Martin Truex Jr. is +550 to win 2023 4EVER 400 at Homestead

Martin Truex Jr. Homestead-Miami Advance No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD for Joe Gibbs Racing

Event Overview

● Event: 4EVER 400 (Round 34 of 36) ● Time/Date: 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 22 ● Location: Homestead-Miami Speedway ● Layout: 1.5-mile oval ● Laps/Miles: 267 laps/400 miles ● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps ● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Martin Truex Jr., and the No. 19 team for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) set the tone for the season right out of the gate by winning the 150-lap feature in the non-points Clash at the Coliseum on Feb. 5 in Los Angeles. Truex won his heat race, then went on to lead the final 25 laps of the feature en route to a victory that gave him and the team much-needed momentum heading into the 2023 season. While the team was knocking on the door over the first 10 points-paying races, the breakthrough win finally came at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway on May 1, and Truex has added two more points-paying victories and four overall this season – June 11 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway and July 17 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.   ● Round of 8: Heading to the second race in the Round of 8 of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Truex sits fourth in the standings with 4,071 points, three above the top-four cutline.   ● Truex has one win, seven top-five finishes and 12 top-10s and has led a total of 377 laps in 18 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Homestead Truex’s average Homestead finish is a strong 8.4. His average finish there is second best among active drivers behind Kevin Harvick, who has a 6.8 average.     ● Truex notched his Homestead victory in November 2017, when he led 78 laps and clinched his first Cup Series championship.   ● 34 and Counting: Truex’s win at New Hampshire was the 34th of his Cup Series career, putting him in a tie with 2004 Cup Series champion Kurt Busch for 25th on the all-time win list in NASCAR’s top series.   ● So far this season, Truex has scored three points-paying wins, nine top-five finishes, 16 top-10s and has led an impressive 841 laps through 33 races. To put the laps-led number in perspective, Truex led just 572 during the entire 36-race season in 2022.

Martin Truex Jr., Driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD

What kind of comfort level do you have at Homestead?   “It’s a track I feel good about. Recent success is always important. Now (we’re back) racing with the NextGen car we got to race there for the first time (last year). That went really well and we were in position to win that race late and we had issues getting spun on pit road that took us out of it. Definitely have a lot of confidence going there with our Bass Pro Shops Camry. I feel like we have a good notebook from last year to go off of. It’s a place where I think we can make something happen.”   What do you like most about Homestead-Miami Speedway?   “Everything. That’s the kind of track I really like. You can run all over and it’s really low-grip and it wears tires out. You really have to manage your car and your tires throughout runs. Be able to move around the track and find lines that work for you. It’s a big challenge and I enjoy tracks like that. I love South Florida and love going down there. A lot of great fans. It doesn’t feel like fall when you go down there, it feels like summer, so that’s an added bonus.”   You are in your 18th fulltime Cup Series season and will be back next year for your 19th. What keeps you going and keeps you motivated with not many other drivers with your longevity currently left in the sport?   “The craziest part is just how fast it’s all gone by. Our seasons are so long and they feel like they drag on forever, but when you look back, so much has happened and I can’t believe I’ve been doing it for this long. I’ve been lucky to have some great teams and a lot of great success, and winning a championship was more than I ever expected when I started doing this. Still feeling like we are capable of doing more, so that’s what I’m still here for more. Just having a great team, and knowing we can win every weekend, keeps me going and keeps me hungry and continuing to work hard to be better every single weekend. It’s a difficult sport and you can have a bad year one year and then be better the next. You just have to stay focused. I’ve been able to do that and have a good team behind me, so I’m always ready to go to work each week.”

Denny Hamlin is 7/1 to win 2023 4EVER 400 at Homestead, +550 to win Cup Title

Denny Hamlin / No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry TRD Preview

4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry TRD News and Notes

• HAMLIN AT HOMESTEAD: Denny Hamlin is tied for the most NASCAR Cup Series wins all-time at Homestead-Miami Speedway with three. His most recent win at the track came in 2020 when he led 137 of 267 laps on the way to victory lane. Last year, Hamlin started 14th and finished seventh when the Cup Series visited Homestead.
• LAS VEGAS RECAP: Hamlin finished 10th last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After starting 15th, he scored valuable points by finishing seventh in stage one and fourth in stage two.
• GABEHART EFFECT: Since being paired with crew chief Chris Gabehart at the start of the 2019 season, Hamlin has won at eight of the 10 playoff tracks, including a 2020 victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
• SPORT CLIPS: Sport Clips will be featured as the primary sponsor for Hamlin in Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The sports-themed haircutting franchise based in Georgetown, Texas is a longtime supporter of Joe Gibbs Racing dating back to 2009 and has more than 1,850 stores in the United States and Canada.
• JGR AT HOMESTEAD: Joe Gibbs Racing owns eight NASCAR Cup Series wins at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In 75 combined starts at the 1.5-mile oval, the organization has tallied 20 top-five finishes, 41 top-10s, five pole awards, and 1,740 laps led. Kyle Busch, Bobby Labonte, and Tony Stewart join Hamlin on the list of drivers who have taken JGR to victory lane at the South Florida track.
• TUNE IN: Coverage of this weekend’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway begins Sunday, October 22, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN Radio, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

 

Denny Hamlin, Driver of the No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry TRD

What is your mindset about going to Homestead this weekend?

“We’re looking forward to this weekend. Obviously, we would have liked to have finished last week a little better to be in a better spot in the points, but we feel good about Homestead. It’s a track we’ve had some success at and feel like we can run up front and score points. That’s the name of the game right now is just qualify up front, score points in the stages and finish as good as we can. It’d be awesome to win the race and lock ourselves in, but if we can’t do that, we need to maximize our day.”

 

Hamlin NASCAR Cup Series Stats at Homestead-Miami Speedway

Starts	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Poles	Laps Led	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish
18	3	5	12	3	397	16.4	9.8

 

Hamlin 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Season Stats

Starts	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Poles	Laps Led	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish
33	3	13	17	4	797	10.5	12.2

 

Hamlin NASCAR Cup Series Career Stats

Starts	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Poles	Laps Led	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish
647	51	221	338	40	14,151	11.9	13.1

 

About Sport Clips Haircuts

Sport Clips Haircuts is headquartered in Georgetown, Texas. It was established in 1993 and began franchising in 1995. The sports-themed haircutting franchise, which specializes in haircuts for men and boys, offers online check in for clients, and ranks #30 in the Entrepreneur “Franchise 500” for 2023 and is listed in Franchise Direct’s 2021 “Top 100 Global Franchises”. There are almost 1,900 Sport Clips stores open in the U.S. and Canada. Sport Clips is the “Official Haircutter” of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), offers veterans preferential pricing on haircuts and franchises, and was named a 2021 Top Franchise for Veterans by Entrepreneur. Sport Clips provides “Haircuts with Heart” through its annual Help A Hero fundraiser that has contributed $13 million to the VFW; national partnership with St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants; and other national and local philanthropic outreach. Sport Clips is a proud sponsor of NASCAR’s Joe Gibbs Racing team and SRX Racing, and partners with other NCAA and professional sports teams. To learn more about Sport Clips, visit sportclips.com.

 

William Byron is +750 to win 2023 4EVER 400 at Homestead

 

24 WILLIAM BYRON   Age: 25 (Nov. 29, 1997)   Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina   Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina   Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle   Standings: 2nd

No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1   CAREER SEASON: Heading into the second race of the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Byron continues to add to his already impressive 2023 season stats. After 33 races, Byron leads the series in wins (six), stage wins (eight), average finishing position (11.33) and top-10 finishes (19). He is tied for the second-most top-five finishes (13) just behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson (14). He has also led a single-season career-best 896 laps – second to Larson (1,031). In addition, Byron ranks second for the season in average running position (10.16), laps run the top five (3,543) and laps run in the top 10 (5,124).  PLAYOFF OUTLOOK: Byron enters Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway second in the standings and nine points above the elimination line to advance to the Championship 4. He has victories at all three of the remaining tracks: Homestead-Miami (2021), Martinsville Speedway (2022) and Phoenix Raceway (2023). The 25-year-old driver is looking to advance to his first Championship 4. BACK NINE: Over the last nine races of the season, Byron leads the series in points (364), top-10 finishes (eight) and average finish (5.44). In that stretch, he is also tied for the most wins (two), runner-up finishes (two) and top-fives (five).  1.5-MILE MOMENTUM: Byron is no stranger to success on mile-and-a-half tracks during his Cup Series career. Since the start of 2021 (not counting races on Atlanta Motor Speedway after its reprofiling in 2022), he has three wins, two runner-up finishes, eight top-fives and 15 top-10s in 22 races on 1.5-mile tracks. In fact, in the six races on that track length this season, Byron leads the series in wins (two, one each at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the spring and Texas Motor Speedway), average finish (4.83) and points (254).  HEADING TO HOMESTEAD: With five previous Cup Series starts under his belt at Homestead-Miami, Byron’s first two Cup Series starts didn’t go as he hoped but he has since turned his luck around. In his last three starts at the 1.5-mile track, Byron has collected one win (2021), two top-10 finishes and a pole position. The sixth-year Cup Series driver has two other national series starts at Homestead-Miami on his résumé – one in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and one in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. In 2017, Byron started sixth and went on to finish third, locking up the Xfinity Series championship in the process. In 2016, Byron started on the pole for the Truck Series race and led 31 laps en route to the win at the 1.5-mile speedway with Rudy Fugle on the pit box.    RUDY RUNS MIAMI: Crew chief Fugle will be making his third Cup Series start this Sunday at the South Florida track. In his first showing, Fugle went on to capture his first Cup Series win with Byron and the No. 24 after leading 102 laps. He followed that up by capturing the pole award in 2022, leading 32 laps, all before going on to score a 12th-place result. The Livonia, New York, native also has nine other national series starts with seven of those coming in the Truck Series. He has visited victory lane two times at this track in the truck ranks, once in 2013 and again in 2016 with Byron. In fact, Fugle’s Truck Series drivers have never finished outside the top eight. PIT ROAD PROWESS: Through 33 races in the 2023 season, the No. 24 pit crew remains in the top spot with the fastest average four-tire pit stop time of 10.979 seconds. The No. 24 pit crew consists of Spencer Bishop (jackman), Jeff Cordero (front-tire changer), Orane Ossowski (rear-tire changer), Ryan Patton (tire carrier) and Landon Walker (fueler). LIBERTY U IS BACK: For the final time in the 2023 season, Byron will sport his Liberty University paint scheme. Featuring a white base with navy flames and red accents, the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will be sure to stand out on track. Liberty University has a long history with Byron starting back in 2014 in the late model ranks. Liberty University has been Training Champions for Christ since it was founded in 1971. Located in the mountains of Central Virginia, Liberty University is a liberal arts institution with 17 colleges and schools that offers more than 600 degree programs from the certificate to the doctoral level, on campus and online. Working on an undergraduate degree in strategic communication, Byron is now in his junior year at Liberty University through its online program. Check out every angle of the paint scheme here.  WELCOME PODS: On Thursday, Hendrick Motorsports announced that PODS Enterprises LLC, the industry leader in portable moving and storage solutions, has joined Byron and the No. 24 team as the primary sponsor for next week’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville on Oct. 29. PODS has assisted with more than six million moves with locations serving 46 states and was recently recognized on Newsweek’s list of America’s Best Customer Service 2024 in the "Moving Services" category. For a closer look at Byron’s No. 24 PODS Chevy, click here.  William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on running the wall at Homestead-Miami: "I mean I’ve done it before, but I don’t think in the (NASCAR) Cup (Series) car. It’s not maybe as comfortable for me, but I do feel like I’m capable of running well at Homestead (Miami Speedway). I’ve won a Cup race there (in 2021) and last year we qualified on the pole. It’s a place that is within our wheelhouse. It’s just a matter of how good we can be there. I think we can realistically have a chance to compete and fight for a win there. I don’t know yet, but I feel like we can be pretty solid at Homestead, for sure." Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his thoughts about Homestead-Miami: "Homestead (Miami Speedway) is one of my favorite tracks we go to and always has been. I’ve been able to find success there, but I think it’s mainly because I enjoy how the track races. We’ve spent a lot of time preparing for this race, even before last weekend at Las Vegas (Motor Speedway). We were a bit off from where we hoped at track, so we spent this week really honing in our setup. Hopefully, we can have a solid day and cushion our points gap before the final race of the round."