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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Who Needs It This Week?
Up this week is race No. 7 of the 2009 season. Who needs it this week?
Tom Jensen  |  Posted April 04, 2009   Harrisburg, NC
David Ragan, driver of the #6 UPS Ford could use a top five finish in the Samsung 500. (Photo: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

After two weekends of frammin’ and bammin’ on Southeastern short tracks, the NASCAR Sprint Series is deep in the heart of Texas this week for the Samsung 500, race No. 7 of 36 on the 2009 season.

David Reutimann put his No. 00 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota on the pole for Sunday’s race, cranking off a fast lap of 190.517 miles per hour around the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway.

If history is any predictor, this should be a big weekend for the Roush Fenway Racing gang and, frankly, it needs to be, as all five of the team’s drivers struggled during the short-track swing.

Here’s this week’s list of the 10 drivers who need to make something happen.

1. DAVID RAGAN, Qualified 4th - Put bluntly, Ragan’s season to date has been as baffling as it has been disappointing. Last year, in his second full season of Sprint Cup racing, Ragan finished 13th in points, the first driver to fail to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Now, he’s 29th, an outcome few foresaw. Now is the time for him to put in gear and get his Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fusion a top-five finish.

2. ELLIOTT SADLER, Qualified 42nd Sadler nearly won the Daytona 500, before getting outfoxed by Matt Kenseth and falling to fifth on the last lap of green-flag running. Since then, he hasn’t finished higher than 20th in a race, failing to finish on the lead lap for five consecutive races. His Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge Charger was the slowest of 48 cars during qualifying at Texas on Friday. Ouch.

3. MARTIN TRUEX JR., Qualified 31st When Truex signed a one-year contract extension to remain with what now is known as Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, many observers were left scratching their heads. And after a disappointing start to his 2009 campaign, already the rumors are flying that he’ll be gone next season, perhaps to Joe Gibbs Racing.

4. GREGG BIFFLE, Qualified 15th Biffle was fourth in points after the first three races and then finished 34th at Atlanta, 39th at Bristol and 28th at Martinsville. He’s now 23rd in points and desperately needs to get his Roush Fenway Racing Ford going back in the right direction.

5. MATT KENSETH, Qualified 3rd After winning the Daytona 500 and then being victorious a week later at Auto Club Speedway, Kenseth’s average finish over the last four races is 27.75. Not good. Not good at all for the 2003 series champion or for Roush Fenway Racing.


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