NASCAR Cup Series

Trevor Bayne and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane crew return to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend, the site of Bayne’s first Sprint Cup start back in the fall of 2010, and the beginning of his relationship with the Wood Brothers and their iconic No. 21 Ford Fusion.

SS Green Light Racing team heads to this weekend’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series WinStar World Casino 350k for round two of 2012 at the fast mile and a half speedway just outside of Fort Worth, TX. With the season coming to a close, the truckers will be fighting hard for every position in the standings.

Justin Lofton and the No. 6 Weekends Warriors Productions / Lofton Cattle Chevrolet qualified 14th and battled up to the top 10 in the Kroger 200 on Saturday, where he ran for most of the day. But, on lap 197 (of 200) his left rear tire was punctured. Fighting to hold on to the truck, Lofton spun on Lap 199, but managed to hobble across the finish line to end the day on the lead lap in 19th position.

Did anyone doubt that Jimmie Johnson would lead the Chase points after Martinsville? Earlier in the spring race, he and teammate Jeff Gordon were headed for a 1-2 finish before somebody got greedy and the result was Ryan Newman winning. Never mind that Hendrick Motorsports owns this place, and if for not a strange turn of events, HMS would have won both races at Martinsville Speedway. As usual.

How could there not be some form of mayhem at the Martinsville Speedway last Sunday? The fact that the green flag fell on 43 cars lined up on a half mile track, shaped like a paper clip, alone said strap in and hang on tight. When the checkers fell on lap 500, it was fairly evident why a five time champion was looking like a six pack. His season long rival for the championship scored an impressive comeback run to at least keep the standings close.

Michael Annett on racing at Texas Motor Speedway: “I’m ready to get back in the Pilot Flying J Ford after having a weekend off. We’ve been really consistent here as of late, bringing home top-10 finishes the last two months. I feel like we are knocking on the door of a win, and I’m hoping this weekend we’ll finally get that door opened. Philippe (Lopez) and the team have worked really hard on our program this year, and I’d really like to get a win for the No. 43 team and everyone involved at RPM before the season is over. "

Racing with Ruud... Cale Gale will race with the Ruud colors on the No. 33 Chevrolet this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Known for its reliability, which will be showcased on the truck with the tagline "Rely on Ruud," Ruud is a major quality brand of Rheem that produces products in the heating, cooling and water heating categories.

Jason on Texas Motor Speedway: “I really look forward to returning to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. Back in June we had a really strong truck and led some laps before receiving some damage to the nose of our GunBroker.com Ford which really ruined our run. Texas is a big momentum track that tends to have some long green flag runs. So it is very important to get a good handle on your truck so you can keep that momentum up in a long run. We have great horsepower in our Ford F-150 supplied by Roush Yates Engines and that plays a big key at this track as well.”

DODGE QUOTES: “This has been the trend all year: going to places I haven’t been to. I’m really excited to be in both the RAM truck and the Challenger Nationwide car this weekend. I love running double-duty. I think it just teaches you more about the race track. Running the truck race the night before definitely helps with the Nationwide car, so it’s kind of a win-win there. One thing I’ve struggled with a lot is being too loose at big race tracks. It’s just a learning thing. We were very good at Kansas; we definitely got it tightened up from practice where it was really good in the race.” --Ryan Blaney

Claimed first NCWTS win at Iowa Speedway (race No. 15) in third career start and became the youngest winner in series history at 18 years of age, surpassing Kyle Busch.