Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: France talks business, family at conference


HOMESTEAD, Fla. — NASCAR Chairman & CEO Brian France reaffirmed his endorsement of stock-car racing’s postseason format Sunday, saying he “wouldn’t change a thing” about the spirited competition created by the elimination system.


France’s remarks came Sunday in his annual “State of the Sport” question-and-answer session at Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) that will determine the champion of its premier series.


NASCAR adopted the 10-race Chase playoff system for its top division in 2004. After 10 seasons of determining a series champion by cumulative points in the postseason, NASCAR competition officials introduced the current format with three rounds of eliminations and a four-driver championship shootout in the season finale.


That format was adopted this year by NASCAR’s other two national tours, a move that France said produced worthy champions this weekend in Daniel Suarez (XFINITY Series) and Johnny Sauter (Camping World Truck Series).


“That’s a big deal for auto racing. We’re bold enough to do that,” France said. “Anywhere in the world, that doesn’t always happen. Our drivers have been great because it requires a different mindset to compete at this level. They’re up to it. They may have had some reservations early on, but they’re up to it, so it’s great.”


France also addressed potential enhancements to the postseason structure, including the notion of greater incentives or rewards for regular-season performance.


“I think that’s a fair thing for us to consider, to make sure that the regular season is as important as it is,” France said. “So I don’t know exactly how we’ll do that, but we’ll look at that.”


MORE: Suarez makes history | Sauter claims Truck Series title

Among the other topics discussed in France’s 17-minute interview session:

 

— France lauded Sprint, the outgoing sponsor for NASCAR’s premier series, for its contributions over a 13-year association with the sport. The chairman and CEO said the search and negotiations for a new entitlement sponsor were ongoing.

 

“It’s taken a little longer than I thought, but it’s also a big agreement and an important agreement,” France said. “It’s not just dollars and cents, but it’s a fit for us. We don’t want to announce anything certainly around this weekend. We’re in a good spot with that, I believe, but we’ll have to see how it finally plays out.”

 

— France singled out Suarez’s accomplishments in clinching his first national series title as an affirmation of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity efforts.

 

“We’re very proud that it validates our diversity plan in a significant way,” France said. “All kinds of conversations on what we’ve said through the years is these things take time to find the kind of talent that can actually compete at a high level on the biggest stages, and he’s done that.”

 

MORE: Suarez’s road to title

 

— Regarding the charter system that NASCAR introduced this season in the hopes of providing team owners a return on their investment in the sport, France said that completing the deal during the offseason was part of a longer process.

 

“The things that we’re going to be able to do are going to take many, many years to achieve our end goal,” he said, “which is to really lower costs in the industry by working with our interests better aligned with the teams, that’s number one, which will affect their values going forward.”

 

— France said that recent guidelines designed to limit premier series drivers’ participation in XFINITY and Truck Series competition were a welcome addition to the NASCAR Rule Book. The rules, introduced last month ahead of the 2017 season, took effect to a lesser degree in those series’ finales this weekend, something France said worked “on a lot of different fronts.”

 

“Cup drivers obviously were able to compete in events, but you saw the championship get settled down to the series participants,” France said. “I think it worked perfectly. We talked about it for a long time. I’m glad we did it.”

MORE: Specifics on new guidelines

Posted on by George Winkler

RELATED: Chase Grid

The Championship 4 is finally here, or, if you’re more like me, it’s hard to believe it’s already here and another season is about to be put in the books. How will the final chapter read when it’s written on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway?

Will the story be Jimmie Johnson tying Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt with his seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship?

Will it be Carl Edwards, vindicating himself after falling short to Tony Stewart in 2011 and cementing his status as Hall of Fame-worthy?

Or will Kyle Busch become the first back-to-back champion since Johnson reeled off five in a row from 2006-2010?

Or finally, might it be Joey Logano riding a recent hot streak and Chase excellence to his first title after disappointment the past two seasons?

It all will be decided starting at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, of course, but before that, let’s run the numbers and give you an early look at who might pen this best seller.

Like we did for previous playoff rounds, we’ll look at results for average finish, then move on to laps led before unveiling the final prediction:

Average Finish

Rank Driver Points
1. Joey Logano 10
T-2. Kyle Busch 7
T-2. Carl Edwards 7
4. Jimmie Johnson 6

How we got the numbers: We assigned a point value to each Chase driver relative to how he finished in each of the following categories: average finish this season, average finish in the last five races and average finish at the Championship 4 track. For example, if a driver was tops in average finish this season, he got 4 points; second place got 3 points and so on down to last place, which got one point. Then, we added up the point values each driver earned in the three categories to arrive at the above list. Here is the top driver and bottom driver in each category:

Average finish this season:
Leader: Joey Logano, 10.7
Follower: Jimmie Johnson, 14.3

Average finish last five races:
Leader: Joey Logano, 3.2
Follower: Carl Edwards, 17.4

Average finish at Championship 4 track:
Leader: Carl Edwards, 9.2
Follower: Kyle Busch, 21.1

Analysis: If you’re looking to ride the hot hand, Joey Logano is your man. He’s finished in the top three in four of the past five races and has an average finish of 3.2 in that span. … However, Logano has the best average finish for the season, too. His mark of 10.7 is slightly better than Kyle Busch‘s 11.6, so Logano has been relatively consistent. … Carl Edwards holds the edge at Miami, where he leads the Championship 4 drivers in average finish and wins with two. The glimmer of hope for the rest of the field is that Edwards did that damage a while ago with his wins coming in 2008 and 2010.

Now, let’s take a look at how the drivers fared in laps led.

Laps Led

Rank Driver Points
1. Carl Edwards 9
2. Kyle Busch 8
3. Jimmie Johnson 7
4. Joey Logano 6

How we got the numbers: Same as with average finish, we assigned a point value to each Chase driver relative to how he finished in each of the following categories: laps led this season, laps led in the last five races and laps led at the Championship 4 track. Then, we added up the point values to arrive at the above list. Here is the top driver and bottom driver in each category:

Laps led this season:
Leader: Kyle Busch, 1,378
Follower: Joey Logano, 697

Laps led last five races:
Leader: Joey Logano, 304
Follower: Kyle Busch, 7

Laps led at Championship 4 track:
Leader: Carl Edwards, 568
Follower: Joey Logano, 72

Analysis: Kyle Busch hasn’t been out front much lately, but for the season his car has arguably been the best. He might be the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing who’s ready to pounce on the other Championship 4 competitors now that Miami has arrived. Plus, he was the fastest in qualifying among the Chase drivers. … This isn’t the seven Jimmie Johnson wants, as in seven points for his stats in laps led. So in order for Johnson to win his seventh title on Sunday, he’ll need to buck the statistical trends, like having the second-fewest laps led this season and at Homestead among the Chase drivers.

FINAL PREDICTION

Rank Driver Points
T-1. Joey Logano 16
T-1. Carl Edwards 16
3. Kyle Busch 15
4. Jimmie Johnson 13

Final prediction: For the first time since we’ve been doing the predictions, there’s a tie at the top — and either way, it appears as though there will be a first-time winner who gets crowned on Sunday. But this isn’t the NFL where ties are allowed, so let’s break away from the formula briefly and just make a call.

Edwards has the history behind him at Miami and has shown speed this weekend. However, he has the worst average finish in the past five races and his win at Texas saved him from a 36th-place finish at Martinsville.

For Logano, he’s been hot lately but has the worst history at Miami with the fewest laps led among the Championship 4 drivers.

As far as intangibles, Edwards has a slightly better pit crew, but he might feel more pressure to overcome what happened in 2011. Plus, this is a numbers column, so we’re not keen on using intangibles as a big factor.

Sentimentally, I’d like to see Edwards win because he’s from the same town where I went to college. But in the numbers game, one must be heartless.

There’s no denying that Logano has run up front more in recent races, has led more laps recently and has been more dominant overall. So despite Edwards’ edge in history, the pick is for Logano to write a new chapter of history on Sunday that includes capping the “Golden Year” of 50 for Team Penske.

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Results | Chase Grid | End-of-season standings


HOMESTEAD, Fla. — The three championship-eligible drivers who didn’t hoist the XFINITY Series trophy Saturday evening stood on Homestead-Miami Speedway‘s pit road looking both perplexed and disappointed.


A restart with three laps remaining bogged down the field and allowed Daniel Suarez to emerge from the front-running pack of contenders and race off to the win and his first NASCAR championship — a first for a Latin American driver.


RELATED: The road to a title | Community reacts to Suarez’s win


For that final restart Cole Whitt, who had run mid-pack all night, stayed off pit road to inherit the lead once the race returned to green. However, he spun his tires and was unable to accelerate, affecting Suarez’s competition as they were lined up behind Whitt’s struggling No. 14.


“I’d love to hear an explanation from him and the crew chief,” said Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones, who finished ninth after getting caught up behind Whitt. “It just didn’t make any sense. Staying out there on old tires with the four championship guys right behind. I’d love to hear why he didn’t go in the restart. There’s a lot of questions I’d like to have answered.”


The other XFINITY Series championship-eligible drivers, Elliott Sadler (who finished third) and Justin Allgaier (who finished sixth), were similarly frustrated with the situation.


For his part, Whitt told reporters in the XFINITY Series garage his team didn’t have any more tires left to change and that he tried to move out of the way of the title contenders on the restart.


“It’s as simple as the fact that we just didn’t have any tires,” said Whitt, who finished 18th. “We didn’t expect everybody to come in like that, and I was like, I knew this was going to be a handful.


“I thought if I was on the outside I would have the most room for them to go underneath me if anything happened and I couldn’t get going. With him (Sadler) hitting me, I couldn’t get going and it was just making me spin the tires worse. Obviously if you could redo it, you would change the way you did it. It’s not like we were out there to screw anybody over.”


RELATED: Sadler: ‘It’s heartbreaking’


It was of little consolation to the three championship runners-up, who all were among the top six on the final restart.


Suarez was behind Sadler on the older tires and able to get around quickly to take off for the flag. Both Jones and Allgaier were caught up behind Whitt’s slower car.


“The dejection of knowing the race came down to three laps. …” Allgaier said, after taking a few private moments to digest the outcome.

WATCH: Allgaier upbeat despite loss


“That call (by Whitt’s team) may work at Daytona and Talladega or somewhere and put you in a good spot but tonight, with what was at stake with all four of us going to restart in the top-five … the battle for the championship was going to be epic. It’s a shame.


“Tonight doesn’t define our season, though. These guys at JR Motorsports have done an amazing job all year long. To come down to this moment is so disappointing. We all held our heads really high that we were able to make the final four and to come into here with the great opportunity to fight for the championship.”


MORE: Whitt explains his side of things


After having a few minutes to digest the situation, Sadler explained that the toughest part of the night was finishing as XFINITY Series championship runner-up for the third time in his career (2011 and 2012) after being ranked either first or second in the standings for all but one week this season. But he insisted he will leave South Florida more encouraged.


“From (his team owners) Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) and Kelley (Earnhardt Miller) all the way down through everybody in the shop, they work their butts off to make sure we had a legitimate shot at holding up that trophy tonight, and that’s what hurts the most is you don’t know until the checkered flag if you’re going to hold the trophy or not,” Sadler said.


“It’s just part of this format, but it’s great for the fans. I think it’s great for our sport. It shows a lot of emotion and I think tonight’s race played out the way it should be. But all four of us really raced hard with each other up front and Daniel just got the better of us tonight.”


Posted on by Holly Cain

MORE: Drivers give best Stewart stories | 14 Days of Smoke

 

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — The fans were gathered four and five deep around Tony Stewart‘s garage stall at Homestead-Miami Speedway following Saturday’s opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice. Some posed for photos at the rear of Stewart’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, others stood farther back shouting encouragement toward “The People’s Champion” as he is affectionately known.

 

When Stewart left the garage to walk to his motorhome, the huge swarm surrounded him and walked, too. People young and old stretched and contorted to get alongside the three-time NASCAR champ as he walked away. Two even followed in motorized wheelchairs. Dozens asked for autographs and photographs, dropping out of the mobile mob one-by-one and flashing wide grins as Stewart acknowledged their well wishes or signed a photo.

 

Despite the crowd, Stewart never stopped moving forward. And, he has promised, that will continue in all ways.

 

His impending retirement from Sprint Cup Series racing following Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 will mark the end of an 18-year stock car career that has earned the 45-year old three premier series championships and 49 victories — including one this season at Sonoma Raceway. He is a certain first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Famer.

 

But Stewart has steadfastly maintained climbing out of the driver’s seat is not so much an ending as another beginning. He will still be around.

 

And while others may be getting emotional, Stewart appears to be, quite literally, taking it all in stride.

 

“I don’t know that I’m really going to miss anything because you know the great thing is I still get to see the people and be around the people,” said Stewart, who will remain active in NASCAR in his job as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. “That is probably the best part of the whole deal. I’m still going to be around the sport. I’m still going to be active. If you don’t think being an owner is competitive I can show you a bunch of different cases where it’s competitive being an owner. 

 

“That part of it is not going to change, so I don’t think I’m going to miss a lot.” 

 

Then came that trademark Stewart snark.

 

“The thing that I’m not going to miss is 9 a.m. practices on Saturday morning,” he added with a grin. “So, I never have to get up for a 9 a.m. practice ever again.”

 

Stewart certainly seemed to be taking his final race weekend in stride, alternating between work — he advanced to the final round of qualifying and will start his final race 11th — and taking in the handshakes, pats on the back and loud cheers he is receiving with every step around the track.

 

He is unable to walk two feet without another race official, fellow driver or adoring fan approaching to offer a “Good luck” and a “Thank you.”

 

On Friday, more than a hundred fans gathered to look at a Stewart show car, positioned for a photo in Homestead-Miami Speedway‘s Victory Lane.

 

When Stewart finally appeared an hour later, more than 60 crew members from the garage — some now sporting Roush Fenway Racing shirts, others from Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing — were there … all people who worked with Stewart at some point in his NASCAR career.

 

Nearly 30 drivers in Sunday’s Sprint Cup season finale have presented Stewart a helmet. One of them is from Sunday’s championship contender Carl Edwards, who gave Stewart the helmet Edwards wore in 2011 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Stewart won the race and also the title in a tiebreaker with Edwards. Many consider it the greatest title run of Stewart’s career.

 

MORE: Edwards gives personal retirement gift to Stewart

 

Michele DeBoer, 49, stood in the garage across from Stewart’s stall, decked out in a No. 14 T-shirt. She has special and specific clothing to wear in his honor for every day of the race weekend. She made the trip to Homestead from New Jersey to honor Stewart in his final start, after first “adopting” him way back in 1999 when the then-rookie Stewart drove a Home Depot-sponsored car. She was an associate for the store at the time and had never really followed the sport until she started following Stewart.

 

DeBoer and her sister saved up for this trip to South Florida so she could be a part of Stewart’s goodbye. They even booked their return flight for Tuesday instead of Monday, just in case weather delayed the race. Seeing Stewart off is that important.

 

And they are not alone.

 

“I think it was his smirk that got me; I love it,” DeBoer recalled of pledging her Stewart allegiance nearly two decades ago. “I love his feistiness, his passion for doing whatever you have to do to win. No other driver seems to have it like Tony. I know every race, he can come from 40th place and still win.

 

“I’m happy for him,” DeBoer said, smiling even as a tear started to roll down her face. “I’m glad he’s retiring from NASCAR when he wants to. He’s ready. I’m not.

 

Stewart’s longtime friend, former crew chief and SHR’s current director of competition Greg Zipadelli, said he understands the sentiment. He has worked alongside Stewart for many of the past 18 years — at both Joe Gibbs Racing and now at SHR.

 

Standing in the garage Saturday morning, Zipadelli conceded he hadn’t truly thought of the finality of Stewart’s retirement from Cup competition until he and his wife Nan talked about it on the drive from the airport earlier this week.

 

“At that point, it became real to me, how much has happened,” Zipadelli said. “For me, I still think he is one of the greatest. I still think he could do it. I understand, he’s tired of certain things and wants to move on and enjoy his life.

 

“You live a lot of your life here. You enjoy what you do. But he wants to dirt race, there’s a lot of things he hasn’t been able to do and now he will be able to do. From that standpoint, I think he’s making the right decision for himself and at the end of the day, it’s all about himself, not everybody else. You have to take care of yourself.

 

“At his age, where he’s at, he’s still good enough to do what he wants and be competitive at it. My hat’s off to him. I respect him for doing what he feels is right, not what everyone else would like him to do.”

Stewart’s own father, Nelson, couldn’t agree more. Having brought Stewart into the sport as a young boy and watched him win championships in open-wheel racing from IndyCars to the Triple Crown of midgets, Silver Crown and sprints to being crowned one of NASCAR’s very best three different times.

 

“It’s sentimental, but it’s not sad for me because I want him to be happy,” Nelson Stewart said. “Anybody that has kids, that is the main thing, you want your kids to be happy. And I want to see him happy. He’s had hell for the last three years and I just want to see him happy. So if that’s what he wants to do — I don’t care if he wants to go snow skiing — that’s the way I feel. He has nothing to prove to anybody and he’s done practically everything. I just want him to go and enjoy himself.”

 

In a way, Nelson Stewart says, it couldn’t be more fitting than having Stewart end his career at the venue where he capped one of the most amazing championship runs in the sport’s history.

 

However, Stewart’s final corner pass to win his last race (at Sonoma) will always hold a special place in his father’s heart.

 

“That, to me, was closure for the last three years,” Nelson Stewart said, referring to severe injuries and off-track incidents Stewart has suffered through, forcing him to miss races in three of the past four seasons. “That’s what it was, more than a victory to me. And right where I was standing in the pits, right across on track, is where Tony passed Denny (Hamlin) back for the win. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

 

It is touchingly ironic that for such an accomplished and celebrated champion, Stewart will be remembered as much for his generosity, kindness and sense of humor.

 

Yes, Stewart still bristles about not winning a Daytona 500 or Southern 500 trophy, but that disappointment gives way to a sense of great satisfaction for an incredible career and fortunate standing as one of NASCAR’s best ever.

“In a perfect world, yes, I would have loved to be able to cross those off the list,” Stewart said. “But at the same time, I look at the big picture and it was pretty damn cool to just have the opportunity to go race those races. I still feel like it was winning that first Brickyard 400. I would say that is probably top of the list and I think this race in 2011, I don’t know how you can top that either.

 

“I think there are always points in everybody’s life you wish you had done something a little bit different. I’ve had a lot of those moments for sure that if I could go back and redo it I would love to do it over again. 

 

“I think how everything shook out at the end, I’m pretty proud of that and happy about it.”

 

And truly, how could you ask for anything more?

 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Race results


Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Complete results | Chase Grid
SHOP: Champion gear

A 6.6-second, two-tire pit stop for Chase driver Elliott Sadler put him on the front row for the final restart in Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 300 XFINITY finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. But when first-place Cole Whitt failed to get going at the drop of the green flag, Daniel Suarez whipped around for the lead, his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota holding on for the win and earning the 2016 XFINITY Series championship.

 

Suarez, 24, led 133 laps en route to his third career XFINITY Series win, becoming the first Latin American driver to win a NASCAR national series title.

 

“It’s very hard to put into words,” Suarez said. “I’m speechless right now. I’m just very proud of everyone and thankful to have the family that I have — my mom, my dad. They gave me all the tools to be here right now. They put me in a car even when we didn’t have the support or the racing background. They supported me, and right now we are just living a dream.”

The highest-running non-Chase driver, Richard Childress Racing‘s Ty Dillon, led 17 laps to earn a runner-up result, while Sadler’s two-tire gamble allowed him to finish third. Team Penske‘s Ryan Blaney, vying for an owner championship, came up fourth and RCR’s Austin Dillon rounded out the top five in his No. 2 Chevrolet.

The two other Chase competitors — Justin Allgaier in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and Erik Jones in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota — finished sixth and ninth, respectively. The duo put together an impressive battle for the win in the final 20 laps of the race.

 

Suarez was leading fellow Championship 4 contender and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Erik Jones by less than three car-lengths when Ray Black Jr. spun off Turn 4 to bring out the seventh and final caution on Lap 190.
 
Under the yellow on Lap 193, lead-lap cars came to pit road for tires, but the No. 14 Toyota of Whitt stayed on the track on old tires and inherited the lead, while Sadler’s two-tire stop put the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet on the inside of the front row.
 
Coming to the green on Lap 198, Whitt stalled out in the top lane, pinning Jones behind him and costing him any shot at the championship. Suarez rocketed past Sadler into Turn 1 and pulled away for the victory and the championship.
 
“I should have made a better block on Daniel,” Sadler said ruefully. “We didn’t know that 14 would stay out and jumble up that restart like that. I wish I’d done a better job on that restart. I guess I’ll be ‘coulda, woulda, shoulda’ for a while… I knew Daniel had a better car on four tires, but I wish I could have put up a better fight.”

The Sprint Cup Series concludes the tripleheader championship weekend in Miami, as Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano battle for the 2016 Sprint Cup Series title on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET (NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Practice 3 results| 10-lap averages

Martin Truex topped the leaderboard in Saturday’s final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway at 174.289 mph in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota.


Carl Edwards was right off his pace, leading the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup contingent at 174.031 mph, good for second overall on the leaderboard. 


Edwards’ Chase competitors were a little off the pace in the session, seeing Joey Logano place eighth at 171.832 mph, Jimmie Johnson 10th at 171.587 mph and Edwards’ Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch 14th at 170.924 mph.


Early in the session, Johnson ran over a bit of debris to bring out the caution. His No. 48 Chevrolet wasn’t severely impacted.

Rounding out the top five were Ryan Newman in the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, AJ Allmendinger in the No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Racing Chevrolet and Chase Elliott in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. 

All that’s left now is the race. Tune in Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App (MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) to watch the Ford EcoBoost 400 unfold, and a champion crowned.

PRACTICE 2 | Results

Jimmie Johnson led the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice on Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, driving a fast lap of 174.345 mph in the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson found speed early in the second-to-last session before Sunday’s Championship 4 race, the Ford EcoBoost 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Johnson will compete against three other drivers to try to win a record-tying seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title. Of those drivers, Carl Edwards was the quickest in Saturday’s practice, wheeling his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to third place at 172.949 mph.

Joey Logano and Kyle Busch, the other Championship 4 contestants, were sixth and 28th, respectively, in the 55-minute session on the 1.5-mile track in South Florida. Busch ran 22 laps, which was fewest among the remaining Chase drivers.

Rounding out the top five were Chase Elliott in second in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Trevor Bayne in fourth place in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford and Ryan Blaney in fifth place in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford.


Posted on by Staff Report

Practice 1

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 4 Kevin Harvick 1 10 168.283
2 13 Casey Mears 1 10 166.757
3 44 Brian Scott # 1 10 166.697
4 18 Kyle Busch (C) 12 21 163.957


Practice 2

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 19 Carl Edwards (C) 1 10 169.062
2 11 Denny Hamlin 1 10 168.589
3 24 Chase Elliott # 1 10 168.260
4 31 Ryan Newman 1 10 168.054
5 88 Alex Bowman(i) 1 10 168.027
6 1 Jamie McMurray 1 10 167.422
7 27 Paul Menard 1 10 167.256
8 4 Kevin Harvick 16 25 167.096
9 3 Austin Dillon 1 10 166.922
10 18 Kyle Busch (C) 1 10 166.789
11 2 Brad Keselowski 1 10 166.721
12 42 Kyle Larson 11 20 166.276
13 20 Matt Kenseth 11 20 166.014
14 21 * Ryan Blaney # 19 28 166.005
15 23 David Ragan 1 10 165.377
16 59 Michael McDowell 1 10 165.203
17 14 Tony Stewart 23 32 164.652
18 43 Aric Almirola 14 23 164.576
19 49 * Matt DiBenedetto(i) 1 10 164.574
20 44 Brian Scott # 22 31 164.428
21 38 Landon Cassill 1 10 164.289
22 47 AJ Allmendinger 20 29 163.985
23 15 Clint Bowyer 8 17 162.795
24 55 * Reed Sorenson 1 10 161.831
25 13 Casey Mears 14 23 161.127
26 83 Jeffrey Earnhardt # 19 28 159.321



Practice 3

Pos

Car

Driver

From Lap

To Lap

Avg Speed

1

4

Kevin Harvick

1

10

168.286

2

42

Kyle Larson

1

10

167.618

3

21

* Ryan Blaney #

1

10

167.097

4

3

Austin Dillon

3

12

165.807

5

19

Carl Edwards (C)

25

34

165.689

6

49

* Matt DiBenedetto(i)

2

11

165.410

7

2

Brad Keselowski

25

34

165.159

8

1

Jamie McMurray

8

17

165.088

9

48

Jimmie Johnson (C)

22

31

165.085

10

11

Denny Hamlin

22

31

164.997

11

31

Ryan Newman

22

31

164.811

12

78

Martin Truex Jr.

13

22

164.565

13

18

Kyle Busch (C)

27

36

164.504

14

41

Kurt Busch

20

29

164.445

15

27

Paul Menard

26

35

164.364

16

44

Brian Scott #

6

15

164.278

17

88

Alex Bowman(i)

20

29

164.034

18

14

Tony Stewart

30

39

163.693

19

24

Chase Elliott #

9

18

163.531

20

17

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19

28

163.360

21

22

Joey Logano (C)

24

33

163.269

22

10

Danica Patrick

14

23

163.262

23

34

Chris Buescher #

9

18

163.146

24

6

Trevor Bayne

18

27

162.796

25

38

Landon Cassill

3

12

162.791

26

59

Michael McDowell

23

32

162.515

27

15

Clint Bowyer

19

28

162.510

28

47

AJ Allmendinger

12

21

161.538

29

83

Jeffrey Earnhardt #

3

12

161.349

30

23

David Ragan

13

22

161.195

31

32

Dylan Lupton(i)

21

30

156.302

* Car must run 10 consecutive laps on the track to be included in the above chart.

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Full race results | Truck Series Chase Grid | Race recap

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Johnny Sauter remembers well the first time he talked to GMS Racing competition director Mike Beam about making a significant career change. While at the hospital for the birth of his third child in September 2015, Sauter scurried away to the parking deck for a 45-minute chat about driving for the upstart organization.


That period in Sauter’s life wound up being the rare lightning-strikes-twice instance of two life-changing events coinciding. The longtime journeyman, in the first year of his partnership with the Maurice Gallagher-owned team, realized his life’s dream Friday night by clinching his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship with a gritty third-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway.


Though the bonds forged between Sauter and GMS, like his toddler-aged daughter, are barely a year old, the team was front of mind for the veteran driver after crossing under the checkered flag. He offered a rapid succession of thank-yous over the team radio, a champion at last.


“I never thought that would happen,” Sauter radioed in during the cool-down lap. “This is because of you guys.”


Sauter made a self-described “leap of faith” in the offseason after spending seven seasons with perennial powerhouse ThorSport Racing. During his tenure with the Ohio-based organization, Sauter regularly competed for victories and finished among the top five in series points in five of those seven years.


Yet his first discussions with GMS brought newfound energy, a near-instant comfort level and confidence in the group’s dedication to building a title-contending team. Renewing his family’s long-running General Motors allegiances by shifting to a Chevrolet team was also an important motivator.


“People is a big ingredient,” Sauter said. “There’s just a lot of little things. I could sit here all night and talk about it. It’s just the whole package. I just felt very comfortable about meeting the Gallagher family. I’m not sitting up here blowing smoke, I’m telling you the truth. I felt very comfortable that night and knew that this was something I wanted to be a part of.”


For Gallagher, the move to bring Sauter to the fold was nearly two years in the making. Since the operation’s full-fledged launch in 2014, GMS Racing has fielded trucks for a host of several part-time Sprint Cup stars along with relative newcomers to the series, but the 38-year-old Sauter represented an element that was missing.


“Johnny was that kind of constant,” Gallagher said. “He shows up with that kind of experience — and I call him the old salt — and you just can’t put a price on that kind of been there, done that. He was terrific with the younger guys, and I couldn’t ask for a better teammate. It’s an investment. You do it, and you hope to have the outcome we had. You’d like to think that every investment pays off. It’s hard in this business, but this one has paid off in spades.”


The new partnership bore fruit with immediacy after a victory in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. The team then peaked in the series’ first-ever Chase postseason, with two wins in the Round of 6 clinching Sauter’s title shot in style.


Friday night’s performance, rallying from a 19th-place starting spot and outdueling former teammate Matt Crafton in a sterling battle down the stretch, represented a coronation for the 15-year veteran with experience in all three NASCAR national series. It also meant the first season-long laurels for Sauter since a championship in the former American Speed Association (ASA) AC-Delco Challenge Series in 2001. And it also signified a long-awaited celebration for a Wisconsin family with a rich devotion to racing.


“It’s all about putting the pieces of the puzzle together,” Sauter said. “Sometimes it works out, and I’ve always said, timing is everything. You know, I feel like the timing is good where I’m at right now.”