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.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

ValleyStar Credit Union 300

Martinsville Speedway

Valley Star

  • Unofficial qualifying results (pending technical inspection)
Pos Car No Driver Time Difference
1 6 Bobby McCarty 19.704 –
2 22 Landon Huffman 19.768 0.064
3 8a Carson Kvapil 19.809 0.105
4 15c Ryan Millington 19.825 0.121
5 97 Daniel Silvestri 19.848 0.144
6 88A Doug Barnes Jr. 19.869 0.165
7 03 Brenden Queen 19.888 0.184
8 2b Matt Waltz 19.902 0.198
9 95 Sam Yarbrough 19.909 0.205
10 33 Dillon Harville 19.927 0.223
11 14 Jared Fryar 19.947 0.243
12 09 Riley Gentry 19.958 0.254
13 26 Peyton Sellers 19.962 0.258
14 25A Jacob Borst 19.972 0.268
15 51 Matt Cox 19.979 0.275
16 77A Blake Stallings 19.989 0.285
17 15A Kres Vandyke 19.997 0.293
18 87 Mike Looney 20.001 0.297
19 43 William Sawalich 20.006 0.302
20 95A Jacob Heafner 20.015 0.311
21 23 Kade Brown 20.02 0.316
22 61 Justin Hicks 20.029 0.325
23 10 Kaden Honeycutt 20.032 0.328
24 5 Dexter Canipe Jr. 20.035 0.331
25 77 Trevor Ward 20.048 0.344
26 77B Connor Hall 20.054 0.35
27 4A Kyle Dudley 20.054 0.35
28 41 Davey Callihan 20.054 0.35
29 01A GR Waldrop 20.057 0.353
30 32 Zack Miracle 20.06 0.356
31 07 Chase Dixon 20.064 0.36
32 7 Dylan Ward 20.07 0.366
33 51a Jamey Caudill 20.071 0.367
34 88r Dustin Rumley 20.071 0.367
35 8b Chase Burrow 20.089 0.385
36 0 Landon Pembelton 20.09 0.386
37 15 Logan Clark 20.092 0.388
38 97W Magnum Tate 20.105 0.401
39 2a Josh Kossek 20.105 0.401
40 2 Brandon Pierce 20.112 0.408
41 5a Carter Langley 20.114 0.41
42 97A Michael Faulk 20.116 0.412
43 24 Mason Diaz 20.126 0.422
44 1 Trent Barnes 20.13 0.426
45 1B Andrew Grady 20.137 0.433
46 7a Blayne Harrison 20.153 0.449
47 88 Brad Housewright 20.155 0.451
48 38 Riley Neal 20.161 0.457
49 25 Derrick Lancaster 20.168 0.464
50 71 Katie Hettinger 20.178 0.474
51 44 Conner Jones 20.195 0.491
52 59 Heath Causey 20.195 0.491
53 35 Steve Zacharias 20.204 0.5
54 51M Ryan Matthews 20.228 0.524
55 17 Jason Myers 20.228 0.524
56 31A Cole Bruce 20.23 0.526
57 16 Casey Kelley 20.23 0.526
58 08 Brody Duggins 20.232 0.528
59 04 Ronnie Bassett Jr. 20.259 0.555
60 75 Cory Dunn 20.276 0.572
61 57 Jimmy Mullins 20.281 0.577
62 99 Austin Somero 20.305 0.601
63 07a Kenny Forbes 20.323 0.619
64 50 Ross Dalton 20.33 0.626
65 01 Camden Gullie 20.335 0.631
66 90 John Goin 20.337 0.633
67 7B Karl Budzevski 20.341 0.637
68 18 Anthony Adams 20.434 0.73
69 91 Justin Carroll 20.44 0.736
70 1A Jamie York 20.456 0.752
71 8 Thomas Scott 20.473 0.769
72 9 Bruce Anderson 20.482 0.778
73 11 Buddy Isles Jr. 20.49 0.786
74 15B Tristen Barnes 20.532 0.828
75 87A Tate Fogleman 20.657 0.953
76 4 Mike Chambers 20.702 0.998
77 14a Jonathan Worley 20.706 1.002
78 31 Chase Robertson 20.714 1.01
79 99A Colby Higgins 20.785 1.081
80 42 Chris Horton Jr. 20.877 1.173
81 14B James Sweeney 20.948 1.244
82 24b Chase Ratliff 20.955 1.251
83 19 Jessica Cann 21.082 1.378
84 23a Zachary Dabbs 21.239 1.535
Posted on by Kobe Lambeth

Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway

(⏰ Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET | 📺 USA, NBC Sports App | 📻 PRN, SiriusXM)

Everything you need to know for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas, the 30th points-paying race of the 2023 Cup Series campaign.

Weekend schedule | TV schedule | Weather tracker | Texas playoff race 101

📍 Location: Fort Worth, Texas
📐 Track length: 1.5 miles
🎟️ Buy tickets: Find weekend passes, seats for the race
💰 Cup Series race purse: $8,955,060
📏 Race distance: 267 laps | 400.5 miles
🔢 Stages: 80 | 165 | 267
—
📋 Starting lineup: Wallace on pole at Texas
🚗 Pit stall assignments: See where drivers will pit
🏆 Most recent winner: Tyler Reddick, fall 2022

Key things to watch 🔑

Saturday’s sessions

23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace put the No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota on the pole for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Wallace scored the second pole of his NASCAR Cup Series career and will look to keep his championship hopes alive after advancing to the Round of 12. This ends Christopher Bell’s streak of three consecutive poles, and he will roll off the grid ninth in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Starting alongside Wallace on the front row is Texas native Chris Buescher. Completing the top five in the Lone Star State: Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs and Ross Chastain.  | Read the full practice, qualifying recap

Big story line

Will Christopher Bell’s impressive qualifying speed finally translate into a race win?

In the last 10 Cup Series races, Bell has won the pole five times, including three in a row to sweep the Round of 16. While the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has shown up big time in qualifying, the team has struggled to put a complete race weekend together without issues and end up in Victory Lane. Bell has only experienced an incident-free weekend two times in the last 12 races when he earned a pair of third-place finishes at Watkins Glen and again at Bristol last Saturday night. The results for Bell at Texas Motor Speedway have been up and down in his four career starts at the 1.5-mile track. Bell has two top fives and two finishes 21st or worse. The No. 20 team certainly has the tools to win, but Sunday’s result will ultimately come down to execution and staying out of trouble.

History tells us…

Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 team have a good shot at a top-10 finish.

Since winning the Coca-Cola 600 in the month of May, Blaney’s No. 12 team has not looked the same as Team Penske continues to navigate a tough year. Austin Cindric is enduring a challenging sophomore year in the Cup Series and defending champ Joey Logano was eliminated from the postseason in the Round of 16. So, Blaney is the last hope for Penske to repeat as the title-winning team. In the last 14 races, Blaney has 10 finishes of 12th or worse. He traditionally runs well at Texas Motor Speedway so that is a welcome sight for the driver of the No. 12 Ford.

In the last six of 10 Texas races, Blaney led a total of 432 laps. This includes five straight finishes of eighth place or better. While Blaney has a victory at Texas in the 2022 All-Star Race, he has not gone to Victory Lane there yet in a points-paying event. He scored his best result of second place in the 2018 fall race and finished fourth here last year. If there is any track on the schedule for the No. 12 team to rediscover its form shown at Charlotte, a trip to the Lone Star State is coming at the perfect time. Blaney’s history at Texas suggests that a top 10 is certainly doable. | Preview Show: Twelve-way shootout in Texas

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

Joey Logano. After getting eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, all the pressure is off and Logano can solely focus on race wins through the end of 2023. The defending Cup Series champion has battled through a tough season of trying to defend his title, which came to a halt last Saturday night at Bristol after being involved in a wreck. While this year is certainly far from matching his 2022 championship-winning season, Texas Motor Speedway provides the No. 22 team with an opportunity to get a good result. Logano enters Texas with odds of 30-1.

In the last five Texas races, Logano has four top-1o finishes in the Lone Star State. Meanwhile, in the last 11 races here, Logano led 321 laps in eight of those races. His only career Cup Series win at Texas occurred in the spring of 2014. Flashing back to last fall’s race, he earned a runner-up finish. Based on Logano’s overall performance this year, Sunday could be another frustrating day. But never count out the two-time series champion, who may respond well with less pressure and spoil the show for the Round of 12 title contenders. | Logano eliminated from playoffs after Bristol crash

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

• At-track photos: Sights and scenes from Texas Motor Speedway | Photos
• Bubble Watch: Playoff twists and turns for Texas | Read more
• Fantasy Fastlane: Can Ryan Blaney get back on track at Texas? | Get the advice
• Paint Scheme Preview: See the schemes for Texas | Pick a favorite
• Power Rankings: Denny Hamlin bringing the heat — on track and with the fans | Latest driver rankings
• Stacking Pennies: Corey LaJoie discusses the partnership between Spire Motorsports and Trackhouse Racing | Listen to the podcast

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