Hendrick teammates in different spots at Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas — Jimmie Johnson still has two very conceivable options for earning a chance to race for his record-breaking eighth NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Win one of the next two races or just be in the top four in points after that, and Johnson will get one of the four championship-contending spots at Homestead-Miami Speedway two weeks from today.
“I do feel good about getting in,” Johnson said.
He is a seven-time winner at Texas Motor Speedway, the site of today’s competition, including in April at the first race since the 1.5-mile, high-banked oval was completely repaved and restructured in its first two turns. And in the current driver standings, he is only three points out of the top four spots.
Chase Elliott, Johnson’s young Hendrick Motorsports teammate, is probably in a must-win situation today or next Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway after being incredibly close to being locked into a title shot at Homestead.
After being wrecked by Denny Hamlin while leading two laps shy of the scheduled checkered flag this past Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, Elliott arrived in Texas last among the eight drivers still in the playoffs and 26 points out of the top four. The 21-year-old son of Hall of Famer Bill Elliott’s first Cup Series victory would have locked him into a championship chance, and even a top-five finish could have provided a points boost. Instead, he wound up 27th.
“As the week has gone along, it has given me a lot of time to think about how close we were to going to Homestead,” he said. “I think if anything else, that will drive you up the wall more if you think about it.”
Making things even more frustrating for Elliott in Texas, his No. 24 Chevrolet didn’t make it through technical inspection in time to make a qualifying run Friday. He will start 34th; the rest of the playoff drivers qualified in the top 10.
Kyle Busch, who won at Martinsville by holding off points leader Martin Truex Jr. in a race that needed five extra laps, is the only driver who has clinched one of the four championship-contending spots in the season finale.
Johnson will try to secure his place by ending a winless drought now at 20 races.
“Comfortable here, we’ve stayed alive. It hasn’t been pretty, but we’ve stayed alive,” Johnson said. “And we’re at one of our best tracks. … We want to win. If we can’t do that, we understand where we are at in the points. Hopefully we can do it.”
Junior’s Texas toast
Dale Earnhardt Jr. never realized how special Texas would become in his life, both professionally and personally.
Texas Motor Speedway was where, at age 25, he earned his first Cup Series victory. Earnhardt was greeted in victory lane by his famous father, who was also his car owner at the time, and the April 2, 2000 victory came two years after Junior secured his first win in NASCAR’s second-tier series at the same track.
“Texas has been so awesome to me,” said Earnhardt, whose wife, Amy, is from the Lone Star State. “I’ve got a whole other family down here. That is a big, big bonus of being married to her. Texas is a place that is almost like a second home. I find I love more and more about it the more time I spend here.”
Earnhardt is set to run his final race at the track as a full-time Cup Series driver today, and track president Eddie Gossage rode a horse into the media center Friday to recognize NASCAR’s longtime most popular driver. The horse wasn’t a retirement gift, but the track is sponsoring a therapy horse in Earnhardt’s name at a ranch, located only a few miles from the track, that helps people with disabilities, as well as veterans and first responders.
Earnhardt has encouraged tracks to give charitable gifts in his name instead of traditional presents while on his farewell tour, but Texas did both.
Gossage presented him with the top of the electronic scoring pylon from his first Cup Series victory, with the No. 1 spot lit up with an 8, his car number at the time. The track also gave the Earnhardts, who are expecting their first child, a pink stroller that is a small replica of a classic Chevy convertible and other baby gifts.
no. 43 has sponsor
Richard Petty Motorsports has a primary sponsor for the 2018 Cup Series season, when Darrell Wallace Jr. will make his debut as the full-time driver in the iconic No. 43 car.
Under an agreement announced Friday, Click n’ Close, a division of Texas-based Mid America Mortgage Inc., will be designated as the official mortgage provider of NASCAR. The company will also become a partner with RPM, serving as primary sponsor for the team’s car for at least three races, including the season-opening Daytona 500.
Wallace will be the first black full-time driver at NASCAR’s top level since 1971. The 24-year-old, more commonly referred to by his nickname of “Bubba,” became the first black driver in a Cup Series race since 2006 when he replaced an injured Aric Almirola for four races this year.