Texas Motor Speedway presents a unique challenge to NASCAR Cup drivers
By Reid Spencer / NASCAR Wire Service
FORT WORTH, Tex.(May 1, 2025)— NASCAR Cup Series drivers will face what is arguably the sport’s most challenging 1.5-mile track when they head to Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s WÜRTH 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Last year’s race at Texas, contested over 400 miles, produced a track-record-tying 16 cautions, equaling a mark established over 500 miles in 2022. In fact, 16 yellows constitute a NASCAR record for cautions in a 400-mile race on a 1.5-mile speedway.
The treachery at Texas lies in the distinctly different ends of the track. Turns 1 and 2 are flatter and slower, while Turns 3 and 4 are higher-banker and faster. Negotiating both sets of corners while maintaining pace can be a daunting task.
“It’s a huge compromise,” said Denny Hamlin, a three-time winner at Texas. “It’s essentially kind of what we felt caused me to wreck in that green-white-checker situation last year when we had the lead.
“We were really good on one end, aggressive on the other, and when I needed to push it, just spun out. Certainly, it’s a really, really tough balance to have.”
Hamlin and Kyle Busch (four victories) are the only multiple winners at the track in the field for Sunday’s race, the first of three straight points events on 1.5-mile intermediate speedways (followed by Kansas Speedway on May 11 and Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25).
For Austin Cindric, last Sunday’s winner at Talladega Superspeedway, the string of intermediates represents an opportunity to continue the momentum he established at NASCAR’s largest oval track.
“Yeah, I think they’re all opportunities to win races, all opportunities to gain points,” Cindric said. “I think our intermediate races at the beginning of this year were strong, ‘cause I feel like we picked up where we left off in the Playoffs last year, which was a key detail for me.
“So I think the team is pretty energized to go to those races and try and contend and continue to learn.”
Interestingly, in three of the last four years, Cindric has been the first race winner for Team Penske, while his teammates, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, have combined to win the last three series championships.
Nine different drivers have won the last nine races at Texas, but Hendrick Motorsports drivers have won three of the last four. Kyle Larson won from the pole in 2021, William Byron claimed victory in the Playoff race of 2023, and Chase Elliott broke a 42-race drought with his win at Texas last year.
“I had lost the lead to Denny (Hamlin) on that (late) run that went green there for a little bit,” Elliott said of last year’s race. “He was certainly outpacing me and was able to get by. Then had a caution, lined up on the front row and had a good restart, good push into Turn 1…
“He was going to end up winning, I think, the drag race down the back, but the caution came out, and we were ahead and ended up getting the spot. So I had control for the next (restart) and ended up getting the lead into (Turn) 3. Had some good fortune there, the way the caution fell.”
Elliott could use some more good luck on Sunday. He hasn’t won since that race, and his winless streak has now reached 37 races.
Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race just got a new favorite
Last year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway produced the second closest finish in series history, but that likely won’t be repeated with Kyle Larson in the field this year.
Sam Mayer beat Ryan Sieg to the finish line by 0.002 seconds last spring in a drag race to the stripe. Larson, on the other hand, prefers to win by as large a margin as possible, as he did in April at Bristol, where he led 276 laps and won by 2.054 seconds in his second Xfinity start of the season.
Larson, however, won’t be in the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
In fact, he wasn’t scheduled to race at all until JR Motorsports rookie Connor Zilisch withdrew because of a back injury he sustained in a hard crash at Talladega.
As a consequence, Larson will be driving the No. 88 JRM Camaro, competing against teammate and series leader Justin Allgaier.
“Texas has been a strong track for us the last few years,” said Allgaier, who finished third behind Mayer and Sieg last spring. “We were close last year, and I know that we are going to have that same speed when we unload on Friday.
“Everyone on this Jarrett team is ready to go, and we know what we need to do to be just those couple spots better at the end on Saturday.”
Spire Motorsports brings extra muscle to Texas Truck Series race
In addition to NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regulars Rajah Caruth and Andrés Pérez de Lara, Spire Motorsports is bring some serious additional firepower to Friday night’s SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar will make his first start in the series since 2023, when he picked up the first of his four Truck Series victories at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth track.
“I’m really excited to get behind the wheel of a truck again,” said Hocevar, who also drives for Spire in the Cup Series. “It has been a while since I’ve run in the series, but I’m really looking forward to it. I won my first truck race there and will be with one of the best teams in the garage and with one of the most experienced crew chiefs (Brian Pattie).”
Hocevar is driving the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet on Friday. In the No. 07 is full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Nick Sanchez, who won the pole for the two most recent Truck Series races at Texas and finished third last year before moving up to his current ride with Big Machine Racing in the Xfinity ranks.
To take the checkered flag, however, the Spire contingent will have to contend with TRICON Garage’s Corey Heim, who leads all active drivers with a 5.3 average finishing position at Texas.
A two-time winner this season, Heim also leads the series standings by 22 points over Chandler Smith in second.
Note: Tyler Ankrum comes to Texas riding a streak of six top-10 finishes, including the April 18 win at Rockingham that ended a 130-race drought—the most starts between wins in Truck Series history.
