KEVIN HARVICK – 2017 Homestead Race Report

Event:               Ford EcoBoost 400 (Round 36 of 36)
Series:               Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location:          Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format:             267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/80 laps/107 laps)
Start/Finish:      9th/4th (Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
Point Standing:             3rd with 5,033 points 

Champion:        Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)
Race Winner:    Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-80)

  • Kevin Harvick started ninth, finished fourth.
  • Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion came to pit road under green-flag conditions on lap 38 for four tires and fuel.
  • Harvick entered the top-five on lap 47 and the top-three on lap 58.
  • The No. 4 team pitted at the end of the stage for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. 

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 81-160):

  • Started fourth, finished third.
  • Harvick raced up to second at the start of Stage 2 and challenged Kyle Larson for the lead before falling back to third on lap 116.
  • The Jimmy John’s Ford came to pit road under green-flag conditions on lap 122 for four tires, fuel and a small adjustment.
  • The No. 4 team came to pit road under caution on lap 147 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment to correct a tight-handling car.
  • The pit crew gained Harvick a position on pit road to restart in second on lap 150.
  • The No. 4 team came to pit road at the conclusion of Stage 2 for four tires, fuel and several adjustments.

Final Stage Recap (Laps 161-267):

  • Started fourth and finished fourth.
  • The Jimmy John’s Ford suffered right-front fender damage from hitting debris on lap 180 while racing in fourth.
  • The team came to pit road under green-flag conditions on lap 199 for four tires, fuel and an attempt to repair the fender. The No. 18 stayed out to attempt a different strategy, causing the Jimmy John’s Ford to briefly fall a lap down.
  • Harvick raced his way back to the lead lap on lap 208, racing in the eighth position and advancing to second by lap 228.
  • The team came to pit road under caution on lap 228 for tires, fuel and repairs and restarted second on lap 234.
  • The Jimmy John’s Ford battled for the lead following the restart before falling back to fourth by the checkered flag.

Notes:

  • Harvick scored his 14th top-five and 23rd top-10 finish of 2017.
  • This was Harvick’s ninth top-five and 15th top-10 finish in 17 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Homestead.
  • There were five caution periods for a total of 26 laps.
  • Only 12 of the 39 drivers in the Ford EcoBoost 400 finished on the lead lap.
  • In winning the Ford EcoBoost 400, Martin Truex Jr. captured the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship for the first time in his career, outdueling fellow 2017 Championship 4 contenders Kyle Busch, Harvick and Brad Keselowski. Truex is the 32nd different Cup Series champion.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“We just got really loose and then got a hole in the nose and it started to get tight in. We got that fixed. We were pretty good on the next-to-last run, and we were just really loose on the last run. I want to thank everybody on my Jimmy John’s, Busch Ford for everything they’ve done. It was great to have a chance. We were in the mix all day. Didn’t quite have what we needed at the end. I want to thank Mobil 1, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Morton Building, Textron, everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. Thank you guys for everything you did all year. We’ll be back.”

 

Give us a sense of what an accomplishment this year was.

“Well, I think when you look at it from the inside out and all the work that everybody went through, the preparation that we went through to get to these playoffs was second to none. It was a championship effort. Just came up a little bit short. Congratulations to Martin (Truex Jr.). Those guys have been the dominant car all year. To go win the race and make it happen at the end, they were able to get their car better and win the championship.” 

Take us through the last stint.

“I was just really loose the whole last run. When it started to get dark we started to get tight in the corner, and then we got a hole in the nose. We got that fixed and just couldn’t quite get it where we needed to be to make good times. Some runs we fell off. Some runs we were tight on entry. There at the end we were just too loose.”

Next Up:

The 2018 season kicks off Feb. 10-18 with the traditional Speedweeks at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The 60th Daytona 500, the first points-paying race of the season, is scheduled for Feb. 18 and will be broadcast live on FOX.

CLINT BOWYER – 2017 Homestead Race Report

Event:               Ford EcoBoost 400 (Round 36 of 36)
Series:               Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location:          Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
strong>Format:             267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/80 laps/107 laps)
Start/Finish:       16th/12th (running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
Point Standing: 18th with 871 points

Race Winner:    Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-80):

  • Clint Bowyer started 16th and finished 10th. He earned one race point.
  • Told crew on the pace lap that he appreciated its hard work in 2017 and that he was proud to be on the team.
  • Pitted during a lap-five caution and dropped to 20th.
  • Bowyer used new and much faster tires to climb into 10th despite reporting his car was sliding sideways off the corners.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 81-160):

  • Started 12th and finished 15th.
  • Bowyer told his crew if it could tighten the car he would be able to go much faster.
  • The adjustments plus the changing track conditions made the car harder to turn, slowing his progress.
  • At lap 142, Bowyer put on used tires for the final 10-lap run, preferring to save new tires for later in the race. He dropped to 15th.

Stage 3 Recap (Laps 161-267):

  • Started 15th and finished 18th.
  • Bowyer told his crew on the opening lap of the final stage that the car took off the best it had all race.
  • Bowyer pitted from 13th on lap 198 for fuel, tires and handling adjustments after telling the crew his car was “sideways off the corners.”
  • Bowyer climbed as high as ninth with 45 laps remaining.
  • A caution with 39 to go saw Bowyer pit from 10th for minor, front-end repairs after he said he hit a brake rotor on the track.
  • Bowyer restarted the race in 10th with 34 laps to go, but handling issues kept him from climbing higher.

Notes:

  • Only 12 of the 39 drivers in the Ford Ecoboost 400 finished on the lead lap.
  • There were five caution periods for a total of 26 laps.
  • Martin Truex Jr., won the Ford EcoBoost 400 to score his 15th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory. It was his series-best eighth win of the season, but his first at Homestead. His margin of victory over second-place Kyle Busch was .681 of a second.
  • In winning the Ford EcoBoost 400, Truex won the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship for the first time in his career, outdueling fellow Championship 4 contenders Kyle Busch, Harvick and Brad Keselowski. Truex is the 32nd different Cup Series champion.

Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“Man, the track was a lot slicker than I expected when we started the race. We had a good car, but we were on knife edge all night. First we are too loose, and we made an adjustment and we’d be too tight. It’s hard to believe the year is over. I’m proud of all the people on the No. 14 team. They worked hard this season. We’ll enjoy the off-season and be ready to race again in Daytona.”

Next Up:

The 2018 season kicks off Feb. 10-18 with the traditional Speedweeks at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The 60th Daytona 500, the first points-paying race of the season, is scheduled for Feb. 18 and will be broadcast live on FOX.

DANICA PATRICK – 2017 Homestead Race Report

Event:               Ford EcoBoost 400 (Round 36 of 36)
Series:               Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location:          Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format:             267 laps, broken into three segments (80 laps/80 laps/107 laps)
Start/Finish:      25th/37th (Accident, completed 139 of 267 laps)
Point Standing: 28th (511 points)

Race Winner:    Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner:             Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-80):

  • Danica Patrick started 25th and finished 24th.
  • The No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford Fusion team cracked the top-20 at lap 14. Patrick noted the car was “tight in the center” and lacked grip as she dropped back to the 25th position, so crew chief Billy Scott called for a wedge adjustment when the team pitted at lap 38.
  • The adjustments help improve the car’s handling, and Patrick went from 26th to 24th in the final laps of the stage. 

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 81-160):

  • Started 27th and finished 37th.
  • Patrick raced her way up to the 18th position as the car’s handling continued to improve after additional adjustments by the team. She made contact with the outside wall with more than 20 laps to go in Stage 2 and noted smoke in the cockpit.
  • The team checked for damage, and the following lap the No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford made contact with the wall in turn two after cutting down a tire. The car sustained significant damage, which ended the team’s day with a 37th-place finish.
  • Patrick was evaluated and released from the infield care center following the accident. 

Notes:

  • This was Patrick’s fifth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start at Homestead-Miami Speedway and her 190th career NASCAR Cup Series start.
  • Patrick finished the season with 511 points, which put her 28th in the driver point standings.
  • There were five caution periods for a total of 26 laps.
  • Only 12 of the 39 drivers in the Ford EcoBoost 400 finished on the lead lap.
  • Martin Truex Jr. won the Ford EcoBoost 400 to score his 15th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his eighth of the season and his first at Homestead-Miami Speedway. His margin of victory over second-place Kyle Busch was .681 of a second.
  • With his victory in Sunday’s race, Truex also won the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series championship, the first of his career, outdueling fellow Championship 4 drivers Busch, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski in the season finale.

Next Up:                                                                        

The 2018 season kicks off Feb. 10-18 with the traditional Speedweeks at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The 60th Daytona 500, the first points-paying race of the season, is scheduled for Feb. 18 and will be broadcast live on FOX.

KURT BUSCH – 2017 Homestead Race Report

Event:               Ford EcoBoost 400 (Round 36 of 36)
Series:               Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location:          Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format:             267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/80 laps/107 laps)
Start/Finish:       8th/22nd (Running, completed 265 of 267 laps)
Point Standing: 14th with 2,217 points

Race Winner:    Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-80):

  • Kurt Busch started eighth and finished seventh to score four stage points.
  • Early in the run, Busch said his Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion was loose on the exit of each turn.
  • On lap six, under caution, Busch pitted for four sticker tires and fuel while in ninth position.
  • Busch restarted 14th after pitting.
  • Busch was up to third with fresher tires and pitted under green on lap 41 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment.
  • On lap 50, Busch was fourth and reported his car was “a tick loose in.”
  • Stage 2 Recap (Laps 81-160):
  • Busch started eighth and finished sixth to score five stage points.
  • Busch pitted on lap 83 for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment.
  • On lap 122, Busch was in seventh and pitted for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment.
  • Busch reported shortly after the pit stop that his car was really tight in the center of the corner.
  • On lap 145, while eighth, Busch pitted under caution for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment.
  • Stage 3 Recap (Laps 161-267):
  • Busch started eighth and finished 22nd.
  • On lap 162, Busch pitted for four tires, fuel and a bit of tape on the grill.
  • Busch pitted on lap 198 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. He was in eighth.
  • On lap 227, Busch hit some debris and cut a tire, which forced him to pit. He lost two laps and finished a disappointing 22nd. 

Notes:

  • Busch finished the 2017 season with one win (Daytona 500), one pole (Texas II) and 15 top-10 finishes.
  • Twelve of the 39 drivers in the Ford EcoBoost 400 finished on the lead lap.
  • There were five caution periods for a total of 26 laps.
  • Martin Truex Jr. won the Ford EcoBoost 400 to score his eighth NASCAR Cup Series win of 2017, his first at Homestead and the 15th of his career.
  • Truex’s margin of victory over second-place Kyle Busch was .681 of a second.
  • With the victory, Truex won his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup, outdueling fellow Championship 4 drivers Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Busch.

Next Up:

The 2018 season kicks off Feb. 10-18 with the traditional Speedweeks at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The 60th Daytona 500, the first points-paying race of the season, is scheduled for Feb. 18 and will be broadcast live on FOX.

COLE CUSTER – 2017 Homestead Win Report

Cole Custer Wins NASCAR XFINITY Series Season Finale at Homestead

Haas Automation Driver Scores First Career XFINITY Series Victory

Date:                 Nov. 18, 2017
Event:               Ford EcoBoost 300 (Round 33 of 33)
Series:               NASCAR XFINITY Series
Location:          Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format:             200 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/110 laps)
Start/Finish:      2nd/1st (Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
Point Standing: 5th with 2,288 points

Race Winner: Cole Custer of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Cole Custer of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Cole Custer of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-45):

  • Cole Custer started second, finished first. Earned 10 bonus points.
  • Took the lead on lap three and held it for the next 21 laps around the 1.5-mile oval.
  • Relinquished the lead for only three laps following a lap-24 restart before retaking lead on lap 27 from Tyler Reddick.
  • Custer led through the end of Stage 1.
  • Pitted for four tires, fuel and tire pressure adjustments at the conclusion of Stage 1.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 46-90):       

  • Started third, finished first. Earned 10 bonus points.
  • Custer ran inside the top-five and reassumed his position at the front by lap 62, leading through the end of the stage.
  • At the end of Stage 2, pitted for four fresh tires, fuel and tire pressure adjustments to improve his drive off the track’s corners.

Final Stage Recap (Laps 91-200):

  • Started first, finished first.
  • After taking the lead in Stage 2, Custer never gave up the point, leading the race’s final 139 laps, even during a scheduled, green-flag pit stop on lap 144 for four tires and fuel.
  • Custer crossed the stripe with a whopping 15.405-second margin of victory over second-place Sam Hornish Jr., the three-time IndyCar Series champion and 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner.

Notes:              

  • This marks Custer’s first career NASCAR XFINITY Series victory and it came in only his 38th XFINITY Series start.
  • Earned a perfect driver rating by sweeping both stages and taking the race victory (150.0).
  • Custer led three times for a race-high 182 laps. It is a record for the most laps led in a single XFINITY Series race at Homestead.
  • This was Custer’s rookie season in the XFINITY Series, and he ends it with seven top-five and 19 top-10 finishes.
  • Custer earned the most points at 1.5-mile tracks among XFINITY Series drivers this season (422).
  • This was Stewart-Haas Racing’s first win in the XFINITY Series, as the team debuted its XFINITY Series program this season.
  • Custer’s win was the ninth XFINITY Series victory of the season for Ford.
  • Custer is the 36th different driver to win an XFINITY Series race with Ford.

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“We knew we were gonna be really good this weekend, but our Haas Automation Mustang was unreal. We really wanted to have a good showing at Ford Championship Weekend. Even though we weren’t in (the Championship 4), we wanted to win. I want to thank everybody at Haas Automation, Code 3 Associates and Roush Yates Engines – the engines have been unbelievable all year – and XFINITY and everybody at NASCAR and all of our fans, it’s just been unbelievable. Going into this year there were so many question marks, and to see how far we’ve come is really unbelievable. I have to especially thank Gene Haas. I would never be here without him and I can’t thank him enough.

“I can’t stress enough how good this Haas Automation Mustang was. I was just pedaling it going half-speed the last few laps. I’ve had some good cars before, but that was pretty impressive. I can’t say enough about this group. They’ve worked so hard all year getting us up and going and it’s just unbelievable.  There’s no better team I’ve worked with before and I can’t thank them enough.”

DANICA PATRICK – 2017 Homestead Race Advance

On Aug. 25, 2011, Danica Patrick caused a stir when she announced she would be leaving the open-wheel world to make a full-time run in the NASCAR ranks. A little more than two months later, she joined Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) team owner Tony Stewart to unveil the schedule for a 10-race effort she would run the following season with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team.

Patrick made her first official NASCAR Cup Series start in February 2012 in the 54th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

The Kannapolis-based SHR team would expand from a two-car operation to field a third full-time NASCAR Cup Series entry with Patrick and, in the years since she completed her first laps in a NASCAR Cup Series car, Patrick has made history with the No. 10 team.

Patrick became the first woman to win a NASCAR Cup Series pole when she set the fastest time in qualifying for the 2013 Daytona 500.

She then became the first female to lead NASCAR’s most prestigious race when she held the point for laps 90 and 91, and laps 127 to 129.

Patrick became the first woman to lead a NASCAR race under green in that 2013 Daytona 500. Prior to that, Janet Guthrie led five laps under yellow in 1977 at Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway.

After earning the pole and leading laps, Patrick finished the 2013 Daytona 500 in eighth place, the highest finishing position ever for a woman in the “Great American Race.”

In 2013, Patrick competed in every NASCAR Cup Series race and became the first female driver to complete an entire season in the series.

Patrick has made the most starts of any female in NASCAR Cup Series competition and, last weekend, she became the first female in NASCAR history to make 250 combined starts in the three NASCAR national series.

With seven top-10 finishes to her credit, Patrick holds the record for the most top-10 finishes by a female in NASCAR Cup Series competition.

Sunday, Patrick will make her 190th NASCAR Cup Series start in the No. 10 entry for SHR. The Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway will mark her last race in the No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford Fusion with SHR. After five seasons together and one pole award, 64 laps led, seven top-10s, 21 top-15s and 65 top-20 finishes, this chapter of history comes to a close for Patrick and SHR.

 

DANICA PATRICK, Driver of the No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

 

Tony Stewart recently said that you have more options than anybody in the garage in that you can do NASCAR, IndyCar, road racing, and you have your entrepreneurial career. Is that how you view things at this stage? 

“I’m flattered by that. I work really hard and have really good people around me who believe in me. I have great opportunities, but I think the most important thing is answering, ‘What is it that I want to do?’ I don’t mean that from a conceited standpoint of just pick and choose, but you’ve got to love and want to do whatever it is that you’re doing and have your whole heart in it, or else you probably might not make it happen or you’re not going to give yourself the best opportunity to show what you can do. I think it’s a matter of evaluating options, but really being honest about what makes the most sense, what’s going to feel good, what do I want to do, and then really kind of being the architect of my life.”

What are your overall thoughts on Homestead?

“It’s a mile and a half, but it’s unique in that it doesn’t have the dogleg. I’ve had a couple of solid finishes in the Cup car and I’ve run well there in the Xfinity Series. I ended up second in my last IndyCar race at Homestead, so I’d say it’s a track where I have a decent amount of experience.”

KURT BUSCH – 2017 Homstead Race Advance

It seems like just yesterday that Kurt Busch won the Daytona 500. But alas, just 35 races have come and gone and now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season is coming to an end at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), has one win, six top-five finishes and 15 top-10s in 2017 but would love to add one more to each of those totals.

At Homestead, he has two poles, one win, four top-five finishes and six top-10s. Additionally, the 39-year-old driver has led 97 laps, has an average starting position of 13.9, an average finish of 18.1, and has completed 88.6 percent (3,789 of 4,278) of the laps he’s contested there.

And he’s one of the few drivers who competed on the previous version of the oval, banked at just six degrees in the turns, to the current banking of 18 to 20 degrees. He competed on the previous version three times from 2000 to 2002, while driving on the new version since 2003.

Busch has also won a Cup Series championship at the track in 2004.

He went into that weekend with an 18-point lead in the standings. He started on the pole and, needing only to finish ahead of four drivers – Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin – Busch was able to run with the leaders for the first 90 laps until, as he was coming to pit road, the right-front wheel broke off his racecar. He miraculously missed hitting the outside pit wall by less than a foot, then was able to make his way to his pit stall and remain on the lead lap despite the setback.

From there, Busch, who was driving a Ford, moved forward through the caution-filled race and, while his two closest championship rivals Johnson and Gordon took second and third place, respectively, Busch’s fifth-place finish – his 21st top-10 of the year – was enough to win during the first year of a playoff-style championship format.

Two years prior to scoring the championship at Homestead, Busch celebrated his lone victory there while his current teammate and car co-owner Tony Stewart celebrated winning the first of his three Cup Series championships on the frontstretch. Busch led the first 10 laps, passed Ryan Newman on lap 256, and held onto the lead in the 267-lap season finale, bringing home his fourth victory of the 2002 season.

Both Busch and veteran crew chief Tony Gibson are hoping they can put together another successful weekend.

 

KURT BUSCH, Driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

 

Talk about racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  

“Homestead is a fast, mile-and-a-half racetrack. It’s a sister racetrack to Texas, to me. It’s an older racetrack, the worn-out asphalt is similar to Texas and, if you ran well at Texas, you’ll run well at Miami. There’s a lot that carries over from one to the other. Since 2004, there’s been a nostalgic feeling when I get to Homestead. Winning the championship in the first year of the Chase format was a magical time for me.”

What’s it like for you, as a driver, to have seen Homestead change so much over the years?

“Homestead is a lot of fun to race on, both the old configuration and the current configuration with the multiple grooves of banking. With the old configuration, it was all about the bottom of the racetrack, how you could exit the corner and make the straightaways longer. It was all about the softest springs you could run because you wanted the car as low as possible. Now, with the way the cars are set up, you have to have stiffer springs to manage the banking. You have to shoot for the middle. You run the middle groove in practice. That way, you can get to the bottom and not have your car so far off on setup, and then you can go to the high groove when the tires wear out to keep your momentum up high. But then, you have those crazy restarts and that is what this racetrack is perfectly designed for – that mad dash at the beginning with fresh tires. It’s the ultimate place because it puts it more in the driver’s hands.”

 

Talk a little bit about the race at Homestead from a fan’s perspective.

“NASCAR has always been about family. A family can come and find all types of different activities around the event. Perfect weather, usually. The race ends right around nightfall, so you can get back home before it gets too late on that Sunday night and get the kids back to school on Monday.”

COLE CUSTER – 2017 Homestead Race Advance

Event:               Ford EcoBoost 300 (Round 33 of 33)
Date:                 Nov. 18, 2017
Location:          Homestead-Miami Speedway
Layout:             1.5-mile oval

Cole Custer Notes of Interest 

  • The Ford EcoBoost 300 is the final race of the 2017 NASCAR XFINITY Series season. In Custer’s 32 starts this season, he has earned six top-five and 18 top-10 finishes while leading 119 laps. 
  • Homestead-Miami Speedway is the last of the 11 1.5-mile tracks on the 2017 XFINITY Series schedule. Custer leads the 2017 XFINITY Series in points at 1.5-mile tracks this season with 362. 
  • In 14 XFINITY Series starts and nine NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at 1.5-mile ovals, Custer has five top-five finishes and 13 top-10s.
  • Custer has earned three top-fives in the XFNITY Series this season at 1.5-mile tracks – April 8 and Nov. 4 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth (fifth each time) and Sept. 23 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta (fifth) – and finished in the top-10 at three other venues – March 4 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (10th), May 27 and Oct. 7 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (seventh and sixth, respectively) and Sept. 16 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois (seventh).
  • Custer’s best finish in the 32 XFINITY Series races run this season is fourth, earned in the 11th race of the year June 3 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. The result equaled Custer’s best career XFINITY Series finish, which he claimed in his series debut in May 2016 at Charlotte.
  • Custer’s best qualifying effort in the 32 XFINITY Series races run this season is second on Nov. 4 at Texas. Custer has 10 top-five and 23 top-10 starts this season.
  • Custer is third in the XFINITY Series Rookie of the Year standings, 42 points behind leader William Byron and 13 points behind second-place Daniel Hemric. Custer has earned nine Rookie of the Race awards this season, four of which have come at 1.5-mile tracks (fifth at Texas, twice; 11th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and sixth at Charlotte). Rookie of the Race awards are given to the highest-finishing rookie.
  • Last week at Phoenix Raceway, Custer battled above and below the championship-contention line to finish just four points out of the cutoff to advance to the Championship 4 at Homestead. Custer has clinched the fifth spot in the season-ending point standings.
  • The Ford EcoBoost 300 will mark Custer’s 38th career XFINITY Series start and his second XFINITY Series start at Homestead.

 

Cole Custer, Driver Q&A

 

Before the XFINITY Series season opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, you said the goal was to run consistently in the top-10 and earn a spot in the playoffs. You’ve earned six top-fives and 18 top-10s and were only two positions short of clinching a spot in the Championship 4. From a young rookie looking at an empty shop floor in December to a near-Championship 4 contender, have you exceeded your own expectations?

“At the start of the year we would’ve been really happy with where we ended up this season. We accomplished a lot for not knowing what to expect. In the moment, it hurts, but this Haas Automation team has come such a long way from where we started the year. It’s nothing to hang our heads about, but we really do think we could have competed for a championship at Homestead.”

The Haas Automation team has statistically performed better at 1.5-mile tracks than any other team in the XFINITY Series. Does this give you something to prove at Homestead this weekend? 

“We want to go to Homestead and prove that we could’ve won this thing. I think the other competitors in the Championship 4 would’ve had somebody to worry about if we were in this thing. I think we’re going to have a really strong car and a really strong run if we stay out of trouble. There’s no reason why we can’t go down there and win.”

What’s a lap around Homestead like?  

“Homestead is pretty tough because it’s almost like you’re on ice the whole time. It’s worn out, it’s wide and you can move around a lot. It’s really fun when you’re up against the wall. Some of the race is going to be about conserving your car and making sure you have something at the end of the race. Homestead is definitely one of the most fun races we go to because you get to slide around and it’s just unique in that way.”

 

Jeff Meendering, Crew Chief Q&A

 

Is there something to be shown for how well the team has run at 1.5-mile tracks this year as you get ready for the season finale at Homestead, which happens to be a 1.5-mile oval?

“Regardless of points, our goal all season has been to win a race our first year. We have put a lot of time in preparing for this race and feel that we have a good shot to make that happen this weekend. We are taking what we feel is our best car, Chassis No. 1059.”

KEVIN HARVICK – 2017 Homestead Race Report

Kevin Harvick is heading into the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway as a member of the Championship 4 for the third time in the last four years. And 2017 has similarities to 2014, when Harvick won the title in his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR).

Just as Harvick started from scratch in 2014 with a brand new race team at SHR after spending his 13 previous seasons with Richard Childress Racing, he started from scratch in 2017 after SHR switched to Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford Motor Company.

Instead of assembling team members, pit boxes and equipment the way it did in 2014, SHR had to start building its own chassis while learning new tools and programs to familiarize itself with a different racecar and the Ford FR9 EFI powerplant built by Roush Yates Engines.

The No. 4 Jimmy John’s team got off to a fast start in just the second race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where it displayed a dominant performance that made the transition to Ford look easy. Harvick led four times for a race-high 292 of 325 laps, but a late-race miscue resulted in a ninth-place finish. Juxtapose that run with the one Harvick put forth in the second race of 2014 at Phoenix Raceway, where he led four times a race-high 224 of 312 laps and scored his first victory as a member of SHR.

In 2017, the team experienced teething issues through most of the month of March before recording its first top-five finish of the season April 9 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. In 2014, the No. 4 team also overcame an early season struggle during which it finished 36th or worse in four of five races from Las Vegas Motor Speedway to Texas before hitting its stride in April with a win in the prestigious Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

As the NASCAR playoffs got underway in 2017, Harvick and the No. 4 team kicked off the effort with a third-place finish at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. The result at Chicagoland inspired confidence in the No. 4 team that it could indeed compete for the 2017 title.

Since the start of the 2017 playoffs, Harvick has scored a series-best 212 points at 1.5-mile racetracks with one win and an average finish of 3.8. He beat Martin Truex Jr. in the most recent 1.5-mile race Nov. 5 at Texas to secure his position in the Championship 4.

In 2014, the No. 4 Jimmy John’s team also had the ability to peak when it mattered most. In the final three races of the 2014 season, Harvick scored a second-place finish at Texas before winning the final two races of the season at Phoenix and Homestead.

While Harvick and the No. 4 team are unable to match the number of wins and laps led from their 2014 effort, their 13 top-five finishes is one short of their 2014 total, and their 22 top-five finishes is two better than what they earned in 2014.

Augmenting those numbers are the ones Harvick has put up at Homestead since joining SHR. He has one win, one pole and three top-three finishes with series bests of 124 points earned, 179 laps led and an average finish of 2.0.

If Harvick and the No. 4 team can claim the top prize Sunday night in the Ford EcoBoost 400, they would be the first to do so with a new manufacturer since Cale Yarborough did it driving the No. 11 Busch Beer machine in 1978. Harvick is also attempting to claim Ford’s first NASCAR Cup Series championship since SHR teammate Kurt Busch hoisted the Cup in 2004 while a member of Roush Fenway Racing.

What makes Harvick’s history in the playoffs even more impressive is his series-best seven wins in NASCAR Cup Series playoff races since 2014. No team and driver have performed better in must-win situations since 2014, and this Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 is the ultimate must-win situation with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title on the line.

 

KEVIN HARVICK, Driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

 

What does it mean to move on to the Championship 4 with a chance to win another title?

“It means a lot, especially this year switching everything to Ford and just seeing the steady climb of performance and peaking as the playoffs started and running well on really every racetrack that we’ve been to. And this has been, by far, our best round – all three top-fives with a win. It’s the right time of the year to be peaking. I feel really good about our mile-and-a-half program. Homestead has been a great racetrack for us through the years and, hopefully, we can go down there and contend. I think, for us, you’re really happy with where you are just for the fact that as a company we know what we went through and we’re kind of playing with house money at this point. So we’re gonna go down there and wing it and see what happens.”

Team owner Tony Stewart said earlier that he’s seen this script before with you, and you’re going to go down to Homestead and win. What do you think?

“Our intention is to go down there and win the championship. I think if you’re one of those four and you don’t have that mentality, you’re not prepared for what you’re getting into because I feel like you’re gonna have to win the race, you’re gonna have to not make mistakes. We’ve seen it year after year – mistakes and circumstances and things happen and you have to be there first, you have to have a chance, and you have to think you can do it. We know we can do it and I think there are three past champions and a guy who has run well all year and won a lot of races, so it’s not like it’s gonna be just check the box and send the check. It’s guys who have done this before and won races. But, for us, we’re confident in our team and feel like we should have a chance.”

With you being joined by Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., and Brad Keselowski, is this the strongest Championship 4 in regard to mental toughness?

“I wouldn’t say it’s the strongest because I think, as you look at the past, and if I’m not mistaken, I know the 78 (Truex) has been there before, the 18 (Kyle Busch) has been there before, obviously. I don’t know if Brad (Keselowski) has been there before or not in this particular format, but it’s not something that these guys are just gonna cave in and give up on what they’re doing. Three of us have won championships, and Martin has won a lot of races this year, so the pressure is really on the 78 and the 18. Those guys have dominated the year, and I feel like if they don’t win at this point, they would probably feel like they’ve had a letdown. So it’s a lot of fun coming from behind and playing catch-up. And kind of playing that underdog role is much easier than being expected to go down there and win. We expect to win.”

CLINT BOWYER – 2017 Homestead Race Advance

The racing world already knows the top two headlines coming out of Sunday night’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The sport will crown a champion among four drivers as well as say good bye to its most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.

While he certainly has thoughts on those top stories, Clint Bowyer would like to leave South Florida as the third headline of the evening by taking home the race winner’s trophy from the 1.5-mile high-banked track.

“Whenever you race, you want to win, whether it’s the season-ending Cup race or racing your brothers on dirt bikes in the backyard,” said Bowyer, who’ll drive the No. 14 Haas Automation Ford in the 36th and final points race of the 2017 season. “Homestead is no different. There’s going to be a lot on the line with those guys racing for a championship, but the rest of us are going to race for a trophy, as well.”

The champion’s celebration and Earnhardt’s retirement might overshadow the race winner, but they wouldn’t diminish the accomplishment, according to Bowyer.

“It’s tough to win these races, so anyone who takes the checkered flag Sunday is going to be more than happy,” he said. “But, think of the momentum it builds. You spend the entire offseason knowing you are the most current winner. You’ll still be happy when you get to Daytona in February.”

Bowyer has a rooting interest Sunday night as his Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) teammate Kevin Harvick attempts to bring the nine-year-old team its third title and first for new team manufacturer Ford since 2012. Bowyer, who was also a teammate to Harvick at Richard Childress Racing from 2006 to 2011, said he has no doubt Harvick and the No. 4 team can win the championship again for SHR.

“Those guys are good,” said Bowyer, who tested at Homestead for SHR in late October. “You saw what Kevin did at Texas in the closing laps, and he was up there at Phoenix. I expect that same Kevin Harvick on Sunday night. He has a good team, crew and organization behind him.”

As for Earnhardt’s retirement, Bowyer is a bit more reserved.

“Most of my good stories that I enjoy and that I’ll always remember about Dale Jr. are – hell no, I can’t say it,” Bowyer said with a laugh before pausing and offering a tribute.

“You know, the neat thing about our sport is the media, our broadcast partners – everybody does such a good job of covering the sport and really lets fans see what people are like,” he said. “You can’t hide your personality or the true you because you’re just seen so much in our sport, so Dale is just a ‘what you see is what you get’ kind of guy. He’s always been a great spokesperson for the sport. He’s always been a huge fan of the sport. And it’s going to be a huge void. But the stories and things that I’ll remember, they’re off the track and stuff we had a good time doing.”

Bowyer, who is in his first season with SHR after replacing three-time-champion Tony Stewart in the No. 14 Ford led by crew chief Mike Bugarewicz, has posted three second-place finishes and two third-place finishes. The team narrowly missed earning one of 16 berths in NASCAR’s playoffs despite Bowyer’s average finish of 15.6 that is 12th-best of all full-time drivers this season.

He arrives in Homestead hoping to turn around his recent string of bad fortune during which accidents by other drivers ruined consecutive races at Charlotte, Talladega and Kansas, followed by a third-place finish Oct. 29 at Martinsville. Mechanical issues dropped Bowyer to a 36th-place finish at Texas and, at Phoenix last weekend, he finished 13th, overcoming a speeding penalty and late damage on a restart.

All of Bowyer’s recent bad luck would wash away Sunday night with a victory, which he’ll gladly celebrate – even if he has to play third fiddle to a new champion and his buddy Earnhardt.

                                                                                                                                 

CLINT BOWYER, Driver of the No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

 

What are you going to say to Dale Jr. Sunday night?

“I sure hope you get a big boat and that I can come hang out on it – a bigger boat – you’ve always had a big boat. Hell, your name’s Dale Earnhardt, but I’m thinking this retirement deal could be our opportunity to enjoy a big boat on the ocean somewhere. Don’t let me down.”