Denny Hamlin practices for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. Photo by Chris Trotman/NASCAR via Getty Images
Six drivers vying for two spots in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship 4 Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway just might be a recipe for bad blood – particularly since three of the six drive for the same organization.
“There’s an opportunity for two or three of us to be disappointed – or one of us,” says Denny Hamlin, who is battling his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, along with Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, for one of the final spots. “There’s always going to be hurt feelings, but I don’t think it has anything to do with each other.
“I think that, for me, if we don’t make it, then we just weren’t good enough. We’ve had one good finish and one average finish in this round, and you’ve got to have a lot of speed at every race track. Every race in this (Round of 8) – Texas, Martinsville and Phoenix – it’s an elimination race.
“Even though they cut us off at the end of Phoenix, it started in Martinsville. You have to have speed every single race, so if we don’t make it, it’s not my teammates’ fault. It’s our own.”
The race could hardly be tighter between the teammates. With six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and JGR driver Carl Edwards having clinched berths in the Championship 4 with respective victories at Martinsville and Texas, Logano and Kyle Busch are tied for third in the Chase standings, with Kenseth one point back and Hamlin two behind.
In the event of a dead heat for one of the final four positions, Logano currently holds the tiebreaker on the strength of his runner-up finish at Texas.
Harvick, who has won five of the past six races at Phoenix, likely needs a victory in Sunday’s Can-Am 500 to overcome an 18-point deficit to Logano and Kyle Busch and advance to Homestead. If Harvick gets the win, that leaves one spot available to the three remaining Gibbs drivers, and don’t expect them to race each other with kid gloves in the closing laps.
Asked whether he would use the bumper on one of his teammates to gain the final spot in the Championship 4, Hamlin quipped, “No, I would not – that’s my answer today.”
Sunday might be another matter, but for Kyle Busch, whether it’s Friday or Sunday is of no consequence.
Asked whether he would move a teammate to make the final round, Busch was unequivocal.
“Absolutely,” he said.
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Though he’s last in the Chase standings, 34 points below the current cut line with one race left in the Round of 8, Kurt Busch already has had plenty of reason to celebrate this month.
After all, his beloved Chicago Cubs rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the World Series and break a 108-year championship drought.
Likewise, Busch will have to rally from two lackluster races in the Chase’s Round of 8. Barring an extraordinary set of circumstances, he’ll have to win Sunday’s Can-Am 500.
“Yeah, that’s what we’re hopeful for,” Busch said on Friday at Phoenix International Raceway. “Our scenario to advance is to win. It’s very similar to last year, with how we made it through to the Round of 16, the Round of 12 and the Round of 8. We find ourselves with a must-win at Phoenix. It’s a unique format and it’s a lot of fun to work through it.
“To have a shot at it with only one race to go before the championship round makes you feel like you’ve had a successful season. We always want more, and we know we can do more. We want to try and go out with a win here in Phoenix to give ourselves a shot at the championship.”
Joey Logano Wants To Know Where He Stands
In golf, there are players who watch the scoreboard constantly and those who prefer to ignore what their competitors are doing.
Joey Logano would be in the former category, where racing is concerned. With the final two Championship 4 spots available on Sunday, Logano wants to know what he has to do to advance.
“It’s pretty simple, in all honesty, for us and what we have to do,” said Logano, who is tied for third in the Chase standings. “I know what I have to do and what the situations are, but, obviously, I kind of need to know during the race if something changes that I don’t know or just to make sure we are all on the same page.
“It’s important for me to know. Some drivers may say something different but, for me, I don’t want an update the whole race, but every now and again, especially toward the end of the race, to know where we are at and what I have to do to get in.”
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