First, even if she had connected cleanly the chances were minuscule that it would have altered the championship.
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Gordon will start fifth, Truex Jr.
On paper – where the games aren’t played – the championship to be decided on Sunday night seems a breakaway layup for Harvick. I asked him five questions. He’s been through this scenario. But Harvick has had the best finish among these four drivers in 17 races, including four times in the Chase.
“I’m pleased with the speed”, Busch said.
The favorite, mind you, but not necessarily the champion-in-waiting. Roberts has the honors for NCWTS SETUP leading into all Truck Series races with insight from two-time series champion Todd Bodine and feature reports from Ray Dunlap. “He’s basically racing against 12 other drivers working in unison to push and protect their respective title-eligible driver”. You are still the wiley veteran who can win any given Sunday. “It’s awesome. And the biggest part of it is we started out with Norm and we’re still here with a great partnership”. You know, we just never really recovered from what we did in the first round to make it repeat. “We’ve done it all year long”. “We’re the sentimentals. That’s all there is”. That combination is hard to beat.
“Certainly I am not surprised, considering how we have run all year and we knew if we could keep that up through the Chase we would be good and here we are”. “That gives him a sizeable advantage before the race even starts”.
Harvick said he wasn’t concerned about his relatively slow run. “But you can’t discount the other three”.
Pockrass: No. Both the 3 and the 43 will race next year.
Craven: All things being equal, no teams have mechanical failures, no flat tires or pit-road penalties, Kevin Harvick wins a second consecutive title.
“Luckily, ours is good press”, Truex said, laughing. I’m just real happy about how we qualified. “You race them with respect”.
Forget a racing icon such as Jeff Gordon riding out on top, or Kevin Harvick repeating as champ, or Martin Truex Jr. beating the odds and winning the title with a one-car team.
Koda and the humans notwithstanding, Harvick likely will have his hands full.
“I definitely hoped we had something more to race for”, said Hamlin. But Gordon also realizes that, because of his family, a championship this season might well be the most important accomplishment of his career. Kurt Hansen, the host of Race Central, put it this way: “He’s not just racing against three other cars”. It’s not going to be, Oh, gee, man, you’re faster, you go take the lead. He has finished outside the top 22 in three of his past five races at Homestead.
Truex had the fourth fastest test time at Homestead-Miami Friday and the fastest of the drivers in the Chase.
That worries him not a bit. “I’ve run well here over the past few seasons; I’ve been pretty excited about how I’ve run here”. Two years ago? I would have been a mess. We really appreciate it. Thank you for every single thing you have ever done inside a race auto. Nothing. I had them honestly going out in the first round of the Chase.
“I just love this race track”.
Surreal? Maybe. But Truex never stopped believing he could get here, and unlike earlier in his career, has a Zen-like peace about what might happen on the track and the things he can’t control.
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NEW CONTRACT: Kyle Busch has a new contract with Joe Gibbs Racing, which also got sponsor Mars Inc.’s M&M’s brand to extend its deal.
