TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY NOTES
Saturday, September 23 – NASCAR Xfinity Series, 3:30 p.m. ET (USA)
Sunday, September 24 – NASCAR Cup Series, 3:30 p.m. ET (USA)
Texas Motor Speedway will host the Round of 12 in both the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series this weekend with single events on Saturday and Sunday. Ford has won 15 times in Cup with Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards leading the way with three each while Mark Martin’s three NXS triumphs is the most in Ford history.
CURRENT CUP PLAYOFF STANDINGS
The Round of 12 begins on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway with three Ford drivers still in contention for this year’s championship. Here’s where they sit going into the weekend.
5th – Chris Buescher (+10)
10th – Brad Keselowski (-3)
11th – Ryan Blaney (-6)
NOTE: The top 8 drivers will advance after Charlotte
HARVICK DOMINATION
Nobody has had a better playoff run at Texas Motor Speedway than Kevin Harvick, who won three straight postseason races at the 1.5-mile facility from 2017-19. Harvick’s streak started in 2017 when he passed Martin Truex Jr. with 10 laps remaining to register his first Cup victory at the speedway in 30 starts. Domination was the word used to describe his next two victories as he led 177-of-334 laps to win in 2018 and then 119 more in his 2019 triumph. On each occasion, the win propelled Harvick to a spot in the Championship 4.
LAST LAP PASS LEADS TO LOGANO VICTORY
Joey Logano’s first Cup win at TMS came in 2014 in a race that was delayed until Monday because of rain. Logano dominated much of the second half, but a caution with two laps to go forced a green-white-checker finish. He started third on the restart after the leaders stopped on pit road and was able to get past Jeff Gordon on the final lap to claim victory. Logano led 108 of the final 116 laps to claim the first of five wins that season.
A TEXAS TWO-FIRST
A couple of firsts happened on April 6, 1997 as Texas Motor Speedway hosted its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series event and Jeff Burton took his first checkered flag. Burton, led by crew chief Buddy Parrott, passed Todd Bodine with 58 laps remaining and beat fellow Ford driver Dale Jarrett to the finish line by four seconds. The race was slowed by 10 cautions, which included a multi-car accident in first turn of the first lap. Burton went on to win 21 career series races with 17 of those coming in a Thunderbird or Taurus.
CUSTER IN CONTENTION
Cole Custer had a solid playoff opener as he won the pole and led 102 laps in finishing fourth last week at Bristol Motor Speedway. He comes into the Texas race ranked third in the standings, 39 points ahead of the cut line with two races remaining in the Round of 12. Custer, who won at Texas in 2018, currently ranks in a three-way tie for seventh on the all-time NXS Ford win list with 12 career victories, including two this season in Portland and Chicago.
FORD’S NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS
AT TEXAS
1997 – Jeff Burton
1998 – Mark Martin
2001 – Dale Jarrett
2002 – Matt Kenseth
2004 – Elliott Sadler
2005 – Greg Biffle (1) and Carl Edwards (2)
2008 – Carl Edwards (Sweep)
2011 – Matt Kenseth (1)
2012 – Greg Biffle (1)
2014 – Joey Logano (1)
2017 – Kevin Harvick (2)
2018 – Kevin Harvick (2)
2019 – Kevin Harvick (2)
FORD’S NASCAR Xfinity Series WINNERS
AT TEXAS
1997 – Mark Martin
1999 – Mark Martin
2000 – Mark Martin
2004 – Matt Kenseth
2007 – Matt Kenseth
2010 – Carl Edwards (2)
2011 – Carl Edwards (1) and Trevor Bayne (2)
2012 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (1)
2013 – Brad Keselowski (2)
2015 – Brad Keselowski (2)
2018 – Ryan Blaney (1) and Cole Custer (2)
2020 – Austin Cindric (1)
