ad_1]
Homestead-Miami Speedway shall be Playoff Central for NASCAR this weekend.
Playoff races are scheduled in all three nationwide collection on the south Florida monitor, which hosted the Cup season finale from 2002 to 2019.
MORE: NASCAR suspends Bubba Wallace for one race
The second race within the Cup Sequence Spherical of 8 is scheduled Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET (NBC). The Xfinity Sequence playoff race is ready for Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET (USA Community), and the next-to-last race of the Tenting World Truck Sequence season is scheduled at 1 p.m. ET Saturday (FS1).
MORE: NASCAR NBC Sports Power Rankings
The 1.5-mile monitor is a favourite of a number of Cup Sequence drivers and sometimes produces aggressive racing.
Joey Logano enters the weekend respiratory simply. He won last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to earn a spot within the Cup Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway Nov. 6. The remaining seven drivers within the Spherical of 8 shall be wrestling for the opposite three spots at Homestead and, for these nonetheless trying, at Martinsville Speedway Oct. 30.
Is the twentieth winner on the market?
Cup drivers stand one win in need of breaking a fairly sturdy report. Nineteen totally different drivers have gained races in 5 seasons: 1956, 1958, 1961, 2001 and this yr.
With three races remaining, it appears unlikely {that a} twentieth winner will arrive, however it’s additionally true that some important names haven’t gained this yr.
MORE: Joey Logano says Bubba Wallace could have cost Kyle Larson his life
That checklist contains Ryan Blaney (a playoff driver), Martin Truex Jr., Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger.
Three of these drivers would possibly see season successful streaks finish. Keselowski has gained at the very least one race in 11 straight seasons, whereas Truex (seven) and Blaney (5) have shorter streaks.
It’s noteworthy that the previous 10 races this season have been gained by 10 totally different drivers, and the previous seven races have been gained by seven totally different organizations.
Will Ross be boss?
Though Ross Chastain hasn’t gained a race since Talladega in April, a case will be made that he’s a favourite Sunday.
Chastain’s report on 1.5-mile tracks this season is superb.
He has completed runnerup 3 times on 1.5-milers, has scored two stage wins and has led 383 laps, probably the most of all drivers on 1.5-mile tracks by 118 laps. He has a median end of 6.4 on 1.5-mile tracks, one of the best by greater than three positions, and his 1.5-mile monitor whole of factors earned is 79 greater than the second-place driver (William Byron) in that class.
Chastain is second within the playoff standings getting into the race and is plus-18 factors to the cutline.
Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick quick at Homestead
Two non-playoff drivers — Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick — shall be among the many favorites Sunday at Homestead.
Busch, within the last three weeks of a profitable run with Joe Gibbs Racing, is a two-time Homestead winner and has completed within the prime 10 prior to now seven races on the monitor. He has gained 16 occasions on 1.5-mile tracks.
Harvick gained at Homestead in 2014 and has a powerful total report on the monitor with 12 prime fives, 18 prime 10s and a median end of seven.3.
Entry lists
Thirty-six groups are entered for Sunday’s 400-mile Cup race. Among the many non-regular drivers are AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson and Landon Cassill.
Forty-one groups are on the entry checklist for Saturday’s Xfinity race. Included are drivers Julia Landauer and Nick Sanchez.
The Tenting World Truck Sequence entry checklist has 37 groups, together with vehicles for Ryan Preece and Parker Kligerman.
This week’s schedule and forecast
(All occasions Japanese)
Friday, Oct. 21
Forecast: Partly cloudy. Slight probability of a bathe. Excessive of 81.
4 – 4:30 p.m. — Truck apply
4:30 – 5:30 p.m. — Truck qualifying
6:05 – 6:35 p.m. — Xfinity apply (USA Community)
6:35 – 7:30 p.m. — Xfinity qualifying (USA Community)
Saturday, Oct. 22
Forecast: Principally sunny. Excessive of 83.
10:05 – 10:50 a.m. — Cup apply (NBC Sports activities App, Motor Racing Community, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
10:50 – midday — Cup qualifying (NBC Sports activities App, Motor Racing Community, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
1 p.m. — Truck race (134 laps, 201 miles; FS1, Motor Racing Community, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
4:30 p.m. — Xfinity race (200 laps, 300 miles; USA Community, Motor Racing Community, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday, Oct. 23
Forecast: Principally sunny. Excessive of 85.
2:30 p.m. — Cup race (267 laps, 400 miles; NBC, Motor Racing Community, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
