The Championship 4 have been decided. After his win Sunday at Phoenix, Joey Logano grabbed a spot, as did second place finisher Kyle Busch. While nothing is for certain, since the elimination format was introduced in 2014, the title winner has also won the race. No one should be surprised if the winner of the race Sunday comes from one of these four drivers.
1. Joey Logano (0) 5000. Logano made a strong statement Sunday scoring his first Phoenix win and locking himself into the Championship 4. Now he will race for the title at Homestead ,a track he has never won at and where he was fourth at last year. Of course, Logano had never won at Phoenix, and has been running strong in the Chase. He could be a surprise Sunday.
2. Jimmie Johnson (0) 5000. Johnson will be looking to win a record seventh title at Homestead. He too has never won there. Unless the Hendrick team is sandbagging however, Johnson will need a much better run than he had at Phoenix, where he crashed and finished 38th. If he has it all together, he will be tough to beat, but the team has gone from red hot to ice cold at times, so it will depend on which team shows up Sunday.
3. Carl Edwards (+4) 5000. Edwards has won at Homestead, twice. He also lost a title to Tony Stewart by one point thanks to a tiebreaker in 2014. Edwards will be looking for redemption. With the way Joe Gibbs Racing has been running this season he could get it Sunday and score his first title.
4. Kyle Busch (-1) 5000. Busch will have a chance to defend his title won in dramatic, comeback fashion last season. Busch certainly has a chance. Not only is he part of the JGR camp, but he knows how to win at Homestead and when he’s up against the ropes. Like Johnson however, Busch can be hold and cold, so it might depend on which team shows up.
The final race of the season will be Sunday with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Live coverage will be on NBC with the green flag coming just after 2:30 p.m. ET.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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