Samsung Mobile 500
Who Will Win?
Stewart
Tony Stewart: How do you bet against the driver who's won the last four intermediate-track races? Well, you don't, if you're smart anyway. It's not just that he's winning on these tracks, it's that he hasn't been outside the top 10 even once in the two intermediate races this season. Picking a winner in the Sprint Cup Series is anything but a sure thing, but right now this is the closest thing to ity. – Jay Hart
Jeff Gordon: This may seem like a crazy pick, but Gordon's had fast cars, just terrible luck. And Texas is where Gordon won in 2009 to snap a 47-race winless streak. That means absolutely nothing in relation to what will happen this year, but look for Gordon to have another fast car Saturday night. And count on his luck changing too. – Nick Bromberg
Matt Kenseth: Sure, Tony Stewart has owned intermediate tracks for the last few months, but Kenseth has owned Texas for the last few years … or at least put down a nice down payment. In the last 13 races, he's finished worse than ninth only twice. He won at the spring race last year, and another win would pretty much solidify his year all the way to September. – Jay Busbee
Top storyline
Busch
•Kurt Busch has gone from something worse than a troublemaker; he's an afterthought. But it wasn't so long ago that he won at this track. He desperately needs some good runs to make himself relevant again. Could this be the weekend that he gets it going, or will he get swallowed up in the Roush/Stewart dominance? (Spoiler: the latter.) – Jay Busbee
• Will Tony Stewart continue his domination at intermediate tracks? Dating back to last season, Stewart has won the last four races on 1.5- and 2-mile tracks. In the process, he led nearly 40 percent of the laps run. Considering intermediate tracks make up 50 percent of the Chase, that's a stretch that should scare the competition, especially if it continues Saturday night in Texas, a track where he won last November. – Jay Hart
• I hope you like intermediate tracks, because Texas is the first of back-to-back races at 1.5-mile tracks. The next two races will tell us a lot about who will be the best teams on the tracks that make up the majority of the Sprint Cup schedule. If someone scores top 10s at both Texas and Kansas next weekend, they're probably a safe bet to make the Chase. – Nick Bromberg
From The Source
Clint Bowyer, on his move to MWR: "Am I surprised [by the early success]? No. Proud? Yes. I'm very proud of everybody's hard work. It sure makes you feel so much better about making the change and the decision that you've made and all the naysayers – people that looked at you and thought, 'What the hell are you doing?' It sure makes you feel a lot better about that."
