Texas Recap

Hello once again and welcome back to Captain Josh's Pit Stop. Today we are recapping the action from Texas Motor Speedway. The Xfinity and Cup Series ran their races Saturday and Sunday. Erik Jones would go on to win the Xfinity race. The main topic this weekend would be the new surface and track configuration. Turns 1 and 2 had the banking lowered from 24 to 20 degrees and was also widened as well. I also want to note that Lewis Hamilton won his 5th Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Now onto the Cup race.

The O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 ran on Sunday with Kevin Harvick starting on the pole with Ryan Blaney alongside. Nine drivers would not qualify due to inspection issues. They included big names such as Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kyle Larson. The first and second stages would consist of 85 laps, with the final stage being the final 164 laps. Austin Dillon wouldn't make the start after having track bar problems. He would return later in the race but would be 12 laps down.

The first caution came out early in stage 1 as Kyle Busch would get loose in turn 1 and was pushed out of the groove. The groove wasn't very wide at the start due to the new surface. Kyle would hit the wall and continue on.

The races second caution wasn't far after the first however, as Reed Sorenson would make contact with Jeffrey Earnhardt. The contact caused Earnhardt to spin off of turn 2. Both drivers would be out of the race.

Second place starter Ryan Blaney cleaned house to win both stage 1 and 2. Would the luck carry on to the end? We will see, but I gotta keep you waiting.

The restart after the caution would see some action. Paul Menard also got pushed up out of the groove and hit the wall just like Kyle Busch earlier in the race. Menard would continue on.

At the end of the day, Jimmie Johnson passed Joey Logano and held off a hard charging Kyle Larson to pick up his first win of the season.


Well that's it. Not as much action but still a good race for the new surface. Next week is an off weekend for Easter. The next race is Bristol in 2 weeks. See you then and Happy Easter! Goodbye for now.