Everything you need to know about the AAA Texas 500.

Chase Elliott was within a few laps of winning his first Monster Energy Cup Series race Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, a win that would’ve advanced the Hendrick Motorsports into the title round of NASCAR’s playoffs.

But there was no victory celebration, nor is Elliott yet guaranteed a spot in the four-driver championship finale. Thanks to a seismic shove from Denny Hamlin, Elliott went spinning into the wall with two laps remaining, crashing his hopes for a first-ever win. Kyle Busch would win the First Data 500 and with it earn a pass to race for the Cup Series title Nov. 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Now, Elliott finds himself 26 points behind Kevin Harvick for the final provisional transfer position. That deficit places Elliott in a must-win situation where his title hopes depend on him winning either Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway or the following week at Phoenix Raceway. Anything less a win, and he’ll be one of four drivers eliminated when the playoff semifinals concludes at Phoenix.

Texas schedule and how to watch

Practices

Session 1: Friday, 1:00 p.m. - 2:25 p.m.

Session 2: Saturday, 3:00 p.m. - 3:55 p.m.

Session 3: Saturday, 5:00 p.m. - 5:50 p.m.

TV/streaming: NBCSN (Friday); CNBC (Saturday) (session 1 stream) (session 2 stream) (session 3 stream)

Qualifying

Time: Friday, 6:15 p.m.

TV/streaming: NBC Live TV app (live stream)

AAA Texas 500

Time/green flag: 2 p.m/2:15 p.m.

Distance/laps: 501 miles/334 laps

TV/streaming: NBCSN (live stream)

What to watch for at Texas:

Winning — not retribution — should be Chase Elliott’s focus at Texas

Smartly, Elliott’s focus is not on vengeance, but instead on winning. Although his chances of qualifying for the Final Four were diminished by what transpired at Martinsville, a path still exists for him to get to Homestead with a shot at the title.

Working in his favor is how the schedule sets up. Specifically, the high-speed, mile-and-a-half Texas oval where he’s never finished worse than ninth in three career starts. And on similarly sized speedways, he has been particularly strong recently, having finished fourth or better in the previous four races on such tracks -- including two seconds and a fourth in the playoffs.

However, another top 10 on Sunday does Elliott little good. What he requires is a win.

Texas qualifying results:

This section will be updated upon the completion of qualifying on Friday.

Texas starting lineup:

This section will be updated upon the completion of qualifying on Friday.

Texas results:

This section will update upon the completion of the AAA Texas 500 on Sunday.