Site: Homestead, Fla.
Schedule: Friday, practice (Speed, 11:30-1 p.m.), qualifying (ESPN2, 3-5 p.m.); Saturday, practice (Speed, 1:30-2:30 p.m.; ESPN2, 3-4 p.m.); Sunday, race, 3:15 p.m. (ABC, 2:30-7:30 p.m.).
Track: Homestead-Miami Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles).
Race distance: 400.5 miles, 267 laps.
Last year: Jimmie Johnson won his record third straight title, finishing 15th in the season-ending race to hold off race winner Carl Edwards by 69 points. Edwards, who also won the Nationwide race, finished the season with a Sprint Cup-best nine victories.
Last week: Johnson closed in on his fourth straight series championship, cruising to a dominating victory at Phoenix International Raceway. He has four victories in nine Chase races and seven wins overall this season.
Fast facts: Johnson has a 108-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin. If Martin wins and leads the most laps, Johnson would have to finish 25th or better to win the title. ... Edwards is winless this year. ... Kyle Busch also is racing in the Nationwide and Trucks races, the third of three straight tripleheaders. He has 19 victories this year - four in Cup, eight in Nationwide and seven in Trucks - and needs only to start the Nationwide race to win his first NASCAR championship. ... Homestead is the only active track where Jeff Gordon has failed to win. ... Michael Waltrip is making his final start as a full-time driver.
On the Net: http://www.nascar.com
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Site: Homestead, Fla.
Schedule: Friday, practice (Speed, 1-3 p.m., 6:30-7:30 p.m.); Saturday, qualifying (Speed, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.), race, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2, 4-7:30 p.m.).
Track: Homestead-Miami Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles).
Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.
Last year: Carl Edwards won the season-ending race for his seventh victory of the year, but still finished 21 points behind Clint Bowyer in the season standings. Bowyer was fifth en route to his first NASCAR championship.
Last week: Edwards rolled to a dominating win at Phoenix International Speedway to delay Kyle Busch's series championship. Busch, ninth after sustaining heavy early damage, has a 190-point lead over Edwards and needs only to start at Homestead to win his first NASCAR championship.
Fast facts: Busch has a series-high eight victories and has led a record 2,625 laps. He's fourth in series history with 29 wins in 172 starts. Mark Martin holds the record with 48. ... Edwards has a 60-point lead over third-place Brad Keselowski.
On the Net: http://www.nascar.com
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Site: Homestead, Fla.
Schedule: Thursday, practice (Speed, 6:30-8 p.m.); Friday, qualifying (Speed, 5-6:30 p.m.), race, 8 p.m. (Speed, 7:30-10:30 p.m.).
Track: Homestead-Miami Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles).
Race distance: 201 miles, 134 laps.
Last year: Todd Bodine won the season finale in a green-white-checker finish, and Johnny Benson finished seventh - one position ahead of Ron Hornaday Jr. - to beat Hornaday by seven points for the series championship.
Last week: Hornaday won his record fourth series championship, finishing fourth at Phoenix International Raceway. Kevin Harvick, Hornaday's team owner, won the race.
Fast facts: The 51-year-old Hornaday is winless since Aug. 1 in Nashville, the last of his series-record five straight victories. Also the season champion in 1996, 1998 and 2007, Hornaday has six victories this year to push his series record to 45. ... In the owners' standings, Kevin Harvick Inc.'s Hornaday-driven No. 33 has a 60-point lead over Billy Ballew's No. 51 - the Toyota that Kyle Busch has raced in 15 events. Busch has a season-high seven wins, five in his last six races.
On the Net: http://www.nascar.com
