’t run him down. Just couldn’t get there."


Stage racing played a decisive role in strategies employed by NASCAR XFINITY Series regulars versus Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers moonlighting in Saturday’s race. When Garrett Smithley’s spin off Turn 2 brought out the fifth caution on Lap 84, most of the Cup drivers came to pit road. The XFINITY regulars, on the other hand, stayed on the track under the yellow to collect points at the end of the second stage, which concluded on Lap 90. William Byron won the stage and the accompanying playoff point, leading nine XFINITY regulars in the top 10 in that stage.


In contrast, Jones won the first stage, which featured only three full-time XFINITY drivers in the top 10.


Despite finishing 10th as the first driver one lap down, Elliott Sadler retained the series lead by six points over Byron in second place.


Posted on by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the races at Texas

RELATED: Full lineup, roster for Sunday

FORT WORTH — In the moments following a qualifying miscue Friday evening at Texas Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson good-naturedly offered up an assessment of his 2017 season.


"I think we used up all our good luck at Homestead last year," the seven-time NASCAR Cup champion told reporters with a smile.


The luck he referred to was a happy ending to the 2016 season finale when he started last in the field and rallied to victory in the final three laps to clinch a record-tying seventh title.

MORE: Johnson ‘fortunate’ for pressures put on team


This year has been a different story — a lot less "Cinderella" and a lot more "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."


He’ll line up 24th on the starting grid for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) instead of anywhere close to the top-five effort he had put in before the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy spun in time trials.


It’s kinda been that way for Johnson early in the 2017 season. He is winless and ranked 14th in the standings entering Sunday’s race — the lowest he’s been ranked after six races ever in a Hall of Fame-certain 16-season career.


With a series-best six victories on the Texas high banks — including three consecutive from 2014-15 — Johnson is absolutely the all-time best here. He has five runner-up finishes and an all-time tops 1,023 laps led. He has a winner’s cowboy hat for nearly every day of the week.


The statistics are all promising for Johnson, however, this is also the first race on the newly paved, reconfigured Texas oval. In addition to the fresh pavement, the banking in Turns 1 and 2 has been lessened from 24 degrees to 20 degrees and the racing surface there widened from 60 to 80 feet.

READ: Texas repave prooves difficult | Drivers eager to race on repave


There was no testing prior to the race weekend, and four teams had to go to Plan B because of accidents in practice. Rookie Erik Jones and Chase Elliott will race backup cars after crashes in Friday’s practice. Trevor Bayne and Kasey Kahne will race back-up cars after crashes in Saturday’s final practice.


WATCH: Elliott spins | Jones to backup | Bayne with issues | Kahne into wall


Johnson, meanwhile, was the fastest in that last practice and ran more laps (45) than all but two drivers. Brad Keselowski completed 46 laps and Kyle Busch ran 47.


"I have it in me, but I think it’s a clean sheet of paper," Johnson said of the new-look Texas track. "You can’t pick a favorite right now. Anytime there is a reconfiguration, a new asphalt, it’s a total game-changer. All of past history is now out the window and it’s like we are coming here for the first time."


In addition to the Texas-specific challenges, Johnson’s results elsewhere this season appear underachieving at first glance. He has only a single top 10 in six races — ninth at Phoenix. And his average finish on the year so far is 18.2. Three times he’s finished 19th or worse. A 34th-place result — he was caught up in a crash not of his making — in the season-opening Daytona 500 left the team playing catch-up immediately.


The comforting news in all this is that the 80-time winner Johnson does not appear frantic or overly concerned about his season’s start, but rather calm and optimistic.



See: Relive all 80 wins


And when it comes to navigating the Texas high banks, Johnson has every reason to feel that way.


"I don’t mind the questions, I mean, they are rightfully asked," Johnson said last week of the more frequent questions about the team’s start. "I think the overreaction on either side is very amusing. If we are not winning, how big of a deal some make of it and when we win, how big of a deal some make of it.


"I think our history shows that we can rebound quickly and we have unfortunately had slow summers through our existence. There are a few dynamics there that are pretty darn predictable even though we try to change them, especially that summer slump.


"I am so fortunate in (that) my career has shifted in a way to where there are high expectations that come with it. I will gladly take that than a lot of shoes that other drivers are sitting in."

Posted on by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the races at Texas
RELATED: Erik Jones prevails | Race results


FORT WORTH, Texas — Darrell Wallace Jr. would tell you he’s not necessarily a "numbers" kind of guy.


But he leaned back against his Roush Racing No. 6 Leidos Ford on Texas Motor Speedway’s pit road Saturday, shook his head, laughed a bit and thought about the upside of scoring his fifth consecutive sixth-place finish this year.


Outside of a crash-derailed, 33rd-place effort at the XFINITY Series’ season opener at Daytona Beach, Wallace has finished sixth in every single race.


NASCAR Hall of Famer Jack Ingram finished runner-up in the series six consecutive times in 1983 — the longest streak of consistency in the series.


All of Wallace’s sixes have produced an even more encouraging number: four. Wallace is ranked fourth in the standings, 49 points behind leader Elliott Sadler with the series’ next race at Bristol, Tennessee, in two weeks.


"Unreal," Wallace said smiling. "Hats off to the crew. They put me in the game there after that last stop. I knew it was going to be a good day."


Wallace said it wasn’t until the very end that he realized his number was going to come up again. He spun out on Lap 67 racing hard with a group of cars, but didn’t make contact with the wall and was able to rally his Ford Mustang back up through the field — and even led a lap.


He was trying to catch rookie and fifth-place finisher Cole Custer in the final frantic laps.


"I didn’t know where we were when I was battling with Custer," Wallace said. "I thought we were eighth or ninth. He did a good job all day. I was thinking, ‘oh, here goes seventh,’ but we were able to hold on.


"Nine laps to go, I was clear by 10 (car-lengths). I was coming down the frontstretch and I was like, there is no way we are in sixth again."


Wallace grinned and shook his head, "I’m going to talk to Elliott here. Maybe I could buy his number."


Points leader Elliott Sadler’s Chevrolet is No. 1.

Posted on by Staff Report

The next generation of Petty pride is making his ARCA debut Saturday night as Thad Moffitt runs the No. 46 Ford at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee.

 

With a helmet that’s fit for "The King," Richard Petty’s 16-year-old grandson is out to prove himself at the Music City 200.

 

 

Empire Racing Group and Richard Petty Motorsports partnered to put Moffitt’s No. 46 Petty-blue Ford on the track this weekend.

 

"I love racing, being at the track and just learning and trying to get better each race," Moffitt said in a press release. "The ERG team has been great and I’ve had a lot of fun with them in the late model. They have a good ARCA program and I really wanted to make my debut in this series.

 

"A lot of great drivers have raced in ARCA, and Uncle Kyle and Adam have both won in this series. It makes me really want to follow in their footsteps."