You knew it was going to happen sooner or later and this was the week it happened. I’m talking about a Chase driver being taken out of a race by another driver in what could be payback for that driver not making it into the next round because of something they perceived was that other drivers fault. I feel sorry for Joey Logano’s fan, but I understand where Matt Kenseth was coming from. The Chase has made every driver qualified desperate to get the win they need to move to the next round and if they can’t be there any driver who prevented them from getting there because of an incident on the track is fair game.
AAA TEXAS 500
No matter if it was intentional or not, Joey Logano almost has to win one of the next two races to move to the championship round. Likewise, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch find themselves in a deep hole as we head to the second race of the third round of the Chase as the head to Texas Motor Speedway this week.
A late race restart that collected Matt, Brad, and Kurt started this whole thing. Brad was trying to help out his teammate, Joey Logano get to the inside lane of the track while he tried to hold the second position. What ensued was drivers trying to check up to avoid collisions and getting hit from behind themselves. Live by the sword and die by the sword is what resulted. These next three races are going to be very interesting with three drivers desperately needing a win to keep their hopes alive for a championship.
Joey Logano: I am going to pick Joey to come out and win this race and qualify himself for the championship round of the Chase. Joey has a win and four top five finishes in his last five starts at this track and conceivably could have won his fourth straight race if not for the wreck that took him out as he was leading the race. A race that he dominated for most of the day. This week comes redemption.
Kevin Harvick: Kevin had a decent finish at Martinsville last week, but he only has a six point lead over Carl Edwards as he sits in the bubble spot. Kevin has yet to win a race at Texas, but he has finished second in his last two starts there. He will be in contention once again at the end of this race as long as he doesn’t have any mechanical issues and can avoid penalties on pit road.
Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie hasn’t run that well lately, but he is always someone to watch for at Texas. With five wins and twelve top five finishes in twenty-four starts this team really knows how to get around this track in a hurry. Four of those wins have come in his last six start at this track including the last two races he has run here. Time for this team to get back to victory lane.
Kyle Busch: Kyle is another driver who has run very well at Texas recently. Although he missed the spring race this year while he was recovering from injuries suffered in the Nationwide race at Daytona, he has one win and four top five finishes in his last five starts here also. He would like another great finish this week to take a little pressure off heading to Phoenix where he doesn’t want to have to win to move on to Homestead.
Jeff Gordon: Jeff got his ninth win at Martinsville which propelled him into the championship round in his final season in NASCAR. Jeff hasn’t run very well at Texas over the past several seasons with only four top ten finishes in his last twelve starts and he will probably use this race to do some testing for Homestead. There will be no pressure on the team this week, but they will want to see how they fair on this mile-and-a-half track to see what needs to be done when they get to Homestead.
Carl Edwards: Carl has three wins at this track during his career and needs to have a great run this weekend as he tries to move into the top four in points. This team has been very inconsistent all season and ended up benefiting from what happened at Martinsville last weekend. Carl was a lap down and with all of the cautions he finally got back on the lead lap and ended up fourteenth. Far ahead of those drivers who were involved in the incident.
Kurt Busch: Kurt has one win at this track, but this hasn’t been his favorite track to run on during his career. He needs to have a car as good as Kevin Harvick this week once practice is finished if he has any chance of winning this race and qualifying for the second round. His biggest hope is Phoenix where he has been very good throughout his career and that is a race I think he can win.
Brad Keselowski: Brad is still looking for his first win at Texas and when Brad really needs to do something he has a good chance of getting that something done. This team won last year to move themselves on during the Chase in a must win situation and he has two shots at getting it done once again this year. With three drivers desperate for a win I think we are going to see some of them take some big risks to win this race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Dale has run very well this year and came within inches of making it to this round at Talladega a few weeks ago. He ran very well at Martinsville last week and the mile-and-a-half tracks are more to this teams liking. Dale won his first race here back in 2000 and has finished in the top ten in seven of his last nine starts here. This team might be out of the Chase, but they are doing everything they can to win another race this season.
Martin Truex Jr.: Martin is still looking for his first win at Texas, but he has nine top ten finishes to show for his twenty starts at this track and he has run well on the intermediate tracks all season. A win would be nice, but I think he would be happy with another top ten finish like he got last week at Martinsville and try to make the championship race on points if he has to.
YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Yahoo Driver Group A
- Joey Logano
- Kevin Harvick
Yahoo Driver Group B
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Jamie McMurray
- Aric Almirola
- Kasey Kahne
Yahoo Driver Group C
- Ryan Blaney
- Justin Allgaier
MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
- Joey Logano
- Kevin Harvick
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kyle Busch
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dark Horse: Martin Truex Jr.
Stay Away From: Kurt Busch