Truex in prime spot at Homestead
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest of the four NASCAR Cup Series championship contenders in qualifying and will start second Sunday in the season finale.
Truex, the regularseason champion, turned a lap of 173.952 mph in the No. 78 Toyota at HomesteadMiami Speedway on Friday night. Denny Hamlin stole the pole from Truex on the last lap of qualifying. Hamlin went 173.980 mph to take the spot and give Toyota a 1-2 front row.
“That was a bit dramatic,” Truex said, adding that he was a few thousandths of a second away from a perfect day.
Kyle Busch, Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, will start third and Brad Keselowski fifth. Kevin Harvick qualified ninth.
“We outran the other three guys, which is good, but I don’t think it’s a big deal because we’re all pretty tight together,” Truex said. “One spot from where we wanted to be.”
Truex is the only driver among the four challengers without a Cup championship. Truex has led the Cup Series in nearly every measurable category and is a seven-time winner this year.
Truex won’t have team owner Barney Visser in attendance because he is recovering from a heart attack and surgery at home in Colorado.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the 24th-best qualifying effort, but an engine change will drop NASCAR’s favorite son to the rear of the field for his final NASCAR Cup race.
Keselowski said his No. 2 Ford experienced brake issues during practice and qualifying and hoped his Team Penske crew could fix it before the finale.
Harvick saved his No. 4 Ford from disaster when it got loose and he saved it from sliding into the wall.
“It kept turning but the back wanted to go the other way,” Harvick said. “It just ended up messing the whole lap up.”
Harvick is seeking his second Cup championship and is far from the favorite, which he was during his 2014 title run. That year, Harvick won in his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing. This year, he is trying to do it in SHR’s first season with Ford.
Hamlin, who again fell short this year in his bid for his first championship, not only got the pole but could team with Busch to hold off the other three drivers.
“I really don’t care. I want to win. That’s all I care about,” Hamlin said.
Matt Kenseth qualified fourth for JGR in what is expected to be the final NASCAR race for the 2003 Cup champion.
Hamlin, Truex, Busch and Kenseth helped Toyota sweep the top four spots.
Bell wins Truck Series championship
Christopher Bell won his first career NASCAR championship to open a big weekend for Kyle Busch.
Bell finished at Homestead-Miami Speedway to wrap up the championship. He drives for Kyle Busch Motorsports, and Busch is racing Sunday for the Cup championship.
Bell was the favorite after a strong regular season in which he won five races in his Toyota. He only had to outlast three other title contenders to win the title.
Chase Briscoe won the race, the first of his career and in the last event for Brad Keselowski Racing.
The Otterbein men’s soccer team finally got over the hump. Now, it’s attempting to see how far it can go.
The Cardinals (19-2) defeated Medaille 2-0 and Kenyon 3-2 in the first and second rounds, respectively, to advance to the round of 16 in the NCAA Division III tournament.
Otterbein, riding a 17-game winning streak, will face St. Thomas, Minn., at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Chicago.
This is the Cardinals’ deepest postseason run since they advanced to the national championship game and fell 1-0 to Messiah in 2002.
“It’s exciting to travel and represent Otterbein on more of a national level,” coach Jason Griffiths said via email. “This season has been about us trying to continually improve and be the best version we can be. The players have bought into what my staff and I have tried to implement, and it has been a steady improvement. We are starting to see rewards and possibilities.”
The biggest reward came in the second round, where the Cardinals avenged a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Kenyon in the Cardinals’ second game of the season.
Otterbein knocked off the Lords on the strength of three firsthalf goals.
Otterbein posted its 11th shutout of the season in the win over Medaille, with sophomore goalkeeper Collin Hoffman, an Olentangy graduate, collecting four saves.
Women’s cross country
After a fourth-place finish at the Great Lakes Regional, Otterbein got an at-large bid for the NCAA Division III championships on Saturday in Elsah, Illinois.
Otterbein’s top runners are sophomores Claire Lamb, a Granville graduate, and Heather Sandvik, a Westerville North product. Lamb finished third at the Great Lakes regional with a 6k time of 21 minutes, 48.1 seconds, and Sandvik placed fourth in 22:17.5.