Pair of heavyweights slip as field narrows; do you agree? Make your picks on the VOTE tab!
Five-time K&N Pro Seres East winner Corey LaJoie to race at Homestead
Richard Petty Motorsports development driver Corey LaJoie will make his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut this weekend when the 22-year-old attempts to qualify for Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
RPM officials announced LaJoie, son of two-time Nationwide Series champion Randy LaJoie, will drive the No. 9 Victory Junction Ford with crew chief Mike Shiplett overseeing the effort. Shiplett is currently car chief of the No. 9 Sprint Cup team and driver Marcos Ambrose.
The organization’s No. 43 Cup pit crew will handle race-day duties on pit road.
LaJoie is a five-time winner in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East division. He has made only two starts in the series this year, however.
"I feel like I’ve been ready for this for a couple of years, but finally everything is falling into place," LaJoie said.
"I haven’t been to Homestead, but it’s a fast mile-and-a-half track like Kansas or Chicago. I know the competition will be tougher too. … I’ll be able to lean on my RPM teammates, on the Nationwide and Cup level. I’m going to soak it all in."
RPM currently fields one full-time entry in the Nationwide Series for driver Michael Annett, as well as Cup entries for Ambrose and teammate Aric Almirola.
"Everyone knows what the (Victory Junction) camp means to the Petty family," LaJoie said. "It’s an honor for me to be supporting this special place this weekend."
Beyond excited to make my @NASCAR_NNS debut @HomesteadMiami with @RPMotorsports and @VictoryJunction #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/wZjjNCPkwS
— Corey LaJoie (@CoreyLaJoie) November 12, 2013
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Crew chief Gil Martin acted as mediator during tense time
RELATED: Full Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage
The turmoil that rocked Richard Childress Racing at Martinsville Speedway last month could have easily spelled the end of Kevin Harvick‘s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title hopes.
Yet in spite of the on-track altercation between Harvick and fellow RCR driver Ty Dillon in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, and in spite of the heat-of-the-moment comments made by Harvick afterward, the No. 29 Sprint Cup Series team finds itself clinging to a shot at the championship as the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup heads to Homestead for the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400.
Harvick is third in points, trailing leader Jimmie Johnson by 34 and second-place Matt Kenseth by only six. He is the series’ most recent winner, capturing Sunday’s AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. He has two Chase wins, as do Johnson and Kenseth.
"This deal is tough enough like it is, and obviously you don’t want things like that to happen, but it did," Gil Martin, Harvick’s Sprint Cup crew chief, said of the Martinsville dust-up during a teleconference Tuesday.
"But I felt like after several phone conversations that we could get right back on track. I never had the doubt about the focus of the team or Kevin once the race started. After the race was over, I felt pretty confident that we were right back on track."
Contact from Dillon sent Harvick, driving for NTS Motorsports in the race, spinning as the two battled for second place. An angry Harvick drove into Dillon while under caution; Dillon retaliated by getting into the back of Harvick’s truck as the two headed to pit road.
"That’s exactly the reason I’m leaving RCR because you’ve got those punk-ass kids coming up," Harvick said afterward.
Dillon and older brother Austin are the grandsons of team owner Richard Childress. The two have gradually advanced through lower series before making the move into NASCAR where Austin is leading the NASCAR Nationwide Series points standings and will move to Cup in 2014 while Ty is expected to move up to Nationwide competition next year.
"The 3 just dumped me," Harvick said. "Exactly the reason why I’m leaving RCR because you’ve got those kids coming up and they’ve got no respect for what they do in this sport and they’ve had everything fed to them with a spoon."
The following morning, Harvick was apologetic, saying, "sometimes you regret the things you say for sure. Yesterday was one of them."
Martin has been with RCR since 2000, and has won races in all three major touring series. He and Harvick have been paired together, off and on, since May of 2002. With Martin atop the pit box, Harvick finished third in points in 2010 and 2011; he spent much of 2012 as director of team operations, but returned to his crew chief duties with the team in September and Harvick finished eighth in the standings.
In the aftermath of the Martinsville incident, Martin, 53, suddenly found himself trying to keep the team together and, more importantly, move forward.
"After you have something like that happen, no matter what the situation is, with two parties you’ve got to have somebody that’s a mediator. So I tried to be a mediator," he said. " … You can’t stick your head in the sand and not address it. There had to be some conversations just to get things smoothed over.
"Like it or not, in this environment there’s so much stress, so much pressure, you’re going to do and say some things in the heat of the moment … you’re going to have people who are going to try to stoke that fire and … people who are going to try to calm the waters.
"Well, we had enough people try to stoke the fire, so all I was trying to do was calm the waters, make sure that when Kevin got in the car on Sunday he knew the support was still behind him, the company was still behind him and I think Richard (Childress) relayed the same message."
Harvick will wrap up his RCR career this weekend at Homestead, a track where he’s yet to win but has often run well. In 2014, he’ll join Stewart-Haas Racing.
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American-made ethanol from American-grown corn has fueled sport since 2011; on-track emissions reduced across all three national series
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR announced today that during the NASCAR Nationwide Series™ race in Phoenix this past weekend it surpassed more than five million competition miles across its three national series on Sunoco Green E15, a biofuel blended with 15 percent American Ethanol made from American-grown corn. The five million miles have been accumulated across practice, qualifying and racing laps dating to 2011 when the biofuel was introduced to the sport.
"Fuel is fundamental to our sport and our teams demand performance without compromise," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. "With more than five million miles of hard competitive driving across our three national series, Sunoco’s Green E15 renewable fuel stands up to rigorous racing conditions while significantly reducing our impact on the environment."
Since transitioning to the biofuel blended with 15 percent ethanol, NASCAR has helped validate the fuel’s qualities in front of an audience of millions of NASCAR fans, helping shift attitudes and behaviors around the use of ethanol.
According to new research conducted in July, when compared to non-fans, NASCAR fans are nearly 70 percent more likely to support the use of ethanol blended with gasoline to fuel NASCAR race cars, more than 50 percent more likely to support the use of ethanol blended with gasoline to fuel their own car, and 40 percent more likely to support the use of ethanol blended with gasoline to fuel cars on the road today to increase U.S. energy independence. (Source: Custom Environment-Related Tracker commissioned by NASCAR and conducted by Toluna; July 2013.)
"This five-million-mile mark is yet another testament to Sunoco Green E15’s value as a fuel and a real validator of our product," said Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy. "You couldn’t ask for a tougher testing ground and Sunoco Green E15 stands up to the challenge each weekend and that’s good news for everyone who supports renewable fuels."
In 2011 NASCAR entered into a groundbreaking partnership with Sunoco and the American Ethanol industry, launching its long-term biofuels program to reduce emissions of the fuel used across its three national series. The transition to the biofuel reduced on-track carbon emissions and teams report an increase in horsepower.
"As the Official Fuel of NASCAR, we were truly partners in the endeavor," said Drew Kabakoff, brand manager for Sunoco. "We worked extensively to test, analyze and develop Sunoco Green E15 in our plant in Marcus Hook, Penn., and we could not be happier with its performance during the past three years. Sunoco is proud to work with New York State farmers on the sourcing of corn and the production of ethanol in our Fulton, N.Y. plant."
From 2004-06 nobody could stop Biffle in Miami
Greg Biffle won three consecutive Sprint Cup Series races at Homestead-Miami Speedway from 2004 to 2006. He is the only driver to accomplish this at the site of the premier series’ season finale. However, Biffle is not the only driver to win three races at Homestead. Tony Stewart has also won three races at Homestead, with his wins coming in 1999, 2000 and 2011.
Win provides jolt heading into Homestead; Junior could climb, too
1. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)
Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet
Where he stands: Johnson leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with 2,384 points.
Last week: Jimmie Johnson avoided a pair of potential disasters Sunday. The same cannot be said for Matt Kenseth. As a result, Johnson holds a 28-point lead entering the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway following his third-place finish Sunday at Phoenix. Johnson nearly wrecked on the first lap while battling with Joey Logano (see video below), and then nearly spun out after an inadvertent tap from Carl Edwards just past the halfway point of the 312-lap race. Johnson made a spectacular save, then benefited from a caution flag. He slowly churned his way through the field over the final 100 laps for his seventh top-five in nine Chase races.
What he said: "I knew I had a great race car and that makes life a lot easier. I really had to fall back on my dirt driving skills racing out here in the desert all the years that I did. All those incidences were close. The second one, I thought I was hitting the wall so I was glad that we got it gathered back up and got it going. Then the No. 20 (Matt Kenseth) wasn’t having the best day, so after that issue we came to pit road and left and I expected him to be ahead of me and he was behind me. So at that point I knew I was in good shape relative to the championship battle."
Outlook: In 12 career starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Johnson has four top-fives, seven top-10s and two poles. In the past eight years at Homestead, Johnson ranks ninth out of 55 drivers with an average place of 13.8. He finished 36th in the 2012 finale at Homestead.
2. Matt Kenseth (No. 20)
Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota
Where he stands: Kenseth is second in the standings with 2,356 points.
Last week: From an ill-handling car to a couple of uncharacteristically lengthy pit stops, Kenseth may have seen his championship hopes disappear into the desert air. Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota was a handful, and a pit stop of nearly 25 seconds didn’t help matters when he had a chance to gain on — and pass — rival Jimmie Johnson. At the end, Kenseth was fighting to get back on the lead lap, and he was unsuccessful. He finished 23rd, worst among all Chase drivers.
What he said: "Yeah, of course I’m disappointed. On the other hand, I couldn’t be happier and more proud of my team — this has been the best year of my racing career, really. It’s been an awesome season. You’re going to have days like this, and of course we wanted to finish off here the last couple weeks. You can’t really just grab one race. There’s 10 races and they all pay the same amount of points."
Outlook: In 13 career starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kenseth has one win, three top-fives and five top-10s. In the past eight years at Homestead, Kenseth ranks third out of 55 drivers with an average place of 9.3. He finished 18th in the 2012 finale at Homestead.
3. Kevin Harvick (No. 29)
Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet
Where he stands: Harvick is third in the standings with 2,350 points.
Last week: Both of Harvick’s nicknames fit Sunday — "Happy" and "The Closer." Harvick won his fourth race of the season, nabbing the lead from Carl Edwards just before the white flag flew when the No. 99 ran out of gas — a tremendous coincidence, considering Harvick ran out of fuel himself earlier in the race (see the video below). Harvick’s No. 29 Chevrolet was among the class of the field, and he ended up with a maximum-points day due to leading the most laps (70 out of 312). Harvick now trails Kenseth for second place by six points.
What he said: "With the way that the strategy and everything worked out, you just had to play your cards right off the bat. But our car was fast enough to work through traffic and keep ourselves in contention even with the other guys on the other side of that strategy, and we were able to be there at the end. Everyone was able to put just enough gas in the cars to make it to the end, and our guys got it right and the other guys were a little short."
Outlook: In 12 career starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Harvick has five top-fives and 10 top-10s. In the past eight years at Homestead, Harvick ranks fourth out of 55 drivers with an average place of 10.6. He finished eighth in the 2012 finale at Homestead.
4. Kyle Busch (No. 18)
Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota
Where he stands: Busch is fourth in the standings with 2,327 points.
Last week: Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas struggled all day, and Busch’s No. 18 Toyota was no different. Despite starting fourth, Busch found himself running out of the top 10 for most of the day. Some of that was due to pit strategy, and some was due to his car not responding well, especially on restarts. But his crew did just enough, and Busch finagled his way into the top 10 over the final 50 laps to finish seventh.
What he said: "It was a battle all day. I don’t know why, we just didn’t have what we needed. We never seemed to have the ticket we needed today. We got better all day, which was a positive and salvaged something out of nothing. So all things considered, it was OK."
Outlook: In eight career starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Busch has one top-five and two top-10s. In the past eight years at Homestead, Busch ranks 15th out of 55 drivers with an average place of 15.8. He finished fourth in the 2012 finale at Homestead.
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88)
Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet
Where he stands: Earnhardt Jr. is fifth in the standings with 2,321 points.
Last week: Earnhardt Jr. continues to close strong during perhaps his best-ever postseason performance. In Phoenix, Junior had to pit out of turn early because he felt something was wrong with this No. 88 Chevrolet. And it was a great decision — he had a loose wheel that needed to be tightened. That put Earnhardt a lap down, but on the flat Phoenix track, Junior made up the lost time. He was the beneficiary of a mid-race caution, and finished in fourth place, giving Hendrick Motorsports three drivers in the top four.
What he said: "We had a fast car. I thought Steve Letarte (crew chief) could get some good strategy to get us back up into the top-10, top-five and I was real happy with the way we were able to rebound."
Outlook: In 13 career starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Earnhardt Jr. has one top-10. In the past eight years at Homestead, Earnhardt Jr. ranks 22nd out of 55 drivers with an average place of 20.8. He finished 10th in the 2012 finale at Homestead.
6. Jeff Gordon (No. 24)
Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet
Where he stands: Gordon is sixth in the standings with 2,304 points.
Last week: This fall’s trip to Phoenix was certainly less headline-grabbing for Jeff Gordon. There was no wreck, no fight this time around for the veteran. Instead, he cautiously drove his No. 24 Chevrolet in the top five for most of the race before slipping on the final restart. With the field fanning out to three- and four-wide, Gordon fell from fifth on the final restart to 14th when the checkered flag fell.
What he said: Via Twitter: "If many of (you are) upset with going from 5th-14th after (the) final restart, imagine the disappointment we feel at Team 24."
Outlook: In 14 career starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Gordon has one win, seven top-fives and 11 top-10s. In the past eight years at Homestead, Gordon ranks seventh out of 55 drivers with an average place of 13.0. He won the 2012 finale at Homestead.
7. Greg Biffle (No. 16)
Roush Fenway Racing, Ford
Where he stands: Biffle is seventh in the standings with 2,301 points.
Last week: Biffle’s performance at Phoenix may go down as his best in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. After qualifying 18th, Biffle’s No. 16 Ford started from the back following a late transmission change. He swiftly worked his way into the top 20 and, as pit cycles began to differ following a spate of cautions, Biffle ran in the top five and led one lap. He finished 13th and moved up one spot in the standings. | Click here to read a roundup on the six members of the Coca-Cola Racing Family
What he said: Biffle was unavailable for comment.
Outlook: In 11 career starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Biffle has three wins, four top-fives and five top-10s. In the past eight years at Homestead, Biffle ranks 13th out of 55 drivers with an average place of 15.2. He finished fifth in the 2012 finale at Homestead.
8. Clint Bowyer (No. 15)
Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota
Where he stands: Bowyer is eighth in the standings with 2,297 points.
Last week: Like Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer’s fall Phoenix race was much tamer this time around. The No. 15 was incident-free, with the biggest development being that Bowyer struggled with the handling of his car and finished 20th. The finish was especially disappointing because Bowyer has struggled at Phoenix recently, and his team appeared to have turned a corner following the spring race in which he finished sixth.
What he said: "We struggled to get the 5-hour ENERGY Toyota to turn all afternoon. We tried different strategies to get off sequence and gain track position and that worked for most of the race and got us up closer to the front. We were really shooting for a top-five to make up some ground before heading to Miami, but it just didn’t work out. We got caught in a tough spot when that last caution came out and we took two tires hoping to make up some ground. It just didn’t work the way we had planned."
Outlook: In seven career starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Bowyer has two top-fives and four top-10s. In the past eight years at Homestead, Bowyer ranks fifth out of 55 drivers with an average place of 12.0. He finished second in the 2012 finale at Homestead.
9. Joey Logano (No. 22)
Penske Racing, Ford
Where he stands: Logano is ninth in the standings with 2,287 points.
Last week: Logano continued his recovery from a disastrous start to the Chase by driving to a ninth-place finish at Phoenix. Logano has two top-10s in a row, and four in nine postseason races. Perhaps most importantly, he remains ninth in the standings and is 28 points ahead of 11th-place Ryan Newman. Only those drivers that finish in the top 10 get on the stage during the postseason banquet in Las Vegas, which is a point of pride for all drivers. | Click here to read a roundup on the six members of the Coca-Cola Racing Family
What he said: "There was a lot of strategy and it confused the heck out of me. At times we were leading the race and at times we were 24th. It’s hard to say where we were. I felt like we were maybe a fifth-place car, which is kind of what we thought we were going into the race. We stayed out one time and then we had to pit under green and then coming to the end of the race I had to start saving fuel to make it. … I didn’t know what place I was in, I just kept running because it was too confusing for me."
Outlook: In four career starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Logano has one pole. His best finish is 14th in 2012. In the past eight years at Homestead, Logano ranks 24th out of 55 drivers with an average place of 22.2. He finished 14th in the 2012 finale at Homestead.
10. Kurt Busch (No. 78)
Furniture Row Racing, Chevrolet
Where he stands: Busch is 10th in the standings with 2,285 points.
Last week: Early in the AdvoCare 500, Kurt Busch was the last Chase driver in the field, running in the 20s. The veteran nursed his No. 78 Chevrolet around the track, though, patiently waiting out the differing pit strategies to get back in the top 10. On the final restart, Busch was in eighth place with 30 laps to go and came across the stripe fifth.
What he said: "It was a battle out there and we hung tough. We stuck to our two-tire, four-tire strategy and it all came together at the end. We weren’t really good and weren’t really bad. We passed cars and got passed. Being patient was the key."
Outlook: In 12 career starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Busch has one win, four top-fives, five top-10s and two poles. In the past eight years at Homestead, Busch ranks 29th out of 55 drivers with an average place of 23.8. He finished ninth in the 2012 finale at Homestead.
11. Ryan Newman (No. 39)
Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet
Where he stands: Newman is 11th in the standings with 2,259 points.
Last week: For the first time since his win at Indianapolis in July, Newman led double-digit laps in last week’s Sprint Cup race. His No. 39 Chevrolet was out front for 31 circuits as Newman finished 10th. His only miscue was running out of fuel while coming to pit road from the lead, but he made it to his box by shaking his car. It was the driver’s second consecutive top-10, and continued a steady trend — in six of nine Chase races, Newman has finished either eighth, ninth or 10th. | Click here to read a roundup on the six members of the Coca-Cola Racing Family
What he said: "We had a good strategy, but we ran out of fuel coming to pit road. We had an opportunity to make something of it, but running out of fuel cost us four or five spots. That was probably the difference between us finishing fifth to where we actually finished, in 10th."
Outlook: In 11 career starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Newman has one top-five and four top-10s. In the past eight years at Homestead, Newman ranks eighth out of 55 drivers with an average place of 13.6. He finished third in the 2012 finale at Homestead.
12. Kasey Kahne (No. 5)
Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet
Where he stands: Kahne is 12th in the standings with 2,252 points.
Last week: Finally, some positive movement for Kahne. The Hendrick Motorsports driver is no longer last in the standings (that dubious distinction now belongs to Carl Edwards) following his second-place showing at Phoenix. It’s Kahne’s second consecutive top-five, and third of the Chase. Then again, he also has three finishes outside the top 25 (two of which are outside the top 35), which is why he was stuck in 13th place for seven consecutive weeks.
What he said: "I get down once in a while and feel pretty bad about what’s going on. I thought just ‑‑ we’ve had a lot of things happen to us this year, but we’ve battled back the last two weeks. We ran pretty good, fifth and second, so I’m happy about that. We’ll try to finish off strong at Homestead with another top 5 and maybe prepare a little better for next year and try to have a little more consistent, stronger year from start to finish."
Outlook: In nine career starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kahne has one top-five, four top-10s and two poles. In the past eight years at Homestead, Kahne ranks sixth out of 55 drivers with an average place of 12.5. He finished 21st in the 2012 finale at Homestead.
13. Carl Edwards (No. 99)
Roush Fenway Racing, Ford
Where he stands: Edwards is 13th in the standings with 2,250 points.
Last week: Edwards was running out front in the waning laps, looking for his third career win at Phoenix and to become the first person to sweep the Phoenix races since Jimmie Johnson in 2008. But Edwards, who won at the 1-mile track earlier this year, saw his fuel cell run dry just as he was about to take the white flag. He had short-pitted on his final stop, and thought he would have enough fuel to finish. Later, when his team told him to conserve fuel, Edwards did the best he could to conserve while holding off a charging Kevin Harvick but couldn’t save enough. He ended up finishing 21st.
What he said: "We played the strategy very well. We did a really good job, but we just needed a little more fuel. We just miscalculated. I thought we were a lap to the good. I was saving just a little bit of fuel, but obviously not enough. I don’t know if I could have saved a lap and kept Kevin behind me in hindsight, but that’s a tough way to lose one there."
Outlook: In nine career starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Edwards has two wins, five top-fives, seven top-10s and two poles. In the past eight years at Homestead, Edwards ranks first out of 55 drivers with an average place of 7.1. He finished 12th in the 2012 finale at Homestead.
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Logano, Newman earn top 10s at Phoenix
The AdvoCare 500 was the second to last race in the Sprint Cup Series season. And while no Coca-Cola Racing Family drivers scored top-five finishes, a pair of drivers earned top-10 finishes and two drivers moved up a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Here is the roundup for the Coca-Cola Racing Family at Phoenix International Raceway.
Joey Logano (No. 22)
Penske Racing, Ford
Recap: Logano spent a good portion of the race in the top 10 and held the lead two different times for a total of 33 laps. His day started out interesting with a near mishap with points leader Jimmie Johnson. Logano slipped to 26th on Lap 240 but rallied for his fourth career top-10 finish at Phoenix. The ninth-place finish was also Logano’s fourth top-10 finish in the Chase and helped him hold onto to ninth place in the point standings.
Quotable: "We didn’t really lose much in points, but, overall, it was a weird race because you don’t know where you’re at and you just pass the cars in front of you. I didn’t know what place I was in, I just kept running because it was too confusing for me."
His standing: Logano is 9th in the standings with 2,287 points.
Outlook: In Logano’s four opportunities at Homestead he has not claimed a win, a top-five finish or a top-10, but he did earn the pole position in 2012 and ultimately finished 14th, which is his best finishing position to date at the track.
Ryan Newman (No. 39)
Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet
Recap: Newman started 17th at a track where he had won the Coors Light Pole four times. From there, he hung in the middle of the field until Lap 164 when he surged to the lead. It was the first of three times Newman would lead the race. He held the lead for a total of 31 laps. Newman moved to the middle of the field for a bit before holding second place on Lap 270. He fell back bit to finish 10th. Newman’s solid run at Phoenix did see him move up a spot in the point standings.
Quotable: "Matt Borland and the guys worked hard to make the Quicken Loans Chevrolet better over the course of the weekend, and once we got in clean air the car was actually pretty good. But track position was everything. When we had it, the car was pretty good. When we didn’t, it was so hard to pass."
His standing: Newman is 11th in the standings with 2,259 points.
Outlook: In Newman’s 11 races at Homestead, he has yet to see Victory Lane, but he has earned one top-five and four top-10s there. When Newman visited Homestead last year he finished third behind Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer.
Greg Biffle (No. 16)
Roush Fenway Racing, Ford
Recap: Biffle spent most of the race in the top 20 but there were some stretches were he made his way into the top 10. That included leading the race on Lap 275. Biffle finished 13th at Phoenix and remains winless at the one-mile track in his 20 career starts. Biffle did move up a spot in the point standings to seventh, though.
Quotable: Biffle was unavailable for comment.
His standing: Biffle is seventh in the standings with 2,301 points.
Outlook: Along with Biffle’s three previous wins at Homestead he also holds four top-five finishes, as well as five top-10s. With such a strong history at this track, perhaps a return to South Florida will bring out another memorable finish for Biffle.
Denny Hamlin (No. 11)
Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota
Recap: The day started out promising for Hamlin as he started on the front row, next to polesitter Jimmie Johnson. He then went on to lead 18 laps, but it was all downhill from there. A spin in Turn 2 by Hamlin brought out a caution on Lap 51 and Hamlin never seemed to completely recover from that. On Lap 60, he was in 32nd place. He did eventually spend a little time back in the top 10, but at day’s end, Hamlin finished 28th and a lap behind the leaders.
Quotable: Hamlin was unavailable for comment.
His standing: Hamlin is 23rd in the standings with 706 points.
Outlook: For only having eight starts, Hamlin has a solid Sprint Cup Series background at Homestead. With one previous win that came in 2009 along with earning three top-fives and four top-10s at the track, Hamlin has just as good of a chance as any to find himself in Victory Lane at the South Florida season closer.
Danica Patrick (No. 10)
Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet
Recap: It was a tough day for Patrick at Phoenix. Starting 32nd, she spent most of the day in the rear of the field. Patrick battled a loose-handling racecar and then was involved in a four-car accident that brought out a caution on Lap 146. Patrick ended the day with a 33rd-place finish, finished 10 laps behind the leaders and lost two spots in the standings.
Quotable: "It was a tough day all around. …Obviously, we wanted to put a better performance. …We’ll go to Homestead and see if we can have a good run to end the season."
Her standing: Patrick is 27th in the standings with 622 points.
Outlook: Patrick’s upcoming run at Homestead will be the first of her Sprint Cup Series career and a starting point for the rookie. Looking back to her brief time as a Nationwide Series driver, Patrick has been to Homestead three times. During that time she has lead eight laps, with an average start of 10.3, and average finish of 21.3. Patrick also experienced one DNF in 2011 for a crash. Even though those are her Nationwide statistics, it’s enough of a sample size for what her run could be like this time around.
Tony Stewart (No. 14)
Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet
Recap: Stewart missed his 14th consecutive race this past weekend and watched Mark Martin pilot the No. 14 Chevrolet to a 15th-place finish at Phoenix. Stewart is still recovering from a broken leg and won’t return in 2013.
His standing: Stewart is 29th in the standings with 594 points.
Five-Time’s lead is large, but it’s not quite insurmountable
RELATED: Phoenix results | Standings | Clinching scenarios | Full Chase coverage
AVONDALE, Ariz. — So many times Jimmie Johnson has come to Phoenix International Raceway on the brink of a championship, and so many times he’s used a performance on the desert mile to essentially secure the crown. Four of his five titles at NASCAR’s premier level have been all but locked down at the foot of the Estrella Mountains, and Sunday he laid the groundwork for what would be title number six.
Phoenix has always loomed large for Johnson, a Southern California native who so focuses on the Arizona track that he even made a rare NASCAR Nationwide Series start here in the spring in an effort to learn a little more for the track’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup event. It was mission accomplished — his third-place result Sunday increased his lead to 28 points over Matt Kenseth, and Johnson can move within a single title of knotting the King and the Intimidator with a finish of 23rd or better next week.
But even as the scene shifts from the desert to the Florida coastline for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Phoenix still looms large, and not just because of what Johnson did here Sunday in weathering a pair of early scrapes to place his boot heel on the neck of the competition. Winning won’t be enough for Kenseth or Kevin Harvick, the other two drivers still mathematically alive in this Chase. For anyone else to have a shot, they’re left to hope Johnson has another outing just like the one he did at Phoenix.
Not Sunday — last fall, when he suffered the cut tire that cleared the path for Brad Keselowski to celebrate his first career Sprint Cup championship.
"We saw the same thing last year — the 48 comes in here ahead and has a miscue, has a problem, and that’s just it," said Jason Ratcliff, Kenseth’s crew chief. "That’s why it’s so hard to win these championships, that’s why people work their guts out for them, and they’re very rewarding when you do win them. These guys have worked over the last eight weeks, nine weeks, as hard as they’ve ever worked trying to put great cars on the race track and minimize mistakes, and they’ve done a really good job in that. We came into this race just seven points back, and it’s been a greater season than we could ever imagine, and it’s not over yet."
Possible? Certainly. Likely? Well, that’s another matter altogether. Last season Johnson limped to the finish, his cut tire at Phoenix and busted rear gear at Homestead representing his first back-to-back failures in the Chase since the inaugural playoff a decade ago. Those episodes stand out precisely because they’re so rare for a team that more often has excelled when the pressure is on. But like Tiger Woods losing a major after leading into the final round, there were signs that the mighty No. 48 team is fallible after all. And right now, Kenseth’s team is clinging to them like a life raft.
It might be able to look in the mirror, as well. Another, more recent example of a championship-contending team suffering though an uncharacteristically tough day in the thick of the Chase is what happened to Kenseth on Sunday, when the sport’s paragon of consistency was absolutely lost. There was no cut tire, no blown accident, no wreck that took him out. It was a more gradual and much more painful decline, small mistakes building on one another until the No. 20 car was two laps down and Johnson’s lead was growing as wide as the bright blue sky.
Talk about an outlier. If the team that leads the series in race victories and led the Chase for six of the first eight weeks can whiff that badly on a setup, can’t anyone? What made Sunday’s turn of events so shocking was that the No. 20 team has thrived off improving their cars as events have gone along, using adjustments to make the best of races in which their vehicles weren’t fastest off the truck. They did that at Dover, did that at Charlotte, did that at Texas, and everyone assumed they’d do the same thing at Phoenix.
Except they didn’t. "The type of race we had today, I don’t wish anything on anybody, but it can happen to anybody, and it can happen next week (to Johnson)," Ratcliff said. "We just have to put our best foot forward and try to win that race."
Still, all Johnson needs is 23rd — which is exactly where Kenseth wound up Sunday in Phoenix, as bad as it seemed. Johnson has never won at Homestead, and his last two outings there have resulted in finishes of 32nd or worse. That happens again next weekend, and suddenly we may very well have a three-man race. Or Johnson could unleash a performance like he did in crucial Chase finales in 2004 and 2010, both of them runner-up finishes, the latter resulting in his fifth championship.
Another one of those, and we’ll be saying hello to Six-Time.
"We’re going to go down there and race as hard as we can," Johnson said. "I think the safest place on the race track is up front, and if I look back to our Texas performance, we found a way to race smart, stay out of trouble and still get the race won. I would love to win the race and win the championship, but we’ll just have to see how things develop in the race and where we are relative to (Kenseth). The big prize at the end of the day is what we’re focused on. It’s not so much that individual win, but we need to go down there and be prepared and treat Friday and Saturday like we need to win the race."
It’s fun to entertain the what-ifs, and indeed a blown engine or some other disaster would alter the picture decidedly. But given Johnson’s history, it’s probably more likely that the real battle at Homestead will be between Kenseth and Harvick for second place. They’re separated by just six points now after the latter’s victory on Sunday, and falling to third in the final standings would be a cruel blow indeed for a driver like Kenseth, who’s been the class of the entire season up until the past two weeks.
Leave it to Harvick, never one to mince words, to keep it real. When it comes to beating Jimmie Johnson, he has one last-gasp emergency measure tucked up his fire suit sleeve.
"We’re talking about locking him in a Porta-Potty," he joked, "so that should sum it up."
MORE:
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for win at Phoenix |
WATCH: Final Laps:
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WATCH: Kenseth:
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WATCH: Johnson’s
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Fuel miscalculation costs Edwards at Phoenix; Bowyer also slips a spot
Updated standings | Full Phoenix coverage
Two up
Two down
FULL SERIES COVERAGE
|
Pos. |
Driver |
Pts back |
+/- |
|
1. |
Jimmie Johnson |
— |
— |
|
2. |
Matt Kenseth |
-28 |
— |
|
3. |
Kevin Harvick |
-34 |
— |
|
4. |
Kyle Busch |
-57 |
— |
|
5. |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
-63 |
— |
|
6. |
Jeff Gordon |
-80 |
— |
|
7. |
Greg Biffle |
-83 |
+1 |
|
8. |
Clint Bowyer |
-87 |
-1 |
|
9. |
Joey Logano |
-97 |
— |
|
10. |
Kurt Busch |
-99 |
— |
|
11. |
Ryan Newman |
-125 |
+1 |
|
12. |
Kasey Kahne |
-132 |
+1 |
|
13. |
Carl Edwards |
-134 |
-2 |
IN THE GREEN
Greg Biffle (Change: 8th to 7th)
Biffle may not have left Phoenix with a win, but he did make an upward shift in the points standings to seventh, ultimately swapping spots with Clint Bowyer. Biffle was one of the 13 leaders in the AdvoCare 500, leading for just one lap. Finishing 13th after starting in the rear after a transmission change, his jump in the standings can be accredited to his ability to stay consistent and drive through the field. Although he is no longer competing for the title in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Biffle heads into the last race of the season one position higher than he was pre-Phoenix.
Ryan Newman (Change: 12th to 11th)
Adding another top-10 finish to the eight Newman has previously earned at Phoenix, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver leaves the desert 11th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings, seven points in front of Kasey Kahne and nine points in front of Carl Edwards. Newman finished 10th in the AdvoCare 500 and led for a total of 31 laps, the sixth most in the race. Even though Newman had a strong showing at Phoenix, he was mathematically eliminated from title contention last week and is 125 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.
IN THE RED
Clint Bowyer (Change: 7th to 8th)
After leading the final practice on Saturday and starting sixth in the field at Phoenix, Bowyer looked like a he had a good shot of seeing Victory Lane — or at least finishing in the top five like he’s done twice before at this track. Bowyer was in and out of the top 10 and at one point was in fourth place on Lap 255. However, he couldn’t hold that position. His drop back in the standings can be blamed on his 20th-place showing at a track where he earned a top-10 finish earlier in the season, as well as Greg Biffle’s performance that moved the Roush Fenway Racing driver up one spot in the standings.
Carl Edwards (Change: 11th to 13th)
Edwards went into Phoenix with the second-best Driver Rating (100.6) in the past eight years there, as well as a win at the track earlier this season. Edwards qualified 23rd at Phoenix but quickly displayed one of the strongest cars, leading for 36 laps. Everything was looking good for Edwards — he was leading with three laps to go and Victory Lane was in sight — until Edwards ran out of fuel just before the white flag flew, leaving Kevin Harvick to nab the lead for the win. This ultimately cost Edwards two positions in the standings and resulted in a 21st-place finish in the second to last race of the season.
MISSED CHANCES
Matt Kenseth (Change: No change)
The one-mile Phoenix track has never been one of Kenseth’s strongest, and his time at Sunday’s AdvoCare 500 didn’t go differently. Going into the race just seven points behind leader Jimmie Johnson, Kenseth needed to make a drastic impact in the race to overcome Johnson’s lead. Unfortunately for Kenseth, he faced the worst finish he’s earned during the Chase — 23rd — after handling problems kept his car stuck in traffic. As the Sprint Cup drivers head to the last race of the season at Homestead, Kenseth now sits 28 points behind.
MORE:
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for win at Phoenix |
WATCH: Final Laps:
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WATCH: Kenseth:
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WATCH: Johnson’s
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