By John Schutt
NASCAR, Monster Energy series, AAA Texas 500, Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday, Nov. 3.
Kevin Harvick started in front and won the third stage and won the overall race for the third time! Following Harvick were Aric Almirola in second place, Daniel Suarez in third, Joey Logano in fourth, Alex Bowman in fifth, and Martin Truex, Jr. in sixth.
There were many issues with handling of the race cars and track temperature change from day into night. It was Harvick’s fourth victory of the season and assures him as one of the four championship contenders. Truex, Jr. is the other one in the final four with two spots still open.
The standings in the top five in the Monster: Truex, Jr., 4133; Harvick, 4113; Kyle Busch, 4113; Logano, 4111; Denny Hamlin, 4091.
During the first stage in the Texas 500, Harvick settled down to a comfortable lead.
At 65 laps in, Brad Keselowski lost control of his No. 2 Ford and hit the wall and Ricky Stenhouse crashed into the back of Keselowski’s car, which put it out of commission.
Later Hamlin’s car got loose and was headed for the infield.
Stage one ended with Harvick in first over Clint Bowyer.
Stage two started with Ryan Blaney in the front due to good pit work between stage transitions. Blaney lost the lead to Almirola.
Stage two ended with Almirola winning ahead of Eric Jones.
With 90 laps to go, Harvick was back in the lead and he stayed there for the victory.
NASCAR Monster Energy series, First Data 500, Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, Va., Sunday, Oct. 27.
Truex, Jr. won the race in commanding fashion. Following were William Byron in second place, Keselowski in third, Denny Hamlin in fourth, and Ryan Blaney in fifth. Kyle Busch finished in seventh place.
Truex, Jr. led 100 laps of the 130 laps in stage one.
Truex, Jr. passed Kyle Larson in the last lap of stage two and went on to sweep the race by winning the final stage.
It was Truex, Jr.’s seventh victory of this season. Contender Chase Elliott started in the rear and was running in the top 10 mid-race only to have his axle break. Elliott’s car had to retire to the garage.
Logano claimed his No. 22 Ford, was pushed into the wall by Hamlins Toyota. After the race in the pit lane Logano threw some lame punches at Hamlin and a scuffle broke out.