Richard Childress Racing will come back with the same drivers in 2015. Sprint Cup runner up Ryan Newman in the No. 31 Chevrolet, Paul Menard in the No. 27 Chevrolet, and Austin Dillon in the No. 3 Chevrolet. Newman said the second place season almost didn’t happen.
Over the course of the season, Jeff Gordon was the top driver of 2014. However, NASCAR has not determined its champion using the results of the entire campaign for more than a decade. They want excitement, drama, unpredictability. They want what the other big boy sports have, and when they waved the flag to start the season finale, four drivers had an even shot to claim the prize. Unfortunately, 39 we knew who would not, also were out there.
The 2014 NASCAR season is officially over with the notable exception of the Championship Banquet. What kind of year was it? With the multitudes on talk radio praising the new format for determining a champion, what does the rest of NASCAR Nation think? This reporter has a “wait and see” attitude on the format, but that comes later.
1. Kevin Harvick: Harvick’s four-tire pit stop on a caution with 20 laps to go keyed his victory at Homestead, giving him the Sprint Cup championship. Harvick held off Ryan Newman to claim his first title.
Watching the Cup finale was like watching most Nationwide races. Few of the participants actually matter. You have your winner, you have those who actually are competing for the prize, and then you have the odd spectacular, special moment. Sunday’s race marked the end of ESPN’s run, which meant no more Allen, no more Dale, no more Andy, no more Rusty, no more Brad, and no more Nicole. A special moment, indeed.
As the Florida sun faded to darkness at Homestead-Miami Speedway and a first-time champion was crowned, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the season’s final race, the Ford EcoBoost 400.
It’s not often that a driver can double down in NASCAR but Kevin Harvick did just that, winning the Ford EcoBoost 400 as well as the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. This was Harvick’s 28th victory in 502 Cup races, his fifth victory of the season and his first victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
In a wide-ranging State of the Sport press conference, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France discussed everything from the new Chase format, the sanctioning body’s domestic violence policies, fights in the sport, and the drivers who may be crowned champion this weekend.
As the final four prepare to thunder to their fate at Homestead, not everyone is thrilled with the new format to determine the Cup champion. Again and again I read how appreciative some are for NASCAR allowing them to do other things on a Sunday afternoon than watch a sport they have abandoned.
1. Kevin Harvick: Harvick led 264 of 312 laps at Phoenix and won the Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500, qualifying for the Chase finale at Homestead. “Just call me ‘Mr. Unexcitement,” Harvick said, “because I took all the drama out of Sunday’s race.”
