Week 7 Preview: Texas

Texas Motor Speedway

Duck Commander 500

By Richard Tix

Well, Martinsville brought tons of excitement for the whole race. From opening fireworks (Kurt Busch v Brad Keselowski) to the finishing battle (Jimmie Johnson v Kurt Busch) fans sure got there moneys worth on Sunday.

NASCAR now heads to Texas Motor Speedway (Check out the Texas Sponsor news earlier this year) with 6 different winners to start the season. Whats even crazier to think about then the fact that we don't have a multiple time winner in 2014 yet is that Jimmie Johnson doesn't have a win yet.

JJ may not have a win but he has been consistently good so far, so it seems like it is only a matter of time before he and the #48 team figure it out and get going. The question is, will it be at Texas that JJ gets his first win of 2014? Check out last years Texas Preview and Review. Also, check out the lastest Power rankings after Martinsville.


The Good, Middle, and Bad 
(This is just a review of each drivers recent past performance, generally about 5-10 past races)

The Good

• Jimmie Johnson- 21 career starts at Texas and 16 top 10's. Add to that his career average finish is 8.7 and you can see that equals a safe pick for a quality finish. 
• Matt Kenseth- Kenseth slide in at 1A with JJ. Kenseth has 16 top 10's in 23 career starts at Texas. He actually has 3 more top 5's them JJ in that time (13 total). He and JJ have been good here lately and in there total career, so no need to look elsewhere. 
• Greg Biffle- Biffle is a guy who has turned it on in his last 10 starts here. He had 9 top 10's in the last 10 including 6 top 5's and a win. His last start at Texas was the only non top 10 in the last 10, and it was a 12th place finish.
• Extra Credit: Denny Hamlin

The Middle

• Kevin Harvick- In Harvicks last 10 starts he only has 6 top 10's and only one of those was a top 5. In his last 5 starts he has 3 top 10's and the other two finishes were 13th. He has had some fast cars to start the 2014 season so if he stays away from the bad luck he could add a top 5 to his stats.
• Extra Credit- Clint Bowyer

The Bad

• Jamie McMurray- He has started the 2014 season out with a lot of good runs (mixed results) and good cars, but he doesnt have a very good track record here. In his last 10 he has zero top 10's and an average finish of 23.5. 
• Brian Vickers- In his last 6 starts he has one top 10, one. That was his last finish at Texas (8th). 
• Marcus Ambrose- In his last 5 starts he has zero top 10's and in his last 10 starts he has one top 10 at Texas. The bright side, in his last 6 starts here he has started top 10 4 times, and top 15 all 6 times.

Track Stats

• Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards are the only drivers to sweep the two Texas races in a season. DH in 2010 and Carl in 2008.
• A race has been won from the Pole 2 out of the last 3 races and 3 times total.
• Ford won 7 of the first 10 races at Texas.
• Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson both had 3 wins at Texas.
• Of current drivers, Matt Kenseth has led the most career lasp at Texas (775). Greg Biffle has the second most with 733.

More Texas Motor Speedway Articles:

• TV/Race Schedule
• Driver Entry List
• Power Rankings
• Rookie Report

2014 NASCAR Texas Schedule

By Richard Tix

Here is the Texas Motor Speedway Schedule for the 4/4-4/6 weekend.

**All times are Eastern**

Friday April 4th, 2014

• 4 pm- Nationwide Series Qualifying- Fox Sports 1
• 6 pm- Sprint Cup Pracitice- Fox Sports 1
• 8:30 pm- Nationwide Race at Texas- ESPN2

Saturday April 5th, 2014

• 10:30 am- Sprint Cup Final Practice- Fox Sports 1
• 3 pm- Sprint Cup Qualifying- Fox Sports 2

Sunday 6th, 2014

• 3 pm- Sprint Cup Race at Texas- Fox

Full Schedule on NASCAR.com

More NASCAR Links:

• Texas Fantasy Preview- ThisSportz
• Power Rankings
• Article Archive

Duck Commander Now Race Sponsor at TMS

The Duck Dynasty Folks put There Name on a Race

Duck Commander 500

By Richard Tix

Last year NASCAR had a whole mess of people in an uproar over the Sponsor of a single race at Texas Motor Speedway. That sponsor was NRA which seemed to go pretty close to hand in hand with most NASCAR fans. The only problem was, it came shortly after the Sandy Hook Tragedy so many anti-gun activists that normally could care less about NASCAR were very outspoken.

Well this year, as was announced earlier today, the April race at TMS will be sponsored by a company the Robertson Family from Duck Dynasty owns, Duck Commander. Yes, Duck Dynasty frenzy will commence in the form of the Duck Commander 500.

Once again, this announcement comes months after the sponsoring company was in the news (Just search Phil Robertson if you missed it). It has been announced as a three year deal with Texas Motor Speedway that seems to go hand in hand with the company. Duck Dynasty and Duck Commander have found there way into the sport in the past years, sponsoring Clint Bowyer, and also having him on there TV show, but this is the biggest splash in that trend.

Hate them or love them this deal seems like a great thing for both parties. Duck Commander is already the nations biggest duck call seller and now they will add tons of built in merchandise. This also seems like a great deal for NASCAR.

"We're excited about the partnership for the Duck Commander 500, being aligned with NASCAR, and to have our brand associated with an event of this magnitude," shared Duck Commander CEO Willie Robertson. "We are all big fans of NASCAR and have been all our lives. It's especially exciting to see our brand join to make it an awesome experience for the fan base and we can't think of a better place than our neighbor at the Texas Motor Speedway"

NASCAR and TMS not only bring in a big name Sponsor for the race but they also have built in celebrities that should help spread the fan base. In the state where everything is bigger, TMS holds the largest single day attended sporting event in the state.

Not only does it seem like a good fit, but any extra sponsorship's brought into NASCAR for an extended period of time is a good thing. I think NASCAR should really keep an eye out for more opportunities like this in the future if they ever come up, but I am glad TMS took advantage of timing and opportunity (If only it was one TV season earlier).

Check out some past NASCAR Behind the Wall stories:

• NASCAR's New Penalty System
• NASCAR World Top Stories: February
• NASCAR's New Era
• 2014 Contract Year: NASCAR Drivers

How do you feel about this sponsorship? Let it be heard on Twitter!