NASCAR driver Martin Truex Jr. will race for the Sprint Cup championship

Carl Edwards is the odd man out after Sunday’s race here was a pain for him and a handful of other drivers scrambling for a berth in the Chase finale. With no eligible Chase driver winning at Phoenix, he claimed the final of the four spots at Homestead based on points.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. scored his third win of the season and third at Phoenix when the race was called after 219 of a scheduled 312 laps.

This was the year that Kurt Busch got a waiver to race for the title even though he was suspended for the first three races of the year for allegedly committing an act of domestic violence.

Earnhardt was trying to stave off elimination with a win, but when Harvick refused to cede position as his engine failed, he triggered a race-ending accident that bounced NASCAR’s most popular driver from the playoffs. For reigning Sprint vehicle Series champion Harvick the call to stop the race was met with mixed feelings. Joey Logano needed to win in order to race for a title next week but could only come up with a third place finish. But the green flag never waved and Logano will have to wait another year before he can repeat last season’s first appearance in the Final Four at Homestead.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 event at Phoenix worldwide Raceway when the red flag was displayed early because of inclement weather. Lastly Martin Truex Jr., who has a classic “underdog” feel about him, could score the upset and shock the racing world. Gordon clinched his advancement to the final round of the Chase with his win at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on November 1. “You always want to win when you have a auto like we had (Sunday), but I’ll take it again (at Homestead)”.

“(Gordon’s) got four championships, so I think he’s got the advantage”, countered Harvick. He and Harvick share the track record with 12 top-10 finishes…. It hasn’t been one-hundred percent pretty from one end to the other, but I think as you look at the Chase, it’s been championship material and that’s proven by making it to the championship race.

“You can expect a lot of thrilling racing this weekend, not just on Sunday but also on Friday and Saturday”, Homestead-Miami Speedway President Matthew Becherer said. And wouldn’t you know it, Busch finds himself in the unfamiliar position of entering the final race of the season still in title contention. And Truex Jr. was once cast aside as an afterthought, finishing 24th in points last season before his resurgence as a one-man band for Furniture Row Racing.

When Harvick did win Dover, and damaged his vehicle during the celebration, his competitors cried foul and said he did it on objective to prevent NASCAR from conducting a thorough post-race inspection. Reddick has two victories for Brad Keselowski Racing, and Crafton has a series-high five for ThorSport Racing. And like Junior previous year, Logano’s not in the upcoming The Chase finale. Why?

Earnhardt ended Harvick’s streak of four consecutive victories at Phoenix, but the champion was the class of the field. “We do not want to finish like this…We want to race for sure”.

“Homestead’s a really good racetrack for me, and that’s our kind of racetrack with this team”, Truex told reporters after the race Sunday.