Raceday: Your guide to the Ford 400
Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012
Three things to watch
1 . One race remains to decide to the Sprint Cup Series championship and just two contenders. Brad Keselowski holds a 20-point advantage over Jimmie Johnson.
2 . Keep an eye on Roush Fenway Racing which has won seven of 13 Homestead races – including five in a row between 2004 and 2008.
3 . Kurt Busch has won at least one Cup race for 10 consecutive seasons but remains winless heading into this year’s season finale.
Observations
• Is NASCAR moving forward or going back? It’s hard to tell with some of the decisions being made in regards to its Truck Series lately. In the wake of the death of the late Dale Earnhardt in 2001, NASCAR implemented an across-the-board minimum age requirement of 18 for all of its national and touring series. In recent years the age requirement has been lowered to 16 and then 15 in the touring series. On Saturday, NASCAR announced the age requirement in Trucks would drop from 18 to 16 for many tracks starting in 2013. The original decision was lauded as a safety move. Has that somehow changed since?
• There is an inherent double standard in NASCAR, one its drivers must see for themselves. Things like ‘hard racing’ and ‘rivalries’ are trumpeted by race fans and media alike. Yet some of those same people are the first to jump on a driver for (1) causing a wreck, (2) ‘racing hard’ or (3) not ‘working things out’ with any other driver with which they have a ‘feud.’ Neither the rules, nor the ‘standards’ of racing should change based on who a driver is. Would you want the police to enforce rules like that in society?
• Homestead-Miami Speedway has produced some of the best racing of late, in large part due to its variable banking – something fans of tracks like Bristol absolutely disdain. Strange concept.
Best bets
Jim Utter gives you three picks for your fantasy racing league:
Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Brad Keselowski
Notes
NASCAR announces new race, rules change in Trucks: The Truck series will run in Canada, after all. Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s vice president of racing operations, announced Saturday the Truck series will run at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, a road course in southern Ontario, next season.
In addition, NASCAR will lower the minimum age requirement in the Truck series from 18 to 16 years old for all road courses and tracks 1.1-mile in length and less.
The Nationwide Series has raced in Montreal since 2007 but is off the 2013 schedule.
RPM re-signs Cup drivers: Richard Petty Motorsports confirmed Saturday it had re-signed its current drivers in the Sprint Cup Series, Marcos Ambrose and Aric Almirola, for the 2013 season. Ambrose will enter his third season driving for the organization. He will again be behind the wheel of the No. 9 Ford. Almirola will begin his second season as the driver of the No. 43 Ford.
Ambrose has three top-five and eight top-10 finishes, including two victories at Watkins Glen, N.Y., during his stint with Petty. Almirola is completing his first full season in Cup. He has one top-five and three top-10 finishes and won his first career pole at Charlotte in May.
"We have shuffled our Cup team line-ups a few times this season to maximize our results," said Sammy Johns, the team’s director of competition. "We feel that the chemistry that we are developing now with both teams is very strong.”
To the back: Three drivers – pole-winner Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin – will have to start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field after all were collected in a wreck during practice on Saturday and moved to backup cars.
Per a NASCAR decision, Logano will have to start the race from the inside lane – the pole-winner usually gets to choose. Once Logano drops back for the penalty, third-place qualifier Brad Keselowski will move up to the No. 1 position.
Race facts
Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Fla.
Track type: 1.5-mile paved, banked oval
Race distance: 267 laps or 400.5 miles
Weather: Sunny with high near 80.
TV: Coverage begins at 2 p.m. on ESPN. Green flag is 3:18 p.m.
Radio: Motor Racing Network
More racing news, blogs, photos and more at www.ThatsRacin.com.
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