It was a case of winner take-all throughout NASCAR’s Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Sunday night it was Kyle Busch who claimed both the race trophy and his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season championship.
His commanding 4.578-second victory over Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Erik Jones makes Busch only the second multi-time Cup champion currently in the sport. Jimmie Johnson, who did not qualify for this year’s Playoffs, has won seven Cup titles matching the all-time series championship record held by NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt.
And while Busch’s Margin of Victory would indicate a seemingly dominant day, the truth is the four title contenders – Busch, Truex, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, who finished fourth and the third JGR driver, Denny Hamlin, who finished 10th – all kept Sunday’s contest honest. Although each of the four led multiple laps, in the end it was a competition between the JGR teammates Busch and Truex for the big trophy.
Busch led the race five times for 120 laps and Truex held point four times for 103 laps. Truex won Stage 1 and Busch won Stage 2. Busch took the lead for good with 44 laps remaining and his win earned the Gibbs’ team its 19th overall victory, it’s best single season output.
For Busch, who won the regular season championship with four wins but hadn’t hoisted a trophy since early June, this was a huge affirmation of drive and talent.
THE FRATERNAL ORDER OF THE GO FAST
As the checkered flag flew and the darkness set in on Homestead, two of our players were riding high and celebrating the end of the 2019 Redneck Fantasy League with a victory at that facility. Both Edie The Las Vegas Super Star and Jeremy The Coach were neatly tucked inside of the 2020 MENCS champs hot rod. Each player recorded max points for that race, 40 big ones!
THE MOVERS AND THE SHAKERS
Following the two players who were neatly tuck into KyBu’s copilot seat the scoring was unlike most races. There was a lot of players who were solo.
Kathy The Church Forecloser did quite well to close out this season. The Foresloser rolled with That Jones Boy to end the year. Erik Jones provided The Forecloser with a cool 37 points for his third place finish at Homestead.
Following The Church Forecloser this week is Dan The Numbers Cruncher. The Numbers Dude bet the farm that YRB would deliver a victory and max points to him! That didn’t happen but Young Ryan Blaney did deposit 36 points into his segment 36 points bucket.
Meanwhile, there was a twosome that was really banking that Martin Truex, Jr. would win the race and add another championship to his glittering resume. Those two players are Leon Your Most Humble Sheriff and Bernie The Bay area Bandit. This unlikely duo put 35 points in their bucket to end the season.
Lastly, Amber The Extremely Lucky Cheddar Head chimes in with a nice score of 30 points. Those much needed points were derived from her man, Austin Dillon’s 8th place finish but the brakes on a third segment slide that lasted 11 of the 12 weeks!
It is very interesting how the fantasy league really mellowed out this week. There was movement in the gallery, however, is was very small at best!
The biggest movers were Lonna The Quilt Angel and Carlton The Doorman. Even though these two were the biggest movers of the week, they only moved two (2) places, residing in 7th and 14th, respectively.
There was a gaggle of players that moved one (1) place. That gaggle includes, Jeremy The Coach, Bobby Blue Crush, Bernie The Bay Area Bandit, Linda R. The Lemonade Lefty, Jim, aka Chiefy, Linda B. The Cookie Mom, Dan The Numbers Dude, as well as Amber The Extremely Lucky Cheddar Head. Those the migrated upward include The Coach, The Bay Area Bandit, The Lemonade Lefty, Chiefy, The Numbers Dude, and The Cheddar Head. Each player climbed up or fell down one position to end the year.
STRAIGHT FROM THE CRAPPER
There was a threesome who faired the worse this week. Even though these three players received the lowest scores of the week, any other week their totals would have been a mid range number. However this week Carlton The Doorman, Lonna The Quilt Angel, as well as Linda B. The Cookie Mom all were betting it al on Young Money this week. However, Kyle Larson could only produce 18 points for this trio. Those eighteen points was not enough to keep them from receiving The Crappiest Picks of The Week!
Lastly, David The Mudslinging Throttle Jockey ended the segment securely entrenched in The Outhouse!!! During the offseason, maybe The Mudslinger could exhibit his works by redecorating The Outhouse! I have seen his handyman work and he could do wonders for the rather spartan Redneck Fantasy League Outhouse. Maybe he could redo the floorplan, update the fixtures, since he will be there for the next 91 days (that is the time until the Daytona 500 see the green flag!)
I hope that you all have had fun for the past nine months! I have had loads of fun this race season.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
As I have told you all in an email, I will be having open heart surgery Nov. 21 and I am needing your prayers. I should be all healed up and ready to get after it by the time the haulers unload at Daytona!
TIL DAYTONA, PULL YOUR BELTS TIGHT, HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY SEASON, AND LET’S DO IT AGAIN IN 91 DAYS!!!