A notable championship contender – possibly the early favorite – will be absent from next week’s test at Homestead-Miami Speedway, whose Nov. 20 season finale will decide the Sprint Cup title. Furniture Row Racing won’t bring Martin Truex Jr.’s #78 Toyota to the Oct. 18-19 session at the 1.5-mile oval. A team spokesman said the test was removed from the team’s schedule last week and didn’t know the reason. Homestead-Miami Speedway will play host to the last of several ‘organizational tests’ scheduled by NASCAR during the season. In an organizational test, which isn’t mandatory, only one car per organization is permitted to participate. As a single-car team, Furniture Row Racing wouldn’t have been in the predicament of having to choose who would test among multiple contenders, which is the case with Joe Gibbs Racing and its four Chase-eligible drivers. Every other remaining championship contender will be represented at Homestead-Miami Speedway next week: Team Penske (#2-Brad Keselowski), Hendrick Motorsports (#24-Chase Elliott), Stewart-Haas Racing (#41-Kurt Busch), Joe Gibbs Racing (#19-Carl Edwards), Richard Childress Racing (#3-Austin Dillon).(NBC Sports)
