Posted on by Staff Report

Playoffs contender Kyle Busch found early trouble in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, crashing near the end of Stage 1 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Busch, who started seventh in the 36-car field, spun out through Turns 1 and 2 in the 74th of 267 laps in the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400. His No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet backed into the outside retaining wall, sustaining heavy rear damage at the 1.5-mile track.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Texas

Busch guided his wrecked car back to pit road in reverse to the attention of his crew, but he later drove to the garage with insurmountable damage. Busch was credited with a 34th-place finish, just ahead of the race’s first two retirees — Todd Gilliland and Busch’s RCR teammate, Austin Dillon.

Busch was evaluated and released from the track’s infield care center. He had radioed his crew before the crash that he felt that his car had a right-front tire going flat but pressed on when the issue seemed to improve.

“I had no idea,” Busch told NBC Sports. “It felt really good when we came off of pit road after that green-flag stop. The car had good grip in it, and then we had those couple of yellows back-to-back, and I restarted on the outside, and I felt like I had a flat right-front.  Was gonna come to pit road, and I second-guessed it and said, ‘I don’t think so, man. It’s just something’s wrong. Something’s not right, but it’s not a flat,’ and just all on its own, just turned into the bottom of the race track in Turn 1, it just swapped ends on me.”

The finish is Busch’s worst of the Cup Series Playoffs so far, and while he was steady in navigating through the postseason’s opening round, the result marks his fourth finish outside the top 30 in the last 11 races.

“I felt like our car was, for sure, a top-five, top-10 car today,” Busch said. “Seems like every time I try, something happens. I crash or whatever. Right there, I just said it two laps before that, that I got up in the high side, and I was like, ‘You know what, I just need to just stop and just run the bottom, just make laps here, finish this stage,’ and it swaps ends on me. So I don’t know what to do. Somebody wants to tell me what to do, I’m all ears.”

Sunday’s 400-miler marked the first race in the Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12. After Texas, events at Talladega Superspeedway (Oct. 1) and Charlotte’s road course (Oct. 8) will determine the eight drivers who advance to the next round and which four will be eliminated from championship contention.

Busch advanced from the opening round of the postseason and entered the Round of 12 eight points above the provisional elimination line. His Texas result dropped him to last among the 12 title-eligible drivers, with a 17-point deficit to that cutoff point.

Posted on by Staff Report

We talk about Kyle Larson a lot in this space, but it’s pretty hard to ignore the man, the myth, the legend after what he did in the Round of 16 to open this year’s playoffs. After winning at Darlington Raceway, Larson went on to finish fourth at Kansas Speedway and second at Bristol Motor Speedway for an average finish of 2.3 — second all-time only to Greg Biffle’s mark of 1.67 in 2008 through the first three playoff races.

PLAYOFFS: Playoffs hub page | Playoffs Grid Challenge game

What will the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet do for an encore? Well, Larson enters Texas with 409 points scored on 1.5-mile tracks in the Next Gen car, and that’s second only to Ross Chastain, who has 415. With an average finish of 9.5 on 1.5-mile tracks this year, Larson is a good bet to be running among the leaders in Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

However, Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron has the best average finish on 1.5-mile tracks this year at 5.25, and he has won on a 1.5-mile track in 2023 (Las Vegas), whereas Larson has not. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick, who won this race last year as a member of Richard Childress Racing, has also won on a 1.5-mile track this year (Kansas) and has an average finish of 7.5 on the 1.5-milers.

If Larson does manage to hold off those guys and pull out the win at Texas, then look out because he won here in 2021 on the way to a championship — matching Jimmie Johnson (2007, 2013) and Tony Stewart (2011) as drivers who took Texas and then went on to claim the championship that year as well. Is another legendary Lone Star moment in store for Larson? While we think about the answer to that question, let’s look at some of the other key drivers in this race:

PLAYOFF PICTURE

KYLE BUSCH: Busch begins the Round of 12 in sixth place and eight points above the elimination line. Based on his history at Texas, there’s a chance he could improve his standing. In addition to being a four-time Texas winner, Busch has finished in the top 10 in five of the last six Texas races.

RYAN BLANEY: Unlike Busch, Blaney begins the Round of 12 beneath the elimination line, six points to the bad side of the equation. But Blaney is arguably the best available playoff driver at Texas with top-10 finishes in eight of the last nine Texas races and a victory in the 2022 All-Star Race in the Lone Star State.

BRAD KESELOWSKI: Keselowski enters the Round of 12 three points beneath the elimination line, so a good start at Texas is imperative if he wants to continue on the path to a second Cup Series title. The good news is Keselowski has finished in the top 10 in the last four Texas races and won the pole for this race last year.

CHRIS BUESCHER: Buescher has a cushion of 10 points on the elimination line entering Texas, but unfortunately for him, the Prosper, Texas, native hasn’t fared too well in his home state. Buescher has never finished better than 15th in 13 starts at Texas and has only one top-10 finish in the last 15 races on 1.5-mile tracks.

BUBBA WALLACE: If you’re looking for a sleeper pick, then Wallace could be your lucky driver. Although he’s at the very bottom of the standings and 14 points below the elimination line, Wallace has finished fourth in three of the last four races on 1.5-mile tracks, and his team, 23XI Racing, has been strong with three wins on 1.5-mile tracks in the Next Gen car.

Projections as of Sunday, Sept. 24:

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.

FinishCar NumberDriver
15Kyle Larson
211Denny Hamlin
345Tyler Reddick
424William Byron
519Martin Truex Jr.
612Ryan Blaney
74Kevin Harvick
86Brad Keselowski
920Christopher Bell
1022Joey Logano
111Ross Chastain
128Kyle Busch
139Chase Elliott
1423Bubba Wallace
1517Chris Buescher
1654Ty Gibbs
1748Alex Bowman
1843Erik Jones
1999Daniel Suárez
2014Chase Briscoe
2110Aric Almirola
223Austin Dillon
2347Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2434Michael McDowell
252Austin Cindric
267Corey LaJoie
2731Justin Haley
2816AJ Allmendinger
2941Ryan Preece
3021Harrison Burton
3142Carson Hocevar
3277Ty Dillon
3351Todd Gilliland
3438Zane Smith
3515J.J. Yeley
3678BJ McLeod

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

FORT WORTH, Texas — Native to the Lone Star State town of Prosper that was touted right as he took the checkered flag at Richmond in July, Chris Buescher is in unfamiliar territory as he competes at his home track of Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) to begin the Round of 12 in the Cup Series Playoffs.

Matter of fact, Buescher said on Saturday that he was even unfamiliar with the population spurt of his hometown that was noted on that Richmond broadcast.

“Even just the stat from Richmond, the 30,000 population, that was news to me,” Buescher mentioned. “That was 26, 2,800 people was on the sign when I was there, so at this point, I’m many years, 15 years, removed from there, but still miss it in a lot of ways. It’s wild to see the growth there, how different it is.”

RELATED: Round of 12 standings | Sunday schedule at Texas

After two top-five finishes in the opening round of the playoffs, Buescher reached the Round of 12 for the first time in his eight-year Cup career.

Since rising up the ranks in NASCAR’s national series with Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, Buescher has seen the heyday, decline and rebirth of the illustrious organization.

Before moving up to the Cup Series with Front Row Motorsports in 2016, Buescher was one of the top prospects in the Xfinity Series and in two full-time seasons with Roush in 2014 and 2015, he earned three wins and took home the championship in 2015.

Buescher noted during Saturday’s media availabilities how competitive Roush was and how his Xfinity team was mad with a top-three finish even though it would be fellow Roush drivers filling the top two.

When re-joining the organization in 2020, this time at the Cup level, Buescher became a driver who was always on the outside looking in for quality results. In his first 72 starts with Roush, he earned just three top fives and 16 top 10s. In the last 64 starts, he’s made since 2012 Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski stepped in as a co-owner for the organization, those results have flipped to 11 top fives, 24 top 10s, and even more noteworthy, four victories.

“Certainly been through some of the tougher years where you’d be over the moon to be able to try to finish third at times, and that’s not where we’re at anymore. I’m proud to say that. I’m lucky to say that,” Buescher said.

MORE: At-track photos: Texas

Asked whether this season has been a dream for the 30-year-old driver, Buescher wasn’t keen to use that term to describe 2023.

“I don’t know about dream season. I mean, this is kind of the way you always wanted racing to go. You always want to be competitive every week and be fighting for wins,” Buescher said.

“When you’re traveling all over the country, and people dread seeing your hauler roll in, that’s fun and has been for a long time. Haven’t got to experience that in a while, but where we’ve come with RFK and with the 17 team, this organization has picked up a tremendous amount of steam in the last two years, 18 months especially, and we’re seeing a lot of the fruits of the labors that have been put in leading up to this.”

Sunday could be a monumental day for Buescher as he rolls off from the front row in second place alongside pole-sitter Bubba Wallace, who is also in his own first-time trek in the second round of the Cup playoffs.

With how Buescher has performed this season, a potential hometown victory is feasible instead of wishful thinking when his friends and family come to the track.

“It’s just easier to talk to friends that do come to the races and camp out and go have those conversations,” he said. “It’s certainly higher spirits and not what-ifs. We’ve been making this work, and we’re going to keep doing it. At this point last year, we had a win at Bristol when we weren’t eligible to make any round of the playoffs at that point and already missed it. We talked a lot about what could’ve been last year, and it’s just easier conversations this time around.”

Posted on by Dustin Albino

Earlier this week, it would have been easy to keep Bubba Wallace out of your fantasy lineup for Sunday’s Round of 12 opener at Texas Motor Speedway. His recent Texas numbers are filled with mediocrity, seeing six finishes south of 20th in the last seven races. Wallace is trying to flip that trend this weekend, however, and he will have the best view at the start of the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 after winning just his second career pole award on Saturday.

MORE: Wallace corrals Texas pole | Starting lineup | Weekend schedule

Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup:

Starter 1: Kyle Larson

Starter 2: Bubba Wallace

Starter 3: Chris Buescher

Starter 4: Brad Keselowski

Starter 5: Kyle Busch

Garage pick: Ross Chastain

NEXT IN LINE: Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Erik Jones, William Byron

RISING: We should probably expand on Wallace’s day a bit more here. The No. 23 team won its first pole in over a year on Saturday (Michigan 2022). The real work will come on Sunday when Wallace must put a full race together, something that’s admittedly been a real struggle this season with only four top-five finishes. If Wallace is to make the Round of 8, he needs to maximize his performance these next two weekends, knowing he usually struggles on road courses. You can’t start off the weekend any better than he did on Saturday.

When thinking of AJ Allmendinger, Texas doesn’t typically come to mind – unless it’s the 20-turn famed road course, Circuit of The Americas, roughly three hours south from the Fort Worth-based racetrack. The No. 16 Chevrolet has picked up the pace on ovals of late, though, showing more raw speed. Allmendinger will start sixth, his best effort on a 1.5-mile track since the fall race at Charlotte in 2016. He also ranked fourth on 10-lap averages.

FALLING: With a fourth-place finish in this race last year and winning the All-Star Race last May, it was plausible to think Blaney would buck the trend of poor performances since winning at Charlotte nearly four months ago. However, it doesn’t look like Team Penske found the speed it needs at Texas, with Blaney being the worst-qualifying playoff driver in 23rd. He’s dropped from my lineup entirely but will be a must for Talladega.

No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott struggled on Saturday and will take the green flag from the 29th position. The team will likely need to flip the strategy at some point in the race to gain track position. The good news for Elliott fans is he has top 10s in 50% of his starts at Texas. The bad news — five of the last six races have resulted in finishes of 12th or worse.

FEATURED MATCHUPS:

William Byron vs. Martin Truex Jr.

It’s a bit of a surprise that neither driver made the final round of qualifying on Saturday. On the speed chart, they were near even, though Byron never made a 10-lap run. That’s probably by design, believing in its long-run speed. Truex got the nod in qualifying and will start 16th, but I’m sticking with Byron this weekend.

Chris Buescher vs. Kyle Busch

As you saw, both Buescher and Busch are in my lineup for Sunday. Up until Wallace put down a blistering pace as the last timed lap, it looked like Buescher was going to score the pole at his home race track. It wasn’t meant to be this year, but he did outpace Busch’s seventh-place qualifying effort. Busch ranked better than Buescher on all metrics in practice, and this has been one of his best tracks in recent years. The No. 8 team won last year, so there’s no change in my mindset for the race.

Ryan Blaney vs. Tyler Reddick

These two seemed to struggle more than most other playoff teams on Saturday. Reddick was the only Toyota driver to miss the final round of qualifying and was 13th out of 17 cars that made a 10-lap run. The only Fords to crack the top 16 in qualifying were from RFK, which has primarily been the case all summer. Joey Logano was the best Team Penske driver in practice and qualifying. The No. 45 car has more potential and can lean on its Toyota brethren to pick up the pace, whereas Blaney could be in for another long day.

Denny Hamlin vs. Kyle Larson

The best two drivers in the Round of 16 kickstarted the Round of 12 with the same speed. Both drivers continued jumping up the leaderboard the deeper the session got. Larson narrowly missed the final round of qualifying and will start 11th, while Hamlin aborted his chance for the pole after getting out of the groove in Turn 1. These two teams can’t get away from each other in the playoffs, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if they finished first and second again. Having used both drivers twice already in the playoffs, I can only get myself to use one driver for my lineup. Larson it is.

Posted on by Holly Cain

FORT WORTH, Texas – John Hunter Nemechek made the winning pass with seven laps remaining in Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway to punch his ticket to the next round of the series’ playoffs and increase his series-best and career-best single-season total to seven victories.

His No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led only 38 of the day’s 200 laps but managed to get around Big Machine Racing’s Parker Kligerman and race off to a 1.005-second victory – his second at the 1.5-mile Texas track.

RELATED: Race results | Weekend schedule

The winning move came after Kligerman and the day’s most dominant driver, Justin Allgaier, dueled side-by-side at the front of the field. Allgaier, who swept both stage victories and led a race-best 133 laps, got loose in a door-to-door battle for the race lead with Kligerman and drifted up track after a restart with 10 laps remaining. Kligerman pushed forward but was unable to hold off Nemechek.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sammy Smith finished third, followed by Kaulig Racing’s Chandler Smith. Allgaier recovered from the tight racing with Kligerman to finish fifth. The top eight finishing drivers at Texas – also including Cole Custer, Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed – are all playoff contenders.

“I messed up that restart, but I knew I had to push hard and try to recover right there, and man, hats off to this team, Joe Gibbs Racing, it’s been amazing what we’ve been able to accomplish this year, and we’re not done yet,’’ said Nemechek, 26.

“We’re preparing for the Round of 8,’’ he continued. “My goal coming into today was to lock ourselves into the next round. Our road courses haven’t been that great for myself. Joe Gibbs, as an organization, has been really good on road courses. But going into the [Charlotte] Roval and hot having to worry about that is definitely a relief.’’

WATCH: Nemechek discusses win: ‘I don’t think we’re done’

Kligerman, who is racing in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, was hugely disappointed on pit road despite tying a career-best runner-up effort (also at Road America this summer) in the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet. His work at Texas brought him to one point behind the provisional elimination line, behind the eight drivers who are in position to advance to the next playoff round after the Oct. 7 Charlotte Roval race – the elimination event of this round.

“Had a great run, got to him [Allgaier], and I don’t know how much we got squeezed or didn’t. I thought I could clear him super easily, but I got super loose,’’ he said. “Feels like I got choked, he says he gave a lot of room. I’ll have to look at it.’

“I’m really disappointed right now,’’ Kligerman added. “I could see that one, I could feel it. That was the best restart I’ve ever had in my life, put us in perfect position and had the tire advantage, just choked. This one will hurt, but we’ll go make up for it next weekend.’’

For his part, Allgaier was equally as disappointed and frustrated. He approached Kligerman on pit road after the race to discuss the close racing and fallout from it. He had battled from the back after being squeezed out of the lead pack earlier in the race by Chandler Smith, which forced him to take his last set of fresh tires earlier than his competitors. Nemechek and Kligerman were able to take new tires on their last stop during a caution with 20 laps remaining, while Allgaier’s tires had 11 laps on them at that point and stayed out – in the lead – during that final caution.

Kligerman and Nemechek made their way back toward Allgaier quickly on their fresh tires, with Kligerman pulling forward to try and make the winning move in the final 10 laps.

“At that point, obviously, we had a really fast Camaro all day,’’ said Allgaier, who already advanced to the next round by winning the playoff opener at Bristol, Tenn., last week.

“We put ourselves in good position. That last caution kind of hurt us because we didn’t have tires, but still thought we’d do a good job.

“Parker, when I went and I talked to him, said I squeezed him. I felt like I left him plenty of room there, knowing he’d go to the bottom, and he drove it in super, super deep into [turn] three. And he’s been around the sport long enough to know what’s going to happen. Just disappointed. Not only did it mess up battling for second, it put us way up in the marbles.”

With a season-high 12 caution periods on Saturday, there was plenty of drama. Only 17 cars in the 38-car field managed to avoid any kind of accident involvement. And by mid-race, half of the 12-driver playoff field had dealt with some incident.

MORE: At-track photos: Texas

JR Motorsports driver Sam Mayer, a two-time race winner this season and Playoff contender, hit the wall on the opening lap, doing enough damage to his No. 1 JRM Chevrolet that he couldn’t continue and suffered a last-place finish (38th).

He started the Texas race ranked 10th, only 14 points behind Sheldon Creed in the final cutoff position – but left the Lone Star State ranked last among the Playoff competitors, 34 points back and essentially needing a walk-off victory in the next playoff race at the Charlotte road course.

“We’re going to have to make something happen,” Mayer said. “Our backs are up against the wall.’’

With one race remaining in this opening Playoff round, Nemechek and Allgaier have automatically secured their Round of 8 positions, as has Custer, who clinched Saturday by virtue of points earned. The regular season champion Hill holds a 44-point edge on the Playoff elimination line. Chandler Smith and Sammy Smith are 32 and 18 points to the good, respectively. Creed takes a nine-point edge to the good into the Charlotte Roval race. Daniel Hemric – who finished 24th Saturday – holds a tenuous single-point edge over Kligerman, who is in the ninth position.

Jeb Burton (-19), Josh Berry (-27) and Mayer (-34) are behind Kligerman – all three involved in incidents at Texas.

Like Mayer, Hemric also stumbled out of the gate, clipping the frontstretch’s inside grass on Lap 19 and damaging the left front of his No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevy. He slipped off the lead lap by stage’s end and finished 24th after sustaining right-side damage in another late-race incident.

Burton faded at the end of Stage 2 with a vibration that escalated into a broken axle cap and a detached left-rear wheel under caution. He was assessed a two-lap penalty midrace, pulled the car to the garage and returned to finish 31st.

The Xfinity Series’ next race is scheduled for Oct. 7 (3 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.

Note: Inspection in the Xfinity Series garage at Texas was completed without major issue, confirming Nemechek’s victory. The No. 18 Toyota of third-finishing Sammy Smith was found with one unsecured lug nut in a post-race check. … Brennan Poole was unhurt after a heavy hit into the pit-road wall with his JD Motorsports No. 6 Chevrolet. … Stefan Parsons stepped in as a relief driver for an ailing Josh Williams in the DGM Racing No. 92 Chevrolet after Stage 2.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

FORT WORTH, Texas — Over the years, Ross Chastain has become notorious for his assertive driving style in every series he’s competed in.

From being turned by a Cup Series champion at Darlington a few years ago to a pit-road brawl at Kansas Speedway in the spring, it’s safe to say the Alva, Florida native has ruffled the feathers of drivers aplenty in his career.

However, as the 2023 Cup season heads down the home stretch, there’s been a direct distinction in how Chastain raced in the first half of the season versus now.

RELATED: Sunday’s starting lineup | Texas schedule

Whether there’s a correlation to the post-Darlington incident with Kyle Larson and being called out by the Hendrick Motorsports head honcho following, Chastain has settled into his fresh on-track persona as he navigates through the postseason.

“Probably the main thing there is actually to not attack. We don’t have to win,” Chastain said. “It’s OK to just be OK but we want to though. Like if the opportunity is there, we want to go win but we’re not going to try to take it and attack.”

Going on the offensive cost Chastain quality finishes earlier in the season at tracks like Talladega and Darlington that led to results outside the top 20, and his 24th-place run at Phoenix was the outcome of run-ins with Denny Hamlin in 2022.

While the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet hasn’t garnered consistent race-contending speed to get a comfortable distance away from the elimination line after three playoff races, Chastain has finished all races since the first Darlington event outside of the summer Atlanta race and has finished on the lead lap in all but two (Richmond-2, Bristol Night Race).

After grinding through the Round of 16 and advancing by 22 points, don’t expect Chastain to up the ante if he finds himself in undesirable positions as the postseason continues.

“I tend to get in trouble when I do that so just scrap up as many points as we can all three races,” he said. “I value all three equally just like I value the other seven in these playoffs.”

During races now, Chastain said he can pick apart how his car is feeling in specific instances and will hold back more than he used to if he means he gets to maximize his day in terms of points.

“A lot of small moments in the car of just kind of bringing it back to what does the next lap require of me,” Chastain said. “It’s really easy to realize you’re in 18th and it’s Lap 100, and you need to get up there and get in the top 10, top five but it’s just not going to happen quickly.

“So just what can I do every lap and this track really rewards patience even though it’s really fast. Just bringing it back to what does the next corner require and if it requires driving as hard as I can, I will. If it actually requires driving easier than I’m capable of, I’ll do that.”

Chastain got his Round of 12 off to a great start in Saturday’s on-track sessions at Texas Motor Speedway with a top-10 practice speed followed by a fifth-place run in qualifying to put himself at the front of the field when the green flag drops for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

Posted on by Holly Cain

FORT WORTH, Texas – Bubba Wallace turned in a dramatic final lap of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday to claim the pole position for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

Wallace’s qualifying lap of 188.337 mph in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota around the 1.5-mile Fort Worth high banks just edged the hometown favorite, Texas native Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford by a slight .039 seconds. It’s Wallace’s first pole position of the season and only the second career pole for the 29-year-old Mobile, Ala., native — who is one of 12 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff-eligible drivers in this opening race of the second three-race round of the elimination-style format.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Weekend schedule

Wallace’s fast lap stopped Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell’s streak of pole positions at three. Bell – who is also championship-eligible – swept the pole positions in the entire opening round of the playoffs and will start ninth on Sunday.

Buescher’s teammate and team co-owner, Brad Keselowski – also a Playoff contender – was third fastest, followed by rookie Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain – another playoff driver.

Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger, Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, Chastain’s Trackhouse teammate Daniel Suárez, Bell and JGR’s Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 10 in qualifying to set the 36-car field. Busch, Chastain, Bell and Hamlin are all playoff contenders, too.

In eight series starts at Texas, Wallace has only a single top-10 finish – eighth place coming in his debut on the track in 2018. His only other top 20 (14th) came in the summer of 2020.

“I held it wide open,’’ Wallace said with a smile, adding, “It’s all about the people at 23XI, the 23 team and the 45 car as well. We keep pushing each other to be better and better, and it’s paying off. I’m proud of the effort, but it’s nice for a moment, tomorrow is the real test.

“Was I expecting it? I don’t know. In qualifying I tend to try too hard and overthink things. I need to stop that and just go out and do. So that was a good surprise.”

Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron and regular season champion, JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. – who are tied atop the standings coming into Texas – qualified 18th and 16th, respectively.  Kyle Larson, who is ranked third in the championship standings, just missed advancing to the final qualifying session and will start 11th.

Other playoff drivers, Wallace’s teammate Tyler Reddick and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney will start 15th and 23rd, respectively.

Two drivers found trouble in the 1.5-mile track’s second turn on their up-to-speed lap before their qualifying attempt. Aric Almirola scrubbed the outside retaining wall but continued onward in his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. slid out of the low groove and looped his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Chevrolet but managed to avoid contact.

McDowell tops Texas practice leaderboard

Michael McDowell set the pace in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice at Texas Motor Speedway.

MORE: Practice results | At-track photos

McDowell pushed the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford to a best lap of 185.771 mph, leading the opening 20-minute group session. His clocking was just one-thousandth faster than the second-fastest lap posted by Joey Logano in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

Kyle Busch was fastest among the 12 remaining playoff-eligible drivers, ranking third at 185.593 mph in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Aric Almirola was fourth-fastest, with Kyle Larson — who topped the consecutive 10-lap average chart — completing the top five.

Christopher Bell made a prolonged slide through Turn 2 in the first group of practice but managed to avoid contact with his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He returned to pit road and finished the session with the 23rd fastest speed overall.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Press Release

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (Sept. 23, 2023) – Due to a forecast of rain throughout the day and evening, the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway has been postponed until Sunday, September 24. The qualifying races will begin at 1:00 p.m. ET, while the main event will start at 5:00 p.m. ET.

The autograph session has been canceled.

Bobby McCarty, who trails Brenden “Butterbean” Queen in the Virginia Triple Crown standings by only a half position, will lead the first of four qualifying races to green on Sunday following a lap time of 19.704. The time bettered his own Martinsville track record in the process.

This year, no drivers are locked into the field for Saturday evening’s prestigious ValleyStar Credit Union 300 through qualifying. Instead, the field will be set by those four 25-lap afternoon qualifying races. The top 10 finishers in each of the qualifying races will comprise the 40-driver field for the main event.

Tickets to the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 are available for purchase via phone at 877-RACE-TIX or online at martinsvillespeedway.com.