1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin powered his way past Matt Kenseth on the final lap, then edged Martin Truex Jr. at the line by .010 seconds, the closest finish in Daytona 500 history, to win his first 500.
“It was a bold move to leave the draft and go high,” Hamlin said. “Joe Gibbs’ drivers are known for getting ‘out of line,’ notably Matt Kenseth anytime Joey Logano’s in front of him, or Kyle Busch anytime he’s behind the wheel of a street car.
“I’m just glad I was able to end Joe Gibbs’ 23-year Daytona drought. Joe said this felt like winning the Super Bowl. Speaking of football, maybe NASCAR should follow the NFL’s lead and make it much easier to pass.”
2. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex took the runner-up spot at Daytona, falling .010 seconds short to Denny Hamlin in the closest finish in Daytona 500 history.
“I’m disappointed,” Truex said, “but it was a great result for Furniture Row Racing. To celebrate, Furniture Row is throwing in a free ‘photo finish’ on all products purchased this week.
“I can’t be too unhappy about finishing second. I think I made a name for myself at Daytona. Unfortunately, that name is ‘Martin Truex II.’”
3. Kyle Busch: Busch started defense of his 2015 Sprint Cup championship with a strong third in the Daytona 500, as Joe Gibbs Racing placed three cars in the top 5.
“These Gibbs Toyotas were strong all day long,” Busch said. “We knew if we remained grouped together in the low line, we’d be there at the end. It may not have worked out so well for Tim Richmond, but running a train sure did for JGR.”
4. Matt Kenseth: Leading on the final lap, Kenseth was passed after a daring move to the high line by Denny Hamlin, who sailed past Kenseth’s failed attempt to block. Hamlin went on to edge Martin Truex Jr. as Kenseth slid back to 14th.
“Maybe I should have held my line,” Kenseth said. “But it’s hard to remain disciplined when you think you may get passed. Trust me, last year taught me how hard it was to ‘be disciplined.’
“But congratulations to Hamlin. He predicted his Daytona 500 win as a second-grader. Speaking of school, maybe I should have paid more attention in drafting class.”
5. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished fourth, and generated the momentum that propelled Denny Hamlin past Matt Kenseth on the final turn to result in Hamlin’s win.
“That’s the second¬-most famous push in the back I’m known for,” Harvick said. “The first was in Texas in 2014 when I shoved Brad Keselowski. Hamlin’s post-race fist pump was the only punch thrown in either situation.”
6. Joey Logano: Logano, last year’s Daytona 500 winner, took sixth in this year’s race after starting fifth on the grid.
“I can’t be too sad for Matt Kenseth,” Logano said. “You could say he got what was coming to him.
“As for the race itself, it was a pretty boring affair save for the last lap. Maybe NASCAR needs to institute a ‘repetition’ caution before fans revolt in a ‘Mutiny On Monotony.’”
7. Kyle Larson: Larson finished seventh in the Daytona 500, his best result ever in the season’s inaugural race.
“How about Scottish actor Gerard Butler’s role as Grand Marshal?” Larson said. “Nothing says ‘The Great American Race’ like a Scottish accent.”
8. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson led 18 laps and was poised for a strong finish until a pit road penalty with 45 laps to go. Johnson was issued a drive-through penalty after NASCAR deemed his pit crew were over the wall too soon.
“Too many men over the wall?” Johnson said. “Who called this penalty, Donald Trump?
“Pole-sitter and Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott took a spin through the Daytona infield, as did Danica Patrick. For some drivers, like Chase, it’s a ‘spin in the grass;’ for others, like Ricky Stenhouse Jr., it’s a ‘roll in the hay.’”
9. Regan Smith: Smith, in the No. 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet, finished eighth in the Daytona 500.
“Hamlin wrote a letter in the second grade saying his dream was to win the Daytona 500,” Smith said. “Most NASCAR fans would respond to that by saying, ‘Dreams do come true.’ The remaining NASCAR fans would say, ‘Hamlin could write in the second grade?’”
10. Kurt Busch: Busch started eighth and finished tenth at Daytona.
“Brian France promised lots of changes for the 2016 NASCAR season,” Busch said. “I guess lead changes wasn’t one of them. There were only four lead changes that didn’t happen as a result of pit stops.
“But what would you expect from NASCAR’s CEO and Chairman? Maybe ‘CFO’ would be a better title because he’s a ‘Chubby-Faced Oaf.’ France wants to be omnipresent. He should start by just being present. Just to clarify, I took those words right out of Tony Stewart’s mouth. As long as it’s not food, Tony doesn’t mind.”
After one of the greatest finishes in NASCAR history capping off one of the most dominating manufacturer performances ever, here’s what was surprising and not surprising from the Super Bowl of NASCAR, the Daytona 500.
Surprising: After tearing his ACL last season and ending 2015 a disappointing ninth in the final point standings, Denny Hamlin ended Sunday the victor of the 58th annual Daytona 500. It was Hamlin’s first Daytona 500 victory in his eleventh start in the “Great American Race.” It was also the closest margin of victory of any Daytona 500 race of all time, at .010 seconds ahead of second-place Martin Truex Jr.
Hamlin dominated most of the day, leading 95 laps, but the driver of the no. 11 FedEx Toyota came in too fast on the final green flag pit stop and ruined his tires. Michael Wheeler, Hamlin’s rookie crew chief, made an audible and changed four tires instead of the planned two.
The call hurt the team’s track position and mired the Virginian driver in the ninth-sixth range for much of the final 100 miles. A move up the outside to block Kevin Harvick from getting past his Toyota teammates gave Hamlin the momentum to get around Matt Kenseth and nip Truex at the finish line.
It was Hamlin’s 27th Sprint Cup victory and his second restrictor-plate victory. Including national series victories and exhibition races, Hamlin now has five career victories at Daytona.
“It’s the pinnacle of my career, for sure,” Hamlin said later on in the media center. “I haven’t got a championship yet. This is obviously the biggest win for myself.”
“Seeing Denny say it’s his biggest race, biggest thing he’s got, makes me happy,” Wheeler also said in the media center following the race. “I’m a small part of this. Racing has a lot to do with the driver, the actual car, people that build that car, with the spotter involved. Just really happy to be a small part of that.”
Not Surprising: Toyota’s overall domination of the Sprint Cup series continues, after sweeping the top three and leading for 157 out of 200 total laps on Sunday.
For much of the latter half of the race, the front three or four cars devolved into a single file Toyota freight train. After the final restart, the first five cars in the dominant bottom lane of the track were all Toyota before the final lap.
Although they faded last season for much of the Chase, JGR has now won 12 of the last 21 Sprint Cup races. Denny Hamlin believes that teamwork was the key to JGR’s second Daytona 500 victory.
“I’m just so proud of all my other teammates for us being so committed to each other for 500 miles today,” Hamlin said post-race. ”That was very rare that you see the selflessness that you saw, even with two laps to go. All of us were committed to pushing that 20 car to a victory.”
“I think what happened is we came down and our cars were all fast,” Toyota team owner Joe Gibbs added later on. “I think we had good cars. Every time I talked to the drivers, they said, ‘Hey, look, I think we’re pretty good.’ Obviously, there were a lot of other good cars out there.
“The way it worked out for us, Denny was right, it was teamwork. For us to hang together that long, that’s one thing about our racing, restrictor plate races, if you can ever do that, it’s great. The problem is you can rarely do that. We did it today.”
Surprising: After having to go to a backup car, Martin Truex Jr. spent almost the entire Daytona 500 working with his Toyota teammates in the top five at Joe Gibbs Racing. He ended the day, however, wondering what if.
“Wish I would have crowded [Hamlin] up the track a little bit more late down the frontstretch,” Truex said. “Those are split-second decisions. He came out on the right end of it today.”
It was the first race for the no. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota after years of running Chevrolets. However, it seems the Barney Visser owned team is already comfortable with their surroundings as JGR’s satellite team.
“We tried for years and years to build a collaboration between Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing,” president of TRD David Wilson said after the race. “We got better. We started sharing more. But it really wasn’t the type of collaboration that we wanted to see happen.
“At the outset when we started talking to Furniture Row, when Joe Gibbs and Barney Visser and ourselves have dinner, I sensed there was a level of trust in each other and a shared value structure that could allow this collaboration to actually succeed. What Martin Truex Jr. did today was huge in saying that he wants to be on this team. I’m incredibly impressed.”
Another Toyota driver asking what if following the race was defending Cup champion Kyle Busch, who settled in line for third instead of pulling out in front of Hamlin out of turn two.
“Once Denny jumped up, he just got such a huge boost from the 4,” Rowdy told the media. “Once he did it, I swore I thought about doing it. Once I thought about doing it and didn’t do it, it was too late. That was it. You can’t think that long and not make the move at the same time.
“So I missed my opportunity. But, you know, that’s racing. That’s how it goes.”
Not Surprising: Kevin Harvick started off 2016 where he seemed to be most weeks in 2015: in the top five.
Harvick didn’t end the day with a second Daytona 500 victory, instead having to settle for a fourth place finish after pushing Hamlin to the lead. It almost ended too early for the 2014 Cup champion, though; he saved himself from spinning off of turn four unlike a lot of other drivers in what became a danger zone for drivers.
“I wanted to be the first car in that outside line because I really thought they would really start pushing and shoving like they did and finally get some momentum coming toward the end of the race,” the driver of the no. 4 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet said. “Denny saw that momentum and was able to jump up in front of us. You look at our day, that first big slide we could have been on the wrecker pretty early in this race.”
Surprising: After dominating superspeedways all of last season, both Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske were DOA on Sunday.
Hendrick’s highest finishing driver ended up being Kasey Kahne, who ended the day 13th. Jimmie Johnson figured to be a factor in the final run to the checkers before a drive-through penalty after his last pit stop relegated the six time Cup champion 16th. Dale Earnhardt Jr., the heavy favorite to win, spun into the inner wall while fighting to get back to the lead in fourth. His day ended in 36th. Chase Elliott, in his first race as Jeff Gordon’s successor in the iconic No. 24 Chevrolet, started on the pole but spun into the infield early on and severely damaged his car. Elliott ended the day in 37th.
Meanwhile, Team Penske fared slightly better, with defending Daytona 500 champion Joey Logano finishing 6th and Brad Keselowski finishing 20th. Both, however, were never real threats against the Toyota domination.
Not Surprising: Kyle Larson ended a solid Speedweeks with a solid finish, a seventh place result after spending much of the day in the top 15. Larson had to feel a sense of relief, though; after not finishing his first two Daytona 500 starts, the third time was the charm for “Young Money.” But it wasn’t a stress-free day.
“The whole time, all the hairy moments we were in, it was just like ‘oh I have to get out of here so I can get to the checkered flag’,” Larson was quoted as saying following the race. “The last lap there it got really hectic. I was pushing the guy in front of me. I was getting pushed from behind. I was just trying to hold a steady wheel.”
Surprising: Every plate race usually has a surprise or two among the top 15. Drivers and teams that don’t often have the resources to regularly compete for a win often shine at Daytona and Talladega.
This race was no different, with Regan Smith of Tommy Baldwin Racing finishing eighth and Michael McDowell of Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing (CSLFR) finishing 15th.
Not Surprising: Although Richard Childress Racing didn’t make much noise on Sunday, the Chevrolet outfit continued to be consistent and reliable.
Austin Dillion and Ryan Newman finished ninth and eleventh, respectively, while Paul Menard brought his car home 18th. In addition to that, satellite teams TBR and CSLFR battled the odds and finished with the aforementioned great results.
The Sprint Cup Series rolls on next week to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the QuikTrip Fields of Honor 500. The green flag waves at 1 p.m. ET Sunday as drivers race with the new low downforce Cup aero package.
There will be no Daytona 500 victory listed on Tony Stewart’s resume. His recent off-season back injury ensured that. Well, maybe. I cannot help but notice that Michael Waltrip already has a lock on his 29th place in the Great American Race. There is always the chance that, given an opportunity and still with the ability to squeeze into a firesuit, Smoke could be back, at some time.
The hottest 20 drivers heading into Sunday are all locked in. Thanks to some large wallets, even Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch are good to go for the rest of the season, buying up those Charters from Waltrip’s defunct operation.
As far as the debate over the Wood Brothers not getting a Charter, I agree that as they have been running part-time, they should not have received one. I do disagree that B.K. Racing got two, or that Go Fas Racing or Premium Motorsports received any. Instead of the only criteria to receive one being reduced to only those who attempted to quality for the past 108 straight races, maybe they should have taken performance into consideration. I mean, between them, those four operations failed to qualify for 29 events last season. Maybe those Charters should have been held for those who attempted the past 36, AND who were among the Top 36 in owner’s points. Good enough to earn a one-year Charter, something they could regain through a Top 36 finish in 2016.
Thirty-six entries, just like the 36 provisional spots once awarded in past years; awarded based on performance. Qualifying spots should have remained at 43, giving teams seven openings to make it and still be able to challenge for one of those 36 Charter positions. A Charter gives peace of mind, but seven open spots still allow those without a parachute an opportunity to challenge, to compete, to succeed. Just what in hell NASCAR and the members of the Race Team Alliance were thinking when they guaranteed places for at least the next three years while all but closing the door on challengers is beyond me.
At least, we still have the race, albeit minus three entries and the entire backstretch grandstands. I am sure nobody will notice, or ponder the reasons why. Here are our hot 20, based on their 2015 season long performance.
1. Joey Logano – 6 Wins – 1299 Points
Logano arrived in 2014, confirmed that in 2015, and as for 2016….
2. Jimmie Johnson – 5 Wins – 1155 Points
The official standings have him finishing 10th; a rather misleading statistic.
3. Matt Kenseth – 5 Wins – 1046 Points
When Matt says he is going to run a driver down, he just might mean it.
4. Kyle Busch – 5 Wins – 867 Points
His greatest year featured a championship, a busted leg, and a late May start to the season.
5. Kevin Harvick – 3 Wins – 1321 Points
Recorded an average of nearly 36.7 points per race in 2015.
6. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 3 Wins – 1198 Points
After just two wins in seven seasons, he has seven wins in his last two.
7. Denny Hamlin – 2 Wins – 1117 Points
Finishing in the season’s Top Ten eight times in 10 tries, is this the year he takes all the marbles?
8. Carl Edwards – 2 Wins – 1108 Points
Wins two and still has to pay for a Charter spot, while BK Racing gets two, after four DNQ’s.
9. Kurt Busch – 2 Wins – 1108 Points
Kurt wins twice and gets nothing while the No. 62 DNQ’s 19 times last season and “earns” one.
10. Brad Keselowski – 1 Win – 1217 Points
Just a single win but a personal high of 25 Top Tens kept him close.
11. Martin Truex, Jr. – 1 Win – 1165 Points
A team that made it all the way to top tier status without the benefit of a Charter.
12. Ryan Newman – 1052 Points
I still think Tony let go the wrong driver.
13. Jamie McMurray – 1052 Points
He might not be great, but you might have to be in order to out-point him.
14. Paul Menard – 972 Points
You hear more about his driving ability and less about his daddy’s cash these days.
The two Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet’s of the No. 4 driven by Kevin Harvick and No. 14 driven by Brian Vickers failed post-qualifying tech inspection after the track bars were found to be out of compliance with the Sprint Cup Series rule book.
Their times were disallowed and both teams will start from the rear in their respective Can-Am Duel race on Thursday night.
According to Rodney Childers, crew chief of the No. 4 car, the track bar “ended up with 1/4″ too much rake.”
He also took to Twitter “to apologize to @NASCAR@jimmyjohns and our fans. It was a simple mistake on our part and look fwd to racing Thursday night. Thx.”
Martin Truex Jr.’s car was also taken off the qualifying line after officials took issue with the roof flap. He was unable to post a lap in qualifying, had his car impounded and will start from the rear of the field in his Duel race.
“Thought we had a really good car with good speed in it,” Cole Pearn said. “Either way, we’ll move on and hopefully have a good rest of Speedweeks.”
Starting in ten days, just about every week the engines will roar to life and 43 cars will take the green flag. However, we all know that not all race drivers and teams are created equal. A half dozen will come from the part-time ranks, and only a couple of dozen will have any kind of hope of even challenging for a win. To put it in culinary terms, you have your steak, your hamburger and, to fill out the field, your hamburger helper. Here is a look at who is who on the menu, with the Daytona 500 less than two weeks away.
TIER I – THE CONTENDERS
Few can question that the 2016 champion could well come out of the top tier of drivers. In fact, half of them already know what it is like to claim the crown.
2 – Brad Keselowski
4 – Kevin Harvick
11 – Denny Hamlin
18 – Kyle Busch
19 – Carl Edwards
20 – Matt Kenseth
22 – Joey Logano
31 – Ryan Newman
41 – Kurt Busch
48 – Jimmie Johnson
78 – Martin Truex, Jr.
88 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
The odds might favor Kyle Busch repeating in what we hope, this time, will be a healthy full campaign though Harvick had the best season from start to finish. Well, almost to the finish. Johnson has already claimed the trophy six times, and seems to always be in contention even in those years he falls short. If one was going to pick a potential winner, race in and race out, chances are the favorites would come from this list.
TIER II – THE PRETENDERS
There are those you expect to have a good shot at being victorious every week, and then there are those who, if they did, probably would not come as all that much of a shock, either. In fact, I would expect at least four of these drivers to make it into the Chase, where a pretender could get hot and become a true contender themselves if things fall into place at the right time.
In this case, a pretender is one with tons of talent, one with a good chance of claiming a Top Ten, but just not a driver you expect taking the checkered flag on a regular basis. I have always liked McMurray, but he just doesn’t seem to be able to clear that final hurdle. Biffle should be rated higher and in previous years he no doubt would have been, but Roush Fenway has not been an outfit on the rise. Kahne has the ability, but not the results in recent seasons. Dillon and Larson are touted as future stars, and just maybe this is the year they meet expectations. Elliott has things to prove, and a lot of eyes with be watching Jeff Gordon’s former ride to see if the rookie can break out in his rookie campaign.
TIER III – THE PARTICIPANTS
43 cars hit the track each event, with some having pretty good odds of finishing high in the running order when things are said and done. Some others are not as fortunate.
7 – Regan Smith
10 – Danica Patrick
14 – Tony Stewart
17 – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
21 – Ryan Blaney
23 – David Ragan
32 – Jeffery Earnhardt
34 – Chris Buescher
38 – Landon Cassill
44 – Brian Scott
46 – Michael Annett
83 – Matt DiBenedetto
95 – Michael McDowell
Stewart is on the mend, again, and could be out for quite a spell at the beginning of his final season. Some tend to believe we won’t see him for months as he recovers from his recent back injury. If only Patrick could emerge as the next Jamie McMurray that would be something, but thus far cracking the Top Twenty has been a struggle every week. There is nothing I would like more than to see someone from this group emerge as a pleasant surprise, but they are going to have to prove it for me to believe it. Sure, Stewart could mend enough to rise by the end of the year and Patrick could finally cash in on all of those resources to take it to the next level, but my money would be on Blaney and the Wood Brothers as they return to running a full schedule.
I hate change. I do not care for it. I like things just as they are or, probably more truthfully, as they were.
I remember coaching two little boys who are not so little anymore. Those were the days when I was Superman, not just the Old Man. I miss my mother and all the grandparents I was blessed with when I was born. I miss cousins who left us far too soon. I miss my youth. Damn it, I miss my hair.
I loved watching Cale Yarborough in the No. 11 and Richard Petty piloting the No. 43. How I miss seeing Dale Earnhardt in that black No. 3. I wish I could see Rusty Wallace again in that blue deuce though my reasoning is that him driving means there was no way in hell he would be announcing.
No Jeff Gordon this year, other than up in the booth. Tony Stewart is gone no matter what after this season. One day, sooner than later, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will hang up those skeleton gloves.
Sure, I guess there is room for some change. Did you notice the NHL All-Star game? It was its best presentation in 30 years, with a minor league enforcer named as its MVP to prove that Cinderella does indeed wear glass skates. Same day, the NFL had its Pro-Bowl, and it was about as riveting as watching soccer. Trust me, that is not a good thing. Change it or kill it would be my thought.
Cars are safer now. The tracks are moving that way. Daytona, Talladega, and Bristol pretty much guarantee something worth watching. Too bad we cannot be so sure about a few of the other venues. It would be nice if that could somehow change. They say the racing will be better after their latest tinkering with the cars, but we have heard that before. If those changes prove to be the real deal, that would be a change we could all live with.
This year, Bill’s son Chase Elliott goes full-time in Cup, joining other recent arrivals Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon. Still, they have fans to earn and accolades to accumulate. Once again, we will be cheering on our favorites. Kyle Busch returns as a champion to join brother Kurt as NASCAR royalty. Kevin Harvick looks to retake his trophy while Jimmie Johnson might be tired of loaning out what once was his and his alone. Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, and the insufferable Joey Logano remain among the top tier of stars in NASCAR’s constellation. You cannot go wrong rooting for the likes of a Matt Kenseth or a Greg Biffle, or admire the efforts put into the team led by Martin Truex Jr.
Unless you are a big fan of Johnson, a change in champion is acceptable, even though I do love dynasties. I like the cars to look like something I might drive, so we give thanks for the demise of the splitter. I once liked Michael Waltrip, but sometimes things change, and I think Clint Bowyer should be the beneficiary of that.
As much as I dislike change, it is inevitable. Drivers age, retire and are replaced by a new generation. Faces are now encased in helmets and races are won by a matter of seconds, not laps, these days. Since 2001, most weekends television delivers the races to homes in most places. Once we were asked, “How bad have you got it?” Wouldn’t it be nice if we were asked that once again?
It all returns in less than a couple of weeks, with the Sprint Unlimited featured on February 13, Duel Qualifiers on February 18 and the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 21. Boogity, boogity, boogity!
1. Kyle Busch: Busch won the Ford EcoBoost 400, holding off Kevin Harvick to win his first Sprint Cup championship. Busch missed the first 11 races of the season after breaking his leg at a crash at Daytona in February.
“A pasty white guy from Las Vegas is the Sprint Cup champion,” Busch said. “Ironically, all other driver ‘pale’ in comparison to me.
“I’ve always dreamed of beating Jeff Gordon for the Sprint Cup championship. I guess dreams do come true. Apparently, when I was a kid, I had very vivid and colorful dreams. But those dreams were nothing like the ones I had on painkillers after surgery to repair my broken leg.”
2. Kevin Harvick: Harvick started 13th on the grid and finished second to Kyle Busch.
“’Second’ has been the story of my year,” Harvick said. “I can’t tell you how many times I finished second this year, but I can tell that I will be counting the seconds until the start of the 2016 season.”
3. Jeff Gordon: Gordon started fifth at Homestead and finished sixth, as Kyle Busch won the race to capture the Sprint Cup championship.
“I couldn’t believe the support I received,” Gordon said, “even in a losing effort. It reminded me of the applause that erupted when Matt Kenseth wrecked Joey Logano at Martinsville. Without that, I wouldn’t even be here.
4. Joey Logano: Logano started second at Homestead and finished fourth, posting his 22nd top-five result of the year.
“I dominated the circuit this season,” Logano said, “so you tell me who the rightful Sprint Cup champion should be. I had six wins and 22 top-10 finishes. You do the math. And speaking of math, if you subtracted Matt Kenseth from the equation, I would be Cup champion.”
5. Kurt Busch: Busch finished eighth at Homestead, posting his 21st top 10 of the year.
“Now there are two Sprint Cup championships in the family,” Busch said. “I guess I’ll have to call my brother ‘champ.’ He’s, of course, been called worse.”
6. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin started on the pole at Homestead, his fourth Coors Light pole of the season.
“I tore my knee up playing basketball earlier this year,” Hamlin said. “So, I’m going to have it surgically repaired. Hopefully, the doctors will use pins and screws because there’s a gas pedal that says my leg definitely needs to be heavier.”
7. Carl Edwards: Edwards led eight laps and finished 11th at Homestead.
“Congratulations to Kyle Busch,” Edwards said. “He’ll be a great champion. However, I’m not sure if his reign will do any favors for NASCAR’s Drive For Diversity program because Kyle will be the whitest champion ever.”
8. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex qualified 11th at Homestead and finished 12th, the lowest among championship-eligible drivers.
“This Chase For The Cup had it all,” Truex said. “Intentional wrecks, intentional wrecks made to look unintentional, intentional wrecks gone unpunished by NASCAR, and intentional wrecks punished by NASCAR. It was ‘quint-intentional.’”
9. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski took third in the Ford EcoBoost 400, recording his ninth top five of the year.
“Jeff Gordon was the sentimental favorite,” Keselowski said. “There were a lot of people pulling for him to win, almost as many as were pulling for Kevin Harvick not to win.”
10.Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished 10th at Homestead, posting his 22nd top 10 of the year.
“I received an odd drive-through penalty,” Johnson said. “Apparently, a crew member put his hip into a big dent in the side of the No. 48 Chevy. That’s a no-no. NASCAR’s rule book states that it’s illegal for cars to be powered by ‘pelvic thrust.’”
Family. We often hear how NASCAR is a family sport, where drivers, their wives, and their kids all share in the experience behind the scenes. The family theme has dominated since the sport’s earliest years. I mean, it starts with the France family, as Bill, Bill, Jr., and now grandson Brian have held the reins of the family operation since the very beginning.
Family. If you do not know the names of Allison, Baker, Bodine, Earnhardt, Flock, Wallace, Waltrip, and Wood, welcome to NASCAR. You must be a newbie, my friend. Might I suggest that you have some catching up to do.
In 1954, Lee Petty won his first of three titles, while 10 years later his son Richard claimed his first of seven. Ned Jarrett was champion for the first time in 1961, with his son Dale taking the title in 1999. It was good enough for father-son tandems, so the siblings got into the act. Terry Labonte first claimed the crown in 1984, with brother Bobby taking his in 2000. Then, Kurt Busch, the 2004 king, was joined last Sunday by brother Kyle as the Sprint Cup series champion. That should take the edge off the family Christmas dinner next month.
Only under this format could Kyle Busch win it all. He missed the first 11 races of the season as he mended a broken leg. In the not so old days, that would have been the end of his hopes. A win gets you in, almost, and he then stormed back to win four to get over one hurdle. Now, all he had to do was be within the Top 30 in points to cash those wins into a post-season berth. Busch then eliminated that barrier with a few races to go before the Chase. In the year he and Samantha extended their family with the birth of son Brexton, Busch won at Homestead to beat out runner-up and defending champ, Kevin Harvick to win it all. Did I mention that along with his wife and son, he was joined in Victory Lane by his parents and even got a post-event hug from brother Kurt?
Family. That is what means more to Jeff Gordon that a fifth championship. Sure, he would have loved to have finished better than sixth in his last race and third in his last season, but what and who was more important were there for all to see. Ingrid, Ella, and Leo joined such motorsports royalty as Mario Andretti and Lewis Hamilton at center stage to wish farewell to an icon after a career of 797 consecutive starts and 93 victories. Few are able to quit while still at the top of their game. We saw a legend do just that at Miami.
Family. Gordon is the bridge between Richard Petty, who ended his Cup career the same race Gordon began his, and 19-year old Chase Elliott. The youngster, who began his Cup experience this season and who takes over from Gordon in the No. 24, is himself the son of former champion Bill Elliott. By the way, Elliott won that race, 23 years ago, that saw both Petty and Gordon on the track together.
Like in all families, we have had to say goodbye to loved ones over the years, like Lee and Adam Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Davey Allison, Buck Baker and, earlier this year, his son Buddy. Like in all families, roles change over time. This off-season team owner Richard Petty will be searching for a new driver for one of his teams, Jeff Gordon prepares to enter the FOX broadcast booth in February, joining Darrell Waltrip. Waltrip’s brother Michael closes his race team, Chase Elliott prepares to build on his family’s Hall of Fame legacy, while Kyle Busch, like his brother before him, becomes the face of the sport as its latest champion.
With rain interfering one last time and delaying the race start for over an hour, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the season finale, the 17th annual Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Surprising: The last race of the year at Homestead was surprisingly filled with a series of firsts and lasts. Kyle Busch, of course, scored a host of firsts with his trip to Victory Lane, winning his own first championship as well as winning the first championship in the Cup Series for his manufacturer Toyota.
There were, however, an even greater number of lasts in the race, including the last race for Jeff Gordon, the final run for Sam Hornish Jr. under the auspices of Richard Petty Motorsports, the final race for Michael Waltrip Racing as a company, the finale for Go Daddy as sponsor or Danica Patrick’s car, and the final race for Justin Allgaier with HScott Motorsports.
And while Jeff Gordon basked in the accolades of his last trip around the track behind the wheel, others such as Clint Bowyer bemoaned his last run after crashing and finishing dead last.
“I don’t know what the hell happened to our car,” Bowyer said. “My car got loose. I couldn’t catch it. I hate to have it end this way.”
“Unfortunately, it’s over.”
Not Surprising: It may have been his first Sprint Cup championship, but Kyle Busch was already a champion coming into his final race, having secured the Truck championship as owner, with Erik Jones behind the wheel.
“I don’t know how you top this, but I’d sure like to see,” Busch said. “I wouldn’t do it without everyone that surrounds me, my wife, my family, my friends, my employees at KBM, Joe (Gibbs), J.D. (Gibbs), the team at JGR, Adam (Stevens, crew chief).”
“You surround yourself with good people in business and in sports and it sometimes will more than likely pay it back.”
“You know, this is pretty special.”
Surprising: There were no baby steps involved this season for Martin Truex Jr., who finished 12th in the race but fourth in the championship standings, his highest finish to date.
“Super proud of our season and really proud to come this far to come from 24th in points last year to fourth this year is a pretty big step,” Truex said. “I don’t think most people realize just how big of a deal it is and how hard it was for us to get that far.”
“You never know what the future holds, but excited already about next year, and I think we’ll be back here in mid-December testing already for next year. Not a whole lot of rest, and looking forward to spending a week or so down here relaxing and having a few beers, catching a few fish, and really just let it all soak in what we’ve been able to accomplish, and really proud of everybody on our team.”
Not Surprising: While he did not win the race, Kevin Harvick scored his own record of sorts, finishing in the second place for the 13th time for the season. Harvick became the 10th Cup driver to score double-digit runner-up finishes in a single season and his was the first since Bobby Allison in 1972.
“The 18 car, he just had the speed all night, for the most part,” Harvick said. “You know, as the night went, I just couldn’t find anywhere that would make the car run better. The higher I would run, the looser it would get. I’d get on the seams and then it would push the front and slide the back. Just never could find anything.”
“I know we’re disappointed about finishing second tonight, but it’s kind of the theme of the year, finishing second. Unfortunately it’s just one short, but all in all, it’s been a great couple years, and couldn’t be prouder of our bunch of guys.”
Surprising: While one Kyle was in Victory Lane, another Kyle, Larson that is, was bemoaning a bit the chance that he had to get his first Cup victory. The driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet was stung by the final caution after riding the wall to a fifth place finish.
“I think I was 1 water bottle away from my first cup win,” Larson tweeted after the race. “Congratulations to Kyle Busch, such an amazing comeback story you had this year!”
Not Surprising: Team Penske finished the season strong, with a third and fourth place finish for Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano respectively.
“I was really proud of my team tonight, really happy with what they were able to give me and we were able to take a run at it, we just didn’t quite have enough at the end on that final restart to hold those guys off.” Keselowski said after the race. “We were really strong and we just didn’t have enough to close it at the end.”
“Unfortunately, we didn’t win and that’s what we wanted to do,” teammate Logano said. “We had a fast Shell/Pennzoil Ford that led a lot of laps, so I’m proud of the laps we led. We had a few good runs and made an adjustment that just took it out of the track and by the time we got it back we lost too much track position. We had a bad pit stop under green and lost more there, so it was too little, too late. We couldn’t redeem ourselves after a couple mistakes tonight.”
Surprising: While Brett Moffitt reveled in winning the 2015 Sunoco Rookie of the Year title, he also revealed that his 2016 future driving plans are a bit up in the air at present.
“Throughout the season, Front Row has given me a great home, and it’s a great place to be, and thankful for this opportunity and being able to bring home the Rookie of the Year title,” Moffitt said. “Right now my slate is empty.”
“I mean, we’re working hard, but it’s hard to secure the funding to be able to run in any of the top three series. If anything would come forward, I’d be more than willing to work with any series, whether it was truck, XFINITY or another Cup ride.”
Not Surprising: One young up and coming driver no doubt summed it all up as he raced with one of his idols for the last time.
“I was a big fan of Jeff Gordon growing up,” Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, said. “You’re obviously honored to be in his last race with him. I got to race around him a little bit at the beginning of the race. I was having trouble passing him. I was trying to be as nice as I could and let him race his own deal.”
“But that was fun racing hard with him there.”
Surprisingly, that concludes the 2015 race season, which seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye. Enjoy the off-season, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Holidays and here’s to a great 2016!
It has been a wild ride these last 35 races, but all good things must come to an end.
This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series makes its final trek of the season down to South Florida to run the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It’s the 36th and final race of the 2015 season.
Homestead-Miami Speedway is a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) intermediate speedway located in Homestead, Florida. Born out of the destruction of Hurricane Andrew, it’s played host to the NASCAR XFINITY Series season finale since 1995. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series first came to Homestead in 1999. The inaugural race was won by Anthony Wayne “Tony” Stewart. It was his third win of his record-setting rookie season.
In 2002, the season finale race was moved from Atlanta Motor Speedway to Homestead-Miami Speedway for both the Camping World Truck Series and Sprint Cup Series.
Some of you might not be old enough to remember, but there was a time when Homestead wasn’t putting on great races. When it was first built, it basically was Indianapolis and the racing mirrored it. In 1997, the track was reconfigured into the oval it looks like today. However, the turns were almost flat.
In 2003, the track was repaved and the banking was changed from flat to progressive. What I remember most from that race was Bill Elliott leading the race coming out of Turn 2 on the final lap when he had a tire go down. Bobby Labonte drove by him on the backstretch and took the checkered flag. Little did I know that it would also be his final win.
Photo: Sherryl Creekmore/NASCAR
In 2004, Kurt Busch clinched the NASCAR title by a mere eight points over Jimmie Johnson in a race that, ironically, a tire coming off his car saved his championship hopes.
Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR
In 2010, Denny Hamlin came into Homestead with a 15 point lead over Johnson. Just about everything that could go wrong for him that weekend did go wrong for him that weekend. He had a lousy qualifying effort, was sent sliding through the grass on the backstretch and couldn’t recover to anything better than a 14th-place finish. A runner-up finish by Johnson clinched his fifth consecutive Sprint Cup Series championship.
In 2011, we were given the closest points finish in NASCAR history when Tony Stewart tied in points with Carl Edwards. The tiebreaker went to Stewart on his five wins to Edwards’s one.
Had he finished second that day, it would have been Edwards celebrating with the title trophy. It’s also worth noting that Stewart had to work his way up through the field more than once that day.
It really goes to show just how important is winning in NASCAR.
Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images
The championship battle was just as dramatic in 2012. Johnson had the race in his hands until he was black-flagged for a missing lug nut. It went from bad to worse when he destroyed the suspension of his car coming back onto pit road.
Brad Keselowski survived to score the first title for himself and the captain Roger Penske.
Jeff Gordon took over the race lead with 15 laps remaining and held off Clint Bowyer to score his 87th career victory and first at Homestead.
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Last year, Gordon started on the pole and flat out dominated the race by leading 161 of the 267 laps. Near the end of the race, he and Alan Gustafson – since they were out of the title picture – opted to play it conservative and he came home in 10th.
Joey Logano possibly had the race won until a bad pit stop relegated him to a 16th-place finish.
Denny Hamlin was toward the front most of the race. Unfortunately, he had nothing and finished seventh.
Ryan Newman came within half a second of the win and the title last year, but had to settle for bridesmaid.
In the end, it was Kevin Harvick who played his cards right, stood atop the podium and won the title for the first time in his career.
Now let’s look at the championship four.
Photo: Chris Trotman/Getty Images
First at 3/2 to win the title and 7/2 to win the race (Vegas Insider) is Kevin Michael Harvick.
In 14 starts, he’s amassed one win, six top fives (42.86 percent), 12 top-10’s (85.71 percent), 190 laps led, an average finish of 7.6, one DNF and is the defending race winner.
Coming into this race, Harvick has three wins, 22 top fives (62.86 percent), 27 top-10s (77.14 percent), 2248 laps led, 8.9 average finish, 8.7 average finish in the intermediate races and has tied a NASCAR record with 12 runner-up finishes in one season (Bobby Allison had 12 in 1972). However, his 12.2 average finish in the nine Chase races this season is the worst of the four championship drivers.
With that said, I would be shocked if the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet isn’t up front on Sunday.
Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Next at 11/4 to win the title and 6/1 to win the race is Kyle Thomas Busch.
His stats at Homestead are less than stellar. In 10 starts, he’s accumulated zero wins, one top-five (10 percent), three top-10s (30 percent), 237 laps led, a 23.1 average finish and two DNF’s.
This season, he missed the first 11 races after breaking his legs in the XFINITY Series race at Daytona in February. After making his return in the Coca-Cola 600, he’s compiled four wins, 11 top fives (45.83 percent – the percentage is his top-fives divided by to the number of races Busch has started), 15 top-10s (62.5 percent), 694 laps led, an 11.2 average finish and an 8.3 average finish in the intermediate races.
Now Busch winning the title Sunday would probably not sit well with a large portion of NASCAR nation given he missed the first 11 races because of his injury. Personally, I don’t have a problem with it because he satisfied NASCAR’s requirements to make it in the Chase.
I would expect to see the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to be up near the front Sunday.
Photo: Chris Trotman/Getty Images
Now coming down the red carpet at 3/1 to win the title and 10/1 to win the race is Martin Lee Truex Jr.
In 10 career starts, he garnered zero wins, three top-fives (30 percent), 7 top-10s (70 percent), 108 laps led, an average finish of 10th and one DNF.
This season, Truex has one win, eight top fives (22.86 percent), 22 top-10s (62.86 percent), 564 laps led, an average finish of 12.2 and an 8.7 average finish in the intermediate races.
If Truex wins the title, he and Furniture Row Racing would be the first single-car team to do so since Dale Earnhardt and Richard Childress Racing in 1994.
What really makes his title story compelling is that Furniture Row Racing is this single-car team well outside the NASCAR universe in Denver, Colorado. Barney Visser’s operation has scratched and clawed for the last 10 years in order to finally become one of the top teams in the Sprint Cup Series.
I guarantee you that no one, not even Visser, foresaw the success they’d have this season. Coming off the 2013 season that saw Kurt Busch take the team to the Chase, they had a dramatic falloff in performance. It was compounded by issues in Truex’s personal life when his longtime business partner/girlfriend Sherry Pollex was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
But in a four-race stretch in May and June, Truex dominated the field by leading a combined 454 of the combined 1267 laps at Kansas, Charlotte, Dover and Pocono. It was at the Tricky Triangle where he ended a two-year winless drought and scored his third career win.
Since that win, his performance was either hit or miss. His longest stretch of top-10 finishes was three. In spite of this, expect to see the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet to battle for the win.
Photo: Robert Laberge/NASCAR via Getty Images
Finally, we have the legend making his 797th and final career start on Sunday. At 7/2 to win the title and 10/1 to win the race, it will be arguably the greatest walk-off performance in sports history should the race be won by Jeffrey Michael Gordon.
In 16 starts at Homestead, he’s garnered one win, seven top fives (43.75 percent), 12 top-10s (75 percent), 244 laps led, a 10.6 average finish, one DNF and he dominated this race a year ago on his way to a 10th-place finish.
Despite what some of you think, it’s really not been a horrid season for Gordon. In 35 races, he has a win, five top fives (14.29 percent), 20 top-10s (57.14 percent), 256 laps led, an average finish of 13.9 and a 13.3 average finish in the intermediate races.
Why his title story would be awesome needs no explaining. But I’ll explain anyway.
When Gordon came into the sport in 1992, NASCAR, despite racing in other parts of the United States for its entire history, was still largely seen as a Southern sport. This kid from California with the mullet transcended the boundaries of the NASCAR world and brought this sport to the national level from his appearances on shows like Live with Regis & Kelly and hosting Saturday Night Live.
It wasn’t just his charisma and ability to work the media that made him a legend, it’s also his on-track accomplishments. In 796 starts, he has won 93 times, earned 81 poles, finished in the top-five 325 times (a batting average of .408), has 474 top-10 finishes (54.55 percent), has led nearly 25-thousand laps (24,920), has a 12.5 career average finish, captured four titles and nearly 300-thousand miles driven in the sport.
Photo: Tucker White
Gordon is the reason I came into the sport many years ago. I only wish that I could have seen him win a race in person. The closest I came to accomplishing the former was this picture I took of the start of the 57th running of the Daytona 500.
Regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s race, Gordon will no doubt go down as arguably the greatest driver in the history of NASCAR and one of the greatest in the history of auto racing. I truly believe his name is up there with the likes of Michael Schumacher, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna, Mario Andretti, A. J. Foyt, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and many, many more.
Short of team orders, I’d drive to Las Vegas and bet that Hendrick Motorsports is pulling all their resources to make sure Big Daddy rides into the Florida sunset with his long, overdue fifth championship.
So will Happy repeat as champion? Will Rowdy finally break through and win his first title? Will Truex break out of journeyman status and win the title for Denver? Will the legend himself go out on top with the greatest walk-off performance ever seen?
Find out this Sunday at 1:30 p.m. on NBC. You can also catch the radio broadcast at 2:00 on the Motor Racing Network. Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace will be in the booth. Dave Moody will work Turns 1 and 2. Mike Bagley will work Turns 3 and 4. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelley and Steve Post will work pit road.
