Homestead Championship Recap

Good evening everyone and welcome back to Captain Josh's Pit Stop. Tonight I recap the Championship weekend from Homestead. I hope all of my followers had a Happy Thanksgiving with all of their families. I also want to note that Christopher Bell won the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship. Chase Briscoe won the race for the final start of Brad Keselowski's truck team. His team has shut down after the 2017 season. William Byron won the 2017 Xfinty Series Championship as well. Cole Custer won the Xfinity race. Now onto the final Cup race of the year. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The Ford Ecoboost 400 ran on Sunday afternoon to determine the 2017 Cup Series Championship. The Championship 4 are listed above in a photo. Martin Truex Jr, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Brad Keselowski would fight for the title. Also in the photos listed above, it was the final start for veterans Dale Earnhardt Jr and Matt Kenseth. Danica Patrick was also making her final start in the #10 car and her final start in full-time NASCAR competition. Kasey Kahne made his final start in the #5 car for Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne will move to the #95 car in 2018 for Leavine Family Racing. Denny Hamlin edged out Martin Truex Jr for the pole. The first and second stages consisted of 80 laps. The final stage made up the final 107 laps of the season. The race was 267 laps, 400 miles. Photos courtesy of Google images.

The first caution came out early in stage 1 at lap 6 when Joey Gase hit the wall off turn 2. He was out of the race. Photo courtesy of Google images.

Kyle Larson swept the first 2 stages. The championship 4 followed him at the end of both stages. Jimmie Johnson had to pit towards the end of stage 1 after contact with the wall and a cut tire. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The day didn't end the way Danica Patrick would've hoped. She cut a tire in turn 2 and broke loose into the wall in front of Kasey Kahne. Both were out of the race. Not a good ending for Kasey Kahne's run at Hendrick either. The incident occurred in stage 2 with 19 to go in the stage. Photos courtesy of Google images.

David Starr took over the #66 car for Carl Long at Homestead. His day would also come to an end when he cut a left front tire going into turn 3. The incident occurred in the final stage with 86 to go in the race. Photo courtesy of Google images.

The race seemed to have a long green flag run to end the race. Truex Jr and 2 of the other Championship 4 drivers pitted, leaving Kyle Busch on the track. Busch was going for a one stop strategy to the end if it stayed green, as the others would of had to pit again. But, the caution came out with 39 to go in the final stage when Daniel Suarez blew a tire into turn 3 that left debris on the track. Also, Kurt Busch went for a spin in turn 4. Photos courtesy of Google images.

So, the championship came down to the final pit stop under the Kurt Busch/Daniel Suarez caution. Martin Truex Jr's pit crew got him out in front and he was able to hold off a hard charging Kyle Busch to win the 2017 Monster Energy Cup Series Championship. Busch had the faster car, but Truex Jr found a line that was good enough to hold him off. Congrats to Truex and his entire team. Busch finished 2nd, Harvick 4th, and Keselowski 5th. Photos courtesy of Google images.

Before I go, I want to take the opportunity to thank those who have read my blog all year. I had lost my interest in it due to some personal struggles and other things. I hope people enjoyed my blogs and I hope you all enjoyed the 2017 NASCAR season. I have so much passion for racing and I tried to show it in every blog I posted. I will do my best to post some content during the off-season. Formula One will host their final race of the season this weekend in Abu Dhabi. Lewis Hamilton has already clinched the 2017 World Championship. I wish all of you Happy Holidays and I will be back to recap Speedweeks and the 60th annual Daytona 500. See you in Daytona.
-Josh