Cleaning up the debris after a three-race weekend in Phoenix …
Kenny Bruce
Kenny Bruce is a three-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association's George Cunningham Writer of the Year Award. He joined Street & Smith's Sports Group in 2001.
Ron Hornaday made sure this week’s final for the Camping World Truck Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway was an afterthought. Hornaday won his fourth series title when he finished fourth at Phoenix International Raceway in the Lucas Oil 150.
The 51-year-old Hornaday won a pair of series titles with Dale Earnhardt Inc., before winning two of the last three for Kevin Harvick Inc.
And while Hornaday hopes to secure the owners’ trophy for KHI as well – the No. 33 team heads to south Florida with a 60-point advantage over the No. 51 Billy Ballew entry driven by Kyle Busch – there are a few other points battles worth keeping an eye on.
Brian Scott trails Johnny Sauter by just 13 in the battle for fifth; Colin Braun is just 12 behind Scott; David Starr is within 43 of Braun; and Timothy Peters sits just a single point behind Starr.
So a lot could change depending on this weekend’s results.
Over in the Nationwide Series, Busch just needs to take the green flag to wrap up his first NASCAR championship. So the focus will most likely be on second-place Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski in third. The two are separated by only 60 points.
Justin Allgaier trails Mike Bliss by 14 in the battle for fifth – another battle that bears watching this weekend.
And in Sprint Cup? It’s interesting to note that not a single one of the top 22 drivers in points gained or lost a position at Phoenix. Not
that the field is that spread out; that’s just how it all played out.
Nine of the top 12 drivers are within fewer than 75 points of their closest competitor, and the four-point gap between Tony Stewart in fifth and Juan Pablo Montoya in sixth represents the smallest.
So while Jimmie Johnson may or may not lock up his fourth title, there are other close battles going on behind him, too.
It may not exactly be a “championship” weekend at Homestead-Miami, but it still should be a pretty interesting one.
