Race Day at Texas

Repeat winners are kind of hard to come by

DAVID POOLE

The Charlotte Observer

Sunday, Nov. 04, 2007

• Race updates | How they run at Texas
• Pole story | Truex puts up 193.106 mph lap, plenty to rope in top spot at Texas
• Sunday's lineup | How they roll off in the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway
• Slideshow | Images from Texas Motor Speedway

A little more to chew on while waiting for the green fleg at Texas Motor Speedway:

DICKIES 500

Where: Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas.

When: 3:30 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.

Weather: Sunny, temperature near 80.

TV: Coverage begins at 3 p.m. on ABC.

Radio: Performance Racing Network

Race distance: 500 miles (334 laps).

Track length: 1.5 miles

THREE THINGS TO WATCH

1. The nine-point gap between Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson with three races left is the closest the Chase for the Nextel Cup has been at this point in its four-year history. Neither can afford to finish far behind the other in the Dickies 500.

2. Jeff Burton won here in April to become the only driver with more than one Cup victory at Texas. Among this year’s Chase drivers only Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards have victories here.

3. If Burton completes a Texas sweep, he’ll win $500,000 for Nikki Kelly of San Antonio. Kelly, who won a shot at that prize in a contest sponsored by Dickies, said she’d use the money to put her four children through college. She gave Burton a picture of those kids to carry along with him in the No. 31 Chevrolet today.

PRACTICE UPDATE Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt had the fastest laps in Saturday’s first practice. Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Reed Sorenson and Ryan Newman then led the final session.

Points leader Jeff Gordon was 13th in the first session, then struggled early in the final session before getting his car up to speed. He was listed 31st on the final speed chart, but by the end of the final session the No. 24 was running similar lap times to the top cars on that list.

OBSERVER PICKS

David Poole

Matt Kenseth - Barely lost here in April and makes up for that near miss Sunday.

Jim Utter

Martin Truex Jr. – Too late for him in the Chase, but at least it’ll make Atlanta a little less painful.

WHERE THE CHASE DRIVERS QUALIFIED