NASCAR headed down to the Lone Star State this weekend for a tripleheader weekend. Texas Motor Speedway was challenging not only for individual drivers but also for entire fleets of cars, so who are the biggest losers from NASCAR’s weekend at Texas Motor Speedway?
Now, this weekend, Spire Motorsports had, based on their history, mostly a solid weekend in Texas. Carson Hocevar was, of course, the topic of conversation Saturday afternoon with his pole run with hometown sponsor Chili’s on the hood of his Chevrolet.
This pole win, only their second this season and in team history, was complemented by both Hocevar’s No. 77 and Michael McDowell’s No. 71, starting in the top ten. These starts, alongside the combined 41 laps led, prove that Spire’s new speed on intermediate tracks is no joke. However, this firm footing on the race weekend crumbled as fast as it came together for the growing organization.
First, a bad restart late in the race shuffled Carson Hocevar to the back of the field. The No. 77 was later wrecked and had to replace a right rear toe link. Then, while racing for the lead, McDowell allowed a solid run from Joey Logano, the eventual race winner, to get him out of shape, eventually wrecking out of turn two.
What once was a great day for Spire resulted in a high finish of 15th from Justin Haley and two wrecked race cars.
Spire wasn’t the only team to struggle in Texas this weekend; Brad Keselowski and Jack Roush’s Fords headed to the track with high hopes after great runs last season. While qualifying wasn’t great for their three entries, all three cars showed decent speed early in the run.
As stage one turned into stage two, Chris Buescher’s No. 17 was perhaps the best car on track. This, combined with some great strategy for Ryan Preece and a decent run for a now long-struggling Keselowski, showed that Texas would once again be a great outing for the RFK Fords. The team was rebounding from their struggles at Talladega until Buescher cut a tire while racing at the front of the field. Preece fell back from the front of the pack and was part of a three-car incident, and Keselowski wrecked out only 246 laps into his day.
For the second weekend in a row, RFK Racing had two of its Mustangs finish outside the top 30. This team looks miserable; they have great speed but terrible luck. To make things worse, this team is going to have to see multiple replays of last year‘s Kansas finish throughout this coming weekend.
Throwing three teams on here seems like an easy start; however, Joe Gibbs Racing by no means had a good weekend. JGR, despite the millions of dollars poured into their four-car operation, was basically a two-guard team this weekend. In fact, up until late in the race, the only consistent driver throughout the weekend was Ty Gibbs. Yes, the same Ty Gibbs that everyone has been talking about for how miserable the start to his season was.
OK, so let’s start with Saturday; JGR only had two cars pop the top ten at Texas, a track JGR is historically great at. The first car to qualify outside the top ten, to no one’s surprise, was Chase Briscoe, who, so far this season, might as well have Brent Crews following him around, ready to take over the No. 19 at any moment. The second, surprisingly, was the hands-down best driver in the JGR camp, Christopher Bell.
So, how was race day? Not good. Sunday saw Denny Hamlin get flame-broiled for just a moment, Chase Briscoe sustain early damage and become so slow that he got passed by Chad Finchum, and Ty Gibbs somehow throw away a great run. The only true survivor for JRG Sunday afternoon was Christopher Bell, who quite literally did nothing.
(Also, just for a fun additive, Ty Gibbs didn’t even make the A-Main in the High-Limit race Saturday evening.)
What if I told you Justin Allgaier had led a combined 272 of the 400 laps in the past two Xfinity Series races at Texas Motor Speedway? Hopefully, you’d be impressed—hey, that’s literally an entire race at the track.
Allgaier is on his way to get another great season for JRM. While last year wasn’t great, he was able to recover tremendously in the playoffs, of course, walking away with the championship. This year, Allgaier looks like the best driver in the Series. He already has two wins and was looking to add a third this past Saturday.
Cycling in for late green flag pit stops, Allgaier already had a big points day on Saturday, winning a stage and running the fastest lap. However, after these stops, the No. 7’s day ended because Kris Wright was on the race track. That’s literally the only way to say it. It’s not his fault he’s on this list.
What is there to say about Kris Wright at this point? He’s having an all-time bad season in a car that had a decent season last season with Anthony Alfredo. Prior to this weekend, the entire conversation surrounding Wright, including his controversy with Josh Bilicki earlier this season, felt completely over-talked about.
However, in his return to the Lone Star State, Wright once again made himself the center of attention. After the green flag pit cycle, Allgaier was looking to find his lead again; instead, he found the rear end of Wright’s car coming out of turn four. Allgaier’s great day ended at the hands of a driver who is having one of the worst seasons in recent Xfinity Series history, minus an opportunistic finish at Martinsville.
This was Wright’s second incident of the day, and the memes started almost immediately and have continued through Monday morning. Fans are unhappy with Wright, and for good reason. His performance this year in the No. 5 has been pitiful; you combine that with Alfredo’s decent statistics in that car last season, a season that laid a good foundation for the team, and you have a recipe for fan disdain.
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