Texas could be more than just another race

            MARTINSVILLE, Va. - The past two races were fun. Now it's time for NASCAR to return to a track, Texas Motor Speedway, that represents the heart of what winning the Sprint Cup championship is all about.

            Let's divide the schedule into seven types of tracks: (1.) Moderate-to-high banked, 1.5-2.0 mile: Charlotte, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Texas, Kansas, Chicago, Homestead; California, Michigan; (2.) Short tracks, less than 1.0-mile: Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond; (3.) Tracks where carburetor restrictor plates are used: Daytona, Talladega; (4.) Flat miles: Phoenix, New Hampshire; (5.) High-banked, 1.0-1.367-mile: Dover, Darlington; (6.) Flat 2.5-mile: Pocono, Indianapolis; (7) Road courses: Sonoma, Watkins Glen.

            Neary 40 percent of the schedule is on tracks like the next one, and the keys to the kingdom are likely scattered around those nine tracks. Jimmie Johnson won the past two championships. Last year he won five of the 14 races on the "intermediate" tracks.

            Unlike last year, though, Johnson hasn't continued his mastery of those tracks ... yet.

Three of the 14 races have already been run, and Carl Edwards has won two of them, Kyle Busch the third. Edwards is 14^th in the point standings because of 100 points deducted from his total owing to the dislodged oil-tank cover discovered following his victory in Las Vegas. If he still had those 100 points, Edwards would be tied with Kasey Kahne for seventh.

            Fortunately for Edwards, he has 30 more races, including 11 on intermediate tracks and five in the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, to turn those 100 points into a footnote, not a crushing blow.

            On the other hand, the current point leader, Jeff Burton, has advanced to the top because of consecutive finishes of first and third on short tracks, on which there are only four more races. Denny Hamlin regained his bearings with a sixth and a first in those same two races.

            The current chassis configuration, once known as the Car of Tomorrow, had never been used on intermediate tracks until this season. Teams have had races at California, Las Vegas and Atlanta to experiment. The Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway may turn out to be one of the season's key races.

            The good news for Burton is that he won the spring race in Texas last year. The bad news may be that Johnson won the other one. Only one driver besides Johnson won more than one of the intermediate-track races last year. Matt Kenseth won the first, in California, and the last, in Homestead, Fla.

            Hendrick Motorsports, which includes Johnson, Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Casey Mears in its stable of stock-car racing thoroughbreds, hasn't won a race yet. At Martinsville, its drivers finished second, fourth, sixth and seventh. Johnson and Gordon had combined to win eight of the previous 10 at that track.

            All is hardly lost, though. At Texas - the place where Earnhardt Jr. first won, by the way - there's still an opportunity to re-establish an edge.

            You can reach Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.