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Each year since 1999, the NASCAR series has traveled to Homestead, Florida, and the Homestead-Miami Raceway for a race that would have great implications on the season’s finish because it was so late in the season. From 1999-2001, it was the Pennzoil 400, but in the last three seasons, the Ford 400 has been the lone race hosted by Homestead. Homestead-Miami Raceway is an oval track that measures 1.5 miles per lap. Winners at Homestead include Tony Stewart (twice), Bill Elliott, Kurt Busch, and Bobby Labonte. Last season, the Ford 400 was the last race of the season with Kurt Busch holding a slim lead in the points chase over teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Busch was on the pole after qualifying with a speed of just under 180 mph but lost a tire coming into pit road on lap 92 and fell back to 25 th place. Busch worked his way back to the front of the pack and constantly kept the pressure on Gordon and Johnson. When Busch reached 6 th place, both Johnson and Gordon knew their only chances of winning the points championship were to win the race. When Busch reached 5 th place with only a few laps left, the duo knew their dreams of grasping the championship were gone. Greg Biffle went on to win the Ford 400 with Johnson in second, Gordon in third, Tony Stewart in fourth, and Busch in fifth.
The race produced 14 caution flags but the average speed for the race was still well in excess of 100 mph. Busch held onto his lead in the points chase to win the Chase for the Championship by eight points over Johnson. Jeff Gordon finished in third, 16 points off the pace, while Mark Martin jumped over Dale Earnhardt Jr. for fourth place in the points race. In an interesting side note, if the new points format was not in place and NASCAR used the old points system instead, Gordon would have won the title by 47 points over Johnson and 173 points over Earnhardt Jr. Kurt Busch would have been mathematically eliminated after the previous race and would have taken fourth overall, a whopping 247 points behind Gordon.
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