Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. find themselves in similar situations heading into their respective season ending series finales at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Both drivers lead their respective series championships heading into Homestead by 20 points and only need 15th place finishes to lock up their series championships.
The question isn’t are Keselowski and Stenhouse in the best position for the finales at Homestead because a 20 point lead under the current NASCAR point system is classified as huge. The question is for both teams heading into this weekend is How safe do you play it?
Both Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are very aggressive on the race track and aren’t afraid to mix it up whenever the opportunity presents itself. But knowing what happened with Jimmie Johnson and Elliott Sadler at Phoenix last weekend one has to wonder does it change the mindset for these two drivers heading into the biggest race of their young careers?
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the only one of the two that finds himself in a familiar position heading into the weekend. At this time last season Stenhouse took an insurmountable 41 point lead into the final race at Homestead and secured his first NNS title with a solid second place effort in the season finale and won by 45 points over Sadler in the final standings.
Brad Keselowski on the other hand finds himself on the cusp of his first NSCS title. Brad leads Jimmie Johnson by 20 points heading into Sunday’s 400 miler at Homestead. Keselowski and the No.2 Miller Lite team have a history of being very aggressive with in race strategy. One has to wonder with the sport’s richest prize in their grasp will the No.2 team stay with their all in not afraid to take a gamble mentality or will they dial it back something they haven’t done all season long.
While yes this is the most exciting time for these two race teams. It is also one of the most stressful times as well. Nine long hard months of hard work all coming down to one final race for a championship. For the drivers it is all about what they have done the past 30 plus weeks, for the crew chief it is what strategy are you going to employ, and for the pit crews it is all about those perfect 13 second pit stops with no mistakes knowing one could mean the difference between celebration and heartbreak until next season.
This should be a fun weekend at Homestead and I think I speak for every race fan when I say it is going to be fun watching it all shake out.
