2010 NASCAR Ford 400 Picks & Predictions
By Anthony Rome
NASCAR closes out its season on Sunday with the Ford 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway in what promises to be the most exciting final race since the Chase format was introduced.
After 35 races it comes down to Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick fighting to be crowned champion after this weekend. As if the chase hasn't been exciting enough, all three of these drivers have run well here in the past, which should make for an exciting race.
When handicapping this race you need to look at the 1.5-mile tracks like Las Vegas, Atlanta, Texas and others to see how they have performed during the year. Most of the teams have already announced which cars they will be bringing so make sure and check if they will be bringing a car that has performed well on this type of track.
Kevin Harvick 7/1
Harvick has been the most consistent driver all year on this type of track and though he doesn't have many wins to show for it, we think this week he gets his first non-plate win of the year. For Harvick to win the championship he almost has to win this race and hope for the other two to have a bad day. In a surprising move, Harvick will be bringing a brand new car to Homestead. Not to worry though, since all year him and his teammates have been unveiling brand new cars that have been successful no matter the track. In nine starts at Homestead, Harvick has four top-five and seven top-10 finishes, with an average finish of 8.4, which leads all drivers. We look for Harvick to let it all hang out on Sunday and get the win and possibly even the championship.
Live Longshot
Greg Biffle 8/1
As we have stated the last few weeks, we have been impressed with the cars from Rousch Racing, who won last week’s race when Carl Edwards broke a long losing streak at Phoenix. Greg Biffle leads all drivers with three wins at Homestead and this week he will be bringing the car that won at Pocono. He led most of the day at Texas until a bad transmission did him in. While his last three races here haven't been that great, we think Biffle has a good chance of keeping the Rousch Racing upswing alive this week.
For updated NASCAR standings, check out our 2010 NASCAR Standings page.