NASCAR Cup Series

It’s hard to believe but the final race of the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series season is upon us. The Ford 300 on Saturday afternoon will close out what has been a very impressive season for the MacDonald Motorsports team. Kentucky, Charlotte, and Kansas partner Thrush & Son Complete Home Improvement and www.HI-Technologies.com will return to Jason Bowles and the team for this weekend’s Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

This Saturday afternoon will mark Ryan Truex's first NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) start at Homestead-Miami Speedway, as he returns to the seat of the No. 20 Grime Boss Toyota with Joe Gibbs Racing for the final event of the 2012 season. Truex's last 1.5-mile start came earlier this season at Chicagoland Speedway where he started ninth and brought home a 10th-place finish.

McMurray at Homestead-Miami: In McMurray’s Sprint Cup career, he has made 10 starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In those races, he has scored one top-five, and three top-10 finishes, and has an average start of 15.5. He has one pole award at the speedway in 2003. He has completed 2,655 laps (99.3%) of a possible 2,675 laps run at the track. McMurray has been running at the finish in nine of his ten races. His best career finish came in the 2008 season finale where he finished third.

Off-week, On-week: Martin heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway's Championship Weekend after a week off from competition. After a qualifying effort placed him 34th on his second grid in NASCAR at Texas Motor Speedway, the bayou native battled back from handling issues all day for a 30th place finish.

Ross Chastain is looking forward to Friday night’s season ending Ford EcoBoost 200, not because the 2012 campaign is complete but rather to celebrate his rookie year driving the SS Green Light Racing Toyota in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

TEAM CHEVY FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT: JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – 2nd IN STANDINGS: “My focus is going down there and winning the race. We typically haven’t had to have that mentality going into this race, but we have shown we can race for the win. We did it in 2010 against Denny (Hamlin), finished second and won the championship. This 48 Lowe’s team can do it again. We have nothing to lose and can gamble and take chances. Brad (Keselowski) doesn’t have that luxury. This isn’t over. This team never gives up and we don’t intend to, now.”

Kenseth on racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway: “We had a really fast car last year at Homestead and we were able to finish fourth. Homestead is one of my favorite tracks on the circuit and it’s a great place to end the season. I think that with the banking they put in a few years ago, Homestead has really become one of the best tracks that we race at."

Paul Wolfe (Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) WITH ONE RACE TO GO BEFORE THE NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP IS DECIDED, WHAT IS YOUR TEAM’S MINSET AND HOW HAVE YOUR PREPARED GOING INTO SUNDAY’S RACE AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY? “Well, our mindset going into this weekend is not a whole lot different than what we've done the first nine races of the chase."

This weekend will mark Eric McClure’s 199th-career start in NNS competition and his fifth at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In four starts, McClure has completed 75.6% of the total laps attempted and has an average finish of 31.5. He has also suffered one DNF as a result of an accident in 2009. Following Saturday’s Ford Ecoboost 300, the Virginia driver will have completed his sixth full-time season in NNS competition.

Keselowski took charge of the point standings with a win at Phoenix, while Jimmie Johnson crashed hard into the wall late. With one race remaining, Keselowski leads Johnson by 22 points.