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By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

FORT WORTH, Tex. — Kevin Harvick had a lock on the front of the field in Saturday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway, but there was plenty of action behind him.

The class of the field in the 200-lap, 300-mile Nationwide Series race, Harvick won handily, crossing the finish line 1.628 seconds ahead of 18-year-old Ryan Blaney, who made the most of a pit stop for tires on Lap 178.

Polesitter Kyle Busch ran third, followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who erased the six-point series lead Elliott Sadler held when the race began. Stenhouse, the defending Nationwide champion, is tied with Sadler with two races left in the season.

Continue reading “Kevin Harvick Dominates Texas Nationwide Series Race”

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1 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet 28.261 191.076
2 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford 28.364 190.382
3 18 Kyle Busch Snickers Toyota 28.402 190.127
4 15 Clint Bowyer 5-hour Energy Toyota 28.411 190.067
5 56 Martin Truex Jr. Carlyle Tools by NAPA Toyota 28.422 189.994
6 20 Joey Logano Home Depot/redbeacon.com Toyota 28.457 189.760
7 21 Trevor Bayne(i) Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford 28.480 189.607
8 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Dodge 28.491 189.534
9 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 28.500 189.474
10 17 Matt Kenseth Ford EcoBoost Ford 28.502 189.460

THE FINAL LAP WEEKLY – TEXAS PREVIEW FEATURING JOEY COULTER

11 55 Mark Martin Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 28.527 189.294
12 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office Toyota 28.530 189.274

Continue reading “2012 Texas Cup Series Starting Lineup – Jimmie Johnson On Pole”

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By: Toby Christie – Follow on Twitter @Tobalical

The first practice session of the weekend at Texas Motor Speedway is in the books, and round one of the weekend goes to Martin Truex Jr. and Michael Waltrip Racing. Truex ripped off a lap of 190.745 mph, which was quick enough to top his teammate Mark Martin who ran a laptime of 190.449 mph. Truex has be oh-so-close to visiting victory lane all season long, and it appears he has a car that may be fast enough to contend for the win yet again.

Clint Bowyer, the third Michael Waltrip Racing car, clicked off the fourth fastest lap of the session. Bowyer who sits third in the championship standings, 26 points behind the point leader had a lap of 189.857 mph. The other guy who has slipped into the championship picture is Kasey Kahne, who is now just 29 points out of the championship lead. Kahne was eighth-fastest in the first tune-up of the weekend. Continue reading “MWR Brigade Lightning-Fast; Keselowski Faster Than Johnson In First Texas Practice”

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Jimmie Johnson’s win at Martinsville broke an 11-race winless drought, and nudges the all-time winningest manufacturer nearer to a major milestone: 700 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories.

They now sit at the very edge of the milestone, at 699 wins.

The accolades don’t end there. Chevrolet has already clinched the Manufacturers’ Championship in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide Series, and can clinch the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ title this weekend at Texas. It would be the first manufacturer championship sweep since Chevrolet did it in 2005.

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Since the inception of the position-based points system in 1975, the largest deficit overcome with three races remaining was by Dale Earnhardt in 1990, when he caught Mark Martin to close out his fourth title.

Under the current points structure, 49 points roughly translates to 12 points. That means Clint Bowyer’s 26-point deficit and Kasey Kahne’s 29-point climb is daunting to say the least.

But is an historic comeback impossible? Of course not. No driver has been mathematically eliminated from championship contention – though a couple may be following Texas (any driver 97 points behind the leader after Texas will be officially eliminated).

Back to Bowyer and Kahne. Bowyer comes into this race with three top 10s in the last four Texas races, and boasts momentum at 1.5-mile tracks after capturing his first victory on an intermediate track at Charlotte. Kahne enters the weekend with two consecutive top 10s at Texas, along with a win there in 2006.