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Homestead: NASCAR Sprint Cup Starting Line-up & Race Preview
By Mike Sulka
The NASCAR Sprint Cup has been coming annually to Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida since 1999. The 1.5-mile oval has undergone two major re-construction projects since it opened in 1995. Today, the track boasts progressive banking of 18-20 degrees in the corners, while the straights are a mere three degrees.
Since the latest re-configuration in 2003, the Ford teams have dominated at Homestead. Ford power has won the last five races, and 6 of the last seven.
Leading the way, Greg Biffle has the most all-time wins (3 - 2004,2005,2006). Biffle will be starting 8th today, he has won from the second, seventh, and 22nd starting positions. But, his last two visits to Homestead have resulted in finishes of 13th & 18th.
Biffle won't be winning today.
Tony Stewart has two wins at Homestead, but his wins go way back to the first two events in 1999, 2000. Since then, the best Stewart has mustered is a fourth place finish back in 2004, and a ninth place finish in 2008.
Stewart won't be winning today.
Some other interesting notes: Carl Edwards won last year (2008), and also finished fifth in 2007. Jeff Gordon has never won at Homestead, but has the most top-5s (four), a list he shares with Mark Martin.
Matt Kenseth won in 2007, but his best other finish (third) was back in 2005. Other than a sixth place finish in 2006 race at Homestead he has finished 19th or worse six times.
So today's pick isn't an easy one. We should be picking a car with Ford power, and should be settling on Carl Edwards as our best bet.
But we can't.
We just can't overlook the dominance that Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet team have exhibited chasing history.
So just like yesterday where Kyle Busch won the race and the NASCAR Nationwide championship, we are picking the same for today.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup series season finale may not be dramatic, but it is surely on course to be a historic event as pole sitter Jimmie Johnson looks to become the first Cup driver to ever win four-straight NASCAR Sprint Cup championships in a row.
And he will.
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Starting Line Up by Row
Homestead-Miami Speedway
FORD 400
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Fri, November 20, 2009 @ 05:04 PM Eastern
Track Race Record: Tony Stewart 11/14/99 02:51:14 140.335
| Row |
Pos |
Car |
Driver |
Team |
Time |
Speed |
| 1 |
1 |
48 |
Jimmie Johnson |
Lowe's Chevrolet |
31.049 |
173.919 |
|
2 |
82 |
Scott Speed # |
Red Bull Toyota |
31.269 |
172.695 |
| 2 |
3 |
47 |
Marcos Ambrose |
Little Debbie/Kingsford/Clorox Toyota |
31.272 |
172.678 |
|
4 |
5 |
Mark Martin |
Kellogg's/CARQUEST Chevrolet |
31.331 |
172.353 |
| 3 |
5 |
14 |
Tony Stewart |
Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet |
31.351 |
172.243 |
|
6 |
29 |
Kevin Harvick |
Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet |
31.369 |
172.144 |
| 4 |
7 |
39 |
Ryan Newman |
U.S. ARMY All-American Bowl Chevrolet |
31.389 |
172.035 |
|
8 |
16 |
Greg Biffle |
3M Ford |
31.391 |
172.024 |
| 5 |
9 |
21 |
Bill Elliott |
Motorcraft Ford |
31.421 |
171.860 |
|
10 |
33 |
Clint Bowyer |
Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet |
31.425 |
171.838 |
| 6 |
11 |
26 |
Jamie McMurray |
Crown Royal Ford |
31.425 |
171.838 |
|
12 |
2 |
Kurt Busch |
Miller Lite Dodge |
31.433 |
171.794 |
| 7 |
13 |
44 |
A J Allmendinger |
Ford Drive One Ford |
31.441 |
171.750 |
|
14 |
1 |
Martin Truex Jr. |
Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet |
31.460 |
171.647 |
| 8 |
15 |
07 |
Casey Mears |
Jack Daniel's Chevrolet |
31.463 |
171.630 |
|
16 |
78 |
Regan Smith |
Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet |
31.473 |
171.576 |
| 9 |
17 |
02 |
David Gilliland |
Farm Bureau Toyota |
31.494 |
171.461 |
|
18 |
36 |
Michael McDowell |
Wave Energy Drink Toyota |
31.499 |
171.434 |
| 10 |
19 |
71 |
Bobby Labonte |
TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet |
31.506 |
171.396 |
|
20 |
24 |
Jeff Gordon |
DuPont Chevrolet |
31.517 |
171.336 |
| 11 |
21 |
19 |
Elliott Sadler |
Best Buy Dodge |
31.518 |
171.331 |
|
22 |
00 |
David Reutimann |
Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota |
31.528 |
171.276 |
| 12 |
23 |
42 |
Juan Pablo Montoya |
Target Chevrolet |
31.549 |
171.162 |
|
24 |
99 |
Carl Edwards |
Aflac Ford |
31.580 |
170.994 |
| 13 |
25 |
9 |
Kasey Kahne |
Budweiser Dodge |
31.585 |
170.967 |
|
26 |
31 |
Jeff Burton |
Caterpillar Chevrolet |
31.585 |
170.967 |
| 14 |
27 |
12 |
Brad Keselowski |
No. 12 Penske Dodge Dodge |
31.613 |
170.816 |
|
28 |
37 |
Travis Kvapil |
Long John Silver's Chevrolet |
31.615 |
170.805 |
| 15 |
29 |
77 |
Sam Hornish Jr. |
Mobil 1 Dodge |
31.617 |
170.794 |
|
30 |
18 |
Kyle Busch |
M&M's Toyota |
31.644 |
170.648 |
| 16 |
31 |
96 |
Erik Darnell |
Hall of Fame Racing Ford |
31.666 |
170.530 |
|
32 |
88 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet |
31.680 |
170.455 |
| 17 |
33 |
83 |
Brian Vickers |
Red Bull Toyota |
31.688 |
170.412 |
|
34 |
17 |
Matt Kenseth |
DeWalt Ford |
31.694 |
170.379 |
| 18 |
35 |
20 |
Joey Logano # |
Home Depot Toyota |
31.714 |
170.272 |
|
36 |
98 |
Paul Menard |
Johns Manville/Menards Ford |
31.715 |
170.266 |
| 19 |
37 |
7 |
Matt Crafton |
Menards/MAPEI Toyota |
31.787 |
169.881 |
|
38 |
11 |
Denny Hamlin |
FedEx Express Toyota |
31.818 |
169.715 |
| 20 |
39 |
55 |
Michael Waltrip |
NAPA Auto Parts Toyota |
31.886 |
169.353 |
|
40 |
34 |
John Andretti |
Taco Bell Chevrolet |
31.901 |
169.274 |
| 21 |
41 |
6 |
David Ragan |
UPS Ford |
31.939 |
169.072 |
|
42 |
43 |
Reed Sorenson |
Siemens Dodge |
Owner Points |
|
| 22 |
43 |
08 |
Terry Labonte |
FanCar Toyota |
Past Champion |
|
Did Not Qualify: # 87 Joe Nemechek; # 66 Dave Blaney; # 70 Mike Skinner; # 13 Max Papis #; # 09 David Stremme.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 16 2 Ford 9 0
PaddockTalk Perspective
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