Truex still driver to beat for NASCAR title
HOMESTEAD, FLA. » Martin Truex Jr. ended NASCAR’s final practice on top.
Do it Sunday when it counts and Truex will drive away with his first NASCAR Cup championship.
Truex was fastest in the final practice of the season, hitting 171.195mph on Saturday atHomestead-Miami Speedway and again stamping himself as the driver to beat in the finale. He has led the Cup Series in nearly every measurable category and is a seventime winner this year.
“I think we definitely have enough speed to do what we need to do,” Truex said.
Truex, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick race for the title in the winner-take-all
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format that crowns a champion. Truex’s No. 78 Toyota scraped the wall in practice Saturday and it still didn’t matter.
Busch, the 2015 series champ , was sixth (169.492), 2012 champBrad Keselowski was 11th (168.824) and 2014 championKevin Harvick was 18th (166.795).
Busch, of Joe Gibbs Racing, hoped to join seventime champion Jimmie Johnson as the only active drivers with multiple titles.
“Everything looks a lot similar to 2015 right now,” he said.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a solid seventh in practice, but an engine change will drop him to the rear of the field for his final NASCAR Cup race .
The champ walks away with the sport’s biggest prize. Earnhardt, Danica Patrick and Matt Kenseth are set to walk away.
Here’s a guide of what to watch in NASCAR’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway: ONE LAST RIDE » NASCAR says goodbye to its most popular driver. Earnhardt makes the 631st and final start of his Cup career, ending a run that included two Daytona 500 championships and an unyielding love from his “Junior Nation” fan base.
Earnhardt is winless this year and, at 21st in the standings, is on pace for his worst full-season finish since 2009.
But none of those sad stats reallymatters Sunday.
Earnhardt will receive a fitting farewell at Homestead, much like the celebrations thrown each of the last two years for retired champions Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.
“I just want to run all the laps. I want to finish the race in one piece ,” he said. “I don’t have anything outside the car that’s on a todo list. As far as I’m concerned, I’mgood with coming in here and doing the things we always do every race weekend.”
Earnhardt will join the NBC Sports broadcast booth next season. DANICADONE» Patrick shed tears Friday when she announced the end of her racing career was on the horizon. Patrick will wrap up the regular season atHomestead and race only in a Danica Double next season. She’ll drive in the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500 for a yet-to-be-determined team.
But this is it for a fulltime ride at Stewart-Haas Racing.
Patrick landed on magazine covers and Super Bowl commercials and popped up on TV cooking shows, among her many outside endeavors, during her reign as one of NASCAR’s top personalities.
She just never had the results to match the hype. Patrick never scored a topfive finish and had only seven top 10s (though she led laps at the Daytona 500) in 189 career starts.
“What I’ve alwayswanted is to just be remembered as a great driver, then remembered as a girl,” she said. “I don’t care if you remember me as a girl. Of course I am, it’s obvious. But to be remembered as a great driver, that’s it.” STEADY AS HE GOES » The NASCAR driver exodus includes Kenseth, the 2003 series champion. Kenseth was forced out of his ride at Joe Gibbs Racing when sponsorships dried up and he found no takers for 2018. He knows Sunday will likely mark his final race. He went out in style . Kenseth won the 39th race of his career last week at Phoenix and was tearyeyed as he climbed out of his Toyota. He doesn’t get to end his career the way he hoped. He thinks he’s got a handful of good years left in him and can win races and compete for championships.
“What a storybook ending,” Kenseth said. “I wasn’t sure that I was ready for this and tomove onto something next year, but honestly Godmade the decision for me. He put me here for a reason and he’s takingme out for a reason.” HOTHAMLIN» While all eyes are on the championship four drivers, Denny Hamlin might be the driver to beat.
Hamlin, who turned 37 on Saturday, again ends a season without his first career NASCAR Cup championship. He lost his shot at advancing to the final four last week when he was caught up in a wreck with Chase Elliott. Elliott acknowledged he raced Hamlin aggressively, just as Hamlin did when he wrecked Elliott from the lead at Martinsville.
Hamlin had reeled off five straight top-seven finishes until Phoenix and his No. 11 Toyota seemed like it could be a championship favorite. He won the pole and said his goal is to win — and not necessarily help JGR teammate Busch win the championship.
“I love this race track and wish we would have our chance, but that will be another day, another year for us,” Hamlin said. PITSTOPS » Front Row Motorsports driver Landon Cassill (winless in 258 starts) and Leavine Family Racing driver Michael McDowell (winless in 248 starts) make the final starts for their respective teams and each don’t have a ride in 2018. ... Tony Stewart can win his third championship as a team owner and first since he retired at the end of last season. “It’s just as tense, probably more tense when you’re not in the car, to be honest, than when you are in the car. At least when you’re in the race car, you’re in control of what’s going on,” he said. ... SHR driver Kurt Busch, whowon the Daytona 500, faces an uncertain future, with no sponsor for next year. ALLFORDONE » Awin by either Harvick or Keselowski would give Ford its first title since 2004.
But it is the Toyota camp that fiercely believes the championship belongs to them. Toyota drivers have won 15 of 35 races this year, seven of the first nine playoff races. And, the manufacturer is still stinging over last year’s defeat.
Toyota had two chances last season with Busch and Carl Edwards, and Edwards was on his way to the win when a late caution cost him the victory. He was in a violent wreck on the restart, Jimmie Johnson won a seventh title in a Chevrolet, and Edwards retired about two months later.