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Wednesday, April 6, 2016

2016 NASCAR Week 7 Preview: Texas

Duck Commander 500

Texas Motor Speedway


By Richard Tix

Well short track racing at Martinsville Speedway was fun as always. Lots of guys were on a roller coaster from start to finish and many of them fought back. Kyle Busch dominated the weekend and has looked to be as strong as he was to finish 2015 (five top 5's in six races).

So, can Kyle be stopped?

This week, time will tell as we go to Texas Motor Speedway. TMS will be NASCAR's first Saturday Night Race of 2016 and is bound to bring the excitement of racing under the lights. As if NASCAR hasn't had a hot enough start, a night trip to the Lone Star State should continue the roll even longer.

Lately TMS has produced some decent racing. The restarts have been a blast especially late in the race (see last Falls Chase race). Adding that into the new low downforce package on a Saturday night and the Duck Commander 500 is one you might not want to miss.




**This section is just a quick look at some of Cup drivers latest finishes. This is not a tool for fantasy purposes and NBTW only is looking at end results. No deep statistic's are involved, but rather it is just a quick way to get ready for the race and get caught up on who has finished well at each track**

The Good
  • Jimmie Johnson- JJ is hands down the most dominate driver right now at Texas. In fact, he has the most wins, most top 5's (tied), and most top 10's in TMS history. He has five wins in his last seven races here.
  • Kevin Harvick- Harvick has three staright top 3 finishes at Texas, but none resulted in wins. In fact, he has yet to win at Texas even after six top 10's in the last eight races. He has led a lap at Texas in all of his last four starts here (all with SHR).
  • Brad Keselowski- BK is the second guy on this list that doesn't have a win at Texas, which is weird to say in the #NBTW "Good" category. However, both he and Harvick have been really good here lately and have just missed wins. BK has six top 10's in the last seven races including two runner up finishes.
  • Extra Credit- Kyle Busch
The Middle
  • Martin Truex Jr- Truex has had a ton of mixed results at Texas Motor Speedway. Last year he left with two top 10's, but the previous five finishes were 19th, 18th, 14th, 2nd, and 13th. Bit of unpredictability there. 
The Bad
  • Kyle Larson- Larson does have two top 10 finishes at Texas, but his other three are finishes of 37th, 25th, and 23rd. He probably has the best chance of anyone on this list to finish in the top 5 this weekend.
  • Austin Dillon- NASCAR's last trip here Dillon showed improvement finishing 11th, but his previous five only resulted in one top 20. He only has one race where he ran more then 50% of the race in the top 15 (last years 11th place finish) and only one other race where he was above 5% (49% in the 2014 second TMS race).
  • Ryan Newman- Texas tends to be a track where big power comes into play, and lately RCR just hasn't had that. Leaving Newman with some sub par finishes (22nd, 12th, 15th, and 16th are his last four).
About the Track
Track Stats
  • Jimmie Johnson has three straight wins and also five of the last seven.
  • Only three drivers have won back to back times here (Jimmie Johnson 2014/15, Hamlin-Both 2010 and Edwards- Both 2008). JJ won three straight from 2014-2015 (two in 2015).
  • Manufacturer wins- Ford: 12, Chevy: 12, Toyota: 3, and Dodge: 3. 30 total races.
  • Race has been won from the pole 3 times in 30 races. Twice in the last seven races.
  • Jeff Burton won the first Texas Motor Speedway race in 1997. He led 60 of 334 laps.
  • Dale Jarrett won the first Texas Motor Speedway pole in 1997. He led 42 laps.
  • Jeff Gordon is the only driver to run all 30 races at Texas.
  • Of current drivers: Jimmie Johnson has the most wins (6). Carl Edwards has the second most (3).
Track Info
  • Surface
    • Asphalt
  • Length
    • 1.5 miles
  • Banking
    • Turns- 24 degrees
Texas Motor Speedway
Race
Date
Cars
Winner(s)
St
Make / Model
1997-06
4/6/1997
43
Jeff Burton
5
Ford
1998-07
4/5/1998
43
Mark Martin
7
Ford
1999-06
3/28/1999
43
Terry Labonte
4
Chevrolet
2000-07
4/2/2000
43
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
4
Chevrolet
2001-07
4/1/2001
43
Dale Jarrett
3
Ford
2002-07
4/8/2002
43
Matt Kenseth
31
Ford
2003-07
3/30/2003
43
Ryan Newman
3
Dodge
2004-07
4/4/2004
43
Elliott Sadler
19
Ford
2005-07
4/17/2005
43
Greg Biffle
5
Ford
2005-34
11/6/2005
43
Carl Edwards
30
Ford
2006-07
4/9/2006
43
Kasey Kahne
1
Dodge
2006-34
11/5/2006
43
Tony Stewart
8
Chevrolet
2007-07
4/15/2007
43
Jeff Burton
2
Chevrolet
2007-34
11/4/2007
43
Jimmie Johnson
8
Chevrolet
2008-07
4/6/2008
43
Carl Edwards
2
Ford
2008-34
11/2/2008
43
Carl Edwards
16
Ford
2009-07
4/5/2009
43
Jeff Gordon
2
Chevrolet
2009-34
11/8/2009
43
Kurt Busch
3
Dodge
2010-08
4/19/2010
43
Denny Hamlin
29
Toyota
2010-34
11/7/2010
43
Denny Hamlin
30
Toyota
2011-07
4/9/2011
43
Matt Kenseth
4
Ford
2011-34
11/6/2011
43
Tony Stewart
5
Chevrolet
2012-07
4/14/2012
43
Greg Biffle
3
Ford
2012-34
11/4/2012
43
Jimmie Johnson
1
Chevrolet
2013-07
4/13/2013
43
Kyle Busch
1
Toyota
2013-34
11/3/2013
43
Jimmie Johnson
3
Chevrolet
2014-07
4/7/2014
43
Joey Logano
10
Ford
2014-34
11/2/2014
43
Jimmie Johnson
3
Chevrolet
2015-07
4/11/2015
43
Jimmie Johnson
5
Chevrolet
2015-34
11/8/2015
43
Jimmie Johnson
8
Chevrolet

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