Finish line

Friday, Nov. 19, 2004 | 10:09 a.m.

Nextel Cup standings with one race remaining

Pos. Driver.....Deficit

1. Kurt Busch..... --

2. Jimmie Johnson..... -18

3. Jeff Gordon..... -21

4. Dave Earnhardt Jr...... -72

5. Mark Martin..... -82

6. Tony Stewart..... -185

7. Ryan Newman..... -244

8. Matt Kenseth..... -383

Elliott Sadler..... -383

10. Jeremy Mayfield..... -404

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- In his wildest dreams, NASCAR chairman Brian France couldn't have imagined a more dramatic scenario when he signed off on the new format to determine the Nextel Cup champion.

Heading into Sunday's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, five of the biggest names in the sport are separated by 82 points and each has a legitimate shot to capture the title and its accompanying $5 million bounty.

Kurt Busch, a Las Vegas native, leads the five contenders into Sunday's Ford 400, but his 18-point cushion over second-place Jimmie Johnson is hardly comfortable. Jeff Gordon, a four-time Cup champion, sits in third place in the standings, a mere 21 points behind Busch. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 72 points off the pace and Mark Martin is 82 points out.

Busch, 26, led the "Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup" standings by 96 points four races ago but has watched that lead wither away as he has battled blown engines, spins, flat tires and minor wrecks in the past three races. Nonetheless, Busch said he likes his position coming into this weekend -- no matter how slim his lead over the other contenders.

"Just to have this opportunity again to be able to look at Homestead Speedway, to know we have a slight advantage over the competition to go into it, I don't feel like we lost it completely at Atlanta, but yet it definitely did feel like we let everything slip through, and now we've been given a second revival on things," he said.

Johnson, on the other hand, said he would prefer to be the hunter rather than the hunted going into the final race. Johnson, a teammate of Gordon's at Hendrick Motorsports, has won four of the past five races and climbed from ninth to second in the standings.

"There's a lot of pressure that I feel (Busch's) team is under," Johnson said. "We've been in that position through this season -- we've had bad luck with that pressure on our shoulders.

"I like the position that both Hendrick cars are in; we're very close to Kurt in points. We just have to go out, be aggressive and race hard; that's what both teams are very good at."

Unlike his teammate, Gordon said he would rather have the points lead going into Sunday's race.

"If I had my choice, I'd want to be in Kurt's position," Gordon said. "I like the fact we get to go out there and go for broke -- we know we basically have to lead laps and win the race. But if I had my choice, I'd rather be out there in front with a little bit of a margin, and then just go out there and perform.

"(Busch is) not so far ahead to where he can just relax, but he's far enough ahead that if he runs a solid race and keeps us in sight, then there's not much we can do."

Although Earnhardt is within striking distance of Busch and his first Cup championship, he has sounded the past three weeks as if he has developed a "wait 'til next year" attitude. That may stem from the fact that he finished 24th at Homestead-Miami Speedway last year and the team had a less-than-successful test here last week.

"We're still in it," Earnhardt said. "I mean, we've got to go in there with that attitude (but) we're not racing just Kurt or just Jimmie. But we got to race hard because we don't want to finish fifth, we don't want to finish fourth, third or second; we're going to go in there and do the best we can.

"(But the) reality of the situation is we didn't run good there last year. The test wasn't a 100-percent success and I don't live in a dream world -- I know what the facts are. We just got to figure out how to get a better racecar before the race starts because, frankly, I think we don't have what it takes right now as far as the way the test went."

Because the top five drivers in points are so closely bunched, Busch does not have the luxury of being able to "points race" -- or race conservatively -- on Sunday; if Johnson wins the race, for example, Busch must finish second and lead at least one lap to clinch the championship.

The fact that any little mistake during Sunday's race could cost him a shot at his first Cup championship is not lost on Busch.

"Well, this is a racetrack that is definitely different from Darlington in the fact that you can race side by side -- and track position will be important," he said. "But it will be a matter of how you protect that track position. Towards the end of the race, we know that pit stops can have a heavy impact on how it changes the positions at the end of the race, so we're looking forward to having those consistent pit stops that we had from last week implemented into our program at the end of the day to see if we can come out on top.

"To gain bonus points throughout the race will be a key because of how tight the championship race is. To be able to execute properly at the end of the race is what it's going to come down to."

Like Earnhardt, Busch struggled at Homestead-Miami last season, completing only 147 of the 267 laps after he was involved in a third-lap accident with Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman.

"It definitely is a disadvantage to have the laps that we made last year come into play this year," Busch said. "But the outlook and the demeanor of our team is to approach this race as if it were a brand-new racetrack, which some teams can do because of the limited history that Homestead-Miami Speedway has.

"With the new banking, it's only got one race under its belt but yet it's changed dramatically from last year with the amount of grip and just the level of intensity that this racetrack is going to have with these final competitors going after just the few select amount of points that are available."

Busch said he realizes he is fortunate to have the considerable resources of multi-car owner Jack Roush and the experience of crew chief Jimmy Fennig in his corner, allowing him to contend for NASCAR's biggest prize only four years into his career.

"It's definitely a unique opportunity that doesn't come along very often," Busch said. "For Jack to be in this position two years in a row, it's a testament to what he's put together: The effort of the drivers, the crew chiefs and the people that he's put behind him to develop that name.

"It's an awesome program to be part of and I'm privileged to be in this opportunity.

"(Roush has) got his view and his method of how he would approach this race, and I have nowhere to look but to his direction. This is the best possible car and we've got the best possible people. This is, right now, our finest hour."

And if he should fall short in his quest to win the championship, Busch said it wouldn't be a devastating blow to him or the team.

"No matter what the outcome is on Sunday, we've brought our team to this level -- we've had a tremendous amount of fun being able to compete like this," he said. "If we win the championship, that is the absolute optimum goal.

"If we come up just a bit short, that doesn't really matter to us (because) we're having fun doing it."

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