Race may get chippy in Texas
Contenders chase win and points after Martinsville
If everything is bigger in Texas, as the old saying claims, it might be advisable to tune in for the finish of Sunday’s AAA Texas 500, the next race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
As Cup teams arrive in Fort Worth for the second visit this season to Texas Motor Speedway, there is enough angst lingering from last Sunday’s finish at Martinsville Speedway to keep a roomful of counselors busy.
The two most prominent characters from the Martinsville chaos are Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott. Either could have won, locking in a spot in the final four playoff driver list at HomesteadMiami Speedway. Instead, they crashed. Hamlin nudged Elliott into the outside wall, leading to a tense confrontation between the two after the race.
Kyle Busch sliced through the Martinsville mayhem — yes, there was more wrecking after Elliott-Hamlin — to win the race and claim the Homestead slot prize. As a result of their late-race encounter, Hamlin and Elliott arrive in Texas in the bottom two positions in the field of eight playoff drivers.
Martin Truex Jr., thanks to seasonlong success and excellent performances in the playoffs (three wins and six top-five finishes in seven races), is a virtual lock for the final four. Truex finished second Sunday but could have bumped Busch from first and nabbed the win. Truex avoided that tactic, he said, to keep from being on someone’s enemies list entering Texas.
Considering all the chaos and resulting hard feelings at Martinsville, the Truex strategy might be a winner.
With Busch holding a spot in the Homestead group and Truex practically a certainty, two vacancies remain.
“I think right now you know that Truex is going to be in there,” said Kevin Harvick, fourth in points. “Kyle Busch won last weekend at Martinsville, so he’s going to be in Homestead with a shot. But you look from there down, I think it’s pretty much wide open. I don’t think you can count anyone below those two out of it, or in it, for that matter.”
After Truex and Busch in the playoff order are Brad Keselowski, Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Blaney, Hamlin and Elliott.
Only three of the playoff drivers — Johnson with seven victories and Busch and Hamlin with two each — have won at Texas.
Johnson has won three of the last five races at TMS, including the spring event, and has the second-best average finish (8.2) of the playoff drivers at the track. He hopes to be in the Homestead final four to have a chance at what would be a record eighth championship.
Elliott, who probably needs a win at Texas or Phoenix to be in the final four, has a 6.0 average finish at Texas Motor Speedway but has raced there only three times.