Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Quietly Obtains A New Career-Best Finish At Texas
Source: NASCAR.com
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. obtained a strong result from this week's Wurth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. Beginning the race from the 34th position, Stenhouse spent the entire race quietly working through the field. By the end of the first stage, Stenhouse reached the 25th position, nine positions up from where he started. In the second stage, Stenhouse didn't make much progress and remained 25th by the end of the stage. In the final stage, Stenhouse kept his car clean and avoided all the wrecks. As a result, he cracked the top 10, reaching as high as sixth position, where he eventually finished. This was a new career-best finish for Stenhouse in his Cup career at Texas, and he is currently in the Cup Series playoffs on points.Josh Berry Spins His Way To A Poor Result At Texas
Josh Berry of Wood Brothers Racing had a promising performance during Sunday's Wurth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway that ended in disappointment. Starting the race from the seventh position, Berry had one of the fastest cars right from the beginning. InRoss Chastain Picks Up Second-Place Finish
Source: Racing Reference
Ross Chastain's improved racecraft this year continued with yet another race where he turned a terrible qualifying result into a terrific finish. Chastain started 31st in yesterday's Wurth 400 and was a total nonfactor for the first two stages, but Trackhouse Racing has tended to have the best green flag pit strategy recently as Chastain and Daniel Suárez seem to routinely benefit from staying out of the pits during green flag pit cycles and catching cautions to propel them through the field. It happened again yesterday, as this strategy allowed Chastain to jump from 20th to 13th, and then several more crashes and the fact that Chastain is currently the best duelist on restarts culminated in an improbable second-place finish that was far better than his car. Despite the finish, Chastain fell from a tie for 10th to 11th in points because Joey Logano (the driver he was previously tied with) won the race.Bad Pit Strategy And Late-Race Crash Spoil Carson Hocevar's Top-10 Run
Source: Racing Reference
Although Carson Hocevar crashed out of Sunday's race at Texas, he actually had a good points day regardless and improved from 26 to 21 points behind the playoff cut line. After winning the pole, Hocevar led the first 22 laps until a caution came out for Noah Gragson's spin. Hocevar's team made the questionable move to take four tires in a race where clean air was king, which relegated him back to fourth place. He still held his ground and finished sixth in both stages, but his strong run was spoiled first by pitting on a green-flag cycle before the caution came out, then as he was attempting to make his way back up through the field, he crowded Ryan Preece into the wall before Preece ricocheted into Hocevar, relegating Hocevar to a 24th-place finish and three laps down. However, since A.J. Allmendinger, who was on the playoff bubble entering the race, crashed earlier, Hocevar still gained points.Erik Jones Improbably Finishes Fifth Despite Speeding Penalty
Source: Racing Reference
One of the biggest surprises in Sunday's race at Texas was the speed of the Legacy Motor Club cars, which unexpectedly were the two highest-finishing Toyotas in the race. After a couple seasons of futility, Erik Jones earned his first top-five finish on a non-drafting oval since Kansas in the fall of 2023. Although he started 14th and finished 10th in Stage 1, Jones had a speeding penalty during the first stage-break caution, which dropped him to 34th on the ensuing restart. However, he made a gallant charge and drove up to 21st at the end of Stage 2 before benefiting from both staying out of the pits during a green-flag pit cycle when a caution came out, followed by a string of numerous crashes. Since so many of the top contenders crashed, Jones re-entered the top 10 on Lap 212 and got as high as third on the overtime restart before eventually finishing fifth.Despite Crashing Out At Texas, Michael McDowell Surprisingly Fights For The Win
Source: Racing Reference
Michael McDowell is not particularly known for his prowess on intermediate tracks, as he has never finished better than sixth on a non-drafting intermediate, but he improbably had a strong chance to win Sunday's Texas race. Despite qualifying fifth, McDowell did not attract much notice since he was overshadowed by his teammate Carson Hocevar, but he ran in the top 10 for the entirety of Stage 1 and finished ninth before speeding in the pits early in the second stage. However, he made his way back to the front by taking two tires on the caution when Jesse Love spun, restarting the race in second. After a couple more restarts, he shockingly took the lead from Kyle Larson, who had dominated the race. Then he lost and reclaimed the lead from Ryan Blaney on a later restart, but McDowell's chances of winning ended when he crashed with two laps left shortly after Joey Logano and Blaney had passed him, dropping him to 26th.Brilliant Pit Strategy Lifts John Hunter Nemechek To Eighth Place
Source: Racing Reference
Although the Legacy Motor Club cars have not had much speed in recent years at all, both Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek ended up scoring top-10 finishes by weaving their way through the carnage of numerous wrecks. Nemechek actually had a terrible start to the race, starting 28th and sitting outside the top 30 for most of Stage 1 before a couple well-timed, two-tire pit calls pushed him up the field. In a race where clean air was king, he spent a part of Stage 2 in the top 10 before entering it mostly for good after the caution for Jesse Love's crash trapped several contenders a lap down. While he didn't run as well as Jones and was lucky to finish eighth, this still marks his first finish on a non-drafting oval since last year at Loudon.Ryan Blaney Frustrated After Fumbling Away Potential Win At Texas
Source: PRN
It was a good day for Ryan Blaney at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, but a frustrating one at the same time. Despite starting back in 24th-place for the Würth 400, Blaney was able to maneuver through traffic throughout the day and found himself with a shot to win late in the race. However, the No. 12 Ford simply wasn't able to get a good jump on restarts, which prevented Blaney from truly challenging for the race win. He ended up with a third-place finish when the checkered flag flew while his teammate, Joey Logano, won the race. When interviewed after the event, Blaney was visibly frustrated and noted, "Had a shot to win but didn't do a good job at the end. Overall a good day for our group, just didn't make the right decision at the end." This is Blaney's fourth top-five finish and his third in the last four races.Brad Keselowski's Woeful Season Continues With Wreck At Texas
Source: Jayski
Just when you think the 2025 season can't get much worse for Brad Keselowski, another race happens and another issue pops up. Despite showing top 10 speed late in the day at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon, Keselowski got caught up in a late caution and ultimately ended up finishing in 28th-place, 15 laps behind the leader. This is Keselowski's eighth finish outside of the top 20 in the first 11 races as the Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing driver is in the midst of his worst season ever. With his path to the playoffs getting narrower and narrower with each passing wreck, BK is likely going to need to get a win to make it into the postseason this year, which is surprising, as many pegged him as a sleeper for a Championship run in the preseason. Kyle Larson Has One Of The Best Cars In The Field At Texas
Source: FOX Sports
Kyle Larson is the favorite to win this weekend's Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway, according to virtually all sportsbooks across the country. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has been one of the fastest on 1.5-mile tracks in the Next Gen era, and at Texas specifically, Larson has the most laps led (195) in the three Next Gen races. Last year in this event, Larson had a dominant race car but ended up finishing 21st after a mid-race wheel issue. For this weekend's race, Larson was fourth-fastest in practice on Saturday morning and ranked eighth-best when it came to 20-lap average. He also qualified fourth for the race, which means "Yung Money" has great track position to start with this weekend. Larson is a strong option in both betting and fantasy formats at Texas this weekend. He's the highest-priced driver on the DraftKings slate ($11,000), but he also has the highest potential to absolutely dominate this race. If you pick Larson on Sunday, you're definitely picking one of the best cars in the field.William Byron Will Be Tough To Beat At Texas
Look for William Byron to contend for the Würth 400 win at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. No driver has been faster at high-speed intermediate tracks than Byron since the start of 2024, and Texas specifically has been a strong trackChase Elliott A Slam-Dunk DFS Pick At Texas
Source: Win The Race
Chase Elliott a one of the premier DFS options this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. After a disappointing qualifying run on Saturday, NASCAR's Most Popular Driver will start from way back in 29th-place when the Würth 400 goes green on Sunday, meaning Elliott has significant Place Differential scoring upside for the race. As far as track history goes, Chase is the defending winner at Texas Motor Speedway, going to victory lane last season despite starting back in 24th-place. He also just has a knack for getting to the front at this track, as he led 44 laps in the 2022 race here, and finished sixth in both Stages during the 2023 Texas race. The cherry on top is that Elliott is under-priced on this DraftKings slate, at only $9,000. This combined with the very high Place Differential potential makes Chase one of the strongest DFS picks for the Würth 400 this weekend.Could Austin Cindric Legitimately Contend At Texas This Weekend?
Last week's winner, Austin Cindric, could end up having another strong run in this weekend's Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. The No. 2 Ford has been fast since the team unloaded it this weekend, as Cindric had the best 10-,Ryan Blaney Is Worth Rostering For Texas DFS Lineups On Sunday
Source: DriverAverages.com
Ryan Blaney of Team Penske will start 24th for this week's Wurth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. This is the fourth race this season where Blaney has a starting position outside of the top 20. In 16 races at Texas in his Cup career, Blaney has 10 top-20 finishes with eight inside the top 10 and an average finish of 17.4. Through the first 10 races of the 2025 season, Blaney has six top-20 finishes and an average finish of 18.7. In practice for Sunday's race, Blaney ranked 19th in overall lap averages, fourth in 10 consecutive lap averages, and 13th in 15 consecutive lap averages. Based on his practice speeds and equipment, Blaney should take advantage of his high upside and be able to compete for a top-10 finish. This makes him one of the top overall DFS options of the week, especially for cash game lineups.