It all comes down to this. After 35 races featuring 10,511 grueling laps of racing, the final 267 laps at Homestead-Miami Speedway will determine the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion.
Denny Hamlin will go into Homestead with a 15-point lead on four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, with Kevin Harvick not too far behind at 46 points back.
Hamlin will need to put last week's disappointing finish at Phoenix behind him. He leads Johnson and Harvick. It's a battle royal among the three. Hamlin won this race last year and has three top-fives among his five starts. What's so odd about Hamlin at Homestead is his rotten qualifying runs. His average start is 34.0 with a best of 25th. On the other hand, starting 38th last year didn't seem to be a problem as he won the race. But does he really want to start so deep in the field in such an important race? Doubtful.
A knock on Jimmie Johnson is that he has never won at Homestead. That's hollow criticism because in his nine starts, he hasn't had to win there in the past four. He has three top-fives and six top-10s. His one DNF, for a crash in 2005, was simply a matter of Johnson pushing his car to the limit to try to win the Chase. If he had run a normal Johnson race, that 40th-place finish likely would have been another top-10, if not a top-five.
Kevin Harvick's odds are pretty long, so he has to go all-in Sunday. Unless Hamlin and Johnson get knocked out early, Harvick needs to win, lead the most laps and hope for the best. And even that might not be enough. He has four top-fives in nine starts. Look for Harvick to charge to the front, through people if someone is holding him up. "Boys, have at it" has been mostly about retribution this year. But what happens if Harvick "has at it" while on the offensive?
Canadian race car driver Patrick Carpentier will be back behind the wheel of the No. 26 Ford of Bill Jenkins. Carpentier is currently 50th in the standings with a total of 474 points in six races.
Sprint Cup standings (top 5)
1.Denny Hamlin, 6462 points
2.Jimmie Johnson, 6447 (-15)
3.Kevin Harvick, 6416 (-46)
4.Carl Edwards, 6198 (-264)
5.Matt Kenseth, 6151 (-311)
Homestead-Miami Speedway
1.5 mile oval track
Banking in the corners: between 18 and 20 degrees
4 degrees on the straights
Schedule:
Friday
Practice at 11:30 am
Qualifying at 3 pm
Saturday
Practice at 1:30 pm
Practice at 2:45 pm
Sunday
Start of the race at 1 pm
Denny Hamlin will go into Homestead with a 15-point lead on four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, with Kevin Harvick not too far behind at 46 points back.
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| Johnson, Hamlin, Harvick, with the big prize. (Photo: nascar.com) |
Hamlin will need to put last week's disappointing finish at Phoenix behind him. He leads Johnson and Harvick. It's a battle royal among the three. Hamlin won this race last year and has three top-fives among his five starts. What's so odd about Hamlin at Homestead is his rotten qualifying runs. His average start is 34.0 with a best of 25th. On the other hand, starting 38th last year didn't seem to be a problem as he won the race. But does he really want to start so deep in the field in such an important race? Doubtful.
A knock on Jimmie Johnson is that he has never won at Homestead. That's hollow criticism because in his nine starts, he hasn't had to win there in the past four. He has three top-fives and six top-10s. His one DNF, for a crash in 2005, was simply a matter of Johnson pushing his car to the limit to try to win the Chase. If he had run a normal Johnson race, that 40th-place finish likely would have been another top-10, if not a top-five.
Kevin Harvick's odds are pretty long, so he has to go all-in Sunday. Unless Hamlin and Johnson get knocked out early, Harvick needs to win, lead the most laps and hope for the best. And even that might not be enough. He has four top-fives in nine starts. Look for Harvick to charge to the front, through people if someone is holding him up. "Boys, have at it" has been mostly about retribution this year. But what happens if Harvick "has at it" while on the offensive?
Canadian race car driver Patrick Carpentier will be back behind the wheel of the No. 26 Ford of Bill Jenkins. Carpentier is currently 50th in the standings with a total of 474 points in six races.
Sprint Cup standings (top 5)
1.Denny Hamlin, 6462 points
2.Jimmie Johnson, 6447 (-15)
3.Kevin Harvick, 6416 (-46)
4.Carl Edwards, 6198 (-264)
5.Matt Kenseth, 6151 (-311)
Homestead-Miami Speedway
1.5 mile oval track
Banking in the corners: between 18 and 20 degrees
4 degrees on the straights
Schedule:
Friday
Practice at 11:30 am
Qualifying at 3 pm
Saturday
Practice at 1:30 pm
Practice at 2:45 pm
Sunday
Start of the race at 1 pm