It’s not just the drivers in the Championship 4 who feel the pressure of the Ford Championship Weekend held at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“Well, I’m not nervous or anything,” said Joe Gibbs, who owns the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams for both Kyle Busch and Edwards. “I just walked into the women’s restroom. No harm, no foul.”
Gibbs is one of three owners with rides in the Cup finals as Rick Hendrick (Jimmie Johnson) and Roger Penske (Joey Logano) joined him in the press room Friday afternoon to talk about the upcoming race.
Penske, celebrating his 50th season in auto racing, is trying to become the first owner of an Indy Car and NASCAR Cup series champion in the same year.
“For me and for Team Penske, and certainly after 50 years, I probably should get the hell out of here,” Penske said. “But I’ve got some work to do just to try to keep you guys honest.”
Johnson is going for history and trying to become only the third driver to win seven Cup championships going the legendary Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.
“I still say Jimmie will get more credit when he’s done than he’ll get when he’s driving,” Hendrick said.
Fishing tournament
One of the more popular aspects of coming to Homestead is the annual fishing tournament held on the infield lake. Put on by Hall of Fame drag racer — and South Florida native — Darrell Gwynn, the ‘Hot Rods and Reels’ tournament pits drivers, owners and support personnel in pursuit of the biggest bass.
And it’s not just the fishing that brings in the likes of Richard Childress, Ryan Newman and Bobby Allison: It’s the chance to help out.
Gwynn, paralyzed since a crash in England in 1990, holds the tournament to benefit his chapter of the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis.
One of the beneficiaries of the Darrell Gwynn Quality of Life Chapter is 7-year-old Manny Martinez who was presented with a custom wheelchair. Martinez, paralyzed before birth because of a stroke, had grown out of his old chair and his new one allows him to be more mobile.
“Each year I am humbled by the sponsors, drivers, owners and our friends at the Homestead-Miami Speedway,” Gwynn said in a statement, “who always help us stand up for those who can’t.”
Allison’s team won Friday’s event with three bass caught totaling 4.61 pounds. The largest fish caught weighed in at 2.62 pounds by driver Martin Truex Jr.
