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As a testament to how everything is bigger in the Lone State State, the first half of the NASCAR Cup Series season sees them take not one, but two trips down to Texas. Two months after Christopher Bell won on the road course at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, the best in NASCAR now head to Fort Worth for an oval race at a track unmistakable in identity or in character.

NASCAR makes its annual trip to Texas Motor Speedway for the Wurth 400 on Sunday, presenting the field with one of the toughest and most unpredictable 1.5-mile races on the circuit. Thanks to vastly different banking from one end of the racetrack to the other as well as past track treatments, racing at Texas is a fight for grip and a fight for the racing groove -- because beyond that, there is a no man's land of little traction that usually ends in a Texas-sized impact with the wall.

That's how things went in the race for the win here one year ago, as a side-by-side battle for the victory ended with Denny Hamlin spinning up the track and slamming the wall while Chase Elliott drove off to end what had been a long winless streak. But for Elliott, it's now been a full year since that victory, and the 2020 Cup champion enters Texas yet again trying to find the winner's circle for the first time in many races.

Where to watch the NASCAR Cup Series at Texas

When: Sunday, May 4 at 3:30 p.m. ET
Where: Texas Motor Speedway -- Fort Worth, Texas
TV: FS1
Stream: fubo (try for free)

Starting lineup

Carson Hocevar won the pole for the Wurth 400 in qualifying on Saturday, posting a lap of 28.175 (191.659 MPH) to earn his first career Cup Series pole.

  1. #77 - Carson Hocevar
  2. #24 - William Byron
  3. #2 - Austin Cindric
  4. #5 - Kyle Larson
  5. #71 - Michael McDowell
  6. #54 - Ty Gibbs
  7. #21 - Josh Berry
  8. #11 - Denny Hamlin
  9. #23 - Bubba Wallace
  10. #16 - A.J. Allmendinger
  11. #48 - Alex Bowman
  12. #17 - Chris Buescher
  13. #38 - Zane Smith
  14. #43 - Erik Jones
  15. #7 - Justin Haley
  16. #20 - Christopher Bell
  17. #45 - Tyler Reddick
  18. #4 - Noah Gragson
  19. #3 - Austin Dillon
  20. #41 - Cole Custer
  21. #35 - Riley Herbst (R)
  22. #19 - Chase Briscoe
  23. #10 - Ty Dillon
  24. #12 - Ryan Blaney
  25. #99 - Daniel Suarez
  26. #8 - Kyle Busch
  27. #22 - Joey Logano
  28. #42 - John Hunter Nemechek
  29. #9 - Chase Elliott
  30. #6 - Brad Keselowski
  31. #1 - Ross Chastain
  32. #34 - Todd Gilliland
  33. #60 - Ryan Preece
  34. #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  35. #62 - Jesse Love
  36. #51 - Cody Ware
  37. #88 - Shane van Gisbergen (R)
  38. #66 - Chad Finchum

Storyline to watch

Although Team Penske earned its first win of the season at Talladega thanks to Austin Cindric, things aren't exactly Penske Perfect within the halls of the organization. The team left Talladega not only with the checkered flag, but also with some tension towards Cindric on Joey Logano's part that needed to be smoothed over.

After Cindric pushed Bubba Wallace's Toyota to the stage 2 win and then did not push him past Wallace through the trioval, Logano went into a brief expletive-laden tirade on his radio, calling Cindric a "dumb f---" among other things for allowing a Toyota to win the stage. Logano's remarks were heard on the Fox broadcast, opening him up to criticism from even Baseball Hall of Famer and Atlanta Braves legend Chipper Jones, who accused Logano of having a "hooray for our team as long as I'm the star" attitude.

While Logano found himself having to respond to Jones' criticism of his attitude as a team player, Cindric said in his post-race press conference that he expected to discuss the end of the second stage in Penske's competition meeting on Monday, admitting that the situation was "messy" and that he felt he was getting pinched and was trying not to wreck the cars in front of him. The dynamic is somewhat altered by Cindric's place within Penske, as he is the son of team president Tim Cindric.

While it's likely that Logano's outburst at Cindric was more indicative of frustration in the moment than any underlying tension between teammates, it'll be worth monitoring how Logano conducts himself on the racetrack, particularly given that a disqualification at Talladega meant that he has still yet to earn a top-five finish this season despite being the defending Cup champion.

NASCAR news of the week

  • A North Carolina judge has denied Legacy Motor Club a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against Rick Ware Racing, which would have prevented Rick Ware Racing from making any other transactions with the charter Legacy M.C. is seeking to purchase. In court, it was revealed that Legacy Motor Club had reached an agreement to purchase Charter 36 (currently being used by Cody Ware's No. 51 team) from Rick Ware Racing for $45 million, but wording in the contract described the charter being purchased as Charter 27, which is currently being leased by Rick Ware to RFK Racing's No. 60 team.

    RFK Racing also has an agreement to lease Charter 36 in 2026, which would leave Rick Ware Racing without a charter for next season should Legacy Motor Club purchase Charter 27 for next season. Rick Ware Racing had agreed to the transaction under the impression the sale would go into effect in 2027, only for Legacy to allegedly change the terms to 2026.
  • In response to Christopher Bell's head-on collision with the backstretch wall at Talladega, NASCAR officials shared that the section of the wall Bell hit will be altered and straightened out prior to the track's next race weekend in October. Bell had hit a portion of the wall that juts out at an access road where emergency vehicles are stationed, and the angle of the wall had contributed to some similarly brutal impacts in past accidents.
  • NASCAR has issued two L1-level penalties to a pair of Xfinity Series teams following Talladega, disciplining the No. 99 Viking Motorsports team and driver Matt DiBenedetto as well as the No. 87 Jordan Anderson Racing team and driver Austin Green. Both teams were found to be in violation of NASCAR rules pertaining to the rear bumper covers in pre-race inspection, and both were fined $25,000 and docked 20 driver and owner points as well as five playoff points.

    The penalty serves as a setback for DiBenedetto's team, which finished a season-best fifth at Talladega. Austin Green's team, meanwhile, failed to qualify after not being fast enough to make the starting field.
  • Sports Business Journal has reported that the PGA Tour has identified NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps as a candidate for its CEO opening, a group which also may include TaylorMade President & CEO David Abeles. Despite Phelps' recent promotion to commissioner, the PGA reportedly still views him as an "active and attractive target" for its CEO position to work alongside commissioner Jay Monahan.

Pick to win

Tyler Reddick (+700) -- Texas has been one of Reddick's best racetracks since the start of his Cup career in 2020, and he should arguably have more than just one win in Fort Worth. By all accounts, Reddick had the best car late in last year's race and should have won handily, but a bad pit stop and contact with the wall clipped his wings and limited him to a fourth place finish.

Reddick has led a substantial portion of each of the last three Texas races, which includes 2022 when he led 70 laps on his way to victory.