This Week in Auto Racing November 19 - 21

This Week in Auto Racing November 19 - 21

Homestead, FL (Sports Network) - Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick will battle for the championship in the Sprint Cup Series' season- finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend. The Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series also will conclude its seasons in South Florida.

Sprint Cup Series

Ford 400 - Homestead-Miami Speedway - Homestead, FL

Amid the palm trees in South Florida, the 2010 Sprint Cup Series season will conclude in dramatic fashion this weekend at Homestead Florida, as three drivers -- Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick -- will battle for the championship.

Only 15 points separate the leader Hamlin from second-place Johnson, making it the closest points margin between the top two drivers heading into the final Chase race of the season since NASCAR began its playoff format for its top- tier series in 2004.

Kevin Harvick currently trails Hamlin by 46 points.

The points margin among the top-three drivers significantly tightened after Sunday's race at Phoenix.

Hamlin dominated most of the race by leading 190 laps, but was forced to pit with 14 laps remaining. He wound up finishing 12th and saw his lead shrink from 33 points to 15 over Johnson, who conserved enough fuel at the end to finish fifth. Harvick overcame a loose lugnut during a late-race pit stop to cross the line in sixth.

If Hamlin, the defending race winner at Homestead, wins the 400-mile race or finishes second with the most laps led, he is guaranteed his first Sprint Cup championship.

"We just hope to have a clean race next week and the best car win; that's all we can ask for to crown the champ," Hamlin said. "I'm proud that we've stepped up our performance like we have over these last few weeks. It's very proud for me to be able to do that. So I'm just going to continue to keep digging as hard as I can go and try to beat those guys.

"It's going to be tough. Those guys are going to be good. We see that every week. They're top five. As far as I'm concerned, it's going to take a win."

Hamlin leads the series with eight wins so far this season, including two in the Chase (Martinsville and Texas). If Homestead concludes with a points tie for the championship, Hamlin would clinch the title based on his eight wins for the year. Johnson has six victories, while Harvick has three.

Johnson is aiming for his record-extending fifth straight title. He had gone into the season-finale as the points leader in all four of his championship seasons, including a triple-digit points advantage heading to Homestead in each of the past two years.

"It probably would be received better than the ones in the past, with the runaway show we've had on a couple of them," Johnson said. "I don't care how I win it. However we win it, that's cool. I would love to come back and win from behind and eliminate that stat because that seems to be the only thing that everyone talks about right now."

Since NASCAR revised its points system in 1975, just two drivers have overcome a deficit in the last race of the season to win the Cup championship. Richard Petty accomplished the feat in 1979 to earn his seventh title, and Alan Kulwicki turned the trick in 1992.

Johnson finished 25th in the first race of the Chase in September in Loudon, New Hampshire. He has placed ninth or better in each of the last eight races, including a win at Dover.

"When I look at the way we started the Chase, I'm more frustrated at what we did then in the fact we didn't capitalize at Loudon," he said. "We missed a pit call late in the race [at Texas]. Everybody behind us had tires on. We ended up ninth. When you go back through the season, look at little things, we've left points on the table. That's unlike us from years past. That's the part we're fighting right now."

Johnson has yet to win in nine starts at Homestead. His best finish at this 1.5-mile oval is second, which came in 2004. He finished fifth here one year ago.

Harvick is also winless in nine Cup races at Homestead, but has been impressive the last two years here, finishing second in 2008 and third in '09.

"That's been a great racetrack, statistically, for us," Harvick said. "It's our best racetrack on the circuit, so we're looking forward to it."

When the series came to Homestead in 2004, five drivers remained in championship contention, with an 82-point margin separating leader Kurt Busch from fifth-place Mark Martin. Johnson trailed Busch by 18 points, while Jeff Gordon was 21 down and Dale Earnhardt Jr. 72 back.

Busch rebounded from a detached right front wheel early in the race to finish fifth and clinch the inaugural Chase title by a scant eight points over Johnson, making it the closest championship battle in series history.

Will we see a closer points finish on Sunday?

Forty-five teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Ford 400.

Nationwide Series

Ford 300 - Homestead-Miami Speedway - Homestead, FL

Brad Keselowski is the Nationwide Series champion, but the owner's title remains undetermined heading into this weekend's season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Keselowski locked up his first NASCAR national touring series championship earlier this month at Texas.

However, Keselowski's No.22 Penske Racing Dodge team is 41 points behind the No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team. Kyle Busch has driven Gibbs' No.18 car in 28 Nationwide races in 2010, scoring a series-record 12 wins for the season.

The lead was 81 points entering last Saturday's race at Phoenix, but Keselowski's fourth-place finish coupled with a disappointing 16th-place result for Busch allowed the No.22 team to cut the deficit in half. Busch was running second before he experienced a vibration issue and had to pit unexpectedly with fewer than 40 laps to go.

Busch will attempt to split the driver's and owner's championships for the fourth time in series history (2003, 2007 and 2008). He also hopes to give JGR a series record-tying third consecutive owner's title. Former Nationwide team owner Bill Baumgardner (BACE Motorsports) won three championships in a row from 1995-97 with drivers Johnny Benson (1995) and Randy LaJoie (1996 and 1997).

"I'm looking forward to it," said Busch, who is the defending Nationwide race winner at Homestead. "Hopefully, there is another two NASCAR championships to celebrate down there, for myself with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series, as well as Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series, both owners' titles. I'm also helping JGR celebrate the driver/owner championship with Denny Hamlin [in the Sprint Cup Series]."

Busch clinched the 2009 Nationwide driver's championship simply by starting at Homestead. He held a 190-point lead over Carl Edwards entering the last race of that season.

Danica Patrick will conclude her maiden season in stock car racing. It's been a busy year for Patrick, running a full-time schedule in the IZOD IndyCar Series and a limited schedule in Nationwide. Her best finish in 12 Nationwide starts so far this season is 21st, which came last month at Charlotte. She finished 32nd at Phoenix.

"I'm going to get a few days off after the last race, then I have some GoDaddy commercials to shoot for the Super Bowl in February, and then I might go on vacation," Patrick said. "It's been a long year, and it's been a transition for me."

Patrick is expected to compete in the first four Nationwide races in 2011 -- Daytona, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Bristol. An announcement of more races on her schedule next year may be forthcoming.

Homestead also will mark the last race of the current Nationwide car. The new car will run full-time next season, starting with the February 19 race at Daytona.

Forty-five teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Ford 300.

Camping World Truck Series

Ford 200 - Homestead-Miami Speedway - Homestead, FL

The Camping World Truck Series will kick off NASCAR's "championship weekend" at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Despite a 12th-place finish, Todd Bodine clinched his second truck title last Friday at Phoenix. Bodine holds an insurmountable 202-point lead over Aric Almirola heading into the final race of the season.

In 24 races this year, Bodine has recorded four wins and 16 top-five finishes with Germain Racing, which has struggled to find sponsorship for his No.30 Toyota team.

"Germain Racing has done such a great job, including all the guys at the shop and the motor shop and the guys on the road crew," Bodine said. "[Crew chief Mike Hillman Jr.] has led this team to another championship. It shows his leadership skills and how good a person he is. We have a 'never give up' attitude. That's what brought us to this point and got us here."

Bodine became the third driver in the series' 16-year history to win multiple championships. His first title came in 2006, and he joined Ron Hornaday, who has won a record four championships, and Jack Sprague, who grabbed three titles.

The owner's championship in the series has yet to be determined.

Kyle Busch's No.18 Toyota team heads to Homestead with a comfortable 120-point lead over Bodine's team. If Busch finishes 29th or better at Homestead, he will claim the title in his team's first year of competition in the series.

Kevin Harvick won last year's race at Homestead, but is not entered in Friday's event.

Thirty-eight teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Ford 200.