FYI WIRZ: NASCAR’s top five finishers talk before and after the race
By Dwight Drum
Photo credit: Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com

The top five drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this week—Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola and A.J. Allmendinger—ran to the front to finish the 1.5-mile oval with 18-20 variable degree banking at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida.

The Ford 400, race 10 in the 10-race Chase to the Sprint Cup, is history and Jimmie Johnson became history when he snared an unprecedented fifth championship in a row.

The long NASCAR season went to the wire during the last 267 laps of the season, with Kevin Harvick in third place chasing Jimmie Johnson in second. Denny Hamlin watched his slim points lead evaporate and his hopes fade while securing a disappointing 14th spot at HMS.

For all NASCAR drivers, the slate is cleared and all look to the 2011 season with an equal points start. Perhaps only Edwards with his back-to-back wins and Johnson with his most recent championship carry a considerable edge into the next year.

Fans can take heart in the reality that favored drivers don’t always win, but winners always take the checkered flag. That’s why NASCAR runs every lap.

Driver’s thoughts before and after the big race follow.

Carl Edwards (No. 99 Ford)

Before:

“Ford Championship weekend has always been a huge weekend for me and Roush Fenway,” Edwards said. “We’ve got a ton of momentum right now. I feel like our 1.5-mile program is really strong, and our team is riding a huge wave from last weekend’s win in Phoenix. We’re just going to go for the win and hopefully finish top four in points. That would be huge.”

After:

“This is a great way to finish the season, Edwards said. “Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson—five championships in a row, that’s unreal. I think the way we’re going here? “It’s just these guys not giving up. We don’t give up. My guys are unreal and we just had an unbelievable run towards the end of this season.

“I can’t believe this. Two wins in a row is just really great. We are finishing the season like we need to. I am excited to go into next year and go into Daytona where hopefully we can be one of the people lining up to knock Jimmie off his throne. That would be nice.”

Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Chevrolet)

Before:

“If you look at points accumulated over the course of the Chase, I think that will speak volumes as to what type of Chase took place,” Johnson said. “I know we’ve been competitive, but not as dominant as we wanted to all year long. We’ve got to go down there and race for it; there’s no doubt about it. I continue to hear that the No. 48 hasn’t had to race for it before and we’ve raced for it all Chase long.

“When you go back through the season, look at little things, we’ve left points on the table. That’s unlike us from years past. That’s the part we’re fighting right now.”

After:

I’m so proud to be in this position and so thankful to have my great race team and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports giving me great race cars,” Johnson said.

“I think this year we showed what this team is made. At times we didn’t have the most speed, but we proved it here at the end of the Chase and especially here today. I am just besides myself. Four was amazing. Now I have to figure out what the hell to say about winning five of these things because everybody is going to want to know what it means. I don’t know! It is pretty damn awesome I can tell you that.”

Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Chevrolet)

Before:

“We have nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Harvick said. “There’s really nothing else that matters at this point. Just throw it all out there, and if it gets rough, it gets rough. If it doesn’t, then we just go race and see where it all falls in the end. It’s still a no pressure, no lose situation for us, and I like it.

“We’ve had great results over the past several years there. It’s a race track that kind of fits my driving style.”

After:

“We put ourselves in position to run up front, and we ran up front and you know, in the end, we just got beat there on that last restart and they just out ran us. All in all, we went downswing and that’s all you can ask for. They did a great job.”

Aric Almirola (No. 9 Ford)

Before:

“The coolest thing for me is that it was nearly 44 years ago my grandparents gave up everything they had to have a better life in America,” Almirola said. “They landed in Miami on the Freedom Flights with my dad and uncle Robert and now she gets to witness a product of her sacrifice; ironically in Miami. I’m privileged to do something that I love for my job.”

After:

“It felt like we had a car capable of winning. All in all it was a great day and I am proud of all my guys on this team to step in and let me fill in on this team has been fun. I have learned a lot and it has been awesome.”

A.J Allmendinger (No. 43 Ford)

Before:

“We haven’t been the strongest on the mile-and-a-half race tracks as a race team on the 43 side of it Allmendinger said. “But we did the test there and it is a completely different mile-and-a-half, so for that reason I’m looking forward to it.”

After:

“That was pretty wild. We got it raceable and we got a little lucky with that yellow to get us track position and a top five.”

FYI WIRZ is the swift presentation of pertinent motorsports topics compiled, condensed and often written by Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com. Quotes provided by NASCAR and Sprint Cup team media.

Photo credit: Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com

The opinions expressed in this articles are solely those of the author and not this website.