NASCAR's Top Drivers Talk Homestead, the Chase and the Finale

The top five Chase drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this week—Denny Hamlin,  Jimmie Johnson,  Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth—talk the 1.5-mile oval with 18-20 variable degree banking at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida.         

The Ford 400, race ten in the ten-race Chase to the Sprint Cup, commences this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. on ESPN.  

The long NASCAR season has only 267 laps remaining in this finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and only three drivers can secure the championship.  Hamlin leads by 15 points over Jimmie Johnson and Harvick has only 46 points in his way to the coveted Cup.   

This fast series includes comments by two of NASCAR’s most popular drivers—Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. 

Drivers tend to put a positive spin going into each race, but some pre-race comments can be prophetic and interesting.  The following thoughts by top drivers include track analysis plus opinions surrounding a three-man race for the championship.

Do their words reveal expectations, apprehension, relief or confidence?  It’s your take.

Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Toyota)

“The important thing is we have a good car for Homestead,” Hamlin said. “It’s going to be our Texas car. So, we know we got a good piece there.  This is why we run the races. This is why you can’t crown anyone before this thing is over, is because if any kind of strategy or anything goes wrong, it could be the deciding factor in the championship.  It’s a tight one.

“I’d rather race at Homestead knowing I need to go out there and I need to win the race than knowing I need to finish 15th.  We just hope to have a clean race and the best car to win.  I’m just going to continue to keep digging as hard as I can and try to beat those guys.  As far as I’m concerned, it’s going to take a win.”

Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Chevrolet)

“If you look at points accumulated over the course of the Chase, I think that will speak volumes as to what type of Chase took place,” Johnson said. “I know we've been competitive, but not as dominant as we wanted to all year long. We've got to go down there and race for it; there's no doubt about it. I continue to hear that the No. 48 hasn't had to race for it before and we've raced for it all Chase long.

“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."

Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Chevrolet)

“We have nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Harvick said. “There’s really nothing else that matters at this point.  Just throw it all out there, and if it gets rough, it gets rough.  If it doesn’t, then we just go race and see where it all falls in the end.  It’s still a no pressure, no lose situation for us, and I like it. 

“The Homestead track is unique. You can charge turn one a little bit more than you can at most places, because as you get through the corner, the banking seems to get steeper all the way through, and you have options.

“We’ve had great results over the past several years there. It’s a race track that kind of fits my driving style.”

Carl Edwards (No.99 Ford)

“Ford Championship weekend has always been a huge weekend for me and Roush Fenway,” Edwards said.  “We’ve got a ton of momentum right now.  I feel like our 1.5-mile program is really strong, and our team is riding a huge wave from last weekend’s win in Phoenix.  We’re just going to go for the win and hopefully finish top four in points.  That would be huge.” 

Matt Kenseth (No.17 Ford)

“Homestead is pretty cool,” Kenseth said. “They weren’t scared to go out on a limb and build it like no other track on the circuit. 

“There are a lot of different lanes you can look for to race on so that makes it a lot of fun. It’s the only track we have that’s a true oval without the dogleg, and with the added banking in the backstretch being higher than the frontstretch, it makes all four corners a lot different. 

“It’s a great place at the end of the year to crown all the champions.”

Tony Stewart (No. 14 Chevrolet)

“At Homestead, you go off into turn one, and when you get into the banking, you lift,” Stewart said. “If your car is good, you can go and not use any brake, or very, very little brake. You stay one lane off the bottom, past the transition—it’s a little less banking on the lower level toward the apron—so you stay one level above that. As soon as your car settles in you can really just mash right back in the gas and just ride that second level around down onto the backstretch.

“And then you do exactly the same thing going into turn three. A lot of times in turn three, because of the wind direction there, you can actually go into the corner a lot harder and a lot further, actually turning into the corner before you get off the gas. And it’s the same thing, once that car settles in; you get on the gas and ride it around to the frontstretch. It’s a pretty smooth racetrack.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Chevrolet)

"Homestead has been one of my toughest tracks since they changed the configuration of it,” Earnhardt said. “There are a million different ways you can go through the corner but I haven't really figured out which one suits me the best.

“This race is going to be run in the afternoon, starting early, so that should help us actually. It keeps the groove up off the bottom of the race track for a longer period of time.

"My goals are to try to regroup and try to go to the next year a little more prepared. We thought we had it all figured out going in to this year, and we learned a little bit about how much more we had to improve. So when we start the season, we can't have any doubts or questions in any areas."

Photo credit: Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com