Earnhardt race team takes Xfinity title

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. got the best retirement gift he could have asked for when William Byron won the Xfinity Series championship Saturday for JR Motorsports, one day before Earnhardt’s final race as a full-time driver.

NASCAR’s most popular driver is a part owner of the race team with sister Kelley and boss Rick Hendrick, and JR Motorsports went in to the finale at HomesteadMiami Speedway with a 75 percent chance of winning the title. JRM drivers Justin Allgaier, Elliott Sadler and Byron were up against

Notebook

Daniel Hemric of Richard Childress Racing for the championship.

Hemric appeared up for the challenge at the start and he led the title contenders until he headed to pit road with a dead battery early in the second stage.

The team frantically changed the battery, but his car still had no power after the swap. When Hemric finally got back on the track, he was down 12 laps from the leaders.

That sealed the title for JRM, and the organization only had to watch to see which of its three drivers would take the crown.

IndyCar

Roger Penske has no room in his Indianapolis 500 lineup for Danica Patrick. “The Captain” has a hunch where Patrick’s Indy comeback will take her in May — with Chip Ganassi. “I sent him a note and said, ‘Congratulations. Danicabetter be driving your car at Indy because unfortunately she’s not driving for us,’”Penske said, laughing.

Patrick, 35, said this week she will race only in the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500 next year and then she will walk away from racing.

Ganassi, of Fox Chapel, called her “Danica Double” a great idea.