NASCAR CUP RACE: WHAT TO WATCH

When William Byron first met Rick Hendrick a decade ago, the teenager who had learned racing on a computer wasn’t all that confident how things would work out as he revealed his goal to drive one day for the NASCAR team owner. There is certainly no lack of confidence now for Byron, who at 26is getting race wins for NASCAR’s winningest team, and some significant ones at that. A week after Byron’s 13th career win in a 1-2-3finish for Hendrick Motorsports at Martinsville as the team marked the 40th anniversary of its first victory, the series is back at Texas, where he led only the final six laps last September to get Hendrick’s 300th victory. “For me, just felt like a full-circle moment. Just with all the history of Martinsville, with being in the 24(car) .... talking to Rick on the phone and then going to celebrate with him,” Byron said Saturday.

Byron, who qualified sixth at Texas, opened this season by winning the Daytona 500, the record-matching ninth for Hendrick but first since 2014. He also won three weeks ago in the other Texas race in Austin.

JIMMIE’S BACK

The 48-year-old Jimmie Johnson will race at Texas for the first time since 2020, as a driverowner in the No. 84Chevrolet for Legacy Motor Club. Johnson finished 28th at Daytona in his only start so far this season. He has raced 35 times at Texas, where he is the all-time leader with seven wins and 1,152laps led.

“It’s funny now the way the place drives. Just have a lot of anxiety about Turns 1and 2,” said Johnson, whose last win here was in 2017, the first year after the track was repaved and reconfigured in those turns. “The previous configuration, that was really the most fun that you can have on a mile-and-a-half, was Turns 1and 2. So bummed that it’s still not there.”

That was before practice, when Johnson got loose in those turns and the No. 84went into the outside wall. The team was working to repair that primary car for Sunday’s race.

SPRING SOLO

For the first time in 20years, the only Cup race at Texas will be in the spring. The track hosted two Cup races each season from 2005-20, but the last three years the lone stop each year was a playoff race in the fall. The track was a spring-only stop from its opening in 1997 through 2004.

ODDS AND ENDS

Texas was reduced from 334laps to 267last September, the first time it wasn’t scheduled for 501miles. It is set for 400.5miles again this year, the 44th race at Texas . ... Larson, like he was last fall, is listed as the favorite to win Sunday, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.