It's time for the ‘Texas Two-Step’ for Tony Stewart who will celebrate, with pre-race musical guest Peter Frampton, his 400th NSCS race at one of his most dominant tracks, Texas Motor Speedway, as NASCAR gears up for the Samsung Mobile 500 on Sunday April 18, 2010 at 4:15 p.m. EST. And in other news, thanks to his resurgence late in the race last week, Jimmie Johnson's third-place finish was good enough to extend his lead in the Sprint Cup standings from 14 to 39 points.

Gamblers interested in investing in Sunday's race should know that Carl Edwards leads all active drivers with three wins at Texas; including the two races Edwards swept in 2008. Meanwhile, in the last 14 of 18 races at Texas have been won from the Top 10, but only one driver has won from the Pole - Kasey Kahne in 2006.  Finally, while Ford leads the manufacturers with wins at Texas, if you take away Edwards' two wins in 2008 then Chevrolet has won four times and Dodge twice in the last 12 races run at Texas.

Who will win the Samsung Mobile 500?

In last year's April race David Reutimann won the pole only to finish the race 11th and Jeff Gordon won the race from outside the front row. Then in November Gordon won the pole but finished 13th and Kurt Busch won having started from third place. However, in the past four April races the winner has come from second place on the grid three times and from first once. Now I am not saying that this is a trend or anything but before you invest a few v-chips on Sunday's Samsung Mobile 500 my advice is to wait and see who is starting from the first four spots and then make your best educated choice. In fact, since Texas went to two races a year in 2005 race winners have only come from the Top 5 spots on the starting grid in April.

218 points separates Kyle Busch, in 12th place, from Jimmie Johnson, in first place, with many able drivers on the bubble between 13th-19th place. Mark Martin is 13th and Kurt Busch dropped eight places after Phoenix to 14th place and 239 points behind the leader. Denny Hamlin and his surgically repaired knee only dropped three spots to 18th place and 290 points behind first. After six races some of the pre-season favorites to challenge Johnson for the Sprint Cup have fallen by the wayside and will need to have more consistent finishes to keep pace with the No. 48 car. Because from the looks of it there is no way Johnson is going to take it easy on anyone as he attempts to win his fifth consecutive Sprint Cup.

And JJ has pretty much been a stud at every track on the circuit. Johnson even added Bristol Motor Speedway to his list of tracks that he has won a Sprint Cup race. However, in 13 starts at Texas Johnson has one win and six top-five finishes. In fact, in the last three April races at TMS Johnson has finished second place. This obviously makes backing Johnson at +130 to finish in the top 10 practically a given (which is why I have given another driver). However, as good as Johnson has been at TMS he has never won an April race there, but that is not saying he won't, he just hasn't....yet.

Last Sunday Kyle Busch was about five lengths ahead of Johnson with 100 laps to go, but you could tell Johnson was making up ground and it was apparent that Busch would not be able to hold off Johnson. On a late restart, though, with Johnson in eighth and Busch in seventh place, Johnson was able to erase the deficit and finish third while Busch was not able to get anywhere. Busch did a commendable job moving up through the pack after starting 17th in the race and ultimately finishing in eighth place. This week the main reason I like Busch is due to how he performed at Atlanta when he finished second. Texas is a similar cookie-cutter track as Atlanta and while Busch has had his difficulties finishing well in races early this year, he had his best performance at Atlanta. While Kyle is currently in 12th place in the Sprint Cup standings a win at Texas on Sunday would help keep him up in the points pace with Johnson.  

Pick!  Kyle Busch, (No.18), +1000

Samsung Mobile 500 - Lucky Dog Long Odds Special

Sometimes you finish a race 39th, as Kasey Kahne did last week, and you are kissed by the team with the golden touch. That's right, Kahne will be the newest face of the franchise, Hendrick Motorsports. He has just announced he inked a deal to replace Mark Martin, and he will be 31 and the youngest driver at Hendrick Motorsports in 2012. Sometimes it doesn't matter where you finish because chances were the deal was done before last Friday's press conference at Phoenix. Maybe that's why the Kid drove so poorly at PIR; he had a lot on his mind. Even so, that doesn't take away from the fact that Kahne sits 26th in the Sprint Cup standings and needs to move up the leader board if he hopes to attract sponsors and a ride for 2011 -- as of yet Kahne doesn't have a ride to bridge him over between 2010 and 2012.  Kahne needs to do well at Texas and stop a string of poor finishes. Since finishing fourth in early March at Atlanta, Kahne has finished outside the top 30 twice and outside the top 20 once. In 11 starts Kahne has one win (2006) and two top-five finishes. Despite starting from second and sixth on the grid last year, Kahne has not been able to crack the top 10 since 2006 and his best finish has been 18th in 2007. But that was all before he was kissed by the luckiest of all lucky-dogs, Rick Hendrick. And if Kahne is good enough for Rick Hendrick then he is good enough to be my lucky dog pick of the week. 

Pick! Kasey Kahne, (No. 9), +2000

Samsung Mobile 500 - Odds to Finish in the Top 3

Tony Stewart has found remaining ahead of the pack in his sophomore year as owner/driver at Stewart-Haas Racing has been more difficult than he might have imagined after last year's early success. Although the first six races have not been a total washout for Stewart, who is ninth in the NSCS standings. This year Stewart has finished as many races inside the top 10 as he has outside of the top 20; three each. Last week at Phoenix was an outside the top-20 finish, so for "Smoke" the Samsung Mobile 500 couldn't come at a better time. In fact, Stewart has finished outside the top 20 twice since finishing second at the Food City 500. In a word, Stewart has been money in Texas and has done well on the cookie-cutteresque tracks. Since 2005 Stewart leads all active drivers with the best driver rating (106.1) and best average running position (8.5) at TMS. He has one win and four top-fives with an average finish of 12.5. Last year Stewart finished sixth in November and fourth in April. I am looking at Smoke to improve on both of those finishes Sunday as he celebrates his 400th NSCS race.   

Pick! Tony Stewart, No. 14, +350

Odds to finish in Top 3 at Samsung Mobile 500*

Jimmie Johnson

+130

Kurt Busch +250

Jeff Gordon +250

Mark Martin +300

Kyle Busch +300

Denny Hamlin +350

Tony Stewart +350

Matt Kenseth +350

Greg Biffle +450

Juan Pablo Montoya +450

Carl Edwards +450

Kevin Harvick+550

Jeff Burton +550

Clint Bowyer +600

Kasey Kahne +600

Dale Earnhardt Jr +750

Brian Vickers +900

Ryan Newman

+900

Joey Logano +900

David Reutimann +1500

Martin Truex Jr

+1500

Jamie McMurray +1500

Paul Menard +3000

Bobby Labonte

+3000

Regan Smith +3000

Scott Speed +3000

Travis Kvapil +3000

Elliott Sadler +3000

AJ Allmendinger +3000

Sam Hornish Jr

+3000

Brad Keselowski +3000

David Ragan +3000

zx Field (Any Other Driver) +3000

Marcos Ambrose +3000

*Odds courtesy of Sportsbook.com

Odds to win Samsung Mobile 500*

Jimmie Johnson

+450

Jeff Gordon +800

Kurt Busch +900

Mark Martin +1000

Kyle Busch +1000

Denny Hamlin +1200

Tony Stewart +1200

Matt Kenseth +1200

Greg Biffle +1500

Juan Pablo Montoya +1500

Carl Edwards +1500

Kevin Harvick

+1800

Jeff Burton +1800

Clint Bowyer +2000

Kasey Kahne +2000

Dale Earnhardt Jr +2500

Brian Vickers +3000

Ryan Newman

+3000

Joey Logano +3000

David Reutimann +5000

Martin Truex Jr

+5000

Jamie McMurray +5000

Paul Menard +10000

Bobby Labonte

+10000

Regan Smith +10000

Scott Speed +10000

Travis Kvapil +10000

Elliott Sadler +10000

AJ Allmendinger +10000

Sam Hornish Jr

+10000

Brad Keselowski +10000

David Ragan +10000

zx Field (Any Other Driver) +10000

Marcos Ambrose +10000

*Odds courtesy of Sportsbook.com