NASCAR Clinch Scenarios for Homestead-Miami Speedway
Below are the finishes each driver/owner/manufacturer needs in this weekend’s races at Homestead-Miami Speedway to clinch their respective championships, regardless of the finish of any other driver/car/manufacturer.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Sunday, Nov. 22 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC)
Driver
The first to the finish line among the Championship 4 – Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. – will win the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship.
Owner
The same rule applies to the owner championship, which involves the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet. Continue reading →
Kyle Busch, driver of the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, poses with the pole award after qualifying for the NASCAR XFINITY Series DAV 200 Honoring America’s Veterans at Phoenix International Raceway on November 14, 2015 Photo – Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Kyle Busch, driver of the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, and Austin Dillon, driver of the #33 Rheem Chevrolet, lead the field at the start of the NASCAR XFINITY Series DAV 200 Honoring America’s Veterans at Phoenix International Raceway on November 14, 2015 Photo – Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Kyle Busch, driver of the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the NASCAR XFINITY Series DAV 200 Honoring America’s Veterans at Phoenix International Raceway on November 14, 2015 Photo – Jeff Gross/Getty Images
Kyle Busch, driver of the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR XFINITY Series DAV 200 Honoring America’s Veterans at Phoenix International Raceway on November 14, 2015 Photo – Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Kyle Busch, driver of the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series DAV 200 Honoring America’s Veterans at Phoenix International Raceway on November 14, 2015 Photo – Jeff Gross/Getty Images
Kyle Busch, driver of the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, celebrates with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series DAV 200 Honoring America’s Veterans at Phoenix International Raceway on November 14, 2015 Photo – Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Kyle Busch, driver of the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, celebrates with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series DAV 200 Honoring America’s Veterans at Phoenix International Raceway on November 14, 2015 Photo – Robert Laberge/Getty Images
If Saturday’s DAV 200 Honoring America’s Veterans had been a court case, 39 NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers would have pleaded ‘no contest.’
The exception was polesitter Kyle Busch, who led 190 of 200 laps in registering a dominating victory at Phoenix International Raceway, his eighth in 19 starts at the track.
In a race that saw defending series champion and seventh-place finisher Chase Elliott trim XFINITY leader Chris Buescher’s margin in the standings from 24 to 18 points, Busch ran away with the event, crossing the finish line 3.097 seconds ahead of runner-up Brad Keselowski. Continue reading →
Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet, and Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota, lead Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway on November 1, 2015 Photo – Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images
Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway on November 1, 2015 Photo – Todd Warshaw/Getty Images
Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway on November 1, 2015 Photo – Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway on November 1, 2015 Photo – Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images
Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 AARP Member Advantages Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway on November 1, 2015 Photo – Jonathan Moore/Getty Images
Yes, Jeff Gordon celebrated his 93rd career victory in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
Yes, Gordon will compete for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Yes, there were tears of joy in Victory Lane for Gordon, who’s at the tail end of his last season in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
But Sunday’s race at Martinsville had so much more — most notably, ‘Matt Kenseth’s Revenge.’ Continue reading →
Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, spins as Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, races by during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on October 18, 2015 Photo – Todd Warshaw/Getty Images
Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on October 18, 2015 Photo – Chris Trotman/Getty Images
Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on October 18, 2015 Photo – Todd Warshaw/Getty Images
Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on October 18, 2015 Photo – Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on October 18, 2015 Photo – Daniel Shirey/Getty Images
Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, places the winner’s decal on his car after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on October 18, 2015 Photo – Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
Block me once, and I’ll cut you some slack.
Block me twice — and it’s ‘Gotcha.’
That, in essence, was the conversation on Joey Logano’s team radio after Logano spun race leader Matt Kenseth in turn one with less than five laps left in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Logano went on to win the race after a green-white-checkered-flag restart that sent the race two laps past its scheduled distance of 267 laps. The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford has monopolized the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, having won back-to-back races at Charlotte and Kansas. Continue reading →