Truex Jr. going for all the marbles at his best-performing track

Since when does Harvick care what others assume?

Apparently, when it consists of Gordon. “But in the end you don’t want to be the guy who was disrespectful at Jeff Gordon’s last press conference, or say something that is…”

Gordon will race for his lengthy-overdue fifth championship on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. NASCAR had already been a house hold sport by the time you introduced yourself to the Cup series in 1992 (first career race), but no one expected you to have the impact that you did. Across the 10 events the field of title contenders has been cut from 16 to Gordon, defending champion Kevin Harvick and young guns Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. Did you know: The season title will be decided by finishing order among Gordon, Harvick, Busch and Truex…. Truex has been relatively quiet this season, winning at Pocono in June to become Chase eligible, avoiding trouble and doing just what he’s needed to do to have a shot at winning it all.

Gordon, Harvick, Busch and Truex all have only one thing on their minds and that is to beat the other three in a winner-take-all showdown at Homestead. “I think it’s sort of a pay-it-forward type of mentality that you have as a race vehicle driver”. “I know I was brought up on racing and I admit, I had the Jeff Gordon bedspread, sheets, curtains and posters on my wall growing up”. Theres no reason to create a moment.”.

The only thing certain for Truex and Furniture Row Racing is that both will end the season with their best ranking. The meetings were separate and done in advance of Kenseths return to the track this weekend.

Kenseth was suspended two races for intentionally wrecking Joey Logano in retaliation. The payback finally value Logano a spot in Sunday’s finale. I appreciated getting the chance to meet with Brian and I think Matt did, too.”. However, as NBC Sports analyst Steve Letarte, a former crew chief, said Tuesday, “When you look at their statistics from Homestead Miami, it would really shock me if it doesn’t take a win to win this championship”. “The things we kind of talk about it are between us.”.

Harvick has been there, done that: See how he won at Homestead-Miami Speedway a year ago when he was also part of the Championship 4 mix. Their most memorable run-ins came in late-race battles at Bristol and Richmond, two tracks where Gordon challenged Wallace’s longstanding dominance. The race was delayed seven hours by rain, then called 93 laps from the finish when another storm rolled in.

Harvick said he wasn’t concerned about his relatively slow run.

“All four drivers are capable of winning this, but having a driver that’s been through it the previous year and knows how to handle it and knows what to expect, I mean, that’s a big advantage going into a week like this”, he said. That is nothing compared to what you will see in Homestead if we do that. “The way he races, I don’t know how he’s ever won a championship”. The trio of Cavanna, Doud and Vincie are back with daily reports from NASCAR race shops, while Dunlap delivers Truck Series feature reports and analysis.

NASCAR RACEDAY, FS1’s popular prerace show, continues to deliver the excitement behind-the-scenes and up-to-the-minute reports from the garage prior to the start of each Sprint Cup race. “It’s going to be an exciting and a very emotional race at Homestead”.

Plus, if you believe in stuff beyond hard facts, maybe he’s just due for a little good karma.

Mars announced earlier this week it had extended its M&Ms sponsorship with Busch and Joe Gibbs Racings No. 18 Toyota team for the next several seasons, but Busch only revealed his extension on Thursday.

“Is there pressure? I feel like there’s always pressure”, said Gordon. For us, you have got Toyota’s probability to win a Cup title for the primary time ever, you bought M&Ms for the primary time ever and you bought Kyle.

“Right now I’m not even thinking or fathoming that”.

Busch is racing for his first Sprint Cup title and should he pull it off, it would be the first for manufacturer Toyota, as well.