NASCAR champion Martin Truex Jr. has been named Colorado’s 2017 Sportsperson of the Year, the top honor awarded annually by Mile High Sports.
The Furniture Row Racing driver, who graces the cover in the recent issue of Mile High Sports Magazine, was also named Colorado’s “Fan Favorite” Athlete of the Year in a fan vote conducted at MileHighSports.com.
The Denver-based Furniture Row Racing also was cited for excellence, claiming the Mile High Sports honor as Colorado’s Team of the Year. Joe Garone, Furniture Row Racing team president, was a finalist in the Executive of the Year category.
Truex, who had eight wins in 2017 and led in virtually every major statistical category as the driver of the No. 78 Toyota Camry, captured the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship with a dramatic victory in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Sunday was an emotional day in the NASCAR world -- there’s no way around that.
For a sport that’s all about horsepower and strength, whose heroes have names like the Intimidator, there’s a lot of heart underneath.
Who among us -- after watching and hearing about all the personal trials and tribulations that Martin Truex Jr., Sherry Pollex, and the entire 78 team for Furniture Row Racing, have been through in the past few years -- wasn’t moved by that championship win? Who among us watching that epic battle at the end didn’t get a little misty-eyed to see the pure joy in their celebration -- a celebration by a driver who didn’t know if he’d even have a career after a controversial end to his time at Michael Waltrip Racing (itchy arm syndrome race) and his girlfriend who has been courageously battling cancer?
“It’s just overwhelming. To think about all the rough days and bad days, the days that couldn’t run 20th, to be here, I never thought this day would come and to be here is so unbelievable,” Truex said after his win.
When I was 19, like most people I was still trying to figure out what to do with my life.
As we head into the final Cup race of 2017, here are some facts that can not be denied about the incredible youth movement we are seeing in today’s NASCAR world.
-- William Byron, age 19, won the Xfinity title on Saturday. He had to fight off a 20+-year veteran in Elliott Sadler, age 42, to do so, and quite frankly Byron had a dominating season in 2017.
-- Cole Custer, also age 19, dominated the Homestead Xfiniity race and nearly lapped the field in the process. Impressive, and his future is bright.
-- Going over to Trucks, where so many young drivers start to grab our attention each year, Christopher Bell, age 22, has been knocking out wins all season and capped the year off with a Truck series title. He also beat some legends of the series in Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter to do so.
Soon after the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion is crowned at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 19, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup will head to Las Vegas as NASCAR hosts its annual Champion’s Week festivities. Fans will gather in Las Vegas for events honoring the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Playoff Drivers, Sunoco Rookie of the Year and other season-ending award recipients.
Beginning on Tuesday, Nov. 28 and culminating Thursday, Nov. 30, NASCAR Champion’s Week will feature the annual NASCAR National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Myers Brothers Awards at the Wynn Las Vegas as well as the return of the NASCAR Fan Lounge at Beerhaus located at The Park, situated between New York-New York Hotel & Casino and Monte Carlo Resort and Casino.
This year, a special celebration of the storied driving career of Dale Earnhardt Jr. "Appreci88ion An Evening with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Presented by Nationwide" will take place at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 28. The exclusive fan event will feature surprise guests from Earnhardt’s career with proceeds benefitting Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers will take to the famed Las Vegas Strip when they get behind the wheel of their race cars for NASCAR Victory Lap Fueled by Sunoco on Wednesday, Nov 29.
Lifelong NASCAR “fanatic” Patty Chemberlin of Imlay City, Mich., service director at the Lasco Ford dealership in Trenton, is the big winner of the T1D, Motorcraft & Me “Customize for a Cause” t-shirt design contest to benefit JDRF. Chemberlin’s winning design features the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion NASCAR racer appearing to drive off the wearer’s chest over the words: “Helping Break Through to Cure Type 1 Diabetes.”
She and three family members will be the guests of Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing during Ford Championship Weekend for the final race of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Nov. 17-19. Her design also will be featured as a decal the side panels of the iconic Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 during that weekend’s Ford EcoBoost 400, which will decide the 2017 series champion.
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