CHARLOTTE, NC – Kyle Busch has always spoken his mind, and nothing was different at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour on Tuesday. He is bothered by the so-called youth movement and the attention it keeps getting in the media and the promotion it gets from the sanctioning body.
“It is bothersome, Busch responded. “We’ve paid our dues, and our sponsors have and everything else, and all you’re doing is advertising all these younger guys for fans to figure out and pick up on and choose as their favorite driver. I think it’s stupid. But I don’t know, I’m not the marketing genius that’s behind this deal.
“You know, I just do what I can do, and my part of it is what my part is. I guess one thing that can be said is probably the younger guys are bullied into doing more things than the older guys are because we say no a lot more because we’ve been there, done that and have families, things like that, and want to spend as much time as we can at home. You know, maybe that’s some of it. But you know, it’s ‑‑ some of these marketing campaigns and things like that, pushing these younger drivers, is I wouldn’t say all that fair.”
Will the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas be as good as last year? Busch responded in the affirmative.
“I don’t think we would be any worse. I would like to think we’d be better,” Busch said. “We kind of started out the season a little bit on the slower side, if you will, last year with our new car. We were kind of behind the 8‑ball a little bit maybe, and as the season kind of progressed, we learned what things our car liked and what we needed to do in order to make ourselves better and more competitive, and we were able to do those things and got it to where we were pretty fast there obviously and peaked later in the season. Hopefully, we can start out our year this year a little stronger than we did last year.”
“I definitely feel as though we matched them ( Furniture Row Racing and Martin Truex, Jr.’s No. 78) at Homestead. You know, I’d say that we were actually a little bit better than they were at Homestead, and that’s what makes Homestead so painful is you can be a guy who wins 35 races out of the year, and then that 36th race you can finish second and lose the championship. We thought we had the opportunity to put the 78 bunch in that situation but just wasn’t quite able to pull it all off there at the end of the Homestead race. You know, that was kind of painful for us. Feels like a letdown and having the opportunity to be able to win that race, we were right there, we were real close, but wasn’t able to get it done. Other racetracks, you know, they kind of ‑‑ I feel like they’ve even gotten better at some of their weaker tracks, like Martinsville, for instance, they had a shot to win at Martinsville. They weren’t quite as good as us, but they were right there all day. Loudon, now they’re really good at. Phoenix they’re pretty good at. They outran us at Phoenix. Anywhere you look, they’re obviously really good.”
Now that Busch is the longest serving driver at JGR, he looks at the opportunity of being the mentor to younger drivers.
“Yeah, obviously it’s a unique opportunity for me being one of the elder statesmen, if you will, of the sport, let alone Joe Gibbs Racing, and being able to kind of lead our younger guys, if you will, Erik and Daniel,” said Busch. “Those guys have come through Kyle Busch Motorsports, so it’s been fun to watch them progress through the years with the Truck Series, the XFINITY Series, and now being into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. I’m looking forward to working with them and continuing to see their progress, but also hopefully being able to continue to be one of the leadership guys at our team and being able to race on for championships for years to come.”
CHARLOTTE, NC – SHR Teammates Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, and Aric Almirola met with the media on Tuesday at the Charlotte Convention Center during the 2018 Charlotte Media Tour. The team won three races in 2017 including the Daytona 500, and Harvick was in the Final Four championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. What do they think the 2018 season holds for them?
“We have a car that is designed for a huge spoiler in the back and is the oldest car on the race track compared to the other manufacturers,” Harvick said. “It took us a little bit to get things situated last year with the balance. We could face those balance issues again this year that we might have to work through as we go into the year just because of the way they are going to inspect the cars with the Hawkeye system. With the new splitter rules, you are looking at a few hundred pounds of downforce taken off the cars. There are no rule changes, but everybody had to be cut off in every shop. It is different.
“I think that much like the pit guns, I look at the splitter in that same category. There has been a tremendous amount of money spent on development of the shapes of the splitter. We could be in a position to where we have some balance issues with the race car but if we are going to have a problem at SHR and we put it on our aero department, I will put that up against anybody. We may come out of the box great but you don’t really know until you get to the race track. We worked through those issues last year. It took us a bit but we might have to work at them again.”
Almirola is in his first season with SHR, moving over from Richard Petty Motorsports to SHR in the No. 10 Ford, formerly driven by the soon to retire Danica Patrick. He says the transition to Stewart-Haas Racing has been easy.
“The transition to Stewart-Haas Racing has been really easy. They have so many talented people that they just make the transition easy. Everybody from the marketing and PR side to the personnel on the shop floor and the guys on the team,” Almirola said. “It has been great. That transition has been fun. It has been easy, fun, all of the above. I have just been really looking forward to getting to the race track to go race. We go all offseason and work on all the little things. Changing teams is a big undertaking. I would say that the most challenging thing has been learning 380 employees names and faces. That is one of the most challenging things. Besides that, just all the little things like getting your seat right and going and trying to work with a new team and new pedals and new seat and seat insert. All those things. Making sure I am comfortable when the season starts inside the race car.”
Clint Bowyer, who hasn’t won a points race in a very long time, sees 2018 as a make or break year for him, though. He’s looking forward to the new year and finally sitting in a car he thinks will see him back in victory lane before the season is over
“Every year is a make or break year. It doesn’t matter if it is your first year or your third year or your 12th year. It is always that pressure and it is always on,” Bowyer said. “Nobody puts that on. We are competitors. I have raced since I was five years old. I have always wanted to win. Once you get a taste of that, there is no going back from that. Last year, it was disappointing. My disappointment came from a lack of consistency. That has always been my m.o. and how I was always able to make playoffs if I did or compete for a championship if we did. It was through consistency and knocking on the door and not having bad runs.
“We were spraying it all over the place last year. We would have good runs and bad runs and I really look for Stewart-Haas to smooth those things out. That manufacturer change was the best thing, in my opinion, that they have done in a long time. You are going to have growing pains because you have to learn a whole new everything. From your database to the aero platform to all that stuff. To have that behind us, the winter, the off-season has been way easier. It was pretty chaotic last year. I think we have weathered that storm and we are ready.”
Bowyer is a fan of his new teammate and looks forward to having him on the SHR team.
“Of course, he is a good dude and I think he is a great asset to our already great organization. I think he is a good guy. He really is. His family is awesome. They are always at the track and his kids are always running around. You can tell a lot about a guy by how his kids act. He has great kids. The racer in him, he has never had that opportunity. No knock on anything he has ever been in but this is his opportunity to shine in good equipment and I look for him to do so.”
Harvick had unexpected praise for young drivers. Unlike Kyle Busch who recently lamented the press attention on younger drivers, Harvick thinks that it is a natural progression.
“There has to be a push for the guys coming up to introduce them to who they are,” Harvick said. “If they happen to perform like they need to perform on the race track and start acquiring some of the race fans that are looking for a driver to support, that is good for everybody. Chase Elliott winning a race would be good for everybody. I think he hasn’t done that in two years. There is a lot of hype and he has been very competitive but I can promise you that every person in that garage should be happy for the sport when Chase Elliott wins a race because he is big for our sport.”
CHARLOTTE, NC – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won two restrictor plate races, the first of his career, and took a tumble in the Chili Bowl in the offseason. Those were just two of the topics the press corps heard at the NASCAR Media Tour in the Charlotte Convention Center on Tuesday.
With two wins, a Playoff berth and a lot of baggage off him for 2018, Stenhouse seems to be ready to take on the challenges of the new season with vigor and anticipation.
“I think there’s a lot of things that are looking good for us in 2018,” Stenhouse said. “I think, we ended the season really strong and I think my team has confidence in what we’re gonna be able to do. The cars that we’re building going into the Daytona 500 after winning two speedway races this past season, not looking for our first win is nice, not having that riding on your back. That seemed pretty tough to deal with for a long time and now I don’t have to answer those questions, but now it’s what other race tracks are we gonna win at?”
Confidence is plentiful around the Stenhouse camp. His two wins in 2017 are making the driver of the No.17 Ford look at other tracks and maybe taking the Roush Fenway organization back to the glory days they had earlier before Stenhouse came along.
“I definitely want to win at other race tracks, but going into the 500 I feel a lot more confident than I ever have. I always went into the 500 thinking, ‘Hey, lets’ get off to a good start. Let’s have a good points race.’ I never thought about winning the 500. I just thought that I was competing in it and if I won that was cool, but I didn’t really feel I had the confidence that we could.
“After last season, I feel like going in that is the only goal that we have when we go down there is to win and not just to get a good finish out of it. Until we’re done with Daytona, that’s our number one priority, but we do have a Vegas test coming up that I’m looking forward to.
“We’ve got a new car that we’re taking out there and we’ve got other cars to kind of judge ourselves off of. I know Kyle Larson is gonna be out there, so some of those cars that were fast on the mile-and-a-half race tracks last year will be out there testing and I’m anxious to kind of see how we stack up with our new car.”
Stenhouse talked about the strides Roush Fenway Racing has made since the start of last season and why he thinks that 2018 is going to be a good year for them. The cars are better.
“We worked on a lot of things last year. I think we worked on a lot of things that didn’t work as well,” Stenhouse said. “When I feel we got off a little bit last season it was we were working down a path that we thought there was gonna be some good things at the end of the tunnel. When we got there it just didn’t produce, whether it be the downforce or the grip in the race car we were looking for, so I feel like there was about a month or two that we fell behind of not gaining on it while other teams were continuing to gain. I felt like we fell behind at that point.
“I felt like we started the Playoffs further behind than we thought, but I thought we ended the season – Martinsville, Phoenix, Texas, Homestead – closer to where we started the year based off of speed. So, I’m looking forward to those things that we worked on. We worked on those things this offseason to hopefully continue that progress, but it’s not gonna be overnight. I think we have focused in on things that we need to be better on.”
During the offseason, Stenhouse and former girlfriend Danica Patrick parted ways. Much speculation has been voiced over how the two would race together in the Daytona 500. Patrick recently signed a contract to drive in the Great American Race in the No. 7 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet. Will Stenhouse race differently around his former girlfriend?
“I don’t think I’ll race any different around her,” Stenhouse said. “I try to respect everybody around me, especially at those speedway races. You don’t really want to put anybody in a bad spot because you put the whole field in a bad spot, but I think I’ll go out and race just like I’m racing everybody else and see how it plays out. Heck, when we first started racing together we got in crashes anyway, so it is what it is. I’ll just go out and compete as hard as I can and I plan on putting myself in a position to win the race.”
CHARLOTTE, NC – Seven-Time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson faces having a new race car (the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1) and a changing Hendrick Motorsports organization. As the seasoned and senior driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, a leadership role emerges, even if last year’s performance was not up to the team’s usual standards. He talked with the press at the annual Charlotte Media Tour being held this week in Charlotte.
“I went from the young gun. Every time I’d see my name written, it was Rookie Jimmie Johnson,” he said. “Now I’m grandpa. It’s gone fast.”
Many have looked for reasons why the so-called Super Team didn’t do as well or win as many races as many thought they would. Jimmie’s theory comes down to execution.
“For us, last year I think we had the right approach entering the season. We just, unfortunately, couldn’t execute like we needed to. This year with all the changes going on internally at Hendrick Motorsports, the debut of the new Camaro for us, I think we’re going to have a better product. I know we’re going to have a better product on the racetrack,” Johnson said.
“In order to capitalize on all those points, you’ve got to start towards the front. I’ve made a great career out of winning from deep in the field or the back. But the way these points work, that’s just not the case. We need to qualify better.
We definitely tried last year. Just, unfortunately, couldn’t get there. I feel that this year we’ll have a better product. I should be able to start closer to the front and make that a lot easier.”
Johnson’s teammates, William Byron, Alex Bowman, and Chase Elliott are close to half his age, but with youth comes enthusiasm, and that’s a trait the “grandpas” have a rough time generating. It’s in good supply at HMS and Johnson thinks that is a valuable thing. He hasn’t given up hope on that eighth championship, either.
“Enthusiasm? Without a doubt. That fresh blood brings great excitement and it also brings just a different vantage point,” Johnson explained. “When you look at William, for the longest time, like using our simulator, I watch something happen with another driver, that’s just a gaming way to go about it, you can’t do that in the real world. Well, it’s starting to happen in the real world. That new vantage point is really helpful.”
A new body style car throws a curve at any organization, but Johnson sees the work paying off in the new season. He explains.
“The effort has been massive to get this right and be as good as we can be,” Johnson said. “But with testing being so minimal, for myself, there’s going to be an adaptation period. I need to understand the side force, how hard I can lean on it. You climb out of the gas, with less downforce, how much it slows down. Trying to find the sweet spot with the car, some minor handling characteristics that go with it.
“Atlanta, it’s such an abrasive track, and the drivers’ style, so many other things play into the performance there, I think we’ll get a flavor of where we sit. Once we get to the West Coast swing, I think that will really tell us where we sit.”
Will he buy the Carolina Panthers, the NFL team that is for sale in Charlotte?
“No, my pockets aren’t that deep. I don’t think they can look at me.”
With about a month away to the start off the 2018 season, Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) is gearing up for another hopeful season with drivers Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray.
To start off the new year, CGR added experienced Doug Duchardt as their Chief Operating Officer.
This upcoming season we’ll see the CGR Chevys in the new Chevy Camaro ZL1 and on some occasions with matching paint schemes as DC Solar extended their sponsorship to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Larson had a breakout year last season after winning four races, earning 15 top-five finishes and three poles.
It is safe to say that Larson and the No. 42 team started their momentum right off the bat from Daytona. Larson finished in 12th, led 16 laps and was in the front of the pack during the closing laps until he ran out of fuel.
The momentum and energy from the No. 42 team transferred into three straight second-place finishes and finally winning their first race of 2017 at Fontana. The No. 42 team proved throughout the season they could be the Chevy team to pressure the Toyota’s for the championship.
Unfortunately for Larson and the No. 42 team, the run had to end somewhere. And it was during the most crucial part of the season, the Playoffs.
NASCAR’s Playoff system did not go their way. After having one of the best cars all season long, Larson’s championship run went up in smoke after blowing an engine during the elimination race at Kansas.
From there on Larson had three straight DNFs but finished the season off on a high note by earning a top-five finish at Miami.
The start of 2018 did not start very well for Larson. While running the prestigious Chili Bowl, Larson’s car blew an engine and took him out of the race. It sure would have been fun to see Larson and reigning Chili Bowl winner Christopher Bell duke it out until the end.
Although Larson had a rough ending to last season and bad luck at the Chili Bowl to start off the new year, Larson should keep his head up and look forward to the 2018 Cup Series. Chad Johnston will be back to serve as his crew chief.
CGR’s longtime sponsor Target left after the conclusion of last season but the No. 42 team is happy to have Credit One and DC Solar on board for 2018.
Larson will feature DC Solar at ‘The Clash at Daytona’ for the first time in 2018 and is no stranger to driving them to victory lane.
“I’m really looking forward to representing DC Solar this season in the Cup series. You can tell Jeff and Paulette are passionate about being here and about racing, so I’m excited to be a part of their first season in NASCAR’s premier series. I’ve won with them once in the Truck Series, so I’m hoping to repeat that a few times this year in Cup.”
As for Jamie McMurray, the Joplin, Missouri native will be back at CGR for his 12th season. McMurray and the No. 1 team raced their way back into the Playoffs last season.
The former Daytona 500 champion started off the season by wrecking out of ‘The Great American Race.’ As for the remainder of the season, McMurray and the No. 1 team had three top fives and 17 top 10 finishes.
McMurray’s first top five of the season came at Talladega when he finished second, a track where he has tasted victory in the past.
No, the No. 1 team did not have a stellar season like the No. 42 team, but they still had top 15 speed which led them into the Playoffs.
During the Playoffs, McMurray made it to the Round of 12. The No. 1 team’s championship hopes ended after crashing two straight weeks at Talladega and Kansas.
Going into the 2018 season McMurray is one of the oldest drivers in the Cup Series. The youth movement will start to show this upcoming season but last month McMurray said he is not going anywhere just yet.
“My goal is to be able to race for four more years, maybe a little bit more,” McMurray said during Champion’s Week in Las Vegas.
Returning this upcoming season is crew chief Matt McCall as well as several sponsors which include McDonald’s, Cessna, and GearWrench.
McMurray will also make several starts in the XFINITY Series, which he has not run since 2013. DC Solar will sponsor McMurray in both the XFINITY and Cup Series.
“I’m looking forward to racing with DC Solar in Cup this year and a few times with them in the Xfinity Series. Our team has really done a nice job in that series having won with several different drivers the last couple of seasons. I’m also excited to drive a few times in the Cup series with DC Solar on-board and be a part of their first full season in that series. Their enthusiasm for our team and sport is evident and I’m glad that I get to be a part of this growth with them.”
It’s only a short time until the annual Media Tour at the Hall of Fame in Charlotte. We will learn a lot there, but a couple things are obvious. There will be 24 major teams running next year (10 Fords, nine Chevrolets, and five Toyotas). Each camp has stars in their lineup, but Toyota’s dominance of the 2017 season (with only six competitive cars) is favored. Let’s look at each team’s lineup.
Chevrolet has the four Hendrick Motorsports cars. HMS fell on hard times last year despite their dominance for several years. Jimmie Johnson will be back in the Lowe’s Camaro. You read that right. The older SS they have fun the last few years is no longer being manufactured, so a change had to be made. Besides, finding a dealer with a Chevy SS was about as hard as finding a needle in a haystack anyway. After Johnson, the rest of the team will be made up of a group of youngsters. Chase Elliott is back, this time taking his father’s No. 9, William Byron, in the 24, and Alex Bowman in the 88. Of this team, only Johnson has ever won a Cup race. You might call this a rebuilding year for HMS.
Richard Childress Racing will field the 31 for Ryan Newman, the 3 for Austin Dillon, and the 27, with the driver rumored to be Brennan Poole, but nothing has been announced. Both Newman and Dillon won races last year.
Chip Ganassi Racing will feature Kyle Larson in the 42, coming off an excellent season. Jamie McMurray will be back in the No. 1 Chevrolet.
Ford will field one more competitive car in 2018. Team Penske has expanded to three cars with Brad Keselowski in the No. 2 and Joey Logano in the No.22 Fords. Ryan Blaney, who earned his first victory in 2017 with the Wood Brothers will pilot the No. 12 Ford. The team’s alliance with the Wood Brothers continues with Paul Menard taking over the driving chores. Penske bought a charter for the No. 12 from Roush Fenway Racing, meaning the No. 16 is not coming back. The Charter was leased to the No. 37 JTG Daugherty team last year.
Roush Fenway will see their improved team have the same driver lineup. Trevor Bayne in the No. 6 and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in the No. 17. Stenhouse won two restrictor plate races in 2017 and Bayne won the Daytona 500 in 2011.
Stewart-Haas Racing will see it’s lineup jumbled somewhat. The Ford team will have Aric Almirola move over from the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 and drive the No. 10, formerly driven by Danica Patrick. Otherwise, things stay the same with 2017 Final Four driver Kevin Harvick in the No.4, Clint Bowyer in the 14, and Kurt Busch in the 41.
Toyota saw its field go down a car this year. The Joe Gibbs Racing stable will have the 11 with Denny Hamlin, the 19 with Daniel Suarez, the 18 with Kyle Busch, and Erik Jones, who raced for Furniture Row Racing in 2017 in the No. 20. Much like Team Penske does with the Wood Brothers, Furniture Row and 2017 champ Martin Truex, Jr. will field the 78 Toyota. Furniture Row did not have sponsorship for the No. 77 car, so Toyota’s stable goes from six to five for 2018
These are the teams that I predict will land in victory lane in 2018. Oh, we may get a surprise winner, but these 24 teams will battle race in and race out for the checkers. We will know more in a couple of weeks when the teams meet with the media in Charlotte, but this how I see it now. A big hole was left in the sport with the retirements of Dale Earnhardt Jr, Danica Patrick and Matt Kenseth at the end of the year. How many will stay away from the sport because these drivers are not in the lineup? Time will tell.
In an emotional press conference on November 17, 2017, Danica Patrick announced it would be her last full-time season as a driver. Numerous fans and members of the NASCAR community were saddened that their hero and inspiration wouldn’t be back in 2018.
But in all honesty, it wasn’t a shock that Patrick was leaving. Over the past few years, she began to have sponsorship issues and wasn’t running any better. During her five full-time seasons in the No. 10 at Stewart-Hass Racing(SHR), Danica only had seven top-10 finishes and one career pole.
However, sometimes it takes an icon stepping away to open up an opportunity for someone else.
Juan Pablo Montoya, a Monaco Grand Prix and Indy 500 winner, left NASCAR after the 2013 season. Although Montoya won two races in the Cup Series, he never succeeded like he would have liked to in NASCAR.
And then, a young dirt racer from California got the opportunity of his life.
Kyle Larson would become the driver of the No. 42 car in 2014. By now, it’s safe to say Larson exceeded expectations as many questioned whether he was too young and inexperienced to earn that ride in the first place.
The story is a little different now.
Last season, Aric Almirola wasn’t even able to compete in all 36 races due to a back injury he suffered at Kansas. But last November, it was announced that the thirty-three-year-old would get the opportunity of his life. Almirola was introduced as the new driver for the No. 10 car in 2018.
Almirola, a Tampa, Florida native of Cuban descent, drove the iconic No. 43 car for Richard Petty Motorsports the past six seasons. Almirola only scored one win, one pole and 10 top-five finishes.
In November, Almirola said. “I’ve worked my whole life, my whole career for an opportunity like this — to come and be a part of a championship organization. I think (Stewart-Haas Racing has) won two of the last six championships and going for a third this year at Homestead, so I couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity and to continue my relationship with Tony.”
The real question is, can this move revamp Almirola’s career?
Almirola is going to be racing for one of NASCAR’s top-tier teams. Since starting back in 2009, SHR has proven they have some of the top personnel and best equipment in the Cup Series by winning two championships. Also, longtime sponsor Smithfield will be sponsoring Almirola in 2018.
Another bright note, Almirola will be reunited with his new crew chief John Klausmeier. Almirola and Klausmeier worked together back at Dale Earnhardt Incorporated. Since 2009, Klausmeier has been a race engineer at SHR and in 2016 Klausmeier went to victory lane at the June Pocono race after serving as interim crew chief for the No. 41 team.
Team co-owner Tony Stewart said, “John Klausmeier is more than ready to be his crew chief.”
Now, Almirola has a shot at turning his career around. As a veteran in the Cup Series, he has the maturity and demeanor that some drivers lack going into the 2018 season.
Almirola has an opportunity that many wish they had, and it is his time to prove that he deserves it. Perhaps, Almirola can bring consistency to the No. 10, which is something they’ve been lacking in the past.
At first glance, the catchphrase of Monty Python’s Flying Circus “And now for something completely different,” would sum up 2017 NASCAR. As the season played out, however, it went from “something completely different” to a return to form.
Monster Energy and NASCAR are as polar opposite as it gets. The former is an energy drink brand that understands how to target the youth of the United States, while the latter — despite its many attempts to appeal to a younger audience the last decade — is still dependent on an ever-aging demographic of Baby Boomers.
Compounding the matter, 2016 was the 10th-year of a decade-long slide in television ratings. And as much as the big whigs in Daytona won’t admit it, something had to change.
So on January 23, it would’ve been so fitting if NASCAR unveiled their 2017 changes — oh sorry, “enhancements” — via a segue from this.
The idea of throwing out the caution two predetermined points to break up the, at times, roughly three-hour marathon events into more digestible segments (or stages) not only was “something completely different,” but it reeked of desperation.
But that wasn’t all. To quote a mediocre comedy…
Whether or not you called in the next 15 minutes, NASCAR doubled the offer with stage points and playoff points for no extra charge.
The funny thing is that while these “enhancements” offended me as a racing purist, I wanted to see where they led NASCAR. Especially the playoff points, which answered the prayers of us who wanted consistency and the regular season to matter again.
So with a new title sponsor — one which, as of the publishing of this column, has yet to exercise its option to stay past the end of 2018 (SB Nation) — that appeals to millennials, a radically new approach on racing, points that carry through the entire playoffs and an aforementioned decade-long TV ratings slump, to say 2017 would be a make or break season would be an understatement. And NASCAR needed to knock it out of the park with opening day.
So the first race of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season arrived, as it always does, at Daytona International Speedway on February 26 with the 59th running of the Daytona 500. The stages came and went, with Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch winning them, and a whole mess of cars were swept up in multi-car wrecks (it’s Daytona).
The final laps of the 59th Daytona 500 was beautiful restrictor plate racing. There was intense fighting for the lead and position, whether it was in a pack or in single-file, fuel strategy with varying results through the lead pack and a last lap pass for the win.
So did February 26, 2017 give NASCAR the monumental start it needed in this “something completely different” season? The jury is still deliberating on that. I think we’ll know for sure at the end of the 2018 season, especially since Monster Energy will either continue or end its relationship with NASCAR.
It’s one thing for NASCAR’s restrictor plate package to deliver, but did the one for the intermediate tracks…
Yeah, I couldn’t finish that sentence with a straight face.
Now I’ve told this story before. But for those who don’t know, while standing on pit road, Jeff Gluck and I traded thoughts about the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, after the race, at Atlanta Motor Speedway. I told him “I thought the race was okay for Atlanta, and that was with the way it ended, with Kevin Harvick’s speeding penalty. Take that out of the equation and Harvick wins it, I don’t think it registers.”
“Oh agreed,” Gluck said. “It’s basically (Martin) Truex (Jr.) at Charlotte if Harvick wins.”
And that sums up the 2017 Cup race at Atlanta: Harvick dominates, but blows it for the fourth straight year.
If I may peel back the curtain, this is an outcome sportswriters — especially those on deadline — hate. While we as writers “root for the best ‘stories,’” clinic performances like Harvick at Atlanta that end with said dominant driver winning on a long day — this race was three hours, 33 minutes and eight seconds — make the writing process that follows easier. When that dominate driver blows it, we got to start all over again.
For example: Deciding not to trust my cynical instincts as the laps wound down, I wrote up a race report in which Harvick ended his run of bad luck at Atlanta. All it needed was quotes, statistics and a photo, and it would’ve been published within 45 minutes of Harvick winning.
So my short evening of writing turned into a two and a half-hour evening (I didn’t get back to Knoxville until midnight).
I also told Gluck that “the intensity was nowhere near as high as it was last week at Daytona. Now I know Daytona is its own animal, but the stages and points cranked it up to 11. So after the Daytona 500, I was thinking, ‘Oh my God. NASCAR has struck gold with this! If this is what we’re gonna get every week, the sport will be on top of the world!’ But about halfway through it, after watching it unfold from the press box, I’m just thinking, ‘Oh…*sigh.* This isn’t going to be a weekly thing. This is just the same old downforce racing we see every week.’”
And…I was right. Week after week, we got the same old tired downforce-centric racing that’s made the mile and a half races unbearable.
It wasn’t until the short track gauntlet that we got a string of decent races, with Martinsville Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Richmond Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway (and I know Talladega isn’t a short track, but it was part of that string of great races).
But at Richmond in April, “encumberment” struck race winner Joey Logano. While NASCAR let the win stand, he couldn’t use the benefits of that win to qualify for the playoffs. Since he didn’t win another race, Logano — a preseason favorite to win the title — missed the playoffs. At some point, I’ll write a column with my thoughts on “encumbered” wins. But it boils down to this: Why is an “encumbered” win bad enough that a driver can’t use the benefits of it to qualify for the playoffs, but not enough to strike it from the NASCAR record?
Switching gears, let’s discuss the run of first-time winners in a five-race span.
Talladega was the start of a five-race stretch in which three drivers scored their first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory.
Days like Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon and Ryan Blaney celebrating in victory lane for the first time almost make me wish I wasn’t so cynical. Watching on TV Dillon play the fuel game right to win the Coca-Cola 600 and Blaney just out-race Kyle Busch and hold of Kevin Harvick to win at Pocono Raceway was awesome. But it was nothing compared to seeing it happen in person, as I did when Stenhouse passed Busch on the final lap to win at Talladega.
By the summer stretch, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. established themselves as the dominant drivers. Larson took the points lead in NASCAR’s first trip to Phoenix and held it until the Coca-Cola 600. Truex led for the next three races, was usurped by Larson for three, retook it lead after his clinic performance at Kentucky and didn’t relinquish it the rest of the season.
Truex didn’t win the title uncontested, however, as Joe Gibbs Racing challenged his supremacy. Spearheading it was Kyle Busch, who with a strong drive and victory at Pocono and complete weekend sweep at Bristol put himself in position to steal the title from Truex.
While the fight for the drivers title was hotly contested, nobody questioned who the dominant manufacturer was.
In the first half of the season, there was a greater level of parity amongst the manufacturers (in terms of wins). But in the second half, the Toyota camp was all but unstoppable, winning 13 of the final 18 races. Chevrolet’s only real bullet in the gun was Larson, but an engine failure in the cutoff race of the Round of 12 ended any realistic possibility of another championship for the bow tie’s. Ford remained in the hunt for a title with their dominance of restrictor plate racing, Kevin Harvick running down and passing Truex in the closing laps at Texas Motor Speedway and Brad Keselowski benefiting from the misfortune of others to race Kyle Busch and Truex for the title at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Unfortunately for Harvick and Keselowski, while never too far from the front, they were no match for the Toyota’s on the mile and a half Homestead.
Only Larson posed a threat to either Busch or Truex, leading 145 of 267 laps. But with 105 laps to go, the race — and championship — was down to just Truex and Busch.
While Truex pitted with 69 to go, Busch stayed out until 50 to go, putting him within the fuel window to make the finish. His one-stop strategy went wayside when Kurt Busch spun out, scattering debris on the track, with 39 to go.
A few laps after the restart with 34 to go, Busch was held up trying to pass Joey Logano for third. While he passed Harvick for second with ease, he didn’t have “enough tire” when he caught Truex.
“Yeah, it wasn’t quite what we wanted there at the end,” Busch said. “I thought we had a really great race car, especially on the long runs. We were really, really good. Just came down to there at the end not having enough tire when I got to the 78 (Truex), so I just overused my stuff, and I knew I overused my stuff when I was running with the 22 (Logano) trying to get by him and just overworked everything and got to the 4 (Harvick), got by him pretty quick, I tried to make sure that I could do that pretty quick so then I could have at least a little more tire life, but didn’t seem to pay me off any when I got to the 78.”
When the checkered flag waved, Martin Truex Jr. — who four years prior, after finding himself out of a ride due to the actions of others at Michael Waltrip Racing, sat on his front porch thinking his career was over — was no longer a journeyman who won only three times in an eight-year span, racing for the little team in Denver. At that moment he was, and forever will be, a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion.
“It’s overwhelming,” Truex said. “You think about all the rough days, the bad days, the days that we couldn’t run 20th to be here. I never thought this day would come and to be here is unbelievable!
“I can’t believe it. I’ve wanted it since I was a little kid. Just never give up. Just never give up on your dreams, no matter what happens, or what kind of crap you go through.”
The races of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season were very hit and miss, but it was NASCAR at its best. Playoff points made performance in the regular season matter again. And that they carried through the whole playoffs made the whole season the closest we’ll get back to a season-long points format. Stage points, as much as I hate them, put more emphasis not on saving your stuff until the end, but on running up front all day/night long. Yes, x-factors such as luck and bullshit still factor into the playoffs, but not to the degree of the last three years. Take the playoffs out of the equation, this would most likely remain the outcome (although Harvick and Keselowski probably would’ve been out of the hunt by Homestead in a season-long format).
And that’s what this season had over the last three. It was the closest thing to a naturally played-out one that’s possible with NASCAR. Unlike 2014 through 2016, I didn’t feel empty with how the course of the season brought us to this outcome.
Let’s hope we have another season like this, or better, in 2018.
Throughout the past couple of years, NASCAR has seen some of its greats call it a career. It’s beginning to feel like the final race in Miami is not only a championship race but a farewell race.
Most fans are sad to see their favorite drivers retire, but there’s a lot of young talent yet to be seen in the sport. Young drivers like William Byron, Darrell Wallace Jr. and Alex Bowman will be racing in the Cup Series in 2018.
Back for his sophomore season is twenty-one-year-old Erik Jones. In 2017, Jones raced his first full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for Furniture Row Racing in the No. 77. The 2017 Sunoco Rookie of the Year is going back to a familiar team, Joe Gibbs Racing.
Starting in 2018, Jones is going to pilot the No. 20 car. The No. 20 car has a rich history, as it debuted in 1999 with Tony Stewart behind the wheel and accomplished winning a total of thirty-three races and two championships.
In 2009 after Stewart began to race for his own team, nineteen-year-old Joey Logano made his debut in the No. 20 car. After four full-time seasons in the No. 20 car, Logano pulled off two victories before departing to Team Penske in 2013.
The 2003 Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth would take over the No. 20 car in 2013. The 2013 season would be one of Kenseth’s best seasons, winning seven races and averaging a finish of 12.1. Kenseth would go on to win 15 races at JGR. Unfortunately, the 2017 season was Kenseth’s farewell season, leaving him with no ride for 2018 after it was announced that Erik Jones would run the No. 20 car starting in 2018.
In July, after it was announced Jones would take over the No. 20 car he said, “This is a really exciting time in my career for me to make the move back to Joe Gibbs Racing full time in the Cup Series and continue to have the success I’ve had with them over the last few years.”
In February at Daytona International Speedway, a new chapter will begin for Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 20 team. When the No. 20 hauler parks in front of the garage and opens the trailer, they’ll be unloading Erik Jones No. 20 car.
Even though Jones failed to qualify for the post season in 2017, he had a decent year for his rookie season. Jones won the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award, earned five top-five finishes, and led 310 laps. It’s easy to say his best race was the Bristol night race, where he picked up his first career pole, led 260 laps and finished a career high of second.
Erik Jones is “back home” and is ready to keep adding his name to the NASCAR history books. Many believe in sophomore slumps, but Jones can very easily prove doubters wrong. Jones has proven that he can win in anything, as he has done before.
During the week before Miami, it was announced that Chris Gayle will be back as Jones crew chief for 2018.
“I’m very excited to work with Erik again in 2018 and continue to build on our rookie season of 2017,” Gayle said in a media release. “I think the lessons we learned together this year will be invaluable to us next season.”
For Jones and Gayle, the 2017 season was a season of lessons and gaining better knowledge for the Cup Series. We know they could’ve won Bristol, but the fact is that they didn’t and they’ll learn from that race and all the other races they ran.
Next season, they’ll go into Daytona with a season under their belts. Jones and the No. 20 team should be a team to keep an eye on in 2018 as they’ll probably see victory lane and may even be a threat for the championship.
1. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex led the final 51 laps at Homestead and held off Kyle Busch to capture the win at Homestead and his first Monster Energy Cup championship.
“No offense to Joey Gase,” Truex said, “but nice guys don’t finish last, they finish first. I am a nice guy, and as champion, I reserve the right to be called ‘Mister Nice Guy.’”
2. Kyle Busch: Busch finished second at Homestead to Martin Truex Jr., who got the jump on a lap 34 restart and kept Busch at bay for the remainder of the race.
“That race was for all the marbles,” Busch said. “First of all, I wanted to win this race for myself, but I also wanted to win it for my brother Kurt, so I could give him some marbles because he lacks ‘all his marbles.’”
3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished fourth at Homestead as Martin Truex, Jr. won the race to capture the Monster Energy Cup championship.
“Lost in the shuffle of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s retirement was Danica Patrick’s retirement,” Harvick said. “The only way Danica will be ‘Miss-ed’ is if Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. doesn’t marry her.”
4. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished seventh at Homestead, falling short in his bid to win his second Cup championship.
“I guess I predicted a Toyota championship,” Keselowski said. “I guess at the time I was trying to give ‘constructive criticism,’ but it turned into ‘constructors criticism.’”
5. Chase Elliott: Elliott finished fifth at Homestead, posting his 21st top 10 of the season.
“I’m looking forward to a long offseason,” Elliott said. “I didn’t take long to erase Denny Hamlin from championship contention; it will take much longer to erase him from my memory.”
6. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin started on the pole at Homestead and finished ninth.
“Martin Truex Jr. has a rare quality among NASCAR champions,” Hamlin said. “He has absolutely no enemies. So, I can say for sure he’s friends with Chase Elliott.”
7. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished a disappointing 29th at Homestead and ended the year ninth in the Monster Energy points standings.
“Homestead was my final race with Wood Brothers Racing,” Blaney said. “I’m moving on to Penske Racing in 2018. This bodes well for my bank account, but not for my love life, because my days with Wood are over.”
8. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished eighth in the Ford EcoBoost 400.
“I’m not sure what I’ll be doing in retirement,” Kenseth said. “I am sure it won’t be anything with Carl Edwards.”
9. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished 27th at Homestead and completes the season 10th in the points standings.
“With no chance to win the Cup,” Johnson said, “my mind was elsewhere for the duration of the entire race. I guess I was thinking of my seven Cup championships. When you’re Jimmie Johnson, reminiscing is an all day job.”
10. Jamie McMurray: McMurray finished 13th in the Ford EcoBoost 400.
“Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrated his final race by sharing beers with his pit crew,” McMurray said. “As if NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver needed another reason for people to ‘say cheers.’”