The Chase Drivers Get Ready For The Texas Two-Step
Since inception into the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup schedule in 1997, Texas Motor Speedway has been a wild card. Of the 13 races at Texas, only Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Mobility Chevrolet) has won more than once. Ten years have gone by since the first green flag dropped at Texas and twelve different drivers have strolled into Victory Lane. Four of the twelve Chase drivers have reached the summit at Texas, but can those four do it again this weekend?
Of the other eight drivers in the Chase that haven’t won at Texas, the most surprising are the top three drivers in the standings. Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) has five top fives at Texas, the most of any Chase driver. Earlier this season, Gordon started on the pole and finished fourth.
With two consecutive wins Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) has closed the gap between first and second to only nine points. Johnson has three top-five and six top-10 finishes at Texas.
Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniels Chevrolet) hasn’t won at Texas either in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, but he has been to Victory Lane at Texas in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driving the Jack Daniels truck for owner David Dollar. He currently is 111 points behind Gordon and 102 points behind Johnson.
These next four Chase drivers have grabbed elusive Texas wins:
• Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet) won the Dickies 500 last year on a late season run when he won three of the last ten races in 2006. Stewart dominated the race starting eighth and leading 278 of the 334 laps.
• Jeff Burton captured his only win of this season at Texas in the spring, becoming the first driver to repeat at the track. Ironically, he was the first driver ever to win at the 1.5-mile track. Currently in eighth, Burton had a boost this past weekend with a fifth-place finish at Atlanta – his second top five in the Chase.
• Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford) captured a second-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway last weekend, moving him up to fourth in the Chase standings. That top five just might be the spark to get this team turned around to make a late run at the championship. Edwards won at Texas in 2005 by edging teammate Matt Kenseth (No. 17 USG Ford) and then teammate Mark Martin (No. 01 U. S, Army Chevrolet). Earlier this year Edwards finished 12th at Texas.
• Matt Kenseth is coming off his second consecutive top five. He is the fourth driver in the Chase to have won at Texas. Of the Chase drivers, Kenseth has the second-most top fives at Texas with four, and earlier this season finished second at Texas.
In that spring race, Kenseth led 16 laps and was on his way to his second victory of the season before Burton passed him on the final lap.
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