2 weeks agoDaniel Suarez isn't one of those drivers that you constantly point to when the NASCAR Cup Series is at an intermediate race track, but the Trackhouse Racing driver seems to have something figured out at Texas Motor Speedway, so you should definitely consider him for this weekend's Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400. Over the last three races at Texas, Suarez has posted finishes of eighth, 12th, and 10th, and he had a couple of third-place results here back in 2019 as well while driving for Stewart-Haas Racing. This weekend, Suarez qualified back in 17th, giving him room for place differential points in DFS contests while his salary is a palatable $7,200 on DraftKings. During practice on Saturday, Suarez ranked sixth-fastest in terms of ten-lap average.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Jayski
2 weeks agoBrad Keselowski has been one of the best drivers at Texas Motor Speedway as of late. Over the last five races in the Lone Star State, BK has posted finishes of ninth or better in every single one of them, including seventh- and eighth-place finishes in the last two with the NextGen car. However, with all of those races, Keselowski also started inside the top 10. That is not the case for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 this weekend. The No. 6 Ford will roll off the grid from 22nd on Sunday, and while this does give some place differential upside for Kez in DFS contests, it is worth noting that the No. 6 team struggled with long-run speed during practice on Saturday. They also struggled to find speed at Las Vegas earlier this season, finishing 13th after starting 25th. While Keselowski should improve from his 22nd-place starting spot at Texas, his top-10 finishing streak at this track may be in jeopardy this weekend.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Driver Averages
2 weeks agoRicky Stenhouse Jr. was off in speed and acceleration during practice and qualifying on Saturday. Not surprisingly, the JTG Daugherty Chevrolet starts 31st at Texas. Even his practice lap intervals tailed off dramatically. That 15-lap time of 30.335 seconds was the slowest of any car who ran that many laps. Stenhouse was about 0.405 to 0.409 seconds off in individual lap runs. However, longer runs produced slower and slower numbers for the No. 47 car. Watching the tenths of a second melt away on the turns looked like a hint of what may come on Sunday at Texas.
--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
2 weeks agoTy Dillon tries to keep pushing the Kaulig Racing car but to no avail. Dillon was 0.639 seconds off in practice and 0.653 seconds in qualifying on Saturday. He will start the Texas race back in 36th. The No. 16 Chevy is a bit slower than the Spire Motorsports car he had raced in last season. Dillon is a decent candidate for place differential given his 36th-place start on Sunday afternoon. However, this hinges on if he can keep the car running and there are more caution flags than usual. With intermediate track speed an issue, Dillon cannot run 29 second or better laps like the faster cars. Speed is a significant issue.
--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
2 weeks agoAustin Dillon and his Richard Childress Chevrolet has had a rough start to the 2024 season. His best result was 16th in Las Vegas and every other result has been outside the Top 20. Worse, he has no DNF's in the No. 3 car. That simply means the performance has been lacking. Dillon qualified 15th for Sunday's Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400. The Texas Motor Speedway track has been good for Dillon during the Spring in the past. He won the 2020 All-Star Race and placed second in the 2022 event. Alas, can Dillon's car perform over 267 laps is the biggest question mark.
--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
2 weeks agoAustin Cindric turned in a nice qualifying lap when it counted on Saturday. It got him into the final round where he qualified eighth for the Sunday afternoon race at Texas Motor Speedway. The Team Penske driver had never started in the Top 10 before on the intermediate track. In four appearances, his best start was 11th in the Fall of 2022. His better results were during the All-Star races (3rd and 5th respectively). Could the Ford car handle better in Spring conditions? Cindric was second-fastest overall in the practice session but only raced a handful of laps. Sunday truly is a wildcard when it comes to the 267 laps.
--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
2 weeks agoRyan Blaney likes racing at Texas Motor Speedway. The Team Penske car qualified seventh on Saturday. Blaney's Ford excelled at the All-Star event and even last year was fourth after Stage 2. An accident derailed his chances of victory but the No. 12 car cycled through the field with ease (started 28th). He was also sixth-best in practice laps and again was only 0.114 seconds off Kyle Larson's pole-setting lap. Winning on Sunday might be a tall order but do not be surprised if Blaney leads a few laps. He led 3.1% of them over the past three years and nearly won the All-Star Race in May of 2022 (led 84 laps).
--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
2 weeks agoZane Smith had one of his fastest races of the season last week at Martinsville. Because of that, he overtook Kaz Grala and Daniel Hemric to not have the worst speed percentile of the season anymore, but he's still had a rough start and has been consistently slower than his teammates, Carson Hocevar and Corey LaJoie, all season. Having said that, the Spire Motorsports cars have had speed on intermediate tracks this season and Smith had a solid qualifying run this weekend. He will start 18th for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400, directly behind Hocevar, who was the fastest rookie. However, for all his Craftsman Truck Series success, Zane Smith never won at Texas. He seems likely poised to struggle this weekend, but Spire's speed and his learnings from the truck race may help him.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 weeks agoJimmie Johnson is clearly the greatest driver in Texas Motor Speedway history, with a record seven wins and 1,152 laps led. He even impressed in the 2022 IndyCar race at Texas as well, where he finished directly between multi-champion teammates Scott Dixon and Álex Palou in his first oval start. However, while it is one of his best tracks, he hasn't raced there since his retirement from full-time competition, and his races since his comeback have been extremely subpar. He crashed out of all three of his 2023 starts and in his only start this year, he finished four laps down, while his teammates Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek both got top tens. Johnson hasn't yet figured out the NextGen car, and after a practice crash relegated him to a backup car, it seems like it'll be a miracle if he even finishes on the lead lap this weekend in the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 weeks agoAustin Hill has finished in the top ten in his last four Texas Motor Speedway starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and led 25 laps in this weekend's event on an alternate pit sequence, but he probably won't replicate that feat in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series event. Hill will be making his first Cup start of 2024 for Richard Childress Racing, which certainly has faster cars than Beard Motorsports did last year, but he was assigned crew chief Keith Rodden, who was just fired from his teammate Austin Dillon's team after a season of underachievement. Both Dillon and Kyle Busch posted mediocre top speeds in practice and Busch will be going to a backup car after crashing in practice, which means that not only do they seem to lack speed but their focus will likely be elsewhere. Keep your expectations low for Austin Hill in his season debut this weekend.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 weeks agoKaz Grala starts this weekend's Texas race from the 33rd position. Although Grala was the slowest driver to post a qualifying time in the first qualifying group, he did post a slightly faster lap than his teammate, Justin Haley, although Haley will be starting one position better because he ranked higher within his qualifying group. Grala has never finished better than 23rd on a non-drafting intermediate, and in that race (the 2022 Coca-Cola 600) he finished thirteen laps down, so he has never really had a car capable of contending. It looks like he won't this weekend either if his last-place finish in practice is any indication. Furthermore, in the Xfinity Series, Grala has never finished better than 15th at Texas and only finished on the lead lap once. The Rick Ware Racing driver is almost certain to be a complete afterthought on Sunday.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 weeks agoAlthough Noah Gragson did not start last year's Texas race because it came after Legacy Motor Club suspended him for the season, he finished 21st in the fall Texas event of 2022, which was held the day after Gragson won from the pole in the Xfinity Series to complete his four-race win streak in that series. Gragson has generally struggled with the NextGen car, but he had an unexpected sixth-place finish at Las Vegas in the most intermediate race this season and he did outqualify two of his teammates (Josh Berry and Ryan Preece) for this one, although he is only starting 21st in the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400. His slow speed in both practice and qualifying will make him an unlikely contender, but the unexpected Las Vegas result may make him an interesting dark horse.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 weeks agoChris Buescher may be Texas's current native son in NASCAR, but his record at his home track is lackluster. Not only has he never finished better than 14th at Texas, he's also never led a lap under green, as he performs better on short tracks and road courses than the 1.5-mile intermediates. However, Buescher had, by far, his best-ever run in last fall's event, where he started second, had an average running position of sixth, and had his best driver rating at the track. However, the Fords in general and the RFK cars in particular do not seem to have as much speed on the speedways as they did last year and Buescher is only starting 19th this weekend. He'll probably have an above-average run, but it's unlikely he'll seriously contend, and his track record at Texas Motor Speedway leaves a lot to be desired.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 weeks agoJosh Berry qualified 25th for his first Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway and it's difficult to forecast his performance. Intermediates were arguably Berry's best track type in the NASCAR Xfinity Series as he scored a majority of his wins and laps led on them, but he never finished better than 6th at Texas. He led 46 laps in the 2022 spring event but he only led on strategy and didn't make a pass for the lead. Berry has the benefit of having Rodney Childers as his crew chief, who delivered Kevin Harvick all three of his Texas wins and also gave David Reutimann a pole, but the Stewart-Haas team has been lacking intermediate speed with the NextGen car and Berry has been much faster on short tracks in the Cup Series. Still, after Berry's bursts of speed in the recent short track races, he could emerge as a surprise sleeper on Sunday.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 weeks agoMartin Truex Jr. will start ninth in Sunday's Auto Trader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. Truex, who won the regular season championship in 2023, is quietly having another monster year in 2024. Although he has yet to find the winner's circle, he does have five top-10s
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