SPRINT CUP roundup

Hamlin, Logano must be in front row for Chase finale

HOMESTEAD, FLA.

Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano crashed the championship by sweeping the front row in qualifying Friday for the NASCAR finale Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The championship will go to the highest finisher among the final four of defending series champion Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.

Busch posted the third-fastest lap, best among the Chase finalists.

Gordon was fifth in qualifying for the final race of his career. The four-time NASCAR champion is retiring at the end of the season.

Truex qualified 11th. Harvick failed to advance to the final round and will start 13th.

Hamlin set to have surgery after NASCAR season ends

HOMESTEAD, FLA.

Denny Hamlin will have surgery Nov. 30 to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

Hamlin injured his knee playing basketball in September and opted to wait until after the season to have surgery. He plans to attend NASCAR’s season-ending awards ceremony in Las Vegas a few days later.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won the pole Friday for the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and provided the timetable for his surgery. Dr. Patrick Connor, the team physician of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, will perform the operation in Charlotte.

Hamlin has experience with this kind of injury. He tore the ACL in his left knee in 2010, but had in-season surgery that year during an off week.

Truex qualified 11th. Harvick failed to advance to the final round and will start 13th.

Ryan Blaney will drive for Wood Brothers team in ’16

HOMESTEAD, FLA.

NASCAR’s oldest team will run a full Sprint Cup season in 2016 with Ryan Blaney as the driver.

Wood Brothers Racing has fielded entries since 1950 but hasn’t attempted a full 36-race schedule since the end of the last decade. Wood Brothers won the 2011 Daytona 500 with rookie driver Trevor Bayne.

Blaney, the son of Hartford native and Badger High graduate Dave Blaney, has 15 starts for Wood Brothers this season and finished as high as fourth in the spring Talladega race. Motorcraft/Quick Lane and Ford Performance return as anchor sponsors.

The team was founded by NASCAR Hall of Famer Glen Wood. His sons, Len and Eddie, are the co-owners.

Wood Brothers Racing has 98 career Cup victories.

Associated Press