TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE AUTO TRADER ECHO PARK AUTOMOTIVE 500 TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY OCTOBER 25, 2020
TEXAS: RACE #34With just two more chances for drivers to secure their spot in the Championship Four, the Playoff battle heightens as NASCAR’S three national series head to Texas Motor Speedway for race two of three of the Playoffs’ Round of Eight. The NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) 334-lap, 501-mile Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at the 1.5-mile Texas oval will be the second appearance by NASCAR’s premier series thus far this season and the 34th stop on the tour’s schedule. The weekend’s event will mark the NCS’s 40th race at Texas Motor Speedway, with Richard Childress Racing and Team Chevy’s, Austin Dillon, returning as the most recent NCS winner at the track’s July event earlier this season.
It’s a jam-packed two-day event in the Lone Star State, with three NASCAR Playoff races over two days of action. The weekend gets started with an appearance by the NASCAR Xfinity Series with the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 on Saturday, October 24th, at 4:30 p.m. ET. Day two of events consists of a rare NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series and NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader, starting with the SpeedyCash.com 400 for the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series on Sunday, October 25th, at 12:00 p.m. ET. The day is capped off with the NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Fans will have the opportunity to view Sunday’s Playoff doubleheader action in-person. The July NASCAR Cup Series event at the Texas Motor Speedway was the first major league sporting event in the state of Texas to be open to spectators since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ROUND OF EIGHT: RACE TWO Since the track’s addition into the Playoff schedule during the 2005 season, Texas Motor Speedway has been the host of the eighth race in the 10-race stretch. The 1.5-mile Texas oval is one of only two tracks that have been positioned as the eighth event, joining Phoenix Raceway (2004). With three Team Chevy drivers in the Round of Eight fighting for a position in the Championship Four, here are where the Team Chevy drivers currently sit in the Playoff standings going into the second of three races, including key statistics at Texas Motor Speedway: Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hooters Give a Hoot Camaro ZL1 1LE – 5th in Standings (4,074 points)Victories: 3 (Charlotte Motor Speedway, Daytona Road Course, Charlotte Road Course)Top-Fives: 13; Top-10’s: 20; Laps Led: 858; Average Finish: 12.1Stage Wins: 9At Texas: Top-Five’s: 2; Top-10’s: 5; Average Finish: 11.111 (fifth-best) Alex Bowman, No. 88 Acronis Camaro ZL1 1LE – 6th in Standings (4,055 points)Victories: 1 (Auto Club Speedway)Top-Fives: 5; Top-10’s: 13; Laps Led: 396; Average Finish: 15.2Stage Wins: 4 At Texas: Top-Five’s: 1; Top-10’s: 1; Average Finish: 25.6 Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE – 8th in Standings (4,009 points)Victories: 1 (Las Vegas Motor Speedway)Top-Fives: 6; Top-10’s: 17; Laps Led: 142; Average Finish: 13.9Stage Wins: 1 At Texas: Wins: 1; Top-Five’s: 3; Top-10’s: 22; Average Finish: 14.5.16 BOWTIE BULLETS:· Victories by active Team Chevy drivers at Texas Motor Speedway include:Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Designed by Noah Sweet Camaro ZL1 1LE, with 7 wins (2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 sweep and 2017)Matt Kenseth, No. 42 McDonald’s Camaro ZL1 1LE with 2 wins (2002 and 2011)Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1, with one win (2009)Austin Dillon, No. 3 DOW Sullair Camaro ZL1 1LE, with one win (2020)
· Of the 173 drivers that have competed in a NASCAR Cup Series event at Texas Motor Speedway, Chip Ganassi Racing and Chevrolet Driver, Kurt Busch, leads the series in starts with 35 in his career.
· 25 different NASCAR Cup Series drivers have sat on the pole at Texas Motor Speedway, with Chip Ganassi Racing and Chevrolet driver, Kurt Busch, leading the series with three (Spring 2015, Playoffs 2017, Spring 2018). His 2017 and 2018 NCS Busch Pole Awards make him just one of three drivers to win consecutive poles at the track. Of the four different manufacturers to win a pole at the 1.5-mile Texas oval, Chevrolet leads the way with 15.
· Chevrolet has made 14 trips to victory lane in NASCAR’s Premier Series at Texas Motor Speedway. Other statistics of note for the bowtie brand’s history at the 1.5-mile oval include 70 top-five’s, 165 top-10’s and 4,292 laps led.
· Chevrolet team, Hendrick Motorsports, leads the NASCAR Cup Series pole award and win categories, with seven poles and nine trips to victory lane.
· Through the 10-race NASCAR Cup Series Playoff stretch thus far, Hendrick Motorsports Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman lead the way in top-10 finishes with five each.
· Heading into his final race in his full-time NASCAR Cup Series career at Texas Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet driver, Jimmie Johnson, tops the leaderboard in a variety of categories in his 34 career starts:o Johnson leads the series in victories at Texas Motor Speedway with seven (2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 sweep, 2017). o Johnson is one of just three NASCAR Cup Series drivers to score consecutive wins at the 1.5-mile Texas oval. o Johnson leads the series in runner-up finishes at Texas Motor Speedway with five, top-five finishes with 16 and top-10 finishes with 22. o Johnson leads the series in number of laps led at Texas Motor Speedway with 1,152, giving him a laps led percentage of 10.6% at the track throughout his NASCAR Cup Series career.
LOOKING TO GO BACK-TO-BACKThe NASCAR Cup Series returns to the 1.5-mile Texas oval for the second time this season. Earlier this season, Team Chevy saw its fourteenth trip to victory lane at Texas Motor Speedway when Austin Dillon scored his first-career victory at the track in his No. 3 Camaro ZL1 1LE. The win was celebrated by his teammate, Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Camaro ZL1 1LE, who posted a Cup Series career-best second place finish in his series debut at the track. It was the first time since the 2011 Talladega event that Richard Childress Racing finished 1-2 in NASCAR’s premier series.
STARTING LINE-UP:For the remainder of the 2020 NCS season, the starting lineups will be determined by a competition-based formula, combining the following metrics from the previous race event: 15% of a fastest lap time position, 25% of the driver’s final race finish position, 25% of the owner’s final race position and 35% of the Owner points position. Here are Team Chevy’s top-20 starters for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500: 4th Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hooters Give a Hoot Camaro ZL1 1LE5th Alex Bowman, No. 88 Acronis Camaro ZL1 1LE8th Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE11th William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 1LE12th Austin Dillon, No. 3 DOW Sullair Camaro ZL1 1LE18th Bubba Wallace, No. 43 Door Dash Camaro ZL1 1LE19th Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Clark Pipeline Services Camaro ZL1 1LE TUNE-IN:NBCSN will telecast the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 50 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 25th, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage of the 501-mile, 334-lap event for race two of three for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8 can also be found on the NBC Sports Gold app, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HOOTERS GIVE A HOOT CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 5th IN STANDINGS“Texas is just a different animal since the repave and I feel like we had some great runs there. I love going to Texas before they repaved it and just felt like I had a nice feel of the racetrack and I knew what I wanted. It was a very, kind of natural thing for me for whatever reason. I kind of lucked into that I guess, but man after the repave it’s been a struggle. I feel like it’s one of our worst tracks as a team and Texas is a bad place to struggle because if you make it to the Round of 8 it’s a track that seems like it’s always right there at the tail end of the season. It’s an important track to have a good performance at that can propel you to a potential final four run. Those types of struggles at a track like that, where it falls in the playoffs is not ideal so I hope we can get a little better out there.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 ACRONIS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 6th IN STANDINGS“We had a good run in Kansas last weekend and captured stage points which is what we needed to do. The points don’t look good in our situation, so we really need to go to Texas and have a strong car from the start. Hendrick Motorsports’ Intermediate program is definitely strong, and I know that this No. 88 team has been working hard on our Texas Camaro. Last time Acronis was on our car we ran really well in Dover, so hopefully we can get the job done for them this weekend.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW SULLAIR CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 10th IN STANDINGSTELL US ABOUT RACING AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY AND HOW IT DIFFERS FROM OTHER 1.5-MILE TRACKS, SUCH AS KANSAS SPEEDWAY? “Texas Motor Speedway is a bit different from Kansas Speedway in that it has two different ends. You have one end that’s very banked and has high speeds, and then you have a hard end where you have to get turned and get back on the gas. Texas Motor Speedway just has so much grip now. It’s quite a bit different, and the banking has changed a lot from the old track to the new track. I really like Texas and am looking forward to getting there. Our cars have been strong on 1.5-mile tracks this year, and we will look to some of that speed to try and get the No. 3 DOW Sullair Chevy into Victory Lane.” YOU WON AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY IN JULY. HOW DOES THAT CHANGE YOUR MINDSET GOING INTO THE RACE THIS WEEKEND? “I think our team remains just as hungry as ever to get back to Victory Lane. My RCR team has been really strong on mile-and-a-half tracks this season, and I know that we have everything we need to try and back up our performance from July. We’re going to attack from the opening green flag.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 12th IN STANDINGS“With both ends of Texas being different you have to find a compromise some on your handling instead of focusing on one set of turns over the other. I think in (turns) 3 and 4, speed makes the biggest difference through there. When you’re in (turns) 1 and 2 it’s more about the handling of your car but still having good speed out of 2 so you can get down the backstretch and set up your entry to turn 3 with a good pace. It’s a lot different of a race track than we’re used to and compared to how it was. Now it’s very unique and makes for an interesting challenge especially as the race progresses.” JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY DESIGNED BY NOAH SWEET CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 18th IN STANDINGS“The biggest change at Texas over the years is new reconfiguration. The new asphalt has made the racing more single file. I love how supportive the market is of the racing venue – I love the Dallas, Fort Worth area, we have really good friends there and usually our stay is extended. The best memory I have is when I was able to duel with Matt Kenseth. Matt and I had nothing to gain, I knew I had a good car and so I went after it knowing Matt would race me clean and he wouldn’t make a mistake. It was certainly an exciting finish and although Matt probably didn’t like the outcome, it was one of my most memorable battles for a win.” TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CLARK PIPELINE SERVICES CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 19th IN STANDINGSWHAT IS THE BIGGEST LESSON YOU TOOK AWAY FROM TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY EARLIER THIS YEAR WHEN RCR FINISHED 1-2? “Well, the way we went about that race is now out in the open and everyone knows how we did it, so I’m not sure that strategy will work when we go back this weekend. We’ll have to come up with something a little different this time. Texas is going to be a little bit like Kansas in the way that you have to take all the track position you can get and not make mistakes. The people you pass once are going to then understand where you were better than they were, so if you have to pass them a second time around they’ll know how to defend against you. That’s what makes it so hard racing in the Cup Series. Everyone is so smart about it. We’re going to need a really solid race in our No. 8 Clark Pipeline Services Chevrolet to be able to grab a good finish this weeke