Auto racing glance

[April 06, 2018]  MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES: O'REILLY AUTO PARTS 500 (334 laps, 501 miles around a 1.5-mile D-shaped oval), Texas Motor Speedway; Fort Worth, Texas

TV: Sunday, 2 p.m. ET (Green flag approx. 2:16 p.m. ET) - FS1 (Radio: Performance Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90).

THIS WEEK: The seventh of 36 races on the season, the Cup series is back in action after a week off with winless Kyle Busch leading the standings in his Toyota Camry with one-time winner Martin Truex Jr. close behind in his Toyota. But it's the strength of the Ford Mustangs that has the garage abuzz. ... Four of the last five races have been won by a Ford, with Austin Dillon taking the season opener at Daytona in his Chevrolet Camaro. ... This will be the 35th race at Texas, with Kevin Harvick - a three-time winner this season - winning last fall's race. ... Jimmie Johnson won this race last spring and he would like to find that magic again as he's off to a bad start by his standards. The seven-time champion is 17th in the standings with a lone top-10 finish so far this season. ... Johnson isn't the only driver struggling at Hendrick Motorsports, one of NASCAR's superteams. Alex Bowman is tops among them in 14th with the No. 88 Chevy, with Chase Elliott 18th in the No. 9 and rookie William Byron 20th in the No. 24. ... Ford-based Team Penske sits 3, 4, 5 through six races, with Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski respectively. ... Ford-based Stewart-Haas Racing has won four times, with Harvick taking three and Clint Bowyer winning two weeks ago at Martinsville. SHR's lowest ranked driver, Aric Almirola, is 11th. ... Busch leads the Cup standings with 257 points, followed by *Truex (249), Blaney (233), Logano (232), Keselowski (226), Denny Hamlin (217), *Harvick (212), *Bowyer (210), Kyle Larson (195) and Kurt Busch (177). ... Daytona 500 winner *Dillon is in 13th (148).

(All stats and standings per NASCAR.com)

*Denotes race winner and playoff berth

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: MY BARIATRIC SOLUTIONS 300 (200 laps, 300 miles around a 1.5-mile D-shaped oval), Texas Motor Speedway; Fort Worth, Texas

TV: Saturday, 3 p.m. ET (Green flag approx. 3:16 p.m. ET) - Fox (Radio: Performance Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90).

THIS WEEK: The sixth of 33 races on the season, the series is back in action after a two-week layoff. ...This will be the 35th series race at Texas. ... Erik Jones swept last year's races at TMS, but there are no full-time Xfinity drivers with a win in the series at the track. ... Elliott Sadler leads the Xfinity standings with 199 points, followed by *Tyler Reddick (195), Justin Allgaier (194), Christopher Bell (172), Daniel Hemric (169), Cole Custer (144), Spencer Gallagher (143), Ryan Truex (140), Brandon Jones (139) and Matt Tifft (132).

*Denotes race winner and playoff berth

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

THIS WEEK: The Trucks are in the second week of a five-week hiatus, returning May 4 at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del. ... John Hunter Nemechek won the race two weeks ago at Martinsville, but he is not a full-time Truck series driver and is ineligible for the playoffs. ... *Johnny Sauter leads the Truck standings (181 points), followed by Grant Enfinger (152), *Brett Moffitt (150), Ben Rhodes (148), Noah Gragson (146), Stewart Friesen (122) , Matt Crafton (122), Myatt Snider (118), Dalton Sargeant (118) and Austin Hill (100).

*Denotes race winner and playoff berth

VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES: DESERT DIAMOND WEST VALLEY CASINO PHOENIX GRAND PRIX (250 laps, 255.5 miles around a 1.022-mile dogleg-oval), ISM Raceway, Avondale, Ariz.

TV: Saturday, 9 p.m. ET (Green flag approx. 9:10 p.m. ET) - NBCSN (Radio: Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network, Sirius 214, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR Mobile app).

 

THIS WEEK: The American open-wheel series is back in action for the first time since the season-opener at St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 11. ... This is the second of 17 races on the season. ... Simon Pagenaud won this race last year. This will be the 13th race under IndyCar sanction at ISM, but American open-wheel cars have raced there since 1964, the year the track opened ... Sebastien Bourdais leads the standings (51 points), followed by Graham Rahal (40), Alexander Rossi (36), James Hinchcliffe (32), Ryan Hunter-Reay (31), Scott Dixon (28), Josef Newgarden (26), Ed Jones (24), Marco Andretti (22) and Will Power (20).

FORMULA ONE: GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX (57 laps, 191.53 miles around a 3.36-mile permanent road circuit, or two hours, whichever comes first), Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain.

TV: Sunday, 11 a.m. ET (Green flag approx. 11:10 a.m. ET) - ESPN2 (Radio: SiriusXM Radio Channel 132).

THIS WEEK: This is the second of 21 races for the season. ... Germany's Sebastian Vettel won the race last year in a Ferrari. ... Vettel won the season-opener in Australia two weeks ago, holding off chief rival and defending series champion Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes. ... Both Vettel and Hamilton are four-time world champions. ... The Bahrain International Circuit was designed by Germany's Hermann Tilke and opened in 2004. ... Tilke led radical redesigns of four classic F1 tracks and has designed 10 from the ground up used by F1, including Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. ... Tilke's designs have been sometimes criticized for not promoting enough passing, but have also been praised for their safety features. His designs have been dubbed "Tilkedromes."... This will be the 14th race at the Bahrain track, with the 2011 race being canceled due to unrest in Bahrain.

NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION: DENSO SPARK PLUGS NHRA FOUR-WIDE NATIONALS, Thursday-Sunday, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas.

TV: Eliminations, Sunday, 6-9 p.m. ET (Delayed) FS1

THIS WEEK: After a two-week break, the NHRA is back at it with three of the four nitro classes in action at the strip built in 1971. Pro Stock Motorcycle is taking the week off. ... This is the fourth of 24 races this season. ... Winners of the previous event in Gainesville, Fla., were Richie Crampton in Top Fuel, Jack Beckman in Funny Car, Tanner Gray in Pro Stock and Eddie Krawiec in the season debut of Pro Stock Motorcycle. ... Las Vegas is one of two events this season, indeed two in April, featuring the cars running four abreast down to the finish line 1,000 feet away instead of the traditional two cars. The NHRA will do it again at the end of April in Concord, N.C. ... Steve Torrence leads the Top Fuel standings (217 points), followed by Antron Brown (210), Clay Millican (204), Tony Schumacher (198) and Doug Kalitta (182) rounding out the top five. ... Matt Hagan leads Funny Car (268), followed by Beckman (247), Courtney Force (219), Ron Capps (218) and Robert Hight (185). ... Bo Butner is on top in Pro Stock (245), followed by Jason Line (232), Chris McGaha (213), Deric Kramer (190) and Drew Skillman (190). ... Krawiec leads Pro Stock Motorcycle (123), followed by Andrew Hines (107), Scotty Pollacheck (76), Hector Arana Sr. (71) and Steve Johnson 53.

--Field Level Media

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