The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will crown a champion following Sunday’s running of the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart will head into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup finale tomorrow with only three points separating the two. Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards turned a lap at 175.467 mph in Saturday’s qualifying session to win the pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he’ll try Sunday to win his first Sprint Cup championship.
Edwards is a two-time winner at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and is the defending Ford 400 winner. In seven career starts at Homestead, Edwards has six Top 10 finishes and a 5.7 average finish.
“Thank you to the fans for coming out to support this Ford weekend,” said Edwards. “It is just one lap and tomorrow we have 267 laps and we have some serious competition out there.”
Two-time NASCAR champion Stewart qualified 15th with a lap of 173.332 mph and is trying to become the first owner/driver since Alan Kulwicki in 1992 to win a Sprint Cup Series title. Stewart has 12 starts in South Florida with two wins, three Top 10 finishes and a 12.4 average finish.
“We spent a lot of time today just working on race setup,” Stewart said. “I’m appreciative of NASCAR to get the practice rescheduled from yesterday with everything that is on the line.”
Only one finish guarantees Carl Edwards his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship – a victory in Sunday’s season-finale Ford 400. Just three points separate points leader Carl Edwards and second-place Tony Stewart, a margin so tight, no other finish would clinch the title for Edwards regardless of where Stewart finishes. Stewart owns the tie-breaker (more wins), and therefore could tie and win his third series championship.
POS CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 99 Carl Edwards Ford 2 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 3 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 4 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 5 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 6 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 7 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 8 16 Greg Biffle Ford 9 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 10 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 11 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 12 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 13 6 David Ragan Ford 14 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 15 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 16 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 17 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 18 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 19 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 20 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 21 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 22 51 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 23 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 24 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 25 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 26 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 27 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 28 0 David Reutimann Toyota 29 84 Cole Whitt Toyota 30 55 J.J. Yeley Ford 31 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 32 20 Joey Logano Toyota 33 66 Michael McDowell Toyota 34 135 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 35 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 36 30 David Stremme Chevrolet 37 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 38 34 David Gilliland Ford 39 13 Casey Mears Toyota 40 38 Travis Kvapil+ Ford 41 32 T.J. Bell+* Ford 42 36 Geoffrey Bodine+ Chevrolet 43 71 Mike Bliss Ford
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