Category: Featured Stories

[media-credit name=”Steven Iles” align=”alignright” width=”273″][/media-credit]During the night prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup at the Texas Motor Speedway I was standing on a stage at an American Legion Post, in Ridgecrest-CA, doing my other job: co-owner of a mobile DJ and Karaoke business. When it came time for the obligatory announcements of upcoming events I reminded the audience that the Legion’s NASCAR Club will be gathering on Saturday night to enjoy the Texas race. I also told them that I felt a Roush Fenway Ford was going to win the race. While Carl Edwards was the obvious choice, I officially went on record as saying Matt Kenseth was going to win the Samsung Mobile 500.

HOORAH to your’s truly for being able to claim an extremely rare moment in time when I was in position to say “I told you so.”

Now to the really important business.

HOORAH to Matt Kenseth for a dominating performance, including leading a race high 169 laps, that allowed him to wear the ceremonial cowboy hat, and fire the six shooters, in the Texas victory lane. Anytime you win a Sprint Cup event with a margin of victory in excess of eight seconds, you are indeed “the man.” Kenseth scored his 19th series win but, even more important, he snapped a 76 race win less streak that dates back all the way to California in February of 2009.

HOORAH to crew chief Jimmy Fennig and his team for right on the money adjustment calls and superior pit stops that helped get their car to victory lane. After the race Kenseth came over the radio and told Fennig “I need you to show me where to park this thing.”

WAZZUP with that pit road collision that severely hampered the race efforts of Joey Logano and David Reutimann? Logano, whom everyone predicted was going to enjoy a break out season, had to endure another disappointment that found him finishing 24th, three laps down. Reutimann, mentioned as a possible pre season Chase contender, also felt another sting from harsh racing luck and finished 29th, five laps down.

WAZZUP with Logano’s team, as well as Bobby Labonte’s squad, getting penalized for having too many men over the pit wall? Now there’s the subject of a Monday morning team meeting.

WAZZUP with Martin Truex Jr finding himself dealing with another serious crash? The worst incident of the race occurred on lap 216 when a bottle neck in the back turned into a major crash involving the cars of Truex, Mark Martin and Regan Smith. For the second time in six days, Truex found himself slamming into a retaining wall, nose first, and sustaining an extremely hard hit. HOORAH for the mandated safety equipment that allowed the driver to quickly exit his wrecked car uninjured.

However, a major WAZZUP goes out to the fact that the portion of the backstretch wall, where the crash occurred, was not fully equipped with a modern day SAFER barrier designed to absorb the energy of such a hard hit. This is an area that needs to be addressed right away.

Meanwhile on the opposite side of the speedway, the metal posts, that secures the spectator crash fence on the front stretch, were glowing bright yellow to let the fans know that the race was now under the yellow caution flag. I suppose a reluctant HOORAH goes to the modern day, awe struck wonder, technology that came with that idea. However, the money would have been far better spent on SAFER barriers that completely encompasses the racing surface.

WAZZUP with Tony Stewart’s frustrating finish at Texas? After spending much of the race running mid pack, and even a lap down, Stewart and company decided to employ the use of fuel mileage. They had already learned they could stretch a tank of Sunoco 58 green flag laps. Pitting out of sequence, from the other lead lap cars, Stewart came in on lap 276 for his final stop. That was exactly 58 laps from the end of the race while secure in the knowledge that the teams running up front had to make at least one more stop before the end. That’s when NASCAR caught Stewart speeding on pit road. The ensuing drive though penalty sent him to the tail end of the lead lap line. Instead of conserving fuel to steal the win, Stewart had to ride the gas pedal hard to get back to the front. The car ran out of fuel on the white flag lap and Stewart helplessly watched a third place finish slide backwards to 12th.

HOORAH to Carl Edwards for a rock solid driving performance that led to a third place finish as well as placed him on top of the Sprint Cup points standings. This was accomplished despite having to drive with a severe upset stomach.

But, WAZZUP with Edwards ratting out his mom after the race? When asked how he did 500 miles with that much stomach pain, Edwards laughed and said “I was hopped up on Pepto Bismol.” Then he added “I hate to throw my Mom under the bus, but she cooked something last night I don’t think was right.”

HOORAH to second place finishing Clint Bowyer who, during the post race press conference, offered to cook dinner for Edwards next week at Talladega.

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HOORAH to Carl Edwards for another fine performance behind the wheel that led to winning the O’Reilly 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Texas. Edwards led a race high 169 laps. In addition to winning his first race of season, Edwards also presented the Ford Mustang their first Nationwide win.

HOORAH to Brad Keselowski who crossed under the checkers in second just .482 seconds behind the race winner. That effort made for an exciting finish that had many of us wondering if we might be seeing the resolution of some unfinished business between the two drivers. Anyone who denies thinking that probably denies having any evil thoughts whatsoever.

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On a far more serious note, WAZZUP with that mysterious illness that placed Sprint Cup/Nationwide Series driver Trevor Bayne in the hospital the morning following the Texas race? Earlier in the week the 20 year old driver admitted he was not feeling well. By the end of the week he was escorted to the Texas Speedway’s infield medical unit where he was administered antibiotics. By the time the Roush Fenway Racing airplane landed in North Carolina, early Sunday morning, the situation had digressed to the point where Bayne was admitted to the Carolinas Medical Center-University in Charlotte. There was no immediate public comment regarding his precise diagnosis, but a strong clue came via a “Twitter” message the driver sent that read: “not sure if it’s a spider bite or tick bite. But either way I’m in a hospital bed with a needle in my arm. No bueno!” Keep a good thought in hopes Bayne makes a speedy recovery.

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In some final thoughts this week, HOORAH to Sprint Cup driver Kurt Busch for taking some time from his very busy schedule to visit the Marine Corp Base Quantico, the home of the major USMC Training Facility, in Triangle-Virginia. Busch did a meet and greet with the troops, visited the wounded at the base hospital and even got to observe a training exercise at the facility’s mortar pit. “It was a sincere honor to be able to make this visit and show our support,” he said. I’ve said time and again in these columns: there’s just not enough ways to say thank you to the men and women serving in our Armed Forces.

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HOORAH to driver Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing and Fed Ex for their annual effort to raise awareness for the important programs presented by the March Of Dimes. Hamlin’s #11 Fed Ex Toyota had an eye popping special paint scheme that was created by Josh and Jake Aron, two seven year old twins, from Dallas-Texas, who were born premature. The boys got to travel to the Gibbs shop in North Carolina to meet Hamlin and his team where they laid out their plan for the special paint scheme. On Thursday prior to the race, the Aron brothers, along with their dad, were standing in the speedway’s garage area to witness their art work as the car was rolled out of the trailer.

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HOORAH to the Texas Motor Speedway for presenting one of their track flags to NASA Astronaut Doug Hurley during the NASCAR weekend. Hurley will have the flag with him when he boards the space shuttle Atlantis later this summer for the final flight that will officially close out the 30 year shuttle program. Hurley, a long time race fan and Texas Motor Speedway annual ticket holder, plans to re present the flag back to the speedway when he returns there for their November race.

This is one of the many reasons why I admire speedway President Eddie Gossage. The man never fails to miss an opportunity to promote his race track in a Texas sized manner.

By the way, HOORAH to the Texas Motor Speedway for packing in 168,000 plus fans for their NASCAR Sprint Cup race. In a time when our country is still plagued with economic down turns, those are very impressive numbers.

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The absolute final HOORAH goes to the SPEED Channel for the debut of their new on air segment, “R V There Yet?” hosted by the very funny, and often crazy, Kyle Petty and Rutledge Wood. Their first guest was driver A J Allmendinger and the hosts refused to get his name right calling him C M, A M, M J and everything except A J. The entire segment was well prepared and timed comedy that even included a Chinese fire drill in the middle of the interview.

Directly related to this is a HOORAH to SPEED’s Kenny Wallace. After watching “R V There Yet?”, Wallace quipped “hey, I thought his name was pull my finger Allmendinger.”

[media-credit name=”(c) CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”297″][/media-credit]When Matt Kenseth won the Daytona 500 in 2009 he cried in his post race interview. It had been over a year since he had won and a man that many have never seen get emotional, Kenseth said he was going to cry like a baby. When Kenseth climbed out of his winning No. 17 Ford Saturday night in Texas he again seemed choked up but was ready to celebrate winning and a whole lot more.

Kenseth’s victory again ends a drought, a two-year one that goes back to February of 2009 at California when he won the first two races of the season. It was his first of the 2011 season and it came in dominating fashion after leading 169 of 334 laps. He delivers the second win of the season for Roush-Fenway Racing who won with Carl Edwards at Las Vegas early last month. RFR also sweeps Texas with Edwards’ victory Friday night in the Nationwide race and Kenseth’s Cup victory.

For Kenseth the win joins what has already been a great start of a new season. In early February his hometown team, the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl. Then a day after the season-opening Daytona 500 wife Katie gave birth to their second daughter, his third child. Now his 76-race streak is history as he moves to third in points.

“Feels good to get back to victory lane for sure,” said Kenseth afterwards. “It’s been a long time. You talk about the second place finishes [four of them] here, and I got beat at the end of a lot of these races. It’s great to finish second if you can’t win. But another way is like getting kicked in the gut. You have to come back. Like last fall you look at Jimmie, and you come back and look at the guys and you’re leading with two to go, three to go, five to go, and you don’t win, it’s always disappointing. So it feels good to have a night like we had tonight with a dominant car and to be able to get the win.”

The win has been in the making. RRF went to work after what can only be described as a rough start to the 2010 season. For drivers like Kenseth it was hard going from a contender to wondering if you were ever going to win a race again. But results started coming. Both Greg Biffle and Edwards found victory lane by seasons end. At the start of the 2011 season Kenseth was right there with them, ready, waiting and working toward his shot.

After a fourth place finish two weeks ago in California crew chief Jimmy Fennig said the 17 team was knocking on the door and would win soon. A week ago in Martinsville they showed their strength by battling back from a lap one penalty after Kenseth was caught changing lanes before the start/finish line. They finished sixth and headed to Texas where Kenseth won in 2002 and finished second last fall.

His qualifying position, fourth, was the first tale Kenseth had a car to keep an eye on. By lap 44 he was leading and wasn’t looking back as five caution flags and different fuel strategies couldn’t keep the Crown Royal team from victory lane and their 19th career win. Kenseth also becomes the all-time lap leader at Texas Motor Speedway and team owner Jack Roush was pleased to sing his praises.

“I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to do in 2011,” said Roush. “You know, we tuned up our engineering program with Ford’s help over the winter and we got a new Ford nose. Everybody got a new nose this year, but our new nose was better than our old nose, I think. And we’ve had our FR9 engine really up to speed. So all of that is going well. I can’t say how proud I am to be here with Matt, realizing that he’s not gotten the success that his effort has deserved in recent past.”

Even with a dominating car Kenseth admitted he was worried because as he knows sometimes the fastest car doesn’t win. With teams like Tony Stewart’s hoping that they could go the distance on fuel mileage it shook up the running order the remaining 100 laps. The strategies of Stewart and Kurt Busch, who led a portion of the race by being on a different pit cycle, might have been the only way Kenseth’s team was derailed as the clean air and starting position led to a convincing victory.

“The car was really good, but starting there made a big difference,” Kenseth said. “If we had started 20th or 24th where I used to qualify all the time, we wouldn’t have led all the laps, obviously. It would have taken us a lot longer to get to the front. Hopefully we would have still gotten to the front. So that was a big advantage. Qualifying is really important with cars, and Jimmy [Fennig] has really turned me into a better qualifier more times than not. We’ve been doing better the last six months than what I used to do.”

Kenseth also noted his starting positions have been improving, which he says is important in the current days of the sport. Normally he’s a driver that would start near the rear of the field but be at the front when the pay window opened. He was the original closer before Kevin Harvick. It’s rare to see a night like Kenseth had in Texas where he could hardly be caught and passed unless on green flag pit stops.

“We’ve had a couple like this, but not a lot,” he said. “Vegas is one that comes to mind, and that was a long time ago. It was, I think ’03, where we felt like we were straightaway ahead all night, and the car was just about perfect. But yeah, you don’t get a lot of days in today’s competition level where you can lead that many laps and dominate a race and get a win.”

[media-credit name=”(c) CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”251″][/media-credit]You just never know. Matt Kenseth was thankful for another win. The Samsung Mobile 500 Sprint Cup race gave Kenseth another opportunity. It was an opportunity he cherished because, as he said, you never know if you’re going to ever win another race.

On this night, Kenseth shouldn’t have been so worried. He flat out dominated the race. He led 169 of the race’s 334 laps—well over half. His only competition, if you don’t count his fellow Roush-Fenway Ford teammates, was from Clint Bowyer, he of the Richard Childress stable. Kenseth took care of business with smart driving and a fast pit crew, however, to win the race, the 19th of his career.

Once upon a time, way back in 2003, this same driver won a Sprint Cup championship. Back in those days it was the Nextel Cup Championship, but Sprint bought Nextel, and the rest is history. I can remember sitting in the press box at the former North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham and the buzz was that there would be a new championship formula for 2004. In that year, Kenseth had only won one race, but using the point system created by the late Bob Latford, which was based on consistency, he won the trophy. Those in power didn’t like that so much, and the Chase was born. Since then, I have always called Kenseth “the Chase maker.” It was his championship that started all this changing and moving by NASCAR to create the perfect system. Of course, if it was perfect, we wouldn’t be changing it year after year, but that’s beside the point. Kenseth, for all intents and purposes, is the reason for the Chase.

Back in those days, NASCAR was growing, going into new markets like California and places you know today and the old had to be thrown out, no matter how successful it was. The champ of NASCAR’s top division had to be a winner, something Kenseth was not. For the good of the sport, it had to be someone like Jeff Gordon or, heck, anyone who won races. And for good measure, throw Dale Earnhardt’s son into the mix. Yeah, popular folks who could be on the cover of magazines. It was also would create a playoff system like the NFL and MLB had since NASCAR was so concerned about their competition in the sports world. Matt Kenseth wasn’t that person. Here’s a guy who just goes out and does his job week after week. He’s not flashy. He’s almost boring to many people. He was not the kind of folk you need to be your champion. Never mind that he’s a good driver who always seems to be at the top of every finishing order. There had to be a better way. Enter the Chase.

Since then, the formula had been pretty successful from the standpoint of NASCAR. Kurt Busch won in 2004, which must have had the boys in Daytona Beach scratching their heads, and Tony Stewart got in once, but it’s mostly been Jimmie Johnson, a driver similar to Kenseth. No one would ever say that Johnson has the charisma of Gordon or Earnhardt. He just does well, and he wins.

So in the year 2011, the guy who created the Chase wins again after 76 races. A guy who just finishes well in most races. Give him the car and a little luck and he wins. I find it refreshing. Matt Kenseth is most often compared to David Pearson, a guy who took care of his equipment and always was around at the end. He’s a guy who always makes the Chase. And for a moment on a Saturday night, he was in victory lane. It may not happen again for awhile, but with this new season it appears he might. And he’ll be in the Chase, as usual. It’s a shame he didn’t win a few more races in 2003. We might have avoided the one system I consider to be an aberration. But, then again, that’s maybe what guys like Matt Kenseth do. Congratulations, Matt. You are a winner, no matter what others may say.

[media-credit name=”Steven Iles” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]David Regan captured his first Sprint Cup Series pole on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway with a lap of 189.820 MPH (28.448 secs).

“Momentum is a very powerful thing and we have some momentum on our side. Our UPS Freight car not only looks good but it’s fast this weekend. Drew (Blickensderfer) made a great call to change the setup around a little before this last practice run and it did what it needed to do. Hopefully it can be just as good for 500 miles on Saturday night.” Ragan said.

Despite Roush Fenway having seven victories in 94 starts, this is the first Sprint Cup pole for them.

Carl Edwards qualified second, Clint Bowyer third, Matt Kenseth Fourth and Regan Smith qualified fifth.

“We were so close. That is cool for David though. If we had to be second to anyone in qualifying David would be the guy. Those guys have been working really hard.” Edwards said.

The series points leader Kyle Busch starts 11th.

“It’s a far cry from where we were yesterday, but unfortunately it’s not going to be fast enough today to get us where we want to be, but overall we felt like the Interstate Batteries Camry was really good. We posted a good time. But apparently there are going to be guys that are going to go faster than us. Our draw hurt us a little bit. We weren’t fast yesterday, but we got a lot better today. Looking forward to the race. It’s great to be here in Texas in front of the hometown crowd with Interstate Batteries. I’m pumped about that.” Busch said.

The Samsung Mobile 500 starts at 7:30 p.m. EST on FOX

Qualifying Results
Samsung Mobile 500, Texas Motor Speedway
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Pos. Driver Speed
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1 David Ragan 189.82
2 Carl Edwards 188.521
3 Clint Bowyer 188.232
4 Matt Kenseth 188.199
5 Regan Smith 187.95
6 Jimmie Johnson 187.761
7 Marcos Ambrose 187.656
8 Joey Logano 187.585
9 Greg Biffle 187.552
10 Kurt Busch 187.402
11 Kyle Busch 187.37
12 Jeff Burton 187.35
13 Kasey Kahne 187.234
14 Juan Montoya 187.175
15 A.J. Allmendinger 187.175
16 Ryan Newman 187.045
17 Jamie McMurray 187.045
18 Trevor Bayne 187.02
19 Paul Menard 186.896
20 Michael McDowell 186.838
21 Mark Martin 186.819
22 Casey Mears 186.638
23 Denny Hamlin 186.535
24 Landon Cassill 186.49
25 David Reutimann 186.406
26 Tony Stewart 186.361
27 Brad Keselowski 185.944
28 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 185.938
29 Kevin Harvick 185.918
30 Brian Vickers 185.874
31 Martin Truex Jr. 185.771
32 Jeff Gordon 185.58
33 David Starr 185.58
34 Bobby Labonte 185.516
35 J.J. Yeley 185.293
36 Mike Skinner 185.122
37 Joe Nemechek 184.944
38 Dave Blaney 184.143
39 Robby Gordon 183.617
40 David Gilliland 183.287
41 Ken Schrader+ 181.378
42 Tony Raines+ 179.122
43 Andy Lally* 183.78

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be travelling to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for Saturday night’s running of the Samsung Mobile 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway. The [media-credit name=”Patrick McBride” align=”alignright” width=”240″][/media-credit]Texas victory lane tradition calls for the winning team to don cowboy hats while the winning driver fires a pair of six shooters into the air. The big question is who’s going to wear the hat and fire the guns?

THE NUMBERS AND VEGAS BREAKDOWN

The Las Vegas based World Sports Exchange, WSE, has rather definitive opinions, regarding who’s going to put that cowboy hat on Saturday night, They have placed drivers Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson at the top of their list and backed the decision with 6 to 1 odds. All three are very good choices.

Denny Hamlin, driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing #11 Toyota, is the defending race champion after sweeping both Texas events last year. His stats in the lone star state are quite impressive: two wins, five top five finishes, eight top tens along with an average finish ratio of 8.8. But Hamlin’s and his team has experienced some frustration over the past two weeks. It began in California with a blown engine and then escalated into a disappointing 12th place at Martinsville following fuel mileage issues. The rash of engine problems that plagued all three of the Gibbs Racing drivers is also still a major concern. That’s in light of the fact that the Texas Motor Speedway, with its long straights and sweeping turns, is a high RPM facility.

At the beginning of the season, Hamlin was rated as a serious favorite to snap the Jimmie Johnson championship dynasty. It’s very likely that he still is. It’s way too early to say his Chase run is over and that Hamlin is standing in a hole too deep to dig out of it. But the team, going into Saturday night, is 19th in the standings, 74 points away from the lead, and that’s got to be on their minds. Texas is a good opportunity to get the program headed in the right direction.

There are two drivers, in the Texas Motor Speedway history books, who can say they swept both races there in the same year. Hamlin is one of them, Carl Edwards is the other. The driver of the #99 Roush Fenway Ford has a series high three wins at Texas along with three top five finishes, four top tens and a respectable average finish ratio of 17.7. He’s currently second in the standings only five points from the top of the chart. But the big difference maker here may be those Roush Yates FR9 engines with their expanded cooling systems. That means they can race the car with more tape on the front grill to create more down force. Also, the Texas Motor Speedway is considered to be Ford country to many observers. Rough Fenway Racing has a series high seven wins at the track. 6 to 1 WSE odds for Edwards is a very solid wager.

So is Jimmie Johnson at 6 to 1. Johnson comes to the lone star state as a previous race winner along with seven top fives, 11 top tens and a finish ratio of 10.1. The fact that he’s third in the standings, 12 points out, clearly indicates that Jimmie “five-time” is looking to become Jimmie “Six Pack.” The Hendrick Motorsports #48 team is looking for their first win of the season and it could easily come at Texas Saturday night.

Right behind the trio of favorites is a driver who is always a favorite to both dominant and win a NASCAR race. Kyle Busch is rated by the WSE at a rock solid 7 to 1. He’s still looking for his first win at Texas, but he does have four top fives, five top tens and a 16.2 finish ratio. He does will also arrive at Texas as the series points leader. Kyle Busch doesn’t seem to really have a bad race track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule. Had it not been for a blown engine at Las Vegas that led to a 38th place finish, his overall numbers for the first six races would be absolutely astounding.

At 9 to 1 is Kevin Harvick, the driver of the #29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. We used to call him “Happy Harvick” and sometimes we called him “The Bakersfield Basher”. After the past two weeks we’re now calling him “The Closer.” Harvick has developed this knack for showing up to claim a win late in the race. He has two consecutive Sprint Cup wins after only leading a total of seven laps. He’s still looking for that first win at Texas. But he does have three top fives, eight top tens and a 12.4 finish ratio. His impressive run has elevated him to fifth in the standings, 15 points out. More and more this #29 team is looking like future champions.

The WSE has ranked Tony Stewart at 10 to 1 for the Texas race. The driver of the #14 Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet is a former race winner there and has an impressive stat list of four top fives, ten top tens and a 13.2 average. The one possible negative here is some on track frustration, during the course of the past two events, leading to garage speculation that claims Stewart and his crew chief, Darrien Grubb, have not exactly been reading from the same page lately. Those frustrating races have caused the team to drop to 11th, 39 points out.

Four time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon has also been experiencing some on track frustration of late. The early season strong start has seen the #24 Hendrick Motorsports team drop to 12th in the standings, 49 points out. Texas could a turnaround for this team. Gordon is rated at 12 to 1 odds this week which makes him a solid long shot consideration. That theory is based on one win, seven top fives, nine top tens and a 17.0 finish average.

Joining Gordon in the 12 to 1 category is Matt Kenseth, the driver of the #17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. In typical fashion, Kenseth has quietly driven his way to ninth in the points, 24 markers from the top. He has also accumulated some impressive stats at Texas. He’s a former race winner with a series high 8 top five finishes, and 11 top tens. He also has a very healthy 9.5 average finish. Like his team mate Carl Edwards, Kenseth’s Ford will also be powered by one of those horse power producing Roush Yates engines. This is another rock solid long shot consideration.

At 16 to 1 WSE odds is Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle. The “Biff” is a former Texas winner who has also collected four top fives and seven top tens along the way. He also has an average finish ratio of 17.0 there. However, Biffle has endured up and down performance levels that has left him 20th in the standings, 77 points out. It’s too early to call this situation bleak, but it is time to start a forward charge. The one plus factor here is the aforementioned Roush Yates engines at a speedway where high RPM is the norm.

The WSE’s 20 to 1 category features a trio of drivers who are serious long shot considerations. That list is led by Mark Martin. The driver of the #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet is a former winner at Texas who also has seven top five finishes, a series high 12 top tens and a healthy finish ratio of 12.4. He also starts Saturday night’s race tenth in the standings, 38 points out.

Also in this category is his Hendrick Motorsports team mate Dale Earnhardt Jr who thrilled the “Junior Nation” with his “almost win” last Sunday at Martinsville. The “Junior Nation” will be hoping that their favorite driver can transfer the Martinsville momentum to Texas. Earnhardt has a strong emotional tie with the Texas Motor Speedway. It was the scene of his first ever NASCAR Sprint Cup win back in 2006. Off to a very good 2011 start, Earnhardt comes to Texas eighth in the standings, 20 points out.

Completing the 20 to 1 trio is former Texas winner Kurt Busch who also has three top fives, ten top tens and a 13.8 finish ratio. The elder Busch brother is fourth in the standings and only 14 points out. Right behind him is Richard Childress Racing’s Clint Bowyer who will also be looking for a strong run at Texas to move his program forward. He goes into Saturday night 16th in the standings, and 61 points out.

Leading a quintet of drivers at 30 to 1 is Richard Childress Racing’s Jeff Burton. A pre season Chase favorite, Burton’s team had endured one round of bad racing luck after the other. The sight of him coming to pit road, last Sunday at Martinsville, with the hood of his car completely buckled up is a prime example of how this driver’s season is going. He’s currently 28th in the standings, 96 points out. But the good news for Burton is the fact that Texas is a good track for him and it’s a good place to turn his season around. He’s a two time winner there including winning the first ever Sprint Cup race at the track back in 1997. It was also the scene of his first ever Cup win. Burton also has three top five finishes and nine top tens.

Also in the 30 to 1 group is 2006 race winner Kasey Kahne who is currently 15th in the rankings, 56 points out. He is joined in this group by former race winner Ryan Newman, Joey Logano and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Completing this week’s WSE rankings, at 40 to 1, are drivers Martin Truex Jr., Jamie McMurray, David Reutimann and Brian Vickers. If you don’t see your favorite driver on this week’s WSE listing they are automatically ranked at 15 to 1 for the Texas race.

Now for the disclaimer. NASCAR needs us to remind you that these posted numbers are for entertainment and information purposes. They neither encourage nor condone the placing wagers on their events. But if you’re going to do it anyway, and many of you will, then you may as well go for it and place a Texas sized bet. The WSE has presented you with a lot of potentially lucrative options this week.

THE RACE BREAKDOWN

The Samsung Mobile 500 is 334 laps/501 miles around the Texas Motor Speedway’s 1.5 mile quad oval. It’s the seventh of 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup points races.

The race has 44 entries vying for the 43 starting berths. Nine of those entries are on the go or go home list meaning they do not have a guaranteed start in the race because they are currently outside of NASCAR’s top 35 in owner’s points. These teams will have to rely on qualifying speeds to make the race.

There is plenty of Texas sized racing room at this speedway. The track is 58 feet wide. The front stretch measures 2,250 feet while the back stretch is 1,330 feet. The four turns are banked at 24 degrees while the straight-aways, as well as the dog leg, are banked at five degrees. Pit road speed, always a concern during a Sprint Cup race, at Texas is 45 MPH.

The Texas Motor Speedway opened in 1997. With its various seating configurations, it can accommodate up to 192,122 fans.

The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was held there in April of 1997 and was won by Jeff Burton. Since that time there has been 20 Cup races that has sent 16 different winners to victory lane. In recent times the Texas Motor Speedway has developed a tendency for close finishes. Three of the last four races there have a margin of victory of less than one second. Roush Fenway Racing leads the team win list having sent their Fords to Victory lane at Texas seven times. Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports has three wins each.

Qualifying is always important at any Sprint Cup event. The Texas Motor Speedway track record, 196.235 MPH, was set by Brian Vickers in November of 2006. Only one Texas race has been won from the pole position. Kasey Kahne accomplished that feat back in 2006. However, 14 of the 20 Cup races there has been won from the top ten starting positions.

The weather could be somewhat of a concern. The Friday forecast calls for partly sunny skies, southwest wind up to 20 MPH and a day time high of 89 degrees. The Saturday daytime forecast again calls for partly sunny skies, southwest winds up to 30 MPH and highs of 86 degrees. The concern here is the weather forecast for Saturday evening which calls for cloudy skies, a 20 percent chance of showers, wind gusts and a temperature drop to 65 degrees.

The Samsung Mobile 500 will be broadcast live by Fox Sports with the pre race show beginning at 7 pm eastern time. The race re air will be Wednesday, April 12th, at 12 pm eastern on SPEED.