Talladega’s fast-paced action gave fans a thrilling finish last week with Carson Hocevar recording his first win, and the Lone Star State will try to match or eclipse that this weekend.
With 10 races in the books, the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday afternoon’s Wurth 400 in Fort Worth, where Joey Logano is the defending race winner after taking the checkers last year in overtime.
In his No. 22 Ford, Logano pulled away from Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney and held off Ross Chastain for his first victory in a season in which the defending Cup champ had achieved no top-five finishes and just one top-10.
“It’s crazy how you can just ride these roller coasters,” Logano said of the ups and downs in the 36-race schedule.
Looking over the post-COVID races at TMS — the track was scaled back to just one points-race weekend starting in 2021 — the 1.5-mile speedway has been quite the thrill ride itself.
In the subsequent five races, the caution flag has waved 66 times, an average of 13.2 yellows, forcing the field to dodge mishaps and crew chiefs to reconsider multiple race strategies.
While Logano’s Ford was the first to the checkers last season, TMS has been a fantastic track for Chevrolet, which is riding the momentum from a pair of firsts last weekend in Alabama.
On Saturday, 20-year-old Chevy driver Corey Day won for the first time in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in just his 22nd start by starting third and leading only the final lap.
Day was aided by new pit crew member Jason Kelce, the seven-time NFL Pro Bowler and Super Bowl winner with the Philadelphia Eagles. The former center transported tires for the No. 17 team.
Of course, Hocevar stole the spotlight the next day by handing the manufacturer its second win this season by driving away from Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Ford down the long frontstretch for his first Cup victory in his 91st start.
He became the 12th different winner at Talladega in the last 12 races at the giant superspeedway.
It was an impressive showing for the Portage, Mich., product, who has been knocking on the door of a win — plus knocking on some rear bumpers as well — and eventually was going to find Victory Lane at NASCAR’s top level.
Would it be surprising to see Hocevar’s No. 77 win again in Texas? Absolutely not.
He finished fourth at the similarly shaped Atlanta Motor Speedway this year and second in the spring race there last season. The Spire Motorsports driver also won the Texas pole one year ago.
The biggest advantage for the third-year driver, eighth in points and 192 behind leader Tyler Reddick, might be what’s underneath him.
The Bowtie Bunch has notched a series-best 18 wins in 45 Texas starts, including five of the past seven races and a track-best four consecutive from 2021-24.
Kyle Busch leads the active drivers with four wins at TMS and Denny Hamlin has three, though neither has won there since 2020.
Sunday will be a mad dash to see who can hop in the lead car on the Cup Series roller coaster.
