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Chase drivers have found success in Lone Star State

By Bill Kimm, NASCAR.COM Nov 5, 11:51 am EST

Texas Motor Speedway, site of Sunday's Dickies 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, ABC) has only been on the Cup Series schedule since 1997. In fact, the track has only hosted two races a season since 2005, but the winner's list is a who's-who of this generation's top drivers.

Eight of the 12 Chase drivers have visited Victory Lane at TMS, headlined by Carl Edwards with three wins. In a season where he is still looking for his first victory, this weekend could be his best chance.

Of course, all eyes on will be on Jimmie Johnson, who has his fourth consecutive Cup title well in hand barring a major slip-up. The bad news for the rest of the field—Johnson has the best average finish among active drivers at TMS and has finished outside the top 15 just once, a 38th in the 2007 spring race due to a crash.

Johnson needs to average a top-10 finish in the final three races to lock up the title and with nine top-10s in 12 races at Texas, he should inch that much closer to Cup supremacy on Sunday.

Inside the Data

Chase drivers at Texas Motor Speedway
Driver	Starts	Wins	Top-fives	Top-10s	Poles	Laps Led	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish
Jimmie Johnson	12	1	6	9	0	78	8.9	8.5
Denny Hamlin	8	0	2	5	0	86	11.9	11.6
Tony Stewart	15	1	4	9	0	469	20.2	12.6
Carl Edwards	9	3	3	4	0	476	18.2	13.4
Mark Martin	17	1	5	9	0	172	14.7	13.8
Kurt Busch	13	0	1	8	0	94	18.3	14.8
Jeff Gordon	17	1	7	9	1	446	9.9	15.2
Juan Montoya	5	0	0	2	0	10	14.4	20.4
Kasey Kahne	10	1	2	2	1	213	12.9	21.9
Greg Biffle	11	1	3	4	0	375	15.7	22.1
Brian Vickers	10	0	0	0	1	19	21.7	22.2
Ryan Newman	12	1	3	3	2	84	15.1	23.2

DID YOU KNOW?

3	Three Chase drivers are still looking for their first top-five finish in the Chase: Carl Edwards, Brian Vickers and Ryan Newman.

GORDON'S POLE WATCH

Since his first full-time season in 1993, Jeff Gordon has won at least one pole in a season—a streak that has lasted 16 years. Through 32 races in 2009, Gordon has yet to win a pole, putting the longest active streak in the Cup Series in jeopardy. Gordon qualifies really well at Texas, with an average starting position of 9.9. In the past five races at TMS, Gordon has started on the front row four times, including two poles.

NECESSITOUS NUMBERS

0	Toyota has yet to visit Victory Lane at Texas Motor Speedway. The manufacturer's best finish at the 1.5-mile track is Denny Hamlin's fifth in 2008.

2	Two drivers have an average finish inside the top 10 at Texas: Jimmie Johnson (8.5) and Matt Kenseth (9.7).

2	Two drivers have a special place in their heart for Texas Motor Speedway as it is the track they scored their first Cup victory: Jeff Burton and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

3.4	Jimmie Johnson has an average finish of 3.4 in the seven Chase races this season. He has three wins, five top-fives and seven top-10s in this year's Chase.

4	Thanks to a third-place finish at Talladega, Joey Logano now has four consecutive top-15 finishes. He finished 14th at Fontana, fifth at Charlotte, 12th at Martinsville and third at Talladega. He and Jimmie Johnson are the only drivers with four top-15s in those races.

15.5	Average starting position of the four winners in Chase races at Texas. Two of the four started eighth and two outside the top 10, including Carl Edwards, who started 30th in 2005. Ironically, the past four spring races at Texas have seen the winner come from the front row.

26	If Bobby Labonte can put his No. 71 Chevrolet in the top 10 at Texas, he will be the 26th driver in Cup history to score 200 top-10s. The last driver to hit 200 top-10s was Tony Stewart in 2008.

250	Congratulations to Casey Mears, who will be making his 250th Cup Series start Sunday at Texas. In 249 races, Mears has one win, 12 top-fives and 46 top-10s.

Sprint Cup Series Standings

Pos.	+/-	Driver	Points	Behind
1.	—	Jimmie Johnson	6,248	—
2.	—	Mark Martin	6,064	-184
3.	—	Jeff Gordon	6,056	-192
4.	+1	Juan Montoya	6,009	-239
5.	-1	Tony Stewart	5,969	-279
6.	—	Kurt Busch	5,936	-312
7.	+1	Greg Biffle	5,908	-340
8.	-1	Ryan Newman	5,846	-402
9.	+2	Kasey Kahne	5,834	-414
10.	—	Carl Edwards	5,811	-437
11.	-2	Denny Hamlin	5,800	-448
12.	—	Brian Vickers	5,692	-556