NASCAR
Stratta’s Six: Who Will Lay Claim to Texas Victory Lane?
Sunday marks one of the most pivotal races left in the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs. Ultimate wildcard events at Talladega and the Charlotte Roval loom on the horizon for the next two weeks. Texas can be one driver’s saving grace. 500 miles in the Lone Star State stand between one of 12 contenders and a guaranteed spot in the Round of 8. However, these Playoffs so far have been historically-unmatched, with non-championship eligible drivers sweeping the opening three races. Can that streak continue into a fourth week? A few drivers no longer fighting for the title are quite familiar with winning at Texas. Here are some who could easily end Sunday as winner of the Autotrader Echo Park Automotive 500.
Ryan Blaney
Can the Texas All-Star Race winner from May pull off a season sweep at TMS? Ryan Blaney took the non-points Texas win after leading 84 laps, ultimately cashing in with the $1 million check. While winless in points races at Texas, Blaney has been close many times to taming this 1.5-mile track. After losing a wheel on pit road at Bristol, Blaney’s crew chief, jack man, and tire changer are not yet suspended for four weeks. Penske has elected to appeal this penalty, so the suspensions are deferred for now. Still searching for win number one on the season, Blaney will try and become 2022’s 20th different victory on Sunday.
Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang at Daytona International Speedway before the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on August 28th. Credit: Peter Stratta/TSJSports
Kevin Harvick
Despite elimination in the Round of 16, Kevin Harvick is one of the best active drivers at Texas. The 4 has three wins here, all in the Playoff race consecutively from 2017-2019. Since scoring that hat trick though, Harvick’s best result in Ft. Worth has been fifth. No longer racing with the ultimate pressure to perform for a championship, a care-free Harvick could spell doom for the field. One thing is certain about this team over the next seven weeks, they are still very much in the hunt for wins.
“That’s just something from when I wrestled in high school and raced our Late Models, it was always pounded into my head that it’s OK to not be good, but it’s not OK to quit,” Harvick said. “It’s never OK to not give it 100 percent. It’s never OK to quit grinding away for every single second of whatever it is you’re doing because you’re letting yourself down. And in this deal, you’re not only letting yourself down, you’re letting your whole team down, and I think that’s contagious, because nobody ever lets down.
“We can be off and struggling in a race, but we can keep ourselves on the lead lap and have a good pit stop and all of a sudden show up and finish fourth or fifth at the end of a race just because five or six of them have crashed and we’ve ground away all day at the little things and made our car a little bit better and hung in there and all of a sudden here we are. Sometimes it’s just about grinding away and doing the little things right. You don’t have to be the fastest, but if you just do more right than everybody else, you’re probably going to be pretty successful. There’s a lot of details that go into what we do to be good. Even with a slow car you can still find 100 details to make a slow car faster, and sometimes making a slow car faster is OK on certain days. Every day is different. Every day you have to find something to improve on and it’s a constant improvement. There’s a saying that we live by and it’s, ‘Evolve or die,’ and this year that saying has never been more relevant.”
“Texas is unique in the fact the two ends are so different. When they changed the racetrack, they made the width of the racetrack a lot wider through (turns) one and two than what it used to be. That end is a lot flatter, as well. It’s a very technical corner both in order to get your car positioned correctly and in order to make your car turn and stay in the throttle. It’s not as technical as it used to be now that the PJ1 is there, but you still have to put your car in the right spot in order to make a good lap time.”
Nobody has seen more success on this current Texas layout than Harvick. All of his Texas wins have come since the 2016 reconfiguration. In the quest for four-straight non-Playoff winners, perhaps the best chance goes to the No. 4 Mustang.
Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang at Darlington Raceway ahead of the Cook Out Southern 500 on September 4th. Credit: Peter Stratta/TSJSports
Kyle Busch
A four-time Texas winner, Kyle Busch won this race just two years ago. Also eliminated and with nothing to lose now, Busch can throw all caution to the win and chase another victory. If the May All-Star Race at Texas is any indication for this weekend, the 18 should be a stout contender. Busch was leading that race until losing a tire early in Stage 2. The 18 went from 100 to 0 real quick. Busch hopes for a similarly-fast car this time around.
“We obviously were very fast there in the All-Star Race until we had the tire issue,” Busch said. “We’d like to think we can go out there and we’re fast and we have good strong racecars. As far as the track and the resin, I’m hoping we can dabble in it a little longer the outside way around, but it does seem to have grip and you can make some runs off the top of the corners and try to make some moves down the straightaway and such. Same old Texas, it looked to me there in the spring, from that standpoint.”
“Restarts in (turns) one and two are certainly treacherous, just the way the banking is not quite there to hold you like it used to be. The track ends are very different in three and four, different than one and two. We’ve seen some late-race restarts and some problems for some guys in that race a couple of times and, for us, it’s no different. We learned some things I think at Kansas that helped our car and hopefully we can transfer some of that knowledge to Texas, and Homestead as well, with our Interstate Batteries Camry this weekend.”
Busch wants to end his 15-year tenure at Joe Gibbs Racing on a high note. Do not be surprised if he gets another win or two before the season’s out. Between both Busch and Harvick, the odds of a non-Playoff winner spoiling Texas are great.
Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry at Darlington Raceway ahead of the Cook Out Southern 500 on September 4th. Credit: Peter Stratta/TSJSports
Kyle Larson
Just last season, Kyle Larson busted out the broom at Texas. The eventual champion swept both the All-Star Race and the 500-mile Playoff event. Larson was almost untouchable at TMS in 2021, with 256 of 334 laps led here 11 months ago. Going for his third win of the year, Larson knows that the ultimate prize does not necessarily require a win this weekend.
“Be clean and let the other teams make the mistakes,” Larson said. “Honestly, if you can just finish you don’t have to do anything crazy in the first couple rounds. Don’t take yourself out of stage points or a good finish and you can advance. Once you get to the Round of 8, that’s obviously when you need to get some top-five finishes or a win. You just don’t want to take yourself out of any race or get any DNF or anything like that where you put yourself in a must-win situation because winning is really difficult to do. You just want to keep yourself in contention every race.”
The 5 team’s mission is just to improve their position in the standings. Among all drivers, Larson could be in contention for every race in this round. The defending champion had wins last fall at both Texas and the Roval, and a top-five at Talladega in April. While Larson is not yet in must-win territory, he could easily end this round with a win or two. Larson does also enter this weekend as the odds-on favorite.
Kyle Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro at Darlington Raceway ahead of the Cook Out Southern 500 on September 4th. Credit: Peter Stratta/TSJSports
Denny Hamlin
Another three-time Texas winner, Denny Hamlin has been feast or famine here in recent years. While he has a win here in 2019, three of the last four Texas trips have ended with the 11 outside of the top 10. Speed has been of little concern for this Joe Gibbs Racing team all year, but execution has been lacking. Even with his superspeedway prowess, Hamlin almost considers Sunday a must-win race.
“This is going to be a very important race,” Hamlin said. “With the unknowns of Talladega and the Roval, we’re looking at Texas as a place we can go run up front, try to maximize our points and be in contention for the win. Passing was very difficult in the All-Star Race though. I expect that to be the case like it has been for the last few years at Texas. So qualifying up front and having a smooth day on the track and on pit road are going to be key for us to have a shot.”
Perhaps the many flaws of the 11 crew will come to an end this weekend. With teammate Kyle Busch no longer in the Playoffs, the 11 and 18 pit crews have swapped ahead of Texas. The 18 team has been among the fastest on pit road all season. This internal reorganization could deliver Hamlin another Texas win.
Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry ahead of the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway on August 14th. Credit: Peter Stratta/TSJSports
Chase Elliott
Ending the Round of 16 in second at Bristol, Chase Elliott is reset to the points lead. The regular season champion hopes to get off to a far greater start in Texas than he saw at Darlington. While Elliott has yet to win at Texas, he does have six top-10s in 11 starts here. Knowing that Texas has the chance for chaos, Elliott hopes to simply survive and advance past Sunday.
“I’d love to go to Texas this weekend and have a good, solid run and start this round off on a high note,” Elliott said. “We didn’t get to run the full All-Star Race earlier this year, but I still feel like we got enough track time to have good notes as we head back there. We just need to put a good weekend together and execute a solid day. If we can do that, then we have as good a shot as anyone to get a win and lock ourselves into the next round.”
Elliott was mostly an afterthought in the Round of 16, with results of 36th, 11th, and second. The runner-up at Bristol could be a sign of things to come for this 9 team, as they look to return to their summer dominance. Elliott could be in the mix late at Texas if he stays clean for all 500 miles.
Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Napa Chevrolet ahead of the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway on August 14th. Credit Peter Stratta/TSJSports
While Playoff drivers are 0-3 so far in this NASCAR postseason, that unprecedented streak will likely end Sunday. Texas is the only race in this round where everyone can control their own destiny. With so much at stake and two weeks of relaxation up for grabs, the 12 gladiators will be guns blazing for the Texas throwdown win. Coverage of the Autotrader Echo Park Automotive 500 begins Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Written by Peter Stratta
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