Two Championships To Be Decided at Season Finale

Two Championships To Be Decided at Season Finale

 

After 33 competitive races, at 24 different world-class venues that included an international track, two NASCAR Nationwide Series championships are on the line as the NASCAR Nationwide Series heads to South Florida for the Ford 300 on Saturday, Nov. 19.

Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 60 team is a scant one point behind Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series owner championship standings. Only one finish guarantees the No. 18 a championship – a victory on Saturday. Both teams have eight wins, but the No. 60 has nine second-place finishes (the No. 18 has five) – giving the No. 60 the tie-breaker.

Joe Gibbs has tasked Denny Hamlin with driving the No. 18 Toyota and holding off Carl Edwards, who will drive Jack Roush’s No. 60 Ford. JGR would set a new series record if it is able to capture its fourth consecutive owner title.

Edwards and the No. 60 team won at Homestead in 2008, but JGR’s No. 18 team have been stellar at Homestead the last three seasons finishing second in 2008 and winning in 2009 and 2010 with Kyle Busch behind the wheel. Hamlin has made five series starts at Homestead, posting two top fives and three top 10s. Hamlin has an average finish of 13.2 at Homestead while Edwards has an average finish of 5.7.

While the owner championship has grown tighter, the driver championship opened up last Saturday at Phoenix, Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads second-place Elliott Sadler by 41 points. Stenhouse has the opportunity to clinch the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver championship with a finish of 37th or better; or 38th or better with at least one lap led; or 39th or better with most laps led at Homestead.

Though the stats favor Stenhouse, Sadler isn’t conceding the trophy. Anything can happen, as evidenced by Stenhouse’s 38th-place finish earlier this season at Talladega and three other results of 38th or worse in 72 career series starts. 

Last season Stenhouse posted a fourth-place finish in his series track debut at HMS.

 

Championships Not The Only Story at Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

With one race left on the docket, it is no surprise a lot of the teams are already beginning to look toward next season. But while some are looking ahead, others are trying to end 2011 on a positive note.

The series all-time starts leader, Kenny Wallace, currently sits seventh in the standings. If he can stand pat, this will be his best points finish since he was seventh in 2005.

But Wallace has work to do. Michael Annett, after last week’s top-10 finish at Phoenix, moved from 10th to eighth in the standings, 34 points behind Wallace in seventh.

In 11th place is Trevor Bayne. The 2011 Daytona 500 champion has had a roller-coaster season. Bayne, 20, ran the first eight races, posting one top five and five top 10s, and was fifth in the driver standings. Then he suddenly was sidelined for six races because of health issues. The absence from the series dropped him from fifth to 16th – 56 points out of 10th place.

Despite his championship hopes for the season being dashed, Bayne returned to the series after being cleared by doctors, and did so in impressive fashion. In his series return, he finished third at Chicago, then went on to post three top-five and eight top-10 finishes.

The culmination of Bayne’s comeback came at Texas when he claimed his first career series victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

 

Rookie Of Year Standings Get Hot In South Florida

 

White sandy beaches, warm sun and a season finale to remember await Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders Timmy Hill and Blake Koch. 

Rookie standings leader Ryan Truex will not be participating this weekend, which leaves the door wide open for Hill and Koch to perform well and make a run at Truex’s lead. Truex (188) holds a three-point lead over second-place Hill and third-place Koch, a West Palm Beach native, who both have 185 points.

Though Truex does lead the standings but isn’t in the season finale doesn’t mean he can’t retain the honors.

 

NASCAR Nationwide, Etc.

 

Along with Turner Motorsport’s driver James Buescher, Brazilian native and former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. will be running double-duty in both the NCWTS and NNS races this weekend at Homestead. … Milestone Watch: Danica Patrick will attempt to make her 25th series start, Joe Nemechek will attempt to post his 75th top-five and 125th top-10 series finish and Justin Allgaier will attempt to post his 50th top-10 series finish. … MAKE Motorsports owners Mark Beaver and Tracy Lowe will run a special paint scheme on the No. 50 car as a tribute to Staff Sgt. Christopher Newman. He was killed in a suicide-bomb raid on a bus in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Oct. 29, 2011. … As part of the ‘ExtenZe Local Hero’ program, Kevin Conway is stepping up to assist the Miami-Dade Police Department in the unsolved homicide case of Coral Gables Police Officer Walter Stathers. Conway’s No. 87 ExtenZe Toyota will carry an image of Officer Stathers along with MDPD contact information.