NASCAR in Texas: How to watch, schedule, drivers to watch for Fort Worth

NASCAR is back in Texas.

The racing series will make its second visit of the season to the Lone Star State this weekend. Weeks after an event in Austin, the Cup Series will race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

The 1.5-mile quad-oval has hosted NASCAR races annually since 1997. But for the first time since 2019, the track will hold a race in the springtime.

What’s in store for Sunday’s race? Who are the favorites? What is the schedule? Here’s everything you need to know for the 2024 Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400:

NASCAR at Texas entry list

Thirty-eight drivers will race in Texas – the 34 full-timers, plus four others.

Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson is the headliner, making his second of nine starts this season for Legacy Motor Club. Then there’s Austin Hill, an Xfinity Series regular, driving the No. 33 for Richard Childress Racing in his first of four starts this season.

Elsewhere, Kaz Grala will pilot the No. 15 for Rick Ware Racing as he continues his part-time effort and veteran Ty Dillon will make his second start of the year for Kaulig Racing.

Here’s the full entry list for Texas:

Car number	Driver	Team	Sponsor
1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Worldwide Express
2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Discount Tire
3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Bass Pro Shops
4	Josh Berry	Stewart-Haas Racing	MINER
5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	HendrickCars.com
6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	BuildSubmarines.com
7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Schluter Systems
8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Zone
9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Hooters
10	Noah Gragson	Stewart-Haas Racing	Overstock
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Yahoo!
12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Menards
14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Rush Truck Centers
15	Kaz Grala	Rick Ware Racing	N29 Capital Partners
16	Ty Dillon	Kaulig Racing	Sea Best Seafood
17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Fifth Third Bank
19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Bass Pro Shops
20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Rheem
21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Freightliner
22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	AAA Insurance
23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Columbia Sportswear
24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Liberty University
31	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	South Point Hotel & Casino
33	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	United Rentals
34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Love's Travel Stops
38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Long John Silver's
41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Haas Tooling
42	John Hunter Nemechek	Legacy Motor Club	Romco Equipment
43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Dollar Tree
45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Monster Energy
47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Kroger
48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Ally Financial
51	Justin Haley	Rick Ware Racing	Ohanafy
54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Interstate Batteries
71	Zane Smith	Spire Motorsports	Ambetter Health
77	Carson Hocevar	Spire Motorsports	Premier Security
84	Jimmie Johnson	Legacy Motor Club	AdventHealth
99	Daniel Suarez	Trackhouse Racing	Kubota Tractors

When is the NASCAR race this weekend in Texas?

The Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas is set for Sunday, April 14, at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Before the race, there will be practice and qualifying sessions. The 38-car field will be split into two groups (found here), with each group practicing for 20 minutes on Saturday.

Qualifying will start immediately after practice. Each car from the two groups will make one lap in the first round, with the five fastest cars on single-lap speed in each group advancing to the final round. In the final round, the remaining drivers each get one lap to set the top 10 starting order, with positions 11 through 38 are set based on first round times.

NASCAR TV schedule this weekend in Texas

Saturday, April 13 (FS1 and streaming online)

• Practice: 10:30 a.m. ET, FS1, FOXSports.com
• Qualifying: 11:20 a.m. ET, FS1, FOXSports.com

Sunday, April 14 (FS1 and streaming online)

• NASCAR RaceDay: 2 p.m. ET, FS1, FOXSports.com
• Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400: 3:30 p.m. ET,  FS1, FOXSports.com

NASCAR Texas past winners, race history

There are eight former Texas winners who will race on Sunday, including Jimmie Johnson – the winningest driver in TMS history with seven victories. William Byron is the defending winner after taking home the checkered flag last September.

Kyle Busch (4) and Denny Hamlin (3) join Johnson as the only other multi-race winners. The one-time winners include Joey Logano (2014), Austin Dillon (2020), Kyle Larson (2021), Tyler Reddick (2022) and Byron (2023). Additionally, Ryan Blaney won the non-points All-Star Race at TMS in 2022.

NASCAR at Texas favorites, drivers to watch

Texas is different from most intermediate tracks because it has two unique corners – turns one and two are wider and flatter, turns three and four are narrower and steeper.

Since the track was reconfigured in 2017, the 11 races have been won by eight different drivers and four different organizations. Kevin Harvick, who retired after last season, had three wins in Texas from 2017 to 2019.

So with Harvick out of the picture, who could be the contenders on Sunday? Byron is the defending winner, but Larson and Bubba Wallace dominated the race last fall. Wallace led 111 laps and finished third, while Larson led 99 laps before crashing out in the closing moments. Both drivers should be in the mix again this year.

Historically speaking, Tyler Reddick (10.4 average finish in five starts), Erik Jones (11.8 in 12 starts), Busch (12.3 in 33 starts), Christopher Bell (13.0 in five starts) and Chase Elliott (13.1 in 13 starts) have posted solid runs in Texas.