NASCAR at Miami 2017: Start Time, Ticket Info, Lineup, TV Schedule and More
Four remain and fight it out for a championship Sunday when the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series takes a final turn and heads into Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Ford Ecoboost 400.
A wild season highlighted by unpredictable results thanks to new rules and on-track packages has spit up four worthy names.
Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski are the four left standing, and there isn't a clear-cut favorite among them, which is fitting given the winding path the season traveled.
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Before those four put it all on the line in Miami, let's take a look at everything to know about the event.
Viewing Details
Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway
When: Sunday, 3 p.m. ET
Watch: NBC
Live Stream: NBC Sports
Tickets: StubHub
1. Denny Hamlin (11)
2. Martin Truex Jr. (78)
3. Kyle Busch (18)
4. Matt Kenseth (20)
5. Brad Keselowski (2)
6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (17)
7. Kyle Larson (42)
8. Kurt Busch (41)
9. Kevin Harvick (4)
10. Daniel Suarez (19)
2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Standings
| 1. Kevin Harvick | 5000 |
| 2. Kyle Busch | 5000 |
| 3. Martin Truex Jr. | 5000 |
| 4. Brad Keselowski | 5000 |
| 5. Chase Elliott | 2338 |
| 6. Denny Hamlin | 2321 |
| 7. Matt Kenseth | 2311 |
| 8. Ryan Blaney | 2297 |
| 9. Kyle Larson | 2266 |
| 10. Jimmie Johnson | 2250 |
| 11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 2200 |
| 12. Jamie McMurray | 2200 |
| 13. Austin Dillon | 2198 |
| 14. Kasey Kahne | 2194 |
| 15. Kurt Busch | 2193 |
| 16. Ryan Newman | 2169 |
Drivers to Watch
Brad Keselowski
If there is an underdog story this year, it belongs to Keselowski.
Keselowski hardly slipped into the final four after flirting with danger for most of the playoffs. Now he's sitting in his first final-four appearance of an otherwise prestigious career, and though he isn't the outright favorite to win, fans know the talent is certainly there.
Even former crew chief and NBC analyst Steve LeTarte sounds surprised.
"He just hasn't matched the speed of the other three competitors," LeTarte said, according to Gregg Krupa of the Detroit News. "But actually, I think that makes this No. 2 car more dangerous."
The owner of three wins this year, Keselowski slipped into the finale despite a finish of 16th in Phoenix a week ago. He's finished outside the top 10 in two of his past four outings, though some slick stage-based outcomes have helped.
Sunday, the driver of the No. 2 Ford will need to be more than slick to overcome the other title contenders. But Keselowski is clearly a survivor, so fans will see if he can turn the hanging-around performances into a winning-a-title performance.
Martin Truex Jr.
Truex would seem like the logical favorite in the minds of most.
The man has been the best driver in the field this year by a wide margin, winning seven races. He's won three since the calendar turned to September and hasn't let up, starting no worse than seventh and finishing no worse than third in each of his last four races.
It's a resume sounding like it belongs to a driver who has won multiple championships, yet Truex still enters the weekend seeking his first.
"Being the favorite is great," Truex said, according to USA Today's Mike Hembree. "It's a good position to be in, but it doesn't guarantee anything. If we go out there and do our jobs and put our best on the table and it's not enough, I think we can live with that."
The Chase format itself means a guy with seven wins still needs to prove himself in order to win a championship. Knowing Truex, though, he's ready for the challenge and hasn't exactly lost any momentum in the weeks leading up to the finale.
This sort of finale is normally the stomping ground for the usual suspects, but Truex is one more strong performance away from being a usual suspect himself.
Kyle Busch
Fans know the drill—Busch was built for something like this.
Busch has pulled off the unthinkable in the past, and he has a little extra motivation going into this one considering a guy he doesn't like much has qualified for the final four.
That guy is Keselowski, of course.
"Sometimes you just don't like a guy—fact of the matter," Busch said, according to NASCAR.com. "I never ran into Matt Kenseth; I don't think Matt Kenseth ever ran into me, so there is a respect factor out there on the race track. ... I race those like they race me."
So yes, fans can expect another aggressive race from Busch, who is also out to prove 2015 wasn't a fluke, as captured by Matt Weaver of AutoWeek:
A winner of five races this year, Busch has put on his usual performance ahead of the finale, finishing in the top 10 twice over his last three outings, including a checkered flag in Martinsville.
With legacy and besting a rival on the mind, Busch is the most dangerous guy on the track in Miami, even if he's not considered the favorite.
Stats and info courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.
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