Texas Weekend Outlook

NASCAR Texas Weekend Outlook

All of NASCAR’s touring series will be in action this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The Camping World Truck Series will get the action started late Friday night in the WinStar World Casino and Resort 350 which will be followed by the Nationwide Series O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge Saturday afternoon. The Sprint Cup Series will close out the weekend with the 2nd race in the “Eliminator Round” in Sunday’s AAA 500. As we prepare for a full slate of racing, we keep a look at the storylines for each series heading into this weekend’s races.

Camping World Truck Series Points Race

Darrell Wallace Jr’s win last week at Martinsville continued to narrow the gap on Matt Crafton’s points lead. A few weeks ago Crafton appeared that he was going to run away with the Truck Series title but Ryan Blaney and Darrell Wallace Jr have made surges in recent weeks. The points battle has now become a 3 horse race with Crafton still leading the way by 18 points. However both Blaney and Wallace are within striking distance if any issues or poor finishes take place with the #88 truck. With just 3 races remaining that do not necessarily favor Crafton, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points battle is far from over.

Nationwide Series Stacked Field

On the other hand, the Nationwide Series points battle is nearly over as Chase Elliot has nearly ran away with the series championship. Elliot leads teammate Regan Smith by 42 points and that gap has grown nearly every week. This Saturday a stacked Nationwide Series field will partake in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge which will result in 300 miles at Texas Motor Speedway. Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, and Kyle Busch are among the big time names entered into the event. Therefore we expect an exciting and wide open Nationwide Series race when the green flag drops at 3:46pm (EST) on Saturday.

Chase Drama Continues

If you thought the Chase drama would end at Talladega at the end of the “Contender Round”, guess again. Last Sunday’s race at Martinsville provided even more drama in the two remaining races of the Eliminator Round. Not only did Dale Earnhardt Jr steal a victory from the Chase contenders but Brad Keselowski finds himself in big trouble yet again. Keselowski’s broken axle on Sunday resulted the #2 car to a 31st place finish. Keselowski has been at the forefront of the drama in the Chase with run-ins with multiple drivers that was erased by somewhat of a miracle win at Talladega. However Keselowski is back in another need to win scenario unless other drivers also run into issues in the coming weeks. Additionally Kevin Harvick is also in a similar scenario after a 33rd place finish last week which was a result of Matt Kenseth getting into the back of the #4 car and sending Harvick into the wall. Harvick took a few shots at Kenseth in the post race interviews at Martinsville stating “Kenseth will not win this Championship.” Whether that was an omen of payback or not, Harvick has a ton of ground to pick up over the next two weeks. Harvick has been one of the fastest cars all year and one of the favorites at the start of the Chase, but he is another driver that may need a victory in the next two weeks.

Weekend Schedule at Texas Motor Speedway