Posted on by RJ Kraft

The Championship 4 will start in spots one through four for Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The race will crown a champion in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Which playoff drivers should you use? Do you garage a non-playoff driver since the Championship 4 won’t get stage points? How should you navigate the playoff game format? We’ve dissected the numbers to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration.

PLAY NOW: Set your lineup | How the game works | Tips to set your lineup

RJ Kraft’s Fantasy Live lineup for race day at Miami
Playoff driver 1: Martin Truex Jr.
Playoff driver 2: Denny Hamlin
Non-playoff driver 1: Brad Keselowski
Non-playoff driver 2: Kyle Larson
Garage: Kevin Harvick

RELATED: Odds for Miami | Lap averages | Weekend preview

Analysis: This one is a little tricky in that we have one practice to go off of. That said, the 19 car of Truex looks to be the class of the field in practice and is a must-start for me. In addition, day to night races are right in the wheelhouse of crew chief Cole Pearn. Hamlin has solid lap averages and a strong Miami history.

On the non-playoff side, I like the combination of Keselowski’s recent Miami results with five top-seven finishes in the last six races there. I’m also taking Larson because he is one of the best here and will be ripping the high line in no time.

The garage is a really interesting consideration. Do you go for a playoff play or a non-playoff play? I’m inclined to think this way: If I am trying to protect a lead, I’d like the playoff insurance. If I’m trying to gain ground, I’m inclined to go after more stage points with a non-playoff driver. With that said, I have been big on Kevin Harvick entering this weekend and while he wasn’t as strong as I expected in practice, I still think when the lights are bright the 4 will come to play. I am hesitant to go with Kyle Busch given the inconsistency he has had all postseason. If I went the non-playoff route, Ryan Blaney’s and William Byron’s lap averages are particularly intriguing.

For the bonus picks, I’m going with Hamlin in Stage 1 and then Truex the rest of the way for Stage 2 and the race win with Toyota as the manufacturer.

Each week in this space, we’ll also highlight two Props Challenge items for players.

MORE: Play the Props Challenge today

1. Will the Championship 4 all finish in the top seven: Yes or No? This has happened the last two years with all four Championship 4 drivers placing 1-4 in the 2018 title race and I believe it will happen again. The cream always seem to rise to the top, and I expect all four title contending drivers to be in the top seven at night’s end.

2. The race winner will lead O/U 70.5. The first three title races saw the winner and champion lead under this mark. The last two have seen the winner and champion go over that mark. Maybe its recency bias, but I like that trend especially since I expect Truex to get a Stage 2 win and win the race and that will likely see him lead a significant volume of laps.

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Martin Truex Jr. and crew chief Cole Pearn have been a lethal combination since their first season together in 2015.

Following a championship-winning tenure with Furniture Row Racing, even a massive move from Colorado to North Carolina as they transitioned to Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season didn’t stop them. The pair earned seven victories, including three in the playoffs leading up to Sunday’s Championship 4 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway (3 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

So, what makes them such a dynamic duo?

“Between him (Truex) and Cole, I think they’ve got a great relationship going, and I think they’re awful good,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “You can’t shake him up. … Some of them (drivers) get out of the car and you can read them, extremely upset, all the things ‑‑ that Martin, in our meetings, very calculated, smart.”

Gibbs feels the champion driver-crew chief pairing has been able to bring many positives to the table for the entire organization. The proof is in the pudding as they prepare to battle against Joe Gibbs Racing counterparts Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, along with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, for a coveted second championship on Sunday night in South Florida.

RELATED: Why Martin Truex Jr. will win the 2019 championship

Three JGR machines in the Championship 4 isn’t just happenstance. Gibbs insists hard work as one collective effort and the Truex-Pearn combination have played significant roles in the results.

“Having him come in with Cole has really meant a lot to our race team because what you’re trying to do during the week is solve problems,” Gibbs said. “Four teams work together.

“What I love about our sport, then you go to the racetrack and you’ve got four individual efforts going after it, and that’s hard to do, put all that together,” he added. “But I think they’ve been a big part of what’s happened this year, and they’ve added a lot.”

After the Busch Pole qualifying session on Saturday was canceled in lieu of a 50-minute practice session due to Friday’s heavy rain, Truex is set to take off from the third starting position on Sunday afternoon, directly behind Hamlin on the pole, while Busch flanks him in fourth.

While finding the front won’t be an issue since they start there, it’s staying there throughout the entire 267-lap title bout at the 1.5-mile oval that’s the tall task. But Truex and Pearn have proven time and time again they are the best when it comes to races that experience transitions from daytime to nighttime.

A pair of Coca-Cola 600 victories, a Southern 500 win and their 2017 championship victory in Miami are proof.

Truex agrees it has always been a strength for Pearn and him.

“I think it’s because we plan ahead, go off past history, have a good understanding of that, and confidence in our decisions,” Truex said. “We can live with ourselves if we’re off a little bit maybe in the daytime, kind of understanding what it’s going to do. It’s hard to do that, say we’re going to be off a little bit, but how much? Cole does a good job of being confident in himself. I follow suit.”

It’s that impeccable confidence they have in each other that will make them extremely tough to beat. What’s even scarier is Truex’s relaxed approach as he looks to elevate his legacy in the sport.

“… It’s still a race,” Truex said. “Just like last week was a race. You want to be the best. Everybody wants to win.”

While JGR has used synergy to achieve their success this season, don’t think Truex and Pearn will shy away from taking their own path in order to steal the glory from their teammates.

“Yeah, we build cars together, we go through the week and crew chief and engineer say, I want to go down this road. The other one says, I want to go here,” Truex said. “You end up at different places. Your decisions throughout the weekend take you different places. That’s all open information. It’s going to continue to be that way.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Three of the Championship 4 drivers topped Saturday’s Monster Energy Series practice boards at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Kyle Busch drove the fastest lap at 168.966 mph to lead the group, while Martin Truex Jr. (168.460 mph) and Denny Hamlin (168.277 mph) followed in order. Kevin Harvick was still top 10 but further down the order in ninth (166.806 mph).

RELATED: Practice results | Lap averages | Full lineup for Miami

The Cup Series canceled qualifying and practiced instead after Friday’s on-track activity was rained out. Starting order was therefore determined by the rule book. Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will start from the pole with Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford alongside him. Truex and his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will be third. Busch will be fourth in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Rounding out the top five in practice were Brad Keselowski at 167.895 mph in fourth and Joey Logano at 167.848 mph in fifth. Ryan Blaney (sixth), Chase Elliott (seventh), Kyle Larson (eighth) and Erik Jones (1oth) comprised the rest of the top 10.

Busch also led the Championship 4 in five-lap averages, but Hamlin was dominant when it came to 10-lappers. Truex had the best 15-lap average.

That’s it until the green flag drops Sunday. The Ford EcoBoost 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, MRN) is the season finale. Either Busch, Truex, Hamlin or Harvick will be crowned champion.

Posted on by Zack Albert

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Matt Crafton picked the best time for his best performance of the season, a runner-up finish that wrapped up his third NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series championship. That timing wound up biting the three other contenders, who fell short of a title on a late Friday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Ross Chastain finished fourth, with Brett Moffitt fifth and Stewart Friesen a fading 11th after the Ford EcoBoost 200. Austin Hill drove to his fourth win of the season, leaving the series’ Championship 4 to fight it out in his mirror. Crafton won that battle with a strong second, and the rest of the quartet struggled to keep up.

RELATED: Unofficial race results

Chastain’s Niece Motorsports No. 45 Chevrolet came closest on the leaderboard, but his margin on track was nine-plus seconds behind Crafton’s ThorSport Racing No. 88 Ford. The Floridian watermelon farmer had the makings of a dream season with three wins, a midseason shift to Gander Trucks eligibility and a spirited local rooting section on hand for the finale. Though he led 36 laps (second only to Hill), Chastain was unable to keep pace with the race winner and Crafton down the final stretch.

“Good job, guys. Heck of a season. Gosh dang,” Chastain told his No. 45 crew on the cool-down lap. “Thank you, Al (Niece, team owner). Close, close.”

Moffitt was vying for his second straight Gander Trucks crown, but his first with GMS Racing. Coincidentally, the Hattori Racing Enterprises No. 16 Toyota team he drove for last year carried Hill to Victory Lane.

Moffitt had opened the playoffs with a speedy kick, with two straight wins to start the postseason. At Miami, that speed wasn’t quite there, and he dropped one last position to Chastain with 25 laps to go.

“Yeah, we missed it on overall grip,” said Moffitt, who led three laps during the first-stage intermission. “We had OK long-run speed. But we just couldn’t fire off and run pace, and we couldn’t run the bottom. (HRE’s Scott Zipadelli) and those guys have a really good setup for here, and it can run the bottom long and fast. It’s proven to be the truck to beat here the last two years, and we just need to go to work. We need to get better here.”

Friesen started first after qualifying was rained out and the lineup set by team owners points, but he gave way to Chastain right after the green flag. Friesen finished third in the first stage and fifth in the second, but he then tumbled from the top 10 by the race’s conclusion.

“We had a little bit of short-run speed, but I think I just had to push it too hard to try to keep up with the guys that we were racing, and the bottom would fall out of it there,” said Friesen, who won the first two races of his career this season. “We could hang for part of the stage and then it would just back up. … Just didn’t have the long-run stability to make a bid to run for the championship.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Austin Hill bookended his 2019 season with a victory in Friday night’s Ford EcoBoost 200 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, finishing a comfortable 1.569-seconds ahead of veteran Matt Crafton, whose runner-up effort was enough to earn him his third NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series championship.

Hill won all three stages in the race and led a race-high 56 laps to give the No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota its second consecutive Miami win. Last year, Brett Moffitt drove the truck to a race and series championship trophy.

Christian Eckes finished third to earn Kyle Busch Motorsports its record seventh series owner championship, the organization’s sixth in the last seven years.

RELATED: Crafton wins third championship | Unofficial race results

From the drop of the rain-delayed green flag, the four championship eligible drivers – Crafton, fourth-place Ross Chastain, fifth-place Moffitt and 11th-place Stewart Friesen – had to deal with a highly-motivated Hill for the race win. Officially eliminated from playoff contention last week at Phoenix’s ISM Raceway, Hill came into the event highly-motivated nonetheless.

He drove around title-contender Chastain to win the first stage and held off Crafton for wins in both the second stage and ultimately the race trophy.

The 25-year-old Georgia native finished the season as he started – in Victory Lane – matching his work in the season-opening Daytona International Speedway race, his first career win. He won again at Michigan  International Speedway in the summer and then again at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and was truly a formidable contender through the playoffs. Unable to overcome a points deficit after a crash at Martinsville Speedway in the final playoff round then kept him from the Championship 4. 

“I’m excited for the win, but at the same time it stings a little bit just because I know that if we would have been a little bit better in the round of six, we could be celebrating a win and a championship,” Hill said. “But like I say, I can’t thank everybody out there enough.

 

And Hill conceded with a smile, “It’s awesome to get my fourth win of the season and end on a high note.”

This year’s champion, Crafton, matches a three-title mark equaled only by Jack Sprague (2001, 1999 and 1997) and exceeded by only NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr., who has four titles (2009, 2007, 1998 and 1996). Crafton is the only driver to ever win back-to-back titles in the Gander Trucks Series (2013-14).

“It feels amazing and we’re one step closer to what Hornaday’s done,” Crafton said after climbing out of his car, noting many underestimated his No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford team. “And they called us the underdog.”

Moffitt, who led the series with four wins, 13 top fives along with 17 top 10s and three pole positions, was clearly disappointed with his fifth-place finish.

“We were just pretty bad from the get-go this morning, just missing speed,” said Moffitt, who drives the No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet.  “It is what it is, we had a good year and we’ll re-group and go after it again next year.

“It’s a disappointment but we’ll move on and get better.”

Chastain, who was a strong favorite to earn his first title, was equally as disappointed after the race. He led 36 laps on the night and, for much of the early race, looked ready to challenge Hill for the win to land his first NASCAR title.

Chastain won three races and earned a series-best 19 top-10 finishes. A competitor in all three NASCAR national series, Chastain only declared himself championship eligible in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series in June.

“I want to throw up right now to be honest with you, but it has been an absolute dream,” said Chastain, who will drive for Kaulig Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series next year.

“It’s pretty crazy that we did that [made the playoffs], and made it to Homestead. We did everything we could and that says a lot.”

Tyler Ankrum, the driver of the No. 17 DGR Crosley Toyota, finished 22nd but officially earned the series’ Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors for his season’s work. He wasn’t allowed to compete on the big tracks until he turned 18 in March and missed the opening three races of the season calendar.

“We had a really great season I thought,” said the 18-year old Ankrum, who won his career first series race at Kentucky Speedway this summer and qualified for the playoffs as a rookie.

“When we had highs they were really, really high.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The young guns will have to wait.

Matt Crafton, a 43-year-old veteran of 19 full seasons in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, took home his third championship with a second-place finish in Friday night’s Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Crafton claimed the title without winning a race this season, but that was all but irrelevant as Crafton moved within one championship of series-leader and Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr.

“I guess I finally got out of the wheelchair and got up one the wheel and got it done,” said Crafton, who crossed the finish line 1.569 seconds behind race-winner Austin Hill but a comfortable 9.201 seconds ahead of Ross Chastain, who finished fourth in the race and second among the Championship 4 drivers.

“One step closer to what Hornaday’s done, and they called us the underdog.”

RELATED: Trio comes up short in title bid | Full race results

Crafton exhibited a mixture of elation and defiance as he celebrated in Victory Lane. Almost an afterthought among pundits entering the race, Crafton schooled his younger Championship 4 competitors with a No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford that improved throughout the race.

Others discounting his chances clearly was a motivating factor for Crafton.

“There was nothing sweeter, to be honest,” Crafton said. “It was that little jab in the side — and I don’t know if I needed that, but it just ticked me off. And I just said, ‘I’m going to prove you really, really wrong tonight.’

“I knew I was going to do whatever I had to do for every one of these guys, for (team owners) Duke and Rhonda (Thorson) and everyone who worked hard, but I said it was that little bit extra poke.”

Though fired up by the slight, Crafton had to exercise the patience of a veteran when Hill passed him for the lead on Lap 112 of 134.

“Once they told me the 24 (championship contender Brett Moffitt) was nine seconds back, and we were gapping him by three-tenths (of a second) a lap, I was like, ‘I need to look at the big picture here and not take a chance of losing this championship. Let’s just ride right here — race as hard as I could without doing anything dumb to put the thing in the fence.”

RELATED: Every Gander Trucks champion | Sweet celebrations in Victory Lane

Winning the title without winning a race didn’t bother Crafton in the least.

“I’ll sleep very, very well all winter — with the trophy,” he said.

Crew chief Junior Joiner — who has been with Crafton for all three of his championships, the first two coming back-to-back in 2013 and 2014 — echoed that sentiment.

“We didn’t win the race, but gosh, darn it, we won the war,” Joiner said.

The youth movement did have its moments. In his eighth Truck Series start of the season, 19-year-old ARCA champion Christian Eckes secured the seventh owner’s championship for Kyle Busch Motorsports with a third-place finish, a day after Eckes was announced as one of KBM’s full-time drivers for next year.

Eckes couldn’t have claimed the owner’s title, however, if it weren’t for the efforts of a veteran driver.

Crafton made his first start in the Truck Series in 2000, running only his debut race at Auto Club Speedway that year. Greg Biffle won the Truck Series title that season, and it was Biffle whom KBM team owner Kyle Busch coaxed out of retirement to run one race in the No. 51 Toyota at Texas Motor Speedway.

Biffle won in his only start, and it was that victory that qualified the No. 51 for the owner playoffs.

“I just thought an old retired guy might be able to get it done — and he did,” Busch said.

Coincidentally, Crafton is the first Ford driver since Biffle in 2000 to win a Truck Series championship.

Posted on by Staff Report

Front Row Joe? Now it’s First Place Joe.

Veteran Joe Nemechek set the all-time record for combined starts in the top three NASCAR national sets when he took the green flag in Friday night’s championship NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The Ford EcoBoost 200 is career start number 1,186 for the 56-year-old driver, surpassing the marked previously held by Richard Petty. “The King” made 1,185 career starts, all at NASCAR’s highest level, over a 35-year career. Nemechek fittingly set the record driving his own truck, the No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet.

Nemechek’s breakdown as of Friday night: 673 Cup Series starts, 444 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts and 69 Gander Trucks starts. He has 20 wins in NASCAR’s national series, including four Cup Series victories from 1999-2004.

Nemechek made another bit of history last weekend when he and son John Hunter Nemechek became the first father-son duo to both compete in all three races of NASCAR tripleheader weekend.

Kevin Harvick is third on the all-time starts list with 1,150 combined starts heading into the weekend, meaning he should pass Petty next year. Mark Martin (1,143) and Michael Waltrip (1,072) make up the top five.

Kyle Busch (1,035), Morgan Shepherd (1,027), Terry Labonte (1,017) and Jeff Burton (1,005) are the only other drivers in history to top 1,000 total starts.

Posted on by Staff Report

UPDATE: New green flag time is 9:40 p.m. ET.

Rain delayed the start of Friday’s championship race in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The race was originally scheduled to get underway at 8:10 p.m. ET, but rain in the area of the 1.5-mile track caused the start to be delayed.

When the Ford EcoBoost 200 gets underway, defending champion Brett Moffitt will battle Ross Chastain, Matt Crafton and Stewart Friesen in the Championship 4. Coverage is on FS1, the FOX Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

RELATED: Live weather updates | Updated Miami schedule

Rain moved into the South Florida area during the late afternoon Friday and cut short opening NASCAR Xfinity Series practice. On-and-off periods of rain continued leading to the cancellation of both Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practices and Gander Trucks qualifying.

That forced the Gander Trucks lineup to be set by the NASCAR rule book, meaning Friesen will be on the pole and on the front row along with Christian Eckes. Meanwhile, Chastain will start third with fellow championship competitors Moffitt in fourth and Crafton in the ninth position.

MORE: Full Truck lineup

Posted on by Staff Report

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — The connection and fondness was immediately evident as Tony Stewart and Joe Gibbs took their seats Friday morning to talk about their respective teams’ chances in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship race, the Ford EcoBoost 400 (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Gibbs was dressed in a suit and Stewart was dressed more casually in a team button-up shirt and baseball cap — the juxtaposition causing them both to laugh.

RELATED: Meet the ‘Big 3’ and ‘New 1’

“Well this is how you dress when you have one car in the championship and that’s how you dress when you have three,” Stewart joked immediately.

The truth is, although the two are competing against one another for the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title, the former teammates concede they are much more alike than dissimilar. And this is a big weekend for both.

Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin will compete against Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick for the series championship Sunday afternoon. And although the competition will undoubtedly be intense for NASCAR’s biggest prize, the two 2020 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees leading the organizations bring a similar mindset into the big race.

Stewart, a three-time Cup champion driver, has won two titles as an owner — his third series trophy in 2011 and Harvick’s in 2014. Gibbs is a four-time Cup champion owner — earning two titles with Stewart (2002 and 2005) and one each with Bobby Labonte (2000) and Kyle Busch (2015).

Stewart competed in 22 NASCAR Xfinity Series races for Gibbs in 1998 before moving to the JGR team full-time from his 1999 rookie season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series through the 2008 season. He joined forces with Gene Haas to form Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009.

“Every driver is different, and Joe (Gibbs) can tell you better than anybody, because he’s dealt with more, quote-unquote, professional athletes than anybody, and how you get people to respond is different from person to person,” Stewart said of his ownership style. “Sometimes you’ve got to be a little stern with them. But there’s that one button in each of us that gets us to respond.”

“I think that’s kind of what makes good leaders and good owners and good crew chiefs and good competition directors. You have to know your people. You have got know what that button is. You need to know what you have to do to get the best out of them.”

Stewart looked over at Gibbs and smiled, “I learned a lot from this guy in the years I was there,” Stewart said. “And I’ve said it a million times, if I didn’t work for him, I wouldn’t be where I’m at now. I wouldn’t be doing the things I’m doing now.

“I also wouldn’t be in debt like I am now, and I blame all of it on Joe.”

MORE: Behind-the-scenes photos from Miami