2017 Ford EcoBoost 200

The 2017 Ford EcoBoost 200 was the 23rd and final stock car race of the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the sixth race of the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs, the championship 4 race, and the 22nd iteration of the event. The race was held on Friday, November 17, 2017, in Homestead, Florida at Homestead–Miami Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 134 laps to complete. At race's end, Chase Briscoe, driving for Brad Keselowski Racing, would dominate the race to win his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win and his only win of the season.^[1]

Meanwhile, second-place finisher, Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Christopher Bell, would clinch his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship by finishing second, behind Briscoe.^[2]

Background

Homestead-Miami Speedway is a motor racing track located in Homestead, Florida. The track, which has several configurations, has promoted several series of racing, including NASCAR, the Verizon IndyCar Series, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and the Championship Cup Series.

Since 2002, Homestead-Miami Speedway has hosted the final race of the season in all three of NASCAR's series: the Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Gander Outdoors Truck Series. Ford Motor Company sponsors all three of the season-ending races; the races have the names Ford EcoBoost 400, Ford EcoBoost 300 and Ford EcoBoost 200, respectively, and the weekend is marketed as Ford Championship Weekend. The Xfinity Series (then known as the Busch Series) has held its season-ending races at Homestead since 1995 and held it until 2020, when it was moved to Phoenix Raceway, along with NASCAR's other two series.

Championship drivers

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.
• (CC) denotes championship contender.

Practice

First practice

The first practice session was held on Friday, November 17, at 8:30 AM EST. The session would last for 55 minutes.^[3] Johnny Sauter of GMS Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 32.023 and an average speed of 168.629 mph (271.382 km/h).^[4]

Second and final practice

The final practice session, sometimes known as Happy Hour, was held on Friday, November 17, at 10:00 AM EST. The session would last for 55 minutes.^[3] John Hunter Nemechek of NEMCO Motorsports would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 32.680 and an average speed of 165.239 mph (265.926 km/h).^[5]

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Friday, November 17, at 3:30 PM EST.^[3] Since Homestead–Miami Speedway is at least 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in length, the qualifying system was a single car, single lap, two round system where in the first round, everyone would set a time to determine positions 13–32. Then, the fastest 12 qualifiers would move on to the second round to determine positions 1–12.^[6]

Chase Briscoe of Brad Keselowski Racing would win the pole, setting a lap of 32.239 and an average speed of 167.499 miles per hour (269.564 km/h) in the second round.^[7]

No drivers would fail to qualify.

Full qualifying results

Race results

• Note: Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, Matt Crafton, and Johnny Sauter are not eligible for stage points because of their participation in the Championship 4.

Stage 1 Laps: 40

Stage 2 Laps: 40

Stage 3 Laps: 54

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Christopher Bell 4,035 2 Johnny Sauter 4,034 (-1) 3 Austin Cindric 4,032 (–3) 4 Matt Crafton 4,031 (–4) 5 Ben Rhodes 2,263 (–1,772) 6 Chase Briscoe 2,248 (–1,787) 7 Kaz Grala 2,214 (–1,821) 8 John Hunter Nemechek 2,206 (–1,829) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 8 positions are included for the driver standings.

References