Trying season nears finish line
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – NASCAR’s season of doom and gloom sputters toward the checkered flag with a stout championship field but the inability to distance itself from everything that’s gone wrong in this trying year.
Martin Truex Jr.’s team is closing after the race because his primary sponsor is leaving the sport. Kevin Harvick’s team was caught cheating and then justified using an illegal spoiler because other teams were doing it first.
Television ratings hit a low in 26 events this year, and the cumbersome rulebook and officiating have received far too much attention. NASCAR may or may not be for sale.
Next up is the Ford EcoBoost 400 title race Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway that pits reigning series champion Truex against Harvick, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano in a winner-take-all finale.
It’s the strongest final four since NASCAR adopted this format in 2014 – the four drivers combined to win 22 of 35 races this season – but the on-track action has been overshadowed time and again by off-track problems.
On the eve of the title race, Joe Gibbs was under scrutiny for what some perceived to be race manipulation: Gibbs made a team decision that gave contender Busch an edge. Gifting Busch the top pit stall that teammate Denny Hamlin had earned quickly became the most intriguing elements of the weekend.
“I think the racing has been unbelievable this season . ... I don’t really worry too much about the stuff that happened away from it,” Truex said. “I think the sport is in a good place and heading in a good direction.”
Truex, a four-time winner this season, is trying to become the first back-to-back champion since Jimmie Johnson won his fifth consecutive title in 2010. He’s part of the so-called Big Three along with Busch and Harvick, winners of a series-high eight races each this season.
Busch and Harvick have matched each other win-for-win all season, and even though NASCAR penalized Harvick’s team, Busch is not alone in wondering if the entire season is tainted.
As the Big Three weaved through their individual issues, Logano just went fast.
He topped the leaderboard in the final two practice sessions of the season, not one of his best but perhaps the one that will lead to his first championship.
Xfinity Series: Tyler Reddick Reddick won the Ford EcoBoost 300 on Saturday to claim the championship for NASCAR’s development series. Reddick was perhaps a long shot behind Christopher Bell and Cole Custer, but , he drove away from the field.
The title for JR Motorsports is its second consecutive Xfinity championship and third in five years.
The 22-year-old opened this season with a victory at Daytona in which he beat Elliott Sadler in the closest finish in NASCAR history. His next win was in the final race, when everything was on the line.