Share
Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
Who’s hot
Jeff Gordon: Obviously he’s over the fact that his title hopes were all but dashed when he was caught up in the Big One at Talladega last weekend. Gordon responded by nabbing the pole Friday. That extended his record streak to 17 years with at least one pole. The pole shouldn’t have come as a surprise as he was also the fourth-quickest car in Friday’s practice.Who’s notRyan Newman: He’s still smarting from his wild crash last weekend at Talladega, and Texas hasn’t been the best place for him. Even though Newman is the youngest Sprint Cup winner at the track, his average finish is 23.2 in 12 races. He has just three top-10 finishes in those starts. If you take away his victory, his average finish is 25.3.Pit notesFive Chasers are going to have to buck history if they want to win the Dickies 500. In 13 of the 17 Sprint Cup races at TMS, the winner has come from top 10 starting positions. That doesn’t bode well for Jimmie Johnson, Brian Vickers, Juan Pablo Montoya, Denny Hamlin or Ryan Newman. It should come as no surprise that Jimmie Johnson has the best average finish at TMS of the 12 Chase drivers. In 12 starts, Johnson’s average finish is 8.5. He has top-five finishes in half of his starts and has finished in the top 10 nine times. Johnson has finished outside the top 15 only once (38th in spring of 2007).Despite winning three Sprint Cup races at TMS, Carl Edwards is the fourth-best Chaser when it comes to average finish at TMS at 13.4. He has four top 10s in nine starts, with three of them being his wins. Edwards also has finishes of 19th, 26th and 36th.He said it"I said back here in 2003 when I won here, everything that happens in Texas is big. That was a big win for us then. It would probably be an even bigger win for us now. I think we’ve done a lot of great things this year as a team. A win right now would be huge, not just for this year but rolling into momentum for next year."— Ryan Newman, who will start 26th today in his No. 39 ChevroletHow they faredHow the Chase drivers fared at the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 5, 2009.| Jeff Gordon | 1 |
| Jimmie Johnson | 2 |
| Greg Biffle | 3 |
| Tony Stewart | 4 |
| Mark Martin | 6 |
| Juan Pablo Montoya | 7 |
| Kurt Busch | 8 |
| Carl Edwards | 10 |
| Denny Hamlin | 12 |
| Ryan Newman | 15 |
| Brian Vickers | 16 |
| Kasey Kahne | 19 |
| Standings | |
| 1. Jimmie Johnson | 6,248 |
| 2. Mark Martin | 6,064 |
| 3. Jeff Gordon | 6,056 |
| 4. Juan Pablo Montoya | 6,009 |
| 5. Tony Stewart | 5,969 |
| 6. Kurt Busch | 5,936 |
| 7. Greg Biffle | 5,908 |
| 8. Ryan Newman | 5,846 |
| 9. Kasey Kahne | 5,834 |
| 10. Carl Edwards | 5,811 |
| 11. Denny Hamlin | 5,800 |
| 12. Brian Vickers | 5,692 |
| Date | Track | Time | Winner/TV |
| Sept. 20 | Loudon | 12 p.m. | Mark Martin |
| Sept. 27 | Dover | 12 p.m. | Jimmie Johnson |
| Oct. 4 | Kansas | 12 p.m. | Tony Stewart |
| Oct. 11 | Fontana | 1:30 p.m. | Jimmie Johnson |
| Oct. 17 | Charlotte | 6 p.m. | Jimmie Johnson |
| Oct. 25 | Martinsville | 12 p.m. | Denny Hamlin |
| Nov. 1 | Talladega | 11 a.m. | Jamie McMurray |
| Today | Texas | 2 p.m. | WFAA/8 |
| Nov. 15 | Phoenix | 1:30 p.m. | WFAA/8 |
| Nov. 22 | Homestead | 1:30 p.m. | WFAA/8 |
Gordon’s takeFour-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, took some time to talk about today’s Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Gordon won his first pole of the season Friday, and will be looking to become just the second driver to sweep the Sprint Cup events at TMS.What are your feelings about trying to repeat at Texas? "We’re excited about being here at Texas for the second time this year because of how well our 1 1/2 -mile program has been this year, especially because of that win we had earlier in the season. It gives us not only confidence, but really great data and confidence in our set-up in our race cars. It allows us to get a really good starting position to set up the car with."What is the mind-set going into the next three races? "All we can do is focus on our racing, our race cars and get the best finishes that we possibly can and try to end this season on a positive note. We’ve still got a great battle going for second in points. If for some crazy reason those guys [Jimmie Johnson] had trouble, we’ve got to make sure that we capitalize on it. I think our focus right now is winning races and trying to get to second in points."
@Nyx.CommentBody@