8 things we learned at Texas Motor Speedway

Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the eighth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, was delayed by nearly six hours because of rain and shortened by 41 laps because of more rain.

And when the Lone Star marathon finally ended, Carl Edwards stood tall in Victory Lane.

Here are eight things we learned on a long, rainy hard day’s night of racing deep in the heart of Texas.

This one is hard to believe, frankly. After winning 11 of the 26 races in the Sprint Cup regular season, Joe Gibbs Racing was 0-7 in the Chase. The team had seven top-three finishes in the first seven Chase races, but it wasn’t until Carl Edwards won at Texas that JGR got a 2016 Chase victory.

Two weeks from now at Homestead-Miami Speedway, four of the 40 drivers in the field will be competing to win the Sprint Cup championship. We know two of those will be Martinsville Speedway winner Jimmie Johnson and Texas Motor Speedway winner Carl Edwards. That leaves six drivers battling for the final two Chase championship spots, which will be decided Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway.

A big thumb’s up to the fans at Texas Motor Speedway and those watching at home who braved nearly six hours of rain delays to watch the race. NASCAR fans truly are the most passionate and dedicated fans in all of sports. We salute you!

Want some foreshadowing for the final race of the season Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway? Well, Sunday’s race at Texas and the Homestead race will both be run on 1.5-mill tracks with abrasive pavement, where tire management and pit strategy will be crucial. And the tire combination will be the same at both tracks. No wonder Carl Edwards is feeling optimistic about winning it all.

If Joey Logano doesn’t make it to the championship round of the Chase, he’ll be kicking himself over Texas, where he led 60 percent of the race and finished second. Had Logano won at Texas, he would have locked out one more Joe Gibbs Racing driver, giving them a maximum of two at Homestead. But Edwards’s victory means there still could be three JGR drivers in the final four.

Realistically, the best Stewart-Haas Racing can hope for is that either Kevin Harvick or Kurt Busch wins at Phoenix on Sunday to advance to the championship round. With Busch eighth in points and Harvick sixth, it’s virtually mathematically impossible for them to both make the final round.

We know Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards will compete for a championship.  But the guys who are second through fifth, respectively, in points are separated by just two points — Joey Logano of Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin. At most, two of those guys will advance, and if Kevin Harvick wins for the sixth time in seven Phoenix races, only one of them will. It should literally come down to the final lap at Phoenix.

No one is better in must-win situations over the last three seasons than Kevin Harvick, who prevailed in Chase elimination races in each of the last two seasons and is facing elimination if he doesn’t win again on Sunday. Don’t bet against him: Harvick has eight Phoenix victories, including wins in five of the last six races there.