Grubb going for 2nd championship, could be with different JGR team next season: Darian Grubb, current crew chief for #11-Denny Hamlin, will remain as a crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing, he just doesn't know which driver he will head up in 2015. In part from a NASCAR Teleconference with Grubb:
Q. Darian, three years ago you knew for several races that you weren't coming back as the crew chief for Tony Stewart but you held the team together and you won the championship. This year the crew chief lineup for Joe Gibbs Racing hasn't been announced for next year, so I guess a two-part question. One, do you know what you're doing next year yet, and two, does this remind you at all of 2011 and has that experience helped you as you go for the title again?
DARIAN GRUBB: It doesn't remind me of that situation at all. We're still working towards winning a championship, and I'm going to be here next year doing the same thing. We have had some talks internally about what next year's plans are, but there's nothing that's ready to be announced and/or we're not working towards that for next year, either. I'm sure winning a championship with the team and stuff might have some bearing on some of those discussions and things, as well. We're going to wait until Monday after Homestead to even think about that stuff.
Q. Are you saying that the difference between like this year and maybe what hasn't been announced in 2011 to what has been announced, is that you and your crew guys, you know you're going to have jobs, you know that you're not wondering where you'll be come next January or February?
DARIAN GRUBB: Exactly. I'm not updating any résumés or anything like that. We know we all have jobs. There's security. We all know for a fact that we're going to be working together within this organization, so we're going to go out and try to finish the business at hand first no matter what happens and try to win that trophy at Homestead.
Q. Would you find it ironic at all if you were to win a title, win two championships and then be with somebody else the following year?
DARIAN GRUBB: To me that doesn't matter. I'm still going to do the same effort and the same work that I do every week regardless of who I'm working for. If it's Denny again next year, we're going to try to win two in a row, and if it's for somebody else, then we're going to try to win together that way, also. It doesn't matter to me. I love this sport and I love my job, and I love all the guys that I work with. FedEx Toyota team is my home for now, and that's what I plan to be working hard on.(NASCAR Teleconference)(11-12-2014)
Harvick Heads To Homestead In Hunt For First Championship: Entering the penultimate race at Phoenix in last place among Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup contenders, #4-Kevin Harvick could only guarantee himself a spot in The Championship 4 by winning at the Arizona track. Shrugging off the pressure, Harvick turned in a dominant performance leading 264 of 312 laps on his way to Victory Lane. Now, Harvick heads into Sunday's Ford EcoBoost 400 Championship Round Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway needing just one more clutch performance to earn his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title in his 14 years competing on the circuit. Following last Sunday's showdown at Phoenix, Harvick and the three other drivers who advanced to The Championship 4 - Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman - had their points reset to 5,000. At Homestead, the format is simple. Drivers cannot earn bonus points for leading laps. Whoever crosses the line first among the quartet will win the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. None of the drivers have ever won a NSCS title, guaranteeing that the series will crown its 30th champion in its 66-year history.
Harvick, whose 109.9 driver rating and 2,083 laps led lead the series, has to like his odds of taking home his first title. He has finished higher than Logano, Hamlin and Newman in 11 races this season - the most of the Championship 4. Comparatively, Logano was the highest finisher of the four in 10 races; Hamlin in eight and Newman in six. Although he has never won at Homestead, he has been highly successful at the 1.5-mile track with five top fives, 11 tops 10s and an average finish of 8.1 in 13 starts. The #4 Budweiser/Jimmy John's Chevy driver has two victories in the past five weeks and four total this season. If Harvick wins the championship, he would join Bobby Labonte and Brad Keselowski as only the third driver to boast both a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series championship. Competing in his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing, he would earn the organization its second premier series title.(NASCAR)(11-13-2014)