Homestead-Miami Odds & Ends: 2012 Ford EcoBoost 400

At Homestead-Miami Speedway:

History

·         Groundbreaking for Homestead-Miami Dade Motorsports Complex – as the track was originally named – began Aug. 24, 1993. The first race was a NASCAR Nationwide Series event on Nov. 5, 1995.

·         The original configuration was a four-turn, rectangular oval based on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's layout.

·         The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Homestead was held on Nov. 14, 1999.

·         2002 was the first season of the Championship Weekend at Homestead, with all three of NASCAR’s national series holding their season finale at the same track.

Notebook

·         Since the inception of the position-based points system in 1975, only four drivers have made up a points deficit in the season finale: Richard Petty in 1979 (made up two points on Darrell Waltrip), Alan Kulwicki in 1992 (made up 30 points on Davey Allison), Jimmie Johnson in 2010 (made up 15 points on Denny Hamlin) and last season Tony Stewart (made up three* points on Carl Edwards).

o    * - Stewart’s comeback was under the one-point-per-position format implemented in 2011.

·         There have been 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Homestead, one per season since 1999.

·         Four drivers have competed in all 13 races: Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, and Tony Stewart.

·         David Green won the first pole, in 1999 with a speed of 155.759 mph.

·         Tony Stewart won the inaugural race, in 1999 driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.

·         There have been nine different pole winners. Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson lead all drivers, with two.

·         There have been eight different race winners, led by Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart, with three each.

·         Jack Roush has won seven races, most among owners. Joe Gibbs has the second most wins with four.

·         The race has been won from the pole twice: Bill Elliott (2001) and Kurt Busch (2002).

·         The race has been won from a top-10 starting position in nine of 13 races.

·         Denny Hamlin won in 2009 from the 38th starting position, the furthest back a race winner has started.

·         Two active drivers have averaged a top-10 finish: Carl Edwards (5.3) and Kevin Harvick (7.9).

·         Kasey Kahne (7.2) is the only driver to average a starting position in the top-10.

·         Youngest NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Homestead-Miami Speedway winner: Kurt Busch (11/17/2002 – 24 years, 3 months, 13 days). Oldest NSCS Homestead-Miami Speedway winner: Bill Elliott (11/11/2001 – 46 years, 1 months, 3 days).

·         Youngest NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Homestead-Miami Speedway pole winner: Kurt Busch (11/17/2002 – 24 years, 3 months, 13 days). Oldest NSCS Homestead-Miami Speedway pole winner: Bill Elliott (11/11/2001 – 46 years, 1 months, 3 days).

 

JJ has never won a race at Homestead but won five Championships (Getty)

Homestead-Miami Speedway Data

Chase Race #: 10 of 10

Season Race #: 36 of 36 (11-18-12)

Track Size: 1.5-mile

Banking/Turns: 18 - 20 degrees

Banking/Straights: 4 degrees

Frontstretch Length: 1,760 feet

Backstretch Length: 1,760 feet

Race Length: 267 laps / 400.5 miles

 

Top 12 Driver Rating at Homestead

Carl Edwards............................ 120.9

Martin Truex Jr.......................... 109.7

Matt Kenseth............................ 107.0

Kevin Harvick............................ 102.5

Jimmie Johnson......................... 95.2

Tony Stewart............................. 93.1

Jeff Gordon................................ 92.9

Denny Hamlin............................ 92.5

Greg Biffle................................. 92.2

Kasey Kahne............................. 90.1

Clint Bowyer.............................. 87.8

Jeff Burton................................. 86.5

Note: Driver Ratings compiled from 2005-2012 races (seven total) among active drivers at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

 

Qualifying/Race Data

2011 pole winner: Carl Edwards, Ford, 175.467 mph, 30.775 secs., 11-18-11

 

2011 race winner: Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 114.976 mph, (3:29:00), 11-20-11

 

Track qualifying record: Jamie McMurray,Dodge, 181.111 mph, 29.816 sec., 11-16-03

 

Track race record: Tony Stewart, Pontiac, 140.335 mph, (2:51:14), 11-14-99

 

NASCAR in Florida

·         There have been 170 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Florida.

Track Name	City	NSCS
Daytona International Speedway	Daytona Beach	131
Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead	13
Daytona Beach & Road Course	Daytona Beach	10
Five Flags Speedway	Pensacola	1
Golden Gate Speedway	Tampa	1
Palm Beach Speedway	W. Palm Beach	7
Speedway Park	Jacksonville	6
Titusville-Cocoa Speedway	Titusville	1

·         166 drivers in NASCAR’s three national series have their home state recorded as Florida.

·         There have been 10 race winners from Florida in NASCAR’s three national series:

Driver	NSCS	NNS	NCWTS
Fireball Roberts	33	0	0
LeeRoy Yarbrough	14	0	0
Marshall Teague	7	0	0
Joe Nemechek	4	16	0
Bobby Johns	2	0	0
David Reutimann	2	1	1
Shorty Rollins	1	0	0
Rick Wilson	0	2	0
Aric Almirola	0	1	2
Joey Coulter	0	0	1

LVH SUPER BOOK ODDS TO WIN
FORD ECOBOOST 400
HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2012

JIMMIE JOHNSON 4
DENNY HAMLIN 8
BRAD KESELOWSKI 10
KYLE BUSCH 10
KASEY KAHNE 8
JEFF GORDON 15
TONY STEWART 15
MARTIN TRUEX JR 10
CLINT BOWYER 10
MATT KENSETH 8
GREG BIFFLE 8
DALE EARNHARDT JR 18
CARL EDWARDS 15
MARK MARTIN 30
KEVIN HARVICK 30
JOEY LOGANO 35
KURT BUSCH 60
RYAN NEWMAN 100
MARCOS AMBROSE 100
SAM HORNISH JR 100
RICKY STENHOUSE JR 100
JEFF BURTON 300
PAUL MENARD 200
JAMIE McMURRAY 300
JUAN MONTOYA 300
ARIC ALMIROLA 100
TREVOR BAYNE 300
REGAN SMITH 1000
BOBBY LABONTE 1000
FIELD 500

Keselowski Now Gigantic Favorite to Win NASCAR Championship Heading into Homestead

Keselowski possibly made his move into NASCAR history at Phoenix

By Micah Roberts
The Linemakers on Sporting News

LAS VEGAS -- It seems like only yesterday that NASCAR teams were at Daytona in preseason testing for the Daytona 500, but it was actually January, a long, long time ago. Now here we are preparing for the 36th and final race of the season, a race at Homestead that has had some of the luster taken away because Jimmie Johnson has all but fallen out of championship contention. He’s not mathematically eliminated, but it will take the driver he’s chasing, Brad Keselowski, incurring some bad luck like Johnson experienced at Phoenix with a blown tire.

Keselowski needs to finish 15th or better Sunday to win one of the more remarkable championships in modern NASCAR history. The only driver that comes to mind from recent memory for doing something equally as impressive is Alan Kulwicki, who, in 1992, took a single-car team he owned to win the championship.

Penske Racing is the big-time racing outfit for which Keselowski drives, but Roger Penske has never won a championship in NASCAR. Penske runs two cars, but only one is competitive. The bigger deal here, and where the comparison to Kulwicki begins, is that Penske's Dodges are the only two on the circuit, and the team doesn’t have other organizations to work with.

They are kind of on their own, whereas, Rick Hendrick has four cars in his stable and Stewart-Haas cars indirectly under him. Joe Gibbs and Michael Waltrip Racing both run Toyotas, so those teams are able to bounce things off each other regarding engine performance, and the Fords are strong behind Jack Roush and his three cars.

Should Keselowski win the title on Sunday, his name will forever be etched as a NASCAR champion, something that has eluded many of the series’ top drivers, like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne.

Read More Here......

Season opening Chase odds

Harvick Wins First Race of 2012 for RCR at Phoenix

Kevin Harvick wins for the third time in Phoenix (Getty)  

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- A chaotic race at Phoenix blew NASCAR's championship fight wide open Sunday, moving Brad Keselowski to the brink of a first Sprint Cup title for himself and team owner Roger Penske.

Keselowski heads into next week's season finale with a 20-point lead over five-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson. His car was better than Johnson's, but he capitalized when a tire failure caused Johnson to crash hard and finish 32nd.

But that was the least of the drama.

Kevin Harvick snapped a 44-race losing streak in a crash-marred finish, and the crews for Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer brawled in the garage after Gordon intentionally wrecked Bowyer on the track.

It led to a meeting between the drivers and crew chiefs in the NASCAR hauler with police officers standing guard outside.

Kevin Harvick won the race two days after news broke that he will leave his Richard Childress Racing team for Stewart-Haas Racing following the 2013 season. Harvick held off Kyle Busch on a green-white-checkered restart and survived the last-lap melee to take the checkered flag ahead of Denny Hamlin, Busch, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Keselowski.

Phoenix Results

Video: Bowyer and Gordon teams go it

Video: Johnson wrecks to finish 33rd

Johnson Finished 33rd at Phoenix, Now 20 Points behind Keselowski

Sporting News

The Chase for the Sprint Cup took a dramatic turn Sunday when five-time champion Jimmie Johnson pounded the wall with 76 laps remaining at Phoenix International Raceway.

Brad Keselowski took over as Chase leader, and will head to the season's final race with a chance to claim the championship. Keselowski's lead is 20 points.
Keselowski finished sixth on Sunday. Johnson was 33rd.

Before the race ended, it was red flagged on the final laps following a crash that began with Clint Bowyer wrecking Jeff Gordon. As their cars collected Joey Logano's car, Keselowski slipped underneath and clear of the carnage.

Read More Here...

Boys, Have at it: Bowyer-Gordon Brawl Erupts During Phoenix Race

Sporting News

Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon tangled late in Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Phoenix, leading to Gordon retaliating and igniting a brawl between their teams on pit road.

Bowyer and Gordon were racing for a spot in the top five when they collided with seven laps remaining, cutting Gordon's tire and sending him into the wall.



Three laps later, Gordon then retaliated against Bowyer, slamming into him the wall and wrecking him.

When Gordon climbed from his car, Bowyer's crew rushed him and threw him to the ground behind pit road. Bowyer's crew had Gordon on the ground while NASCAR officials, security officials and other teams tried to break up the brawl.

Bowyer then climbed from his car and ran down pit road and through the garage to Gordon's hauler, where he was stopped by a NASCAR official.

Gordon was called to the NASCAR hauler while NASCAR officials continued to separate the teams. Security personnel were stationed outside the hauler, and reports said they would escort Gordon away from the meeting.

"They were rubbing in Turn 3 and then I saw Clint hit the fence," Bowyer crew chief Brian Pattie said.

Pattie vowed that his team might try to get even with Gordon in the final race of the season at Homestead.

"If we have nothing to lose," he said, "it will get exciting."

Read More Here.....

Final 2012 Phoenix Advocare 500 Driver Ratings Following All Practice Sessions

Micah Roberts’ Top 10 Driver Ratings
Advocare 500
Phoenix International Raceway
Sunday, November 11, 2012 -  12:16 p.m. (PDT)

Rating    Driver     Odds        Practice 1     Qualified    Practice 2    Practice 3

 1. Kyle Busch 8/1                       1st                1st               1st                1st 
2005 winner; thoroughly dominated practices -- had best 10 consecutive lap averages.
 2. Brad Keselowski 5/1             21st              14th              4th                9th 
Career best finish of fifth-place in the spring; using brand new chassis this week.
 3. Kasey Kahne 8/1                    4th                4th               9th               2nd 
2011 winner in first race under new configuration; outstanding practice using new car.
 4. Denny Hamlin 6/1                  2nd                3rd              2nd                8th  
Won spring race in April, also won at similar track at New Hampshire; 10.9 average finish.
 5. Clint Bowyer 12/1                   3rd               16th              8th                7th 
He’s becoming the King of the flat tracks; using car that won on similar track at Richmond.
 6. Jeff Gordon 12/1                   10th              11th             10th               5th 
Two-time winner, the last in spring of 2011, with a 10.8 average finish in 27 career starts.
 7. Jimmie Johnson 4/1              27th              24th             24th              11th 
Four-time winner, including three times during Chase of Championship season; sluggish practice.
 8. Joey Logano 50/1                   7th               15th              5th                3rd 
Best finish of third in 2010; strong practice using similar set-up as teammates Busch and Hamlin.
 9. Martin Truex Jr. 20/1              5th                2nd              3rd                6th 
Best finish of fifth in 2009 with career average of 15.2; looked good in average practice speeds.
10. Paul Menard 100/1                8th                7th               6th               19th 
Only one top-10 finish over career (2011), but had the look of a contender in practice.

Note: This will be third race under the new configuration at Phoenix. Despite the changes, the track remains relatively flat and keeps recent results at New Hampshire and Richmond still relevant for set-up and handicapping purposes.

Odds courtesy of the LVH Super Book.

Micah Roberts, a former sports book director, has been setting NASCAR lines in Las Vegas since 1995. For more Roberts insights on the race, go to The Linemakers on SportingNews.com or follow on Twitter: MicahRoberts7. 


Betting Notes
Kyle Busch looks like he’s got the fastest car at Phoenix this weekend. He was fastest in all three practice sessions and starts from the pole. He did all the little things you like to see during practices like have a good overall average speed and run up with the leaders in 10-consecutive lap averages. In both of Saturday’s practice sessions, he had the top 10-consecutive lap averages.

As good as Busch looks, we know that the best car doesn’t always win, especially at Phoenix. In the March race we saw Kasey Kahne be almost as good as Busch was this weekend -- at least during happy hour, but it didn’t translate to a win. Kahne wrecked himself early in the race and wasn’t able to win two in a row under the new configuration.

If Busch can’t win the race, look for Kahne to come up with the win. Kahne was just a notch below Busch in all the practice categories we like and we know his car will be set-up perfectly for the race. Kahne just needs to watch out for that tricky wall that bit him in March.

Brad Keselowski was impressive in Saturday practices and looks to have a much better car than Jimmie Johnson. Johnson certainly has a better history at Phoenix, but not that much under the new reconfiguration. Keselowski was fifth in the spring and Johnson fourth, and when you add Johnson and his crew trying to find anything that works on a sluggish car, Keselowski looks to have the edge Sunday.

One of the great moments of the final practice sessions was when Keselowski was informed by his spotter that Johnson’s guy on the roof said Johnson wanted to run behind Keselowski because the No. 2 was running much faster. Johnson slowed, Keselowski passed and just as Johnson was about to and follow Keseloski’s successful line around the track, Keselowski pulled into the pits. He basically said without words, “I’m not helping you do nothing! You‘re struggling and I like it. Two races two go for the title and I need every edge I can get. Work it out yourself.”

Johnson eventually found a little more speed and finished 11th in the session after being 24th in the Saturday’s earlier practice.

Speed also found it’s way into Busch’s Joe Gibbs teammates’ cars of Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano. Logano offers perhaps the best value on the board at 50-to-1.


We also have to consider Clint Bowyer because he’s using the same car he won with at Richmond in September. Jeff Gordon looked good in practice as well and should have a strong showing due to finishing within the top-3 at both Richmond and New Hampshire in September.

Kyle Busch Wins Phoenix Pole, Keselowski 14th, Johnson 24th

Kyle Busch won the pole Friday at Phoenix (Getty)

Sporting News

AVONDALE, Ariz. — The best thing about Brad Keselowski's qualifying run is that it was better than the driver he's competing against for the Sprint Cup title.

But neither Keselowski nor Jimmie Johnson could be all that stoked after qualifying Friday for the AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, where Kyle Busch won the pole.

Keselowski will start 14th while Johnson will start 24th for the 312-lap, 500-kilometer race Sunday. Johnson enters the event with a seven-point lead on Keselowski with two races left in the season.

"Obviously we'd like to have a little bit more," Keselowski said. "We're working on it and we'll go racing on Sunday from where we end up."

Neither Keselowswki nor Johnson was strong in practice. Johnson had to battle more sun and glare than Keselowski did on his lap.

Read More Here....

Starting Lineup

Kyle Busch was also fastest in Friday's practice lone session. Two more sessions will run Saturday (Getty)