Tag: Texas Motor Speedway

  • Harvick wins AAA Texas 500, will race for championship in Miami

    Harvick wins AAA Texas 500, will race for championship in Miami

    Kevin Harvick had the dominant car at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday night, leading 119 laps from the pole and winning his third-straight AAA Texas 500 for a spot in the championship round at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Harvick held off Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola at the checkered by 1.594-seconds.

    “Our car was just so fast through [Turns] 3 and 4, as long as I could keep my momentum up, I could get up beside [Almirola],” Harvick said of his late-race battle with his teammate. “So it was definitely fast, and speed made up for our Ducks Unlimited Busch Beer Ford Mustang in what we lacked a little bit in our handling.”

    Fellow SHR driver Daniel Suarez finished third after leading 25 laps.

    “That was a very solid night, and I’m very happy with the performance and speed that we brought from the shop,” said Suarez. “Everyone back at the shop did a great job. We knew we would be fast here.

    “We had a solid perfomance here last time. We did a good job. We had good execution and a good clean day. I’m very happy for Stewart-Haas Racing and the No. 41 Ford Mustang was pretty sporty. I am very happy for Kevin getting his ticket for Homestead.”

    Playoff driver Joey Logano finished fourth and Alex Bowman rounded out the top-five. Playoff drivers Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, and Ryan Blaney finished sixth through eighth, with Kurt Busch and Erik Jones rounding out the top-10.

    Playoff driver Kyle Larson had a quiet day as well, finishing in 12th after starting 13th.

    The race was slowed 11 times for 56 laps, with Playoff drivers Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin finding trouble with the wall or the frontstretch grass early in Stage One. Elliott would finish 32nd, several laps off the pace, while Hamlin would finish six laps down in 28th, despite winning at TMS in March.

    Seven-time Texas winner Jimmie Johnson also found the wall after leading 40 laps. The No. 48 was running in second when he spun off the second turn and slapped the wall, relegating his Hendrick Motorsports team to a 34th-place finish.

    There were 26 lead changes among 11 drivers, with 2,957 green flag passes (10.6 per green flag lap).

    The next race will be at ISM Raceway for the Bluegreen Vacations 500, the final race in the Round of Eight. The race will air on NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET and will also be streaming on MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90 and the NBC Sports app.

  • Christopher Bell wins O’Reilly 300, Chastain takes second at Texas

    Christopher Bell wins O’Reilly 300, Chastain takes second at Texas

    FORT WORTH, Texas — Christopher Bell took the checkered flag in Saturday’s O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, punching his ticket to the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway in two weeks. Bell started third and took the checkered by 5.561-seconds over Kaulig Racing’s Ross Chastain.

    “I can’t wait to go to Phoenix,” said Bell. “I love that race track. Now we get to go there and focus on one thing and that’s winning the race.”

    “I don’t know if Jason [Ratcliff, Crew Chief] was thinking points tonight, but we’re definitely not going to have to think about points next week.”

    Runner-up Chastain used pit strategy to lead 29 laps before spinning his tires on a restart late in the race.

    “It was an up-and-down race,” said Chastain of his final start with Kaulig in 2019. “Up at the start, we ran fifth in that first stage. Then we got caught in that dirty air and couldn’t pass anybody, but then we got track position again and took control of the race for a little while.”

    “The car was incredible. I made one pretty big mistake on that final restart and spun my tires, and from there we just had to run hard to finish second.”

    Austin Cindric, Brandon Jones, and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top-five while Justin Allgaier, Harrison Burton, Cole Custer, Jeb Burton, and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top-10.

    Cindric also had a strong run on the night, leading 38 laps on the way to his third-place finish.

    “Yeah, we’re in a must-win situation as far as points go, and when you’re leading in the third stage and a caution comes out your heart kind of sinks a little bit,” said Cindric. “But I thought we had a Discount Tire Mustang good enough to win in clean air.”

    “We had 50 or 60 people from Discount Tire come out today and was hoping we could get them in Victory Lane and get in the Final Four. But we got next week in Phoenix. It’s a bummer when you’re pissed at finishing third, but I guess that’s the sign of a good night, being able to execute on some of those restarts.”

    The biggest incident of the night occurred on Lap 162 when contact between Playoff drivers Chase Briscoe and polesitter Tyler Reddick sent Reddick’s Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet hard into the backstretch wall.

    Despite hitting the wall, Reddick still holds a 36-point edge over Briscoe heading into Phoenix. Meanwhile, fellow Playoff driver Noah Gragson scored his first DNF of 2019 following an incident on the frontstretch. Gragson finished 30th and is 57 points below the cutline heading into Phoenix.

    There were nine cautions for 51 laps, with nine lead changes among four drivers.

    The series makes its next appearance at ISM Speedway on Nov. 9 for the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino 200.

  • Harvick wins pole for AAA Texas 500, Jones to start second

    Harvick wins pole for AAA Texas 500, Jones to start second

    Kevin Harvick wheeled his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang to a 28.465-second lap at 189.707 mph around the Texas Motor Speedway to earn the pole for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500. The pole was Harvick’s second at the speedway in 34 races and sixth overall of 2019.

    “I think the key to the lap was knowing that you had to be wide open and kind of did a halfway qualifying run yesterday and worked most of the day on race runs and making sure we ran enough laps to know where our car was,” said Harvick.

    Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones put his No. 20 Toyota on the outside of Row 1 with a lap of 28.588 at 188.890 mph. Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, and Alex Bowman rounded out the top-five.

    Harvick and Hamlin were the only Playoff drivers to qualify in the top-10, as the other six drivers in the Round of 8 will start in the top-20. Joey Logano will start 11th, with a lap of 28.755 seconds, while Kyle Busch will start on the outside of Row 6 with a lap of 28.764 seconds.

    Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Ryan Blaney will start in positions 13-15, while Martin Truex Jr. will be starting from the 17th spot with a lap of 28.863.

    The AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway will start at 2 p.m. CT on NBCSN/SiriusXM Channel 90.

  • Weekend Schedule for Texas Motor Speedway

    Weekend Schedule for Texas Motor Speedway

    This weekend the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the Xfinity Series head to the 1.5-mile oval at Texas Motor Speedway. The defending race winners are Kevin Harvick in the Cup Series and Cole Custer in the Xfinity Series. The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series is off but will return on Nov. 8 at ISM Raceway.

    Only two races remain in the Playoffs Round of 8 to determine who will make it to the Championship 4 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    See the current standings listed below for both series.

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, November 1

    2:05 – 2:55 p.m. – Xfinity Series First Practice (NBCSN)

    3:05 – 3:55 p.m. – Cup Series First Practice (NBCSN)

    4:05 – 4:55 p.m. – Xfinity Series Final Practice (NBC Sports App)

    5:05 – 5:55 p.m. – Cup Series Final Practice (NBC Sports App)

    Saturday, November 2

    5:35 p.m. – Xfinity Series Qualifying (Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions) – CNBC

    7:05 p.m. – Cup Series Qualifying impound (Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions) – CNBC/ PRN

    8:30 p.m. – Xfinity Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 Xfinity Series race (Stages 45/90/200 Laps) – NBCSN/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    Sunday, November 3

    3 p.m. – Cup Series AAA Texas 500 Cup Series race (Stages 85/170/334 Laps) – NBCSN/PRN/ SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    Playoff standings prior to Texas Motor Speedway

    Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series:

    1. Martin Truex Jr. – 4102 points

    2. Denny Hamlin – 4082 points

    3. Kyle Busch – 4075 points

    4. Joey Logano – 4072 points

    5. Kevin Harvick – 4058 points

    6. Ryan Blaney – 4057 points

    7. Kyle Larson – 4048 points

    8. Chase Elliott – 4028 points

    NASCAR Xfinity Series:

    1. Christopher Bell – 3106 points

    2. Cole Custer – 3095 points

    3. Tyler Reddick – 3094 points

    4. Justin Allgaier – 3059 points

    5. Chase Briscoe – 3057 points

    6.Michael Annett – 3047 points

    7. Noah Gragson – 3042 points

    8. Austin Cindric – 3029 points

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

  • Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race at Texas

    Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race at Texas

    The 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway hosted the ninth race of the 2019 Truck Series season last Friday night and it did not disappoint.

    It was quite possibly the most exciting race from the NASCAR weekend. There were comers and goers throughout the race, and you really didn’t know who was going to win until the checkered flag flew.

    The race featured 13 cautions, a new track record. It was previously 10. There were 12 lead changes with a margin of victory of .963 seconds. In fact, 37.7 percent of the race was run under caution, while there were only 7.4 green flag laps.

    With that in mind, here are this week’s Four Takeaways from the Speedycash.com 400 at Texas.

    1. Greg Biffle Gets Popular Win – When the race was all said and done, there was quite the social media buzz across the NASCAR universe talking about Biffle’s win. Marcus Lemonis, CEO and Owner of Camping World & Gander Outdoors even chimed in on Twitter stating, “Congrats to @gbiffle on race one of #TheTrip @GanderOutdoors @GanderRV #winner hey @KyleBusch let’s get him in the truck again, nice finish to all.” As if that wasn’t enough, Biffle tweeted his thoughts about the win, “Words can’t express what this felt like. Thanks, @marcuslemonis @GanderOutdoors @NASCAR_Trucks for the support of this great series @KBMteam. #TheTrip.” Lemonis chimed back in response to Biffle and said, “I’m going to see what I can do to help.” It will be interesting to see what he has in mind as it has created a very exciting time in the Truck Series right now.

    2. ThorSport Racing Continues Season Dominance – If you looked in the top five running order, you would see that at least two ThorSport Trucks finished in the top five, Matt Crafton, who was trying to chase down Biffle, and Grant Enfinger who finished fifth. Although he did not finish in the top-10, he probably would have except for a transmission failure. Rhodes wound up 21st after winning Stage 2. The same can be said for Johnny Sauter who won Stage 1 but finished 13th after being in a wreck. However, the ThorSport team has four of their Trucks sitting in the top six in the points standings currently, with Enfinger continuing and extending his points lead by 37 points. If they keep it up and make it to the Playoffs, the ThorSport team has a really good chance of winning the championship this year despite not having any race wins, aside from Sauter who won at Dover earlier this season.

    3. Inconsistency Of Calling Cautions – Another week and more inconsistent race calls. A caution came out with about 15 to go Friday night for Austin Wayne Self who stalled on the bottom, which set up a 10-lap restart to the finish. It eventually helped Biffle win the race as he was close on gas, and more than likely wouldn’t have made it if there wasn’t a caution. However, we saw another Truck spun after the restart on the bottom of Turn 4 and no caution flag was flown. Of course, this did happen behind the pack. But when you call a caution for a Truck that is stalled on the bottom but do not call a caution for a Truck that is spinning, that’s really inconsistent. We saw it again in Monday’s FireKeepers Casino 400, when Erik Jones spun in the middle of Turns 1 and 2, got “stuck” and NASCAR threw the caution setting up an overtime finish. Again that’s inconsistent. Maybe I’m overthinking it, but I would like to see a little more consistency from NASCAR.


    4. Not Promoting The Other Two Series – When Fox Sports 1 signed off the air as the Cup Series race ended and the off week started, fans heard Mike Joy say, “We’ll see you in two weeks at Sonoma.” Yes, we will see them in two weeks at Sonoma, but what’s going on in the Xfinity and Truck Series? Did they forget the other two series were racing this week? As much as they talk about the up and coming racers hoping to be future Cup stars, it’s hard to notice these racers if you don’t promote their series. Of course, fans are smart enough to know that the Xfinity and Truck Series are racing while Cup is not, but NASCAR could do a better job of promoting them. It’s easy to sit back and critique every little thing, but the Xfinity and Truck Series are the other top two divisions in NASCAR. And right now, they are putting on better races then the Cup Series. Sure there are some races that are not great but 95% of the time they are more exciting. I’m sure it wasn’t Mike Joy’s intent to ignore the other series, but maybe the next time, please include the Xfinity and Truck Series.
  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings- Texas II

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings- Texas II

    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series visited Texas Motor Speedway this past weekend for race number nine of the 2019 season. It also marked the beginning of The Triple Truck Challenge, where racers can win $50,000 over the next three races should they win. Win all three and they have a shot to win half a million dollars.

    Regarding The Triple Truck Challenge, it started off with a bang last Friday night when former series champion Greg Biffle returned to the field and won the race. It was Biffle’s first win in the Truck Series since Phoenix of 2001 and his first Truck Series win at Texas since 2000. It was a popular win across the NASCAR world Friday night and created a social media buzz. Marcos Lemonis (CEO of Camping World and Gander Outdoors) even weighed in on social media as well.

    The win was so popular that fans and people inside the NASCAR industry wanted to see Biffle back in the truck again for the upcoming race at Iowa Speedway. Unfortunately, the Washington State native will be ineligible to compete as he did not submit an entry blank in time before the deadline hit last week.

    Kyle Busch Motorsports already has four trucks entered in the race at Iowa, so it would have been hard for them to include a fifth entry for Biffle. However, Biffle is eligible to compete at the conclusion of The Triple Truck Challenge at Gateway, should KBM decide to offer Biffle a ride.

    While Biffle’s win was popular throughout the NASCAR garage, there were some familiar faces found inside the top five at the end of the night, including driver Tyler Ankrum who had his best career finish in his young career thus far.

    Without further ado, here is a look at this week’s power rankings.

    1. Matt Crafton – The two-time Truck Series champion came out of nowhere at the end of the race, lining up at the front on a late race restart with 10 to go. Crafton had a solid qualifying effort of 10th earlier that day. However, it was probably not what he was looking for after starting on the pole for two consecutive weeks in a row. He finished fifth and eighth, in the first two stages. The No. 88 Menards ThorSport driver also managed to miss all the chaos that happened around him during the race, which allowed him to have a shot at snapping his long winless streak that dates back two years. Crafton tried all he could to catch Greg Biffle for the late race charge but had to settle for another second-place finish. It was his sixth top five this season and he now sits third in the points standings, 41 points behind his teammate Grant Enfinger.

      Previous Week Ranking: 2nd

    2. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger is back in the power rankings this week. He had a solid outing at Texas, finishing in the fourth position and earning his fifth top-five finish of the 2019 season. He started third and stayed there for most of the night, finishing third in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2. What hurt the No. 98 team the most was when there was an incident late in the going when a truck spun off Turn 4. Enfinger noted in his post-race interview that he saw the yellow flag start to come out, but then it was put back away after he had slowed. This allowed a few more drivers go on by him, which kept him from having a more solid finish. Regardless, it was still a good points night as Enfinger still leads the Truck Series points standings over Stewart Friesen by 37 points.

      Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked

    3. Harrison Burton – While his teammate Todd Gilliland had a rough night, crashing out and finishing 27th, Burton placed fifth, rounding out the top five finishers. Burton started 11th, finished 10th in Stage 1 and third in Stage 2. It was his third top five of the season and tied his fifth-place finish earlier this season at Las Vegas.

      Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked

    4. Ross Chastain – Chastain was in the news again this week, but in a big way, as the Niece Motorsports driver elected to receive points in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. It was big midweek news after having early season success with the team, finishing inside the top-10 in all the races and earning a big win at Kansas. However, per NASCAR rules, the win at Kansas does not count toward Chastain’s run for the championship and he had to start all over at Texas this past weekend. Niece already had three trucks in the field with Angela Ruch piloting the No. 44, Kyle Benjamin in a return to the Truck Series in the No. 45, and T.J. Bell in the No. 38. Niece was able to work a deal out with Chastain to place him in the No. 38 to compete at Texas. Chastain qualified 15th, certainly not the best qualifying effort, but he finished 10th, earning another top-10 in the 2019 Truck Series season. The Niece Motorsports driver finished fourth in Stage 1 and seventh in Stage 2. Chastain currently is nowhere to be seen in the top 20 points standings, so he will have a lot of ground to make up with just eight races remaining.

      Previous Week Ranking- 4th

    5. Sheldon Creed – Creed matched his best finish of sixth Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway after starting in the seventh position driving the No. 2 GMS Racing Chevy. He finished eighth in Stage 1 and 10th in Stage 2. It was Creed’s best finish since Las Vegas earlier this season in March, where he finished sixth. This earned him his second top-10 finish of the season.

      Fell Out

      1. Ben Rhodes – When people looked at the final results from Friday night’s SpeedyCash.com 400, they were probably left scratching their heads when they didn’t see the ThorSport driver in the top-10 running order. But his finish was a result of a transmission failure late in the going, which took Rhodes out of contention to win the race. The No. 99 Carolina Nut Company team tried to get back to the front but the damage was too severe and Rhodes had to suffer a disappointing 21st place finish after winning Stage 2.

      Previous Week Ranking- 1st

      2. Todd Gilliland – The hits keep on coming for the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver. Gilliland and Burton received more critical comments from their team owner in a media press conference Friday, where Busch stated, “If you can’t get it done in a KBM truck, might as well go home.” Despite those comments, Gilliland was having a decent race going for him after he started on the pole. He finished seventh in Stage 1 and led 31 laps before a crash on Lap 70 took him out of the race which put him 27th in the final running order. It will be interesting to see how much longer this can happen this season before Busch finally drops the hammer down.

      Previous Week Ranking- 1st

  • ThorSport Racing places two drivers in the top five at Texas

    ThorSport Racing places two drivers in the top five at Texas

    The ThorSport Racing team started out strong at Texas Motor Speedway, winning Stages 1 and 2 in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race. But after Johnny Sauter wrecked early on and Ben Rhodes had a transmission failure, only Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger had a realistic shot of winning the race for the team.

    Matt Crafton was the highest of the ThorSport finishers. falling 0.963 seconds short to eventual race winner Greg Biffle. Crafton started 10th and stayed in the top-10 for most of the night.

    In Stage 1, Crafton worked his way up to finish fifth in the first stage and eighth in the second stage. He remained relatively quiet in the third stage, avoiding all the wrecks which put him up front for a late race restart with 10 to go, starting on the second row.

    Crafton, who has been winless for almost two years, was chasing down Greg Biffle in the closing laps in hopes of snapping his winless streak. However, the No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 would have to wait for another race to break the winless drought.

    “Just trying to get to his (Greg Biffle) rear bumper,” Crafton told MRN Radio in his post-race interview. “With four to go, getting down into Turn 1, I just got really tight and didn’t make up the difference. Maybe I should have waited until one to go. It’s just so aero-dependent, track position just sucks. I wanted that 50 grand bad.”

    It was Crafton’s six top five of the 2019 season.

    His teammate, Grant Enfinger, also finished in the top five by placing his No. 98 in the fourth position. Enfinger finished third and fourth in both stages and led two times for 44 laps.

    “We kept getting the raw deal under caution,” Enfinger said describing his race. “I still haven’t figured that out, everyone makes mistakes I guess. I saw a yellow flag come out one of those times and I slowed down, everybody went around us. Just frustration, because we gave them everything we got. Got an incredibly fast Protect The Harvest ThorSport Racing Ford F-150. Definitely capable of winning this race tonight, just didn’t have the track position when we needed it. Don’t know if we could have done anything different. I got into some hairy spots. Got our air taken off, got pushed around a little bit but was able to save the truck and survive a wild night here, but I feel like we really gave away a chance to win.”

    The fourth place finish was Enfinger’s fifth top five of the year.

    Johnny Sauter won Stage 1 but was caught up in a wreck during Stage 2 which took him out of contention to win. Sauter earned a disappointing 13th place finish after starting on the outside pole.

    Ben Rhodes had a pretty similar night winning Stage 2, but a transmission failure plagued the No. 99 Carolina Nut Company Ford F-150 to a 21st place finish.

  • Tyler Ankrum recovers from spin and finishes third at Texas

    Tyler Ankrum recovers from spin and finishes third at Texas

    Just when you thought that the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race couldn’t get any wilder, it did. Tyler Ankrum, the recent high school graduate, went for a wild slide down pit road after a restart Lap 74 but still managed to score a top-five finish at Texas Motor Speedway.

    The San Bernardino, California native started the race in the eighth position. While he did not earn any stage points, the No. 17 DGR-Crosley driver was able to avoid all the crashes and the melee that took place throughout the night for a third-place finish.

    “I had it sideways because (Stewart) Friesen got off my door and I saw pit road, and I gunned it,” Ankrum said to MRN Radio about his wild pit road slide. “I was like alright, we’ll either hit the grass or pit road, and I thought I had it semi saved and we started heading toward the wall. I thought this was going to hurt. So just slammed on the brake and turned left, pushing the clutch just thinking to myself, this is going to hurt. It eventually stopped, spun back but man, it was a nerve-wracking moment for me. At that point, I thought our night was done because we were coming back from two laps down. We were two laps down again at that point because when you go down pit road at 190 mph, they kind of don’t like that, so they penalize you for that. And also going a lap down because we blew all four tires. It was definitely an eventful night for us.”

    Despite finishing in the third position and earning his best career finish since his sixth-place finish at this track earlier in the year, Ankrum doesn’t know if he’ll be racing the next two races.

    “We really don’t know for the next two races for money,” Ankrum said. “You know, struggling to find sponsorship, I don’t know if we will or not. Altogether, our season has been escalating tremendously. I felt our No. 17 DGR truck, our No. 17 Railblaza Toyota Tundra could win a race. I think tonight proved it. We led laps and actually passed for the lead, and maintained the lead and maintained a solid gap. I think this DGR-Crosley team could do it, but it’s going to take a lot of resources to do it to pull it together. I think going forward, we can do it.”

    It was a memorable night for Ankrum who graduated high school on stage tonight during driver intros. He led nine laps during the race to capture his first Truck Series top five.

  • Weekend schedule for Michigan and Texas

    Weekend schedule for Michigan and Texas

    The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the Xfinity Series head to Michigan International Speedway this weekend along with the ARCA Menards Series while the Gander Outdoors Truck Series will run a standalone race at Texas Motor Speedway.

    All times are Eastern.

    Texas:

    Thursday, June 6

    3:05 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series First Practice – Results
    5:05 p.m. – 5:55 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Second Practice – Results
    7 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Final Practice – Results

    Friday, June 7

    5:35 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Qualifying – NASCAR.com/MRN
    9 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 400 – 250.5 miles (167 Laps) – Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 40), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 80), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 167) FS1/MRN

    Michigan:

    Friday, June 7

    8:30 a.m. – 10 a.m.: Arca Menards Series Final Practice
    Noon: ARCA Series Group Qualifying
    1:05 p.m. – 1:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series First Practice – MRN/NASCAR.com/live
    2:05 p.m. – 2:55 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series First Practice – MRN/NASCAR.com/live
    3:05 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series Final Practice – FS2 (Airing tape delayed at 4 p.m.)
    4:05 p.m. – 4:55 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series Final Practice – FS2/MRN (Airing tape delayed on at 5 p.m.)
    6 p.m.: ARCA VizCom 200 – (100 laps – 200 miles) – FS1

    Saturday, June 8

    10:30 a.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – FS2 – Qualifying Impound (Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions)
    12:05 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series Qualifying – Qualifying Impound (Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions) – FS1/MRN
    1:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Lti Printing 250 – 250 miles (125 Laps) –  Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 125) – FS1/MRN Defending Race Winner: Austin Dillon

    Sunday, June 9

    2 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 – 400 miles (200 laps) –  Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 120), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200) – FS1/MRN Defending Race Winner: Clint Bowyer

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Texas II

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Texas II

    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series gets back on track this Friday night in the Lone Star state at Texas Motor Speedway for race number nine of the 2019 season after a couple of weeks off.

    Normally, the summer race would be the site of the first of two races of the season with the final race taking place in November and being one in the Playoffs. However, the schedule changed this year by placing the November race in early spring and using the summer race as the final race for the Truck Series at Texas Motor Speedway. It will also be the first of many standalone races for the series as well.

    The Truck Series will have a unique twist when they get on track Friday night, as the series will introduce the Triple Truck Challenge over the span of the next three races. Should a driver win at Texas Friday night, Iowa or Gateway, Gander Outdoors will award the driver an additional $50,000 bonus for winning any of these events. If the driver wins two out of three, the title sponsor awards $150,000. Win all three and the driver will earn themselves $500,000. That’s extra motivation for any driver to win throughout the upcoming races.

    With that said, there are currently 33 Trucks entered on the preliminary entry list for the SpeedyCash.com 400.

    Here are five drivers to keep an eye on Friday night.

    1. Johnny Sauter – It shouldn’t be a surprise that Sauter tops this list and there’s a reason why. He has a stellar track record at the 1.5-mile track and has always run well. Sauter has only finished outside the top-10 in five races there, while every other finish is either a win or a top-10. He has five wins (sweeping the 2012 season, 2016, 2017 and 2018). With those five wins, Sauter has collected 11 top fives and 17 top-10 finishes along with 368 laps led. He also has four poles with the last coming in the November race. His average start is 8.4 with an average finish of 6.1. Sauter has never had a DNF at Texas and has completed 100% of the laps dating back to his first start in 2005. It would be a mistake to bet against the two-time champion. Only something catastrophic or an ill-handling truck would prevent Sauter from having a great finish. Don’t be surprised if you see the Wisconsin native wheel the No. 13 into victory lane on Friday night.

    2. Grant Enfinger – Texas could be the site of Enfinger’s first checkered flag of the season. The Thorsport driver has just five starts with a best finish of third coming in his first outing in 2017 with the No. 98 team. Since then, he’s earned three top fives and four top-10 finishes with 16 laps led. In the spring race, Enfinger earned the front row starting position by starting on the pole and wound up fourth after leading eight laps. He won the first stage while finishing seventh in Stage 2. Enfinger only has one finish outside the top-10 that came in the November race last year, finishing 12th. In the summer race last year, he finished fourth after starting eighth and led seven laps. Look for Enfinger and the No. 98 Thorsport team to be a strong contender this weekend.

    3. Todd Gilliland – Gilliland only has three starts at the 1.5-mile track in the Lone Star state with a best finish of sixth in the summer race last year. The No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports driver even started on the outside pole and led 62 laps. He finished fourth in November and wound up 14th in the previous race in March of this year. At 1.5 mile tracks this year, Gilliland’s best finish came at Kansas last month with a finish of third where he challenged for the win late. Other finishes include ninth at Atlanta, seventh at Las Vegas and seventh at Charlotte. Gilliland has faced a lot of pressure to perform lately and he Triple Truck Challenge just might give him a little extra motivation to win this Friday night.

    4. Stewart Friesen – Speaking of first-time winners, there could be one this weekend and it might be the No. 52 Halmar Racing driver Stewart Friesen. He has five starts with a best finish of second twice (2018 and March of 2019). His first two outings did not go well with finishes of 22nd and 14th. However, since the summer race, Friesen finished second, eighth and second. The Canada native sat on the pole and led 13 laps last year in the summer race. Those finishes have led to 26 laps led and an average finish of 9.6 at Texas. Friesen has been close multiple times to victory lane, falling short to Kyle Busch in March. Friday night could be redemption for Friesen and the No. 52 Halmar Racing team.

    5. Greg Biffle – When people see the entry list this week, they’ll see a familiar name making a one-off start and his first race in quite some time. NASCAR fans will see Greg Biffle entered in the famed No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Truck Friday night. It will be his first Truck Series start since 2004 at Homestead where he finished eighth. Before making the jump to the Cup Series, the Washington State native used the Truck Series as a stepping stone to get to the Busch Series and eventually to the Cup Series in 2002. Biffle won the Truck Series championship 19 years ago in 2000. In his championship season, he earned five wins, 18 top fives and 18 top 10 finishes. In 1999, the year before he won the championship, Biffle set the record in the Truck Series by winning nine races, the most in a single season. Only one driver has come close and that was William Byron in 2016 when he earned seven wins that season. At his last Texas start in November of 2000, he finished 25th driving for Jack Roush. However, he won that year as well at Texas. Biffle practiced in Kyle Busch’s truck at Texas earlier this March to adjust to the truck. It will be interesting to see how the 2000 Truck Series champion performs this Friday night.

    Cory Roper will be back with his own team this week, driving the No. 04 Roper Racing Ford, Codie Rohrbaugh will be in the No. 9, Trey Hutchens will compete in the No. 14, Anthony Alfredo will pilot the No. 15, Ted Minor will be in the No. 25, Scott Stenzel will drive the No. 34 and Kyle Benjamin will be in the No. 45.

    Texas Motor Speedway has hosted 43 Truck Series races dating back to its first year in 1997.

    Johnny Sauter has the most wins with five, while former series regular Brendan Gaughan is the only driver to win four in a row and that occurred in the 2002-2003 season.

    The list of winners include Kenny Irwin Jr, Tony Raines, Dennis Setzer, Jay Sauter, Greg Biffle, Bryan Reffner, Jack Sprague, Travis Kvapil, Todd Bodine, Clint Bowyer, Ted Musgrave, Ron Hornaday, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jeb Burton, Ty Dillon, Matt Crafton, Erik Jones, William Byron, Christopher Bell and Justin Haley.

    The lowest a race winner has ever come from to win was 22nd set by Todd Bodine in 2004. The race winner has started on the pole five times and includes drivers Jay Sauter, Biffle, Reffner, Bowyer and Bodine, who was the last to do so in 2007.

    The Truck Series will be on-track Thursday afternoon with two practice sessions. The first occurs at 2:05 p.m. ET and the final is set for 6 p.m. ET. There will be no live TV coverage for either practice session. Qualifying is scheduled for Friday afternoon at 5:35 p.m. ET with no live TV coverage as well.

    The SpeedyCash.com 400 green flag will fly shortly after 9 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio. The event will see three stages as usual with the first stage ending on Lap 40, the second stage on Lap 80 and the final stage on Lap 167.