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MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — For Martin Truex Jr., the 2018 championship would be more than a back-to-back title, a trophy and his name in the history books.

Sunday’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway is a chance for the No. 78 driver to win a final championship for team owner Barney Visser and Furniture Row Racing, a small group that persevered from a one-car, under-the-radar shop in Denver, Colorado, to a championship-winning organization.

Truex wants to win it for them, too.

“I’ve never been on a team that I feel like makes me a better driver every single weekend,” Truex said Thursday at Championship 4 Media Day. “Always finds a way to make me better. … It doesn’t matter what happened last week.  It doesn’t matter where people think we are. It doesn’t matter how we feel like our cars are. I feel like every week we can go to the track, we have a shot to win. And I felt that for four years, and it’s unbelievably fun to go to the track and feel that. …”

“It’s been a really cool thing to be a part of that, be an underdog story, kind of a single car team, David versus Goliath, all those things that have been talked about and brought up over the years. That’s been really fun to be a part of that.” 

RELATED: Best quotes from Championship 4 media day

The chance for the sport’s David to beat the Goliaths again in the 2018 finale with the title on the line has got the team “fired up,” Truex said.

“A lot of emotions talking with the guys … and they feel like they’ve built one of the best cars they’ve ever sent out of there,” he said. “So, that’s really cool for me to hear, and to see their passion and their excitement for this weekend, it gets me motivated and pushes me to try to get all I can.”

When the team sent its hauler off to South Florida on Tuesday, the team members and their families gathered to watch. They told stories, smiled and embraced. They took photos and videos.

The emotion of Tuesday is something that they’ll feel Sunday, too, Truex said.

“You just get tunnel vision in this sport, and you get so focused on what you’re doing,” he said. “Short week, short turnaround, we’ve got to build this car. We’ve got to do this. We’ve got to do that. We’re not good enough here. We’ve got to figure out how to do this better. You just get so focused in on doing your normal routine, but it finally all caught up to them. It hit them at that moment when they all looked around and said, that’s the last car we’re sending out of here to go to the race track. I can certainly understand it.

“I’m sure Sunday night will be the same for all of us. I kind of look forward to it just to be able feel that and celebrate and let them know how special the time was and what they all mean to me.”

MORE: Truex Jr. says he has a ‘free pass’ to move Logano

Truex wants to win the 2018 championship as much as anyone. But Sunday’s leaderboard won’t hinder the team’s celebration; they’ll rejoice in the journey and the people involved.

Because no matter the outcome, Truex said Visser and Furniture Row’s legacy to NASCAR is “champions.”

“I know no matter what happens, we’re going to give it our all, and we’re going to celebrate Sunday night as a group just because of the last five years have been an unbelievable ride,” Truex said. “It’s been, as far as racing goes, by far the time of my life. I’ve realized dreams I’ve had since I was a kid because of this group and this team and what we’ve done.

“So, I guess I would probably be OK, more OK than I would have been last year, but I think no matter what we’re going to celebrate and have a good time with it,” he continued on the possibility of not winning the title.”

“Hopefully, it’s up on stage with a big trophy.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — The Championship 4 field for this weekend’s Monster Energy Series finale has been billed as the strongest quartet assembled in the five years of this postseason format.

Statistically, the numbers bear that out. Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. rank first through fourth in several key categories. But as the four drivers gathered Thursday for Championship 4 Media Day at the ritzy Miami Beach Edition hotel, no one had to recite the facts and figures that have buttressed their case for a NASCAR championship.

This field is stacked. They seem to know it, even if there’s the hint that Sunday’s final could be a 3-on-1 contest.

“I think you could probably send a lot of the top drivers to different teams and different positions, and I think you’re going to see the cream rise to the top,” said Harvick, vying for his second crown in five seasons.

All four drivers carry the same goal heading into Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Homestead-Miami Speedway. They’ve led the circuit in wins, laps led and average finish for the bulk of the year, but will need to summon a strong closing kick at the 1.5-mile circuit to bring home the season-long trophy.

RELATED: Strengths, weaknesses for Championship 4

Thursday’s function was among the first steps toward the big stage. All four seemed loose at their introductions: Harvick noted a slight wobble to his director’s chair, something that a crafty pit stop could quickly remedy. Truex chuckled with Harvick as his video highlight reel played, showing his heated reaction after his postseason clash with Logano at Martinsville.

The mind games that had permeated past Media Day roundtables were absent this year, save for some barbs that Truex threw at Logano and his Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski. Busch was more than happy to pile on: “They both run into you a lot,” he quipped with Truex. Logano opted out of any gamesmanship. “Probably best I keep my mouth shut on this one,” he said with a laugh.

The top-to-bottom strength of the Championship 4 field has been a weeklong story line, but Thursday’s discussion suggested a smidgen of separation for three of the four. The “Big 3” of Busch, Harvick and Truex head into Homestead on the laurels of season-long success and week-in, week-out visits to Victory Lane. Logano has been more of a late bloomer, himself acknowledging that his team has rounded into championship form later in the season. Plus, Busch, Harvick and Truex are all established champions; Logano is still aiming for his first series title.

Busch underlined that divide in his availability, saying candidly that he’d be able to accept losing the title to Harvick or Truex more than he would to Logano.

“He’s been there, he’s been consistent, he’s been good,” Busch said of Logano. “He hasn’t necessarily performed to the level of the Big 3, and that’s no shake on them at all. It’s just the fact of the matter, so if he wins the title over the rest of us, then that would certainly be a little more disappointing.”

MORE: Full schedule for Homestead

All four will have an equal shot Sunday, with an expectation that the eventual champion will have to finish first overall to wear the series crown. In each of the four previous seasons under the first-to-the-finish format for the playoffs finale, the title winner has also been the race winner.

The championship contenders will be competing against a full field, but if Sunday’s race holds true to history, the four should find themselves running in close formation at the front. Those tell-tale stats would suggest the same.

“It would be odd if you saw these cars and teams run 10th, 11th, and 12th all day or 13th,” Logano said. “It’s not going to happen. Everyone is bringing the best of the best. These are the best teams of the season. The pit crews are on it. The teams have been massaging these cars and getting everything they can out of it. It’s the best of the best.

“We should be out there racing for the win. Not to say other teams won’t be. They’ll be there for sure, but it would take a weird occasion for something different to happen.”

Posted on by Jessica Ruffin

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Martin Truex Jr. hasn’t forgotten about that heated last lap with Joey Logano at Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 28.

He said he’ll race him differently than Championship 4 drivers Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick in Sunday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway (3 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). But the question remains, would he move Logano out of the way for the lead with the title on the line?

RELATED: Logano’s tangles with the ‘Big 3’ | Why Truex will win the title 

“Absolutely,” Truex said on Thursday at Championship 4 Media Day. “I have a free pass, he already told me that. Told me it’s fair game, so here we go.”

The two may have different interpretations of their conversation following Logano’s bump on Truex that awarded Logano’s No. 22 the race win and an automatic Championship 4 berth.

“I didn’t tell him that,” Logano said with a slight laugh when asked if Truex had a pass to knock him out of the way for the lead.

“I said, ‘Hey, I expect to get raced the way I race people and I’m a hard racer and I expect to get raced hard,” he continued. “I’ve said it before, we didn’t crash each other, I didn’t crash him. I moved him up enough to have a drag race. … there’s so much on the line in these situations and if you don’t make a move like that, you’re going to go back to your race team and I know if I worked on that car, I’d be mad.

“I’d say, ‘Why didn’t you at least try to win?’”

MORE: Breaking down the Championship 4 | Strengths, weaknesses for title contenders

The Logano incident is not at the front of Truex’s mind heading into the weekend, as he looks to defend his 2017 title. But with the chaotic nature of the NASCAR Playoffs, it may end up playing a role.

“I’m not approaching this race any differently because of that,” Truex said. “… But I’ll still remember what happened and I’ll use it to my advantage this weekend.”

Posted on by Pat DeCola

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of four stories examining why each driver could win the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship. 

RECAP: Kevin Harvick | Martin Truex Jr. | Kyle Busch

• • •

Joey Logano will win the 2018 championship because … 

He will do whatever it takes to make it happen, and deal with the consequences later.

Logano is arguably the nicest guy in the sport outside the car — Nielsen’s fan-perception measurement ratings have him ranked as the most “wholesome” of the Championship 4 — but behind the wheel, with the helmet on … well, he has a way of getting under the skin of his competitors. And then taking advantage.

Now, the rest of the Championship 4 is comprised of some of the most headstrong drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, but Logano has had fiery run-ins with all three of them over the years. They would love nothing more than to win the championship, but seeing Joey Logano lose, well, that’s gotta be a close second for Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr.

MORE: Analysis of Logano’s ‘Big 3’ run-ins

That plays directly into Logano’s hands, as any one of the three of them could be over-aggressive in their quest to see him fail rather than them succeeding.

But even still — it’s not like Logano absolutely needs the “Big 3” to falter. He has the ability, car and momentum to beat them outright — something that would have seemed far-fetched to consider during the first half of the season.

Nobody in the series could keep up with the Nos. 4, 18 and 78 the first 64 percent of the season, as the trio combined for a ridiculous 17 race wins in the first 23 events.

Since then, Logano has not only kept up with them, he’s been flat-out better, at a time that counts more.

RELATED: Joey and Brittany through the years

Logano crashed out at Watkins Glen, finishing dead last, but in the 13 races since he’s averaged a finish of 8.77. Take out the wreck at Phoenix this past weekend, in a race that didn’t matter for him, and that number shrinks to a minuscule 6.42.

Over that same time span, his competitors fared worse, posting numbers below their respective season-long averages — Harvick (10.08/9.0), Busch (10.46/8.4), Truex (14.15/11.0).

It’s no secret the ‘Big 3’ has tailed off a bit to close the season, while Logano and his No. 22 team have gotten consistently stronger.

At exactly the right time.

Posted on by Staff Report

This week, Donut Media and NASCAR are partnering for exclusive racing content. Today: Everything you need to know about Richard Petty.

CATCH UP: NASCAR week on Donut Media

It’s NASCAR week on Donut Media, a week in which the car culture brand will celebrate and explore NASCAR’s roots and personalities as only Donut Media can.

Thursday’s offering is profile-style look at Richard Petty. Yes, “The King” gets an episode to himself, and the Donut guys do justice to his life and legacy in NASCAR.

All of the key stats are there and examined: Petty’s seven premier series championships, his staggering 200 wins, his place in the sport as a member of the Petty family. Mixed in with the current footage from Donut is historical footage from the 1959 Daytona 500 — which his father, Lee Petty, won in a photo finish — as well as shots of a young Richard putting in engines and wandering through the garages, racing on the roads near his home with family.

Ever heard the story, by the way, on why Petty chose No. 43 as his car number, or the origins of the famous “Petty Blue” hue that covered his cars? All of that, plus much more, is covered in the video below.

Want more from Donut Media on car culture, motorsports … even car pranks?

Subscribe on YouTube, and keep an eye out this week for more exclusive NASCAR content.

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NASCAR President Steve Phelps hears the talk around mid-week races and more short-track events. He’s open to both of them.

“Right now, we’re kind of caucusing the industry, getting different data points,” Phelps told NASCAR Digital Media in a sitdown earlier this month. “So, what would fans like to see? What would our broadcast partners like to see? What would our race tracks look like, what would they like to see? Our teams, where would be the best racing? … There are dollar and cents things there as well that we have to take into consideration.

“But with that said, we have all kinds of things that are on the table. And those things might be trying to condense the season, pull the season back … could you look at doing a mid-week event? And then other things that we hear from fans a lot (are) more short tracks, more road courses. Fewer races at two tracks.

“So, there’s a lot that’s going to go into it, and I think there will be some changes that we will make for 2020. I think there will be further changes as we head into the future in 2021 and beyond.”

As a Burlington, Vermont, native who grew up attending local races, Phelps understands the fans’ desire for the elements of grassroots racing that built NASCAR. The key, he said, is to be cautious with how the sanctioning body approaches changes, likening it to the “less is more” theory.

He used the recent thriller at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s road course and dramatic ending at Martinsville Speedway with Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. to illustrate his point.

“I, and many others, had great anticipation for the Roval. It didn’t disappoint,” Phelps said. “I’m excited it’s back on the (2019) schedule. The Martinsville finish — unless you’re Martin Truex and his fan base — it was a fantastic race with an incredible finish that kind of personifies our type of racing.

“With that said, we have to be cautious that, in 2020 or 2021, all the tracks that have a road course inside of them, (saying) ‘Hey, let’s do all rovals all the time with those tracks.’ There’s a special-ness that came with the Roval, right? There’s a special-ness that comes with not always doing short tracks. There’s a specialness that comes when you go to Sonoma, when you go to Watkins Glen.

“I’m not suggesting we’re not going to have more of them, I actually think we will. … When we first raced at Eldora, everyone was like, ‘Oh my God. It’s dirt all the time, let’s go.’ And I think that there’s a special-ness to Eldora. So, I think we just have to be cautious that in some cases, more is actually not more. And sometimes the special-ness of it is something that we have to embrace. … That’s what makes our racing so great. Every time you go to a race track, it’s going to be different.”

The Camping World Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway to which Phelps alluded is one of the few mid-week events on the schedule. There currently are no Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series or Xfinity Series races held from Monday-Thursday.

Mid-week racing is an area that Phelps is exploring for the future (as the 2019 schedule is already set), calling it a “great option” for the right race tracks.

“We need to be smart with when we’re racing,” he said. “We need to maximize the schedule from not only a fan perspective at the race track, but a fan perspective that’s watching. … Something special like a Wednesday night race or a Thursday night race, we think has some value.”

Posted on by Jordan Bianchi

There are innumerable factors that will go into deciding the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway (at 3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). One element that will not play a role, however, is experience; or a lack thereof among the four teams vying for the title.

Each driver who’s qualified for the Playoffs Championship 4 round is no stranger to the pressure they’ll face this weekend, having been in this same situation multiple times. Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick are each making their fourth appearance in the title-deciding race, while Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. are both in their third final.

And the experience extends beyond just the drivers, but to their respective crew chiefs as well. Todd Gordon (Logano), Cole Pearn (Truex) and Adam Stevens (Busch) have been paired with their driver for every Championship 4 berth they’ve earned. They are well acclimated to the ins and outs of a weekend that can often feel like an emotional rollercoaster where every decision is scrutinized.

“The first time into it in 2014, you didn’t know,” said Gordon regarding his mindset entering a best-finish-wins-the-championship race. “It was a new format. You didn’t know how to handle it or how the weekend was going to go.

“There was a lot more anxiety, I think, into the ’14 race, and the fear of the unknown. I think ’16 we raced into that race and just felt like we needed to handle it like the other races and continue to work forward, and I thought that was a decent approach to the weekend. I thought we were very competitive.  I thought we were in a position that we could race for the championship late with 20 [laps] to go.”

Gordon, Pearn and Stevens each say their past experiences will help mitigate any challenges they’ll face at Homestead, whether in practice, qualifying, or the race itself. Essentially a “been there, done that” mindset where you try to ignore what is at stake.

“We tried to make this weekend as normal as we can in how we approach the weekend,” Gordon said.

And though this is the first go-round in the Championship 4 for Harvick’s crew chief, Tony Gibson, it’s not as if he’s some green newbie who will be overwhelmed by the moment. Gibson, in fact, has been a crew chief in more Cup races (441) than Gordon (247), Pearn (142) or Stevens (138), and he guided Kurt Busch to victory in the Daytona 500 last season.

Gibson finds himself leading Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team because of a rules violation found on Harvick’s winning car at Texas Motor Speedway. That earned Rodney Childers, Harvick’s crew chief since 2014, a two-race suspension and pressed SHR to tab Gibson in relief.

“My biggest fear is just making the wrong call or doing the wrong thing,” Gibson said. “I want those guys to be proud of me. Like I told Rodney, I just want to do you a good job and hope you can be proud of me.”

The 54-year-old veteran crew chief proved his mettle during the Round of 8 elimination race last Sunday at ISM Raceway. Harvick was leading the race when a punctured tire necessitated an unscheduled, green-flag pit stop that could’ve derailed his title hopes. Gibson calmly called for a two-tire stop that kept Harvick from falling too far behind, then used his strategy to get his driver back in contention.

Harvick rallied to finish fifth, a good enough result to claim the last transfer position.

“When I called for those two tires this past weekend, the first thing I thought about, ‘Man, did I just mess up here? Did that one decision I made put everybody in a bad spot and could this be the end of it?” Gibson said. “But sometimes you have to make calls from your gut and you worry about what happens later.”

The challenge all four crew chiefs will face this weekend is trying to treat this race like any other when it is actually anything but. That is easier said than done, though having been in this position before certainly helps.

“The first year for us we really didn’t know what to expect or what we were getting into, and we came away with a lot of learning to do from that,” Pearn said. “I think even in ’16 when we didn’t make it, we prepared as though we were going to make it and felt a lot more prepared when we got there last year.

“We’re just trying to continue to build on the things that we felt like we didn’t do right last year. And hopefully, make gains on those and be in better shape this time.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Hunter Mullins earned himself a win and $10,000 in the NASCAR Heat Champions Road to Miami Finals on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The Virginia native took the lead on the final restart and held off the competition to win the inaugural NASCAR Heat Champions Road to Miami.

“The adrenaline was rushing, but once I got out front, I knew it was over and could finally breathe,” Mullins said. “Couldn’t be any better.”

After a weekend of preparation, the 12-driver field took part in a thrilling 40-lap battle to see who would leave as champion. Not only were bragging rights on the line, but so was more than $15,000 in cash and prizes.

The finale featured six caution flags and numerous passes for the lead, but race favorite Mullins was not to be denied.

“That last restart there, everybody is trying to get everything they can get. If you see a hole, you’re going to take it and that’s just what happened,” Mullins said. “The 9 — he was in front of me, I got into his bumper and pushed him up the track and I got a run and that was it.”

Mullins has been honing his skills for nearly a decade, and it ultimately came to fruition on the same day his favorite driver started from pole in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship race.

“I grew up watching (Denny Hamlin) with Late Models and at Martinsville Speedway, my cousin races in it,” Mullins added. “They ran side-by-side for almost a 100 straight laps and it was awesome to watch.”

—

NASCAR Heat 3 is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Steam. Fans can download a free trial of the hit game here.

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Posted on by Zack Albert

Dale Earnhardt Jr. came up with the phrase a little more than two years ago to describe Joey Logano and his aggressive style. The “Sliced Bread” handle that fit Logano as a stock-car prodigy was making way for its successor as the driver found his way into contention more frequently — often by bruising his way there.

According to Earnhardt, “Sliced Bread” had become a “Gremlin.” It’s a telling characteristic that the rest of the Championship 4 know all too well.

Logano will vie again for his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM), matching wits with veterans Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. — all one-time champs who have tasted the title within the last five years. The other common thread for that trio: On-track run-ins over the years with a feisty Logano that didn’t quite ignite full-fledged rivalries, but set a tone of irritation with how they sometimes competed.

STATS: Best Championship 4 ever

Truex’s complaint with Logano is the most recent. Just three races ago, Logano clinched his spot among the championship contenders at Truex’s expense, executing a patented bump-and-run tactic on the final lap at Martinsville Speedway. The purposeful nudge prompted pointed words from the defending series champ, who hinted at payback — or at least a no-slack approach to their future battles — in post-race interviews.

Logano’s past transgressions with Busch run back to last year’s season-ending event and beyond. In the 2017 finale, Busch took issue with Logano’s blocking technique as Truex scooted away to the title. The year before, Busch took a swing at Logano after last-lap contact at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, touching off a scrum that required crewmembers to separate them.

The history for Logano and Harvick dates back further, with one galvanizing highlight. In 2010 at Pocono Raceway, Harvick brushed Logano into a long slide that knocked him from contention, leading to a heated post-race jawing match on pit road afterward. Logano punctuated it with a barb directed to Harvick’s wife, DeLana, about who wore the fire suit in the family. At the time, DeLana Harvick was a fixture atop the pit box in a full-logo driver’s suit.

Has time healed the wounds? In some cases, yes, but in others, not so much. But no matter the rules of engagement among the four title hopefuls, the gremlin-like tendencies have created a polarizing fervor in the fan response to the driver of the Team Penske No. 22.

RELATED: Logano feels like the favorite

In the weeks since the Truex incident at Martinsville, the crowd reaction for Logano during pre-race driver introductions has been mixed at best, with a flurry of boos at worst. His crew chief, Todd Gordon, has heard the reaction, adopting an old Dale Earnhardt mantra — as long as they’re reacting, you’re doing something right.

“You know, at the end of a day, if you’re up there and you have noise being made, I think it means that you’re doing the right things and you’re being competitive, because your fans are very passionately cheering you,” Gordon said, “But the fans of … you have 39 competitors that their fans probably, if you’re very successful and you’re competitive, they’re going to make noise in the opposite direction.

“You know, volume speaks for what you’re able to accomplish, not necessarily the words that come out of it.”

Posted on by Staff Report

One team in each of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series were cited for safety violations following NASCAR’s tripleheader weekend at ISM Raceway.

Per section 10.9.10.4 of the NASCAR Rule Book, the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Monster Energy Series driver Ryan Newman had one lug nut not secure in post-race inspection. Crew chief Luke Lambert was fined $10,000. Newman finished 11th in Sunday’s Can-Am 500.

The No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet of Xfinity Series driver Tyler Reddick also was penalized for a lug nut violation. Crew chief David Elenz was fined $5,000. Reddick finished sixth in Saturday’s Whelen Trusted to Perform 200. He is one of four drivers vying for the Xfinity Series championship this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.