LEGACIES ON LINE IN HOMESTEAD CUP FINALE
Truex sure he has speed to win, but 3 ex-champs await.
HOMESTEAD, FLA. — NASCAR has spent so much time this year ushering in a new generation of drivers. Now that it’s championship time, it’s the same old — really old — in the championship four.
The finalists for the Cup finale today at Homestead-Miami Speedway are veterans looking to cement their places in history.
Kevin Harvick, who turns 42 next month, has 609 races, 17 seasons and the 2014 championship on his résumé. Martin Truex Jr. is 37, a journeyman with two second-tier titles and a favorite for the first time to win the Cup championship.
Kyle Busch, 32, is the 2015 Cup champion and has nearly 200 victories in NASCAR’s three national series. Brad Keselowski has the least amount of time in the Cup Series among his rivals, but he’s 33, has a 10-year career and was the 2012 champion.
So Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon will have to wait their turn. The high-profile stars are the show today.
The highest finisher of the four contenders will take the title, and few expect anyone from this bunch to be rattled.
“These guys are not going to cave in and give up on what they’re doing,” Harvick said. “Three of us have won championships, and Martin has won a lot of races this year. Our intention is to go down there and win the championship, and I think if you’re one of those four and you don’t have that mentality, you’re not prepared for what you’re getting into.”
Truex has won a serieshigh seven races this year. He has been the fastest of the contenders all weekend, and anything short of a victory would be deflating.
Truex led Saturday’s final practice at 171.195 mph. His No. 78 Toyota scraped the wall and it still didn’t matter. His crew hammered away any damage.
“I think we definitely have enough speed to do what we need to do,” Truex said.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., who will retire from full-time racing after today, is rooting for his hunting buddy Truex.
“Drivers have such big egos, all of us do, but Martin is not on that list,” Earnhardt said. “I don’t know how you put into words what it would mean for him to win. It would be popular among his peers and around the garage and the industry for sure, because everybody knows what kind of person he is.”
Busch and Truex both drive Toyotas, and the finale is between them and a pair of Ford drivers. For Harvick, it is his first year in the partnership between Stewart-Haas Racing and Ford. He has a chance to be the first since Cale Yarborough in 1978 to win in the inaugural year with a new manufacturer.
Keselowski is seeking to give Team Penske a sweep of the two major American series — Josef Newgarden won the Indy Car title in September — and complete one of the best seasons in Penske history. The organization has 31 victories this year across all its racing programs.
A win by either Harvick or Keselowski would give Ford its first title since 2004.
But the Toyota camp members fiercely believe the championship will belong 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 at the hands of Chevrolet’s Jimmie Johnson.
Toyota had two chances last season with Busch and Carl Edwards, and Edwards was on his way to the title when a late caution cost him the victory. He was in a violent wreck on the restart.
“It would be crushingly disappointing to not win Sunday,” said David Wilson, president of Toyota Racing Development. “I still go back to last year, and every time, I still get angry.
“We should be the favorites, but we all know it is one race, and you really have to detach yourself from your statistics. But to be honest, we will be very disappointed if we don’t seal this with a championship.”