This week the NASCAR drivers don their cowboy hats and boots and ride into Texas for the seventh race of the 2012 Sprint Cup season. Texas Motor Speedway has only been on the circuit since 1997 and this Saturday night's race will be the 23rd Cup race there. The mile and a half venue offers plenty of speed with its 24 degree banking and starting up front usually pays big dividends. Although Matt Kenseth won at Texas from the 31st starting position back in 2002, 16 of the 22 Cup races have been won from a top10 starting position.
Texas is a track that always seems to provide a challenge to the drivers; perhaps that is why there have been 16 different winners in the 22 races. The only guy who can claim any sort of dominance is Carl Edwards, who has three wins at Texas in 14 starts; but the fact that Edwards still has an average finishing position of 15.5 shows how fickle this track can be from racetorace. Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin have two wins apiece, while 11 other drivers share the rest of the wins. Jeff Burton (1997) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2000) captured their very first Cup wins at Texas, while Denny Hamlin swept both races there in 2010 to account for both of his wins. Matt Kenseth won the April race at Texas last year and has 13 top10 finishes in his 19 starts; Kenseth also has the best average finishing position of all drivers of ninth. The Hendrick duo of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson each has one win there, while points leader Greg Biffle has one win in 16 starts. Kevin Harvick is 0for18 at Texas but a big positive is the fact that in those 18 starts there, he has never had a DNF. As far as the team efforts, Roush Fenway Racing by far leads the way with eight victories; Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports have three wins each.
Winning at Texas is also a buy nike air max 1 fb yeezy cheap good sign of success as seven of the past winners there have also won the NASCAR championship: Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Dale Jarrett and Terry Labonte.
The Nationwide series returns to action this weekend at Texas after having two weekends off. Trevor Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 champ, got his very first NNS victory at Texas last November.
It should also be an interesting weekend for the Trucks series as racing action returns to Rockingham. "The Rock" hosted NASCAR races from 1966 2004, but then those race dates were shifted to bigger, newer tracks. Since then the track has hosted ARCA and Pro Cup races, but has been nike air max tns australia used mostly for testing. Rockingham has also been used in several movies like The Dale Earnhardt Story and Talladega Nights. NASCAR returns however this weekend for the first time in eight years as the Trucks series will race Sunday afternoon at the Rock for the very first time ever.