With two weeks off, followed by the final three races, there are two opportunities for history to be made by season’s end – a fourth consecutive owner title for Joe Gibbs Racing, or the driver and owner titles could be split among two teams but won by the same organization – Roush Fenway Racing.
Ever since 2007, when Carl Edwards won the driver championship but was unable to unify it with the owners title, he has wanted to win an owner title for Jack Roush. Richard Childress Racing won the owner title in ’07.
In 2008, Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota claimed the owner championship while Clint Bowyer won the driver title for Richard Childress Racing. Then the following year, Kyle Busch unified the championship (2009) in the No. 18 Toyota and last year, the No. 18 again claimed the owner title while Brad Keselowski won the driver championship for Penske Racing.
That 2010 championship tied Joe Gibbs with Bill Baumgardner for most consecutive owner championships – three – in series history.
Only three points separate the top two in the owner standings and if Joe Gibbs Racing is to set the mark with four straight, it will have to overcome the focused No. 60 team, which has gained 47 points over the last three races. Busch and Edwards will face off in two of the final three races (Texas and Homestead-Miami).
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. maintains the driver standings lead over second-place Elliott Sadler. However, Stenhouse has seen his 22-point advantage over Sadler just three weeks ago following Dover shrink to 15 points following last Friday night’s race at Charlotte.
Stenhouse continues to hold the standings lead by being consistent. He posted his sixth consecutive top-10 finish at Charlotte. However, Sadler has countered with two straight top-five efforts, which have resulted in the current deficit, the closest he’s been to Stenhouse since the September race at Chicagoland when he was 14 points out of first.
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