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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2013
basketball fans. Most of all, according to STATS. They he wanted guys who were play together. simply committed to doing “I think we just built that whatever it took to win. (chemistry) over the years,” The results have been George said Wednesday impressive. following a rare early season After falling to Miami in practice. “I think we always seven games in the Eastern wanted to pull for one Conference finals, the Pacers another before, but we didn’t returned this season on a know how to do it. As the bold mission to dethrone the years went on and our core two-time defending champs. stayed together, it’s helped. So far, so good. Now, when guys come in, On Monday, Indiana they understand how tight we completed a five-game sweep are and how they will fit in.” in seven days, something It’s no fluke. Vogel noted he had never When Larry Bird started before experienced. The transforming the Pacers from Pacers return to action again playoff outsiders into title this weekend with another hopefuls, he wanted to build back-to-back — Friday at around a group of players home against short-handed who worked relentlessly Milwaukee and Saturday at at improving. He wanted Chicago against a hobbled guys who were comfortable Derrick Rose (hamstring). filling roles and who could The quick start, the best in embrace a style that would franchise history, has already appeal to Indiana’s purist given the Pacers a leg up.
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“It’s unbelievable. It just vindicates everything I’ve done,” he said, acknowledging all the run support he received from Detroit’s powerful lineup probably helped his candidacy. “I’ve been working so hard all these years to get better and better,” he added. “I think I took a big step forward in 2013.” Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers was second, marking the highest finish by a Japanese-born pitcher in Cy Young voting. Hisashi Iwakuma of the Seattle Mariners came in third. Wainwright went 19-9 for St. Louis and finished behind Kershaw. Miami right-hander Jose Fernandez, picked earlier this week as the NL Rookie of the Year, was third. Kershaw’s win marked the record 11th time a
Dodgers pitcher has won the Cy Young since the award was first presented in 1956. Sandy Koufax won three times, and the Hall of Fame lefty has developed a friendship with Kershaw. Voting for the Cy Youngs was done before the playoffs began. Kershaw went 1-0 in two sharp starts against Atlanta in the division series, then lost twice to St. Louis in the NL championship. The Cardinals tagged him in a 9-0 romp in the clinching Game 6. “We came up short. I didn’t pitch the way I should have in the last game,” he said. Kershaw has been an All-Star the past three seasons and put up eye-popping statistics. Now, he said, the only thing left for him to do is win the World Series. “I want that ring,” he said.
SPRINT CUP
NATIONWIDE SERIES
CAMPING WORLD TRUCKS
Race: Ford EcoBoost 400 Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway When: Sunday, 3 p.m. (ET) TV: ESPN 2012 Winner: Jeff Gordon (right)
Race: Ford EcoBoost 300 Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway When: Saturday, 4:30 p.m. (ET) TV: ESPN 2012 Winner: Regan Smith
Race: Ford EcoBoost 200 Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway When: Friday, 8 p.m. (ET) TV: Fox Sports 1 2012 Winner: Cale Gale
Kevin Harvick victorious at Phoenix; closes current Sprint Cup chapter on positive note
Christa L. Thomas for Chevrolet
people, and I think as we move forward, will probably make us closer as friends. “I think that situation really put into perspective — just made you think about everything that we’ve been able to accomplish and the things that we’ve been through together. It’s more of a family conversation than it probably .HYLQ +DUYLFN FDSWXUHG WKH FKHFNHUHG ÁDJ was a racing conver- for the win in the Sprint Cup AdvoCare 500 at sation.” Phoenix. Harvick said he and Childress have learned lots of life lessons together, including during the difficult times in 2001 when Dale Earnhardt was killed and Harvick was called on to take over his car. “You always try to take those Harvick in Victory Lane at Phoenix. situations, and you want to make your race team better, but in the end, you want to be a better person, and you try to take those situations and apply them to what you’re doing and make yourself better,” he said. “I think we’ve been through a lot of the situations. He’s taught me a lot about being a dad.” Childress said he’s proud of what he and Harvick have done, on and off the track. “This is just another chapter in life that we’re all living,” he said. “You’ve got to be tough to hang in there and make it, and we did a lot together. We’ve won a lot. We’ve been through some tough times.”
Nationwide Series driver’s and owner’s championships both up for grabs at Homestead-Miami
Rusty Jarrett for Chevrolet
With Jimmie Johnson leaving Phoenix International Raceway with a 28-point lead over Matt Kenseth and needing to finish just 23rd in this week’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to secure his sixth Sprint Cup title, the post-race interviews at Phoenix were more like reflections on the season than buildup to the finale. Kenseth, who entered Phoenix just seven points out of the lead, struggled to a 23rd-place finish, so his only hopes for winning the title depend on a similar — and unlikely — collapse by Johnson at Homestead. Kenseth’s post-race comments came across like a concession speech, one in which he had nothing but praise for his No. 20 Toyota team, even though he’d just climbed from a car his crew was never able to get up to speed. “I’m obviously disappointed,” he said. “On the other hand, I couldn’t be happier and more proud of my team and, man … this has been the best year of my racing career, really. “It’s been an awesome season. You’re going to have days like this and of course we wanted to finish off here the last couple weeks. You can’t really just grab one race. “Some days are going to be great days, fortunately, for us, and others aren’t going to be as great.” His crew chief, Jason Ratcliff, shouldered the blame for the car’s lack of speed, and for confusion on a pit stop that cost them positions on the track. “Looking back on it now, the car just wasn’t responding the way that our typical Joe Gibbs Racing cars do,” he said. “They’re very responsive when you make changes to them. “All in all, I’m not so sure that our teammates didn’t fight something similar. So, I can’t say it’s a bad car. We just didn’t push the right button all weekend.” Over in the winner’s interview, Kevin Harvick and his car owner, Richard Childress — who will be separating after next weekend — seemed very happy to be able to close the current chapters of their lives on a positive note. That’s especially important to them after a dust-up at Martinsville in which Harvick was critical of Childress’ grandson Ty Dillon after the two crashed in the Camping World Truck Series race. Harvick even got emotional talking about his relationship with Childress, the only Cup owner he’s had for his entire career. “There’s no better way to go out than to do what we’ve done this year,” said Harvick, who took the lead coming to the white flag as race leader Carl Edwards ran out of fuel. “Obviously, we went to Martinsville and I said things that I shouldn’t have said and put everybody in a position that was not good, but I think we had conversations about things after that that probably made us closer as
NOTEBOOK
Erik Jones breaks record as youngest NASCAR winner with Truck victory at Phoenix
Mark Martin scratch, it will be pretty cool,” he said. “It will be one tremendous career that we did some really great things and I got out of it without paying a big price.” Through his career, Martin has won 40 Cup races, 49 in the Nationwide Series and seven more in the Camping World Truck Series. He indicated he’ll probably do some testing and other work for Stewart-Haas Racing next year. Bobby Labonte has maintained that he’s open to more driving jobs, even if they’re in the Nationwide or Truck Series. Burton said he doesn’t foresee any of
Bobby Labonte the group walking away from NASCAR entirely. “I find it hard to believe that we won’t still be around in some form or fashion,” he said. “Now the chances that any of us are going to be running for a Cup championship next year are obviously next to nothing. But Mark Martin has a tremendous amount of value of being able to have a positive impact on this sport in some form. So does Bobby Labonte, and I feel that about myself as well.” Burton said it’s inevitable that older drivers eventually move on, creating opportunities for a new crop of young drivers. “When I came in, a spot was created for me, somehow, some way,” he said. “It’s just the natural cycle of things.”
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2013 Sprint Cup finale could mark end of an era for some established NASCAR stars It’s looking like Sunday’s Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway could mark the end of a major era as far as some of the sport’s established stars are concerned. The Ford 400 likely will be the final Sprint Cup start for veteran Ken Schrader, and it could be the last for Bobby Labonte, who has not announced plans for 2014 and is losing his ride in the No. 47 Toyota. Mark Martin also said he has no immediate plans to continue racing. Jeff Burton will make his final run in the No. 31 Chevrolet at Richard Childress Racing, but he’s not revealed his plans for next season other than to say he’ll be racing somewhere. Bill Elliott hasn’t made an official retirement announcement, but he hasn’t competed in Cup since July 2012, and Terry Labonte, now a part-time competitor, indicated recently that he doesn’t plan to continue racing indefinitely. Juan Pablo Montoya also will be leaving the NASCAR scene, taking a full-time IndyCar ride with Roger Penske next season. Martin, 54, told reporters at Phoenix that he’s not planning on racing after Homestead, where he’ll complete his stint at the wheel of the No. 14 Chevrolet usually driven by Tony Stewart, who is out with a broken leg. “If I get through Homestead without a
Both the driver’s and owner’s championships in the Nationwide Series are very much in play in Saturday’s season-ending Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Austin Dillon enters the race with an eightpoint lead over Sam Hornish Jr. in the driver contest after the two finished third and fifth, respectively, at Phoenix International Raceway last Saturday. On the owner’s side, J.D. Gibbs moved to within four points of leader Roger Penske after Gibbs’ No. 54, driven by Kyle Busch, scored his 12th win of the season. Penske entered the race up by 26 over Gibbs, but his No. 22 Ford, driven by Brad Keselowski, was damaged in a crash and finished 19th. Hornish, who does not have a ride for 2014, said he believes his eight-point deficit to Dillon can be overcome, and he said it would mean a lot to him to be able to capitalize on what could be his last chance to win a NASCAR title. “I want to win the championship because at this point in time, I don’t know what the opportunities for me to win another one will be,” he said. “I feel like this last year has shown something that I’ve known for a while, and it’s just me being able to back it up with the results. “We don’t have as many wins as we’d like to at this point, but I feel like being able to go out there and race against top-level Cup guys and to race the way that we did [at Phoenix] and throughout the season — I feel pretty good about that, so I’ve got my head held high on that one, and we’re going to continue to work hard to try to figure out how to continue to be in this sport as long as I can.” Busch said he was happy to be able to put Gibbs within reach of the owner’s title, especially after a disappointing 26th-place run at Texas the week before.
The youth movement continues in the Camping World Truck Series as another age record was set at Phoenix International Raceway last Friday. Erik Jones became the circuit’s youngest winner, at 17 years, 5 months and 9 days old. Erik Jones He broke the record celebrates his set earlier this year Lucas Oil 150 by Chase Elliott, who win at Phoenix. won at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park at age 17 years, 9 months and 4 days. Jones, racing in the Truck Series for the fifth time, led a race-high 84 laps [of 150] and made a daring pass on Ross Chastain with nine laps remaining to get the victory, which gives him top-10 finishes in all his Truck Series starts. “Being able to be the youngest winner here and get this deal done in the Truck Series is amazing,” Jones said. “Never would have ever thought I’d have the opportunity in the Truck Series this year before they lowered the age for these [shorter] tracks.” Jones got the win drivingDrivers the same Toyota in the top 10 Laps from the Kyle Busch Motorsports shoppoints that in Sprint Cup completed a victory victhis Darrell Wallace his historic this season by JamieJr. drove inwithout season: Dale McMurray, tops among all Speedway tory at Martinsville twoEarnhardt weeks Jr., Clint Bowyer and Kurt Sprint Cup drivers. before. Busch. Veteran Laps Truck led driver Matt Crafton finDrivers who have ished fifththis atseason Phoenix and only needs to started every Sprint by Jimmie start Friday’s season finale at Homestead Cup race this season. Johnson, the most of any to secure his first series championship. Sprint Cup driver.
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