{"id":14211,"date":"2017-11-19T20:05:07","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T02:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=14211"},"modified":"2017-11-19T20:19:39","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T02:19:39","slug":"nascar-sunday-homestead-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/19\/nascar-sunday-homestead-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Sunday Homestead Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Deteriorating handling dooms Kevin Harvick’s title shot<\/b><\/p>\n

HOMESTEAD, Fla. \u2013 Before the shadows crept over Turns 1 and 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kevin Harvick had a car capable of challenging fellow title contenders Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Jimmy John’s Ford, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 19, 2017 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

In the early stages of Sunday\u2019s Ford Eco-Boost 400, he often had the best car among those eligible for the championship.<\/p>\n

But as the sun set, Harvick\u2019s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford tightened up in the corners. Then a piece of flying debris from David Starr\u2019s Chevrolet shot a hole in his championship hopes.<\/p>\n

The debris punched a hole in the nose of Harvick\u2019s car below the right-side headlight decal. Though his crew did an admirable job repairing the damage, the handling of Harvick\u2019s Fusion wasn\u2019t where he needed it to be over the final 34-lap green-flag run.<\/p>\n

After a restart on Lap 234 of 267, Harvick harried eventual race winner and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Truex before falling back to fourth at the finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just got really loose and then got a hole in the nose and it started to get tight in (into the corner),\u201d said Harvick, who in 2014 became the first driver to win a Cup title under the elimination format. \u201cWe got that fixed. We were pretty good on the next-to-last run, and we were just really loose on the last run.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great to have a chance. We were in the mix all day. Didn\u2019t quite have what we needed at the end\u2026 Just couldn\u2019t quite get it where we needed to be to make good times. Some runs we fell off. Some runs we were tight on entry. There at the end we were just too loose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin Harvick – <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BRAD KESELOWSKI FALLS SHORT IN BID FOR SECOND TITLE<\/b><\/p>\n

Quite frankly, Brad Keselowski didn\u2019t have the car to add a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title to his 2012 championship without a strategic miracle.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 19, 2017 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Accordingly, on Lap 197 of 267, Keselowski and crew chief Paul Wolfe forced the issue by short-pitting after 32 laps of green-flag racing. After Keselowski brought his No. 2 Team Penske Ford to pit road, Championship 4 drivers Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick followed two laps later. Kyle Busch stayed on track, planning to bridge the final 102 laps with one pit stop.<\/p>\n

But a caution on Lap 227 for Kurt Busch\u2019s spin in Turn 4 bunched the title contenders for a restart on Lap 234, and Keselowski finished seventh 34 laps later, as Martin Truex Jr. won the Ford Eco-Boost 400 and the championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ran as hard as we could and put it all out there and just basically didn\u2019t have enough speed,\u201d Keselowski said. \u201cOn the mile-and-a-halves we weren\u2019t as good as the 78 (Truex) and 18 (Kyle Busch) and those guys. This last race coming down to a mile-and-a-half (speedway) didn\u2019t particularly bode well for us, but my team ran as hard as they could run. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey made some great calls\u2014Paul Wolfe and everybody\u2014and put ourselves in position every chance we could to make the most out of the opportunities that existed without just being lightning fast, but it wasn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brad Keselowski – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/HMS_MENCS_Champion_4_driver_111917.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

DANICA PATRICK\u2019S LAST RACE WITH STEWART-HAAS ENDS IN A CRASH<\/b><\/p>\n

On Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Danica Patrick announced plans to finish her racing career with runs in the 2018 Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 in cars still to be determined.<\/p>\n

But Patrick would have preferred that her last ride in the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford not end as early as it did. On Lap 142 of 267, a flat tire sent Patrick\u2019s car rocketing into the Turn 2 wall, collecting the Chevrolet of Kasey Kahne in the process.<\/p>\n

Patrick steered the crippled car to the entrance to pit road, but exited the Ford after it caught fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hit the wall (earlier) in (Turns) 3 and 4 and got some fender rub on the tire, and it blew the tire,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cI went a couple of laps and there was smoke in the car, but they thought it was all right, but it wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

After exiting the infield care center, Patrick wasn\u2019t ready to start thinking about the Daytona 500.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m not looking forward to is I have to go sit in my bus and wait for everyone to get done with the race before I can go home,\u201d she laughed. \u201cThat sucks, but I think that what\u2019s coming ahead is bright for me and for the way it feels, so I\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Deteriorating handling dooms Kevin Harvick’s title shot HOMESTEAD, Fla. \u2013 Before the shadows crept over Turns 1 and 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kevin Harvick had a car capable of challenging fellow title contenders Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski. In the early stages of Sunday\u2019s Ford Eco-Boost 400, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[79,411,527,95,16],"class_list":["post-14211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-brad-keselowski","tag-danica-patrick","tag-homestead-miami-speedway","tag-kevin-harvick","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/hms_mencs_car3_111917.jpg?fit=2934%2C1956&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3Hd","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14211"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14215,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14211\/revisions\/14215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}