The Duck Commander 500 @ Texas Motorspeedway is set to go off on Saturday, April 9th on Fox. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 7:30 E.T. Once again Mike Joy and Darryl Waltrip will be calling the race and are joined by NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon. Carl Edwards sits on the pole for NASCAR’s first night race of the year.
Six-time Sprint Cup Champion Jimmy Johnson will be looking to continue his dominance at Texas Motorspeedway. Johnson swept both races here last year and has won in five of his last seven tries. Johnson will be starting just outside the top ten in the 11th position. Johnson won here last fall starting out of the eighth spot.
The Joe Gibbs Racing machine once again qualified several fast race cars in the top ten for the Duck Commander 500. Carl Edwards sits in the pole position with a lap turned at 194.609 miles an hour. Quite the contrast to Martinsville Speedway where last week’s contest went down.
Sitting in third is Martin Truex Jr., the new addition to the Joe Gibbs Racing Juggernaut who has shown considerable speed during both practices and again in qualifying. The Bass Pro Shop Toyota driver finished eighth here last fall and is starting in the middle of the pack in the 23rd slot.
Teammate Denny Hamlin will get the nod in the sixth position. The #11 FedEx Toyota Camry wasn’t all that impressive in practice, but Hamlin pulled it together for his qualifying effort. Hamlin collected the first win of the year on a superspeedway at the Daytona 500.
Matt Kenseth, yet another Joe Gibbs Racing stand-out, once again qualified within the top 10. The #20 Dollar General Toyota Camry will drop the throttle out of the ninth position. Kenseth has won The Duck Commander 500 twice, with his last victory lap coming in the spring of 2011. The feisty veteran did not compete here in last year’s fall race. A suspension was leveled on him by NASCAR for his on-track payback of Joey Logano at Martinsville the week prior.
Joey Logano once again proved that he can produce great qualifying speed at almost every NASCAR Sprint Cup Venue. The #22 will start in 2nd on the outside of pole sitter Carl Edwards. Logano was the last driver to win here since Jimmie Johnson has swept the last three events. Logano will be a race favorite in Las Vegas this weekend.
Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano’s Team Penske teammate, dominated this track in the fall race by leading 312 of the 334 laps turned. He finished runner-up to Jimmie Johnson in November. Keselowski has shown considerable speed in the first practice. The #2 Miller Lite hot-rod will start in the eighth position.
Rookie sensations Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney continue to impress. Blaney and his #21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire and Auto Center Ford Fusion is in the seventh spot. Woods Bros. Racing has always fielded fast cars in speedways. Elliott starts in the fifth spot. The phenom continues to consistently qualify well and has put himself in position to move into the top ten with a big performance this weekend.
Xfinity race winner Kyle Busch will begin in the 15th position. Busch swept both races at Martinsville and looks to continue his hot streak in The Duck Commander 500. The defending NASCAR champion last won here in the spring of 2013 and has collected a whopping 11 wins here in Xfinity Series cars and Camping World trucks.
Erik the Hun’s Fantasy Line-Up:
A: Brad Keselowski
B: Dale Earnhardt Jr Matt Kenseth Martin Truex Jr.
C: Ty Dillion
Starting Line-Up for the Duck Commander 500:
1. (19) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 194.609 mph.
2. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 193.306.
3. (78) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 193.306.
4. (24) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 193.036.
5. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 192.94.
6. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 192.912.
7. (21) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 192.885.
8. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 192.685.
9. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 192.362.
10. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 192.349.
11. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 191.51.
12. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 190.57.
13. (14) Brian Vickers, Chevrolet, 192.905.
14. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 192.85.
15. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 192.644.
16. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 192.548.
17. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 192.404.
18. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 192.007.
19. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 191.918.
20. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 191.707.
21. (41) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 191.598.
22. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 191.537.
23. (47) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 191.435.
24. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 191.34.
25. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 192.417.
26. (10) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 192.116.
27. (44) Brian Scott, Ford, 191.986.
28. (7) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 191.775.
29. (83) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 191.476.
30. (95) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 191.286.
31. (23) David Ragan, Toyota, 191.252.
32. (13) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 190.564.
33. (38) Landon Cassill, Ford, 190.228.
34. (34) Chris Buescher, Ford, 190.121.
35. (46) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 189.367.
36. (15) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 189.122.
37. (98) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 188.193.
38. (32) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ford, 185.522.
39. (30) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 184.963.
40. (55) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 181.592.
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