2013 Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

2013 Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

November 11, 2013

 

NASCAR   Week of Nov. 11, 2013

 

For Jimmie Johnson, a sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship is oh so close.

 

The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will carry a 28-point lead – more than half a race worth of points – into Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (3 p.m. ET ESPN, MRN, SiriusXM Satellite Radio), the final race in the 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™.

 

Without question, the championship is Johnson’s to lose. A finish of 23rd or better, regardless of what closest rival Matt Kenseth can muster will deliver an 11th NASCAR Sprint Cup title to team owner Rick Hendrick.

 

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Two drivers, Kenseth and Kevin Harvick, have not been mathematically eliminated and can be expected to mount all-or-nothing performances in South Florida’s season finale. Kenseth is the season’s biggest winner. Harvick, like Kenseth, has two Chase victories – the most recent coming Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway.

 

Fate, as well, can be fickle. A dropped lug nut, a spin out or accident triggered by another competitor or a caution flag that falls the wrong way during green flag pit stops can turn a potentially title-clinching run into a nightmarish afternoon.

 

The second-ranked driver with one race remaining has won the championship in two of the past three seasons.

 

Austin Dillon and Sam Hornish Jr. carry their season-long NASCAR Nationwide Series battle to Homestead-Miami Speedway with Dillon – the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion – holding a slim, eight-point edge over the 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner.

 

The competition is the closest since NASCAR adopted its current point-per-position point system in 2011.

 

Also at stake in the Ford EcoBoost 300 (4:30 p.m. ET ESPN2) is the coveted series owners’ title. Penske Racing’s No. 22 Ford holds a four-point lead over the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The contenders are deadlocked in the win column with 12 victories apiece. Penske enters Joey Logano, a three-time winner while JGR counters with Kyle Busch, who captured his series-leading 12th victory last weekend in Phoenix.

 

Two of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ longest-tenured competitors can be rewarded with the drop of the green flag on Friday’s Ford EcoBoost 200 (8 p.m. ET FOX Sports 1). Matt Crafton, participant in 315 consecutive series races, will win his first NASCAR national series driver’s championship. His No. 88 Toyota, owned by Duke and Rhonda Thorson, holds a 23-point owners’ championship lead over the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota entry.

 

ThorSport Racing has fielded at least one truck in a series-record 390 consecutive races beginning in 1998. The Sandusky, Ohio-area organization finished third in 2009. KBM is the 2010 owners’ champion in its first year with the series.