FYI WIRZ: NASCAR Has Fast Mix Chasing Texas Speed at Night

The next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series challenge will be hosted at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night, April 11 in Fort Worth, Texas. The five NSCS drivers who have been to Victory Lane this season are no strangers to checkered flags in the past. Among others, they will compete with three infrequent winners who have earned solid Top-10 positions this year.

Martin Truex Jr., Paul Menard and Aric Almirola are contenders in the mix for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, but are in need of a win to make their lofty spots more certain.

In years past, drivers and teams could roll along with confidence without wins if they banked top finishes consistently. That’s still important, but conditions are now different. With the revised qualification format of the Chase elimination playoffs, even one win during the regular season is treasure.

Six top NSCS drivers talked about their specific situations at this juncture of the season before they race the 1.5-mile TMS oval track with 24-degree banking. Fans might appreciate what top drivers find significant before the Texas green flag.

Kevin Harvick has backed up his first NSCS championship year with a stellar start in 2015. His two wins place him atop the standings. With just a few words, Harvick summed up his attitude heading into Fort Worth.

“I think that the biggest goal for us is to try to win at Texas,” he said. “It has been a racetrack for me that hasn’t been my strongest over the past several years.”

Truex doesn’t share Harvick’s dubious take on TMS and was quick to define his view.

"If I could pick a track to continue a positive streak, Texas Motor Speedway would be high on the list,” he said. “It is obviously one of my favorite tracks on the circuit. The Texas track has a lot of speed, a lot of banking and the tires wear out.”

Kasey Kahne and his team have improved their results over last season with their present fifth-place spot. The turnaround seems to be team-related.

“It starts with people, being more of a team and working better together as well as understanding and supporting each other,” he said. “We know we’re capable of running well and winning so having this better attitude has been beneficial for us this year.”

Menard often tends to get to the point with his comments. He saw reasons for better performance by his team this season.

"We've learned where the car needs to be at attitude-wise,” he said. “I feel like our springs and shocks are pretty good, but we just need to figure out where the car should be.”

Denny Hamlin and his team are in seventh place and have plenty of momentum following a big win in Martinsville, even if it was before the Easter break.

“The win takes a lot of pressure off,” he said. “Getting a victory so early in the season will allow us to work on our program, try some things and try to get better. With a Chase berth pretty much locked up, we can take more chances to try to get more wins.”

Like many drivers, Almirola favors the TMS track. He shared his thoughts.

"I really like racing at Texas,” he said. “Just like Atlanta, you are able to race in multiple grooves which makes the racing more exciting and lets us search around for a fast line for our car.”

Almirola also mentioned the impact of night races. Most NSCS races are day events, but some avoid sunshine.

“I'm excited for our first night race on the schedule too,” he added. “There is something about racing under the lights that heightens the intensity.”

Perhaps one of these drivers will find Victory Lane, even in the dark. Perhaps the winner will earn his first, prized checkered flag of 2015 and become an authentic Chase contender.

Credit: Dwight Drum

Fans outside the state of Texas and without tickets to the Duck Commander 500 can view the Saturday night action at 7:30 p.m. ET on Fox.

FYI WIRZ is the select presentation of topics by Dwight Drum at Racetake.com. Unless otherwise noted, information and all quotes were obtained firsthand or from official release materials provided by the sanctioning body and team representatives.