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MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Three champions and, perhaps, a champion in waiting.
Martin Truex Jr. will win a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title. Maybe Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, maybe not. But he’ll win one. Perhaps more. Who knows?
Truex and his competition — former champs Brad Keselowski (2012), Kevin Harvick (’14) and Kyle Busch (’15) — head off into the land of the somewhat unknown Friday at Miami as preparations get underway for Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
It’s the final trip around the track for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this season. A final shot at the championship for four drivers who have survived a 26-race regular season and advanced through three rounds of elimination to wind up here. There’s a satisfaction in that, but not the feeling of accomplishment that winning a title brings.
Thursday, the four were at the Loews Miami Beach, along with the four championship contenders from the XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series.
It was the calm before the storm, you might say, although it had its prickly moments.
Busch didn’t hesitate when he offered up “Sometimes you just don’t like a guy,” when asked about the on-track relationship with fellow driver Keselowski.
It wasn’t exactly breaking news and the truth is Busch probably doesn’t like a lot of folks he competes against, but that’s also probably what has made him one of the most successful racers in the series the past several seasons.
He gets paid to win races, not win friends. His bosses at Joe Gibbs Racing don’t complain when he brings home another trophy.
ANALYSIS: Why each driver can win: Keselowski | Harvick | Busch | Truex
Six wins on 1.5-mile tracks this year might land Truex in the favored role, but a late-race push by Harvick at Texas earlier this month to beat the Furniture Row driver opened eyes. None of the four is unbeatable, and previous wins won’t mean a thing when the green flag falls Sunday.
Still, as Busch noted, Truex has raced for championships and won championships (he’s a two-time champ in the XFINITY Series), so give the guy and his No. 78 team its due.
Harvick and his Stewart-Haas Racing teams seem to be peaking. Busch has three playoff wins, same as Truex. Only Keselowski (Team Penske) appears to be in the underdog role, having slipped in the back door a week ago at Phoenix.
Of course, how he got there won’t matter Sunday evening. Only that he’s there.
Nothing was resolved Thursday. Nothing is ever resolved on Media Day. But that’s OK.
There was no conflict apparent among those competing for the Camping World Truck Series title either.
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It’s business as usual for finalists Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter, old hands at this. Crafton’s a two-time champion; Sauter won the title last year. If they’d been any more relaxed on Thursday, they’d have been asleep.
Christopher Bell? He’s been here before, two-for-two after his surprise appearance in the finals a year ago, and moving up to XFINITY next season. Only Austin Cindric is the interloper and maybe he’s too young to be concerned.
This past Sunday, two days after clinching a spot in the Championship Round, Cindric invited his entire team over for dinner. Nervous? Nah. Sometimes you don’t know enough to be nervous.
In the XFINITY Series, it’s three against one. JR Motorsports has 75 percent of the championship field in William Byron, Justin Allgaier and Elliott Sadler. Richard Childress Racing counters with Daniel Hemric.
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Byron is one year removed from competing in the Truck Series. And one year removed from graduating high school. Next year he’ll be behind the wheel of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. In the Monster Energy Cup Series. That’s known as an accelerated degree program.
Allgaier and Elliott are veterans, former Monster Energy Cup Series drivers, and nothing that might happen Saturday will catch them off guard. Unless it’s losing. They expect to win.
Hemric, like Byron, raced in the Truck Series in ’16. Today he’s 26 and carrying the hopes of the entire RCR organization and, no doubt, his hometown of Kannapolis, North Carolina.
Twelve drivers, 12 teams, three championships. Media Day can be fun. It can be entertaining.
But they’re all here to race, and beginning Friday they’ll do just that.