Austin Dillon Wins The Truck Championship; Johnny Sauter wins the Race
Coming into the night, all Austin Dillon had to do was finish 16th or better to clinch the 2011 championship. With 40 laps to go at Homestead-Miami Speedway, it was looking like that championship would be in jeopardy.
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[/media-credit]On the restart with 34 laps to go, Dillon didn’t have a good one and fell back to 15th in eight laps. His teammate Coulter had also reported seeing issues with Dillon’s right tire. Ron Hornaday also told Dillon’s team that some oil had come up on his window when Dillon passed him.
“When you get back there in that situation, your head tells you to be smart but at the same time you’re telling yourself to go because you’re close,” Dillon said. “I went as hard as I could.”
Dillon quickly put all of that behind him and moved up to the 10th position, running laps as quick as leaders, before the race was called for rain with 15 laps to go.
At the age of 21 years, 6 months and 22 days, Dillon becomes the youngest NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion in series history.
“This is a dream true,” the grandson of Richard Childress said. “The great thing is that I am a very fortunate person to have this opportunity. It was scary after that last restart. We got back up there. I thought we had a truck to win.”
This marks the first time the No. 3 has won a championship since Dale Earnhardt’s death in 2001.
“The first time I got to pick a number, that was the only number I knew,” he said. “I told my grandpa let’s run it; let’s have some fun with it. I am very proud to run it.”
It also marks the first Truck Series championship for Richard Childress since winning the inaugural truck series title in 1995 with Mike Skinner.
“I’m so happy for my grandfather,” Dillon said. “It’s really helped him. He’s back in it; he’s got the heart of a 10 year old and is back in it.”
It marks Childress’ first driver’s championship since Clint Bowyer’s Nationwide Series title in 2008.
“This has got to be right up there at the top,” Childress said. “It’s so special when your whole family is involved. I remember the very first championship with Dale Earnhardt. I had the same feeling tonight watching Austin, my grandson.”
The difference at the end of the night between Dillon and Johnny Sauter was six points.
“The thing that he did was kept his truck in one piece – for a younger guy with the pressure of leading the points, I’d say that’s one thing that sticks out to me that a lot of guys probably can’t do at this stage in their careers,” Sauter commented on Dillon.
Sauter put all the pressure he could on Dillon, leading the most laps in the Ford 200, before going on to win the race.
“I’m so happy to be up here next to my best friend Joe,” Sauter said. “My guys are everything to me. They were on fire tonight. They are the reason for my year.”
Before the race was called, Denny Hamlin had made a move on Sauter to the outside, though Sauter squeezed Hamlin up. Sauter then came over the radio apologizing to Hamlin, saying it wasn’t intentional.
The win was the fourth of Sauter’s career and ThorSport’s seven victory of the season.
“I’ve always wanted to have two NASCAR wins in the same year so that was a huge accomplishment.”
Kevin Harvick would finish third in his final race as a truck owner, after locking up the owner’s championship two weeks earlier at Texas with the No. 2 truck.
“It’s been quite a run as a team,” Harvick said. “To just get the first win and be able to compete as we have, it shows the type of people behind us. To go from starting the team in 2001 to the championships with Hornaday, it’s been quite a run. If you have to go out, winning the championship would be the way to do it.”
Harvick had his own controversy during the race as he was in the middle of a dispute with James Buescher. On a restart, Harvick had a run on Buescher and tried to go under him, in which Buescher came down and blocked Harvick. Then coming on pit road, Buescher spun Harvick out after Harvick tried to pass him while on the access road.
“I was thinking in my head, ‘Don’t be Kyle Busch, don’t be Kyle Busch’,” Harvick said afterwards.
Nelson Piquet Jr. would finish fourth to finish his 10th in points in his rookie season in the truck series.
With a fifth place finish, Coulter locked up the rookie of the year title to cap off a good year for RCR.
“It’s just fantastic to win a championship and watch how hard these guys put in it,” Childress said. “To see this 3 back in victory lane with Bass Pro Shops, Ty’s success and Joey winning rookie of the year – it’s been an awesome year for RCR.”
The success of Richard Childress Racing in 2011 will definitely be talked about this off-sesaon, but don’t think the success won’t be there next year. Ty Dillon will take over Austin Dillon’s seat in the No. 3 truck and finished sixth to earn his second top-10 finish in his third Truck Series start.
“The great part about Austin and Ty is they are good kids,” Harvick said. “They’ve got their head on their shoulders right. I don’t think that will be the last Dillon that you see going through the championship circle in this truck series.
“They’ve got a good future. They’re like sponges. They listen to you and they’ve got a lot of history and their heritage.”
| Unofficial Race Results | |||||
| Ford 200, Homestead-Miami Speedway | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=25 | |||||
| ============================================== | |||||
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Points |
| ============================================== | |||||
| 1 | 5 | 13 | Johnny Sauter | Chevrolet | 48 |
| 2 | 17 | 18 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 0 |
| 3 | 8 | 2 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 4 | 3 | 8 | Nelson Piquet Jr. * | Chevrolet | 40 |
| 5 | 10 | 22 | Joey Coulter * | Chevrolet | 39 |
| 6 | 2 | 121 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 38 |
| 7 | 7 | 124 | Elliott Sadler | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 8 | 21 | 17 | Timothy Peters | Toyota | 36 |
| 9 | 12 | 23 | Jason White | Chevrolet | 35 |
| 10 | 4 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 34 |
| 11 | 23 | 81 | David Starr | Toyota | 33 |
| 12 | 1 | 31 | James Buescher | Chevrolet | 33 |
| 13 | 22 | 33 | Ron Hornaday | Chevrolet | 32 |
| 14 | 13 | 29 | Parker Kligerman * | Dodge | 30 |
| 15 | 16 | 15 | Dusty Davis * | Toyota | 29 |
| 16 | 15 | 5 | Todd Bodine | Toyota | 28 |
| 17 | 14 | 4 | Ricky Carmichael | Chevrolet | 27 |
| 18 | 9 | 6 | Justin Lofton | Chevrolet | 26 |
| 19 | 11 | 88 | Matt Crafton | Chevrolet | 26 |
| 20 | 19 | 62 | Brendan Gaughan | Toyota | 25 |
| 21 | 24 | 9 | Max Papis | Toyota | 23 |
| 22 | 6 | 60 | Cole Whitt * | Chevrolet | 22 |
| 23 | 28 | 32 | Blake Feese | Chevrolet | 21 |
| 24 | 30 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Chevrolet | 20 |
| 25 | 20 | 98 | Dakoda Armstrong | Chevrolet | 20 |
| 26 | 27 | 151 | German Quiroga | Toyota | 18 |
| 27 | 36 | 20 | Ross Chastain | Toyota | 17 |
| 28 | 25 | 109 | Bryan Silas | Ford | 0 |
| 29 | 34 | 57 | Norm Benning | Chevrolet | 15 |
| 30 | 35 | 168 | Clay Greenfield | Dodge | 14 |
| 31 | 26 | 66 | Max Gresham | Chevrolet | 13 |
| 32 | 18 | 7 | Miguel Paludo * | Toyota | 12 |
| 33 | 32 | 174 | Mike Harmon | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 34 | 29 | 138 | Dennis Setzer | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 35 | 31 | 10 | Jennifer Jo Cobb | Ford | 0 |
| 36 | 33 | 7 | Johnny Chapman | Toyota | 0 |
Matty’s Picks: Vol. 28 – Homestead-Miami – November 20, 2011
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[/media-credit]It all comes down to this, one race, three points, one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion. 65,000+ will be on hand Sunday Evening to witness the battle between two-time Sprint Cup Series Champion, Tony Stewart, and number-one contender for the title, Carl Edwards.
Both men have visited Victory Lane twice in their driving careers, so the tale of the tape sets the stage for an exciting finale this Sunday. The stats speak for themselves this week, with both drivers having success at Homestead-Miami Speedway:
Stewart
2 – Wins (1999,2000)
3 – Top-5’s
6 – Top-10’s
12.4 – Average Finish
3206 – Laps Completed (Most of any driver)
Edwards
2 – Wins (2008,2010)
4 – Top-5’s
6 – Top-10’s
5.7 – Average Finish
441 – Laps Led (Most of any driver)
Stewart has run all 12 races at Homestead, whereas Edwards has only participated in 7 of the season finales at the track.
This is the first year that I can remember that The Chase for the Sprint Cup will not come down to Jimmie Johnson NOT finishing the race in 43rd to clinch the title spot. Although Carl Edwards has not won a race during this 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup, the new points system has done what it was designed to do, and that’s create a battle until the final lap of the final race of the season.
I personally do not understand how a guy that has won 4 of the last 11 races does not hold a commanding lead heading into this final race of the 2011 Sprint Cup season, but the “Shootout to the finish” that NASCAR fans have hoped for, has finally become a reality. I am not the kind of person that rewards mediocrity and have often been doted with a “checkers or wreckers” mentality, but I am a bit excited to see this title battle come down to two extremely talented drivers.
I will be following the first portion of the race on Sunday from a perch high above a little-known Whitetail feeding ground via Twitter updates on Sunday Afternoon (so Mikey, remind me to have a full battery in my cell-phone heading to my tree-stand for night watch).
Phoenix Recap
Not a very good Winner Pick for me last week in Jimmie Johnson, wielding an un-traditional paint scheme on the No.48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet last week. Its been a rough go of it for Johnson in this 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup, and just when I thought he was due for a win, I was wrong.
Johnson started 16th last Sunday, and used pit strategy to climb as high as 8th within the first 100 laps. But with little rubber down on the new racing surface at Phoenix International Raceway, fresh tires became a hot commodity as the race wore on. The early, two-tire stop proved to be detrimental to Johnson’s push to the front, as he told his team his car was “scary loose” just before the midway point in the Kobalt Tools 500.
The crew worked the rest of the race to tighten Johnson’s car up, but only managed to sneak his way back to a 14th place finish.
My Dark Horse pick last week, Jeff Burton, finished better than my Winner Pick for the first time since the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte last month. It just so happens that my Winner Pick for that race in Charlotte was Jimmie Johnson, and my Dark Horse for that race was last-week’s race winner, Kasey Kahne. Also interesting that my Dark Horse pick last week finished in the exact same position (4th) as Kahne did in October at Charlotte, the last time I picked Johnson as my Winner Pick. Now I’m rambling on…..lay off Uncle Ed.
Anyway, my Dark Horse was a solid pick for me last week, and if it wasn’t for the willpower of Cousin Carl Edwards, I would have netted myself a Top-3 Dark Horse Pick last week at Phoenix. Yet again, had Carl Edwards not passed Jeff Burton in the closing laps of the Kobalt Tools 500 last week, we wouldn’t have such a close margin between first and second in points heading into this weekend’s grand finale.
Homestead-Miami Picks
Due to Mother Nature, I have nothing to go off of making my final picks of the season this week, as rain has delayed all on-track activities this afternoon in Miami.
Winner Pick
I have a gut feeling that the winner of Sunday’s race is going also be the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, but I will make it fun and not go with one of the two guys in the battle for the championship this year.
“The Closer” is the guy I’m picking to win this Sunday at Homestead, against my better judgment. Kevin Harvick sits 51-points behind Carl Edwards in Sprint Cup Series points standings, and also yields a rather impressive history at Homestead.
Despite not ever visiting Victory Lane at Homestead, Harvick boasts a rather impressive average finish of 7.9 at the 1.5-mile oval. He also has five Top-5’s and eight Top-10’s at Homestead, completing all but one lap of 10 races he’s started in South Florida.
It’s Harvick I’m going with this week just to make this column remotely interesting, so watch for the Budweiser to be flowing in Victory Lane this week.
Dark Horse Pick
The 16th place driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ points standings is A.J. Allmendinger. The guy I’m looking at to mix up the Top-10 this week at Homestead is A.J. Allmendinger. He’s coming off a 6th-place finish last week at Phoenix, falling just one spot short of his season-best.
Allmendinger has finished in the Top-10, four times in this 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup, with two coming in the last two weeks. His short history at Homestead-Miami Speedway has included a 5th, a 10th, and an 11th-place finish, most notably last year starting and finishing in the 5th position. Possibly his most impressive run at the 1.5-mile oval in South Florida was in 2008 when he started dead last on the grid and drove his way all the way to an 11th-place finish.
Bonus Pick: Who Wins the Championship?
It’s Stewart that wins the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup on Sunday…
I think that consistency will run out for Carl Edwards this weekend, and Stewart will prevail in the end. He’s been untouchable the past 11 races, and I don’t see anything changing this weekend.
If Stewart can manage to find the point early, he controls his own destiny. The worst thing that can happen for Smoke is for Edwards to get out front and for Stewart to play catch-up the remainder of the race. Edwards has been lucky up to this point, and I think it runs out this weekend with Smoke claiming his 3rd NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship.
That’s it for this grand finale this weekend, and stay tuned next week for my 2011 Season Wrap-Up of Matty’s Picks.
Until Next Time…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!
