FORT WORTH, Texas — NASCAR Cup Series drivers will face what is arguably the sport’s most challenging 1.5-mile track when they head to Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s WÜRTH 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY.
Last year’s race at Texas, contested over 400 miles, produced a track-record-tying 16 cautions, equaling a mark established over 500 miles in 2022. In fact, 16 yellows constitute a NASCAR record for cautions in a 400-mile race on a 1.5-mile speedway.
The treachery at Texas lies in the distinctly different ends of the track. Turns 1 and 2 are flatter and slower, while Turns 3 and 4 are higher-banker and faster. Negotiating both sets of corners while maintaining pace can be a daunting task.
“It’s a huge compromise,” said Denny Hamlin, a three-time winner at Texas. “It’s essentially kind of what we felt caused me to wreck in that green-white-checker situation last year when we had the lead.
“We were really good on one end, aggressive on the other, and when I needed to push it, just spun out. Certainly, it’s a really, really tough balance to have.”
Hamlin and Kyle Busch (four victories) are the only multiple winners at the track in the field for Sunday’s race, the first of three straight points events on 1.5-mile intermediate speedways (followed by Kansas Speedway on May 11 and Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25).
For Austin Cindric, last Sunday’s winner at Talladega Superspeedway, the string of intermediates represents an opportunity to continue the momentum he established at NASCAR’s largest oval track.
“Yeah, I think they’re all opportunities to win races, all opportunities to gain points,” Cindric said. “I think our intermediate races at the beginning of this year were strong, ‘cause I feel like we picked up where we left off in the Playoffs last year, which was a key detail for me.
“So I think the team is pretty energized to go to those races and try and contend and continue to learn.”
Interestingly, in three of the last four years, Cindric has been the first race winner for Team Penske, while his teammates, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, have combined to win the last three series championships.
Nine different drivers have won the last nine races at Texas, but Hendrick Motorsports drivers have won three of the last four. Kyle Larson won from the pole in 2021, William Byron claimed victory in the Playoff race of 2023, and Chase Elliott broke a 42-race drought with his win at Texas last year.
“I had lost the lead to Denny (Hamlin) on that (late) run that went green there for a little bit,” Elliott said of last year’s race. “He was certainly outpacing me and was able to get by. Then had a caution, lined up on the front row and had a good restart, good push into Turn 1…
“He was going to end up winning, I think, the drag race down the back, but the caution came out, and we were ahead and ended up getting the spot. So I had control for the next (restart) and ended up getting the lead into (Turn) 3. Had some good fortune there, the way the caution fell.”
Elliott could use some more good luck on Sunday. He hasn’t won since that race, and his winless streak has now reached 37 races.
