If you told me that Texas would put on the best NASCAR race since Bristol this year, I’d call you a liar. But that’s exactly what happened at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. Each stage had its fair share of bumping and banging. And with two overtime restarts, it was intense to the end.
As usual, some drivers performed and deserve recognition for their efforts. Then some drivers who fell short of expectations, and made some appearances on the lowlight reel. Let’s get to it on this week’s edition of Three Up, Three Down!
Three Up
#6 Brad Keselowski
Embed from Getty ImagesIs “Bad Brad” back? The #6 car had lethal speed once they fought up to the front. Keselowski was solid in practice, but put together a less-than-great qualifying effort. Despite this, the former champion put together a great day and finished in the top three. It’s his second third-place finish of the year and his third top-five. RFK last year was one of the better drafting teams in NASCAR and will have a chance to reclaim the throne next weekend at Talladega.
#9 Chase Elliott
Embed from Getty ImagesAnd finally ladies and gentlemen, NASCAR’s most popular driver has won a race. Chase Elliott found himself in victory lane for the first time since fall 2022 at Talladega. This makes for three Hendrick Motorsports drivers headed to the playoffs by wins. It’s a feel-good story, as Elliott hasn’t quite had the same fire since breaking his leg in 2023. But he’s back in victory lane and hopefully is here to stay at the front of the pack for the foreseeable future. He’ll return to the site of his previous win at Talladega Superspeedway next week.
#99 Daniel Suarez
Embed from Getty ImagesWhile his teammate Ross Chastain had virtually a top-five finish locked up, Suarez deserves credit for his efforts. His P5 is his first top 10 since his win at Atlanta almost two months ago. Chastain probably would have been on this list if not for his last-second wreck on Sunday’s final lap. Perhaps Suarez’s performance at Atlanta wasn’t a fluke. Either way, it’s a great confidence boost to the #99 team that there’s more to them than super speedway craziness. I am unsure how much I trust Suarez at Talladega, but this is surely a step in the right direction.
Three Down
#12 Ryan Blaney
Embed from Getty ImagesWell, Texas wasn’t the weekend to pick Ryan Blaney. I wonder what kind of loser could’ve made that mistake. Anyways, Texas was a crazy race for many NASCAR drivers. A lot of cautions lead to a lot of cars getting damaged. As you can see in the picture above, Blaney suffered a pretty good ding at the hands of Ryan Preece on Sunday.
.@blaney gets into the wall! pic.twitter.com/dtHpnqa19t
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 14, 2024
I still maintain that the 12 has been the best-performing Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series. And this should be nothing more than a brief slump for the reigning Cup Series champion. Talladega saw a win from Blaney last fall, and in general, he’s a great plate racer. Expect a return to quality starts sooner rather than later for the #12.
#19 Martin Truex Jr
Embed from Getty ImagesIf it’s not one thing, it’s another for Martin Truex Jr. Texas already wasn’t a favorable track to him previously, but it doesn’t help when your team has two errors on pit road. The biggest one came when he was sent out with a loose wheel and had to return to pit road, losing tons of track position. Truex carved out a P14 finish, which is nothing to sneeze at. But it wasn’t everything the team wanted. Next week gets even harder, as Truex has historically struggled at restrictor plate racing. So look for him to be on the bounce-back in Dover later this month.
#48 Alex Bowman
Embed from Getty ImagesIt wasn’t a great day for my guy Alex Bowman either. He never had a chance to get upfront, getting wrecked very early on by John-Hunter Nemechek after Christopher Bell brought out an early caution.
Big problems for Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, & John Hunter Nemechek. pic.twitter.com/Kh8UnOaF40
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) April 14, 2024
Who knows what the day could’ve been for the 48 had this not occurred? They had a great race car, and it was climbing through the field before getting caught up in a disaster. Bowman was 13th in points before this race, and not finishing this one could hurt his standings in that department. But we’ll see if he can carve out a good finish at Talladega, or maybe even repeat a win at Dover as he did in 2021. We’re getting into the thick of the schedule he missed last year with a back injury. Many tracks that he claims are some of his best. So we’ll see what Alex Bowman has up his sleeve coming shortly. Hendrick Motorsports now has three drivers who’ve posted wins, could Bowman be next to break his cold streak?
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