Multiple cars were collected in a Lap 172 crash at the beginning of the final stage of Sunday’s Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Bubba Wallace grazed the wall exiting Turn 2 on the restart, with Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney close in tow. The contact appeared to slow Wallace into Logano’s path, turning Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota sideways across the front half of the field. Wallace’s spinning car then collected Noah Gragson, while Alex Bowman and AJ Allmendinger collided against the outside wall. Chad Finchum also collected damage.
Wallace, who restarted in seventh before the incident, took responsibility for the incident.
“Man, Charles (Denike, crew chief), we had a nice talk after I got out of the car and they just laid out all the positives that we went through this weekend,” Wallace said after being evaluated and released from the infield care center. “So, that’s what we’re going to hold our heads to. I hate that I got into the fence. I was trying to give the 22 (Logano) room, and then just got the wall and started chaos. So hate it for my team and everybody involved. But, man, we were making progress from the start of the weekend and it was going to shape up to be a good day. But nothing’s ever for certain. So it is what it is.”
The 23XI Racing driver initially continued the race but eventually returned to the garage after seven additional laps. Gragson, Bowman, Allmendinger and Finchum all went to the garage immediately as a result of the incident.
The crash signaled the sixth of 12 cautions in the Würth 400 presented by Liqui Moly. All were due to on-track incidents, including a debris caution at Lap 162 after Chris Buescher impacted the wall and cut a right-rear tire.
Denny Hamlin exited Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway early after engine failure struck at Lap 75 of the 271-lap contest.
The No. 11 Toyota erupted in flames entering Turn 1, triggering a long slide through Turns 1 and 2 and resulting in a dramatic end to Hamlin’s event. Hamlin nursed the vehicle to a halt on the backstretch as black smoke poured from the car. Hamlin climbed from the machine under his own power and walked to the ambulance for the mandatory trip to the infield care center, where he was evaluated and released.
“It missed for like three-quarters of a lap,” Hamlin told FOX Sports. “But other than that, no (warning), nothing. They’ll take it back and look at it.”
The No. 11 Toyota was off the pace for that portion of the lap in an attempt to get the car to the attention of the crew. His engine, unfortunately, had other plans, and Hamlin finished last in the 38-car field.
“I didn’t want to let it try to blow all the way, that way, we could at least take a look at it, try to figure it out,” Hamlin said. “If you detonate them hard, then it’s really hard for the manufacturer to figure out exactly what broke first. But usually, the way it blew up, they’ll be able to find out.”
Hamlin was running outside the top 20 after an early radio miscue disrupted the No. 11 team’s pit strategy. When all others hit pit road under caution on Lap 22, Hamlin stayed out after confusion over a code word. After a discussion with crew chief Chris Gayle, the team decided to pit before the race resumed and restarted from the tail of the field in 36th place.
Hamlin worked his way back to 25th place before the engine expired.
Hamlin absorbed his first DNF of 2025, ending a 21-race stretch of lead-lap finishes that began in the 2024 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
“I’m not really sure,” Hamlin said when asked if there was a pattern or trend to his engine ailment. “I’ve had blown engines in two or three seasons in a row now where we didn’t have any issues several years prior to that. Just trying to develop I’m guessing and trying to get more. Certainly, we feel like we need to get a bit more power but this was unexpected for us.”
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Austin Cindric became the 10th different winner in as many Talladega races last weekend and the sixth different winner this season through 10 races, raising the question of whether we will see another new winner Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
Eight different drivers have won the last eight races at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth-based track; same goes for a different winner in each of the previous six intermediate track races. There’s also been pure chaos at Texas in recent years, with the last four races producing 11 or more cautions. All of which reads like the perfect recipe for a new driver to master the melees and snatch their first win of the season.
But then there’s William Byron.
He not only has been routinely the driver to position himself late to win, but he’s also been the most consistent driver through 10 races. His average start (10.3) and average finish (8.5) rank best among all drivers — and now he’s qualified second for today’s race.
Byron is also the only driver out of this year’s “Big 4” not to have multiple wins (Bell: Three, Larson: Two and Hamlin: Two). He may not need the wins, since he’s been in control of the driver standings since Circuit of The Americas, but it never hurts to stack playoff points. With Texas being one of his best tracks, it makes Sunday’s race a good chance for him to earn another win.
OTHER DRIVERS TO WATCH
ALEX BOWMAN: Bowman has been an automatic top 10 threat in the last seven intermediate races, with an average finish of 6.1 over that span. Hendrick Motorsports also has won three out of the last four Texas races. The only concern here is he has just two top 10s at the track in 15 starts.
TYLER REDDICK: Yes, Reddick has a Texas win from 2022 and wouldn’t continue the new winner streak, either. But he’s yet to find Victory Lane this year, and like Byron, this is a strong track for him. He has four top 10s in six starts at the facility and has four top 10s this year.
CHASE BRISCOE: Another driver who’s been solid at Texas, Briscoe has finished in the top 15 in all four of his starts at the track, with the last three visits resulting in top 10s. He’s also starting to find rhythm with the No. 19 team, scoring top 10s in three of the last five races.
BUBBA WALLACE: The No. 23 driver has emerged as a serious contender this season. His 94 stage points are the second-most by a driver this year, and he has the best-rated pit crew, per NASCAR Insights.
DANIEL SUÁREZ: The first mile and a half race saw Suárez vie for the win and finish runner-up. He has five career top 10s at Texas, finishing fifth in this race a year ago. More importantly, he has three top fives in the last eight races on 1.5-mile tracks.
RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE WÜRTH 400 PRESENTED BY LIQUI MOLY
Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula includes current track, current track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to arrive at a projected winner and full race results. Updated on race day with practice and qualifying factored in.
FORT WORTH, Texas — A repeat winner was almost crowned in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 with Sam Mayer in the bright red No. 41 Andy’s-sponsored Haas Factory Team Ford Mustang leading the field to the green flag on the final restart of the afternoon.
Ultimately, Kyle Larson, subbing for Connor Zilisch in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, rocketed around the outside of Mayer into Turn 1 and set sail for the race victory. In the closing laps of the overtime restart, the 21-year-old was shuffled to a fifth-place finish.
The Wisconsin native fought through early trouble, as the No. 41 car was one of multiple cars involved in a Stage 2 incident as the field got hung up in the frontstretch grass on a restart. Instead of focusing on the negative, Mayer shed light on just how good he thinks his Haas team is.
“We had every bit of adversity thrown at us today,” Mayer said post-race. “We had damage, we had to go to the back, we almost went a lap down under green because of it. So to come back and even have a shot at it, I mean, it shows how good this team is. This Haas Factory organization works really hard to give me good race cars. We probably weren’t the best today, but we certainly were right there in the mix, and I think we deserve to finish a little better.”
In the mix he was, battling Cup Series champion Larson in the closing laps. Despite the result in fifth place, Mayer believes that if he had a little more help on the fire-off of the restart, he could’ve potentially bested the driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet at the end.
“I felt like I was better than (Larson) all day,” Mayer said. “I felt like he may have had the best car, but I outdrove him there towards the end a little bit, and the restart obviously didn’t go my way. So I felt like I belonged in that mix, and I felt like I did every decision right there at the end, and obviously, he just had better help on the last restart. That’s literally all it takes here.”
Mayer leaves the 1.5-mile track with his first top-five showing since the seventh race of his 2025 campaign, where he accomplished the same result at Martinsville Speedway. It was a welcome finish as the Xfinity Series is set to take a few weeks off before returning to competition on Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“It’s unbelievable,” Mayer said with a smile. “So like, the last four or five weeks have been pretty rough for the 41 car, and honestly, Haas Factory as a whole. So to come back with something new, we haven’t run this type of geometry in the front before, to do something new and not know how I was going to do it and not get practice to see how it goes, and to come out and have it go the right way. Feels really, really good, so I’m really proud, and I’m looking forward to Charlotte, for sure, because it’s going to be the same story.”
Track: Texas Motor Speedway Location: Fort Worth, Texas Track length: 1.5 miles When: Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET Where to tune in: FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Race purse: $11,055,250 Race distance: 267 laps | 400.5 miles Stages: 80 | 165 | 267 Defending winner:Chase Elliott, April 2024 Starting lineup:Carson Hocevar hustles to Busch Light Pole
Uncertainty is bigger in Texas
A few things you can count on when NASCAR’s traveling troupe heads to Texas Motor Speedway: marketing with a side dish of swagger (“No Limits”), the “everything’s bigger in …” trope, replays of the Michael McDowell qualifying crash, and the on-brand cowboy hats awaiting the winner in Victory Lane. Something that’s less counted on: A sure thing when it comes to establishing a favorite.
The Cup Series digs deeper into the regular season with three consecutive points-paying races at intermediate-sized tracks lined up in May, starting with Sunday’s Würth 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). That stretch is only broken up by the non-points NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway’s short track on May 18.
Kansas on May 11 and the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte on May 25 follow Sunday’s 400-miler. A trifecta of 1.5-mile circuits might resemble a return to what’s traditionally been the lifeblood of the Cup Series schedule, setting the tone for who might contend in the balance of the season. It also might be a welcome sight for the field after getting through the gauntlet last weekend at the ever-unpredictable Talladega Superspeedway, where 10 different drivers have won the last 10 races.
Texas, however, might not be the safe haven for tried-and-true favorites at first blush, bearing some similarities to Talladega, at least on paper. The last eight Cup Series races at Texas have been won by eight different drivers. That’s not even the longest such streak in track history; a soup of 13 unique winners ratcheted up the variety in a span that stretched from 1998 to 2007.
There’s also variation in the more recent history of races on 1.5-mile tracks. The last six events on intermediate-sized ovals have also been won by six different drivers.
A top candidate to extend both of those streaks is Ryan Blaney, who is still searching for his first victory of the 2025 campaign. The Team Penske driver won the last running of the All-Star Race at Texas in 2022, but he’s also poised to break through on the points-paying side. Blaney has accumulated the most Cup Series points (224) in the last six Cup Series races there, and his 216 laps led during that stretch is second only to another former Cup champ, Kyle Larson (451).
Carson Hocevar, last year’s top rookie, is another ready to throw his wide-brimmed hat into the winner’s ring after becoming a first-time pole winner in Saturday’s session. It’s the latest qualifying coup for Spire Motorsports, which notched its first-ever Cup pole a month ago with McDowell at 1.5-mile Las Vegas.
Drivers will also need to not create their own Texas turmoil, being mindful to avoid clipping the infield grass in the frontstretch dogleg. Putting a wheel off there has caused multiple incidents already this weekend in the Craftsman Truck Series and Xfinity Series races that have preceded Sunday’s 400-miler.
What do crew chiefs have in focus to win Sunday’s race?
Texas Motor Speedway is one of the more unique mile-and-a-half race tracks that the Cup Series visits. With varying degrees of banking at each end and temperatures that can make the racing surface slippery, crew chiefs must ensure the balance is just right to set up for success.
“The two ends are very, very different,” said James Small, crew chief for the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Chase Briscoe. “You know, we don’t really go to many tracks outside of Darlington that have this much of a difference between (Turns) 1 and 2 and 3 and 4.”
Chevrolet crew chief Travis Peterson, who oversees Michael McDowell’s No. 71 Spire Motorsports entry, echoed Small’s sentiments about the evolving challenges that Texas presents, emphasizing the importance of achieving the perfect balance to handle everything that Turns 3 and 4 throw at you.
“It’s such a fast corner that it almost feels like a straightaway,” Peterson told NASCAR.com. “So you really kind of plan the whole thing for one end, and then it’ll change the way you approach your setup and your body builds and things like that. It’s tough because the things that you do that get you close for that bump to be a problem are making speed, so you’re always painting that line, and it really comes down to how aggressive you make some choices and how much the driver says he can handle. So it’s really important that he gets into that situation, right?”
At the heart of the conversation with any crew chief this weekend is strategy. A softer left-side Goodyear tire and the ability for the track to take rubber at high speeds and high temperatures give the Cup Series competitors multiple options to capitalize.
Brian Wilson, who recently came away as the winning crew chief at Talladega Superspeedway with Austin Cindric’s Team Penske No. 2 Ford, touched on the importance of having those multiple strategy options.
“It’s one thing that we’ve been talking about a lot with this intermediate package,” Wilson said. “How do you get better in traffic? I think we’ve made gains. It’s really interesting to look back at a setup from one year ago and see what you’ve learned and what’s different.
“So, one, you think about the setup, but two, I also think about the strategy. This is a track that typically you can do two tires, you can flip stages and you could possibly stay out. You review last year’s race, and there were a lot of varying strategies and tire calls. So, you’ve got options there. You’ve got the ability to try to move yourself forward at the end of the race.”
Big momentum for bowties. The last four Texas Motor Speedway races have been snapped up by Chevrolet drivers. Moreover, three of those victors are Hendrick Motorsports pilots; an Alex Bowman win on Sunday would make it a clean sweep for the four-car organization in a five-year span.
He may not be the favorite to win, but watch out for …
BRAD KESELOWSKI. The glaring 32nd-place spot in the Cup Series standings might be a deterrent, but Keselowski’s recent run of consistency at Texas makes him well worth the consideration. The RFK Racing driver/owner has finished in the top 10 in six consecutive Texas races — a series-leading streak that nets out to another series-best with a 6.0 average finish in that time frame.
Fantasy update
NASCAR Fantasy Live expert Dustin Albino provides insight for your race-day lineup.
Carson Hocevar backed up his pace from practice, scoring his first pole award in 56 career starts. Entering the weekend, Hocevar was in my lineup, so it wasn’t unforeseen that he would excel, given that he earned his first career top 10 at Texas last year. Two additions were made to my lineup, bumping in Ty Gibbs and Austin Cindric to replace Chase Briscoe and Brad Keselowski. Cindric commanded the scoring chart on 10-, 15-, 20- and 25-lap averages during practice. Meanwhile, Gibbs displayed the most consistent pace of the Toyotas.
Lineup: William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Carson Hocevar, Ty Gibbs.
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles. • NASCAR at Texas: Key information, links, results through the weekend | Read more
• Kyle Busch at 40: ‘Rowdy’ reflects on a full career, fatherhood and the future | Read more • Elliott’s Lone Star defense: No. 9 driver aims for another streak-snapper | Read more
• Honoring and remembering: Bell lays wreath at Tomb of Unknown Soldier | Read more
• Battle of All-Stars: Joey Logano ‘surprised’ by Chipper Jones’ rant | Read more
• Racing Insights: Full finishing order projections for Sunday’s Würth 400 | Read more
• Turning Point to Texas: Ten races in, how the playoff picture shakes out | Read more
• At-track images: Best photos, scenes from a Texas tripleheader | View gallery
• NASCAR Classics: Dip into the Lone Star archives with full-race replays | Watch races
• Paint Scheme Preview: Fresh designs ready to tackle Texas | View gallery
FORT WORTH, Texas — Crew chief Mardy Lindley called his shot.
“We’ve got to stop to win,” Lindley radioed to driver Kyle Larson, subbing for injured Connor Zilisch in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
Lindley was right. Larson made a late pit stop and proceeded to win Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway in two overtimes.
The victory was Larson’s second of the season, his second at Texas and the 17th of his Xfinity career, with Larson charging from the seventh position on a Lap 194 restart — behind six cars that stayed out on older tires — to win in two extra periods.
On Lap 188, Larson was cruising to a probable win with a lead of more than six seconds when Corey Day — in the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet that Larson drove to a dominating win at Bristol in mid-April — hit the tire barrier on the inside of Turn 3 to cause the ninth of 11 cautions.
That’s when Lindley made the call to bring Larson to pit road, and ultimately it paid off. After moving from third to second on the first overtime restart, Larson took the lead from defending race winner Sam Mayer in the second overtime and pulled away to win by 1.265 seconds over Taylor Gray, who surged from fourth to second in the final two laps.
“It was a lot of survival, I felt like in that race,” Larson said. “I got in some wrecks, the balance we had to work on quite a bit. So, it was fun. I felt like if I could ever get the lead, I could stretch it out, but I couldn’t get by Justin (Allgaier). He was running where I needed to be.
“Thanks to JRM for letting me come run this thing here today. Obviously, I wish Connor was in the car, but it means a lot that they thought of me to call up to run this thing.”
As Larson worked his way through the field twice — once from the 20th starting position and again after an uncontrolled tire penalty sent him to the rear after the first stage break — Allgaier led a race-high 99 laps and kept Larson at bay until a cycle of green-flag pit stops in the final stage scrambled the running order.
It was during that cycle that Allgaier’s race came to an untimely end. Running 12th after pitting on Lap 153, Allgaier closed fast on the No. 5 Chevrolet of Kris Wright near the exit from Turn 4.
Wright failed to hold the bottom lane and drifted up the track into Allgaier’s line. Allgaier made a move toward the inside but couldn’t avoid Wright’s car. The No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet slammed into the outside wall in the tri-oval, slid down onto the infield grass and ended the race on a wrecker.
Allgaier, who had lost position to Larson during the pit sequence, was gracious in his assessment of the wreck that ended his day.
“The hard part is, ultimately it falls on my shoulders,” Allgaier said. “We’d about gotten crashed a couple laps before the green-flag stop there, and I think they had some damage and he (Wright) was having a bit of a tough time with his race car, and I’m trying to catch back to the 88 and trying to push and ultimately put myself in a bad position…
“Kyle and I had a great battle, and I was having a lot of fun with it. Obviously, the guy’s ultra-fast in anything that he drives. … I think probably the most disappointing part about today is that it’s my mom’s birthday. I would love to get a trophy and celebrate her birthday with that, but instead I’m standing here talking to you guys.”
Allgaier’s exit opened the door for Mayer, Gray, Austin Hill and Nick Sanchez. Driving the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet, Sanchez ran consistently in the top five until the second overtime, when he hit the wall and dropped to 20th at the finish.
Riley Herbst finished third after restarting sixth in the final overtime, with Hill coming home fourth, Mayer fifth and Harrison Burton sixth. Jesse Love, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Jones and Jeb Burton completed the top 10.
The Xfinity Series’ next race is the BetMGM 300, scheduled for Saturday, May 24 (4:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
NOTE: Post-race inspection concluded without issue, confirming Larson as the winner. The No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet piloted by Daniel Dye had two lug nuts not safe and secure, which will result in a monetary fine and one-race suspension for crew chief Kevin Walter. Additionally, the Nos. 19, 21, 41 and 88 cars will be taken to the NASCAR Research and Development Center for further engine dyno testing.
FORT WORTH, Texas — When Netflix began filming “Full Speed: Season 2,” which chronicles the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick found himself in familiar territory.
As a Championship 4 driver last season and being a featured player in Season 1, Reddick knew what to expect when Netflix came calling this time around.
“I’ve done it both years now, and it’s fun,” said Reddick, who finished fourth in the 2024 final standings. “You get to know the people you’re working with. As long as you are open to and embrace the idea of letting everyone see what happens behind the scenes, if you’re comfortable with that, it’s a lot of fun.”
The five-episode series debuts on Wednesday, May 7, with particular emphasis on the sport’s top stars who qualified for the playoffs, among them Reddick, three-time champion Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell.
Contributors to the series include Dale Earnhardt Jr., broadcaster Marty Smith, former crew chief/current television analyst Steve Letarte, FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass and broadcaster/pit reporter Kim Coon.
“Full Speed: Season 2” not only takes a close look at the technical and emotional aspects of competition, but it also highlights the drivers’ home lives and activities away from the race track.
Very little is off limits to the Netflix cameras.
“I think you always (have to draw lines),” Reddick said. “It’s been a while ago now, so I couldn’t even tell you what those things were. You want to share as much as you can, but there are certain things that take place that you could classify as industry secrets, right?
“You’ve got to be careful sometimes, but for the most part, given the environment, it doesn’t happen very often.”
In fact, he has finished on the lead lap in only two of the 15 starts — his two most recent — and he has led just two of the 4,735 laps he’s completed.
It’s not that Buescher hasn’t had the speed to belie his record at Texas.
“Since Texas has been reconfigured, we’ve been a lot better there from a speed standpoint, but haven’t really closed the deal to (finish) better,” Buescher said. “We’ve had really good runs that just haven’t ended well.
“All that being said, you want it to be better, being a home track and having so many friends and family come out to that one. It takes a little extra out of you not to be able to seal the deal there.”
To conquer Texas, NASCAR Cup teams must find a workable setup balance between the two ends of the track, which are markedly different. Turns 1 and 2 are flatter (maximum 20 degrees of banking) and consequently slower than Turns 3 and 4, which are banked at 24 degrees.
Conventional wisdom suggests a trade-off is required, but negotiating Turns 1 and 2 with speed is critical to a fast lap. With the Gen 7 car, introduced in 2022, the trade-off isn’t as extreme as it used to be.
“It was a lot at first, but with this car and the ability to shift (from fifth to fourth gear in the first two corners), that took away a lot of the compromise,” Buescher said. “You’re able to drop a gear and keep that momentum up in Turns 1 and 2 a lot better.
“It’s taken away that old Kentucky feel, where you had to set up for one side or the other. The (Turn) 1 and 2 (end) is not the crawling corner that it was with the last generation car.”
See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series driver will pit for the Würth 400 presented by Liqui Moly on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
See where your favorite NASCAR Xfinity Series driver will pit for the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday (2 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
See where your favorite NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver will pit for the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday (8 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
