Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Trucks Series all to return to South Florida in 2011 to crown Champions; seats for 2010 Championships (Nov. 19-21) on sale now

MIAMI—For the 10th consecutive year, Homestead-Miami Speedway will serve as host to NASCAR’s Ford Championship Weekend in 2011. South Florida again will be the site when NASCAR crowns its Champions in all three of its top national divisions—the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series— the weekend of Nov. 18-20, 2011.

“It’s a unique privilege to host the Championship finales of America’s No. 1 spectator sport for a 10th year running,” said Homestead-Miami Speedway President Matthew Becherer.. “No other city in any other sport can claim such a string: Consider that the Super Bowl, college football’s BCS, the World Series, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals all rotate their Championship-crowning events from city to city each year. In hosting NASCAR’s Championship for 10 straight years, we’re appreciative of all that South Florida fans and businesses contribute to the success of a weeklong schedule of events leading up to Ford Championship Weekend.”

Ford Championship Weekend 2010 is set for Nov. 19-21, and tickets—starting at just $55 for the Ford 400 Sprint Cup Championship finale—are available now by calling (866) 409-RACE or by visiting THEChampionshipTrack.com. Kids 12 and under are FREE to Friday night’s (Nov. 19) Camping World Trucks Series Championship and just $10 to Saturday afternoon’s Nationwide Championship (Nov. 20).

“It’s an amazing loyalty our fans display in traveling to South Florida year-in and year-out to see the Champions crowned in North America’s most popular racing series,” said track president Becherer. “We’re excited about this fall’s NASCAR series-crowning Championships, set for Nov. 19-21, and look forward to the honor of again hosting Ford Championship Weekend in 2011, for a 10th straight year.”

Since the debut of Ford Championship Weekend in 2002, Homestead-Miami Speedway has played host to historic NASCAR Championship moments, including last fall when Jimmie Johnson became the first driver ever to claim four consecutive Sprint Cup Championships. In 2004, Homestead-Miami hosted the first-ever NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, as Kurt Busch became the first to hoist the “Chase” hardware. All told, Homestead-Miami has seen 18 different NASCAR Champions crowned.

Not only did Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota, win Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series and the Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he captured the NASCAR Nationwide Championship — giving him two flags he used to celebrate with fans and his crew. (Photo CIA Stock Photo)
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 21, 2009)

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — In a fitting end to the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series season, Kyle Busch had two reasons to do a celebratory burnout.

After signing in and putting his car on the grid before Saturday’s Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Busch clinched the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship. That was a mere formality. Two hundred laps later, he crossed the finish line .482 seconds ahead of charging Carl Edwards to win his ninth race of the season and the 30th of his career.

Brad Keselowski, on the other hand, might have had reason to do a slow burn after Denny Hamlin escalated their ongoing rivalry by spinning Keselowski’s No. 88 Chevrolet early in the race.

“It was a tough race, for sure,” Busch said. “We weren’t the best car here for a long time. All these guys made some great race calls — (crew chief) Jason (Ratcliff) and everybody else. That’s why we’re a championship team. That’s why we made it here tonight, because these guys can fight through stuff.”

Two laps after a restart on Lap 163, after pitting for new tires, Busch passed Edwards for the lead and held it the rest of the way, despite a caution for Jason Leffler’s contact with the wall on Lap 184.

“We made some adjustments to the car that really brought it to life, and I was able to pass those guys on that restart and get up towards the front and lead those laps, and when that last caution came out, Carl did the exact same thing I just did.”

Edwards came to the pits for tires under caution on Lap 186 and restarted eighth on Lap 190. Despite a strong run into the third turn on the final lap, his bid for the win fell just short.

“I thought we were going to win the race on that last restart, but the 18 (Busch) was just too fast on those (old) tires,” Edwards said.

Jeff Burton finished third Saturday, followed by Joey Logano and Hamlin. David Reutimann, Ryan Newman, Steve Wallace, Scott Speed and Matt Kenseth completed the top 10. Keselowski finished 12th.

Edwards was runner-up to Busch in the final points standings followed by Keselowski, Leffler and Mike Bliss. Justin Allgaier, sixth, won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award. He was followed by Steve Wallace, Jason Keller, Brendan Gaughan and Michael Annett in seventh through 10th, respectively.

Saturday’s race wrote a new chapter in the rivalry between Keselowski and Hamlin, who had dominated the headlines with their on-track and off-track shots last weekend at Phoenix. In the NASCAR Nationwide race there, Keselowski repaid a tap from Hamlin by spinning his adversary.

Hamlin promised retaliation at Homestead, and made good on his threat on Lap 34, sending Keselowski spinning down the frontstretch. NASCAR held Hamlin in the pits for one lap for rough driving, but Hamlin subsequently regained the lost circuit when NASCAR called a debris caution on Lap 91.

Keselowski declined to exacerbate the friction between the drivers after the race.

“I don’t hold any grudges, and I’m ready to move on,” he said.

Hamlin, on the other hand, doesn’t think the drivers are even yet.

“I feel great right now — it was well worth it,” Hamlin said of the penalty. “…The scales are tipped a little bit more in my favor, but they’re not tipped that much.”

21 19 Elliott Sadler
22 00 David Reutimann
23 42 Juan Pablo Montoya
24 99 Carl Edwards
25 9 Kasey Kahne
26 31 Jeff Burton
27 12 Brad Keselowski
28 37 Travis Kvapil
29 77 Sam Hornish Jr.
30 18 Kyle Busch
31 96 Erik Darnell
32 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
33 83 Brian Vickers
34 17 Matt Kenseth
35 20 Joey Logano #
36 98 Paul Menard
37 7 Matt Crafton
38 11 Denny Hamlin
39 55 Michael Waltrip
40 34 John Andretti
41 6 David Ragan
42 43 Reed Sorenson
43 08 Terry Labonte

Homestead-Miami Speedway is the only active NASCAR Sprint Cup track at which Jeff Gordon has failed to win. Gordon marked Texas Motor Speedway off his to-do list in the spring leaving just the 1.5-mile South Florida speedway in the way of a noteworthy sweep. “A win, you know, is huge, especially at Homestead, because it is the final race. It would be huge for us. We’ve never won there before. I think that everybody feels that way,” said Gordon.

This week’s race marks the eighth consecutive year the season has ended at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Atlanta Motor Speedway hosted the finale from 1987-2000. In 2001, the finale was held at New Hampshire Motor Speedway because of the 9/11 attacks. From 1974 through 1986, the season ended on the West Coast at now-shuttered tracks in Ontario and Riverside, Calif. The last time the season ended on a short track was 1970 at Langley Field Speedway in Virginia.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (November 15, 2008) — Carl Edwards won the battle, but Clint Bowyer won the war.

Edwards took the checkered flag in the Ford 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, depriving runner-up Kyle Busch of a record 11th victory in a single season.

But Edwards couldn’t put enough distance between his No. 60 Ford and the No. 2 Chevrolet of Clint Bowyer, who claimed his first NASCAR Nationwide championship with a fifth-place finish. Bowyer entered the race with a 56-point lead over Edwards and won the title by 21 points.

“We’ve raced each other for a long time,” Bowyer said of Edwards, who won the NASCAR Nationwide championship last year. “He’s from the Midwest (Columbia, Mo.). He’s last year’s champion, and it feels great to be able to beat him.”

Edwards, who won his seventh race of the season and the 20th of his career, beat Busch to the finish line by .639 seconds.

“That’s a great win, to hold off the 18 (Busch), as strong as he’s been all season,” said Edwards, who congratulated Bowyer on his championship. “If I’ve got to get beat by somebody, a dirt racer from Emporia, Kansas (Bowyer’s hometown) is one of the best.

“But we’ll be back next year, and I hope Clint will, too. There’s no shame in giving 100 percent and finishing second. That’s all we could do.”

Brad Keselowski ran third and claimed third in the final series standings. Jason Leffler finished fourth in Saturday’s race, followed by Bowyer, Scott Wimmer, Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelly Bires and Joey Logano.

Logano’s 10th-place result was enough to secure the owners’ championship for Joe Gibbs Racing, which used four different drivers in the No. 20 Toyota this year. Logano, Busch, Hamlin and Tony Stewart combined for nine wins in the car, with Stewart accounting for five. The No. 20 car finished 12 points ahead of the No. 2 Chevrolet, driven exclusively by Bowyer.

Notes: Kenny Wallace started his 418th NASCAR Nationwide race, breaking a tie with Tommy Houston for second on the all-time list. Wallace finished 33rd… Though Landon Cassill didn’t race Saturday, he claimed Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors. The other rookie contender, Bryan Clauson, entered the race six points behind Cassill but scraped the wall, fell out of the event after 157 of 200 laps and finished 34th.

10 Joey Logano wins the Owners Championship for Joe Gibbs Racing
9 Kelly Bires
8 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
7 Denny Hamlin
6 Scott Wimmer
5 Clint Bowyer becomes the 2008 Nationwide Series Champion, doing it with 1 win, 14 top 5′s, and 29 top 10′s
4 Jason Leffler
3  Brad Keselowski
2 Kyle Busch came up just short at winning a series high 11 wins and remains tied with Sam Ard

VICTORY LANE

1 Carl Edwards grabs his 7th win in 2008 in the Nationwide Series, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the consistency of Clint Bowyer and loses the Championship by 21 points