The Sprint Cup Series will be in Texas this Sunday for the second race of the Eliminator 8 round. Last week at Martinsville, Jeff Gordon earned his ninth win at the track and first of the season to punch his ticket to the Championship race at Homestead in two weeks.
However, that was masked over by the drama that occurred late in the race between Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth. There was already tension between the two after Logano spun Kenseth late in Kansas, ultimately leading to Kenseth’s exit from the Chase. With 46 laps left at Martinsville, Logano went to pass Kenseth, who was a few laps down after wrecking out a little bit earlier, but his pass was unsuccessful as Kenseth spun him and took him hard into the wall.
NASCAR suspended Kenseth for the next two races and he will be on probation for the next two months. The situation caused plenty of controversy within NASCAR and it’s fanbase this past week as fans argued that Kenseth did not deserve to be punished.
Last week in the BTF Chase game, staff writers Cole Mentzel and Michael Finley led the pack with 39 points each. They were followed by staff writer Mike Hutton, BTF editor Christopher Olmstead and staff writer Joseph Shelton who all received 30 points.
In the BTF fans game, Rita Stout and Mary Jo Korp led with 47 points a piece. Next up was Chris Losurdo and Tammy Hemminger who each had 30 points followed by Linda Lopez Gearst Gerhardt who gained 11 points.
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Here are the BTF staff predictions for Texas:
Mike Hutton – Brad Keselowski – Penkse’s 1.5-mile program is the best one out there right now and he’s had three consecutive top-5 finishes in Fort Worth.
Cole Mentzel – Kurt Busch – Though he only has one win at the track, he did win the pole at Texas back in April and he has an average finish of 8th at 1.5 mile tracks this season. Also, he has been solid throughout the Chase despite being involved in a wreck last week at Martinsville. Look for Busch to make it to Victory Lane this weekend.
Joseph Shelton – Brad Keselowski – He’s been fast all weekend and it’s shown since he won the Xfinity race and the pole for Sunday’s race. The Penske cars are tough on the 1.5-mile tracks this season.
This weekend will be critical for drivers like Joey Logano, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski. All three drivers were involved in wrecks last weekend and sit in 20+ point holes. In order to make it to Homestead, they will likely need a win at either Texas or Phoenix.
Next: Martinsville Win Was Extra Special For Gordon
That is why Texas is so important. Kevin Harvick has won seven races at Phoenix, including the last four. If he hasn’t locked up his spot, he will be going extra hard at a track that he loves racing at.
Texas is fast and Texas can get wild, as we saw last year with Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski. This year, it will be no different.
Who do you think will win at Texas? Let us know in the comments below!