The eighth Sprint Cup race of the 2010 NASCAR season takes us to Texas Motor Speedway for the Samsung Mobile 500 this Sunday, April 18th starting at 3:00 P.M. (ET). This is the first of two races scheduled for Texas with the next one being the first weekend in November. Ryan Newman won last week in Phoenix, but Jimmie Johnson is still dominating this season with three wins in six races and holds the top spot in the Sprint Cup standings with 1073 points. He is the odds-on-favorite to win again this week, but there are a few drivers that might have something to say about that. The following is a preview of the top seven drivers in the Sprint Cup point standings along with their current odds to win this week.
Johnson did not win last week but his third place finish gave him 1073 points and maintained his top spot in the standings. Last year in this week’s race he started from the ninth position and finished in second place. In 2008 he started fifth and finished second as well. In his 13 career starts at Texas he has yet to win, but has finished in the top 10 nine times, six times in this race alone.
Kenseth moved in to second place in the standings with 1037 points, just 36 behind. Last year in this race he started third and finished fifth. His best effort in this race was in 2002 when he took the checkered flag after starting all the way back from the 31st position. He has ten top 10 finishes at this track including three second place finishes to go along with the one win. In this race he has six top 10 finishes.
Falling back a spot in the standings, Biffle currently has 981 points, 92 points out of lead. Last year in this race he started 14th and rallied to finish third. In 2005, starting from the fifth position he went on to win, recording his first career victory at Texas. Overall he has five top 10 finishes, including three in this race.
Kevin Harvick 18-1
Harvick currently has 961 points, 112 points back. Last year in this race he did not turn in one of his better efforts as he started 17th and ended up finishing 27th. His best finish ever was in 2006 when he started 24th and finished fifth. He has six top 10 finishes in Texas and two in this particular race.
Gordon has 948 points and continues to climb in the point standings jumping from seventh to fifth after a second place finish in Phoenix. After wrecking and finishing 43rd in 2008, he redeemed himself by winning this race last year after starting from the second position. In his career he has nine top 10 finishes at this track. He has six top 10 finishes in this race and from 2001-2004 he actually finished in the top five each time.
With a ninth place finish in Phoenix, Bowyer now has 885 points, 188 in back of Johnson. Texas has not been one of his favorite tracks as last year he started 19th and finished 22nd and his best finish ever was in 2008 when he started 25th and finished 10th. He does have four top 10 finishes at this track, but last year was his only top 10 finish in this race.
Burton has 873 points, falling back two spots from last week to seventh. He is currently 200 points back of the lead. Last year in this race he started 15th and finished ninth. He does have two career wins in this race; 2007 when he started second and 1997 when he started fifth. Overall he has nine top 10 finishes at Texas including six in his last seven races here. He has seven top 10 finishes in this race.
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