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  • Truex fastest in final practice at Homestead

    Truex fastest in final practice at Homestead

    Martin Truex Jr. topped the chart in final Sprint Cup Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 30.983 and a speed of 174.289 mph. Carl Edwards was second in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 31.029 and a speed of 174.031 mph. Ryan Newman was third in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 31.264 and a speed of 172.723 mph. AJ Allmendinger was fourth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet with a time of 31.304 and a speed of 172.502 mph. Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 31.321 and a speed of 172.408 mph.

    Matt Kenseth was sixth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota. Denny Hamlin was seventh in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Joey Logano was eighth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Tony Stewart was ninth in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-10 in his No. 48 HMS Chevrolet.

    Kyle Busch rounded out the Championship 4 drivers in 14th.

    Kevin Harvick, who had the 11th fastest single lap, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 168.286 mph.

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  • Johnson fastest in second practice at Homestead

    Johnson fastest in second practice at Homestead

    Jimmie Johnson topped the chart in second Sprint Cup Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 30.973 and a speed of 174.345 mph. Chase Elliott was second in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet with a time of 31.154 and a speed of 173.332 mph. Carl Edwards was third in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 31.223 and a speed of 172.949 mph. Trevor Bayne was fourth in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with a time of 31.261 and a speed of 172.739 mph. Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-five in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 31.263 and a speed of 172.728 mph.

    Joey Logano was sixth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Martin Truex Jr. was seventh in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Jamie McMurray was eighth in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Ryan Newman was ninth in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top-10 in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet.

    Kyle Busch rounded out the Championship 4 drivers in 28th.

    Edwards posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 169.062 mph.

    The Sprint Cup Series is back on track for final practice at 1:00 p.m.

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  • Hendrick pondered separating Johnson and Knaus during summer slump

    Hendrick pondered separating Johnson and Knaus during summer slump

    During the midst of a summer downturn, Rick Hendrick considered making a change that included severing Jimmie Johnson from Chad Knaus.

    Speaking to the media at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the owner of Hendrick Motorsports was reminded of how Johnson and Knaus nearly split apart 11 years ago following Homestead in 2005, that Johnson said that he (Hendrick) had recently asked him (Johnson) and Chad if the relationship is still working, why he would do that and how much he was considering changes in that time.

    “You know, every — I think it’s the toughest question when you have a relationship. It can be in a dealership, it can be in a race team, when you have two guys that have been so good and you try to decide is it time, and this year we started off really well, and then we hit a lull in the summer, and it was — we asked ourselves then, is this time, do we need to make a change,” Hendrick said.

    In the end, he opted to keep the two together.

    “But when you see things that are so close, I think that’s when they work harder, and we really just sit down and work hard together and try to identify weaknesses, and I think they have both made a commitment, they want to retire together,” he added. “They want to finish their careers together.”

    Knaus has sat on top of the 48 war wagon since Johnson’s rookie season in 2002. He’s been apart of all six of Johnson’s championship seasons and all but two of his 79 Sprint Cup Series victories. The enduring partnership these two share is rarely seen in NASCAR today.

    “Jimmie personally, obviously, he is by far one of my best friends, and to be able to have seen him grow and mature into the driver and the family man that he is has been awesome,” Knaus said Wednesday during a media teleconference. “It’s been a great ride.”

    But their relationship hasn’t always been rock solid. It almost came unraveled at the seems following the 2005 Ford 400. Hendrick brought Johnson and Knaus into his office for what was supposed to be a meeting on how they would split up, and ended up mending their relationship over a plate of milk and cookies on a Mickey Mouse plate.

    The two are on the verge of history where they could join Richard Petty and Dale Inman as the only driver/crew chief duo to have won seven titles together.

  • Byron wins the race, Sauter takes the title in Miami

    Byron wins the race, Sauter takes the title in Miami

    William Byron took the lead in the closing laps to close out the season with a victory, but it was Johnny Sauter, one of the elder statesman of the series, who beat the competition to finally add a championship to his resume.

    Byron scored the pole for the race and led the 20 laps before ceding the lead to Matt Crafton. He didn’t make much noise for most of the race until the final caution flew with 24 laps to go. He came out second behind Tyler Reddick, who exited pit road with the race lead.

    He stayed hot on Reddick right from the final restart with 20 to go and took the lead exiting Turn 2 with 10 to go to drive on to victory.

    “It feels awesome,” Byron said. “It’s just – it’s incredible. I mean this team has worked so hard all year. We just had an unfortunate situation last week that we couldn’t control, but, man, they brought a good truck. Qualified on the pole.”

    It was the seventh victory in 24 career starts in the Camping World Truck Series for the driver of the No. 9 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota.

    “These guys just are awesome,” he added. “God, I hate leaving this – I just hate this team not being together next year. It’s just insane how good they are and so many talented people on this race team. Can’t thank KBM enough, Toyota, Kyle and Samantha (Busch, Kyle Busch’s wife), everyone at KBM, (sponsor) Liberty University – it’s just amazing.”

    He also secured Sunoco Rookie of The Year honors.

    Sauter brought his No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet home third, which was enough to secure him his first series championship.

    “You know, not just me, it’s the whole team, everybody at GMS Racing,” Sauter said in victory lane. “We qualified bad today. Really, we were kind of worried about it. Felt pretty good in race trim.

    “Just proud of these guys for their flawless execution tonight. Joe (Shear) made great adjustments to where I could just kind of hang on. I’m not a high line guy. So I elected to keep doing my deal and they actually found some pretty good grip on the bottom of the race track.

    “Proud to be a champion. I’m gonna do everything in our power to represent NASCAR as best we can.”

    He was asked what point he realized he had a truck that could win the title.

    “I was pretty conservative at the beginning of the race just trying to take care of it and not make any stupid mistakes,” he added. “Then there was about probably 85 laps to go, I was like ‘Okay, we’ll start picking them off here,’ and just had a solid day in the pits.

    “With about 50 to 60 to go, I was like ‘Okay, we’ve got something here,’ and we were really catching the 88. It looked like he was pushing real bad.”

    Kyle Larson, who led a race high of 76 laps, finished fourth.

    Matt Crafton, Christopher Bell and Timothy Peters finished seventh, eighth and ninth.

    Three of the four cautions were brought out by Patrick Staropoli. The other was for a spin by Stewart Friesen.

    Twenty-four trucks finished the race on the lead lap and only Ryan Truex failed to finish the race.

    The race lasted one hour, 32 minutes and 57 seconds at an average speed of 129.747 mph. There were 15 lead changes among five different drivers and four cautions for 18 laps.

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  • Harvick takes pole position in Homestead finale

    Harvick takes pole position in Homestead finale

    Kevin Harvick will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday after posting the fastest time in the final round of qualifying in South Florida.

    The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet scored the pole for the Ford EcoBoost 400 after posting a time of 30.399 and a speed of 177.637 mph.

    It’s his 17th career pole in 574 Sprint Cup Series starts, second of 2016 and first at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    Brad Keselowski will start second in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford after posting a time of 30.416 and a speed of 177.538 mph. Ryan Newman will start third in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 30.442 and a speed of 177.387 mph. Denny Hamlin will start fourth in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 30.475 and a speed of 177.194 mph. Chase Elliott will round out the top-five starters in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 30.492 and a speec of 177.096 mph.

    Martin Truex Jr. will start sixth in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Matt Kenseth will start seventh in his No. 20 JGR Toyota. Ryan Blaney will start eighth in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Kyle Busch will start ninth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Carl Edwards will round out the top-10 in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.

    Tony Stewart will start 11th and AJ Allmendinger will round out the drivers that made the final round of qualifying in 12th.

    Joey Logano will start 13th and Jimmie Johnson will round out the Chase drivers in 14th.

    Gray Gaulding failed to make the race.

    The 40-car field will be comprised of 20 Chevrolet’s, 11 Ford’s and nine Toyota’s.

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  • Newman fastest in first Homestead Cup practice

    Newman fastest in first Homestead Cup practice

    Ryan Newman topped the chart in first Sprint Cup Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 30.789 and a speed of 175.387 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was second in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 30.795 and a speed of 175.353 mph. Kyle Larson was third in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 30.812 and a speed of 175.256 mph. Joey Logano was fourth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 30.828 and a speed of 175.165 mph. Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-five in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 30.867 and a speed of 174.944 mph.

    Brad Keselowski was sixth in his No. 2 Penske Ford. AJ Allmendinger was seventh in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Kyle Busch was eighth in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Carl Edwards was ninth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Chase Elliott rounded out the top-10 in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet.

    Kevin Harvick, who posted the 15th fastest single lap, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 168.283 mph.

    The Sprint Cup Series cars are back on track this evening at 6:00 for qualifying.

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  • Stewart is frustrated to not have won any crown jewel races, but is glad to have run them

    Stewart is frustrated to not have won any crown jewel races, but is glad to have run them

    Tony Stewart, pondering whether failing to win any of the crown jewel events in NASCAR and IndyCar frustrates him, said it does, but “it was pretty damn cool to just have the opportunity to go race those races.”

    Speaking to the media earlier this afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet was asked if there was anything missing from his resume that bothers him.

    “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed that I didn’t win a Daytona 500, a Southern 500 and most of all an Indy 500,” Stewart said. “But, I look at it and look at where I was when I was 15 years old, and 18 years old, I never even thought I would get a chance to race those races let alone in all three of them have opportunities to win the race. In a perfect world, yes, I would have loved to be able to cross those three off the list. But at the same time, I look at the big picture and it was pretty damn cool to just have the opportunity to go race those races.”

    In 617 career Sprint Cup Series starts across 18 seasons, Stewart has amassed 49 career wins (13th on the all-time wins list). He’s won at all but three of the tracks at which he’s raced (Darlington Raceway, Kentucky Speedway and Rockingham Speedway). He’s got three Sprint Cup Series championships from 2002, 2005 and 2011 to his name. He set a new standard for rookie drivers when he took the sport by storm in 1999 with three wins, 12 top-fives, 21 top-10’s, two poles, 1223 laps led, a 10.3 finishing average and and Rookie of The Year honors on his way to finishing fourth in points.

    He also has an IndyCar title from 1997 on his resume.

    However, absent from his hall of fame came in any of NASCAR’s “Winston Million” races: the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600 or the Bojangles’ Southern 500.

    He also failed to capture an Indianapolis 500 victory. Although he has two wins at The Brickyard in NASCAR.

    But as he stated, he’s glad to have run those races.

    He also has no desire to run another NASCAR race after this Sunday, even to get that elusive Daytona 500 victory.

    “This is it. This is the last one,” he added. “I think I learned my lesson from Jeff (Gordon). Jeff tried to do somebody a favor this year and got roped into running half the season (laughs). Thank you Jeff for teaching me a lesson before I got roped into it. So, no, I’m not planning on that at all. We are going to be busy. In all honesty and I don’t have a schedule set next year, but I just know the things that I’m planning, my schedule next year is going to be much busier than it already is this year. There is just not going to be room for it.”

  • Knaus says Indy turned around the 48 team’s season

    Knaus says Indy turned around the 48 team’s season

    Asked where the 48 team’s season started to turn around, Chad Knaus points to the Brickyard as being where they began their run to the championship finale.

    Speaking to the media during a teleconference earlier today, the crew chief of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was questioned about, given the early season success and run of poor performance by his team and the entire Hendrick organization during the summer, when he felt the performance of his team started to level up to the point that they could compete for the championship.

    “I think about Indianapolis was the turning point for the 48 car,” Knaus said. “Now, albeit we didn’t have very good finishes throughout the summer months, that’s not necessarily indicative of how we raced. We had some very strong performances, much like I said at Indianapolis. Were we as fast as the guys that were perfectly up front? No, not really, but we were running in the top-five and we passed a lot of cars there, so I think that was a great start for us.

    “Pocono we had some good races, so on and so forth. Once again, I don’t know that we had the finishing results that we wanted, but we were starting to show signs of performance. Once we got a little bit later into the season, Darlington showed up, Michigan, tracks like that, we really started to put some finishes together and some very, very strong performances.

    “So I think about that time of the year.”

    Despite four wins on the season and competing for a record-tying seventh championship this Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, this season for Jimmie Johnson will end up being statistically one of his most under-performed seasons. A finish less than fifth would make 2016 the season with the second-fewest top-fives of his career. He’ll also finish the season with both less than 20 top-10’s for the first time in his career and less than half of his finishes being top-10 finishes. A lead lap finish this weekend would avoid this season having the fewest lead lap finishes since his rookie season.

    During the six-race stretch from Pocono Raceway to New Hampshire Motor Speedway during June and July of this season, Johnson posted finishes of 35th, 16th, 13th, 35th, 32nd and 12th, which amounted to a 23.8 finishing average. Three of his four DNF’s on the season came during that six-race stretch.

    The entire Hendrick organization was under-performing during this stretch. There were weeks where none of the Hendrick cars finished inside the top-10.

    To make matters worse, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was ruled out medically halfway through the season due symptoms of a concussion that stemmed from his wreck at Michigan International Speedway. Alex Bowman and Jeff Gordon have split time, with Bowman taking a slightly larger share, driving the No. 88 car the latter half of the season.

    Even rookie Chase Elliott, who was the most consistent of any HMS driver for much of the season, started to slip in performance in the summer months to the point that his Chase hopes went from a sure thing to questionable.

    Knaus made no bones about the lack of speed through the summer months at HMS. He discussed how all the crew chiefs banded together to work the problem out and that, he believes, is what solved their dilemma.

    “But yeah, it’s no secret that we were not performing the way we wanted to throughout the bulk of the season as a company, so we all buckled down,” he added. “I think the crew chiefs have put their heads together very well, and really started to work well together. Not that we weren’t before, but we just did it with more vigor than what we had in the past, and I think that’s a direct reason why we have the results that we do now. I think all of our teams are running great. I think at one time, Sunday, last week, we were first, second, third and fifth, I think, so the best showing we have had in a race competitively like that in a while.

    “I think everybody at Hendrick Motorsports is doing a great job of pushing our performance and making that a priority, and it should carry on, I hope, into next season.

  • Sauter Now Biggest Threat For Truck Series Championship

    Sauter Now Biggest Threat For Truck Series Championship

    Throughout the course of the 2016 season, the biggest stories in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series were rookie driver William Byron’s series-leading six wins and the absolute dominance of the Toyota teams with 13 wins in 22 races. But with Byron eliminated from championship contention, it is looking like GMS Racing driver Johnny Sauter is now in prime position to hoist the championship trophy at Homestead.

    Since his first full season in the Camping World Truck Series in 2009, Sauter has been at or near the top of the standings each season, with a low of ninth in the final standings coming in 2012. In seven seasons racing for ThorSport Racing, the organization that fields the No. 88 of two-time NCWTS champion Matt Crafton, Sauter won 10 races and finished a career-best second in points in 2011 to champion Austin Dillon. However, despite the success and consistency, Sauter never held the championship trophy.

    In his first race behind the wheel of the No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet, Sauter took the win at Daytona and despite early season issues at Atlanta, Martinsville, and Kansas, he managed to fight his way back into the top-five in points, finishing outside of the top-10 only twice since finishing fourth at Dover in May. Now, following up back-to-back wins at Martinsville and Texas with a runner-up spot at Phoenix, his No. 21 Silverado is coming alive at the right time to clinch his first NCWTS championship.

    He holds a higher driver rating (120.3) than his four championship competitors heading into Homestead, and he has also posted more top-10s this season (18) than the other four drivers in the Final Four (Christopher Bell isn’t far off with 16 top-10s). As for the championship race at Homestead, despite Crafton having more top-10s, Sauter has posted several strong runs at Homestead including a win there in 2011. Sauter knows what it takes to win at Homestead and considering the stretch he’s been on coupled with the power that the GMS Racing trucks have been putting out this season (their six wins this season are an organization best), the No. 21 truck is definitely the team to beat.

    With this Chase format shaking things up in the standings, Sauter winning the championship isn’t a certainty. But considering he’s made it this far with a team that’s enjoying a breakout season, he’s on a hot streak. He has the best momentum heading into the finale and may be the odds-on favorite for the championship.

  • Johnson Anticipates Opportunity for Seventh Title

    Johnson Anticipates Opportunity for Seventh Title

    Jimmie Johnson captured his ninth win at Martinsville Speedway Sunday, securing his spot in the final Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 20. It marks his 79th career victory, but more importantly, the opportunity to race for a seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup title.

    If successful, Johnson would join the elite company of Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt with a record seven titles. Petty earned his seventh title in 1979 while Earnhardt tied that record in 1994. After 22 years, no one has come close, until now.

    It hasn’t been easy. After beginning the season with two wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway, Johnson’s year seemed to unravel. During the next 17 races, he only had four top-five finishes culminating with a 40th place at Watkins Glen. But, with a seventh-place result at Bristol Motor Speedway in August, Johnson began to get his season back on track, scoring two more victories at Charlotte and Martinsville, advancing through the championship rounds.

    Johnson admitted that he has “been trying to ignore this conversation about seven (championships) but now I can’t! We’re locked in. I’m just honored to be in this position.”

    And although he says it’s “inevitable” that the prospect of a title will be on his mind, his focus will be on the next two races of the Round of 8.

    “Obviously we want to win more races. If we can have success at Texas, that will only put us in Miami with more confidence and more speed in our car. That’s a mile-and-a-half. It will be nice to go into Phoenix not having to worry about much – really the next two. It puts us in a good position.”

    His goal is to “try to put as much pressure as we can on ourselves because we know come Homestead that pressure is going to be pretty intense.”

    Team owner Rick Hendrick acknowledged that there are factors that are beyond their control but his confidence in Johnson is unshakable.

    “It’s so hard,” he said. “This deal is so hard, this new program. You see guys like Martin Truex that run so good, break an engine at Talladega. It’s a heartbreaker. When you get into the playoffs in baseball, the ball doesn’t go flat, you don’t get a bat that comes apart.

    “There’s a lot of things out of your control that you just can’t do anything about. But I think this is an excellent shot for us, for Jimmie, because I think he’s got that stride. He showed it today when he was on the outside of Denny (Hamlin). He just didn’t give it up.

    “He knows he’s got a tremendous feel. He did at Charlotte. If I’ve got to race for the win at a track like that, then I’d put my money on him. So I think all the components, engine shop, chassis shop, aero, everything is in a good place. Then with Jimmie, when all the chips are down, it’s for the seventh championship, I think he’s going to ratchet it up a notch.”

    It’s a view that is shared by Johnson’s mentor, Jeff Gordon.

    “When things are on the line and things matter most, Jimmie and that team know how to step it up to another level,” Gordon explained. “They showed that today. He’ll be showing that again in Homestead. I was back there in sixth or seventh place just watching him go after the No. 11 car (Denny Hamlin). That was just phenomenal driving and racing. Then he just drove away.

    “Well seven is a number to a lot of people, but to me, he is already one of the all-time great. That number might just solidify that in the history books and maybe for some others. Maybe it might be special to him personally.”

    Although Johnson has put himself in the best possible position, he has no intention of becoming complacent.

    “The work is far from over. There’s one race; that’s winner-take-all.”