Posted on by Cameron Richardson

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.

RELATED: Race results | Best photos from Lone Star State

“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.”

Ryan Sieg and Sam Mayer cross the start/finish line nearly simultaneously in a photo finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas. Mayer won.
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.

Posted on by Holly Cain

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.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

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.

WATCH: Final lap results in photo finish | Sieg on runner-up

“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.

MORE: 2024 Xfinity Series schedule | 2024 Xfinity Series standings

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.

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

FORT WORTH, Texas — “I finally watched the replay.”

Following his fourth-place effort last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, Wallace admitted that he hadn’t revisited last year’s playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway that saw the No. 23 Toyota lead a race-high 111 laps before a late-restart lane choice allowed William Byron to steal the victory while Wallace settled for a third-place showing.

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.

RELATED: Sunday’s Cup lineup | Best photos from Texas

“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.”

MORE: Key story lines, information before Sunday’s Cup race

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).

Posted on by Dustin Albino

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 AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400.

RELATED: Set your Fantasy Live lineup

Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup:

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.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400

(⏰ Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET | FS1 | PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Weekend schedule | TV schedule | Weather tracker | NASCAR 101

Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Track length: 1.5 miles
Cup Series race purse: $9,397,736
Race distance: 267 laps | 400.5 miles
Stages: 80 | 165 | 267
—
Starting lineup: Kyle Larson to lead field to green flag
Pit stall assignments: See where drivers will pit
Defending winner: William Byron, September 2023

Key things to watch

Saturday sessions

Kyle Larson scorched his way to his third consecutive Busch Light Pole Award, edging out Ty Gibbs by 0.035 seconds to claim the top spot in Saturday’s qualifying session. His average lap speed of 190.369 mph marks the fastest pole lap recorded on a 1.5-mile track in the Next Gen era dating back to 2022, according to Racing Insights. Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe completed the top five ahead of William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace.

Gibbs was fastest in Saturday’s practice session on single-lap speed at 190.510 mph, besting Brad Keselowski, Larson, Ross Chastain and Alex Bowman. Reddick was quickest on 10-lap averages at 187.115 mph over Larson, Joey Logano, Byron and Chastain. Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson will start at the rear after both crashing in practice. | Full Saturday recap

Kyle Larson poses for a photo following his NASCAR Cup Series pole victory at Texas Motor Speedway.
Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR.com

Big story line

Who poses the biggest threat to end the reign of Hendrick, Gibbs?

In eight NASCAR Cup Series races this year, a whopping seven have been won by drivers from either Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing — including each of the last six. But that sort of dominance likely won’t last forever, even though the red-hot William Byron already has a series-best three wins this year in addition to scoring the victory at Texas Motor Speedway last fall.

So, who has the potential to finally knock the two powerhouse teams off their pedestal? Perhaps we should look no further than Bubba Wallace, the 23XI Racing driver who dominated the playoff race back in September, scoring the pole and leading a career-high 111 laps. A late restart thwarted that effort, however, resulting in a third-place finish instead. The loss still sticks with Wallace, and it was fresh on his mind after a Martinsville top five one week ago. The No. 23 Toyota would be far from a surprise at the head of the field Sunday.

While his teammate Tyler Reddick would be another likely threat — winner of the 2022 race at Texas while driving for Richard Childress Racing — let’s sneak over to another team and manufacturer with the Fords from RFK Racing. Driver and team co-owner Brad Keselowski is one of just three drivers who have finished inside the top 10 in both Texas races featuring the Next Gen car and enters this weekend with a stunning series of five consecutive top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile oval.

Keselowski, the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion, has surprisingly never won in 28 starts in Fort Worth, his closest effort a runner-up twice (2012, 2015), but one of those five straight top 10s includes a fourth-place finish back in 2021. The No. 6 RFK Ford could also use a good rebound: Keselowski has finished 24th or worse in two of his last three starts, interrupted by an eighth-place run at Richmond Raceway. If everything’s bigger in Texas, maybe that includes Keselowski’s comeback.

History tells us…

If you’re going to win Sunday’s race, it might be better to lead late. According to stats provided by Racing Insights, the eventual Texas winner has not led until Lap 199 or later in four of the past five Texas races. Byron was the latest example of that phenomenon and only led the final six laps in September’s Round of 12 playoff race.

And if your driver hasn’t yet won at Texas, don’t fret. Each of the last seven Texas races has been won by a different driver, the longest streak of different Fort Worth winners since the track’s first 12 races were all won by different drivers.

He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for…

Chase Briscoe. Briscoe is still seeking his second NASCAR Cup Series win but a good run may be in store for the driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford at Texas Motor Speedway. In three Texas starts, Briscoe has never finished outside the top 15 with results of 15th, fifth and 10th.

Briscoe, winner of the spring race at Phoenix Raceway back in 2022, enters at 80-1 odds per DraftKings this weekend. But there’s reason to be optimistic for the SHR group. Briscoe has scored five straight top-20 finishes with two top 10s in that stretch, dating back to Phoenix in March, and enters Texas off a 10th-place finish at Martinsville Speedway. | Texas odds

Speed reads

Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles. 

• Turning Point: Trends from Martinsville, heading to Texas | Read article
• Larson alight at Indy: 2021 Cup champ continues Indy 500 pursuit, second at open test | Read article
• Welcome back, Seven-Time: Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson returns at Texas, embraces challenge | Read article
• CW joins the family in 2024: Final eight Xfinity Series races of 2024 to be broadcast on CW | Read article
• Making it his own: William Byron discusses advice from Jeff Gordon in creating own legacy | Watch video
• All Texas, all the time: @nascarcasm provides what he considers his All-Texas team | Photo gallery
• Moments from Texas: Take a trip through history, memories | Photo gallery
• NASCAR Classics: Picks to click from our Texas video archives | Read article
• 36 for 36: NASCAR survivor pool selections for Texas | Read article
• Fearless prediction: Racing Insights projects Sunday’s final race results | Read article
• Fantasy Fastlane: Lineup advice for Texas | Sleepers, drivers to avoid
• Paint Scheme Preview: Scorching schemes in the Lone Star State | Pick a favorite
• Power Rankings: Ryan Blaney’s rebound leads to rise in updated list | Latest driver rankings

Fast facts ⏩

Race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.

• Ford is winless through eight races in 2024. The last time Ford didn’t have a win through eight races was 2010 when Greg Biffle got its win in Race No. 21 at Pocono.
• Each of the last six Texas races has produced at least eight cautions, including 11 yellow-flag periods in last year’s event, the first scheduled for 400 miles.
• The average green-flag stretch was 32 laps or less in each of the last six Texas races.

Posted on by Staff Report

For the third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race, Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson will lead the field to green – capturing the pole position Saturday afternoon for Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Texas Motor Speedway.

Larson, the last of the 10 Round 2 qualifiers to make a lap, turned in a pole effort of 190.369 mph in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, .003-second faster than Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs. It’s the 250th pole win for the venerable Hendrick team and marks the 13th different NASCAR Cup Series track where Larson has bested a qualifying session. It’s his 25th career pole overall.

RELATED: Full starting lineup

“Great car for one, and cool to get three poles in a row and like I said on the radio, that’s about the most intense thing you can do or experience, it’s so on edge,’’ Larson said of qualifying on the always-challenging 1.5-mile Texas high banks. “You know how much throttle time you have to have to run fast. It’s just so sketchy.

“Yeah, that was cool. … just a great day and I’m really, really happy to get pole. Honestly since we’ve gone to the Next Gen car this has been a place I’ve really struggled in qualifying, like committing into Turn 1 and I told myself I was going to commit today, and it paid off.’’

The qualifying outcome was not truly a surprise considering Larson and Gibbs had also been fastest in practice. Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion and current points leader, last won at Texas in his championship season. Gibbs, in his second year of competition, is racing for his first victory in NASCAR’s elite level.

Gibbs’ JGR teammate Christopher Bell was third fastest in the No. 20 JGR Toyota, followed by Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe – his No. 14 Ford the fastest of three Fords that advanced to final qualifying.

The season’s three-race winner and the defending Texas winner, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron will roll off sixth followed by Team Penske’s Ford drivers Ryan Blaney — reigning series champion — and his teammate Austin Cindric. JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. and last year’s pole-winner, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace round out the 10 fastest qualifiers.

Qualifying has always been important at Texas with 76 percent of the races won from a top-10 starting position.

Briscoe, Blaney and Cindric’s effort in time trials may be especially critical this week as Ford is still looking for its first victory of the 2024 season.

JGR’s Denny Hamlin will start 11th — giving all four of the team’s cars good starting position for Sunday’s race. He’ll line up next to Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, who is racing for his first victory of the season as well.

Two cars suffered damage in Group B practice — the track’s all-time winningest driver Kyle Busch, fresh off a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory Friday night, spun his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevy exiting Turn 2 and bringing out a brief red flag.

Shortly after practice resumed, the NASCAR Cup Series race’s all-time winningest driver, Jimmie Johnson also had trouble negotiating Turn 2, his No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Chevy making heavy contact with the wall. The team pulled out a backup for Sunday’s race — the NASCAR Hall of Famer Johnson’s second start of the season — but no decision had been made by the start of qualifying session if he would need to swap cars.

Neither Johnson nor Busch made a qualifying run and will start 37th and 34th, respectively. Johnson has won a series best seven NASCAR Cup Series races at the track and on Friday night, Busch’s win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series gave him a combined 20 victories at Texas across NASCAR’s three premier series. He’s a four-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series race in Fort Worth.

“It is a bit different — there is no doubt,’’ the seven-time series champion Johnson conceded of the Next Gen race car used in competition now. “I felt like we did a nice job trying to get me ready in the simulator. Unfortunately, I just got a little loose in turn one – I caught it – but it is such a narrow lane, that once I caught the car I was in the wall, and I was kind of along for the ride then.’’

Posted on by Tadd Haislop

FORT WORTH, Texas — For all intents and purposes, the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion might as well be a rookie this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson recognizes the scenery of the race track located about 20 miles north of downtown Fort Worth, from the entrance through the claustrophobic infield tunnel to the vast garage area. Images from his seven Cup Series wins at the 1.5-mile oval scattered around the facility prompt fond memories.

Just about every other factor is new for Johnson, who will make his second Cup Series start of the 2024 season in Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400.

MORE: Best photos from Texas

He’s never raced the current generation of Cup cars at Texas. He’ll do so Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) when he runs the No. 84 Advent Health Toyota for Legacy Motor Club, the team he co-owns. He’s never raced a Toyota at a 1.5-mile oval, let alone a Next Gen Camry. Legacy last year announced its partnership with Toyota for 2024 and beyond after launching in 2021 as a Chevrolet team.

Perhaps most importantly, Johnson has never competed at Texas with the specific goals he and his team hope to accomplish.

“Of course, I want to run as well as I can,” Johnson said Saturday. “I want to run all the laps, be able to help our company grow. Really work through this first quarter, first half of the season with our change at Toyota. There’s just a lot of new things for us we’re trying to get our arms around.

“We’ve had some speed at times, but constantly having speed is a big objective for us right now. I hope my participation this weekend helps us take a step in that direction.”

He’ll need better fortune than what he found in his previous starts in the Next Gen car. The only comparison Johnson has for what he might experience at Texas is his 2023 run in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, another intermediate oval. He finished 37th after a crash on Lap 76.

Jimmie Johnson races in the NASCAR Cup Series at Charlotte.
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Johnson brought up that accident when asked about his comfort level at Texas given the new variables.

“I found last year with the limited races I ran, it is really, really different,” Johnson said of the car compared to previous generations. “I think the first 80% is normal, maybe 90%. But that last little bit and where you run the car — I spent a lifetime running the car off the right-rear (tire). And this car, you just cannot do that. From the aero platform, the tire, and, I believe, the side-wall stiffness of the tire. You can’t slip and slide this car around like I like to do.

“It got me in trouble the last mile-and-a-half I was on in Charlotte — got out from under me, and I crashed. So I tell myself coming into this weekend that I need to drive it off the right front, drive through the right front, and not my typical style of driving through the right-rear tire.”

Unfortunately, a similar situation bit Johnson during Saturday’s practice. The No. 84 Toyota snapped loose on entry to Turn 1 midway through the session, sending the seven-time champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer sliding right-rear-first into the outside SAFER barrier. Johnson will start Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 from the rear.

“I felt like we did a nice job trying to get me ready in the simulator,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, I just got a little loose in Turn 1 – I caught it – but it is such a narrow lane, that once I caught the car I was in the wall, and I was kind of along with the ride then.”

The 48-year-old from El Cajon, California used to love racing at Texas with good reason beyond his victories, including three straight from 2014-15. He said Turns 1-2 in Texas’ previous configuration was the most fun he had on an intermediate track. He loved being able to “run line to wall” with bumps arriving in the most demanding spots.

Now Johnson appreciates Texas for different reasons. He still describes the track as “treacherous,” and he likes seeing the fact that the surface is widening out in that drivers can race multiple grooves.

He values the challenge Texas provides for his team as it seeks the consistent speed necessary to contend for a championship.

It’s a massive test for a driver with plenty of those titles. After 690 Cup Series starts over 22 years, Johnson embraces the rare unfamiliarity.

Posted on by Holly Cain

A handful of late-race cautions only made it more dramatic but veteran Kyle Busch still managed to hold off a hard-charging field to claim a record-tying sixth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race victory at Texas Motor Speedway, just bettering Corey Heim by a mere 0.112-seconds to win Friday night’s SpeedyCash.com 250.

Maybe while competing in Texas, Busch should consider changing his nickname from “Rowdy” to the popular Texas greeting, “Howdy.” The two-time Cup Series champion has created an unbelievable mark of excellence competing at the Fort Worth 1.5-miler.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Busch’s sixth win in a Texas Motor Speedway truck race ties him with Todd Bodine for most ever. Busch has won the last four Truck Series races he’s entered at the track. And. ..it is Busch’s 20th overall win at TMS – an unprecedented tally that also includes four Cup Series victories and 10 Xfinity Series race wins.

He led a race-best 112 of the 167 laps in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Friday and won both stages.

“Great team, everybody here at Spire [Motorsports],” said Busch, who has won a record 66 Truck Series races in his career – two this season.

“They definitely kept me honest, I’ll give them that,” said Busch, who compared the robust competition all night to another inspired win when he had to come from 15th place with two laps remaining to win a race.

“Corey [Heim] kept us honest right there,” he continued. “He started to find that top over there and got some momentum over there with three to go. I chattered really bad, so my front just wasn’t working over there. … he made it and got to my rear bumper getting into [turn] three and I just didn’t know which way to go so I ran the middle then to the bottom and then he slipped up top and I guess we had enough of a gap after that.”

Heim’s runner-up finish in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota continues his perfect streak of top-10 finishes in every Truck race this season (seven). The margin of victory Friday was the second closest ever at the Texas track.

“It just seemed like a big track position game at the end there,” said the 21-year-old Heim. “He’d get really big runs on the straightaways and once you get to the corner it’s really hard to stay behind someone and keep the momentum.

“I did all I could there trying to pick up three [positions] on that last restart but got another caution there unfortunately and just tried to build a run on him, but he’s just too good and does a really good job. Really happy with our run tonight, picked up stage points and finished second.”

Despite Busch’s laps-led tally, It was really a highly competitive race at the front of the field. Christian Eckes led 31 laps and Nick Sanchez led 16. The three drivers –Heim, Eckes and Sanchez — exchanged positions among the top five all evening in pursuit of Busch.

Rev Racing’s Sanchez finished third, followed by McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Eckes and former series champion – now a Cup Series rookie – Zane Smith, who also competed for McAnally-Hilgemann Friday night.

Daniel Dye, brothers Taylor and Tanner Gray, Stefan Parsons and Ty Majeski rounded out the top-10 finishers.

It was a rough night for early-season championship leader Tyler Ankrum, who was collected in an accident only two laps into the race and finished last in 34th place.

The championship standings changed up with the Texas results and Eckes – the series’ only two-race winner so far in 2024 – takes the lead by two points over Heim. Majeski, who came into the race leading the points, is now third, 12 points back. Ankrum drops to sixth place, 43 points behind Eckes.

MORE: 2024 Truck Series schedule | Truck Series standings 

The Truck Series will return to competition on Saturday, May 4, in the Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Grant Enfinger is the defending race winner.

NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Texas garage concluded without issue, confirming Busch as the race winner. The No. 75 of Stefan Parsons was missing two lug nuts post-race, resulting in a $5,000 fine and a one-race suspension for crew chief Chris Carrier. The Nos. 17, 19 and 98 will additionally return to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, for teardown inspection.

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

FORT WORTH, Texas — The saying “everything’s bigger in Texas” has been used aplenty, but describes the extent of the heartbreak for playoff drivers Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace after Sunday’s Round of 12 opener.

The pair of drivers dominated through the intense heat clutching the 1.5-mile facility, splitting 210 circuits out front of the 267-lap event.

When it came time to decide who would be rewarded for their efforts, it ended in calamity and a totaled No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet as Larson spun on the inside of Wallace as the two were side-by-side for the lead after a restart with 20 to go.

The 2021 Cup Series champion took blame for the dramatic result.

“Just a bummer. I wasn’t expecting to get loose in like that underneath the 23,” Larson said. I was trying to get my shape into [Turn] 1 and should’ve gave a little more space.

“If I could just replay it again, I would just give me more space into [Turn] 1 and race it out off of 2 and eventually the bottom would’ve won out so I was just trying to get it all too quickly and should’ve just worked for another corner.”

RELATED: Race results | Where playoff drivers stand after Texas

Larson left Texas with a 31st-place result but remains above the Round of 8 elimination line by a slim two-point margin.

The inside appeared to have the advantage on restarts throughout the day, but Wallace made his 23XI Racing Toyota stick on the outside on the penultimate restart that even bewildered him.

“I was like ‘oh damn! It actually stuck on the top,’ and I think he was like ‘oh, it stuck on the bottom,’ and so I was thinking it was going to be a dogfight all the way to the end,” Wallace said.

“But we both sent it down in there, Turn 1 is a little bit better opportunity for a slide job and I wasn’t lifting, so he lifted. I was listening to his throttle application and brake application and matching downshifts and next thing you know, we were almost wrecked so just fighting hard for a win.”

If you ask Wallace, that was the only restart of the day where he would pat himself on the back.

After starting on the pole, Wallace found himself in precarious moments on the track after losing the lead, including getting trapped in the middle of a three-wide battle after a restart.

MORE: At-track photos: Texas

Despite losing track position and his car handling worse and worse through the race, Wallace managed a third-place result, his best at Texas and of the 2023 season so far, but there was no cause for celebration in his eyes.

“Can’t have the worst restarts when you’re the best restarter and that’s what happened,” Wallace lamented.

Amid a chorus of boos from fans behind him, Wallace felt in sync with the grandstand gibe.

“Oh, I’m booing myself too, so we’re good. I’m one of y’all today. Giving it up like that is heartbreaking for sure, devastating.”

After grasping the lead following Larson’s incident, Wallace looked to be the man of the day, but another caution in the closing laps forced another reset of the field and for a third consecutive time, Wallace chose the outside with Chase Briscoe to his inside.

In a reversal, a third time proved not the charm for the No. 23 team as William Byron scooted by both Briscoe and Wallace to take his sixth victory of the season.

“Briscoe got tight underneath me and I just lost all my momentum,” Wallace said of the final restart. “The best defense mechanism is to pack air on somebody’s left-rear and that shoves the outside car up and it just gave Byron a massive run so I should’ve just held my line into [Turn] 3 instead of chasing down and just gave it away there.”

Wallace entered Sunday 14 points below the elimination line and earned a +12-point boost toward it as he heads to Talladega Superspeedway as the first car out and just two points below, by coincidence, Larson.

Despite continued growth in his Cup career and still in the hunt for the Bill France Trophy, Wallace leaves Texas snookered after not solidifying a guaranteed berth to the Round of 8.

“All I’m thinking about right now is those last three laps, last five, six. Whatever it was. Part of growing and learning and being a part of the playoffs but you can’t [expletive] give races away.”