NASCAR championship drivers stumble in qualifying

With just four drivers left in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, it simply comes down to who finishes highest in the field, regardless of them winning the race outright or not.

The track announced a grandstand sellout for the race that will decide the Sprint Cup champion.

Busch surely would be bummed with anything short of another championship. This stuff is hard, in case you didn’t know.

Kyle Busch has come back from a lot to get to this point. “Right now, yes”, said Busch with a laugh.

That was news to Busch and Edwards after qualifying Friday.

In older point systems, Busch would be mathematically eliminated after missing just a race. He finished third in his rookie season of 2005 and is a two-time series runner-up – though his stinging loss to Tony Stewart on a tiebreak in 2011 has gone down as the greatest finale finish in the Chase era.

This race also marks the end for retiring Tony Stewart. “Those two I would say have to stand out more than anything”. He has four wins this year as well.

“I thought we had a good practice in race trim today”.

Tony Stewart isn’t sure who he told first.

His farewell entourage is expected to be decidedly more low-key than the group invited by Gordon past year, which included Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton and racing legend Mario Andretti.

With a victory at Phoenix on Sunday, Joey Logano returns to the Championship 4 after a year’s hiatus.

Edwards hasn’t forgotten that and five years later, Edwards is back with a chance at his first championship.

“I certainly think that it’s different from past year for sure”, Busch said.

Johnson was antsy to chase history.

But he was able to muster a dignifying flourish by winning at Sonoma and qualifying for the Chase for the Sprint Cup and one last run at a fourth title.

Adding a sixth title in 2013, Johnson sat one away from the pinnacle.

Johnson would match Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Petty with his seventh career Cup championship. Jimmie Johnson fits under both, and this season proves it once again.

The Camping World Trucks and Xfinity Series will also be in action at Homestead-Miami, determining their season champions in the Ford EcoBoost 200 and Ford EcoBoost 300, respectively.

#18-Kyle Busch: Kyle hasn’t has the torrid mid-season win streaks or the red hot form that won him the Sprint Cup past year at Homestead, but he’s still defending and will be a threat come Sunday. Everything we did, every lap, every qualifying session, every pit stop mattered. While he was out, he wanted to make sure Logano couldn’t win either. That being said, you probably want to have at least a couple of the championship drivers in your DFS NASCAR lineups if you want to cash in.

Over the next year, Logano expressed regret about his involvement, or lack thereof, in the situation.

And the prospect of teammates racing each other for a title provided another opening for Johnson, who has faced that problem on multiple occasions at Hendrick Motorsports.

Joining Johnson in the second round were fellow championship contenders Logano, Edwards (sixth) and Kyle Busch (17th). Last week: Suarez picked up his second win of the season.

Busch’s championship run previous year was something befitting a Hollywood script.

Hughes in lead: Five tournaments into his rookie season on the PGA Tour, Mackenzie Hughes has the 36-hole lead at Sea Island and expects a few nerves.

Edwards is willing to make a notable exception to his blackout and deal with the scrolling and trolling of the digital age under one condition: If he leaves Homestead-Miami Speedway as the champ. But, we’ve all been here before where the 48 teams seams almost, if not unstoppable in the Chase and this season is no different.