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This week the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series heads for the Lone-Star State for the AAA Texas 500. This is NASCAR's second trip to the 1.5 mile oval this year. The last time they were here, Denny Hamlin went on to claim his third win of the season after passing Austin Dillon in the later stages of the race. Overall, the racing that we saw there seemed to be closer but it still turned out to be a dominating performance from Joe Gibbs Racing. This time around, the circumstances are much different considering what is at stake as each driver in the round of eight will look for a chance to punch their ticket to the championship race in Homestead-Miami.
Last week, Martin Truex Jr. went on to win his season-high seventh win of the season and will now get to race for a championship for the third consecutive year. As I stated in the Martinsville preview, I predicted that Martin Truex Jr would have no issue getting to victory lane and he went out there and made me look like a genius (which is hard to do). When the dust settled, he led a career-high 464 laps and was never really challenged for most of the day. The closest anyone could ever get to him was William Byron and he couldn't even get to the back bumper of Truex. While we saw the same amount of beating and banging that we have always seen, like the last time they were here at Martinsville, no one could seem to pass the leader.
While many people would say, "Isn't the leader supposed to be hard to pass?" it shouldn't be next to impossible like what we saw last Sunday. What it all boiled down to was the size of the spoiler on the back of the car. With this new rules package, the rear spoiler is nine inches tall and 61 inches around. This was implemented to add more drag and resistance to keep the cars closer together and while for the most part it worked for the rest of the field, Truex was able to get into clean air and just take off. After the race, Brad Keselowski said "when you get behind someone and you are way faster, this big spoiler would just kill you." Many fans agreed with him and suggested a much smaller spoiler for these 750 horsepower races. I think this could be the best idea to help improve races here. With the cost being minimal, I would not be surprised if this is the direction that NASCAR goes in the future.
The big headline after the race was the altercation between Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano during post-race. On the track, Denny Hamlin squeezed Joey Logano into the wall down the backstretch flat spotting Logano's tire. Logano confronted Hamlin on pit-road by shoving him and then walking away. This led to Hamlin and his team attacking Joey but the fight was quickly broken up after Denny Hamlin was thrown to the ground by a crew-member. This was fairly routine for Martinsville. The last three consecutive years there has been a conflict at the end of the race and Hamlin has been involved in two of them. It will be interesting to see if Logano returns the favor going forward into this round.
The driver that I have winning this weekend is Kyle Larson. While he may not be the favorite for a lot of people and the results haven't quite been what this Chip Ganassi Racing team would have liked, Larson has proved that he can run up front here. Ever since the track has been reconfigured, it has seemed to fit Larson's driving style fairly well and they just haven't had the luck to go along with their efforts. Every time he seems to get going, there has always been an obstacle in his way. The last time he came there in March, he was charging through the field and looked to be in a position to contend until an accident took him out of contention on lap 147.
This time around, I believe that Larson will be able to run a complete race with no issues and take the win and finally lock himself into the championship race at Homestead. This could very well be a race to remember for the fifth year driver and if he is able to move on to the championship round, he will be a serious threat for the championship. Another side-note, if Larson is able to win, he will break a twenty-five year win-less streak for a McDonald's sponsored car as the last driver to win for the iconic restaurant was Jimmy Spencer all the way back in 1994. Look for Larson and the Golden Arches to go to victory lane at Texas.
(All stats and information used in this article is brought to you by the good folks at driveraverages.com and Racing-Reference.com the best website for all NASCAR stats).
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Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.
The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Key moment
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Key Stat
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Up next
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.