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How the eight remaining playoff drivers fare at Texas

The third round of the playoffs is here. Let’s see how the eight remaining playoff drivers do at Texas.

Aric Almirola

4,033 points
15 starts
1 top 10
Average finish: 20.6

Almirola crashed out of the spring race at Texas and finished 32nd. He was 18th and 15th in 2017. His only top 10 came in the spring of 2013 when he started third and finished seventh.

Clint Bowyer

4,041 points
25 starts
3 top 5s, 11 top 10s
Average finish: 15.8

Bowyer was ninth in the spring. It was his first top-10 at Texas since he was 8th in 2014 but it’s important to note that all of the pre-2017 statistics at Texas aren’t really applicable since the track has been reconfigured and repaved.

Joey Logano

Clinched final-round berth
20 starts
1 win, 8 top 5s, 10 top 10s
Average finish: 14.9

Logano has been really good at Texas lately on both the old and current configuration. Since finishing 40th in the 2015 fall race — a race that continued his third-round spiral — he’s gone third, second, third, seventh and sixth.

Kurt Busch

4,058 points
31 starts
1 win, 3 top 5s, 18 top 10s
Average finish: 14.8

Busch is gunning for his third straight pole at Texas. He’s finished ninth and seventh in those two races. He needs to be better — or hope multiple big three drivers have trouble — if he wants to make up his points deficit on Sunday.

Martin Truex Jr.

4,083 points
26 starts
4 top 5s, 14 top 10s
Average finish: 14.8

Truex excited the spring race early and finished 37th. He was second to Kevin Harvick in the fall a year ago after leading 107 of 334 laps. The spring finish broke a run of six straight top 10s.

Kyle Busch

4,104 points
25 starts
3 wins, 12 top 5s, 13 top 10s
Average finish: 11.6

Busch has a chance to clinch a spot in the final four even without a win at Texas. He won the spring race at Texas and was 19th a year ago in the fall.

Kevin Harvick

4,083 points
31 starts
1 win, 9 top 5s, 19 top 10s
Average finish: 11.1

Harvick hasn’t finished outside the top 10 at Texas since he had an engine failure 28 laps into the spring race in 2014. The run since then is remarkable. Second, second, third, 10th, sixth, fourth, first and second.

Chase Elliott

4,052 points
5 starts
2 top 5s, 4 top 10s
Average finish: 7.4

While Elliott may have the best average finish of anyone at Texas — he hasn’t finished outside the top 11 at the track — he hasn’t been up front very much. Elliott has completed 1,628 of 1,629 laps at the 1.5-mile(ish) track but has led just nine of those.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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