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Check out full coverage from this weekend’s races

Sprint Cup Series

AAA Texas 500, Texas Motor Speedway, 3 p.m. ET, Sunday, ESPN (ESPN on air at 2 p.m. ET) | RESULTS

Featured Story

Johnson dominates at Texas

Jimmie Johnson did his best to separate himself from Matt Kenseth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings. With his AAA Texas 500 victory, he put seven points between the two, while several other drivers were knocked out of contention. | Read the full story

RELATED: Full coverage of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup

MORE NEWS
— Johnson, Kenseth points battle won’t resolve quickly
— Gordon’s champ chances take a hit with Texas crash
— Gordon: Post-race apology messages ‘ridiculous’
— Edwards wins Coors Light Pole at Texas
— Bowyer, Keselowski, Kenseth top Saturday practices
— Sprint Cup Series pit stall assignments
— Truex lands on his feet with Furniture Row arrival | Gets multiyear deal
— Johnson-Kenseth is closest Chase battle yet 
— Top 10 drivers who best wore the black hat
— Gordon hopes to close in on Chase leaders
— Ambrose: ‘It’s time to deliver’
— Revamped GoDaddy plans Super Bowl ad with Danica
— France optimistic changes will ‘elevate’ racing
— Power Rankings: Martinsville mishaps see Dale Jr. slip
— Driver Reports: Favorites tied, Gordon lurks
— Paint Scheme Preview: Texas
— By the Numbers: Texas
— Fantasy Preview: Texas
— Biffle sorry, but still stinging

Nationwide Series

O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge, Texas Motor Speedway, 3:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, ESPN2 | RESULTS

Featured Story

Keselowski’s sixth sense

Brad Keselowski continues Penske Racing’s dominance by winning his sixth Nationwide race of the season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge. | Read the full story

MORE NEWS:
— Alex Bowman wins second pole at Texas
— Austin Dillon on why DRIVE4COPD hits home
— Hornish still sorting out 2014 plans
— Bayne posts fastest speed in final practice
— 2014 Nationwide schedule announced

Camping World Truck Series

WinStar World Casino 350, Texas Motor Speedway, 8:30 p.m. ET, Friday, FOX Sports 1 (FS1 on air at 8 p.m. ET) | RESULTS

Featured Story

Dillon dominates at Texas

Ty Dillon put on a dominating performance at Texas Motor Speedway en route to claiming the 100th victory for the No. 3 at RCR. | Read the full story

MORE NEWS:
— Childress: ‘I know Dale is smiling down’
— Penalty phase for Harvick-Dillon dust up
— Truck trouble tramples over common sense
— Scott’s sons help Wallace grasp impact of win
— Harvick, Dillon wreck sparks war of words | Harvick apologizes

MORE:

READ: Gordon earns
first win of 2013

WATCH: Final Laps:
Gordon triumphs

WATCH: Kurt Busch
spins, collects Martin

WATCH: Harvick turns
Newman at Martinsville
Posted on by Staff Report

 

Follow live: Lap-by-lap reports from Texas

MORE:

READ: Kenseth:
‘Rivals can be friendly’

READ: Harvick’s outburst
surprised Austin Dillon

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Texas

WATCH: Top 10 drivers
to wear the figurative black hat
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Six series win of the year for Keselowski; Hornish Jr. closes gap on Dillon

RELATED: Full race results | Updated standings

FORT WORTH, Tex. — Brad Keselowski dominated early and retook the lead late to win Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway.
 
Keselowski led 106 of 200 laps in the 31st NASCAR Nationwide Series race of the season, propelling his No. 22 Penske Racing Ford to a decisive advantage in the owners’ standings.
 
Passing runner-up Denny Hamlin with 14 laps left, Keselowski pulled away to win by .980 seconds. The victory was Keselowski’s sixth of the season, his first at Texas and the 26th of his career. Four different drivers have combined to win 12 times in the No. 22 Ford this season.
 
Penske teammate Sam Hornish Jr. recovered from a commitment violation (hitting the commitment cone on Lap 53) to finish third. Hornish trimmed two points off series leader and fifth-place finisher Austin Dillon‘s advantage and trails by six points with two races left in the season.

Matt Kenseth came home fourth, but Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch blew a right rear tire and crashed off Turn 4 on Lap 110. Busch finished 26th and saw the four-point advantage of his No. 54 Toyota entering the race turned to a 26-point deficit to the No. 22 in the battle for the owners’ championship.
 
Keselowski will drive the car next week, and Joey Logano in the NASCAR Nationwide season finale at Homestead. To Keselowski, the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide driver champion, securing the owners’ title for team owner Roger Penske is a piece of unfinished business.
 
The victory also was redemption of sorts for Keselowski’s last NASCAR Nationwide start, at Kansas, where he wrecked off Busch’s front bumper during intense racing between the two drivers.
 
"I dug us a hole there at Kansas, obviously, with getting tangled up there, and we lost some points," Keselowski said. "So it’s great to recover from that hole and grow a little bit of a lead, but two races is a long ways left, and (26) points is better than nothing, but it’s certainly not a guarantee of anything as well …
 
"But it’s about Roger. It’s about getting him something he hasn’t done, and I take a lot of pride in that."
 
Hamlin grabbed the lead during a cycle of green-flag pit stops before the third caution of the afternoon, caused by Joe Nemechek‘s spin off Turn 2 after a tap from Trevor Bayne, slowed the race on Lap 171.
 
In tight racing after the subsequent Lap 177 restart, Hamlin held off Keselowski for the top spot, but one lap later, Travis Pastrana spun at the exit of Turn 2 and nosed into the inside backstretch wall, necessitating the fourth yellow flag.
 
Keselowski and Hamlin battled side-by-side for three laps before Keselowski ducked to the inside of the No. 20 Toyota and completed the decisive pass.
 
Hornish lost a lap serving a drive-through penalty for the commitment violation, but astute strategy put him in position to take a wave-around under caution for a restart on Lap 76. The caution for Busch’s accident on Lap 110 allowed Hornish to pit without losing a lap, and subsequently he charged to his third-place finishing spot.
 
"It’s one of those things," Hornish said of the early mishap. "You wear the tires here, and the track doesn’t have a whole lot of grip. Pit road comes up pretty quick, and I got a little locked up as soon as I got on the brakes and did everything I could do to try to get it (slowed down) and had a choice of hitting the cone or the back of the 54 car. I figured the cone would hurt the front of my car a lot less.
 
"It was a great recovery by everyone that works on the Wurth Ford Mustang, and we did what we needed to do today. We got ourselves back up there in position to run for the win and over-tightened the car by the time we got to that point. Hats off to everyone at Penske Racing, and it is good to see our teammate go to Victory Lane."

MORE:

READ: Kenseth:
‘Rivals can be friendly’

READ: Harvick’s outburst
surprised Austin Dillon

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Texas

WATCH: Top 10 drivers
to wear the figurative black hat
Posted on by Holly Cain

Pit crew will be the difference, 2012 champion says

RELATED: Full Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage

FORT WORTH, Texas — Shortly after celebrating his sixth NASCAR Nationwide Series victory of the season, reigning Sprint Cup champ Brad Keselowski gave his take on the Sprint Cup title run and predicted that Matt Kenseth would be holding the season trophy three weeks from now in Homestead, Fla.

"I would say Matt because he has the strongest pit crew on pit road," Keselowski said when pressed to make his title pick. "We have seen that track position is attained on pit road and is critical and that will probably win him the Chase. That is my gut."

Of course, Keselowski would rather be in that mix himself, but has missed the 13-driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field for the first time in three seasons. 

However, he is still making his presence known. Three weeks ago at Charlotte he became the first non-Chase driver to win a Chase race this year. And he is definitely watching the title fight between championship co-leaders Kenseth and five-time champ Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick with vested interest. He just doesn’t see it as much of a title fight in the traditional sense of heated rivalry and hard feelings.

Kenseth and Johnson, for example, shared a golf cart at Texas and have repeatedly talked about their respect for one another and off-track friendship.

"In today’s sport you can’t feud," Keselowski said. "There are two different perspectives and it comes back to who is paying the bills. In this sport right now the business model is sponsors. With that business model you would be a fool to alienate half of the fan base over a rivalry because half the fan base pays your bills and pays your sponsors bills so indirectly they pay your bills.

"You can’t really have a rivalry with a popular driver because what happens is their fans nag on your fans and vice versa and get on social media and tell the sponsors how you are a big (jerk) and they won’t buy the product and then you don’t have a sponsor."

MORE:

READ: Kenseth:
‘Rivals can be friendly’

READ: Harvick’s outburst
surprised Austin Dillon

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Texas

WATCH: Top 10 drivers
to wear the figurative black hat
Posted on by Holly Cain

At fifth in the standings, Joe Gibbs Racing driver focused on wins

RELATED: Full Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage

FORT WORTH, Texas — It’s a phenomenon Kyle Busch can’t understand and is well on his way to reversing.

Only five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson has more wins (32-24) than Busch since 2008. With every passing season, a large contingent of Busch’s competitors, media pundits and even the loud and begrudging boo-birds in the grandstands predict the 28-year-old is a sure bet to become Cup champion.

But despite piling up the trophies, Busch has never gone to Victory Lane during his seven appearances in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. In fact, for all the high hopes and lofty expectations, he has historically finished the season worse when he is contending for a title than when he misses the Chase field altogether.

His only win at a Chase race came at Phoenix in 2005, when he finished the season 20th in the championship standings.

"Last year we ran really well in the Chase and weren’t a Chase car," Busch said. "That was frustrating. We knew we could do it — we proved to ourselves we could do it and we came out here this year and were able to follow-up on last year’s success.

"Barring Kansas (34th-place finish) I think we’ve done a really nice job and … there wasn’t a big one at Talladega that got the championship contenders, but that’s where you try to make up ground when you can. We’ve run a lot better this year than in years past that’s for certain. But apparently there’s still a lot more room for improvement."

Busch has qualified for the Chase in six of the past eight years. His best championship finish is fifth in 2007 when he won one race (at Bristol Motor Speedway). The next year, he finished last in the 12-driver field despite winning eight races prior to the Chase start.

Last year, he failed to make the Chase, but his 9.0 average finish in the 10 Chase races was second only to champion Brad Keselowski.

This year, Busch has led laps in six of the seven Chase races and has five top-five finishes — two of those runner-ups. The only race in which he didn’t lead was New Hampshire, and he still finished second.

Busch enters Sunday’s AAA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway ranked fifth in the standings, 36 points behind co-leaders Matt Kenseth and Johnson.

He finished third in this race last year and won at Texas this April. He starts the No. 18 Snickers Toyota fifth on Sunday and says the confidence in his recent showings on this 1.5-mile track keep him every bit a contender.

Although he has stubbornly and steadfastly resisted looking at the standings — instead focusing only on winning races — he conceded this week, "I won’t lie, yeah, I peeked."

"Had a bad weekend there (Kansas) and lost a lot of points that we made back up," said Busch, who was ranked as high as second, only eight points behind Kenseth after the Chase opener in Chicago.

"It’s certainly going to be a lot tougher now than what it had been and obviously we’re going to have to have some luck on our side and the other guys aren’t going to be able to have luck on their side. If you have bad luck with the front two then that’s going to bring five guys back into it. It’s going to be an even tighter race and that’s what the fans want to see, probably the media wants to see and what I want to see.

"But," he added with a pause, "I bet you the front two don’t (have bad luck)."

That’s not to say Busch isn’t pleased with the improvement his Joe Gibbs Racing team has made in Chase conditions. Having everyone step up has been the silver lining on whether he can pull off a late-season run at the big trophy or not. They are in the game with three races remaining.

"We’ve been fast, we’ve been consistent, we’ve done a good job," Busch said. "I screwed up big time in Kansas and we didn’t quite get the car the way we needed to for Martinsville (last week) and we suffered there a little bit.

"You don’t have that option here anymore in the Chase, for as much as those guys up front are running well. We’ve got to be on top of our game and come out here and (do) the best we can, lead all the laps and win all the races in these final three and see where the points stack up. If we do that and we still don’t win it, we did our job. If we don’t do that then essentially we didn’t do our job."

MORE:

READ: Kenseth:
‘Rivals can be friendly’

READ: Harvick’s outburst
surprised Austin Dillon

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Texas

WATCH: Top 10 drivers
to wear the figurative black hat
Posted on by Holly Cain

Veteran chimes in on racing etiquette following Johnson-Biffle fracas

RELATED: Full Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage

FORT WORTH, Texas — Jeff Gordon doesn’t have a vested interest in NASCAR’s latest post-race brouhaha on pit road between Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson, who were involved in a heated exchange caught on television Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

But the wily veteran Gordon didn’t flinch when asked what he thought about proper etiquette for apologies and make-ups between drivers.

"I think it’s ridiculous that we are texting and calling one another after incidents like that," the four-time champ Gordon said. "There is only one reason you call the guy and that is because you don’t want a confrontation. You don’t want an issue, you don’t want the guy to wreck you at the next race and you are worried about where you are going to finish in points and all that stuff."

Johnson said Friday that he and Biffle exchanged texts but had not actually spoken following the emotional confrontation.

As Johnson was doing interviews with reporters on pit road last Sunday, Biffle came up from behind, grabbed Johnson’s shoulder and pulled him around to angrily call him out on an incident during the race.

As the television cameras rolled and reporters stood nearby, Johnson tried to calm Biffle and offered to talk it out.

After having several days to analyze the situation, Johnson said he was totally caught off guard by Biffle’s reaction.

"I don’t know what kept me from swinging, to be honest," Johnson said Friday. "You never know how you’re going to react until you’re in those moments. After I realized who it was, because I was caught off-guard; I didn’t know where it came from. And it was a shock to see Greg because we were on the track and roughing each other pretty good for quite a few laps and I thought that everything had simmered down and was gone.

"And then truthfully, the most important thing in it all was after he grabbed me, the look in his eyes, I don’t even think he looked at me. He was looking around me and saw all of you (media) standing there. I think he was just as shocked that he grabbed me like that as anyone. And I’ve been in a couple of fights, not many, but he didn’t want to fight. He was just pissed. So, I think at the end of the day that was really the energy in that moment that let me stay calm and just kind of handle it how I did."

While Biffle apologized on Twitter for the way he handled the situation, he was still bristling about the incident (he thought Johnson knocked his rear bumper cover) this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway and made veiled references to the on-track incident and subsequent pit stop costing him dearly in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

With a lot at stake for both Biffle and championship co-leader Johnson, retaliation seems unlikely.

But Gordon says that doesn’t mean all is forgotten.

"I don’t remember a whole lot of things, but I can tell you every time that I was wrecked by somebody and where they rank on the list," Gordon said laughing. "There are very few guys out there that your friendship and bond off the track is stronger than your competitiveness on the race track. I don’t think that that exists a whole lot if any at all.

"Usually only the guy that is concerned about what is coming back to him is the one reaching out."

MORE:

READ: Kenseth:
‘Rivals can be friendly’

READ: Harvick’s outburst
surprised Austin Dillon

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Texas

WATCH: Top 10 drivers
to wear the figurative black hat
Posted on by

Hornish Jr. closes to within six points of Dillon with two races remaining

FORT WORTH, Texas — At one point in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge, NASCAR Nationwide Series points leader Austin Dillon was running in the middle of the pack and Sam Hornish Jr. wasn’t even on the lead lap.

They both finished in the top five, and that’s exactly why they’re the class of the Nationwide field, separated by just six points with a pair of races left as they each gun for their first series championship.

Dillon’s tire strategy involved saving a set for the end, but four cautions for a total of 19 laps didn’t play into the team’s game plan, leaving his No. 3 Chevrolet with a set of old tires and a loss of track position.

"It’s not bad, we fought hard and we were trying to save a set of tires at the end," Dillon said. "We were on the same strategy as the other cars, it just kind of stinks having tires in the pits. We would’ve liked to have been able to have them. The cautions didn’t fall right for our plan and we lost a little track position that way but we came back strong, fifth, that’s good. We want top-fives from here on out, so we’ll keep plugging."

Dillon’s fifth-place finish maintained the consistency he’s shown throughout the season, but in particular the last handful of races, making it six straight top-six finishes to hang onto his points lead over Hornish.

With just the Phoenix and Homestead races left on the schedule, the intensity — not to mention the temperature — is set to rise.

"The pressure is on him, obviously (Hornish) keeps making mistakes,” Dillon told reporters after the race. "It’s going to be a battle to the end."

While Dillon may feel the pressure is on Hornish, it’s hard to picture an even-keeled, 34-year-old three-time IndyCar champion and former Indianapolis 500 winner cracking. That said, Hornish knows he made a mistake early in the race when he was penalized for hitting a commitment cone coming into pit road, putting him down a lap.

From the sound of it, his No. 12 Penske Racing team hadn’t marked Texas down for a place to gain significant points anyway, knowing Dillon has shown strength here in the past and Hornish struggled to a 34th-place finish in the spring.

“I didn’t know if we were going to be able to do much here as far as being able to capitalize. Austin has been pretty good on the 1.5-mile tracks, especially the bumpier ones like here and Atlanta and Kentucky as well," Hornish said after coming back to finish third. "Really, for most of the last 12 or 13 races we have run within two or three spots of each other for almost the entire race. I might be two or three behind him and then it switches around. It seems like I have been around the 3 car a lot the second half of the season.

"We need a little bit more than that but we’ll keep working hard and doing the right things. Phoenix is one of my favorite tracks and I’ve had a lot of good runs at Homestead too.”

If the last few months indicate a trend of what to expect from these two, it’s evident this battle is going to go beyond Phoenix. It’s going to come right down to the wire.

"We didn’t lose any (points) and that is the key thing," Hornish said. "If we can take one or two off the following weekend, that puts the pressure on him. He doesn’t just have to finish within a couple spots of us then, he will have to beat us.”

MORE:

READ: Kenseth:
‘Rivals can be friendly’

READ: Harvick’s outburst
surprised Austin Dillon

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Texas

WATCH: Top 10 drivers
to wear the figurative black hat
Posted on by Staff Report

Kenseth finishes on high note heading into AAA Texas 500

RELATED: Full practice results and lineup

FORT WORTH, Texas — The reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion may not have finished on the lead lap in Friday night’s Camping World Truck Series event, but he dominated in a pair of practice sessions in his full-time ride on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Brad Keselowski followed up a third-place showing in the morning Cup practice by tying Matt Kenseth atop the leaderboard in the final session ahead of Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 (3 p.m. ET, ESPN). Keselowski bettered his early speed of 188.107 mph, running his No. 2 Penske Racing Ford at a clip of 189.434 mph on the first of his 48 laps around the 1.5-mile facility.

Points leader Matt Kenseth also improved from session to session, placing tied for first in the later practice after finishing 15th earlier in the day. His speed matched Keselowski’s at 189.434 mph, and Kenseth finished on a high note as he heads into another showdown with Chase co-leader Jimmie Johnson. Paul Menard (189.168), Kyle Busch (188.937) and Martin Truex Jr. (188.818) completed the top five.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (188.232) and Jeff Gordon (187.793) were sixth and seventh, respectively, improving upon a rough early session in which they were 20th and 23rd. Coors Light Pole Award-winner Carl Edwards (187.182) was 10th.

Johnson dealt with a throttle pedal issue and was forced to the garage mid-practice to work on it. He placed 16th in the session after being sixth earlier in the day.

A day after qualifying 26th, any adjustments made to Clint Bowyer‘s No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota are paying off, as the driver paced the field in the first of the two practices. He was 12th in the second.

In the early session, Bowyer’s 188.422 mph, achieved on his second of 18 laps, bested Kyle Busch (188.350) and Keselowski (188.107). Truex Jr. (187.885) and two-time Texas winner Greg Biffle (187.859) completed the top five in that session.

 

MORE:

READ: Kenseth:
‘Rivals can be friendly’

READ: Harvick’s outburst
surprised Austin Dillon

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Texas

WATCH: Top 10 drivers
to wear the figurative black hat
Posted on by Staff Report

Second one this year at Texas for 20-year-old; Hornish Jr., Dillon will both start in top five

RELATED: Race lineup

Alex Bowman sped to his second 21 Means 21 Pole of the season Saturday, posting the fastest speed at Texas Motor Speedway in advance of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

Bowman, in his No. 99 RAB Racing Toyota, posted a speed of 186.194 mph. He was the only driver to break 186 mph. His previous pole also came at Texas in the spring race.

Penske Racing teammates Brad Keselowski and Sam Hornish Jr. will start second and third, respectively, with speeds of 185.982 mph and 185.682 mph.

With three races to go, Hornish is eight points behind Austin Dillon for the points lead. Dillon, in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, qualified fifth (184.685 mph).

Trevor Bayne, the last driver on the track during the qualifying session, will start fourth. His best qualifying lap came in at 184.919 mph.

Rounding out the top 10 are Kyle Busch (184.622) in sixth, then Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (184.363), Regan Smith (184.162), Brian Scott (184.062) and Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winner, Ty Dillon (183.786) in the No. 33 Chevrolet.

Stenhouse Jr., the two-time series champion who was promoted to the Sprint Cup level for 2013, is driving in his first Nationwide race of the season.

Morgan Shepherd failed to qualify for the 40-car field.

MORE:

READ: Kenseth:
‘Rivals can be friendly’

READ: Harvick’s outburst
surprised Austin Dillon

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Texas

WATCH: Top 10 drivers
to wear the figurative black hat
Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Busch, Keselowski place 2-3 after racing in Truck Series

Related: Full practice results

FORT WORTH, Texas — A day after qualifying 26th for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event, adjustments made to Clint Bowyer‘s No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota paid off as the driver paced the field in the first of two Saturday practices at Texas Motor Speedway.

Bowyer’s 188.422 mph, achieved on his second of 18 laps, bested Kyle Busch (188.350) and Brad Keselowski (188.107), who both struggled to finishes outside of the top 20 in Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event. Martin Truex Jr. (187.878) and two-time Texas winner Greg Biffle (187.859) completed the top five.

Points leaders Jimmie Johnson (187.578) and Matt Kenseth (186.929) were sixth and 15th, respectively.

Kurt Busch (187.513), Kevin Harvick (187.298), Coors Light Pole Award-winner Carl Edwards (187.311) and Aric Almirola (187.233) filled out positions six through 10.

Apart from Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports struggled in the morning session. Kasey Kahne (186.548), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (186.329) and last week’s race winner Jeff Gordon (186.047) place 19th, 20th and 23rd, respectively.

MORE:

READ: Kenseth:
‘Rivals can be friendly’

READ: Harvick’s outburst
surprised Austin Dillon

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Texas

WATCH: Top 10 drivers
to wear the figurative black hat