The Return Of No Limits Intensity!

Photo by Willie Martin "Mr. Will"

It always happens twice a year in April and November when NASCAR makes the rounds and fans will fill up Texas Motor Speedway.

Last April there was an added incentive with the debut of Big Hoss TV going head to head with the NCAA Final Four down in Arlington.

Seemingly each November the racing fan gets to decide between getting a three day fix of races instead of going the route of deer hunting or catching the Dallas Cowboys game. Seems they always play at home when TMS cranks things up in the fall.

Ironically last year I saw Jimmie Johnson win the 2013 race here while the Dallas Cowboys eked out a 27-23 victory over the Minnesota Vikings 27-23. Jerry Jones could take credit for neither (joke).

This weekends 10th AAA Texas 500 shall arrive with an added element of fun within the Chase.

Sundays 2pm race will mark the second of three 'Eliminator 8' races of the overall Chase which means there will be eight winning drivers competing against one another for the sole purpose of winning and bragging rights.

At stake is the ability to win a stake, one of the four berths November 16th at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The final race of the season.

What that means for this weekend means drivers like Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, even a Carl Edwards.

A Sunday win in Ft. Worth puts you in the finale so to speak. On the heels of the Jerry Springeresque we saw after one race a few weeks back you can anticipate risk to be higher and tempers to be shorter in order to cross the checkered white flag first.

I expect all hell to break loose at Turns 2 and 4.

So what has been the overall mood of the racers with this new format?

"I can tell you a lot of people were really excited about all the drama," Edwards said. "It's real. I don't know if people outside the sport really understand that.

 

"When you see people get that wound up, I think it shows how much passion there is inside the sport. It's obvious that this format has raised the level of intensity which all of us have to compete."

Another word to best sum up the overall feellings of the racers week after week heading into the home stretch: Intensity. The pressure to win or go home.

"I think the format has really changed the face of the sport just for the fact that it has added so much intensity to what we do as drivers and the chances that you have to take," Kevin Harvick said. "Especially in this point in the year when you want to go and not make those enemies and not do the things you would normally do. Right now you just have to survive."

Rest assured when 2pm arrives and the flags are flipped anything can and will happen at Texas Motor Speedway. Who can forget the side by side rumba put forth by Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson in 2012? How about the 2011 ending with Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards in a race that was for the record books?

Jeff Gordon provided an interesting perspective on the whole dynamic of racing and maintaining a sense of balance.

"We got to go race," Gordon said. "We got to race hard.  We got to be smart and we got to go for it hard.  That's the toughest thing about this thing; you got to go for it.  You got to put everything out on the edge.  If you go too far over the edge, you might be out. There's a very fine line there."

Gordon currently is the points leader followed closely by Newman (-3), Logano (-4), Kenseth (-5) and Hamlin (-7) before the gap widens to Edwards (-20), Keselowski (-31) and Harvick (-33).

Joey Logano also welcomes the challenges of racing within the confines of a mile and a half race track.

"It is great to know that we can finish good and we can run good at these next three race tracks," Logano said of the Eliminator 8 Round races at Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix. "That's nice to know. I do feel like they are three good race tracks for me personally as a driver and for the 22 team. But, what we've done in the past doesn't mean anything. It's going to be really, really hard."

 

Friday Night Lights is usually a term reserved for the local high school football. October 31 youll have the WinStar World Casino & Resort 350 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race (147 Laps, 220.5 Miles) 7:30 p.m. Race broadcast partners: TV - FOX Sports 1 (national/local) Radio - Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90 (national) / 105.3 The Fan (local). 

Make it a day and head out early for the qualifying events such as:

NASCAR Nationwide Series Practice, 11 - 11:50 a.m.

 

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Pinnacle Propane Qualifying Days,2:10 p.m.

 

NASCAR Nationwide Series Final Practice, 3:30 - 5 p.m.

 

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pinnacle Propane Qualifying Days, 5:40 p.m.

More of the same on November 1:

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Practice, 10 - 10:50 a.m.

 

NASCAR Nationwide Series Pinnacle Propane Qualifying Days, 11:10 a.m.

 

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Final Practice, 1 - 1:50 p.m.

2pm more racing fun when the O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge NASCAR Nationwide Series race (200 Laps, 300 Miles) commences. Race broadcast partners: TV - ESPN 2 (nationwide/local) Radio - Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90 (national) / 105.3 The Fan (local)

Prior to the Big Race November 2

"No Limits" Garage Party presented by WinStar World Casino & Resort Opens, 9:30 a.m.

 

"Loud and Proud Pre-Race Show Fueled by American Ethanol" featuring Kevin Fowler, Stoney LaRue and Dee Jay Silver, 11:20 a.m.

Cooler weather will be the story of this day come 2pm.

AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (334 Laps, 501 Miles).  

Last year I predicted a victory for Jimmie Johnson. This year I'll have my eye on Carl Edwards to take the checkered flag come the dusk.

Don't forget to turn those clocks back Saturday night!

Enjoy the No Limits weekend everyone!

Over and out in Big D.

Mr. Will