NASCAR sputters toward checkered flag in title race

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 then justified using an illegal spoiler because other teams were doing it first.

Fans hope the four championshipcontending cars are legal but won’t know for sure until the cars have been inspected, long after the champagne celebration is over, because the culture of cheating in NASCAR lingers.

Television ratings hit a low in 26 events this year, and the cumbersome rulebook, a vulnerable inspection process and NASCAR’s officiating has received far too much attention of late.

NASCAR may or may not be for sale, the France family doesn’t often speak publicly and their intentions remain private. But the August drunk-driving arrest of Brian France forced a change at chairman and a definitive shift in NASCAR leadership. It was Ben Kennedy, the 26-year-old great grandson of NASCAR’s founder, who represented the series during the Truck Series celebration.

Next up is the Cup title race today 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 seems minor, but it quickly became the most intriguing elements of the weekend. Among the other highlights? Jimmie Johnson shaved his beard after seven or so years as a tribute to Lowe’s — the only sponsor he’s had in 18 years — in its final race before the company leaves NASCAR. Truex advised tuning out the noise. “I think the racing has been unbelievable this season,” Truex said. “A lot of action, a lot of big moments on the racetrack. I don’t really worry too much about the stuff that happened away from it. I think the sport is in a good place and heading in a good direction.”

It’s a sound endorsement from a journeyman driver who hit the jackpot FORD ECOBOOST 400 when paired with single-car Furniture Row Racing, a mid-level team based in Denver that defied all odds and won last year’s Cup title. But that title wasn’t enough to keep the team’s main sponsor from leaving and Furniture Row will close after Sunday’s race rather than try to compete on the cheap.

Truex and crew chief Cole Pearn will join Joe Gibbs Racing next season, and Sunday is a final opportunity for one last celebration with the Furniture Row team.

“You can imagine how sick you feel when you see it coming to a close,” said FRR President Joe Garone, who like Truex distanced the team’s closing as an indictment of the overall health of the sport. “NASCAR is still a place to be for corporate sponsorship. There’s no question about it.”

Truex, a four-time winner this season, is trying to become the first back-to-back champion since 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.

But Harvick’s winning car was deemed illegal after two of his wins, most recently two weeks ago at Texas when NASCAR found the spoiler on the Stewart-Haas Racing entry was not from the mandatory vendor.

“Like, the first question across my mind was,H`ow long? How long has that been going on? What else are they doing?’“Busch wondered.

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.

Harvick thrives in controversy and doesn’t expect that to change Sunday.

“For me, there’s always some incentive in proving to people that you can do something that isn’t what they think you should do,” Harvick said. “Last week it was (said)T`his penalty is going to slow them down.’ The mentality of the race team is to always push the limits. When they back you against the wall, make it better than it was before.”

He’s racing without crew chief Rodney Childers, who was suspended for the final two weeks of the season for the illegal spoiler. Childers stayed at the North Carolina shop last weekend but is expected to be somewhere at Homestead on Sunday. He’s barred from the garage, but NASCAR will allow him to celebrate with his team if Harvick wins the title.

Harvick has made the final four every year but once since 2014, the year he won the finale and the championship.