By Lee Mongomery
Editor/NNSracing.com

Well, folks, the time has come to move on.

I'll keep this short and sweet (I hope), as I don't want to overindulge myself. NNSracing.com, the blog/website I started almost two years ago, will close soon. You may have noticed nothing's been posted for a while anyway, but the plug will be pulled soon.

Thanks to Jeff Gluck and the folks at SBNation.com for hosting it for much of its existence. I appreciate all they've done, and especially for Jeff's friendship. He's not going anywhere, and I'll continue to read his terrific outlook on NASCAR. Heck, he's one of the few I still read when I want to catch up with NASCAR.

Now, why am I moving on?

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NNSracing.com

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Portraits of NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. taken at Homestead-Miami Speedway last weekend:

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MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - NASCAR's future was front and center Monday night as four champions in two national series were crowned.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 24 and Austin Dillon, 21, officially were proclaimed champions of the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, respectively, on the Americana Ballroom stage at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel.

Both were honored with their first NASCAR national series titles. Each became champion in the season following a rookie-of-the-year performance. Dillon becomes the youngest champion in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series' 17-year history. Both champions won twice during the 2011 season.

Roush Fenway Racing's No. 60 Ford Mustang won the NASCAR Nationwide Series Owner Championship, as driver Carl Edwards won eight times. The title is the second in the series for Jack Roush, his previous owner championship coming in 2002.

It also marked the first time that the same owner claimed both the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver and owner titles with different teams.

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By Traci Lesley
Special to NNSracing.com

Trying to figure out how the NASCAR Sunoco Rookie of the Year award is calculated is like finishing a Sudoku puzzle when you're a few drinks in. Best 16 finishes? Points for top 10s? A secret vote where the panel is unknown and the vote is before the final race?

Plain and simple, the Rookie of the Year should be chosen based on stats. Who performed the best? Not who finished the highest, because in the modern era of NASCAR, some drivers don't race a full season. Make use of the stats you get every week, and instead of wasting all that paper, use them.

This year's heated Nationwide Series rookie battle is proof why the statistics would have made the difference. Ryan Truex, favored to win the title when the season started, was sidelined midway through after losing his ride. He made his way back into a car temporarily, took over the lead but didn't finish the season so he did not take home the title.

What happened when he came back? In just a handful of races, he took over the lead.

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By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Polesitter Brad Keselowski may have won Saturday's Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but Roush Fenway Racing had a better night, winning two Nationwide Series championships in one race.

Keselowski held off a furious charge from series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the final lap to secure his fifth victory of the season and the 17th of his career.

Third-place finisher Carl Edwards clinched the owners championship for Roush Fenway, leading the most laps and finishing two positions ahead of Denny Hamlin's No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, which entered the race with a one-point lead.

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By Lee Montgomery
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said he'd be more aggressive in this weekend's Ford 300 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, having taken a fairly comfortable 41-point lead in the NASCAR Nationwide Series points standings.

But if you read that as a young driver being unnecessarily risky, you haven't been paying attention. Maybe there was a time when the aggressive Stenhouse would take too many chances, but that was before he nearly lost his ride last year.

"Ricky Stenhouse, a year ago, was just a possibility," Roush Fenway Racing co-owner Jack Roush said. "He was not a reality for sure. Ricky has matured over the winter. His Dad, Ricky Sr., has certainly counseled him, and Ricky Jr., has taken his advice."

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NNSracing.com

ESPN reports that ESPN2's live broadcast of the Wypall 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Phoenix International Raceway earned a household coverage rating of 1.3.

That's 8.3 percent higher than the 1.2 rating the race earned in 2010. It also marks the first race since New Hampshire in July that had a ratings increase over 2010.

The Phoenix race averaged 1,757,000 viewers, ESPN said.

See the full ratings chart after the jump:

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NNSracing.com

Ryan Truex leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings for the NASCAR Nationwide Series, but he won't be able to defend his lead in the final race of the season, the Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Truex took the lead after finishing eighth at Phoenix last weekend and carries a three-point edge over Timmy Hill and Blake Koch into this weekend's race.

But Truex isn't on the Homestead entry list and has to hope the complicated formula for determining the series' top rookie will tilt in his favor after Homestead.

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