From 16 to 12 to eight, the Chase is finally down to the last four drivers standing with a shot to claim the 2014 Sprint Cup Championship. Thanks to the revamped format which whittles the contenders down every three races, this year’s Chase has been as exciting as ever, and it’s all set for a thrilling finale.
For the final four – Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin – it all comes down to the last race of the season, the Ford EcoBoost 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, November 16. The highest finisher among the four wins this year’s Sprint Cup Championship, simple as that. If any of the four wins the race outright, he automatically wins the title.
With the spotlight shining on the four drivers, let’s examine each of their chances not only to win the upcoming race, but also to win the coveted cup.
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NASCAR Ford Ecoboost 400 Predictions and Betting Preview
[sc:Other240banner ]Kevin Harvick is the odds on favorite to win both the race and the Chase this week, and he will have all the momentum on his side after he won the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 in Phoenix last Sunday, his fourth win of the season. Harvick has won two of the last five races, and has finished in the top-10 four times.
Harvick has never won at the Homestead-Miami Speedway but he’s had his fair share of success at the track. In 13 career starts there, Harvick owns the best average finish (8.1) among the remaining four drivers because of 11 finishes in the top-10 and five in the top-5.
Of the remaining quartet, no one has experienced victory more often than Joey Logano. No. 22 has won five races this season, the last of which coming at the Hollywood Casino 400 six races ago. He also has the most number of top-10 finishes with 22.
Since that last win though, Logano has finished outside the top-10 twice, and just missed out on a top-five finish in the most recent race in Phoenix. Logano also has a less than impressive record in Miami. He has only one top-10 finish in five races at Homestead, with a rather disappointing average finish of 20.8.
Victory in Miami will ensure the championship for one of the four remaining drivers, and Denny Hamlin has won at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. He’s won on this track twice, and will in fact come into this year’s race as the defending champion after last season’s triumph. Hamlin has also finished in the top-five four times in nine career starts.
Hamlin will hope the track once again brings out the best in him because he has not finished the year strong at all. He finally ended his nine-race drought of finishing outside the top-five after finishing fifth in last week’s Quicken Loans 500. In those nine races, Hamlin’s average race finish was 14th.
Ryan Newman’s most likely not going to win the Chase walk-off home-run style by winning in Miami. Newman is the only driver of the four who has not yet won a race this season. In fact, Newman has led in just seven races for 41 laps, a fraction compared to the hundreds (and in Harvick’s case, thousands) of laps his title rivals have led.
But Newman also won’t stand a great chance of winning if he continues to finish outside the top-10, which he’s done in the last two races. Newman has finished in the top-10 in only a quarter of his 12 career starts in Homestead and has an average finish of 17.0.
Writer’s Prediction
Harvin comes through again in Homestead and captures the Sprint Cup Championship. Create a betting account now and be part of this nail-biting finale to the NASCAR season.
