Posted on by Dustin Albino

The theme of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series postseason thus far has been the success of non-playoff drivers. Those teams have a perfect batting average with wins by Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace and Chris Buescher. On Saturday, it was Brad Keselowski — who led a season-high 109 laps last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway — who was standing tall, winning his first pole since Richmond Raceway in 2019. With RFK Racing scoring two poles in 2022 (Buescher at Dover Motor Speedway), it’s the most the company has earned in a single season since 2013 (three).

RELATED: Starting lineup for Sunday | Set your Fantasy Live lineup

Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup:

Starter 1: Joey Logano
Starter 2: Denny Hamlin
Starter 3: Tyler Reddick
Starter 4: Ryan Blaney
Starter 5: William Byron
Garage pick: Ross Chastain

NEXT IN LINE: Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski

RISING: RFK continues to impress in recent weeks, as Keselowski and Buescher combined to lead 278 of 500 laps at Bristol. While Texas Motor Speedway is a different beast, the team has stepped up its game in the second half of the season, combining for nine top-10 finishes in the last 14 races. In the first 15 events of the season, the Nos. 6 and 17 cars had four such results. On Sunday, both cars will take the green flag from the top 15.

A week after getting knocked out of the playoffs, Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick showed up in practice and qualifying at Texas. The two Richard Childress Racing drivers took the top spots in practice and will start from fourth and seventh, respectively. The seventh-place starting position for Dillon is his best effort of the season, and he did win a 500-mile race in 2020 at Texas.

FALLING: Christopher Bell was the first driver to advance into the Round of 12. But the No. 20 car — and many of the Toyotas — was a tick off in qualifying, starting 22nd. For fantasy players, don’t discount Bell as he has two third-place finishes in three Texas starts. But he barely misses my lineup.

Earlier in the week, I said be smart and utilize Harvick at Texas, as he has three wins in his last eight starts here. However, the No. 4 car struggled on Saturday, ranking 27th in practice and didn’t qualify much better in 23rd. It will shock nobody should Harvick be in the mix late, but Saturday had to be disappointing.

FEATURED MATCHUPS:  

Chris Buescher vs. Ryan Blaney: While RFK is on the up and up, Blaney was stout at Texas in May’s All-Star Race. The No. 12 car didn’t quite show that speed on Saturday, but still ranked seventh on the scoring pylon in practice. The easy play here is Blaney.

Chase Elliott vs. Joey Logano: With how Elliott’s first round of the playoffs went, it’s a nice time for a reset. Unfortunately for Elliott fans, Logano believes he had a race-winning caliber car in practice and qualified second. Based on overall success at the track, Logano should be the choice, as he has 11 top-five finishes in 26 Texas starts.

Kyle Larson vs. Ross Chastain: On paper, these two look very similar entering race day. Larson was 10th in practice; Chastain ranked 13th. Larson also out-qualified the No. 1 car by three spots, as they both moved one position up the leaderboard to ninth and 12th. Before getting caught up in a wreck during the second stint in the All-Star Race in May, Chastain looked to have one of the fastest cars. But Larson is typically strong at intermediates, including a stomping last year at Texas, leading 256 of 334 laps. Go with the No. 5 car — he’s out of my lineup solely on usage.

Denny Hamlin vs. Christopher Bell: Entering the weekend, I was fully on the No. 20 team bandwagon, believing that Bell could make a late-season charge towards Phoenix Raceway. That’s still possible, but Hamlin has shown more raw speed throughout the season. That continued Saturday, as he was the lone Toyota to make the final round of qualifying. There’s a reason why I inserted Hamlin into my lineup and took Bell out. Use Hamlin.

Posted on by Brandon White

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — For 14 years, a victory had eluded Peyton Sellers in the prestigious ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway.

Despite racking up numerous accomplishments such as five South Boston Speedway track championships and two Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series titles, Sellers could never quite manage to join other Late Model Stock elites in winning the discipline’s most cherished event.

Any doubts prevalent in Sellers’ ability to visit Victory Lane at Martinsville were erased on Saturday evening when he held off JR Motorsports driver Carson Kvapil on a green-white-checkered restart to finally bring home a grandfather clock in his 15th Late Model Stock appearance at the historic facility.

The cathartic triumph for Sellers came as a full-circle moment for his career in many different aspects.

“I used to ride in the Jesse Jones hot dog truck with my grandpa to [Martinsville] when I was kid,” Sellers said. “I would sit in Turn 1 and watch the races while he delivered hot dogs. I grew up going to Martinsville, I grew up going to Clarence’s Steakhouse and all I’ve ever wanted to do was to be a short track racer. It’s a huge thing for me and my family to be where we’re at right now.”

(c) Adam Fenwick
Peyton Sellers passed Mike Looney late to win the 2022 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)

Sellers still remembers the day he was tabbed to drive the iconic No. 26 Clarence’s Steakhouse Late Model Stock during the early 2000s.

Despite being inexperienced at the time, Sellers made the most of his opportunity and would embark on a successful career that saw him find success in many different forms of stock car racing like the ARCA Menards Series East and West Series before finding a home in that same No. 26.

Now boasting one of the most efficient Late Model Stock operations along the East Coast, Sellers knew the hard work he, his family and crew put into their cars would eventually pay off with a grandfather clock at Martinsville.

That moment appeared set in stone for Sellers after passing 2016 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner Mike Looney during the final 25 laps, but two late-race cautions pitted Sellers against an even mix of rookies and veterans to settle the 2022 running of the event.

While Sellers believed the racing had been clean and exciting the entire evening, he knew that trend could easily change with a grandfather clock and $32,000 on the line.

“I felt comfortable with the quality of drivers around me, but you expect anything [at Martinsville],” Sellers said. “When they called me clear off Turn 2 on that last restart, I had to put together a good [Turns] 3 & 4 to give myself a little breathing room coming to the white [flag].

“My legs were cramping those final 25 laps and the emotions were going, but it was sure excitement. They gave me the checkered flag and I made another lap just because I didn’t believe it.”

RACING-REFERENCE: Career NASCAR stats for Peyton Sellers

Even with the prestige of a Martinsville win on the line, Kvapil had no intention of moving a seasoned veteran like Sellers for the win.

Having absorbed many lessons from Josh Berry, who led wire-to-wire in the 2019 ValleyStar Credit Union 300, Kvapil got an idea of what to expect out of Martinsville but was still left to battle a car that was not to his liking for most of the weekend.

A long run was what Kvapil believed was needed for him to chase down Sellers for the win, but he was proud to have a clean battle with the veteran and intends to study the weekend carefully to prepare for next year’s ValleyStar Credit Union 300.

“Hopefully Peyton gained some respect for me tonight,” Kvapil said. “This was our first time really racing side-by-side together and I could have moved him out of the way, but I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to gain some respect and not be that guy.”

Holding off Kvapil for the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 victory was not the only accomplishment Sellers enjoyed on Saturday evening, as he also nabbed his fourth Virginia Late Model Triple Crown championship.

(c) Adam Fenwick
Peyton Sellers kisses the grandfather clock after winning the 2022 ValleyStar Credit Union 300 and Virginia Triple Crown. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)

Sellers commended Martinsville president Clay Campbell and everyone at Martinsville for continuing to bolster the tradition that has made the facility special to him and so many short track drivers since it first opened in 1947, adding that he is already looking forward to bringing home a second grandfather clock next year.

Until that day comes around, Sellers intends to place the grandfather clock inside Clarence’s Steakhouse as a way to give back to the people who took a chance on a promising Virginia short track racer over two decades ago.

“[This clock] belongs at Clarence’s and I’m going to give it to them,” Sellers said. “If I get a second one, I’ll put it right in front of my TV. I’ll quit watching TV and watch that thing tick and chime.”

Posted on by Pat DeCola

FORT WORTH, Texas — When pole-starter Brandon Jones nearly spun out on the first lap of Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, you just knew the opening race of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs was going to be … different.

The one familiar refrain from the past few weeks, however, was who landed in Victory Lane — JR Motorsports No. 9 driver Noah Gragson, for the fourth consecutive race. He becomes the first driver locked into the Round of 8 that’ll begin next month at his hometown Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

As for the other playoff drivers, it varied. Championship contenders Austin Hill, Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Riley Herbst and Josh Berry knocked off the next five spots on the leaderboard, with Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg not far behind in eighth and ninth, respectively. The next 16 spots on the results sheet were split among non-playoff drivers, before Jones, Justin Allgaier, defending champ Daniel Hemric and Jeremy Clements (retired early with unknown mechanical issue) were slotted 27th, 29th, 30th and 36th respectively. Jones recovered from that early spin only to be taken out later on.

RELATED: Full Texas schedule | Memorable Texas moments

On the Lap 109 restart, the Regular Season Champion Allmendinger was caught up in a wreck that involved several cars when he made contact with the No. 68 of Brandon Brown to cause a pileup. Allmendinger’s No. 16 Chevrolet took a noticeable amount of damage, but his team did an exceptional job of bandaging his ride on pit road in quick fashion to get it back out there and battle over the remainder of the race to gut out a top five.

“Frustrated a little bit with myself,” Allmendinger said on pit road after the race. “I knew I should have took the bottom on the restart there and took the high line and got shoved there and kind of had the 68 in the middle and he moved up trying to block me and I tried to check up and just touch them a little bit and then we got just run through after that as everybody started checking up. So disappointed in that but to have the team put the car back together … I thought we had a lot of damage, honestly, when I got hit. They put it back together and it was pretty good, we were just a little bit tighter than we had been … I thought maybe we had a really good shot to win the race even then with the damage. … Could have been a really good day, could have been a really bad day and turned out to be a pretty good day.”

Allmendinger is still plus-47 over the elimination line, followed by Gibbs, Hill, Berry, Allgaier, Mayer and Sieg. Herbst, Hemric, Jones and Clements are currently the provisional first four out.

Shortly after on the ensuing Lap 116 restart, three more drivers in the title hunt were involved in an even more vicious wreck, seeing a battle with Allgaier and Camping World Truck Series full-timer John Hunter Nemechek get loose and sideways as they got into the on-track resin and eventually ran out of room. Allgaier’s No. 7 Chevy was briefly lifted off the ground and took the brunt of the damage, with Hemric and Jones also being on the receiving end of race-ending carnage.

“Just stinks how it happened, right?” Allgaier said after being released from the infield care center. “I mean, just to not really feel like we were where we wanted to be all day, but to get a great restart there. And once the 18 (of Nemechek) started to get loose, I just tried to get as far left as I could. But I knew that the 9 (of Gragson) was there. I didn’t want to crowd his door, obviously, and I knew that the 21 (of Hill) I believe was inside the 9. So at that point, you know, you’re trying to get as much room as you can, but you’re just out of space and once he started to spin there’s nothing I can do and he hit the right-front fender and turned me right, and once we hit the wall, it was game over there. So just hate it for our team. I mean, it’s, you know, we go to two more unknowns kind of, if you will, in this round as well. But, you know, again, that’s why you work on bonus points in the regular season. And we have fast race cars in both of these upcoming races. So I have no doubt we can race our way in but we’ll see what happens.”

The Round of 12 will conclude with next week’s jaunt down to Alabama for the always unpredictable Talladega Superspeedway, followed by a hometown showing at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. If there was a race a driver wanted to make sure they finished in one piece, it was Texas.

“It’s not ideal, first race of the playoffs, but we were able to, you know, win that first stage,” said Hemric. “When there’s points on the table you’ve got to go get them while you can on days like this. … All you can do is keep showing up and keep swinging.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

FORT WORTH, Texas — Noah Gragson parked his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet at the start-finish line, emerged through his car’s roof flap and raised his arms in triumph, taking in the loud cheers from the Texas Motor Speedway grandstands as he celebrated a historic fourth consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday afternoon in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300.

It was a series-best and career-high seventh win on the season for the 24-year-old Las Vegas native and automatically reserves his spot in the next round of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. That fourth consecutive victory is significant historically as well — tying one of the longstanding records, set in 1983 — by Sam Ard.

RELATED: Official race results | At-track photos

Although it was a tumultuous playoff opener for many of the championship contenders, Gragson was out front often and ultimately when he needed to be. He didn’t win a stage, but led a race-best 85 of 200 laps and held off fellow 2022 Playoff contenders Austin Hill and Ty Gibbs by 1.238 seconds to earn the big trophy — and even more momentum at just the right time of the calendar.

“This No. 9 team, man, they’re on fire and all you fans, you keep us motivated,’’ Gragson told the cheering grandstands. “We’re gonna come back and win more races for you. You guys are awesome and we appreciate you. Thanks for coming out.

“Just this team, I mean the pit crew’s done awesome and our car was as fast as Xfinity internet all day and I’m just so thankful for the opportunity.’’

“Such a relief,’’ he continued. “We lost this race back in 2020 and just executed a great race [today].”

Eight playoff cars finished in the top 10. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst was fifth, followed by playoff driver Josh Berry (JR Motorsports), Sheldon Creed, playoff drivers Sam Mayer (JR Motorsports) and Ryan Sieg (Ryan Sieg Racing). C.J. McLaughlin was 10th – the first top 10 of his career.

Noah Gragson's No. 9 Chevrolet leads John Hunter Nemechek and Ty Gibbs at Texas Motor Speedway
Sean Gardner | Getty Images

Compared to his closest competitors, Gragson’s day was more a matter of holding serve. Several other race contenders and playoff competitors had busier days of survival and the power of positive thinking.

Both Gibbs, who finished third and regular-season champion AJ Allmendinger, who finished fourth, had to rally to those finishing positions. Gibbs started from the rear of the field after unapproved adjustments before the race. And the two-time regular season champion Allmendinger? He just had a hectic afternoon overcoming in-race setbacks.

Two multi-car accidents on mid-race restarts eliminated the winning opportunity for several playoff drivers, placing them in catch-up mode only one race into the postseason push.

Eight cars were involved in a crash on Lap 110, including Allmendinger, whose No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – only a few laps removed from the Stage 2 victory – was damaged. Quick repairs returned him to the track and the positions he lost during the pit stop actually proved to be advantageous as he missed the next accident up front after returning to the race.

It was a similar scene on the ensuing restart, only this time the accident started at the front. John Hunter Nemechek, who had led a race-best 60 laps – at that point – got loose at the front of the pack, his Toyota colliding with Justin Allgaier’s Chevy.

The hard contact sent them both hard into the wall and caused another chain-reaction accident that ended up collecting nine cars in all – including playoff drivers Brandon Jones, the race pole-sitter, and 2021 series champion Daniel Hemric (who won Stage 1) in addition to Allgaier.

As with that playoff trio, it was the end of the day for Nemechek, a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series postseason driver who was driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at Texas as part of the owner’s championship chase.

“The 7 (Allgaier) chose the top behind me, and I haven’t seen the replay of it, but the 7 chose the top behind me and started pushing,’’ Nemechek said. “The 21 (Austin Hill) made it three-wide on the 9 (Gragson) and I was three-wide at the top being able to be in the race and I think we ended up four-wide at one point which doesn’t really work aero-wise in the pack. The resin was up there as well and I don’t know. It sucks.

“I thought we were going to have a shot to win the race and repeat from last year. It didn’t work out. I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds.”

MORE: Nemechek, Allgaier crash | Allmendinger wrecks

With two more races remaining in this opening playoff round – at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and the Charlotte Roval road course – Gragson’s win is an automatic berth into the next playoff round. Allmendinger and Gibbs are second and third in the standings, 26 and 27 points respectively, behind Gragson.

Eight of the 12 Playoff drivers will advance following the Roval race.

Riley Herbst (-1), Hemric (-8), Jones (-13) and Jeremy Clements (-29) whose car retired early with an engine issue, now find themselves in the bottom four of the playoff standings going to Talladega.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway for the second event of the playoffs, the Sparks 300 on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Brandon Brown is the defending race winner.

Note: Competition officials reported no issues in post-race inspection, confirming Gragson as the winner.

Posted on by Sean Montgomery

AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway
(⏰ 3 p.m. ET | 📺 USA Network, NBC Sports App | 📻 PRN, SiriusXM)

Everything you need to know for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas, the fourth playoff event of the 2022 campaign.

Where: Fort Worth, Texas
Approximate start time: 3:30 p.m. ET | Weekend schedule
TV/Radio: USA, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio | Full TV schedule
The purse: $8,455,617
Forecast: Sunny, with a high near 97 degrees, according to NOAA.gov | Weather tracker
Race distance: 334 laps | 501 miles
Stages: 105 | 210 | 334
Pit-road speed: 45 mph
Caution car speed: 55 mph
Texas 101: Get the full lowdown
Starting lineup: Starting lineup for Sunday
🚨 Inspection: No. 10 fails twice, loses pit selection and engineer James Kimbrough
Cars to the rear: Nos. 31, 51 and 78 for unapproved adjustments
Pit stalls: Where driver will pit Sunday
Playoff grid: Print yours now

Key things to watch 🔑

Big story line

So far in the playoffs, every race has been a wild card. But looking beyond the horizon at Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte Roval looming large, Texas Motor Speedway may be every remaining playoff driver’s best chance at reaching Victory Lane in the Round of 12. Non-playoff drivers swept the Round of 16, leaving the big question of which title contender will be first to end the historic streak. Remaining championship hopefuls have five combined wins at the Fort Worth oval — Denny Hamlin is the only multi-time winner of the group — and defending champion Kyle Larson dominated this race a year ago, leading 256 laps. There is a very slim chance we go 10 races without a playoff driver winning a race, so the big question is, will it finally be this week? And if so, who will it be? Sunday’s race will have massive title implications. | How 19 winners stacks up in history | Early notes from practice and qualifying

Who’s hot? Who’s not? 

Who picked Christopher Bell to be the strongest driver in the playoffs to this point? Maybe fewer than most. But Bell’s Round of 16 performance was nearly flawless, and he became the first driver to lock into the final 12 after reeling off three top-five finishes. Think that was just a fortunate round? The No. 20 team heads to Texas with consecutive third-place results under its belt and he finished top 10 in the All-Star Race earlier this year. It is impossible to have a championship-favorites conversation without making a strong mention of the budding star for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Another young star, Chase Briscoe, has been trending in the opposite direction. Briscoe has 15 consecutive finishes of 13th or worse but he did advance by avoiding some of the catastrophic circumstances that happened to a few others in the Round of 16. But as the playoffs tighten up, the No. 14 team will need to string together more impressive results. He finished 15th at Texas last year and with more experience this time around, Sunday is an opportunity for them to right the ship.

Driving under the radar

Austin Cindric had a very tame Round of 16, but he advanced. After getting through a few quirky tracks, Texas, Talladega and the Charlotte Roval line up pretty well for the No. 2 team to make some unexpected noise. Cindric won the season-opening Daytona 500 in dramatic fashion, and to some, that would be the high point of the year. But don’t be surprised if Cindric and company turn out to be one of the strongest dark horse contenders moving forward. Reaching the Round of 8 is certainly attainable and would leave some other big names on the sidelines as the rookie begins to make a name for himself.

Texasmotorspeedway
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Race-day staples ✅

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

• Bubble Watch, presented by Xfinity: Where drivers stand before Texas | Latest driver standing
• Paint Scheme Preview: Shiny new schemes for the Lone Star State | Pick a favorite
• Power Rankings: Ross Chastain dodges Bristol payback, may be clear | Updated driver rankings
• NASCAR betting: Odds to win Sunday’s Cup Series race at Texas | Underdogs, value bets
• Fantasy Fastlane: Ryan Blaney is a must in your lineup this week | Top plays, sleepers
• Backseat Drivers: Debating if we are seeing a changing of the guard | Watch the segment

Catch the pack 💨

Read up on the top headlines from the week leading up to Sunday’s race.

• Penalty appeal: No. 12 team challenging post-Bristol suspensions | Read more
• Pit crew swap: Nos. 18 and 11 flip pit crews ahead of Texas | Read more
• Historic season: 19 winners propels the sport into uncharted waters |Read more
• Organizational test: Logano leads final day at Homestead-Miami | Recap | Results from Day 1
• JR Motorsports: Earnhardt Jr. announces strategic executive changes | Read more
• Report: McLaren considering Kyle Busch for Indy 500 run | Read more
• Tuned in: NASCAR addresses steering issues at Bristol | Watch video
• Weekly Series champ: Layne Riggs becomes youngest national champion in history | Read more
• Hispanic Heritage Month: Nick Sanchez blazing a trail through ARCA | Read more
• RFK on the rise?: Buescher’s win a huge step in revitalization of race team | Read more

Get in on the action 💰

Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy.

• BetMGM: Public bettors still eying Buescher after Bristol win | Read full analysis
• The Action Network: Why Daniel Suárez could be a key winner Sunday | 20-1 pick to make
• Backseat Bets: Who will win head-to-head at Texas? | Matchup breakdown
• Play it LIVE: Full guide to 2022 NASCAR Fantasy Live game | New rules for playoffs
• Going all the way: 2022 Cup Series championship odds | See them here

Traveling back to Texas 🐴

Texas may be the most important race in the Round of 12 — so, see what has happened here in the past. 

• Do you remember?: Memorable moments at Texas Motor Speedway | Relive them
• Last year: Kyle Larson storms to another playoff win at Texas | Full race recap
• Race Rewind: Best moments, highlights from 2021 playoff race | Watch them here

Fast facts ⏩

Hard-hitting, race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.

• Non-playoff drivers won the last three races, the longest stretch in series history.
• The gap between first and 12th in points entering the Round of 12 is 34 points, the smallest gap in the history of stage winning.
• A stage winner has not gone on to win in the last 10 races.
• Only three past champions are still playoff eligible, the fewest ever in the Round of 12.
• Nineteen different drivers won this season, tied for the most all time.

Say what? 🎙

Notable quotes from the stars of the sport heading into Sunday’s race.

• “Be clean and let the other teams make the mistakes. Honestly, if you can just finish you don’t have to do anything crazy in the first couple rounds. Don’t take yourself out of stage points or a good finish and you can advance. Once you get to the Round of 8, that’s obviously when you need to get some top-five finishes or a win. You just don’t want to take yourself out of any race or get any DNF or anything like that where you put yourself in a must-win situation because winning is really difficult to do. You just want to keep yourself in contention every race.” — Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

• “I think it’s a great opportunity round for a team like us to be able to get some points. I think Texas went well for us in the All-Star Race. I’m not saying that’s gonna mean good things for the second one of the year, but we’ve got good notes and a good opportunity to improve from what was a fairly dominant race for our team between the three of us, so I think Talladega is obviously without saying a wild card and the Roval, even if you’re not good, you can probably strategize some ways to get points, so I think this round is exciting for someone in my position and try to maximize it.” — Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford

• “The two ends of the track are completely different. We have the All-Star Race under our belt with the Next Gen car and Turns 3 and 4 have lots of throttle time, tons of banking, and lots of grip with the repave and Turns 3 and 4 have lots of grip but they don’t have the banking to hold you. Drastically different corners for sure. Long runs are where we’ve been really good and I’m excited to kick off the next round of the playoffs at my home track.” — Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Posted on by Pat DeCola

FORT WORTH, Texas — There’s an obscure, hardly referenced saying about the size of things in Texas, you know — but it most certainly applies to the stakes for this weekend’s NASCAR Playoffs Round of 12 opener at Texas Motor Speedway.

“It’s a big one,” No. 22 Team Penske driver Joey Logano said Saturday at the 1.5-mile track. “This is the biggest race, I think, of this round. And maybe of the playoffs, depending on how your situation turns out. I think this is a week where guys got to look at the max amount of points you can possibly get, right? And to me, I think if you can walk out of here with a 40-point day minimum, you set yourself up for a better spot when you get to Talladega (Superspeedway) and how you race that race, and then obviously the (Charlotte Motor Speedway) Roval from there. So, it becomes very important. You have a bad race here, then you got to maybe be more aggressive at Talladega, which ups your chances of wrecking and it just kind of gets to be a tricky spot. So, Talladega is the one that I think has got everyone spun out a little bit on how to handle that. And this race becomes important because that race is in this round.”

After Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the remaining two races to set the Round of 8 — and separate the contenders from the pretenders — are at two tracks that could not be on further ends of the spectrum from each other in terms of layout, but both push the boundaries in terms of volatility and unpredictability.

RELATED: Texas schedule | Memorable Texas moments

“This is a very important race at Texas because, in my opinion, it’s the only race that you have control of your own destiny,” said No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell, the first driver who locked himself into this Round of 12. “So we need to get out of here in a good points position. But you know, all 11 other competitors are saying the same thing. So I’m a little bit apprehensive about the Round of 12 because the races following this one are extremely, I don’t want to say luck-driven, but definitely Talladega, you can get caught up in wrecks and you know, you’re done. So Texas, it would be really nice to win. And whoever wins this race is gonna be feeling really good.”

That was the case for defending champion Kyle Larson last year, with a Texas victory to open the Round of 8 propelling him to a spot in the Championship 4 weeks before the title race. Larson was dominant nearly the entire season last year, but one could argue that two extra races of knowing you’re locked into the next round — one of which he won — was a tremendous boon for the No. 5 team in their hunt for a championship.

And that was with two tame tracks by comparison (Kansas and Martinsville) comprising the rest of that round. With ‘Dega and the Roval looming, drivers know the time is now.

“Yeah, I think we probably all look at Texas as a good opportunity to hopefully get a win and get locked in and not have to worry about the next few races,” said Larson.

Of course, given what we saw in the Round of 16, it’s no guarantee that any playoff driver lands in Victory Lane on Sunday to claim the auto-berth into the next round. Not only did non-playoff drivers win the first three playoff races, but before Larson’s win here last fall, drivers eliminated in this year’s Round of 16 won the last three Texas races and seven of the last 10.

In other words, drivers who were competitive enough to make the playoffs — two of whom are past champions in Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick — have dominated the Fort Worth track in the last half-decade. Needless to say, those might be the two least likely drivers to let things play out among playoff contenders and not battle for the win if able.

MORE: Full Cup lineup | Playoff Pulse: How drivers stack up

“We definitely have to perform this weekend to get at least some sort of point cushion to the (elimination) line because you just, you never know over the last two, certainly Talladega, you don’t know,” said No. 11 driver Denny Hamlin, who entered the weekend as the race favorite. “And then I think we, you kind of have an indication of how we’ll be at the Roval but you just never know, so much attrition and stuff happens at that race track that this is the only one that I feel like we truly can, you know, if we’re good, we’re gonna go out there and compete and get some points this week.”

All that said, while Texas is arguably the biggest race of the year thus far, the fact remains that of these 12 drivers, at least five of them — and probably more — will advance to the Round of 8 on points.

So is it really a “must-win-at-all-costs” situation on Sunday?

“I don’t think so,” said No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman. “I mean, I think plenty of people are going to point their way in, right? But it is an uncomfortable round just with Talladega being such an unknown and kind of a wildcard. A lot of things can happen on the Roval and I mean, this place a lot can happen, too, so definitely a tough grouping of race tracks as far as being able to control your own destiny or work on your race car even after you unload. I kind of feel like you have what you have here. So it’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out. But I think we’re in a really good place as race team and can have a good round here.”

The message to drivers, then, might be this — get comfortable being uncomfortable. Buckle up. Grab your points now and hope for a win, because it’s going to be a bumpy thrill ride to the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

FORT WORTH, Texas — With just two of its cars remaining in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after early ends to championship eligibility for each of its two past title winners, Joe Gibbs Racing is all hands on deck to ensure another trophy comes back to the shop after Phoenix.

As such, the Toyota-backed organization opted to swap the entire-pit crew personnel of Round of 12 driver Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 squad for the No. 18 contingent of Kyle Busch, who was eliminated after the Round of 16. The change, announced earlier this week, takes effect starting with Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM) at the 1.5-mile track.

MORE: JGR swaps Nos. 11, 18 pit crew personnel | Texas schedule

The new lineups are as follows:

• No. 11: Thomas Hatcher (front tire changer), Lee Cunningham (tire carrier), C.J. Bailey (rear tire changer), Kellen Mills (jack), Matthew Tyrrell (fueler).
• No. 18: Blake Houston (front tire changer), Jacob Holmes (tire carrier), Michael Hicks (rear tire changer), Derrell Edwards (jack), Justin White (fueler).

Hamlin, still in search of his first championship despite a Hall-of-Fame-worthy resumé otherwise, talked about the change Saturday at TMS and downplayed any potential learning curves to iron out over the season’s final seven races.

“Yeah, two of them were my guys last year; Kellen and one of the other guys (were) on my team last year,” said the two-time 2022 winner. “So yeah, it’s, you know, (Busch and I) don’t enter the box that differently. When you think about what would be the variation between me and Kyle, the way we enter the box is pretty similar. So I think that it should be pretty seamless for everyone.”

Pit road has been a bit of a quagmire for the No. 11 team — both in the box itself with myriad issues, and in terms of Hamlin managing his speed on the way there — and the chances weren’t favorable that the team would put a seven-race, mistake-free stretch to close out the season as the pressure mounted. The organization elected to push for change sooner than later, and across the board rather than trying to piece together the right formula.

NASCAR is a team sport, however, and Hamlin knows the prospect of racing for a championship to being out of the playoffs is a disappointment for the crew members he’s ridden with for the season’s first 29 races.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s certainly tough for those guys,” Hamlin said. “And I hate it because I love their attitude, swagger, all that about my 11 team. And, you know, certainly, they’re as important to this championship run as anyone but, you know, we had to do something different. Certainly the results at the end of the day, you know, the consistency was tough, but this is a kind of a JGR decision and they felt like this is the best avenue to getting the quickest results in the shortest amount of time was just for placing an entire team versus one person or the other.”

Hamlin will roll off eighth in Sunday’s 500-miler.

Posted on by Staff Report

Brad Keselowski will lead the field to green for Sunday’s Cup Series playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as he won his first pole since 2019 with a fastest lap of 188.990 mph in Saturday’s qualifying session. The pole win for RFK Racing follows up on the momentum built from Chris Buescher’s win at Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend.

This is the 2012 series champion’s 18th career pole. He is looking for his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Texas Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Texas weekend schedule

“It’s certainly a lot of progress,’’ Keselowski said, adding, “You do things in this sport and it takes six to eight months to be noticed. It takes months and months of hard work for it all to come together and it’s super painful.”

It will be in all-Ford front row Sunday as Joey Logano joins his former teammate on the front row.

William Byron, Tyler Reddick and Michael McDowell will start inside the top five while Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Daniel Suárez make up the rest of the top 10 in the starting lineup.

Six playoff drivers will start outside the top 10: Austin Cindric (11th), Ross Chastain (12th), Ryan Blaney (14th), Alex Bowman (17th), Christopher Bell (22nd), Chase Briscoe (30th).

Despite being the most-consistent playoff driver in the Round of 16, Bell will have to work through the field to hold his spot above the current playoff cutline as he sits just four points above it.

Practice

The Richard Childress Racing duo of Dillon (187.643 mph) and Reddick (187.576 mph) owned the fastest laps during practice, which was reminiscent of their 1-2 finish at Texas in the summer of 2020. Alex Bowman, Joey Logano and Erik Jones also posted top-five speeds.

MORE: Cup Series practice results

Logano posted the best 10 consecutive lap time with an average of 185.528 mph. Three Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets posted top-five 10-lap averages with Bowman, Byron and Elliott cracking the list.

The NASCAR Wire Service contributed to this report. 

Posted on by Sean Montgomery

Saturday, Ryan Blaney heads back to Texas Motor Speedway for the first time since claiming the $1 million prize in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race. But this time, the stakes are higher, with what may be his best chance to advance to the Round of 8 hanging in the balance.

“I’m looking forward to this weekend after having success here at the All-Star Race,” Blaney told NASCAR.com. “It definitely brings you confidence. It’s an interesting round. Three different race tracks that we’re going to and everyone’s gonna put a massive emphasis on this weekend because if you can win this one, you’ll be in a good spot for Talladega [Superspeedway].”

Blaney has victories at each of the Round of 12 tracks in his career: Texas, Talladega (twice) and the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course. Still, in a season with 19 winners, he knows that chances to reach Victory Lane are slimmer than ever.

“It just shows the strength of the whole field whether you’re a part of the playoffs or not,” said Blaney. “It shows that anybody can jump up there and win, you’ve seen it all year. I think you’ll continue to see it.”

RELATED: Playoff standings | Weekend schedule for Texas

After a career-best three wins in 2021, Blaney has yet to pull his No. 12 Team Penske Ford into Victory Lane during the first 29 points races this season.

If he accomplishes the feat Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), he will set the modern-era record at No. 20 and be the first to advance to the penultimate round of the playoffs, matching the deepest title run he has ever made.

But this time, there are a lot fewer familiar faces contending for the Bill France Cup.

After Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch were eliminated at Bristol Motor Speedway, only three Cup Series champions — Joey Logano (2018), Chase Elliott (2020) and defending champion Kyle Larson — remain among the 12 title hopefuls. Chase Briscoe, teammate Austin Cindric, Daniel Suárez and Ross Chastain are each in the playoffs for the first time.

“It’s definitely been a pretty wild year, I think everyone can agree with that,” said Blaney. “It’s been neat to grow up and be in the Cup Series here for a good while. Definitely not part of the young group anymore, I’d say I’m in the middle-aged group right now. But it’s been cool to, when I first started in Cup, be able to race against a lot of guys I’ve enjoyed watching as a kid.

“You get more experience and you see kids that are your age, when you first got started in Cup that you’ve watched through Trucks and Xfinity, be able to come up and do really well,” said Blaney. “It’s really cool because you can look back on that stuff and remember being in that spot. It’s a neat thing, drivers coming and going, and it’s just been cool to be a part of.”

BSD: Is there a changing of the guard?

One of the up-and-coming stars of the sport, Daytona 500 winner Cindric, is contending right alongside veterans Blaney and Logano.

Competing against two teammates could be viewed as a hurdle to his individual championship aspirations, which could be true in the long run. But in the case of the organization’s immediate success, more is better in the eyes of Blaney — at least for now.

“I definitely don’t think it’s a disadvantage by any means,” said Blaney. “It really speaks volumes to have all three of our cars advance out of the first round. I think you can still lean on each other, you still would even if one or two of your cars were out, but it gives you better odds to try to get as many cars to the final four as you can.

“That’s really the neat thing about our sport and having teammates. In every other sport, your teammates, you’re relying on them and working toward the same goal with them. And in this sport, you have teammates but they’re also your competitors, too.”

Nonetheless, he knows there can only be one champion when it is all said and done.

“It’s always kinda been a tricky scenario, especially when the playoffs come. It’s a fine line. You’re all racing and every point matters, even if they’re teammates or not.

“But it does get tougher deeper in the rounds,” said Blaney. “I don’t think you’ll cut anybody any breaks.”