Dancing the Texas Two-Step -- Sprint Cup Series Samsung Mobile 500 Primer

LEEDS, Ala. -- Texas is where Denny Hamlin can get his season back on track.

After finally figuring-out the 1.5-mile quad-oval in 2010, Denny Hamlin joined Carl Edwards as the only other driver to sweep both Texas races since the track acquired two dates in 2005.

The other was Carl Edwards in 2008 -- more on him later.

Hamlin has always been strong at Texas, even prior to him picking up his first victory there last spring. Based purely on the numbers, Hamlin is the top active driver at Texas, holding a 99.2 driver rating (fifth-best in Sprint Cup), an average finish of 8.8, five top-fives and eight top-tens.

One has to wonder what stopped him from taking Texas in the first place.

History has shown that once a championship-caliber driver figures out how to win at a particular track, he’ll win them in bunches. Hamlin expects to be in the mix according to Mike Hembree and speedtv.com:

“Texas has always been one of my favorite tracks,” he said. “It’s so fast and smooth, and we have had some good success there. Winning both races at Texas last year gave me the confidence to run well at all of the mile-and-a-half tracks. This team has worked hard on its intermediate program over the past few years, and last year it seemed to come together. Hopefully, we can continue that trend and make it three in a row.”

Hamlin will have to beat Edwards and a host of others first.

Like most of his career on the intermediate tracks, Edwards has been hit-or-miss at Texas. In addition to his three wins, Edwards has an average running spot of 12.5, sixth-best in Sprint Cup and a driver rating of 96.9, good for seventh-best in the series.

Expect the entire Roush Fenway organization to step up for this one. Roushketeers Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth have combined for five wins. Ex-Roush driver Jeff Burton has also captured two wins at Texas.

Victories come through Jimmie Johnson at Texas (just ask Jeff Gordon, who was likely denied a race win here last spring due to altercations with Johnson and Tony Stewart).

Johnson has only one win at Texas but otherwise has been really stout. His average finish of 10.1 is third-best in the series and has an average running position of 12.5. His driver rating of 99.3 is fourth-best in the series and has seven top-fives at the Speedway. He’ll be a contender in the closing laps.

At some point, Kyle Busch’s Texas Nationwide Series dominance will translate to the Cup Series - 2011 could be that year considering Busch’s new-found maturity. That said, a 16.9 average finish tells us to expect a bit of a let-down for the current Cup points leader.

The Samsung Mobile 500 airs at 7 p.m. EST from the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Tex. The event will be televised live on FOX Sports.