Jimmie Johnson has advanced to the championship round at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and another title contender could do so with a win at Texas Motor Speedway.
The middle race of the Round of 8 takes place today.
Here is all the important info for today’s race.
(All times are Eastern)
START: Dennis Quaid, star and executive producer of “The Art of More,’' will give the command to start engines at 1:56 p.m. The green flag is scheduled for 2:04 p.m.
DISTANCE: The race is scheduled for 334 laps (501 miles) around the 1.5-mile track.
PRERACE SCHEDULE: The Sprint Cup garage opens at 8 a.m. The driver/crew chief meeting is at noon. Driver introductions are at 1:08 p.m.
NATIONAL ANTHEM: The US Army 1st Cavalry Division Band will perform the National Anthem at 1:49 p.m., followed by a flyover by two F-4 Phantoms.
TV/RADIO: NBC will broadcast the race. Coverage begins at 1 p.m. with Countdown to Green. Race coverage begins at 2 p.m. Performance Racing Network’s radio broadcast begins at 1 p.m. and also can be heard at goprn.com. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will have PRN’s broadcast.
FORECAST: The wunderground.com site predicts a temperature of 72 degrees with a 16 percent chance of rain at the start of the race.
LAST TIME: Kyle Busch won this race in April, leading 34 laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr. placed second and Joey Logano was third. Martin Truex Jr. led a race-high 141 laps and finished sixth. Jimmie Johnson won here last November -- the fourth consecutive fall race he’s won at Texas. Johnson led only six laps. Brad Keselowski led 312 of the 334 laps and finished second. Kevin Harvick placed third.
STARTING LINEUP: Click here for starting lineup