By on Coble, Florida Sports Wires
HOMESTEAD (SportsTicker) – While the focus for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship finale at the Homestead-Miami Speedway remained clearly focused on Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe stole some of the spotlight Saturday by winning the pole for the main event.
Briscoe’s fast lap of 166.687 mph will allow him to lead the field to the green flag at 3 p.m. (NBC, HBO max). But lurking is the only three drivers with a mathematical chance to win the championship.
“I feel confident we can contend, but I wouldn’t say I was the dominant car,” Briscoe said. “I definitely feel really, really good about [the race]. I think we’ll be in the mix [Sunday] and if we execute, definitely up there.”
But he could be challenged quickly by Hamlin, who qualified second at 166.600 mph, and Bell, who was sixth in time trials at 165.868, since both need miracle finishes – and a lot of trouble for Larson – to have a chance.
Especially since Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet will start fourth following a lap of 166.343 mph.
“I was surprised to end up fourth,” Larson said. “I would say before I ever hit the racetrack, I had high expectations because of just the confidence that everybody at GM had in the car [and] the smart people at Hendrick. On paper it looked like it was going to be a lot better in all categories.”
Larson leads the standings by a commanding 67-point advantage on Bell and a 70 on Hamlin. The 33-year-old from Elk Grove, California, can lock up his third championship in the first of three stages, since Bell must finish in the top eight Segment One, or Hamlin must be in the top five when the first segment concludes on Lap 80. Larson can also clinch by finishing in the top three in the first segment.
If the Chase goes to the end of the race, Larson can also win by finishing no worse than 28th even if Hamlin or Bell wins both segments, the race and runs the fastest lap to score a maximum 76 points.
Since Briscoe isn’t in the championship picture, his role early may be jaded since he, Hamlin and Bell all drive Toyotas for Joe Gibbs Racing. Adding to the curious early strategies in that Tyler Reddick, who will start third (166.477 mph) drives for a team owned by Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan.
“We haven’t talked about it,” Briscoe said of any team orders. “I mean, in my mind, we just go race. I mean, maybe there’d be a discussion, but I don’t think there is. I think, look, if him and the 5 (Larson) were within, you know, five or 10 points of each other, it’d be a little bit of a different story. But being [76] points out or whatever, I doubt that there’s going to be anything from Coach (Gibbs) or anybody else [other than] just go race and whatever happens.”
The rest of the top 10 starters will be Austin Cindric in fifth (166.021 mph), Chase Elliott in seventh (165.629), William Byron in eighth (165.593), Ryan Blaney in ninth (165.391) and Daniel Suarez in 10th (165.304).
Honeycutt clinches Truck Series Championship for TRICON Garage
The Homestead-Miami Speedway only needed one Victory Lane stage Friday night after the Craftsman Truck Series Championship 200 finale.
That’s because race winner Kaden Honeycutt won the race and the championship.
If the race and championship winners aren’t the same driver, NASCAR has conducted simultaneous celebrations at two different stages.
Honeycutt made sure the spotlight remained on him by beating Christian Eckes by nearly 150 yards.
Honeycutt said his TRICON Garage teams best move came on pit road with 26 laps remaining when the driver and crew chief Scott Zipadelli decided to change all four tires for additional grip for the stretch drive. Once he passed Eckes following the restart, Honeycutt easily drove away from the field to wrap up his first truck series championship and the third for Zipadelli.
“Man, this is amazing,” Honeycutt said while fighting his emotions in Victory Lane. “Thank you to every owner, thank you, everybody, that’s let me drive the race car for them, whether it was dirt, asphalt, road course, doesn’t matter. That is because of you guys I’m sitting right here with this group behind me as champions. I’m so out of breath, I wish I could talk harder. Thank you, fans, for showing up. We just won
Homestead and the [darn] championship.”
Honeycutt played it easy early in the race, but he parked that idea in the third segment, and he turned his Toyota Tundra loose. Once he shifted gears – in strategy and mechanically – He was unbeatable.
“The first half of the race, I did not want to push it too hard,” he said. “It fell in our hands. I put my nuts on the dash and wanted to win the race.”
Honeycutt credited his relationship with Zipadelli, the younger brother of former Tony Stewart crew chief Greg Zipadelli, for his turnaround at midseason and his charge to the title.
“This year working with Scott, I never saw the side of racing like he did until I got introduced to him,” he said. “There’s no reason why. Like, most races I ever won in a year was seven. This year I’ve won 22 [in several series]. The fact that that’s a coincidence, it’s not.
“It’s because of his mentorship and how I’ve viewed life differently, off-track stuff differently, how to handle things focusing forward. It’s something I really struggled at the first half of the year that I was not happy with. [The] second half of the year, I definitely turned up a lot more, went to work with him.”
Kaulig Racing taps Allmendinger, Dillon to drive Dodges in 2027
Kaulig Racing confirmed speculation that it will switch from Chevrolet to Dodge in the 2027 NASCAR Cup Series. It will mark the first time since the end of the 2012 season that a Charger will be on the track for the stock car series.While confirming A.J. Allmendinger and Ty
Dillon will be primary drivers, team executive Chris Rice admitted it may consider running a third car at the season-opening Daytona 500, but Rice denied any conservations with Brad Keselowski, who was pushed out at RFK Racing, where he had been a driver and minority owner.
Dodge left NASCAR at the end of 2012 after Keselowski won the Cup Series Championship in a Dodge for Penske Racing.
The new car will be debuted on Dec. 4 at the Snowball Derby late model race at Pensacola, Florida.
“Huge deal is an understatement,” Allmendinger said. “It’s not going to be easy, but I’m all in and we’ll do everything possible to make this learning curve as short as possible.”
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images for NASCAR
