Kurt Busch hopes to be the first and last ‘Sprint’ Cup champion

There are only five races left in the ‘Sprint’ era of NASCAR.

The cell phone company departs as the title sponsor of the Cup Series following the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 20. Clinching this particular title would have a little more meaning for Kurt Busch.

Busch, at 25 and in his fourth year in the series, kicked off Sprint’s 12-year relationship with NASCAR in 2004 when he won the inaugural title, then the Nextel Cup. A corporate merger made it the Sprint Cup in 2008.

Kurt Busch in New York City in December 2004 prior to the Nextel Cup Awards.

“That would be fun to be able to bookend the championship run with Sprint sponsorship of our series,” Busch said Tuesday during a test at Homestead-Miami Speedway  “It’s been an amazing run for them, a brand builder for both NASCAR and a cell phone company. When you’re the first champion with a new sponsor it came with some fun responsibilities and good promotions.”

Busch won the 2004 title, the first of the “Chase” era, while driving for Roush Fenway Racing.

“It’s neat to see what (Sprint) benefited from and here we are now, it’s at the end,” Busch said. “2004 was a long time ago. It’s time to upgrade the championship trophy to a 2016 one.”

If Busch can survive in the standings until the finale, he’ll have the chance to score the third Cup title for Stewart-Haas Racing – where he has been since 2014. Heading into the Alabama 500 at Talladega, Busch is sixth on the Chase grid, 17 points up on the bubble.

“Last year we came out of Kansas with a top-(six) finish and had 13 points as our cushion,” Busch said. “This year we have a 17-point cushion after we finished 13th (at Kansas). It’s a numbers game, and we feel comfortable where we sit.”

But the fates of Busch and nine other drivers hinge on their result at Talladega, the 2.66-mile track notorious for wrecks that threaten to eliminate half the field.

“All we have to do at Talladega is finish 16th or better, no matter what anybody else does,” said Busch of his best possible clinch scenario outside a win. “It’s the same as having sixth or better or 36th or better because you never know when you’ll get caught up in the big wreck and end up 36th or worse.”

In his 17 years competing in the Sprint Cup Series, Busch has never won a points paying restrictor-plate race. He’s finished third five times at Talladega but hasn’t earned a top five there since 2007.

His average finish at Talladega through 31 starts? Just on target at 16.3.

“It’s nice to have points in our pockets,” said Busch. “That’s the best feeling.”

NASCAR Sprint Cup teams testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway

Eleven Sprint Cup teams are scheduled to take part in a test Tuesday and Wednesday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but one team missing will be title contender Furniture Row Racing.

Martin Truex Jr. supports his team’s decision to skip the test at the track that will host the season finale next month.

One team per organization is allowed to test. The forecast calls for a high of 85 degrees Tuesday with no more than a 24 percent chance of rain. Wednesday’s forecast calls for a high of 85 degrees and no more than a 15 percent chance of rain.

Scheduled to test are:

Brad Keselowski (Team Penske)

Chris Buescher (Front Row Motorsports)

Ryan Blaney (Wood Brothers Racing)

Trevor Bayne (Roush Fenway Racing)

Kyle Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing)

Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports)

Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing)

Kurt Busch (Stewart-Haas Racing)

Michael McDowell (Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing)

Carl Edwards (Joe Gibbs Racing)

David Ragan (BK Racing)

Martin Truex Jr. supports decision to skip Miami test: ‘It gives a false sense of security’

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Absence makes the car go faster?

That’s the approach Martin Truex Jr. and crew chief Cole Pearn are embracing in electing to skip the critical test Oct. 18-19 at Homestead Miami Speedway, site of the Nov. 20 season finale that will determine the Sprint Cup championship.

Truex, who won two of the first three races in the 2016 playoffs and is among the championship favorites, said the team vacillated on the decision for weeks before Pearn decided last week against making the 2,000-mile track to South Florida from Denver, where the Furniture Row Racing  is based.

“Cole feels good about that, so I’m with him,” Truex said Friday before practice at Kansas Speedway. “I think he’s making the right decision. We went to Homestead and tested the last two years and went back for the race and we were awful. It gives you a false sense of security when you go to a test like that a month ahead of the race. You feel like you’re good, you go back to the race track, and (the weather is) completely different and then you don’t know what to do. You don’t know what direction to head.”

Truex finished 12^th at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2015, last among the four championship contenders. He finished 17^th there two years ago – after finishing third, sixth and fourth in the previous three years with Michael Waltrip Racing.

“Homestead is a long way from Denver, so we’re just trying to make sure we’re focused on the right things,” he said. “We feel like testing honestly has not really done anything to help us along. We feel like our time is better spent at the shop getting prepared.”

The No. 78 Toyota also won the Chase for the Sprint Cup opener at Chicagoland Speedway without having tested.

“Some of our worst races this year have been after tests believe it or not, so it’s an interesting thing,” he said. “I think we’re making the right decision, but we won’t know that until Homestead.”

Truex’s team will be able to feed setup data into its simulations to prepare for the season finale, gleaning the information from Joe Gibbs Racing’s Carl Edwardsthrough Toyota Racing Development.

Edwards said he could understand why a team might skip the session.

“There’s an opportunity to test for the ultimate race – the race that finishes the year, but it’s also an interruption in your Chase, and it can take away as well,” he said. “We feel like testing at Homestead is going to benefit us. I love Homestead, I like going down to South Florida, so for me I think it’s good and our team is prepared to deal with it. There are two sides to it.”

One of the championship favorites will skip critical test at Homestead-Miami Speedway

A championship contender – possibly the early favorite — will be absent from next week’s test at Homestead-Miami Speedway, whose Nov. 20 season finale will decide the Sprint Cup title.

Furniture Row Racing won’t bring Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 78 Toyota to the Oct. 18-19 session at the 1.5-mile oval. A team spokesman said the test was removed from the team’s schedule last week and didn’t know the reason.

Homestead-Miami Speedway will play host to the last of several “organizational tests” scheduled by NASCAR during the season. In an organizational test, which isn’t mandatory, only one car per organization is permitted to participate.

As a single-car team, Furniture Row Racing wouldn’t have been in the predicament of having to choose who would test among multiple contenders, which is the case with Joe Gibbs Racing and its four Chase-eligible drivers.

Every other remaining championship contender will be represented at Homestead-Miami Speedway next week: Team Penske (Brad Keselowski), Hendrick Motorsports (Chase Elliott), Stewart-Haas Racing (Kurt Busch), Joe Gibbs Racing (Carl Edwards), Richard Childress Racing (Austin Dillon).

Truex won two of the first three races in the 2016 playoffs at Chicagoland Speedway and Dover International Speedway. He reached the championship round last season, finishing fourth among the Chase contenders (12th overall).

Here’s the list of drivers and teams that are testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway next week (current championship contenders in bold):

–Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske

–Carl Edwards, No.19 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing

–Chase Elliott, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

–Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

–Kurt Busch, No.. 41 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing

—Chris Buescher, No. 34 Ford, Front Row Motorsports

—Aric Almirola, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports

—Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing

—Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing

—Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing

—Michael McDowell, No. 95 Chevrolet, Circle-Sport Leavine Family Racing

—David Ragan, No. 23 Toyota, BK Racing