Month: November 2018

Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway will be one for the ages – a true clash of the titans.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), is part of what might be the toughest Championship 4 field since the start of the elimination-style playoff format in 2014. That year’s NASCAR Cup Series champion is joined by 2015 champion Kyle Busch, 2016 runner-up Joey Logano and 2017 champion Martin Truex Jr., in a one-race shootout where the highest finisher among the four is crowned the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion.

Harvick and Busch both have four appearances in the Championship 4 at Homestead since 2014, while Truex and Logano are both making their third appearances. In total, the 2018 edition of the Championship 4 have accounted for 22 wins, 13 poles, 80 top-five finishes, 100 top-10s and 5,230 laps led through this year’s 35 points-paying races.

What should make it more interesting is the Championship 4 drivers’ combined resume on 1.5-mile racetracks in 2018. In the 10 Cup Series events on 1.5-mile layouts, the Championship 4 occupy the top four positions in points scored. They’ve combined for eight wins, five Busch Poles, 24 top-fives, 34 top 10s and have led a combined 1,978 laps led on 1.5-mile ovals.

Amazingly enough, Championship 4 drivers finished 1-2 in four of the 10 races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2018. At Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, Harvick and Busch finished first and second; at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Busch got the better of Harvick; at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City in May, Harvick finished first while Truex was the runner-up; and Busch got the better of Truex in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway the last weekend in May.

Harvick ranks first with four wins and 867 laps led in those 10 races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2018. He’s also second with seven top-five finishes and a 7.1 average starting position.

The No. 4 Jimmy John’s team has set the standard for high performance since its inception in 2014. The 2018 season proved no different as it is tied with Busch and the No. 18 team for a series-best eight points-paying wins. It also leads the Cup Series with a 115.2 driver rating, 22 top-fives, 28 top-10s, 18 stage wins, 51 playoff points, 1,932 laps led, 2,869.12 miles led, 1,258 fastest laps and an 8.236 average running position. The team ranks second with an average starting position of 8.7, average finishing position of 9.0, has 8,398 laps in the top-15 and is tied for second with four Busch Pole Awards.

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. The Bakersfield, California native is also trying to become just the 16^th driver in NASCAR history to win two or more Cup Series championships in a career and attempting to become the first driver since SHR co-owner Tony Stewart to win a NASCAR Cup Series title with two different manufacturers.

Harvick is attempting to make history and become the first NASCAR driver to win multiple Cup Series and Xfinity Series titles. In addition to his 2014 Cup Series title, Harvick won the Xfinity Series championship in 2001 and 2006.

What makes Harvick’s history in the playoffs even more impressive is his eight wins in NASCAR Cup Series playoff races since 2014, tying him with Kyle Busch for the most since the inception of the format. 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.

The Championship 4 at Homestead is set to become a battle for the ages, which is good since Harvick has age and experience on his side.

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

Describe the emotion, hype and adrenaline before the championship race in Miami? Is there anything outside of NASCAR that you can compare that to?

“That’s a tough comparison because I’ve never been in that position in any other sport. The thing I can tell you about Homestead is, for me, from a mental standpoint, there’s nothing about it that’s the same. You have mandatory press conferences, mandatory appearances, every sponsor, friend and everything else that comes along with that. There is just way more to manage before the race. From a mental standpoint, you have to be prepared to do things differently than you’ve done all year because that’s the type of situation you’re in. Throw all that aside and then go into the race knowing you’re probably going to need to win the race to win the championship, because that’s what’s happened the last few years. We’ve seen the champion go out and win the race. You have to be in an ‘I have to win’ mindset and prepare for everything outside of the normal.”

What kind of driver does it take to win a NASCAR championship?

“I don’t know that it is the driver. I think it’s the team because you can’t drive a slow car fast. You have to have everything put together on one particular day. Homestead is a track that is fairly unique to a lot of the other mile-and-a-half racetracks we go to. There is really nothing about that weekend at Homestead that is the same just because of the fact everything is different. The track is different. The amount of people is different. The weekend is a championship-winning scenario. You know that you need to go out and win.”

What is it like knowing at the end of a race that the championship is right there for the taking?

“The year I won, we went through so many ups and downs and I really think 2014 was a good training ground for us from a mental standpoint, because we went through so many highs and lows and ‘must-win’ situations. We were 12^th with 10 or 12 laps to go in that race, wound up pitting and being on the offensive.  It was definitely a scenario where your heart rate and intensity were up and you know you’re going to have to go out and get it to make it happen and be on the offense to go forward and get back to the front. There are a lot of things that get me excited, but I don’t think there is anything that gets me more excited than being behind and winning a race late.”

Kurt Busch endured heartbreak Sunday at ISM Raceway near Phoenix when he was eliminated from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after being involved in a multi-car accident late in the race, which caused him to finish 32^nd.

As a result, Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion, won’t have a shot at the Cup Series championship in this week’s season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

But he can still win the race and end what has been a magical season.

In Olympic hockey, there is a bronze medal game. The “consolation game” is played between two teams that lost their semifinal games against the teams going for the gold medal. Until 1981, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament featured the “third-place game” – who can forget Ray Meyer and the DePaul Blue Demons edging the University of Pennsylvania Quakers coached by Bob Weinhauer in 1979 in a 96-93 thriller?

Busch has two poles, one win, four top-five finishes and six top-10s at Homestead. Additionally, the 40-year-old driver has led 97 laps, has an average starting position of 13.5, an average finish of 18.4, and has completed 89.2 percent (4,054 of 4,545) of the laps he’s contested there.

He’s also had a remarkable 2018 season. In August at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, he scored his 30^th career win and his sixth at “Thunder Valley.” Busch has won five poles this season, his most since he scored six in 2006. He became just the 21^st driver to lead 9,000 career laps and is now just 223 laps behind Buddy Baker for 19^th on the all-time list.

Busch has 21 top-10 finishes this season and if he scores another one this week at Homestead, it will be a career high for him. He had 21 in 2004, 2009, 2015 and 2016.

And a top-10 finish might put Busch fifth in points, which would be his highest finish in the standings since 2009.

After 35 points-paying races and two exhibitions, it’s finally time for the finale. And, as always, Busch hopes to be in victory lane.

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 track, 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.”

Aric Almirola and the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) make the long trek out to ISM Raceway near Phoenix for the 35^th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race this season. Almirola heads into the event after finishing eighth last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

The entire four-car SHR contingent remains in the hunt for the winner-take-all Championship 4 season finale Nov. 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with only this weekend’s event at Phoenix left to try and qualify. The two-time championship-winning SHR organization, which makes up 50 percent of the remaining playoff field, is the first since Joe Gibbs Racing in 2016 to have all of its entries reach victory lane. Almirola currently ranks seventh in the playoff standings with 4,068 points, 35 behind the final cutoff spot for the Championship 4. The 34-year-old is in a virtual must-win situation if he is to be one of the four championship-eligible drivers at Homestead.

The Smithfield driver heads into the weekend coming off his 15^th top-10 of the season behind the wheel of the No. 10 Ford Fusion. Almirola scored one of those top-10s in March on the mile oval at Phoenix, his second straight top-10 there. The Tampa native ran as high as second in this year’s spring event before finishing seventh.

Almirola has 15 career starts at Phoenix with an average starting position of 19.5, an average finishing position of 16.3, and he’s completed 99.9 percent of all laps possible at the desert track.

Almirola is back to piloting the traditional Smithfield paint scheme this weekend but, with the holiday season is just around the corner, Smithfield continues to promote its perfectly cooked, spiral sliced ham as an ideal addition to most every kind of holiday feast to make family and friends feel special. Not only does it make holiday cooking a breeze, it provides equally flavorful leftover dishes. Fans can visit Smithfield.com/HolidayHub for information on how to make every holiday soiree a breeze, as well as foolproof tips and simple recipes that are sure to wow holiday guests with flavor-filled dishes for all the celebrations the season brings.

Over Almirola’s last 10 starts at a track less than or equal to a mile in length, he’s scored one top-five finish and four top-10s. Additionally, he’s led 67 laps and completed 98.3 percent of all laps possible while earning an average starting position of 14.1 and an average finishing position of 12.4.

On Oct. 14, the Tampa native piloted a special bacon-themed Smithfield Ford Fusion to victory lane at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The unique paint scheme coincided with Smithfield’s Bacon for Life promotion. Yes, it’s possible to win bacon for life. The sweepstakes runs until Dec. 31, and fans can enter by finding specially marked packages of Smithfield bacon in stores, then visiting Smithfield.com/BaconForLife and entering the unique code provided in the package. More than 1,000 runners-up will be awarded select bacon merchandise.

Phoenix is the 32^nd points-paying event during which the Smithfield livery has adorned Almirola’s No. 10 Ford Fusion. Smithfield, a brand of Smithfield Foods, which is based approximately five hours northeast of SHR headquarters in Smithfield, Virginia, is in its seventh season with Almirola and its first with SHR. Founded in 1936, Smithfield is a leading provider of high-quality pork products, with a vast product portfolio including smoked meats, hams, bacon, sausage, ribs, and a wide variety of fresh pork cuts.

Through 34 races this season, Almirola has one win with an average start of 15.6 and an average finish of 13.1 with three top-five finishes and 15 top-10s. He’s also led 181 laps this season, already a career best with two races remaining.

ARIC ALMIROLA, Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

What is going to make ISM Raceway difficult this time? 

“I think Phoenix is going to have some new challenges with the reconfiguration of the track and the start-finish line moving. I think it will make restarts awfully entertaining for the fans, and crazy and chaotic for us. There are going to be a lot of different strategies and things, and pit road is going to be different, too. There are some unknowns, and with these unknowns come different strategies and chaos.”

With the starting line being moved at Phoenix, how will that change things?

“I think it will just make the restarts really hectic and interesting. We are not allowed to pass until we get to the start-finish line. So I think when you look at Phoenix with the start-finish line being before the dogleg, I would imagine that we will cross the start-finish line and be nine-wide going through the dog leg and then try to figure out how to get back to two-wide by the time we get to the new turn one. That is a really flat, tricky corner. Running much more than two-wide is pretty difficult through there. I am sure it will fan out and get really exciting. I think when it gets down late in the race, the restarts will be really, really intense and chaotic with guys trying to make moves in desperation and trying to make that final round of four. You can run two-wide through the old (turns) three and four, the new one and two I guess it will be. You can run two-wide pretty comfortably through there. I think there is potential for us to be four-, five-, six-wide going through that dogleg. We have seen that when it was just the back straightaway, so now going through the gears will be pretty crazy.”

Pit stops have become more important. How much attention to detail is being paid to them?

“Pit stops are important, but everything is important. Especially this part of the season when you’re trying to go for a championship. No stone can be left unturned. The car has to be fast, the driver has to do his part, the pit crew has to be perfect, everything has to come together and you have to be perfect to win these races and to win a championship. That’s what everybody strives for all year long, but really, when we get to this part of the season it’s a must.”

Have you had a chance to talk with Joey (Logano) about Texas?

“Joey and I talked. We talked on the phone (Monday). I think we both know where each of us stands and I feel good about it. I know a lot of people are confused at why I was upset when you look at the replay but the reality is that, as racecar drivers, we both know the situation that we were in, and he knows kind of where my head was at and what I was thinking. I know where his head was at and what he was thinking, and we’ll move on. We’ll go from there.”

Did you and Joey kind of agree to disagree, or are you good?

“We’re good. I think when you look back at it, Texas is just a challenging racetrack to run two-wide at. The tire is extremely hard that Goodyear brings there because of the repave. The track is extremely wide, but the groove is very narrow, and so it’s really hard to run side by side. When you do run side by side, if you’re wheel to wheel and the cars are perfectly even with each other, the car on the inside is extremely vulnerable and it’s really hard to drive your car. You saw it in the Xfinity race, you see it in all the restarts in the Cup race – that car on the inside just gets incredibly loose. So I expected and I thought one thing and that didn’t end up being the case. I was hoping he’d cut me a break, to be quite honest, and that didn’t happen to be the case. I feel like if we go to Homestead and, for whatever reason I wasn’t in the championship, that he would expect the same out of me. He would expect me to cut him a break if we restarted with 30 laps to go and he was third and I was fourth, I feel like he would expect me to cut him a break and let him go race for a championship, and that’s kind of what I was hoping for. Whether that was wrong or right of me is beside the point. I was mad and upset, and it didn’t work out for me. I went from running third to running eighth, and I didn’t think I was the best car. I didn’t think I was just going to go up there and drive around the 4 (Kevin Harvick) or the 12 (Ryan Blaney). But what I did think is, if I could just get through (turns) three and four and be third, that if something happened with the 4 and the 12, I’d be in position to capitalize on that. When I got loose under Joey, I lost that opportunity, so I was mad. These are high-pressure times and the intensity level is incredibly high and emotions run high in situations like this. I got cameras and microphones stuck in my face immediately upon getting out of the car and being upset, and everybody heard it.”

Do you let the criticism from Texas bother you?

“If I worried about what other people thought, I wouldn’t be here where I’m at today. People are always going to criticize, especially on social media. It gives people whose opinions mean absolutely nothing a platform to say whatever it is that they want. I really could care less what anybody thinks about what I said or what I did or anything about Texas or otherwise. The people’s opinions that matter the most to me are Tony Stewart, Gene Haas, all the guys on my 10 team and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing, the people at Smithfield, Ford Motor Company – the people who directly impact my life and my career. All that outside stuff is just noise.”

Event:               Whelen Trusted to Perform 200 (Round 32 of 33)
Date:                Nov. 10, 2018
Location:          ISM Raceway near Phoenix
Layout:             Mile oval

Cole Custer Notes of Interest

• Cole Custer won the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, clinching his spot in the Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 17. He is currently ranked first in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff standings.
• This marks Custer’s first Xfinity Series championship eligibility at Homestead. Custer won the 2017 season finale at Homestead by 15.405 seconds after winning Stages 1 and 2 and leading 182 of 200 laps. He also earned a perfect driver rating of 150.
• Saturday’s Whelen Trusted to Perform 200 at ISM Raceway near Phoenix is the third and final race of the second round of the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs. The playoffs began with 12 eligible drivers and are divided into three rounds with the first two rounds consisting of three races apiece, followed by a final, single-race round at the Homestead season finale. Four drivers are eliminated after each of the first two rounds to ultimately establish four finalists at Homestead. Drivers automatically qualify for the next round with a win in the current round with the remaining spots determined by the point standings. At Homestead, the top-finishing driver among the four finalists wins the championship. 
• The Whelen Trusted to Perform 200 is the last of five mile-oval races during the 33-event season. In 67 Xfinity Series starts, 42 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts and 29 NASCAR K&N Pro Series starts since 2015, Custer has five wins, eight poles, 17 top-five finishes, 33 top-10s and 1,077 laps led at tracks that are a mile in length or shorter. 
• This will be Custer’s fourth Xfinity Series start and his ninth overall at Phoenix. Custer has three Truck Series starts and three K&N Pro Series starts at Phoenix. Custer’s best Truck Series finish is third in 2014 and, that same year, he won the K&N Pro Series race. Custer also has a K&N Series pole at Phoenix, earned in 2013 when he first competed at the track.
• Custer has three top-five finishes, seven top-10s, two poles, one win and has led 111 laps in eight career Xfinity, Truck and K&N starts at Phoenix.
• Custer has two wins, 13 top-five finishes, 24 top-10s, five top-five finishes and has led 596 laps in 69 career Xfinity Series starts.
• Custer’s five pole awards in this season tie Christopher Bell for most poles in the series and his average starting position of 6.2 is the best among Xfinity Series drivers.
• Earlier this year at Phoenix, Custer started third and ran in and around the top-five before earning his second Xfinity Serie top-10 at Phoenix.

Cole Custer, Driver Q&A

What mindset do you head to Phoenix with after clinching your spot in the Championship 4?

“We’re still going to head into Phoenix firing on all eight cylinders to get a trophy. There are two races left and we want to end the season winning three in a row and a championship. That’s exactly what we plan to do.”

Do you think you have a good shot at winning the championship at Homestead?

“We obviously have a great setup from last year at Homestead, but that doesn’t promise anything so we still need to do our homework. We can’t go into that weekend thinking we’re just going to race as well as we did last year. We have to go to Homestead like we did in Texas and give it all we have to bring home the championship.” 

How did it feel to win at Texas?

“I couldn’t believe it. The No. 1 car is the best pusher in the series and I hated that I didn’t have him behind me. We did all we could. I drove it in deeper than I have all weekend and it worked out. I was pumped for Autodesk. It was their first time on the car. Gene Haas, I wouldn’t be here without him and Haas Automation. I am pumped. We are going to Homestead and I think we have a great shot of winning.”

You have a win at Phoenix. What is it about that track that fits your driving style?

 “I’ve been lucky enough to drive some fast cars there, but I think I’ve taken to flat tracks fairly well and it’s a feel I just like. We had a quick Haas Automation Ford Mustang there last season so, with the notes we have now, we should be even quicker.”

Jeff Meendering, Crew Chief Q&A

Now that you aren’t racing for points, how does the strategy change at Phoenix? 

“Really, the only thing that changes for me is not having to worry about stage points. We can make pit calls based on getting the best finish rather than gathering the most points. Everything else is business as usual – try to sit on the pole and win the race.”

Kurt Busch is fifth in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings and, if certain things happen, he can advance to the winner-take-all Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano are locked in via their wins at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Busch is 28 points behind his brother Kyle Busch, who’s third in the standings, and 25 behind defending-champ Martin Truex Jr., who currently holds down the fourth and final cutoff position. So if Kurt Busch has a great day and his little brother and Truex both struggle Sunday at ISM Raceway near Phoenix, he could advance to the Championship 4.

A mathematics professor at Brown University could figure out all the different point scenarios Busch would need to advance. But the 2004 Cup Series champion seems to prefer a much simpler method – one with a guarantee.

Win at Phoenix in Sunday’s Can-Am 500k and he’s automatically in the Championship 4. Or simply, “Win and In.”

Getting the opportunity to race at the mile oval in the desert west of Phoenix – the same track where he once cheered for many of his racing heroes – was a dream come true for Busch. Racing at the track was like a home game for Busch, who also attended college for several semesters at the University of Arizona, just down the road in Tucson, before making it in NASCAR’s big leagues.

While he was coming up through the ranks, Busch made a number of race starts at Phoenix, competing in the likes of NASCAR’s Southwest Series tour. Then, in 2000, Busch took to the track for the first time as a competitor in NASCAR’s top touring series, competing in both the Camping World Truck Series race in March, in which he finished fourth, and then in the Cup Series race in November later that same season, when he finished 29th.

Since his first NASCAR Cup Series start at Phoenix, it has been a track where Busch has performed consistently. Busch has one win, seven top-five finishes and 18 top-10s there. Additionally, the 40-year-old driver has led 751 laps, has an average starting position of 12.5, an average finish of 13.6, and has completed 99.6 percent – 9,634 of 9,675 – of the laps he’s contested there.

This weekend’s event is also the first at what can be considered the new ISM Raceway. The start-finish line was moved to what used to be turn two and the original grandstands were torn down and the garages were replaced.

So if Busch can score the victory at the “new” ISM Raceway, he will punch his ticket to the Championship 4.

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

Thoughts on Phoenix? 

“Our Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford team has fought hard all year to be in this position. We will give it our all in Phoenix. Consistently consistent is good, but we need to win to be great. Billy Scott (crew chief) and all of us are ready. We’re going to give it our best shot.”

It’s the first race at the “new” version of ISM Raceway. Any thoughts on that?  

“It’s pretty wild how much Phoenix has changed over the years. The dogleg used to be open and the wall was kind of open. They closed that off. Then they put a tunnel in turn four and the grandstand addition in turn two. Now they’ve upgraded the place and made it more fan friendly. It’ll be exciting to see it.”

What do you feel you need to work on at Phoenix for this week? 

“It seems like, each time we go back to Phoenix, the asphalt is getting a little bit older. It’s starting to get a little bit slicker, yet it still seems like you can stay out forever on tires. You are out there a long time on tires and the air pressures build up. We are going to work this time around on keeping the air pressure down and trying to make our long-run speed better.”