Early activities began with track-drying machines at work at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The first Canadian NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Waterloo (Ontario). In previous years, the champion was determined exclusively by a points system. A win Sunday caps a Hall of Fame career with a fifth series championship, and only three drivers in history have won as many. Kurt Hansen, the host of Race Central, put it this way: “He’s not just racing against three other cars”. Gordon, then 26, took a 77-point advantage over Dale Jarrett into the final race.
Advertisement
Prior to Jeff Gordon’s attempt to close out his storybook career in storybook fashion, Ken Squier voices a special essay on Gordon’s career and transcendent impact on stock auto racing. Harvick went out for a second lap but came up short and had to settle for a 13th place starting spot for Sunday. As a result, Truex was bumped from the Chase, and dumped by the team. Same for Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth, with five each.
Kyle Petty is part of one of the most famous families in motorsports. She is now undergoing a year of precautionary chemotherapy treatments. “Of course it is”, Logano said. Not only is Kevin Harvick going for a repeat but this is Jeff Gordon’s final race. The defending champion won the very next race at Phoenix. Harvick has had a strong 2015, beating the other three finalists in 17 of the 35 races. The next week at New Hampshire, his team firmly believing he could reach the finish line, he ran out of gas and was seemingly out of contention.
Harvick responded with a dominating win at Dover.
At Talladega Harvick again was in danger of missing the four driver cut in the Contender Round.
Wood Brothers Racing has fielded entries since 1950 but hasn’t attempted a full 36-race schedule since the end of the last decade. The fact that we were able to advance to the second round was huge. But I hope Martin Truex Jr. also gets his due this week.
Martin Truex Jr.is having the best year of his career. Not only was I planning on this (last race) being a fun race but things have ramped up since Martinsville. Truex is not. He’s the outsider, the only Sprint Cup driver from New Jersey. With only 24 points separating the four of them, it could make for a very interesting finish.
Kyle Busch has had the most uphill battle of all the final four contenders.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won the pole Friday for the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and provided the timetable for his surgery.
There are four drivers going for the Sprint Cup title in Sunday’s race (1 p.m. on NBC). All of this would come in a season in which Busch missed the first 11 races after a scary wreck in the season-opening Xfinity Series race at Daytona.
Like Truex, Busch has been consistent during the Chase, finishing outside the top 15 only twice. The race was delayed seven hours by rain, then called 93 laps from the finish when another storm rolled in.
Fans looking to see what Gordon’s final ride will look like have to go no further than this page. Jones has not finished outside of the top ten since June, so the odds are certainly in his favor.
This un-manly Gordon stereotype pains Birmingham’s friend Cindy Janesy, who runs a NASCAR betting pool that Birmingham has already wrapped up. As previously announced in May, FOX Sports confirmed Gordon as one of their Sprint Cup analysts beginning next season with Daytona Speedweeks and the Daytona 500 in February in revealing their entire NASCAR broadcasting lineup for next year.
Advertisement
HOMESTEAD | Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano will start on the front row in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400, but they know the majority of attention will be a little deeper in the field.
