Denny Hamlin won the pole position for Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), but he won’t have the biggest perk that comes with the fastest qualifying effort. After discussion within the Joe Gibbs Racing organization, Hamlin’s crew chief, Mike Wheeler, chose pit stall No. 4 on Saturday, leaving highly desirable pit stall No. 1 for JGR teammate Kyle Busch, who is fighting for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship. Surrendering the most advantageous pit stall (closest to the exit from pit road) is a bitter pill for Hamlin, who has one race left to extend a 12-year streak of winning at least one race per year…
Championship 4 contender Joey Logano made a statement in Saturday’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Homestead. Not only did the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford post the fastest single lap (169.609 mph), but he also topped the charts for best consecutive 10-lap average (163.995 mph). The other Championship 4 drivers stacked up as follows: Martin Truex Jr., ninth in single lap, fifth in 10-lap average; Kyle Busch, 23rd in single lap, ninth in 10-lap average; Kevin Harvick, 28th in single lap, 13th in 10-lap average…
Logano continued his strong performance in Happy Hour, blistering the competition with a lap at 171.701 mph. Truex was second at 170.584 mph. Busch and Harvick were 12th and 14th, respectively. But Busch had issues late in practice and scraped the outside wall with the right side of his No. 18 Toyota, giving his fabricators some extra work before Sunday’s title race.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.