Texas-sized outcomes that could shake up Chase
Austin Dillon, here with fiance Whitney Ward after winning the pole for Sunday's AAA Texas 500, has not yet won a Sprint Cup race. But he has a chance to steal some of the thunder from the remaining eight Chase playoff drivers by doing so Sunday. Check out six Sunday outcomes that could shake up the Chase dramatically.
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Can Dillon do it?
This will be Dillon's 119th careeer Cup start in the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. He loves wearing cowboy hats. What better place to break through and win his first Cup race than at Texas Motor Speedway?
A win for him would prevent one of the title contenders from clinching a spot in the Championship 4 at Homestead, increasing pressure on the remaining Chasers next week at Phoenix.
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A Jimmie-Denny dustup
Denny Hamlin has downplayed the possibility that there will be any carryover from their little get-together at Martinsville that left both he and Jimmie Johnson frustrated with each other. And Johnson already has secured his spot at Homestead.
But Texas has a way of bringing out the beasts in drivers and Hamlin's frustrations from last week seemed to carry over to qualifying, when he almost wrecked. These two will be starting the race near each other, with Johnson rolling off 15th in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Hamlin 17th in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Let's see what happens.
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The K-factors
Brad Keselowski's No. 2 Team Penske Ford was fastest in Saturday's final practice. He's out of the Chase and so is Kasey Kahne, who drives the No. 5 Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports and is hungry for his first win of the season.
Both are out of the Chase but have been fast so far this weekend — and, like Dillon, either one could throw everything in disarray by keeping one of the Chasers out of Victory Lane.
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Carl and Kenseth
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Matt Kenseth (left) and Carl Edwards both would love to win to secure advancement into the Championship 4.
For Edwards, it's probably the only way he can get there as he's in a points hole. Edwards has been fast in his No. 19 Toyota all weekend and Kenseth has been sneaky fast in long runs, posting some of the best lap averages over 10 consecutive laps in practices.
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Clutch closer
It was a bit mystifying when Harvick and his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team shut it down early in the final practice Saturday, as their lap times weren't very good.
But it was a display that Harvick is confident his car will have what it takes to get to the front and stay there once the race starts. If he's anywhere near there at the end, we know he can close the deal — and then the 2014 champ will be tough to deal with in the season finale at Homestead.
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A Kyle Busch comeback
The defending Sprint Cup champion had an awful Friday at Texas Motor Speedway, killing his primary car by wrecking before he completed a full lap in the first practice and then having a radiator hose come loose in the middle of qualifying that prevented him from competing for the pole.
So he'll start 24th, but he was third-fastest in the final practice and you'd better believe he'll be coming for the front like gangbusters at the drop of the green flag. Chances are he either wins this one or puts himself in a bigger hole going to Phoenix by perhaps getting too overaggressive too early and making a mistake.
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