NASCAR Texas 2017: Schedule, results, and news

Chase Elliott was within a few laps of winning his first Monster Energy Cup Series race Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, a win that would’ve advanced the Hendrick Motorsports into the title round of NASCAR’s playoffs.

But there was no victory celebration, nor is Elliott yet guaranteed a spot in the four-driver championship finale. Thanks to a seismic shove from Denny Hamlin, Elliott went spinning into the wall with two laps remaining, crashing his hopes for a first-ever win. Kyle Busch would win the First Data 500 and with it earn a pass to race for the Cup Series title Nov. 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Now, Elliott finds himself 26 points behind Kevin Harvick for the final provisional transfer position. That deficit places Elliott in a must-win situation where his title hopes depend on him winning either Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway or the following week at Phoenix Raceway. Anything less a win, and he’ll be one of four drivers eliminated when the playoff semifinals concludes at Phoenix.

Session 1: Friday, 1 p.m. - 2:25 p.m.

Session 2: Saturday, 3 p.m. - 3:55 p.m.

Session 3: Saturday, 5 p.m. - 5:50 p.m.

TV/streaming: NBCSN (Friday); CNBC (Saturday) (session 1 stream) (session 2 stream) (session 3 stream)

Time: Friday, 6:15 p.m.

TV/streaming: NBC Live TV app (live stream)

Time/green flag: 2 p.m/2:15 p.m.

Distance/laps: 501 miles/334 laps

TV/streaming: NBCSN (live stream)

Winning — not retribution — should be Chase Elliott’s focus at Texas.

Smartly, Elliott’s focus is not on vengeance, but instead on winning. Although his chances of qualifying for the Final Four were diminished by what transpired at Martinsville, a path still exists for him to get to Homestead with a shot at the title.

Working in his favor is how theTexas preview: Playoff drama builds heading into second race of Cup Series semifinals schedule sets up. Specifically, the high-speed, mile-and-a-half Texas oval where he’s never finished worse than ninth in three career starts. And on similarly sized speedways, he has been particularly strong recently, having finished fourth or better in the previous four races on such tracks -- including two seconds and a fourth in the playoffs.

However, another top 10 on Sunday does Elliott little good. What he requires is a win.

Texas preview: Playoff drama builds heading into second race of Cup Series semifinals

Chase Elliott has not forgotten nor forgiven Denny Hamlin for costing him a key playoff win. There may or may not be some lingering feelings between Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick. And Jimmie Johnson doesn’t at all resemble the driver who’s won a record-tying seven Monster Energy Cup Series championships.

That is how the NASCAR world turns heading into the AAA Texas 500 Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway (2:15 p.m. ET, NBCSN), the second of three semifinal races that will determine the four drivers who will vie for the championship in two weeks at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Kurt Busch captured the pole position with a scorching lap that eclipsed 200 mph and was the fastest in NASCAR history on a mile-and-a-half track. Busch’s lap average speed of 200.915 mph bumped Hamlin off the top position and earned him his first pole of the season and 22nd of his career.

Kevin Harvick qualified third, followed by rookie Erik Jones in fourth and Kyle Busch in fifth. Rookie Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski completed the top 10.

Elliott’s tough week continued Friday when he was one of seven drivers whose cars failed to pass pre-qualifying technical inspection, preventing them from posting a lap. Elliott, the only playoff-eligible among the group, will start 34th on Sunday.

The others who did make it onto the track were Trevor Bayne, Gray Gaulding, Matt Kenseth, Corey LaJoie, Joey Logano and Reed Sorenson. The cars of Hamlin and Harvick each needed multiple attempts to pass inspection, with both drivers getting cleared with just a few minutes remaining in Round 1.

Kevin Harvick ran down then passed Martin Truex Jr. to win the AAA Texas 500 Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, locking himself in the championship playoff round of NASCAR’s Cup Series playoffs.

Harvick utilized slower traffic to his advantage and passed Truex with 10 laps remaining. The 2014 Monster Energy Series champion then pulled away to win his second race of the season and first of the playoffs.

Truex finished second, with Denny Hamlin third, Matt Kenseth fourth, and Brad Keselowski fifth. Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, and Erik Jones completed the top 10.

The win was Harvick’s first in 30 starts at the 1.5-mile speedway. He is now won at all but two tracks (Kentucky Speedway and Pocono Raceway) of the 23 on the Cup Series schedule.

Harvick’s victory in the second of three semifinal round races qualifies him for the four-driver championship finale Nov. 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He joins Truex and Kyle Busch as those locked into the final with one semifinal race remaining. Busch earned his spot by winning the semifinal opener last week at Martinsville Speedway, while Truex makes it based off his points accumulation within the round.

The other five playoff drivers can qualify for the best-finish-wins-the-championship finale by winning next week’s elimination race at Phoenix Raceway. If Busch, Harvick, Truex or a non- playoff-eligible drivers wins one at Phoenix, the remaining spot will be determined by points.