In case you missed it, Kyle Busch will be having surgery in the offseason.
The reigning Sprint Cup Series champion and driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will have surgery in mid-Dec. to remove the plate and screws out of his left foot. He’ll also have a second separate surgical procedure to remove a rod from his right leg. If the rod isn’t removed and Busch gets caught up in another high-speed wreck, he could have complications if the rod were to break. The plan is to perform both procedures at the same time.
Busch suffered a compound fracture – when the bone breaks the skin and sticks out of the body – in his right leg and broke his left foot on Feb. 21 in the season-opening XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
Busch returned after missing 11 races and following his first win of the season at Sonoma Raceway, he went on a tear and drove his way to the championship.
Busch spoke about the surgery and the recovery period during a teleconference Tuesday.
“When I get the foot surgery done, I haven’t heard exactly how long I’m supposed to be off of that, but the doctor made it seem as if once the plates and screws come out, I’ll be able to walk on it right away. It’ll be to rehab to make sure that all the joints that have been immobilized for the last nine months, we get them kind of woken back up in a smooth fashion and break it in, let’s say.”
“I’m going to be down for probably, they said, about four weeks with the leg,” Busch continued. “Just having to re-go through the knee and to cut the knee open again in order to pull the rod out, that’s going to be the most traumatic part — and just having that have to heal and go back together and let the muscle get back together, and of course the tendon as well.”
For those of you who don’t remember the wreck, please see the video below.
As you can see in the video, Busch was bumping Erik Jones through the tri-oval when he got Jones sideways. He was then bumped by Brian Scott, bounced off Kyle Larson, slid down the track and slammed the unprotected inside wall down towards Turn 1.
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!
In case you missed it, Kyle Busch is staying put with the Gibbs crew.
During Chase Media Day Thursday, the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota announced that he signed an extension with the team he’s raced for since 2008. He didn’t give an exact length, stating only that it was for “multiple years,” but he’s expected to remain with the team through 2019.
Busch said yesterday that he’s “pleased with where I’m at. I feel like Joe Gibbs and Joe Gibbs Racing has really been a true home for me. And being with Toyota and them and having the respect and rapport that I do with them has been really awesome as well. It’s so exciting to have the opportunity to continue down the road for multiple years with M&M’s.”
On Tuesday, Busch announced that he had signed an extension with sponsor Mars, Inc. and their product M&M’s.
This goes to show how much their relationship has strengthened since Mars almost severed their ties with Busch after he was parked by NASCAR for intentionally wrecking Ron Hornaday in a Camping World Truck Series race at Texas in 2011.
“For the last couple of years, you can tell he reacts in the car differently,” Joe Gibbs said. “He seems to have more of a patience, willing to think through things. He’s still very aggressive, but I think also the way he deals with things, he’s much more even now. So I think that’s part of just … growing up, all those other family things. But I think he definitely now is in a different place than he was 10 years ago.”
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.
Homestead. That is where dreams are made or, more likely, where they die. That is if they have not already been snuffed for another year before even reaching the season finale. One thing about that track in Miami is that some of the best just do not seem to do their best there.
For example, try as you may, you will not find some familiar names listed among the Hot 20 at Homestead. If your average finish is 20th or worse, you will fail to make the cut. Among them are Joey Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Paul Menard. That trio of eliminated Chasers has, between them, raced at Homestead thirty times. None has won there and combined they boast just a couple of Top Fives and four Top Tens. Even if they had remained in contention, one would have to be hard pressed to consider any of them a favorite to win this Sunday.
Yet, as bad as they are, there is one notable driver who is worse. Kyle Busch has failed to even make the Top Twenty in half of his 10 starts. He has won none at Homestead, with an average finish of 23rd place. His best result was fourth in 2012. Last year, he was 39th. If Kyle emerges with the championship after this weekend, he would have delivered the race of his life.
As for the other three contenders, all have a shot, with defending champion Kevin Harvick leading the way. Last year, he did just that to take the race and the crown. Jeff Gordon won there in 2012 while Martin Truex, Jr. has seven Top Tens in 10 attempts to be right in the mix. All have an average finish of no worse than 11th.
One may well come away with the race win on Sunday though I believe we can expect some heat from others among Homestead’s Hot 20…
1. Kevin Harvick – 14 races – 1 Win – 12 Top Tens – 7.6 Average Finish
A repeat as winner guarantees a repeat as Cup champion.
2. Carl Edwards – 11 races – 2 Wins – 7 Top Tens – 9.1 AveFin.
His track record at Homestead makes him a fav to win a title some day. It just won’t be Sunday.
3. Martin Truex Jr. – 10 races – 7 Top Tens – 10.0 AveFin.
It is time for a Rocky Mountain high to visit Florida.
4. Jeff Gordon – 16 races – 1 Win – 12 Top Tens – 10.6 AveFin
This would be a good time to become known as Five-Time.
5. Denny Hamlin – 10 races – 2 Wins – 6 Top Tens – 10.8 AveFin
If what Hamlin is selling is his “starter” home, what in hell does he live in now?
6. Clint Bowyer – 9 races – 6 Top Tens – 10.9 AveFin
Still a chance he could leave Michael Waltrip Racing with a final win before the sun sets.
7. Tony Stewart – 15 races – 3 Wins – 7 Top Tens – 14.0 AveFin
Oh, how the mighty have fallen…and so quickly.
8. Kyle Larson – 2 races – 14.0 AveFin
15th one year, 14th last year. You could say he is improving here each time out. Well, you can.
9. Jimmie Johnson – 14 races – 9 Top Tens – 14.4 AveFin
A six-time champion under the previous formats, but not so sure about a seventh under this one.
10. Kasey Kahne – 11 races – 4 Top Tens – 14.9 AveFin
Number 5 will be as mellow yellow as the number 24 on Sunday.
11. Brad Keselowski – 7 races – 2 Top Tens – 15.0 AveFin
Over the past two events at Homestead, his average finish has been 4.5.
12. Justin Allgaier – 1 race – 15.0 AveFin
A Top Fifteen finish would match…well…what he did last year.
13. Matt Kenseth – 15 races – 1 Win – 7 Top Tens – 15.8 AveFin
He is back. Will he and Joey meet at high noon, or will peace and harmony reign supreme?
14. Ryan Newman – 13 races – 5 Top Tens – 15.8 AveFin
Can drive a dozer from 150 miles away. Let him try that in a race car.
15. Aric Almirola – 5 races – 2 Top Tens – 16.2 AveFin
I am thinking that Richard Petty likes him best. At least he gets to return next season.
16. Jamie McMurray – 13 races – 4 Top Tens – 16.6 AveFin
Once had problems with Kenseth, but now are best buds. Is there hope for Matt and Joey? Right.
17. Greg Biffle – 13 races – 3 wins – 5 Top Tens – 17.2 AveFin
Best damn Roush driver this season, but when your teammates are Stenhouse and Bayne…
18. Danica Patrick – 2 races – 19.0 AveFin
It is sad when one thinks of this as one of her better tracks.
19. Kurt Busch – 14 races – 1 Win – 5 Top Tens – 19.2 AveFin
Hasn’t won in Miami since 2002, but it was the crashes in 2006 and 2008 that left him dead last.
20. A.J. Allmendinger – 6 races – 2 Top Tens – 19.5 AveFin
Great start to his career but 36th and 40th in his last two have marred his average just a tad.
25. Kyle Busch – 10 races – 3 Top Tens – 23.1 AveFin
His efforts to date get him included on this list. His past efforts at Homestead do not.
1. Jeff Gordon: Gordon finished sixth at Phoenix in the rain-shortened Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500.
“Having already clinched my spot,” Gordon said, “I didn’t have to sweat the finish. I’m not the only driver who can say this, but ‘I handled my business at Martinsville.’”
2. Kyle Busch: Busch finished fourth at Phoenix and claimed his spot in the Chase finale at Homestead. Busch will vie with Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. for the Sprint Cup title.
“I signed an extension to keep M&M’s and Mars products on my car for the next several seasons,” Busch said. “You’ll see their names on the front of my car, the top of my car, and yes, the back of my car, so I’ll continue to be called a ‘candy ass’ by fellow drivers and fans alike.”
3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished second at Phoenix to lock up his spot in the finale at Homestead.
“Thanks to the rain,” Harvick said, “my reign continues.
“I will do anything to win my second Sprint Cup championship. And I mean that in the most literal sense. Whatever it takes, I will do it. That includes wrecking myself and wrecking others. I’m such a talented driver, I can do those things separately.”
4. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex punched his ticket to Homestead with a 14th-place finish at Phoenix.
“I made it,” Truex said, “and I didn’t even have to win or wreck Trevor Bayne intentionally to do so.”
5. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished eighth at Phoenix, posting his 19th top 10 of the year.
“Matt Kenseth met with Brian France after returning from a two-race suspension,” Hamlin said. “I’m sure what France told Matt was ‘quintessential B.F.,’ which is essentially the same as ‘quintessential B.S.’”
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr: Earnhardt won the rain-shortened Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500.
“The skies opened,” Earnhardt said, “and for some drivers, the door closed. That’s the nature of Mother Nature when it comes to stock car racing.”
7. Joey Logano: Logano finished third in the rain-shortened Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500 at Phoenix. Needing a win to advance, Logano will have to wait until next year to seek his first Sprint Cup championship.
“This was supposed to be my year,” Logano said, “but things got turned around when I ‘turned around’ Matt Kenseth.”
8. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished ninth at Phoenix and finished eighth in the point standings.
“We didn’t put a single Penske Racing driver in the finale at Homestead,” Keselowski said. “But we might put a single Joe Gibbs Racing driver into the wall at Homestead.”
9. Kurt Busch: Busch finished seventh despite suffering a drive-through penalty for jumping the start of the Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500.
“You can’t beat the pole sitter to the starting line,” Busch said. “Much like I did when I accused Patricia Driscoll of being an assassin, I ‘jumped the gun.’”
10. Carl Edwards: Edwards came home 12th at Phoenix and finished fifth in the points standings, just missing out on eligibility for the championship at Homestead.
“Who’s wrecked more Chase hopes?” Edwards said. “The rain, or Matt Kenseth?”
From a rain delayed and a rain-shortened race in the Valley of the Sun, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 28th annual Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Surprising: Two rookie crew chiefs had to make the tough calls that saw one of their drivers win the race and the other make the Chase.
“We kind of knew that once past halfway we’d see a couple more cautions,” Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s rookie crew chief Greg Ives said after scoring the victory. “So that rain started to pop up again and we’re on two long green-flag runs there, and we just saw it coming. We didn’t know if it was going to happen before we pitted or after, but we knew at some point it was going to happen, and we elected to kind of pit, be one of the first few to pit.”
“I think somebody got us one lap early, and our pit selection at pit stall 33 there allowed us to, when the caution came out, finish our pit stop and cross the start-finish line and allowed us to be scored the leader.”
Cole Pearn, Martin Truex Jr.’s rookie crew chief, called his driver to pit road when an unfortunate caution came out shortly thereafter. Truex was able to finish 14th, which was just good enough to secure his spot in the Championship four.
“I was real concerned until I looked at the scoreboard, and I was like, okay, we’re going to be fine. We’re going to be back on the lead lap if we get going here, and really the only guy we were racing was one car ahead of us, so we felt okay about it,” Truex said. “It’s definitely obviously an exciting day for everybody at Furniture Row Racing and me and just super proud of my team for the season we’ve been able to put together.”
Not Surprising: It was lucky 13 for Chevrolet as they secured their 13th consecutive Manufacturer’s Championship thanks to Dale Junior’s win.
“Winning the Manufacturers’ Championship is one of the goals we set at the beginning of every season,” Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports said. “This award is the result of great teamwork by the owners, drivers, crew chiefs, crews and technical partners. Special thanks to the Chevrolet powertrain team, along with the engine shops at Hendrick Motorsports and Earnhardt-Childress Racing for delivering the right combination of power, fuel economy, and reliability throughout the entire season.”
“Congratulations to everyone who has made this special achievement possible for Chevrolet.”
Surprising: The Sunoco Rookie of the Year race is surprisingly close with just one race remaining. Brett Moffitt currently has 196 points while Matt DiBenedetto sits at 192 points in the rookie battle.
DiBenedetto was the highest finishing rookie at Phoenix, finishing 28th while Moffitt finished 36th.
Not Surprising: Joey Logano was not the only driver who was hoping to see a restart before the rains came to end the race.
“I think it would have been pretty interesting to see what Joey did on that restart, I will say that,” four-time champion and 2015 championship contender Jeff Gordon said. “But I didn’t want to get caught up in whatever was going to happen.”
“I was going to do whatever I had to do try to win the race if I had a chance to restart,” Logano said after being bumped out of the battle for the Sprint Cup. “I guess it just wasn’t in the cards.”
Surprising: Even after finishing runner-up at a track where he has so often dominated, Kevin Harvick was still trying to figure out whether he was on the right side or the wrong side.
“We made great adjustments overnight and got that little bit of balance that we were looking for from practice. “Just the way that the caution fell, I didn’t get all my distance back on the racetrack under green and Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) was able to beat us out,” Harvick said. “But hey, you lose some and you win some like that.”
“Sometimes you’re on the right side of it, and sometimes you’re on the wrong side of it. Today we were on the wrong side of it, but in the big picture we’re on the right side because we’re racing for a championship next week.”
“So, I’m just really proud of everybody on our team.”
Not Surprising: Roush Fenway Racing had another bad day at the track in Phoenix. Greg Biffle was the highest RFR driver, finishing 25th. Both Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. struggled as well, with Bayne suffering a pit road speeding penalty to finish 34th and Stenhouse involved in an incident with Joey Gase, limping home to a 41st place run.
“That was disappointing,” Stenhouse said after the race. “We had a decent run here earlier in the spring and I think we could have had a decent finish. We will put this behind us and head to Homestead for the final race of the year. We’ve struggled this year, but my guys have never given up.”
Surprising: The Busch brothers were prime examples of making little mistakes, however, the end result was far from similar.
Kurt Busch made a little mistake, jumping the initial start, for which he was penalized and had to serve a pass-through penalty. Busch recovered to finish seventh, but it was not enough to advance him to the final four.
“I don’t even think it was a penalty,” Kurt Busch said after the race. “It’s not even a call in my mind.”
“We had a great season. We won two races, sat on three poles,” Busch continued. “We did everything possible to put polish on a season like that and get out there with elbow grease and work hard at it. There is some tarnish that is sitting there, polish and polish and that is all I kept doing this whole year.”
Brother Kyle Busch also made a little mistake, but his ended up being not so costly. Busch pitted too close to the wall and lost several positions, however, bounced back to finish fourth and advance to the final four.
“I had a little mishap on pit road, just overshot my marks a little bit, being a little bit slick and got my guys too close to the wall, but past that we had a really good race car,” Kyle Busch said. “The M&Ms Camry was fast. I felt like we had a good top-three, top-four race car and long runs seemed to be our friends and we got some of those tonight, so couldn’t be more pleased to finish where we did and be more pleased to go to Homestead.
Not Surprising: With his Chase hopes dashed, Brad Keselowski now has his hopes set on a high five.
“It was a long day for everybody and to have it end like that wasn’t surprising. We kept adjusting on it, but it’s a short race and who knows? Maybe that last run we would have had something, but that’s not the way it played out,” the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford said. “The highest we can get is fifth in points now, so I’d like to pull that off and take advantage of that opportunity when we get to Homestead next week.”
The NASCAR season will now finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway with four surprisingly distinct storylines. Two of the contenders have already been champions, one Kevin Harvick looking to go back to back and one Jeff Gordon looking to close out his career with his fifth championship.
The other two drivers in the Sprint Cup hunt could write the surprising storylines of being first-time champs, with Kyle Busch hoping to play the role of comeback kid and Martin Truex Jr. as the little engine that could.
The 17th Annual Ford EcoBoost 400 will run on Sunday, November 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, in Homestead, Florida. And in less than a week, the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion will be crowned.
Once Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the lead at Phoenix, no one was going to catch him. Not a single driver even challenged him. Yet, there was still one vehicle that even the race winner could not pass. The pace car.
While Junior was in the pits for a green flag stop, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Joey Gase collided on the track. Earnhardt rolled out first among those who had pitted, and when the rest of the field came in for servicing, Junior eventually circulated around to the front. More than twenty laps went by under caution, and before they could return to racing, the rains that had plagued the day returned. They went to a red flag, and soon the event was in the books, shortened by 90 laps. It marked Earnhardt’s third win of the season, albeit one segment too late to keep him in contention for the title.
That title will go to one of four drivers. Kevin Harvick dominated the event, leading 143 laps, but lost it that final pit stop to finish second, yet he advances. Jeff Gordon, who was sixth on the day, already had a free pass after his Martinsville win. Kyle Busch was fourth, sending him through to Homestead a contender. Martin Truex Jr. was back in 14th but had enough in the bank to cash in for a title run.
Joey Logano needed to win, and he was behind Harvick much of the way. However, third place would not cut it on Sunday. Kurt Busch jumped the start, got penalized, and though he was seventh in the end, it proved to be too little. Ninth was not good enough to advance Brad Keselowski while Carl Edwards was close, but he needed to finish seven spots up on Truex and wound up just a couple ahead.
So, we know who the main characters in next weekend’s play shall be. In the end, we will be blessed with either a five-time champion as he ends his career, a two-time defending champion, a very talented driver ending a very trying campaign with his first, or a single-car team concluding a Cinderella season. I will be satisfied no matter the outcome.
Meanwhile, Matt Kenseth returns after his two race exile. I wonder if Logano will again think it a smart move to bump him out of the way? I guess that all depends on how smart that driver is.
The 2015 season concludes on Sunday at the track near Miami.
