NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR heads to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend with all three national series as the Playoffs continue. The Truck Series hits the track Friday for the JAG Metals 350 followed by the XFINITY Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 Saturday night. The Cup Series closes out the action Sunday at 2 p.m. on NBCSN with the AAA Texas 500.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is right when he says NASCAR needs more Martinsville-like dramas to play out every week. What they need is “drama and exciting finishes — the fans sitting there in the grandstands cheering like crazy, and booing, and cheering and booing after every interview, for 15 minutes after the race — we need that every weekend.” Damn right.

“There are now seven drivers fighting for those three remaining Championship 4 spots. We’ve had good runs at Texas in the past, but have not closed the deal there. First and foremost, we want to have a strong race at Texas and acquire as many points as we can.”

Seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) champion and career-long Chevrolet driver, Jimmie Johnson, is the leader of the pack at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS).  Johnson has seven wins, 15 top-fives and 21 top-10 finishes, more than any other driver in the series.  

“Looking forward to getting back to Texas – it’s a fun place to go. I enjoy going there and after the good runs we had there last season, I’m definitely looking forward to returning. In the spring we had a pretty good car, our teammate won, so good things to look back to for that race when we go back.”

Aric Almirola will be making his 14th start at the fast, mile-and-a-half oval.  He has a best start of third and finish of seventh, both coming with Richard Petty Motorsports.  "Our goal is to always win, that hasn't changed.  The next three races, yeah, it'd be pretty special to get another win. 

As Ryan Blaney and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team prepare for the second of three races in the Round of Eight in the Monster Energy Cup playoffs, the goal remains essentially the same as it’s been for every race this season.

Richard Childress Racing's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series history at Texas Motor Speedway ... In 100 starts at Texas Motor Speedway dating back to 1997, RCR has recorded one win (Jeff Burton, April 2007), eight top-five and 31 top-10 finishes with drivers Burton, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Green, Paul Menard and Ryan Newman. Prior to Texas Motor Speedway's inaugural season in 1997, Richard Childress, a former driver in NASCAR's top division, earned a pair of top-10 finishes at the now defunct Texas World Speedway in College Station, Texas. RCR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams boast an average starting position of 19.2, an average finishing position of 17.4 and have completed 32,331 of the 33,349 contested laps (96.9 percent) with 140 laps led at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth-based race track.

Liberty National Life Insurance Company has entered into a partnership with Richard Childress Racing and the No. 31 team for the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. Liberty National will be featured as a primary sponsor for select races with Ryan Newman and the No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro, and will be an associate sponsor for the entire season.

Kansas Speedway was the key to Round 3 advancement for Ryan Blaney and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing team. Texas Speedway holds much the same gravitas for the Wood Brothers’ ambition to race for the NASCAR championship at Homestead in three weeks.