Nationwide O’Reilly Parts 300 at Texas Preview

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Three years ago, in November 2011, Trevor Bayne capped off a roller-coaster of the year with his first career Nationwide Series win in the fall Texas race. His season began with a storybook opening that saw him celebrating in victory lane at the Daytona 500. In between, he was side-lined by illness. 

He rebounded to finish the season with seven consecutive top-11 finishes, including the win. Bayne ultimately finished 11th in the point standings.

Bayne heads to Texas Motor Speedway with the rest of the Nationwide contingent for Friday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 on a mission – to unseat Regan Smith from atop the point standings. Although the two drivers are tied in points, Smith holds the tie breaker by virtue of his win in the Daytona season opener. It is the first time in Bayne’s six-year career that he has held or shared the points lead.

Bayne’s quest to usurp Smith from his top spot, which he has held after each of the first five races, is definitely possible based upon the Tennessee native’s past success at the 1.5-mile track. Six of his seven Texas starts have resulted in top-15 finishes.  In the spring race last year, he posted a 26th-place finish, but followed that up with an 11th in his most recent trip to Texas last November.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr won the spring event at Texas two years ago piloting the No. 6 Roush Fenway entry, which Bayne inherited after Stenhouse moved up to the Sprint Cup Series at the end of the season. Although Stenhouse’s Nationwide  crew chief Mike Kelley joined him in the premier series during the most recent off season, most of the crew from back-to-back championships remains in tact.

NNSFastFactsTexasTeams will be working hard to ensure their race cars are at peak performance by the time qualifying rolls around on Friday afternoon as starting position at Texas is of the utmost importance. Eight of the last ten races have been won by drivers starting in the top-three, and 16 of the last 17 race winners have come from the top-ten.

Ty Dillon is making huge strides during his first full-time season in the Nationwide Series. Although he hasn’t won a race in the series, a win might be looming – possibly this weekend at Texas.

With Texas Motor Speedway’s tradition of awarding cowboy hats to its race winners, it is certain that Dillon, who is often spotted wearing the Western-style headpiece, would gladly exchange his current cowboy hat in favor of the one handed out Friday night.

An O’Reilly Auto Parts 300  victory wouldn’t be his first Texas win. The Rookie of the Year contender won the Camping World Truck Series event last November.

His other starts haven’t ended too poorly either. In six national series starts, the North Carolina native has four top-five and five top-ten finishes, all coming in the Camping World Truck Series. His only Nationwide start at the track , coming last year, resulted in a respectable 12th-place finish.

He is now third in the championship standings, six points behind Regan Smith and Trevor Bayne. Through  the first five races of 2014, Bayne has posted four top-tens, with his lowest finish to date being 11th.

Before Brendan Gaughan made a name for himself in NASCAR’s national series, there were two other sports that took up much of his time – football and basketball.

In the mid-1990s, Gaughan was a member of the Georgetown University’s football and basketball teams. During his basketball career, he played alongside former NBA All Star Allen Iverson and made two trips to the NCAA Tournament’s ‘Sweet 16’ and one to the ‘Elite Eight.’

With the Final Four in Dallas this weekend – the same weekend NASCAR is in town, one can’t help but wonder if Gaughan might get a bit nostalgic for his basketball-playing days.

Although he has never finished higher than 16th in four Nationwide starts at Texas, he won four consecutive races – 2002-03 – and has nine top-five finishes in the Camping World Truck Series at Texas. His last Nationwide start in Texas came in 2010.

James Buescher (Plano), Chris Buescher (Prosper) and Dakoda Armstrong’s crew chief, Philippe Lopez (San Antonio), will all have an opportunity to perform this weekend in front of friends and family when NASCAR is at Texas Motor Speedway.

On Thursday evening, James Buescher was awarded the Sportsman Award at Texas Motor Speedway at the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Gala.

Jamie Dick, driver of the No. 55 car is making his 40th Nationwide start at the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300.

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