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    What To Watch For

    Track Facts

    Venue: Texas Motor Speedway
    Race length: 501 miles
    No. of laps: 334
    Qualifying: Fri., 4:30 p.m. ET
    Race: Sun., 3:16 p.m. ET (ESPN)
    STAT OF THE WEEK
    Trouble ahead? In eight races at Texas, Brad Keselowski's best finish is 14th.
    APRIL RACE
    Top 5
    1. Greg Biffle
    2. Jimmie Johnson
    3. Mark Martin
    4. Jeff Gordon
    5. Matt Kenseth
    RECENT FALL WINNERS
    2011: Tony Stewart
    2010: Denny Hamlin
    2009: Kurt Busch
    2008: Carl Edwards
    2007: Jimmie Johnson
    2006: Tony Stewart
    2005: Carl Edwards
    ALSO THIS WEEKEND:
    Nationwide Series
    O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge, Texas Motor Speedway, Sat., 7:46 p.m.

    Camping World Truck Series
    Kroger 200, Texas Motor Speedway, Fri., 8:19 p.m.

    EXPERT STANDINGS
    NOTE: Jay Hart ended the regular season with 816 points, followed by Jay Busbee with 775 and Nick Bromberg with 755.
    Busbee:  2,246 points (4 wins)
    Bromberg:  2,225 points (1 win)
    Hart:  2,222 points (5 wins)
    YAHOO! SPORTS FANTASY AUTO RACING
    Check your team | Expert picks
    Texas preview (PDF)

    The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday's AAA Texas 500.

    Tony Stewart is the defending race winner.

    Who Will Win?

    Denny Hamlin: He probably saw his best chance at a Cup go up in a haze of flickering lights last week at Martinsville, but Denny Hamlin really needs to prove he's an elite driver for all 36 races. A win at Texas, where he's had success in the past, won't bring him a championship, but it could save some face. – Jay Busbee

    Brad Keselowski: Let's trade the points lead again this week. Keselowski basically beat Johnson heads-up at Chicagoland in the first race of the Chase, and much like Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards last year, he'll take the checkered flag just ahead of Johnson, jumping ahead by a point in the standings with two races to go. – Nick Bromberg

    Matt Kenseth: The race to watch will between Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski, but the race for the win goes through the Roush garage. Kenseth, who won a few weeks ago at Kansas, another 1.5-mile track, gets his third win of the Chase. Not that it matters. – Jay Hart

    Top Storyline

    Cautions! In case you've forgotten (and I don't blame you if you have), the spring Texas race featured two cautions, both of which came in the first 100 laps. We're not going to see a stretch of 234 laps of straight green-flag racing Sunday, right? – Nick Bromberg

    It's going to be fascinating watching the differing strategies employed by the No. 2 and No. 48 teams. Will they race to win, will they race to stay out of trouble, or will they race each other? Expect Keselowski's team to be glued to the radio transmissions of Chad Knaus … and Knaus knows that's happening. Psychological warfare! These are going to be three good races to close out the season. – Jay Busbee

    What will Keselowski do? Brad finished 36th at Texas earlier this season. Another finish like that and we can crown Jimmie Johnson now. We know Double J will run well this weekend. We expect Keselowski will, but we don't quite know that for sure. – Jay Hart

    FROM THE SOURCE

    "While we aren't being overlooked by any means, there are many who think that we are still too young of a team to seriously challenge the 48 team [Jimmie Johnson]. We like it that way. In reality, we are a very good race team that is primed to take this fight right down to the last lap at Homestead-Miami Speedway." – Brad Keselowski

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