Race Central

Jeff Gordon, who fell out of championship contention last week, scored his first ever pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway and the 200th pole for Hendrick Motorsports. And with that he also announced that he fully intends to pursue the spoiler role in the NASCAR race season finale.

This week the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series head to Homestead-Miami Speedway for a tripleheader championship weekend as the 2014 season comes to a close.

Kevin Harvick continued his mastery of the Phoenix International Raceway today, winning the Quicken Loans 500 for Heroes. The win also secured him a spot for the championship race next Sunday at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. It was the only way Harvick could have made the finale since he was tied in points with the runner up in the race, Jeff Gordon.

As a result of holding a 52 point lead heading into next weekend's final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Chase Elliott clinched the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship.

Brad Keselowski would take the lead on the white flag lap, before leading the rest of the way en route to scoring the victory in the DAV 200 Honoring American's Veterans at Phoenix International Raceway. It marks Keselowski's 32nd career victory and his fifth win of the 2014 season.

No lights, two red flags, no problem. Not for tonight's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winner Erik Jones. What a night it turned out to be for Jones after starting on the pole, his second pole in 17 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races. The win also brought home team owner Kyle Busch and Kyle Busch Motorsports win number 13 in the series, seven of the victories won by Busch and the third win of the season for Jones.

Denny Hamlin captured the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday’s Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway Friday evening. The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota had a lap speed of 142.113 mph as he grabbed his third pole of the season and his 20th series career pole.

This week NASCAR travels to Phoenix International Raceway. The Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix is the last chance to advance to the Championship Round next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Only four drivers will make it through to compete for the Sprint Cup Championship title.

Jimmie Johnson brought the Lowes Chevrolet through the chaos and mass destruction to claim the six-shooters in victory lane at Texas Motor Speedway. Johnson, whose car sported a unique red and white paint scheme to honor the employees of Lowes, was strong from the beginning of the weekend.

After swapping the lead back and forth with Joey Logano throughout the day, Kyle Busch would lead the final 13 laps en route to scoring the victory in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway. It marks the 70th victory of Busch's career and his seventh victory of the season. More importantly, though, it marks the 100th career victory for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series.