Logano fastest in final Sprint Cup tuneup

Associated Press

homestead, fla.

Joey Logano, trying to help team owner Roger Penske to a sweep of the major American racing titles, was the fastest of the four championship contenders in Saturday’s final practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Team Penske won the IndyCar championship with Will Power in September, and a victory by Logano in today’s season finale would make Penske the only team owner to complete the sweep. A first-time champion will be crowned when Logano competes against Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman, with the Sprint Cup going to the highest-finishing driver.

“To be able to accomplish this would be really quite something, and that was really our goal from the beginning of the season,” said Walt Czarnecki, executive vice president of Penske Corp. and the listed car owner of Logano’s Ford.

“Maybe we didn’t verbalize it quite that way, but we really felt we were going to be competitive in all of these series, and the results have demonstrated that.”

Logano, a five-time winner in the Sprint Cup Series, is the youngest driver in the final four at 24. Logano would become the third-youngest title-winner in series history.

It showed following Saturday’s final practice, when he was seventh on the speed chart before he headed to his team debrief. His plans for the night before the biggest race of his life?

“We have been watching ‘Boy Meets World’ like nobody’s business, so we will probably watch an episode of that and go to sleep,” he said.

Harvick was eighth on the speed chart in Saturday’s second practice, but his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing entry led the field in the first practice. He’s probably the favorite — he has four wins and has been consistently fast all season — and he’s had a swagger all week as he’s tried to rattle Logano.

Harvick was expecting an uneventful evening, saying he was going to “eat!” when asked, but most certainly planned to debrief with crew chief Rodney Childers after a disappointing second practice.

“I don’t think we’ve really hit it exactly where we need it to be yet,” Harvick said.

Newman, the only winless driver in the final four, was 12th on the final speed chart.

Elliott celebrates Nationwide title

Chase Elliott finally got to celebrate his Nationwide Series championship after he finished 17th in the season finale Saturday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Elliott became the youngest champion in NASCAR history last week when he wrapped up the title at Phoenix International Raceway.

All that was missing was the trophy presentation in Victory Lane that he got at Homestead.

The 18-year-old rookie is the youngest driver to win a title in any of NASCAR’s three national series. He broke the mark set by Brian Vickers, who was 20 when he won the Nationwide title in 2003.

Matt Kenseth got the jump on the final restart in overtime to earn his first win of the season in any NASCAR series.