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Bob PockrassNASCAR
FORT WORTH, Texas – Trevor Bayne will enjoy his third best starting spot this season on Sunday, which could pose the problem of whether he has extra motivation in his last race at Roush Fenway Racing.
"I wish the motivation is equivalent to the results, because we could run well for a long time," said Bayne Friday after qualifying for 15th place overall. "I have been very motivated for about four years."
Bayne, 27, begins his 187th career race, but he has emerged from his race at Roush Fenway after four full-time seasons. The organization left his full-time position in May, sharing it with veteran Matt Kenseth the rest of the year.
Bayne, champion of the Daytona 500 in 2011, has no sponsorship to take with him to another team and is looking for releases for 2019. He spoke to the teams but nothing has materialized yet.
Elliott – who has won two of the last four races – is likely to win Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway or the following week to be a finalist at Homestead.
Martin Truex Jr. has not yet announced he would be visiting Joe Gibbs Racing, but that seems likely. What other movements are on the horizon?
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will travel to Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, Nov. 4 for the AAA Texas 500. Green Flag: 3:16 pm.
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"I'm just trying to understand everything this weekend," Bayne said. "It's a strange feeling for me not to know because I do not have direction, I do not know if it's my last run. [ever].
"Maybe, that may not be the case, do not know, it's a bit difficult and I'm just trying to enjoy it and take it." It's surreal. When I arrived this weekend, I was like: "I'd better appreciate it because it's maybe the last one, but I hope this is not the case. "
Bayne's story is a secondary part of this weekend's main plot, as the AAA 500 is the middle race of the third round (semi-final) playoff series. Joey Logano knows he will be one of four riders to compete for the title on Nov. 18 at Homestead, thanks to his victory at Martinsville last week.
For the other seven playoff players still looking for a place in Homestead, their arrival in Texas is average: Chase Elliott (7.4), Kevin Harvick (11.1), Kyle Busch (11.6), Martin Truex, 14.0, Kurt Busch (14.8). ), Clint Bowyer (15.8) and Aric Almirola (20.6).
Those who won in Texas: Kyle Busch (3), Kurt Busch (1) and Kevin Harvick (1).
Here's how they will line up – and where the current drivers for the playoffs are – for Sunday's race:
1. Ryan Blaney (Penske Team No. 12 Ford): Blaney led 148 laps in April 2017 and finished sixth and fifth in his last two starts in Texas. So this pole is not a surprise, it is fast on the track.
2. Clint Bowyer (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Ford): Bowyer enters the race with 42 points behind the playoffs. His ninth place in April was his best in eight starts in Texas.
3. Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford): Harvick is 25 points ahead of the current playoff limit, giving him a little leeway. Harvick is the winner of the playoffs in Texas and finished second in April. He led 202 laps in the last three races in Texas. He finished in the top 3 in five of the last eight races in Texas.
4. Aric Almirola (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 Ford): Almirola enters the race with 50 points behind the playoffs. Almirola escaped from the race in April Texas, one of only two races he's made this year. He has a top 10 career on the track, a seventh in the April 2013 race.
5. Brad Keselowski (Team Penske No. 2 Ford): Keselowski has led only four laps in his last five starts in Texas, having led 312 to finish second in November 2015.
6. Denny Hamlin (Gibbs Racing's # 11 Toyota Gibbs Racing): Hamlin swept the 2010 Texas races but has only one among the top 5 (a year ago when he finished third) ) and four from the top 10.
7. Kurt Busch (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford): Busch is 25 points behind the current playoff limit, but it's not an insurmountable chance to win points, but not a good one luck. He won in November 2009 on the track and the players were distributing bobbleheads from Busch this weekend. He has six top-10 finishes in his last eight starts in Texas.
8. Joey Logano (Team Penske # 22 Ford): With his victory at Martinsville, Logano already has a Homestead ticket to compete in the championship. Logano won the Cup in April 2014 and has five consecutive top 10 on the track. He has nine top-10s in his last 11 starts in Texas.
9. William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet): Byron won in June 2016 at a truck race in Texas. He had his first start in April, in 33rd place and 10th.
10. Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing's # 18 Toyota Gibbons): Busch enters the race with 46 points ahead of the current playoff limit, which could give him 56 points in advance and he guarantee a place in Homestead. Having led 116 laps in April to qualify for the third time in his Texas Cup career, Busch has posted eight top-5 finishes in his last 11 starts. The other three arrivals were outside the top 10.
11. Paul Menard (Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford): Menard has not finished in the top 20 in his last five starts in Texas.
12. Erik Jones (Joe Gibbs Racing # 20 Toyota): Jones won three Xfinity races and one truck race in Texas. In Cup, he has two consecutive top 10 with a fourth in April.
13. Martin Truex, Jr. (Furniture Row Racing # 78 Chevrolet): Like Harvick, Truex is 25 points ahead of the current playoff limit, giving it a slight advantage. He has never won a Texas Cup race, but has two seconds and two thirds. As he escaped the race in April, he had led 363 laps in four previous races in Texas.
14. Ryan Newman (Richard Childress Racing, # 31 Chevrolet): It was not a good track for Newman, although he won in March of 2003. He has driven 21 laps since with just five top-10.
15. Trevor Bayne (Ford Rush Fenway Racing # 6): This is Bayne's last race for Roush Fenway Racing. It was an interesting turn. He has a decent Texas history with nine top-20 out of 16 starts (and a win in Xfinity in 2011).
16. Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports # 9 Chevrolet): Elliott enters the race at 31 points from the end of the playoffs. Elliott has fond memories of Texas, the site of his first Xfinity career win in 2014. He led nine laps in five starts in the Cup and had four consecutive top 10 finishes before placing 11th in April.
17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Roush Fenway Racing's Ford N ° 17): Stenhouse won Xfinity in Texas, but his best Cup result was 12th, a year ago, in 11 starts.
18. Alex Bowman (Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports # 88): Bowman has six starts in Texas, his best result being a 13th place replacement for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in November 2016.
19. Daniel Suarez (Joe Gibbs Racing's Toyota Gibbs # 19): Suarez has a record 14 points over three Texas Cup starts.
20. Jamie McMurray (Chevrolet Chip Ganassi Racing # 1): One of McMurray's highlights this season was his third place in Texas in April.
21. Chris Buescher (Chevrolet JTG Daugherty Racing # 37): He had his best race in Texas in April, starting 18th and finishing 15th. He has a Hendrick engine this weekend. The team can therefore determine whether to change the connections of its cars for next year, when it changes completely from ECR Engines to Hendrick.
22. Kyle Larson (Chevy Chip Ganassi Racing # 42): Larson was second in April 2017 in Texas, but did not finish his last two starts on the track.
23. Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports # 48 Chevrolet): Johnson has seven career wins in Texas, including a sixth in the last 12 races. He led 1,041 laps in Texas, the record for all active drivers. He was among those who crashed in April.
24. Ty Dillon (Germain Racing's # 13 Chevrolet): Dillon finished 13th in Texas in April – her second best performance this year behind a sixth-place finish at Daytona in July.
25. AJ Allmendinger (Chevrolet JTG Daugherty Racing No. 47): Allmendinger has twice finished 10th in his career in Texas, a position in which he has never led a lap.
26. Austin Dillon (Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing # 3): Dillon is not among the top 10 at 11 starts in Texas. He was 26 years old in April.
27. David Ragan (Front Row Motorsports Ford No. 38): Ragan is among the top 20 in his last 13 starts in Texas.
28. Regan Smith (Chevy Leavine Family Racing # 95): Texas did not treat Smith well, who is looking to rank for the first time among the top 20 at his 12th start.
29. Michael McDowell (Front Row Motorsports No. 34 Ford): His 14th place in Texas in April ranks second after his ninth place at the Daytona 500 this year in terms of his best results.
30. Bubba Wallace (Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Chevrolet): One of the best races of the season for Wallace was an eighth place in Texas in April.
31. Matt DiBenedetto (Ford # 32: Ford): DiBenedetto finished 16th in Texas in April.
32. Landon Cassill (Chevy StarCom Racing No. 00): Cassill's 21st-place finish in Texas in April was his best career in 16 starts on the track.
33. Ross Chastain (No. 15 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet): Chastain finished 18th in Texas in April, his first World Cup race.
34. Parker Kligerman (Toyota 96 # 96 Gaunt Brothers): Last minute decision to place Kligerman in the car for this weekend. This team does not know exactly who will drive to Phoenix and Homestead.
35. J.J. Yeley (BK Racing's # 23 Toyota): Yeley finished 17th in this race 11 years ago, his last top 20 on the track.
37. Corey LaJoie (# 72 Chevrolet TriStar Motorsports): LaJoie has two starts in the Texas Cup, but is still looking for his first top-30.
38. Reed Sorenson (No. 7 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet): Sorenson had two missions this week, also driving a truck for Premium.
39. Joey Gase (Rick Ware Racing's # 51 Ford): Gase has three starts in the Texas Cup, but is still looking for a top-30 finish.
40. David Starr (Toyota # 97 Obaika Racing): Starr was able to qualify this car for the first Cup race of this team in 2018. She bought some of the old BK Racing equipment.
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