Homestead-Miami Speedway Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend for the championship finale, so with the 2016 season coming to a close, we’ll take a look back at a race from Homestead’s past in this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater.” This week, the focus will be on the 2005 Ford 400, a race that featured a championship battle still up for grabs, drivers making their last starts, and the closest finish ever at the 1.5 mile track. Entering the 36th race ofRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service The crowning achievement of Joe Gibbs Racing’s 2016 season may also be its biggest problem. But it’s a problem the organization is happy to have. When defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch earned a return trip to the Championship 4 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a second-place finish at Phoenix, JGR became the first organization in the three-year history of the Chase’s elimination format to put more than one driver in the final race with a chance to win the title.Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor For the duration of the 2016 season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, two organizations, Joe Gibbs Racing and JR Motorsports, have stood out above the rest and with Saturday night’s penultimate race of the season at Phoenix complete, both of those teams will go head to head in next weekend’s championship finale at Homestead. The two organizations have combined for 22 wins in the first 32 races of the season, with Joe Gibbs Racing taking 17 of those wins and JR Motorsports taking the otherRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Since winning his sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in 2013, the world has wondered when or if Jimmie Johnson would capture a record-tying seventh championship. On Sunday, Johnson moved one step closer to making that seventh title a reality. Prior to the start of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports as a whole were struggling, with his chances of being able to advance through the Chase to the championship round at Homestead being very slim. However, since the startRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – For many years, Kyle Busch hasn’t endeared himself to the NASCAR community, but the defending Sprint Cup Series champion now believes the tide has turned. Busch has been showered with boos ever since becoming a regular contender over the past decade. Unquestionably talented, the Nevada native showed promise, but his attitude and on-track persona never resonated well with fans. That is, until February 21, 2015. It was on that day Busch sustained injuries in an XFINITY Series race at Daytona International SpeedwayRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief With the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season looming, it’s time for a new star to be born and that star is Kyle Larson. The timing just seems right. The 2014 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year is coming off of a strong performance in the season finale at Homestead last season. Larson was poised for his first win on NASCAR’s premier tour, but a late caution left the team’s strategy in shambles, losing the lead and falling to fifth at the finish. Larson fell victimRead More

Two Rookies Head the Timesheets at Homestead-Miami Speedway  HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The first official Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires test of 2016 is in the books with Felix Rosenqvist turning some heads by setting the pace for Belardi Auto Racing. The Swedish newcomer posted the fastest time overall on the Homestead-Miami Speedway road course with a lap of 1:14.4371 (106.882 mph) set in this morning’s three-hour session. The reigning FIA F3 European champion also set the second-quickest time in testing yesterday. “We went through a basic program the pastRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service Charlotte, N.C. – Joe Gibbs knows how difficult it is to repeat as champion. Although he won three NFL Super Bowls as coach of the Washington Redskins, none of those titles came in consecutive seasons. “In pro sports, I think the hardest thing is to stay up (on top) because once you have a great year everybody else is pointing or looking at you,” said Gibbs, speaking on “Toyota Tuesday”, the first stop on the 34th annual Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented byRead More

Seven-Race Chase Formats to be Implemented in 2016 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 19, 2016) – Using the overwhelming success of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format introduced in 2014 as a guidepost, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France announced today the implementation of a playoff system in both the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. On the heels of a 2015 Chase that saw the highest season-finale viewership in nearly a decade, record-breaking page views on NASCAR.com and unparalleled volume on social media, the NASCARRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – It was a chance internet search that led jackman Mike Russell to NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program and, ultimately, to a NASCAR XFINITY Series championship with driver Chris Buescher. “I was on the internet searching pit crew development stuff, and I came across coach Phil Horton,” said Russell, who on Saturday became the first African-American D4D alumnus to win a NASCAR national series championship in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “So I called him and talked to him, and thatRead More