The NASCAR Cup Series Playoff contenders show up at Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s race so competitively balanced even they can’t predict an odds-on favorite as they start the Playoffs’ three-race Round of 12.
Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Larson won races in the opening three-race Playoff round to pad their place in the overall standings, but it’s William Byron and Martin Truex, Jr. who hold the slightest edge atop the championship order as the series starts this elimination round.
Byron, a series-best five-race winner, and Truex, the regular season champion and three-race winner, arrive in Fort Worth tied for the Playoff lead – a slim four-point edge on Hamlin and a 13-point advantage on Larson.
Reddick, the defending Texas winner, holds the eighth place – and final transfer position for this round – only 22 points behind Byron and Truex. Yet Reddick also holds only a tenuous advantage on the four drivers now needing to race their way into the eight-driver field that will advance to the next Playoff round.
Ross Chastain and Brad Keselowski are a slight three points behind Reddick. Ryan Blaney is six points back and Bubba Wallace is only 14 points below the cutoff line heading to the Lone Star state.
Statistically speaking, it’s been a fine Playoff start after a fine regular season run in particular, for Larson and Byron.
Larson’s 2.33 average finish in the opening three Playoff races is second all-time to Greg Biffle (1.67 in 2008) in a three-race Playoff span. He last won at Texas in 2021, leading a dominating 256 of the 334 laps – eclipsing Jimmie Johnson’s 255 laps led in a 2013 victory – and setting the stage for what would be his first NASCAR Cup Series championship. Larson’s 13 top-five finishes are most in the series this season and he and Byron are tied for most top-five finishes (three) at 1.5-mile tracks.
Byron, who is turning in a career year of his own, boasts the most laps led (877) overall and has the best average finish (5.25) and most laps led (277) specifically on 1.5-mile tracks this season.
“I’m looking forward to Texas,” Byron, 25, said. “It will be hot there and slick, which will lead to guys making mistakes. We just need to not be one of them and stay head of all that. We need to try to win it or at least maximize our points day.
“You have to take advantage of every opportunity you get if you want to run for a championship. There are only 12 cars left. You need to execute. This is the time to really show what you have.”
Byron and Larson can count on last week’s race winner Hamlin having a say in all that. The three-time Daytona 500 winning veteran is still competing for his first series title in a sure-bet Hall of Fame career. He is one of only four current Playoff drivers (also including Larson, Reddick and Kyle Busch) to win a Playoff race at Texas. And his three Texas trophies are second only to the four-time winner Busch among active drivers. Kevin Harvick, who has been eliminated from Playoff contention, also has three wins on the Fort Worth high banks.
Hamlin has scored top-10 finishes in the last three Texas races and brings a lot of momentum into the race weekend with his victory last week. Like others in the field, he’s intent on a good weekend at Texas because the next two races in this Playoff round – at the Talladega Superspeedway and Charlotte infield road course – are typically a lot less predictable competitively.
“Our mindset is that we want to get the work done early in this round and not be sweating points going into (Charlotte),” Hamlin said.
Of note, Blaney will make his 300th career NASCAR Cup Series start this weekend – marking the 100th driver to do so in the sport’s history.
NXS: Allgaier Leads The Xfinity Series To Texas
Veteran Justin Allgaier claimed the first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2023 Playoffs last week – his third trophy of the year – and he heads into Saturday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway absolutely expecting another week of high-stakes action on the 1.5-mile Fort Worth high banks.
There are only two championship contenders with past wins at Texas – Cole Custer and John Hunter Nemechek. Yet overall, this Playoff field boasts plenty of stellar work at the track with only two races remaining to decide which eight drivers advance to the next Playoff round.
Custer, who is ranked third in the championship has an impressive four top-five finishes and six top-10 finishes in six previous Texas starts. Similarly, Nemechek, who is ranked second to Allgaier in the Playoff standings – but leads in points – has three top-five and four top-10 efforts in five starts.
It will be an important weekend for Winston, Georgia’s Austin Hill, who won the regular season championship but sits fourth in the Playoff standings heading to the Lone Star State. Hill has a pair of top-five finishes in four series starts at the track and was runner-up to Noah Gragson in last year’s race.
Daniel Hemric, Jeb Burton, and Josh Berry are among those with at least three starts at Texas with Hemric’s three top-fives – including a runner-up showing to Tyler Reddick in 2021 – tops statistically among this group.
Two Playoff contenders, Sammy Smith and Talking Rock, Georgia’s Chandler Smith, will be making their Texas Motor Speedway series debut. They are currently ranked fifth and seventh, respectively, in the Playoff standings.
It’s been a full decade since Playoff driver Parker Kligerman last competed at Texas in the series. His last two starts in 2013 resulted in 12th and 13th place finishes.
Allgaier, with his Bristol win, along with Nemechek, Custer, Hill, Chandler Smith, Hemric, Sammy Smith, and Sheldon Creed go into the race weekend above the Playoff cut-off line. Burton is in ninth place, only four points off Creed for that final spot to advance to the Round of 8. Mayer (-12), Kligerman (-22) and Berry (-24) round out the Playoff field for the Texas race.
Not only is the Playoff situation a compelling storyline, but this week’s starting lineup will include a pair of high-profile debuts. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Daniel Dye will make his Xfinity Series debut driving the No. 44 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet – the first of three events he’ll run in 2023.
And Layne Riggs, son of former NASCAR Cup Series veteran Scott Riggs, will make his first series start in the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet.
NASCAR Weekend Preview
NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400
The Place: Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, TX
The Date: Sunday, September 24
The Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $8,955,060
TV: USA, 3 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 400.5 miles (267 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 80), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 160), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 267)
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: Andy’s Frozen Custard 300
The Place: Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, TX
The Date: Saturday, September 23
The Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $1,377,593
TV: USA, 3 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 300 miles (200 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)
WDUN will carry live PRN Radio coverage of the NASCAR race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, beginning with Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series Andy's Frozen Custard 300 at 3 pm on 102.9 FM and streaming live on AccessWDUN. Coverage continues on Sunday with the NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 beginning at 2:30 pm on 102.9 FM and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
