NASCAR Cup Series

The No. 43 team worked hard on their mile-and-a-half program and showed significant improvement throughout the season. Aric Almirola's best intermediate track finish this year was an eighth-place finish at Kansas earlier in the year. The team also showed speed in the past few intermediate track races but don't have the finishes to show for it. This weekend, Almirola hopes to rebound with a good finish in the No. 43 Farmland Ford.

Ryan Blaney will return to the seat of the No. 12 Snap-on Ford Mustang this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The last time the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) raced, three weeks ago at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Blaney nearly pulled off a big upset with a car that was extremely tight.

In his 21 career Cup Series starts at the 1.5-mile track, Biffle has two wins, eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. His average starting position is 12.3 with an average finishing position of 14.7.

Richard Childress Racing's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history at Texas Motor Speedway ... In 81 starts at Texas Motor Speedway dating back to 1997, RCR has recorded one win (Jeff Burton, April 2007), eight top-five and 30 top-10 finishes with drivers Burton, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Green and Paul Menard.

Stenhouse has three Sprint Cup career starts with an average starting position of 19.0 and average finishing position of 27.3.

Joey Logano won this season’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway and can become the third driver to sweep both events since the track began hosting two races a year in 2005. Carl Edwards was the first to do it in 2008 while Denny Hamlin was the second in 2010.

1. Jeff Gordon: Gordon, an eight-time winner at Martinsville, finished second in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500, the best finish among Chase-eligible drivers. He leads the points standings by three over Ryan Newman.

David Gilliland, driver of the No. 38 Love's Travel Stops Ford, comments on racing at Texas Motor Speedway:

David Ragan, driver of the No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford, comments on his top-10 finish at Martinsville Speedway and on racing at Texas Motor Speedway:

As I peer out my window, I see cloudy skies and snow upon the ground. Even for us in the Great White North, this sucks. Yet, for many NASCAR fans, the skies are blue, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and even that fat little mouse is eager to help Cinderelli build her dress. Life is perfect. Well, almost perfect. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his fourth of the season at Martinsville, but just one race too late to keep his title hopes alive.