NASCAR Cup Series

Legendary musician Ozzy Osbourne and nationally acclaimed sports talk radio and TV personality Jim Rome highlight the honorary positions for Sunday's O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Texas is next on the dance card this weekend, an apropos venue to hear about Bellator and Monster Energy getting together to present some pre-race smackdowns, some good ole fashioned ass whippin’s, some unscripted mayhem.

32nd in Points: Coming in to Sunday's O'Reilly Auto Parts 500, Matt DiBenedetto and the No.32 Can-Am/Kappa Riding team sit 32nd in points just six races into the season.

Encouraged by steady improvement of the intermediate track program, Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Smithfield Ford team are ready to tackle the new pavement and configuration of Texas Motor Speedway. Throughout the season, the team worked to improve speed off the truck and feels as they improve off the truck, they are in a better position to race in the Top 15 during the race. The team will have one practice Friday morning before qualifying on the new track and will continue to improve the Fusion's handling for a good run on Sunday.

Richard Childress Racing's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series history at Texas Motor Speedway ... In 97 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 17th and have completed 31,363 of the 32,347 contested laps (97 percent) with 140 laps led at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth-based race track.

Driver Ryan Blaney, crew chief Jeremy Bullins and the rest of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing team are confident they can bounce back from their 25th-place finish last week at Martinsville Speedway with a strong performance this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

The Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s 334-lap event on the 1.5-mile oval. Hamlin has captured two wins at the intermediate track, scoring back-to-back victories at the Lone Star State speedway during his prosperous 2010 season.

Roush Fenway Racing returns to the former home of Tony Romo and to the land of “Jerry World” this weekend as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) prepares to do battle at Texas Motor Speedway, a track that has seen a Roush Fenway Ford be the “Lonestar” in victory lane 18 times across NASCAR’s three major touring series.

For Trevor Bayne, driver of the No. 6 Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford Fusion, Texas Motor Speedway is a land of a lot of firsts. Bayne made his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) start at the 1.5-mile oval in Nov. 2010, earning a 17th-place finish.

The three veteran Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Camry drivers have multiple MENCS wins at Texas Motor Speedway … Busch won at the track in April 2013 and again last spring, while Denny Hamlin has swept both Texas Cup races in 2010 and Matt Kenseth won twice at the track prior to joining JGR and Toyota (April 2002, April 2011)