Denny Hamlin’s bid for a third NASCAR Cup Series win this season went up in smoke in overtime.
On the first of two attempts at NASCAR Overtime, Hamlin restarted alongside race leader Chase Elliott for a green-white-checkered finish in Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. Hamlin raced door-to-door with Elliott into Turns 3 and 4, but his No. 11 Toyota snapped sideways at the midpoint of the corner, sending the car spinning into the outside wall exiting Turn 4.
“Yeah, just got loose in Turn 3,” Hamlin said. “It’s something that I had been fighting all day. When you have to push it most — on a green-white checkered — I knew that the likely scenario was that I wasn’t going to make it out of the corner with how much speed that I was carrying. Trying to go for the win with our Yahoo Camry — got loose and spun out.”
The accident derailed what looked to be a sure top-two finish for Hamlin, who already owns wins this season at Bristol Motor Speedway and Richmond Raceway. Hamlin led 37 laps Sunday, including a 15-lap stint in the closing 21 laps.
Ultimately, Hamlin was left to finish 30th, marking the third time in the past five races Hamlin has finished outside the top 10 despite leading laps in each of the season’s first nine races. However, the two times Hamlin has scored top 10s in the past five events have resulted in victories.
Chase Elliott held off the field in a thrilling, wildly popular double-overtime victory in the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway Sunday evening to earn his first victory in 42 starts — dating back to the 2022 season.
By no means was it an easy win for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the sport’s six-time-defending Most Popular Driver, but that’s part of what made it so special to the 28-year-old Georgia native. The driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet prevailed in three late-race restarts — including two in overtime — to claim his first NASCAR Cup Series win on the 1.5-mile Texas high banks and first trophy since a playoff victory at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2022.
“Oh man, it couldn’t feel any better,” said a smiling Elliott, who did a “reverse” victory lap around the track in homage to the late series champion Alan Kulwicki, whose car was also sponsored by the Hooters restaurant chain that Elliott’s car carried on Sunday.
“Couldn’t be any more grateful for this journey and the fact it hasn’t always been fun, but certainly, I have enjoyed working with our guys,” he continued. “We’ve been working really hard and really well together and that’s always been fun. We’ve enjoyed the fight together.”
RFK Racing co-owner/driver Brad Keselowski finished a season-best runner-up in a race that lasted more than three and a half hours and had a track-record 16 caution periods.
On a restart with two laps to go in regulation, Elliott and Denny Hamlin were vying for the lead side-by-side when Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota got loose and into the wall, putting the race into a two-lap overtime shootout. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain started alongside Elliott but couldn’t pass him before another caution came out a lap into overtime, forcing another restart.
On that restart, Elliott got ahead of Chastain again and took the white flag signaling one lap to go, when Chastain was tagged from behind by Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron — officially ending the race. Chastain, who led 33 laps on the day, was credited with a 32nd-place finish. Hamlin, who led 37 laps, ended up 30th.
Elliott conceded the afternoon was a full-on day of drama and high competition. There were 23 lead changes among 13 drivers — seven of whom led double-digit laps.
“It was crazy,” he said. “And I couldn’t be more proud of our team.”
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
Byron, a three-race winner this season, was third, followed by 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Chastain’s Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suárez.
“We didn’t have a ton of speed, I was more frustrated than anything because I feel like we have a great team and we don’t have the speed to go with it and we’re doing all we can do to overcome that,” Keselowski said, adding: “So proud of the team for the pit stops, the strategy and the execution [Sunday].”
Differing pit strategies and plenty of pit-road issues played into the late race push to the checkered flag.
With 60 laps remaining, Reddick pulled away to the biggest lead of the race — more than six seconds on the field. But a slow pit stop — trouble with the left-rear tire — forced him into a game of catch-up. His top five was impressive, considering the setback.
Similarly, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr., who had led the championship standings earlier this year, was running up front when he had trouble on pit road — forced to make two stops on the final pit cycle to correct a loose wheel. He finished 14th despite the woes.
The day’s most dominant driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, also had to rally from a setback. He started his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet from the pole position for the third consecutive week and led a race-best 77 of the 276 laps early and won the opening stage, only to have a right-rear tire fall off his car during an early caution period.
He was penalized two laps for the situation per the rulebook and spent much of the remainder of the race trying to make up ground. He got back on the lead lap by the end of Stage 2 and was moving forward when he was caught in an accident with only eight laps remaining.
Larson ultimately finished 21st but holds a 17-point edge over Truex atop the NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe finished sixth. Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon earned his best finish of the season with a seventh-place run. 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, RCR’s Kyle Busch and Spire Motorsports rookie Carson Hocevar rounded out the top 10.
Seven-time Cup champion and Hall-of-Famer Jimmie Johnson returned to action Sunday but spun at Lap 50 to bring out the first caution period of Sunday’s race. Some 50 laps later, Christopher Bell lost control of his No. 20 Toyota and backed hard into the outside wall. Alex Bowman and John Hunter Nemechek collided further back when Bowman attempted to slow to avoid Bell’s incident.
A Lap 142 restart pinned Ross Chastain and Michael McDowell on the front row together, and the duo stayed side-by-side all the way to Turn 4. But that’s where McDowell’s race ended. McDowell’s No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford snapped loose through the bumps in Turn 4 and crashed hard into the retaining barrier left-rear corner first, ending McDowell’s day.
The NASCAR Cup Series moves east for next Sunday’s GEICO 500 at the famed Talladega Superspeedway (3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Kyle Busch is the defending race winner.
NOTE: Post-race technical inspection concluded without issue, confirming Elliott as the race winner. No vehicles will be taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center.
Just seconds after Kyle Larson uttered those words over the No. 5 team communications, the right-rear wheel fell off the then-race leader’s car under caution following a Carson Hocevar spin on Lap 115 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Larson was able to nurse his Chevrolet back to pit road without issue but was penalized two laps because the wheel fell off the vehicle while on the track.
Larson, the pole winner for Sunday’s race, was the early frontrunner for his second victory of 2024 after leading 77 laps and grabbing the Stage 1 green-checkered flag.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion received the free pass to earn one of his two laps back after a Lap 143 crash by Michael McDowell brought out the seventh caution of the afternoon and got back onto the lead lap at the conclusion of Stage 2.
Larson charged his way back into the top 20 but was collected in an accident in Turn 1 with Zane Smith with just seven laps remaining in regulation. Larson’s rally ultimately ended with a 21st-place finish but left with the series points lead intact, maintaining a 17-point gap to Martin Truex Jr. in the hunt for the regular-season championship.
Multiple cars were involved in a crash at Lap 101 of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Christopher Bell spun from the 10th position during the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) while exiting Turn 4. Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota careened rear-end first into the outside SAFER barrier, imposing significant damage to this spring’s Phoenix Raceway winner.
Alex Bowman spun further back in an attempt to avoid, spinning toward the entry to pit road. His No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was struck by John Hunter Nemechek in the left-front corner, sending both cars farther sideways.
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images
Bowman’s team attempted to fix the No. 48 car but ran out of the allotted time on the damaged vehicle policy, resulting in a DNF for Bowman, his first of 2024.
“I was in a really bad spot to have a guy crash [in front of me] and have to climb in the brake pedal,” Bowman said. “[Joey Logano] saw it before I did just because of how we were all stacked up. I had to climb in the brake pedal a little harder than I wanted to, and it just spun out as soon as I did.”
Bell charged back to a 13th-place finish and moved into the top 10 of the driver standings after the race.
Unfortunately for Nemechek, the No. 42 Legacy M.C. driver got into the wall exiting Turn 4 and was not able to continue, ending the night with a 34th-place finish.
After short-track action on the East Coast, the Cup Series now shifts to high speeds at Texas Motor Speedway for the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 this Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
After a stor ybook 1-2-3 Hendrick Motorsports finish at Martinsville last weekend, Racing Insights expects the powerhouse organization to follow up that act with a 1-2 finish on Sunday, this time with Kyle Larson leading the charge.
The No. 5 Chevrolet driver has been known to put on a clinic at 1.5-mile tracks — see his Las Vegas victory earlier this year for recent proof. Since joining Hendrick, he’s led 2,399 out of a possible 7,017 laps on 1.5-milers. In the Next Gen era, Larson not only has the most wins on 1.5-mile tracks (three), but he has won 31% of all stages on intermediates (10 out of 32 stages). When it comes to the Texas circuit in particular, Larson ranks first in most lap runs in the top 10 (438) and second when running in the top five (262).
Following Larson in the projections is his teammate and current three-time winner this season William Byron, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. to round out the top five. Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace complete the projected top 10.
With the last three races at Texas Motor Speedway each bringing out more than 10 cautions, expect it to be another action-packed weekend deep in the heart of Texas.
OTHER DRIVERS TO WATCH
TYLER REDDICK: While it’s been mostly the Hendrick and JGR show in 2024, don’t overlook the speed of 23XI Racing this weekend. For Reddick, he was a winner at Texas back in the fall of ’22 and has finished in the top 10 at the circuit in two of the last three races. Additionally, in Reddick’s last seven starts on 1.5-mile tracks, he has four top-five finishes and six top-10s, which is the best of all drivers across that span.
BUBBA WALLACE: Wallace put his No. 23 Toyota on the pole and led 111 laps before ultimately finishing third at Texas last fall. Intermediate tracks have also been Wallace’s specialty. In the last 11 races on 1.5-mile tracks, he has five top-five finishes, which is tied for third during that span. After a fourth-place finish at Martinsville last week, Sunday provides a good opportunity for the 23XI driver to build more momentum.
BRAD KESELOWSKI: Keselowski has been able to string together only a handful of respectable finishes so far this season. While the No. 6 Ford somewhat struggled at Martinsville, the intermediate at Texas presents a good opportunity for the 2012 champ to bounce back on Sunday. Keselowski is a 14-time winner on 1.5-mile tracks and currently has five consecutive top-10 finishes at Texas Motor Speedway — best in the series.
ERIK JONES: Since the reconfiguration of the track at Texas, Jones has piled up seven top-10 finishes at the circuit. Jones also ranks fourth in laps run inside the top five in the Next Gen car with 207. Finally, Jones owns a 10.7 average finish in the last 10 Texas races, which is fifth best among the current Cup Series field.
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Johnson’s last start at Texas Motor Speedway was back in 2020, and it’s rare to see a part-time driver in contention for a win on a non-road course. However, when the part-time driver is a seven-time champion and a newly inducted Hall of Famer who used to dominate the track, it’s hard to count him out. Plus, given the speed the Toyotas have shown this season, it’s worth keeping an eye on Johnson and seeing how he progresses this weekend.
RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE AUTOTRADER ECHOPARK AUTOMOTIVE 400 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.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Ryan Sieg was one-half of one of the closest finishes in NASCAR Xfinity Series history.
However, he was on the losing end, coming short by just 0.002 seconds to Sam Mayer as the two rubbed fenders down the frontstretch to the finish line under the Texas sunshine. That margin of victory tied for the second-closest result in series joining finishes at the Milwaukee Mile in 1996 and Talladega Superspeedway in 1999.
Despite making the highlight reel and getting pats on the back from his team and fellow competitors, there was no hiding the disappointment once Sieg climbed from his No. 39 RSS Racing Ford.
“Just tough. I was doing all that I could do,” Sieg said. “I wish we were on the other side of that 0.002. It is what it is. We ran up front where we needed to be. We were able to make gains on it. I feel like there is more to come. We just have to put a full race together. Ugh, we were so close. That just sucks.”
Sieg led 17 of the final 18 laps of the race. He took the lead after a wild second-to-last restart that put five cars under a blanket for the lead between Sieg, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, AJ Allmendinger and Mayer.
The final restart with 11 to go put Sieg as the control car and he shot out of a cannon and was in full command eyeing his first career victory.
However, as the laps wound down — seven, six, five, four — Mayer got bigger and bigger in Sieg’s mirror. When the white flag flew, Mayer was to the side of Sieg and the battle was on from there until the two drivers crossed the finish line.
“I should’ve ran him into the wall harder I guess, but I was trying to win the race,” Sieg said. “Just so close but so far away. Disappointing because we’re not in Victory Lane for sure. You know that’s what we all want. That’s what I want.”
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Sieg added that his car was strongest right off the restart and on longer runs, which is why he was able to storm out to a healthy gap before the field would catch him just laps later.
“It did fall off and I was doing all I could do to adjust inside the car with what I do with my lines but it just got tight,” Sieg said. “I knew the more we went, the tighter our car got. We restarted pretty good and it would go tight. I kind of knew that. That’s why I started moving up but it took our car longer to start getting better. It’s like it was good at the beginning, kind of OK in the middle of a run and then better at the end. I was hoping I would get a big enough gap to stay out (front) but he was able to reel me in the closing laps there.”
The finish will sting for Sieg and the No. 39 team. One of the smaller organizations in the series and family-owned, Sieg was able to show what he could do when his car was firing on all cylinders and pulling away from the perennial title-contending cars in the series. He did it on two different occasions in the race, which left him feeling proud.
“That’s definitely rewarding watching them get smaller in the mirror but not so good when they’re coming back toward us,” Sieg said. “But it’s a start. It sucks right now but it’s a start to more success so this is going to be a pretty good year with everything we’ve got going.”
There’s still plenty of reasons for the No. 39 collective to hold their heads high leaving Texas as Sieg has qualified for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus when the series heads to Talladega next Saturday. Sieg also matched a career-best second-place result for the third time in his career, the first of which came at Iowa Speedway in 2017 where the Xfinity Series will return to later this season.
“No regrets. I could have turned right harder just to keep him behind us but it was just a smidge too late,” Sieg said.
In a race decided by less than the length of a Texas hot chili pepper, JR Motorsports driver Sam Mayer pulled off a last-lap pass on veteran Ryan Sieg to claim his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season Saturday in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Officially, the margin of victory was 0.002 seconds as Mayer’s No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and Sieg’s No. 39 RSS Racing Ford crossed the finish line door-to-door, bumper-to-bumper — the cars were so close officials took a brief extra look to formally declare Mayer the winner. The triumph marks Mayer’s first of the year and fifth of his career.
It would have been Sieg’s first win in 342 career starts in the series.
“That’s absolutely unreal,” the 20-year-old Mayer said, shaking his head after climbing out of his car. This team, the amount of adversity we’ve had to fight this entire year so far and to come to a mile-and-a-half that I want to say I’m good at, but it took a lot.
“It took every ounce of me for me to do that today.”
Sieg led 17 of the final 18 laps and raced off to the front on a pair of late-race restarts in the closing 20 laps of the 200-lap race on the 1.5-mile Texas high banks. With nine laps remaining, Sieg held a 1.2-second advantage over Mayer. But Mayer cut into that margin with each lap, trailing by only 0.25 seconds with two laps remaining and then catching Sieg’s car on the back stretch on the final lap. They exchanged the lead briefly, racing door-to-door, and then Sieg pulled alongside as they took the checkered flag in a photo finish — the closest ever for an Xfinity Series race at Texas.
“Awe, it sucks,” said an obviously disappointed Sieg, who has two other career runner-up finishes. “We had a really good car. I just got tight, so tried to change my lines, do everything. I saw him coming, and I did all I could do, and at the end, I was just trying to run him up into the wall to try to win the race. We were so close. This sucks.
“I’ve been second before. Too many times. But this is a good thing, means we’re running where we need to be in the top-five.
“Just got to keep fighting, we’re right there, just got to keep it up,” he added. “We’ll have it in Victory Lane here shortly.”
All the late race drama came at the expense of veteran Justin Allgaier, who led a race-best 117 laps and swept both stage victories but ultimately finished third in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. It was disappointing deja vu for Allgaier, who a year ago led a dominating 133 of the 200 laps only to finish fifth.
AJ Allmendinger finished fourth in the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet — a huge rally for the perennial championship contender after he missed his pit stall during the Stage 1 caution, which put him back in the field and forced him to race through the field — again.
Reigning Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer, who started from outside the front row, was a top-five car all day and finished fifth in the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Custer now trails championship leader Chandler Smith — who finished 15th — by 19 points in the standings.
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill finished sixth, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ryan Truex, JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith, polesitter Jesse Love and Anthony Alfredo, who earned his third top-10 of the season in the Our Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet.
With the win, Mayer not only course-corrects a rough start to the 2024 season – he suffered DNFs in three of the first four races – but he earns the coveted $100,000 prize from Xfinity as the Dash 4 Cash winning driver.
He’ll compete against Sieg, Allgaier and Allmendinger for the big Dash 4 Cash check again next week at Talladega Superspeedway.
It was a rally not just for the driver but for his JR Motorsports team. The perennial championship favorite has struggled early in the 2024 season — its four talented drivers did not earn a top-five until last week at Martinsville. On Saturday, not only did the team — co-owned by Kelley Earnhardt Miller and her brother Dale Earnhardt Jr. — win the race, but all four cars finished in the top 13 and three of the four drivers (also Brandon Jones) led laps.
The Xfinity Series shifts to Talladega for the Ag-Pro 300 on Saturday, April 20 (4 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Texas garage concluded without issue, confirming Mayer as the race winner. The Nos. 9 and 48 each had one lug nut loose, which will result in a monetary fine.
For Wallace, it was heartbreak the size of the Lone Star State. But seven months later, the 30-year-old driver has come to terms with that event, having studied it and entering the weekend with hopes of redemption.
“Still pissed off from it but you got to be as ready as you can,” Wallace said. “There’s a lot of different factors to take in for [Saturday] and tomorrow, so how’s that going to translate over to what we need for balance in our cars? There’s just a lot of things that I’m kind of analyzing right now as I speak. But nonetheless, I’m excited to get on track, so I just got to make sure we can execute all weekend.”
At the quarter pole of the 2024 season, Wallace may not have the results to show across the board, but he’s had consistent speed through the first eight races of the year with three top fives.
Before contact with Kyle Larson in the closing laps at Richmond, Wallace was in line for another top five until a slow pit stop parachuted the No. 23 team to a 13th-place run.
Short tracks and road courses weren’t Wallace’s strong suits entering 2024, but with his performances on both, plus back-to-back top fives to kickstart the year, he finds himself 12th in points, Wallace’s best Cup Series points position through eight races in his career.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s definitely a better start than what we’ve had,” Wallace said. “Usually, we’re continuing to fall for the next two or three months, and then we’ll find the rest all throughout the summer. Now, we’re in a spot to where we can’t slip up. So I’d rather have that pressure so that points us all in the right direction to perform. Proud of the team. Last weekend was a great weekend for us. I think you just have to not be complacent, stay hungry and be ready for whatever comes your way.”
Wallace has momentum following Saturday’s sessions at Texas.
He only recorded the 25th-quickest single lap in practice but was in the top 10 in consecutive lap average and placed the No. 23 car 10th on the grid for Sunday’s 400-miler (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series driver will pit for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Earlier this week, Kyle Larson was on the absolute edge at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, running the second-quickest speed in an open test in preparation for next month’s Indianapolis 500. The 2021 Cup Series champion backed that up by putting together the fastest pole-winning speed on a 1.5-mile track in the Next Gen era, mimicking the sensation of speed that he felt earlier this week. Hendrick Motorsports and the Toyota teams of Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing put eight of its collective 10 entries in the top 11 starting positions for Sunday’s AutoTraderEchoPark Automotive 400.
Starter 1: Kyle Larson Starter 2: William Byron Starter 3: Tyler Reddick Starter 4: Bubba Wallace Starter 5: Ty Gibbs Garage pick: Ryan Blaney
NEXT IN LINE: Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr.
RISING: Ty Gibbs has never been fond of Texas, as he hasn’t seen instant success like he has at many of the other race tracks on the NASCAR circuit. In two Cup Series starts, he has a best finish of 20th – and he wrecked out last fall. The No. 54 team put that notion to rest on Saturday, as Gibbs equaled the best qualifying effort of his career in second. Gibbs also cracked the top five on 15- and 20-lap averages.
Looking outside the Hendrick and Toyota sphere, we noted earlier this week that Briscoe was one of three drivers to have top 10s in all three Next Gen races at Texas. The No. 14 team showed up to the track with contending speed yet again, though he fell off on long-run pace. For the sixth time this season, Briscoe made the final round of qualifying and matched his best start of the season in fifth (Martinsville).
FALLING: The hits keep on coming for Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing in this young 2024 season. Midway through Group B practice, the No. 8 car got loose and backed into the wall. It was reminiscent of his wreck in the Round of 12 race at Texas last fall, going as far as putting the car in reverse down the backstretch to not drag the diffuser. The severity of the damage was enough for the No. 8 team to unload the backup car. Randall Burnett, crew chief of the No. 8 Chevrolet, wasn’t enthused, stating on the radio: “We’ll be lucky if we even get the backup ready to race.”
The concern within RFK Racing might rise a bit after Brad Keselowski qualified 22nd. There isn’t a real read on the No. 6 car because it was one of eight cars that never made a run of at least 10 laps in practice. I’m staying away from Keselowski this weekend, knowing he’s another one of the drivers that has top 10s in all three Texas races in the Next Gen car.
FEATURED MATCHUPS
William Byron vs. Kyle Larson: As Larson summed it up so eloquently following his pole-winning lap, Byron has taken away many wins from the No. 5 team over the past two seasons. The most recent was just last weekend at Martinsville. Both cars looked to be real contenders for the win on Sunday, but this has been a place Larson has been among the best at since joining Hendrick, having led 99 or more laps in two of the three races.
Daniel Suarez vs. Brad Keselowski: The No. 99 team is likely disappointed with a 17th-place qualifying effort because Suarez — and Trackhouse — ranked towards the top in all categories on Saturday. Keselowski had a ho-hum day, so I’m making the switch to Suarez after practice and qualifying.
Bubba Wallace vs. Tyler Reddick: This matchup rivals Larson vs. Byron as the epitome of tough choices going into race day. However, Reddick has a slight advantage in every metric possible and was the fastest car in the field on 10, 15 and 20-lap averages. Wallace has a hot rod, but I’m not sure that he has the raw speed to outduel his 23XI teammate.
Ryan Blaney vs. Chase Elliott: Blaney has excelled at Texas in recent years whereas Elliott has gone in the wrong direction from earlier in his career at this track. That struggle continued into practice and qualifying on Saturday, with Blaney having the superior car to the No. 9 team. Bank on Blaney this weekend.
