AAA Texas 500

Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
Sunday November 4, 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on NBCSN
1 ¹⁄₂ Mile Quad Oval
Weather: Scattered Thunderstorms, 67°F

Previous Five Winners and Pole Sitters

Race	Race Winner	Pole Sitter
Spring 2018	Kyle Busch	Kurt Busch
Fall 2017	Kevin Harvick	Kurt Busch
Spring 2017	Jimmie Johnson	Kevin Harvick
Fall 2016	Carl Edwards	Austin Dillon
Spring 2016	Kyle Busch	Carl Edwards

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to Texas this Sunday with the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. A total of 41 cars are scheduled to enter this week's event. The playoffs are winding down and one of the remaining contenders can punch their ticket to the championship race with a victory. Who will take the checkered flag at the "cookie cutter" in the Lone Star State?

The Favorite

For the 10th time this year the NASCAR Cup Series visits one of its infamous "cookie-cutter" tracks. Drivers and teams are well prepared for the set-ups and horsepower required to win on the 1.5 mile format, especially at Texas since this is their second visit of the season. With all that data in tow, Kevin Harvick is the favorite this week.

After years of coming close but just shy of winning, Harvick finally broke through last Fall to win his first career Cup Series race at Texas. He followed up with a runner-up finish here last Spring. Harvick is riding a streak of eight consecutive top-ten finishes at Texas with six of those finishes in the top-five. And Harvick has been strong on the cookie-cutters this year with three wins in nine races.

With Joey Logano claiming a spot in the championship race by winning last week at Martinsville, NASCAR's Big Three is feeling a little heat for the first time this season. Only three spots remain and while the Big Three currently lead the point standings claiming those spots, the other playoff contenders can grab two of them by winning one of the next two races. Harvick will be motivated not be left out in the cold at Homestead.

"There’s a lot of respect amongst the three teams, but we all want to beat each other," Harvick said of his Big Three compatriots. "Ultimately, that’s why we’re here. We want to win and I feel like that same passion lives in those garage stalls next to us and they like you, but they want to beat you. And a lot of times, you do whatever you have to do for your team to go out and do that and that’s what makes it fun. But there’s also a lot of respect there. In the end, we all want to beat each other, but it has been a lot of fun racing with those guys."

Harvick isn't in a do-or-die position, especially with one of his best career tracks in Phoenix coming up next week, but he knows the advantage of clinching a championship spot early. He did it last year in this race.

Other Drivers to Watch

Harvick's fellow Big Three members Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. are in the same position. Still well ahead on points, but in danger of being left out at Homestead if another playoff contender wins this week or next. Both will be happy to be racing on a cookie-cutter this Sunday.

Busch has three wins on mile and a half tracks this season, tied with Harvick for the most this season. One of those wins was the first Texas race back in the spring. Like Harvick he's running a hot streak in the Lone Star State, six top-five finishes and two victories in his last eight starts. Busch currently leads the point standings so he is in the best position to advance without a win. That doesn't mean he won't be motivated on Sunday, a win takes all the pressure off for a few weeks.

Truex won the cookie-cutter race at Kentucky this year and is coming off a strong run at Martinsville last week. Truex finished runner-up in this race last fall, but was not knocked out early by an accident this spring. The wreck broke a streak of six consecutive top-ten finishes on this track. Truex is seeking his second consecutive Cup Series Championship and has a little fire in his belly after getting bumped out of a spot in the championship race by Joey Logano last week.

"We have faced plenty of adversity in the playoffs so far but we’re still in it," said Truex. "We should have been in Victory Lane at both Charlotte and Martinsville and have a secured transfer spot for the championship round at Homestead. Our guys at the track and at the shop are giving everything they have. They all want that championship as bad as I do. None of us are quitting because the team is shutting down at the end of the season. We all have one mission and that’s to successfully defend our championship."

The driver who represents the biggest threat to the Big Three's championship dreams is Chase Elliott. Elliott roared into the field of eight by winning two out of three races in the second elimination round. One of those wins came at Kansas, the last Cup Series race run on a cookie-cutter track. Elliott has four top-ten finishes in his five career starts at Texas. The outlier came this spring when he finished in eleventh place. The No. 9 team was struggling early this season, they have turned it around in a big way since. With the Big Three's lead in the point standings, Elliott might need to win to advance and Texas represents his best chance.

"I need to win," said Elliott. "Playing the points game is nice, but I need another sticker."

The Team Penske trio of Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney have all shown good speed in the second half of this season. Plus all three have strong records of consistency at Texas. Logano won this race in 2014 and has finished seventh or better in nine of his last eleven starts here. Keselowski has finished in the top-six in five out of his last eight races in Texas. Blaney has finished in fifth and sixth in his last two starts here.

An added bonus for Team Penske is the pressure is off. Logano has secured his spot at Homestead while both Keselowski and Blaney have both been eliminated from the playoffs. Since points no longer matter to all three, they can take risks without fear of repercussion. Keselowski showed that last week as he battled with Logano for the lead at Martinsville.

Erik Jones has also been knocked out of the playoffs, but the young driver is still trying to finish the season on a high note. He finished tenth here last fall and came back to lead 64 laps on his way to a fourth place finish this spring. Before he entered the Cup Series, Jones won one Truck Series and three Xfinity races on this track. He's a dark horse this week, but if he surprises he already knows how to find victory lane.

News Around the Track

On Wednesday NASCAR announced two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams were penalized for lug-nut violations found during the post-race inspection at Martinsville last week.

Both the No. 2 car of Brad Keselowski and the No. 4 car of Kevin Harvick were found to have one lug-nut not properly secured. Keselowski crew chief Paul Wolfe and Harvick crew chief Rodney Childers are each fined $10,000 for the safety violation. Neither driver will be docked any points, which is good news for Harvick since he is still battling for the championship.