Kyle Busch is 2-for-2 at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend
- Kyle Busch won Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Texas Motor Speedway less than 24 hours removed from winning Friday’s Gander Outdoors Truck Series race
- If Busch wins Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, it will be the third time in his career that he has won all three NASCAR national series race at the same track on the same weekend
- Busch led 33 of the race’s 200 laps, benefiting from late-race pit strategy and a solid final restart to win his 203rd career NASCAR national series victory and 95th in the XFINITY Series
- Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell led the most laps with 127, finishing third and qualifying for the $100,00 Dash 4 Cash bonus in the April 6th event at Bristol Motor Speedway
- Tyler Reddick finished second between the two JGR drivers
- Chase Briscoe and Jeb Burton rounded out the top five
- The race was slowed nine times for 50 laps, including the stage breaks
- There were 11 lead changes amongst five drivers
- Reddick, Briscoe, and Michael Annett were the other three drivers who qualified for the Dash 4 Cash bonus
Additional info: Full results … Full points report … Full recap from Kickin’ The Tires’ Jerry Jordan
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Denny Hamlin leads one and only Cup Series Saturday practice session
- The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was supposed to have two practice sessions on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway, but the first was cancelled due to a persistent mist in the area
- Despite a slight brush with the wall, Denny Hamlin led the scheduled final practice session with a fastest lap of 28.879 seconds at 186.987 mph
- Teammate Kyle Busch — who is going for the weekend sweep — was second quickest
- Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney posted the third quickest time
- Kurt Busch and Sunday’s pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top five
- Of the 32 drivers (out of 39 in the session) who posted 10 consecutive laps, the drivers with the best 10-lap average were Johnson, Ku. Busch, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, and Blaney
- Though the session went virtually incident free (other than a brief caution period for fluid on the track), the session saw lots of on-track action, particularly with those practicing in the draft
Additional info: Full practice results … Story from Frontstretch.com’s Beth Lunkenheimer … Recap from NASCAR.com
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Sunday schedule at Texas Motor Speedway
- 7:30 AM – Gates open at Lil’ Texas
- 8:30 AM – Practice at Lil’ Texas
- 8:30 AM – MENCS Garage Opens
- 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM – Texas Motor Speedway & NASCAR Credentials Open
- 10:00 AM – Gates (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), Victory Lane Club & Luxury Suites Open
- 10:05 AM – 12:45 PM – Racing at Lil’ Texas
- 11:30 AM – 12:00 PM – Outdoor Powersports Offroad Rumble SST Race
- 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM – MENCS Hot Pass In Effect Until One Hour After Race
- 2:00 PM – MENCS O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (304 laps, 501 miles)
- 30 minutes after checkered flag – Outdoor Powersports Offroad Rumble SST Race
- All times listed are CDT
Additional info: Texas Motor Speedway at-track schedule … TV and online streaming schedule … NASCAR weekend schedule
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John Andretti continues fight with colon cancer
- Former NASCAR and IndyCar driver John Andretti tweeted on Friday that his colon cancer has returned and will need to undergo more chemotherapy treatment
- Andretti was diagnosed with colon cancer back in 2017, and had already been declared cancer-free once previously
- He underwent surgery in January of 2019 to remove the cancer, which had spread to other parts of his body
- Andretti is the nephew of Mario Andretti and the son of Aldo Andretti
- John Andretti made 436 NASCAR national series starts between 1993 and 2010, finishing as high as 11th in points in the Cup Series in 1998
- The 56-year-old has become an advocate for colon cancer awareness and encourages individuals to talk to their doctor about scheduling their routine colonoscopies
Additional info: Story from IndyStar.com’s Tim Evans … John Andretti career statistics … Colorectal Cancer Awareness
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FlexFit becomes Official Headwear Provider of XCI Racing, Jeffrey Earnhardt
- FlexFit LLC is a vendor of custom, private-label headwear and is partnering with XCI Racing and driver Jeffrey Earnhardt
- FlexFit will now be known as the “Official Headwear Provider” of XCI Racing and Earnhardt, with the FlexFit 110 being the driver’s hat of choice
- Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Texas Motor Speedway signaled the debut of XCI Racing; Earnhardt finished eighth
- XCI Racing has an alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing
- Earnhardt will compete in four more XFINITY Series events this season and two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races for XCI Racing in 2019
- Jeffrey Earnhardt is the grandson of seven-time Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt Sr., nephew to two-time Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., and son of Kerry Earnhardt
Additional info: Official release … About XCI Racing … Story from Kickin’ The Tires’ Zach Catanzareti
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