Erik Jones topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Daytona International Speedway. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 45.058 and a speed of 199.743 mph.
He was part of a four-car Gibbs pack in the closing minutes of the session that included teammates Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez. Jones jumped to the top of the leaderboard with less than three minutes to go, but was usurped by Busch the following lap.
This came only a few minutes after Austin Dillon and Jamie McMurray ended the run of single-car laps and posted the fastest time.
Hamlin finished the session second, with a time of 45.085 and a speed of 199.623 mph. Suarez finished third with a time of 45.088 and a speed of 199.610 mph. Jones finished fourth with a time of 45.109 and a speed of 199.517 mph. Dillon rounded out the top-five with a time of 45.621 and a speed of 197.278 mph.
McMurray, Ty Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson rounded out the top-10.
The session was red-flagged with roughly 30 minutes remaining after a car dropped gear fluid on the backstretch.
Ryan Blaney topped the chart in the final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice for the Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway. The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford was the fastest with a time of 45.090 and a speed of 199.601 mph.
With 20 minutes to go in the only practice session for The Clash, Blaney — as part of a six-car pack which included Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Larson — ran a lap roughly two-tenths faster than Kyle Busch.
Up until 35 minutes remaining in the session, every driver was running single-car laps. The Toyota brigade of, in order, Denny Hamlin, Busch, Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr. went out on track and topped the chart. Hamlin led for a lap before he was usurped by Truex, who was fourth in line. On the final lap with the current order, Busch took over the lead in practice.
Logano finished the session in second, with a time of 45.103 and a speed of 199.543 mph. Stenhouse finished third with a time of 45.111 and a speed of 199.508 mph. Keselowski finished fourth with a time of 45.115 and a speed of 199.490 mph. Larson rounded out the top-five with a time of 45.120 and a speed of 199.468 mph.
Kahne, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Jones rounded out the top-10.
There’s one thing I have zero tolerance for in the world of motorsports, and that’s when incompetence puts the safety of drivers at risk. NASCAR, your safety team needs a lot of work.
On Lap 142 of the Ford EcoBoost 400, Danica Patrick got loose in Turn 1, the result of a flat right-rear tire, and hit the wall, and was rear-ended by Kasey Kahne.
As she drove her car back to pit road, the caved-in right-front tire caught fire down the backstretch. She then decided to drive it to the garage, but the fire spread when she reached the entrance to the pits. She parked it and quickly exited the car.
From the moment the caution came out, her wheel was on fire for over a minute.
So a few questions come to mind:
Why did nobody from NASCAR tell her to stop the moment the wheel caught fire?
And don’t tell me they couldn’t. NASCAR has spotters manning the entire perimeter of the speedway, not to mention cameras trained on every inch of the track. They had to know this was happening. And if they don’t, that’s another major problem.
Why was a safety truck not tailing Patrick back, considering her car was on fire?
Again, someone from NASCAR should’ve sent a safety truck straight to her, one, to make sure her damaged car gets back to pit road, and two, to assist her extraction from the burning car. One belt strap doesn’t come undone, running the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 next season suddenly becomes the least of Patrick’s concerns.
And this isn’t the first time the safety team has come under fire.
Earlier this season, Kevin Harvick blasted them for their pitiful response time to his wreck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“The worst part was the medical response. It took them forever to get to the car,” Harvick said. “I thought we made that better, but obviously we haven’t.”
But as Denny Hamlin revealed on Playoff media day back in September, it only got worse as the season progressed.
He told the story of how Aric Almirola’s ambulance that took him from his wrecked car at Kansas Speedway in May to the infield care center got lost.
“His ambulance got lost inside the race track and I mean, he had a serious injury,” Hamlin said. “So that was an issue, for sure. I know they’re trying to do the best they can. They’re not doing it every week, they’re just doing it when we come to town.
“People argue it should be the same team everywhere, others think that the ambulance crew should be familiar with just that racetrack.
“I don’t know what the correct answer is, but we for sure can get better because we’re not good right now.”
NASCAR, this farce you call a safety team has gone on long enough. This should’ve changed after Almirola’s mishap, and it needs to change now. And by change, I mean get an actual safety team, like IndyCar uses.
Sooner or later, this will get a driver seriously hurt, or killed.
Four years ago, Martin Truex Jr. sat on his front porch thinking his career was over. Four years later, he held off a hard charging Kyle Busch to win the Ford EcoBoost 400 and the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.
When the final caution flew with 39 laps to go, everyone hit pit road for tires and fuel. Truex exited with the race lead.
It went back to green with 34 to go.
Busch was held up a few laps by Joey Logano, which, in his words, is what cost him in the end.
Once he passed Logano for third with 25 to go, he essentially hit the nitro button, because it took him only seven laps to run down and pass Kevin Harvick for second.
Five laps later, he caught up to Truex.
The gap between him and Truex went back and forth from 13 to go, until eight to go, when it remained around three-tenths of a second to the checkered flag.
“I don’t even know what to say,” a teary-eyed Truex said after getting out of his car. “We just never gave up all day long. We didn’t have the best car. I don’t know how we won that thing. Never give up, dig deep. I told my guys, ‘We’re gonna dig deeper than we ever have today.’ With 20 to go, I thought I was done. They were all better than me on the long run all day long. I just found a way. I found a lane that I could use and I found a lane that blocking enough of the air that they couldn’t use it. I just made it happen.”
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – NOVEMBER 19: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Toyota, celebrates with teammates after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 19, 2017 in Homestead, Florida. Photo: Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
As Truex drove his car down the front stretch of Homestead-Miami Speedway, fans and pit crews lined along the outside pit wall to congratulate the journeyman his share of frustration, heartache and tragedy. Even Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race Director David Hoots told Truex, “Congrats, you finally did it.”
When he got out, he was swarmed by his overjoyed crew and he joined in the sea of emotion.
“It’s overwhelming. You think about all the rough days, the bad days, the days that we couldn’t run 20th to be here. I never thought this day would come and to be here is unbelievable!
“I can’t believe it. I’ve wanted it since I was a little kid. Just never give up. Just never give up on your dreams, no matter what happens, or what kind of crap you go through. Thank you Barney (Visser). I wish you were here buddy.”
Busch finished second and Kyle Larson rounded out the podium.
“Yeah, that’s what happens when you lose in this format. But we gave it everything we had. We gave it our all. So congratulations to the 78 (Truex). They deserved it probably on every other race, but today, I thought we were better. Don’t matter though. They were out front when it mattered most. Just unfortunate for us that that caution came out and ruined our race strategy and we weren’t able to get back to where we needed to be and then I had to fight way too hard with some of those guys trying to get back up through there. But that’s racing.”
“Yeah, we had a great Credit One Bank Chevy today,” Larson said. “Throughout the first half especially. It seemed like the 18 and them guys were probably a little bit faster than me the first, I don’t know 15 laps a run and then I was really, really good. I was definitely better than them in front of me, but I was just stuck in their dirty air a little bit. I was going to race them, I just could never get close enough. I wanted to win the race bad, but a good way to end the year. It showed we had a lot of speed all year long and congrats to the No. 78 (Martin Truex, Jr.) team they were the class of the field all year. It is pretty neat to see the top three there they were the three best cars all season. I wish I could have been a part of the final four, but had a little bit of bad luck here lately. It’s nice to see a checkered flag, it’s been about a month since I’ve seen one. That was good and yeah, we will try and make our stuff even better than next year just fine tune on little things and try and come back even stronger. Hats off to everybody on my Chip Ganassi Racing team. They busted their tails throughout the off season and that prepared us to be good this year. Thanks to them and thanks to all of our other partners, Target, wish they were still with us, but we will miss them. Looking forward to our future with all of our other partners. Good year all-in-all.”
Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five.
“We just got really loose and then got a hole in the nose and it started to get tight in. We got that fixed,” Harvick said. “We were pretty good on the next-to-last run and we were just really loose on the last run. I want to thank everybody on my Jimmy John’s, Busch Ford for everything they’ve done. It was great to have a chance. We were in the mix all day. Didn’t quite have what we needed at the end. I want to thank Mobil 1, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Morton Building, Textron, everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. Thank you guys for everything you did all year. We’ll be back.”
Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-10.
RACE SUMMARY
Hamlin led the field to the green flag at 3:15 p.m., but didn’t lead a single lap as Truex quickly took the lead in Turn 1. He led the first 13 laps, before Larson passed him in Turn 1 to take it. Aside from one lap by Keselowski during the first stage break and Busch during a cycle of green flag stops on Lap 122, Larson lead from Lap 13 to Lap 160, sweeping the stages in the process.
Truex exited pit road during the second stage break with the race lead and led the field back to green on Lap 166. Busch swung around him through Turns 1 and 2 to take the lead on Lap 179.
Keselowski hit pit road with 69 laps to go. Truex and Harvick pitted a few laps later.
Rather than follow suit, Busch elected to stay out until 55 to 50 to go to get within the 55-lap fuel window to one-stop the rest of the race. His plan went up in flames when Kurt Busch spun out in Turn 3 and laid debris on track, bringing out the caution with 39 to go and setting up the run to the finish.
NOTES OF INTEREST
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 25th in his final career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start.
Jimmie Johnson’s 27th-place finish ended his 13-year streak of winning at least one race in the Playoffs.
Danica Patrick brought out the third caution of the race on Lap 142 when she got loose and slammed the Turn 1 wall, and was rear-ended by Kasey Kahne. She finished 37th.
NUTS & BOLTS
The race lasted three hours, two minutes and 11 seconds, at an average speed of 131.900 mph. There were 13 lead changes among four different drivers and five cautions for 26 laps.
The 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season has been a great one for 2016 champion Johnny Sauter but he fell one spot short of going back-to-back at the Homestead season finale.
Prior to getting to the Championship 4, Sauter advanced to the Playoffs with a win at Dover. He continued on a hot streak by placing in the top five and 10. Despite finishes of 23rd at Eldora and 18th at Michigan, Sauter qualified for the Playoffs and even won at Chicago before they started.
The wins at Texas and Phoenix were good enough to get him a spot in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami for the second consecutive year.
Sauter qualified a somewhat uncharacteristic 11th for the season finale. Throughout the race, he ran as high as third and as low as 14th and ran fifth mid-race. Sauter, placed eighth and fifth in both stages. When the race was all said and done, he placed fourth but it wasn’t enough for him to go back-to-back as Christopher Bell finished one spot ahead of him to win the 2017 series title.
With the 2017 season over for Sauter, he will end the year with four wins, 13 top fives and 19 top 10 finishes, with 455 laps led.
“We started the race way too free,” Sauter said. “We made some good adjustments for the first stop with the ISM Connect Chevy. The guys (crew) did a good job and I had a little better fire off speed on the next restart. Eventually, it would (truck) just go away on me and just die. You know, just way too free, especially corner exit which is crazy but I could never commit to the top. I would have to drive in straight and shallow in the corners because it was so free, and I could make really good time doing that by using a little brake and hard throttling it up off the corner.”
“At one point with 25 or 30 (laps) to go, we were running quicker than the 4 (Christopher Bell) and then, I just didn’t have anything left. I could not touch the throttle off corner exit, but we gave them all we had and when it comes down to one race like this that’s what you got. We just needed to be one spot better, I guess.”
Despite not going back-to-back in the Championship 4, Sauter’s 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season is set, as he is expected to be back with GMS Racing.
“I can’t thank the Gallagher family and Mike Beam enough for the opportunity they’ve given me the last two years,” Sauter said. “To be able to compete at this level, where you know you could win any given weekend, is incredible and I’m excited to be able to continue with the No. 21 team next year.”
Exactly one year ago, William Byron stood in victory lane at Homestead-Miami Speedway, having won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season-finale the week after his title hopes went up in smoke with his engine. Today, a week after he punched his ticket with a victory in the Arizona desert, he dueled it out with JR Motorsports teammate Elliott Sadler in the final laps of the 2017 NASCAR XFINITY Series season to claim the championship in his name.
Both drivers hit pit road to make their final stop of the Ford EcoBoost 300 on Lap 145, and Sadler exited in front of Byron. Byron caught and passed him going into Turn 1 on Lap 149 to take over the championship lead.
With 38 laps to go, when Sadler got loose in Turn 3 and sent Byron towards the wall. Whether he made contact with it can’t be determined. Eventually, Sadler passed him going into Turn 1 to take the lead in the championship fight.
Byron caught back up to Sadler with 24 to go, thanks to lap traffic, but couldn’t make the pass, thanks to making contact with the wall in Turn 4 with 22 to go.
“He was really good on the long run,” Byron said of his battle with Sadler. “We weren’t as good on the long run, but we had massive short-run speed.”
He finally caught and passed Sadler in Turn 3 with nine to go, after Sadler failed to complete a pass on Ryan Preece.
In an act of desperation, Sadler turned Preece in Turn 4 with five to go. But the race remained green and Byron drove on to a third-place finish, clinching the 2017 XFINITY Series championship.
“Just thankful for God giving me this opportunity and everyone around me to get me to this point. This is incredible and very thankful for everyone that’s supported me along the way.
“I went to Martinsville (Speedway) when I was seven years old, watching the 48 car (Jimmie Johnson) win the race, and dreamed about running for Mr. (Rick) Hendrick and I got that opportunity with Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. when I was 16 years old, and it just took off from there. Can’t not believe all the people around me that’ve helped made this happen, and thankful for this team. That’s what made it happen.”
After the race, Sadler quickly got out of his car to confront Preece and two XFINITY Series officials had to restrain him from doing anything other than yell.
“Well he cost us a championship, but he’s not even racing anybody,” Sadler said. If he wasn’t slowing us down, the 9 (Byron) never would have gotten to us. If you’re going to race people like that in this sport, you’re not going to make it very far. You gotta have respect. It’s definitely a shame to be that close and not pull it off. I just appreciate my race team. I let them down tonight. I should’ve took care of business when I got to Ryan.
“It was definitely a letdown to lose one like this.”
Preece responded to Elliott’s “he’s not racing anybody” claim with the fact that he was “hired to race this race for the owner championship.”
“We weren’t anywhere near the 22 (Sam Hornish Jr.), but we were racing the 9 (Byron),” Preece said. “It’s pretty much what I said. If it was the 7 (Justin Allgaier) and the 1 (Elliott Sadler) or anyone else that wasn’t in for that owner championship, probably, I definitely would have just laid right over. I’ve been an Elliott Sadler fan growing up, so if I wanted somebody to win that owner championship, or driver championship, it would have been him. Just, I can’t not listen to my owner. I can’t not listen to my, the guy who’s paying you in the end, so it’s just a tough deal. It’s crappy in the end – but I hate controversy.”
As for the “move” he made on Sadler…
“With what move? I was ahead of him,” he said. “If anything – if there was no contact, I was going to let him go that corner. I pulled down in the middle, not running the top because I was letting him go. I mean, I don’t know. The only thing I could’ve done different was realistically gave up second in the owner championship and finished third. You know, hindsight 20/20, we ended up there because of what happened, but I also – as soon as the 9 got me, I was going to let him go. I don’t know much more that I could really do, other than, than lay over on Joe (Gibbs) and Steve (deSouza, EVP of XFINITY and Development for Joe Gibbs Racing). If they came over the radio and said ‘hey, give up second in the owner championship and let these guys race,’ I would’ve done it. I’m just – team orders. I’m not afraid to lay over if it means – but just doing what I’m told.”
And as for what Preece could’ve done different…
“To be honest with you, if there’s a person you don’t want to cost a championship to it’s Elliott Sadler,” he added. “You know, I’m just trying to do team orders here. I was racing for an owner championship. Yeah, we weren’t racing for the win right there, but we were still racing the 9. I got to thank Joe Gibbs for giving me this opportunity, Safelite Auto Glass, Toyota, everybody involved there. It felt – just, you know it’s not where I want to be right there, but obviously I hate it, but can’t take it back.”
Cole Custer led all but 18 laps on his way to dominating and winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
He first took the lead from Tyler Reddick going into Turn 1 on the fifth lap, and aside from the one time Reddick exited ahead of him under the first stage break caution, he never lost it. Custer won both stages, led 182 laps and put all but eight cars a lap down on his way to scoring his first career victory in 38 XFINITY Series starts.
“We definitely had something to prove this weekend. We were so close to making it last weekend and (we) really wanted to end strong. We were really good this weekend. Our Haas Automation Mustangs are unreal. We wanted to really have a good showing on Ford Championship Weekend. Even though we weren’t in it, we wanted to win. Hopefully, we can sweep it tomorrow. Obvious we have some good cars in the hunt tomorrow.”
Sam Hornish Jr. finished second and William Byron finished third, clinching for him the 2017 NASCAR XFINITY Series championship.
“I don’t know that I took a breath the last 20 laps,” said Byron. “That was incredible. I just have to thank this team. This is awesome. Elliott (Sadler, teammate) raced me clean and we just raced hard for it. I just can’t believe this. I’ve just got to thank God for giving me this platform to perform. I can’t believe this. I’m tired, whew. Thanks to all the fans here this evening, this is an unbelievable crowd, I just can’t believe it.”
Reddick and Ryan Preece rounded out the top-five.
Brennan Poole, Matt Tiftt, Elliott Sadler, Michael Annett and Ty Majeski rounded out the top-10.
NOTES OF INTEREST
Caution flew only three times: Two for stage breaks and one for a spin in Turn 2 on Lap 20 by JJ Yeley. Only six cars retired from the race.
Daniel Hemric’s chances at the title came to an end when he made an unscheduled stop on Lap 62 for battery issues. He rejoined the race 12 laps down.
One day after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship, Christopher Bell retired from the race with engine issues on Lap 79.
With his runner-up finish, Hornish clinched the 2017 XFINITY Series owners championship for Roger Penske’s No. 22 team.
NUTS & BOLTS
The race lasted two hours, 12 minutes and 13 seconds, at an average speed of 136.140 mph. There were five lead changes among two different drivers and three cautions for 14 laps.
Martin Truex Jr. topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 31.543 and a speed of 171.195 mph. Clint Bowyer was second in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 31.804 and a speed of 169.790 mph. Denny Hamlin was third in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 31.807 and a speed of 169.774 mph. Erik Jones was fourth in his No. 77 Furniture Row Toyota with a time of 31.817 and a speed of 169.721 mph. Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-five in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 31.849 and a speed of 169.550 mph.
Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top-10. Brad Keselowski was 11th and Kevin Harvick rounds out the Playoff drivers in 18th.
Kyle Busch posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average of 164.681 mph.
Denny Hamlin topped the chart in second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 31.555 and a speed of 171.130 mph. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 31.638 and a speed of 170.681 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was third in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 31.761 and a speed of 170.020 mph. Kurt Busch was fourth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 31.850 and a speed of 169.545 mph. Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet with a time of 31.958 and a speed of 168.972 mph.
Ryan Newman, Joey Logano, Trevor Bayne, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-10.
Kyle Busch was 16th and Kevin Harvick rounded out the Playoff drivers in 17th.
Hamlin posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 165.574 mph.
The 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season finale was decided in Homestead-Miami tonight. It was the site where the 22-year-old, Christopher Bell, won his first ever championship, with five wins this season for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Meanwhile, Chase Briscoe collected his first ever Truck Series win for Brad Keselowski Racing.
Chase Briscoe and Ben Rhodes started on the pole after qualifying early Friday afternoon. The stages were broken into 40/80/134 laps.
The first stage was run cleanly without any problems. It was apparent that Christopher Bell had the truck to beat, as he wound up winning Stage 1 easily. Austin Cindric finished sixth, Matt Crafton seventh and Johnny Sauter eighth.
Stage 2 began on Lap 48, where this time it was Rhodes who had the dominant truck for about 35 laps. This was enough for him to win the second stage, with the Championship 4 contenders finishing second, fifth, sixth and eighth. It was a clean and green Stage 2 without any incidents, similar to Stage 1.
The final stage went back underway on Lap 88 and was run to the finish without any yellow flags. Rhodes led for about five laps until he had to pit with issues, which then gave the lead back to Chase Briscoe. From there, Briscoe was able to hold on and win his first ever career series win.
As soon as Briscoe took the checkered flag, Christopher Bell followed closely and finished second, which was enough to win the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship.
“Such an awesome night to go out on top to cap off the season,” Briscoe said. “For it to be our last race at Brad Keselowski Racing, it was an awesome way to send Brad (Keselowski) out. Hopefully, he (Brad Keselowski) gets a championship on Sunday.”
Briscoe led four times for 81 laps and placed second, and third, in the first two stages, respectively. This was Brad Keselowski Racing’s 11th win in 305 starts and Briscoe’s first in 23 starts.
For Christopher Bell’s 2017 season, he ended with five wins, 15 top fives and 21 top-10 finishes, with 875 laps led. His second-place finish at Homestead was also good enough for him to earn KBM the fifth consecutive owner’s championship.
“He’s the best boss you could have,” Bell said. “It’s something that, I’m just really thankful for the opportunity to be here. I remember the first time, I went to Kyle Busch Motorsports, I was so star struck by him whenever I was driving late models for him, to be around him and to win a championship for him. I’m just speechless.”
Johnny Sauter finished third, Austin Cindric fourth and Matt Crafton sixth to round out the Championship 4.
There were two cautions for 12 laps during the race and six lead changes among three drivers.
The season starts all over again in 2018 at Daytona International Speedway Friday night on February 16, where a new crop of drivers and the same veterans will be competing for the championship all season long.
