By KEVIN HARRIS
kevin.harris@newsandtribune.com
> SOUTHERN INDIANA —
After its first off-weekend of the 2012 season, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will travel to Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night.
Over the years, Texas has been known for its steep banking, fast speeds and crazy incidents. If you want an ideal Texas race, just look at the 2010 fall event.
But I am sure those of you out there who despise my descriptions of certain tracks will say I’m wrong. You will probably say that Texas is just another typical mile-and-a-half track on the Cup schedule.
If that is the way you feel, fine — whatever.
I am just basing my description of TMS from all the races I have watched on TV at the track over the years. And the majority of them have been exciting to watch, but that’s my opinion.
Here is the picks:
SATURDAY’S SAMSUNG MOBILE 500
At Texas Motor Speedway
TOP-FIVE CONTENDERS
1. MATT KENSETH: Texas is one of Kenseth’s strongest tracks. The 2003 Cup champion has a career average finish of 8.7 at TMS, which includes nine top-10 finishes in the last 10 starts. Kenseth has two wins at Texas, including a victory in this race last year.
2. TONY STEWART: He won the fall race at Texas last year and it looked really good doing it. That race last year helped Stewart win the 2011 Sprint Cup championship and helped him carry momentum in the early part of 2012.
3. DENNY HAMLIN: The Joe Gibbs Racing driver swept both Texas races in 2010 and has a career average finish at TMS of 10.2. Last year, Hamlin was not as strong at Texas as he has been. But I think with Stewart’s old crew chief, Darian Grubb, atop the No. 11 pit box, Hamlin has a good chance of redeeming himself at the high-speed track on Saturday night.
4. GREG BIFFLE: He has seven consecutive top-10 finishes at Texas, including fourth- and fifth-place finishes last year. Biffle should continue that hot streak at TMS this weekend and remain the Sprint Cup points leader.
5. JIMMIE JOHNSON: OK, I’m going to write the same boring statement every time I pick Johnson on a mile-and-a-half track — you can never count Johnson out on these tracks. His career average finish of 10.2 at Texas backs that statement up.
SATURDAY’S DARK HORSE
• CLINT BOWYER: For a change, I’m going to pick Bowyer to do well this weekend. Bowyer has a career average finish of 13th at Texas with three top-five finishes. He has three consecutive top-10 finishes at Texas, including a second in this race last year. Another reason why Bowyer should do well at Texas this weekend is it will be a lot easier for him to race three abreast at TMS than at Martinsville.
DRIVER MOST LIKELY TO STRUGGLE
• JEFF GORDON: Sorry, Gordon fans. But as I have said all season, Gordon has struggled at mile-and-a-half tracks the past few seasons despite his victory at Atlanta last September. Since Atlanta, he has not proven he has turned his fortunes around completely on these types of speedways. Texas has been a feast-or-famine track for Gordon in the past. In the last eight Texas races, he has finished outside the top 10 five times, which included finishes of 31st, 37th and 43rd. But in that stretch, he won the 2009 spring race, was runner-up in the 2008 fall race and placed sixth in last year’s fall race. I guess we will just have to see what the Texas gods have in store for him on Saturday.
PARTING SHOTS
• I have decided to end my personal butt-kissing ban of certain tracks this week and talk about a speedway that deserves to be lauded.
On Sunday, NASCAR racing will return to the Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway, which was formerly named North Carolina Motor Speedway, for the first time since 2004 as the Camping World Truck Series will have a 200-lap race on the 1-mile track.
It is awesome to have “The Rock” back hosting a NASCAR race.
When it hosted Sprint Cup races from 1965-2004, it provided some of the best side-by-side racing on the circuit. Plus it was a track where it was rare to have a fuel-mileage race because the tires would wear so quickly because of “The Rock” abrasive surface.
I am looking forward to Sunday to see NASCAR racing back at a true old-school track.
• The NASCAR Hall of Fame revealed its 25 nominees for the 2013 induction class this week.
Therefore, it is time for me to reveal the five nominees I plan on voting for on the fans’ Hall of Fame ballot on NASCAR.com.
1. RED BYRON: The late World War II veteran won NASCAR’s first race on the beach at Daytona in 1948 and claimed the first Cup championship in 1949.
2. RAYMOND PARKS: He was the owner of Byron’s Cup championship car in 1949.
3. HERB THOMAS: Thomas was the first driver to win two Sprint Cup Series championships, which happened in 1951 and 1953. He won 48 races in his career that spanned from 1949-62.
4. GLENN “FIREBALL” ROBERTS: He was considered NASCAR’s first superstar and is probably the greatest NASCAR driver to never win a series championship. He captured 33 wins in his career, including the 1962 Daytona 500 and Southern 500 at Darlington in 1958 and 1963.
5. LEONARD WOOD: He is the other half of the famed Wood Brothers, who have won 98 races in their great NASCAR careers. Wood served as chief mechanic during the Wood Brothers heyday in the 1960s and 1970s. His older brother, Glenn, got inducted into the Hall of Fame earlier this year, and Leonard deserves to join him in 2013.
Contact Kevin Harris at kevin.harris@newsandtribune.com.
