IT’S ABOUT RESULTS
Playoffs should put focus back on track
JOLIET, Ill. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. is playing out the string in his final full season of racing, leaving a mammoth opening for some driver to capture the attention of fans and take over as NASCAR’s most popular star.
Junior had some advice on how the new generation can win fans — and it had more to with Brooklyn and Nashville filters on Instagram than taking checkered flags in Darlington or Daytona.
“I think the young guys are really, really crafty for social media,” he said at Chicagoland Speedway, “and I think that’s a great direction for them.”
Sure enough, it was social media that got NASCAR buzzing again Friday, though not with a debate on who will win Sunday’s opening event for the Cup Series’ 10-race playoffs.
Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, who have long tussled with each other, poked each other some more on Twitter regarding Toyota’s recent run of success. Led by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Busch, Toyota took the top four spots in practice.
Busch then backed it up in qualifying, too, turning a lap of 187.963 mph to earn the pole position for Sunday’s race. Keselowski will start fifth.
Busch and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin will occupy the front row of the grid, and fellow Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. was third. Truex has four wins this season, and the Furniture Row Racing driver is seeded No. 1 for the playoffs and considered the favorite as he seeks to win his first career Cup Series title.
Kevin Harvick will start fourth and Kyle Larson sixth, with both also in the playoff field.
Back-and-forth sniping on social media may not exude class, but it perked up a few ears on a quiet Friday afternoon at the track for an organization that could use hot finishes and new stars to help it snap out of its lull.
Keselowski spurred the Twitter chain, then dismissed a question about stirring the pot before qualifying began. Earnhardt, a Chevrolet driver, sat this one out altogether.
“I got on a bike after practice and rode 20 miles with Jimmie (Johnson), which is a terrible idea. So I missed the whole debate,” Earnhardt said. “I think that Joe Gibbs and that whole organization have done an incredible job of getting four teams to work very closely together. I’ve never seen it done any better where one organization has four cars that run pretty much equal every week.”
Oh yeah, results. NASCAR headlines have been dominated of late by all sorts of hot topics that have little do to with actual results, from plunging TV ratings to the pit road disaster created by an ambulance in last weekend’s regular-season finale.
But now the playoff field is set and it’s time to go.
Indy finale Sunday
SONOMA, Calif. — The IndyCar season title was by no
stretch a lock for Josef Newgarden. But when he hit the exit wall to pit road Sept. 3 at Watkins Glen International, it blew the championship race wide open and put Newgarden in the worst possible position.
He has Scott Dixon lurking right behind him in the points standings going into Sunday’s season finale at Sonoma Raceway.
Dixon, a four-time series champion, has been in this position before. He came to the season finale third in the standings in 2015, then won the race, which is worth double points. It tied him in the standings with Juan Pablo Montoya, and Dixon won his fourth title on a tiebreaker.
He doesn’t get rattled in these situations. Dixon simply goes out and slays.
Newgarden knows Dixon is there, just three points out of the lead, so he has set his mind to doing the only thing that will ensure he wins the title.
“If we win the race, we win the championship,” Newgarden said. “It’s an easy goal for us.”
Newgarden led the first and second practice sessions on the 2.385-mile, 12-turn track Friday, while Dixon was sixth in both sessions.
It may be that Team Penske has the best cars at this stage of the weekend, as it should. The Penske organization has all four of its drivers still in contention for the title, with Newgarden atop the standings plus Helio Castroneves, 2016 series champion Simon Pagenaud and Will Power sitting third, fourth and fifth.
They went 1-2-3-4 in Friday afternoon’s practice.
“I think that Joe Gibbs and that whole organization have done an incredible job of getting four teams to work very closely together. I’ve never seen it done any better where one organization has four cars that run pretty much equal every week.” — DALE EARNHARDT JR.