Final Homestead-Miami Driver Ratings following all practice sessions

Jimmie Johnson looking good in attempt to win seventh Sprint Cup title.

Micah Roberts' Sprint Cup Driver Ratings
Ford EcoBoost 400
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Sunday, November 20, 2016 - 12:03 pm PT

RATING  DRIVER    ODDS                  PRACTICE 1             QUALIFIED         PRACTICE 2       PRACTICE 3 
  1. Jimmie Johnson (C) 7/2         5th                 14th               1st                 10th
Two-time runner-up in 15 starts; no wins, but he's never been in Chase situation where he had to.
 2. Carl Edwards (C) 7/1              9th                 10th               3rd                 2nd 
Two-time winner with 9.2 average in 12 starts; best 10-consecutive lap average in practice 2.
 3. Kevin Harvick 6/1                  15th                  1st              20th                 11th
2014 winner, Cup champion; three-time runner-up and series-best 7.2 average (15 starts).
 4. Martin Truex Jr. 8/1               2nd                  6th                7th                 1st 
2006 runner-up with 10.1 average finish in 11 starts; two 2016 wins, 883 laps led on 1.5-mile tracks.
 5. Chase Elliott 10/1                 10th                  5th               2nd                 5th
Making track debut in Cup car; fourth on last 1.5-mile track (Texas); practiced well on long runs.
 6. Joey Logano (C) 7/1               4th                 13th               6th                  8th
Career-best fourth-place last season, 17.7 average in seven starts. Momentum from Phoenix win.
 7. Kyle Busch (C) 5/1                 8th                  9th              28th                 14th
2015 winner, which gave him the championship; two 2016 wins, 7.8 average in 10 races on 1.5s .
 8. Ryan Newman 100/1              1st                   3rd               9th                   3rd
Career-best runner-up in 2014, finished second in Chase. Had his best practice sessions of season.
 9. Denny Hamlin 20/1                11th                  4th              16th                  7th 
Two-time winner (2009, 2013), 10.7 average; second-best 10-consecutive lap average in practice 2.
10. Matt Kenseth 12/1                13th                  7th              11th                  6th
2007 winner, fifth-place average past three starts; sixth-place average in past three races on 1.5s. .

Note: This is the 11th race of the 36-race season on a 1.5-mile track, but its the only track featuring a high-banked paperclip layout.

(C) denotes driver eligible to win 2016 Sprint Cup Championship.

Odds courtesy of Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook.

Micah Roberts, a former sports book director, has been been setting NASCAR lines in Las Vegas since 1994. Follow on Twitter @MicahRoberts7

Final Homestead Betting Notes - LVRJ 

Newman fastest in first Homestead practice, Logano tops among Championship 4

Joey Logano is 3/1 to win the 2016 Sprint Cup.

Ryan Newman was fastest in the first and only practice session for the Sprint Cup Series Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a lap of 175.387 mph.

Newman was the fastest of three non-Chase drivers in the top five. Martin Truex Jr. was second with a lap of 175.353 mph while Kyle Larson was third fastest at 175.256 mph.

Championship contenders Joey Logano(175.165 mph) and Jimmie Johnson(174.944 mph) rounded out the top five.

The two remaining Chase drivers, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, were eighth and ninth fastest respectively. Busch with a lap of 174.514 mph and Edwards with a lap of 174.458 mph.

Read More Here.........NBC Sports

Practice 1 Speeds

Jimmie Johnson "never had to go to Miami in the position to win it"

Jimmie Johnson is 7/2 to win at Homestead and 2/1 to win Sprint Cup. 

Jimmie Johnson on competing for his seventh championship
“I couldn’t have dreamed this big. I never even thought I could win one race or one championship, and here we are poised for a shot at a seventh title. Nothing is guaranteed in this sport and you never know when your last win will be. It’s incredible to be in this position with this No. 48 Lowe’s team and to have a shot at it. We have some serious competition, and we know what we need to do. I’ve never had to go to Miami in the position to win it. With the other formats I either knew what I needed to gain points or defend a lead. This Chase format is intense and we are focused on the goal.”

No. 48 team crew chief Chad Knaus on competing for the championship at Homestead
"We are just thrilled to have a shot at it. That's all you can hope for in this sport, is just to have a shot at it."

Jimmie Johnson will be available to the media following qualifying at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the track media center.

CHAMPIONSHIP 4 IN THE BIG APPLE: Before heading to Miami, Johnson joined his fellow competitors in New York City on Tuesday for a media tour. Stops included "The Dan Patrick Show" and "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."

#SE7EN: If Johnson is able to attain a seventh championship title, he will tie NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty. Johnson won five consecutive titles from 2006-10 and his most recent in 2013.

ONE DRIVER, ONE SPONSOR: Lowe’s has been the primary sponsor for Johnson since the No. 48 team’s inception in 2001. Since then, the home improvement retailer has been on board for all six Sprint Cup championships, 79 victories and numerous milestones, including two wins in the Daytona 500 and four in the Brickyard 400. Hendrick Motorsports’ relationship with Lowe’s is one of the longest-running driver-team-sponsor partnerships in NASCAR.

KNAUS ON TELECONFERENCE: No. 48 team crew chief Chad Knaus will be on the NASCAR teleconference on Wednesday, Nov. 16, at 11:30 am ET. Knaus has been paired with Johnson since 2002 and the duo has recorded 77 wins together along with six championships. Legendary crew chief Dale Inman currently holds the record for most championships won with eight, while Knaus' six are second all-time. He holds the distinction of being the only crew chief to win more than two Sprint Cup titles in a row.

PERFORMANCE IN MIAMI: Johnson has posted four top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 15 races at Homestead-Miami. He has two pole positions and two runner-up finishes as well. The runner-up results came in 2004 and 2010.

STILL SEEKING VICTORY: The South Florida track remains one of the four venues on the current Sprint Cup schedule where Johnson has yet to score a win. The others are Chicago, Kentucky and Watkins Glen.

SOLID YEAR: Heading into Sunday's race, the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS has earned four wins and 10 top-five finishes in 2016. Johnson has led 734 total laps and 468 of them have been in the last nine races.

DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR's loop data statistics, Johnson has the sixth-best driver rating at Homestead-Miami with a score of 96.8 during the past 10 years at the track. The driver rating is a formula that combines wins, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum a driver can earn in each race is 150 points. The driver rating number is used pre-race as a prediction tool and post-race as a performance evaluator.

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2016 Season 2nd in standings 35 starts 4 wins 1 pole position 10 top-five finishes 15 top-10 finishes 734 laps led     Career 542 starts 79 wins 35 pole positions 217 top-five finishes 329 top-10 finishes 18,443 laps led     Track Career  15 starts 0 wins 2 pole positions 4 top-five finishes 10 top-10 finishes 99 laps led

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Odds to win 2016 Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead

Jimmie Johnson has zero wins at Homestead.

WESTGATE LAS VEGAS SUPERBOOK
ODDS TO WIN FORD ECOBOOST 400
HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2016 - 3:02 PM ET

Jimmie JOHNSON 7/2
Kyle BUSCH 5/1
Kevin HARVICK 6/1
Carl EDWARDS 7/1
Joey LOGANO 7/1
Martin TRUEX JR 8/1
Brad KESELOWSKI 10/1
Kyle LARSON 10/1
Chase ELLIOTT 10/1
Matt KENSETH 12/1
Denny HAMLIN 20/1
Kasey KAHNE 50/1
Alex BOWMAN 60/1
Kurt BUSCH 60/1
Austin DILLON 100/1
Ryan NEWMAN 100/1
Ryan BLANEY 100/1
AJ ALLMENDINGER 100/1
Jamie McMURRAY 200/1
Tony STEWART 200/1
Ricky STENHOUSE JR 500/1
Paul MENARD 500/1
Greg BIFFLE 500/1
Aric ALMIROLA 500/1
Trevor BAYNE 1000/1
Danica PATRICK 1000/1
Clint BOWYER 1000/1
Chris BUESCHER 1000/1
Casey MEARS 1000/1
FIELD 1000/1


WESTGATE DRIVER VS DRIVER MATCH-UPS

Jimmie JOHNSON - 135
Kyle BUSCH +115

Jimmie JOHNSON - 135
Kevin HARVICK +115

Jimmie JOHNSON - 155
Carl EDWARDS +135

Jimmie JOHNSON - 155
Joey LOGANO +135

Kyle BUSCH - 110
Kevin HARVICK - 110

Kyle BUSCH - 135
Carl EDWARDS +115

Kyle BUSCH - 135
Joey LOGANO +115

Kevin HARVICK - 135
Carl EDWARDS +115

Kevin HARVICK - 135
Joey LOGANO +115

Carl EDWARDS - 110
Joey LOGANO - 110

Martin TRUEX JR - 110
Brad KESELOWSKI - 110

Martin TRUEX JR - 110
Kyle LARSON - 110

Martin TRUEX JR - 110
Chase ELLIOTT - 110

Brad KESELOWSKI - 110
Kyle LARSON - 110

Brad KESELOWSKI - 110
Chase ELLIOTT - 110

Kyle LARSON - 110
Chase ELLIOTT - 110

Matt KENSETH - 130
Denny HAMLIN +110

Kasey KAHNE - 150
Alex BOWMAN +130

Alex BOWMAN - 135
Kurt BUSCH +115

Austin DILLON - 110
Ryan NEWMAN - 110

Kyle Busch Championship 4 Resume

Kyle Busch is 13/5 to win Sprint Cup on Sunday at Homestead.

BY THE NUMBERS

1 – Number of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series titles Kyle Busch has won (2015).

1 – Number of wins Kyle Busch has posted at Homestead-Miami Speedway - 2015 (second-most among the Championship 4)

2 – Number of times Kyle Busch has made it to the Championship 4 in the new Chase format (tied with Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano for the most Championship 4 appearances).

2 – Number of top-five finishes Kyle Busch has posted at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

4 – Number of wins Kyle Busch has posted during the 2016 season; none during the Chase (Martinsville-1, Texas-1, Kansas-1 and Indianapolis).

4 – Number of top-10 finishes Kyle Busch has posted at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

7.3 – Busch’s average finish during the first nine races of the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

11.6 – Busch’s average finish during the entire 2016 season.

17 – Number of top-five finishes Kyle Busch has posted during the 2016 season (most among the Championship 4).

21.1 – Busch’s average finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway (fourth-best among the Championship 4)

24 – Number of top-10 finishes Kyle Busch has posted this season.

95.5 – Kyle Busch’s career driver rating at Homestead-Miami Speedway (third-best among the Championship 4).

103.3 – Kyle Busch’s driver rating during the first nine races of the 2016 Chase.

278 – Total number of laps led at Homestead-Miami Speedway by Kyle Busch (second-most among the Championship 4)


Back-to-Back

After winning the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in dramatic come-from-behind fashion, Kyle Busch is looking to become just the 11th driver in series history to repeat as title holder.

The most recent driver to do so? Busch’s Championship 4 foe Jimmie Johnson, who won five consecutive titles from 2006-10. Busch would join Johnson as the only drivers to go back-to-back since the Chase was implemented in 2004.

Busch would be joining prestigious company:

Jimmie Johnson (2006-10)

Jeff Gordon (1997 & 1998)

Dale Earnhardt (1986 & 1987, 1990 & 1991, 1993 & 1994)

Darrell Waltrip (1981 & 1982)

Cale Yarborough (1976-78)

Richard Petty (1971 & 1972, 1974 & 1975)

David Pearson (1968 & 1969)

Joe Weatherly (1962 & 1963)

Lee Petty (1958 & 1959)

Buck Baker (1956 & 1957)

There’s something special to note about that list. All but Jeff Gordon (completed his final full-time season in 2015) and Jimmie Johnson (active) are enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.


Clutch Performance

Heading into the Championship 4 race in 2015, Kyle Busch had never won at Homestead-Miami Speedway. That all changed when he pulled away from Kevin Harvick, also contending for the title in 2015, on a late-race restart and captured the checkered flag and his first championship.

In fact, other than the storybook ending to last season, Busch has struggled in South Florida. He posts an average finish of 21.1 and in 11 races at the 1.5-mile track, Busch has two top fives and four top 10s to his credit, including the win last year.

Prior to the trip to Victory Lane, Busch’s best finish in Miami was fourth in 2012.


Déjà Vu All Over Again?

Excluding Talladega, where Kyle Busch netted a 30th place finish, he has finished ninth or better in each of the Chase races this year – posting an average finish of 7.3 through the nine races. However, Busch has yet to visit Victory Lane during the Chase while in contention for the title under the current playoff format.

He made his way into the Championship 4 in much the same way in 2015 – posting top-10 finishes at all but three tracks (New Hampshire, Charlotte and Talladega). His lone win in the 2015 Chase was the season finale.

His clutch performance in the Chase was further exhibited this fall in second place finishes in the cut-off races at Dover and Phoenix this season, which nearly mirrored the results at those tracks in 2015 (second and fourth, respectively).


Calling The Shots

The man atop the pit box for the No. 18 M&M’s Core Toyota, Adam Stevens, is chasing history alongside his driver. Stevens would be the second crew chief since the advent of the Chase in 2004 to win consecutive championships.

The other? His Championship 4 rival down pit road – Chad Knaus with Jimmie Johnson.

Overall in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history, only 10 other crew chiefs have helped their driver hoist the championship trophy in back-to-back seasons:

Chad Knaus (Jimmie Johnson, 2006-10)

Ray Evernham (Jeff Gordon, 1997 & 1998)

Andy Petree (Dale Earnhardt, 1993 & 1994)

Kirk Shelmerdine (Dale Earnhardt, 1986 & 1987, 1990 & 1991)

Herb Nab (Cale Yarborough, 1976 & 1977)

Dale Inman (Richard Petty, 1971 & 1972, 1974 & 1975)*

Jake Elder (David Pearson, 1968 & 1969)

Bud Moore (Joe Weatherly, 1962 & 1963)

Lee Petty (Lee Petty, 1958 & 1959)*

Carl Kiekhafer (Tim Flock, 1955 & Buck Baker, 1956)

* Enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame


In Leagues Of His Own

How do you follow-up a hall of fame football coaching career with three championships at the highest level of your sport?

With four – and counting – championships at the highest level of motorsports.

Coach Joe Gibbs led the Washington Redskins to Super Bowl titles in 1983, ’88 and ’92. His Joe Gibbs Racing stable has won NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships with Bobby Labonte (2000), Tony Stewart (2002, 2005) and Kyle Busch (2015). Toss in a NASCAR XFINITY Series crown in 2009 with Kyle Busch, and you can state a good case that he has had a second hall-of-fame-worthy career.

Coach Gibbs has two cars in the hunt for the title in Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. Additionally, JGR drivers Daniel Suárez and Erik Jones are in the NASCAR XFINITY Series Championship 4 racing Saturday.

Carl Edwards Championship 4 Resume

Carl Edwards is 3/1 to win the Sprint Cup on Sunday.

BY THE NUMBERS

1 – Number of times Carl Edwards has made it to the Championship 4 in the new Chase format.

2 – Number of wins Carl Edwards has posted at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2008 and 2010) – most among the Championship 4

3 – Number of wins Carl Edwards has posted during the 2016 season; including one during the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – (Bristol-1, Richmond-1 and Texas-2).

5 – Number of top-five finishes Carl Edwards has posted at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

6 – Number of Coors Light poles Carl Edwards has posted during the 2016 season (series-most).

7 – Number of top-10 finishes Carl Edwards has posted at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

9 – Number of top-five finishes Carl Edwards has posted during the 2016 season.

9.2 – Edwards’ average finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway (best among the Championship 4)

13.3 – Edwards’ average finish during the entire 2016 season.

14.9 – Edwards’ average finish during the first nine races of the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

18 – Number of top-10 finishes Carl Edwards has posted this season.

93.0 – Carl Edwards’ driver rating during the first nine races of the 2016 Chase.

109.4 – Carl Edwards’ career driver rating at Homestead-Miami Speedway (best among the Championship 4).

568 – Total number of laps led at Homestead-Miami Speedway by Carl Edwards (leads the series).


Edwards Looking For Redemption In Miami

Carl Edwards heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway attempting to win his first career Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship with redemption on his mind.

During the 2011 season, Edwards was denied the title in one of the most exciting season finales in NASCAR history. Edwards finished second in the race to Tony Stewart, but the duo ended the season tied in points. In a heart-breaking tiebreaker, Stewart won the championship after recording the most wins in the season of the two (Edwards had one to Stewart’s five).

On Monday night, NBCSN replayed the 2011 race – and while live-tweeting the event under the hashtag #NASCARthrowback, Stewart tweeted the following to fans hoping to see Edwards on the victorious side of history:





For those looking to take Smoke’s hint, log on to nascar.com/tickets.

And 2016 is a different story – points and tiebreakers don’t matter on Sunday. Edwards just needs to post the highest finish among the Championship 4 drivers to earn his first championship.


Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

In October, NASCAR held an organizational NASCAR Sprint Cup Series test at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Among the drivers who took part in the organizational test? Carl Edwards.

Edwards was the only Championship 4 driver at the test, which could pay huge dividends. (Brad Keselowski represented Penske Racing while Chase Elliott tested for Hendrick Motorsports.)

When asked about testing at Homestead-Miami, Edwards was confident in his ability to race well at the 1.5-mile track.

“This is a neat opportunity for me. This place, especially in the sun, you drive in the corners and slide up by the fence. I really feel like I am driving a race car here. I was just telling my spotter it’s a really fun place to drive.”


Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Racing Get Chance To Repeat

If Carl Edwards wins his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway, it will be the second-consecutive title for Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. JGR captured its fourth Sprint Cup Series crown last season with Kyle Busch, while Toyota captured its first driver championship.

It would mark the first time since 2010 that the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has seen back-to-back team and manufacturer driver championships. Jimmie Johnson last accomplished the feat from 2006 – 2010 when he won his five consecutive championships for Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet.

Toyota is also on the verge of history. If the top finishing Toyota finishes 26th or better, it will clinch its first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series manufacturer’s championship.


No Ordinary Beginning

In his debut season as crew chief with Carl Edwards, Dave Rogers has the chance to win his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. This would be the second-consecutive season that a crew chief and driver have won the title in their freshman season together (Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Adam Stevens, 2015).

A Marshfield, Vermont, native, Rogers began his crew chief career working for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series in 2006, where he won the 2008 NASCAR XFINITY Series owner title with the No. 20 team.

Rogers moved up to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2009 and worked as Kyle Busch’s crew chief until 2014, where he made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in four of five seasons. He then moved over to Denny Hamlin’s team in 2015, where the duo posted two wins and finished ninth in the Chase.

Atop the pit box, Rogers has 18 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins, three of those with Edwards.


Heating Up At Homestead

For Carl Edwards, it’s home sweet Homestead.

In addition to leading the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in laps led at Homestead (568), he leads the Championship 4 drivers in wins at Homestead with two (2008 and 2010). Kyle Busch is the only other Championship 4 contender who has registered a win at Homestead (2015) – Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano have never won at the 1.5-mile track.

He leads the Championship 4 drivers in driving rating at Homestead – owning a 109.4 driver rating in 12 starts. Additionally, Edwards is the only driver among the Championship 4 to ever register a perfect driver rating in a race at Homestead (2010).

He also leads the Championship 4 drivers in average finish (9.1 in 12 starts) in Miami.

Here are how the Championship 4 drivers’ average finishes at Homestead stack up against Edwards:

Joey Logano (17.7 in seven career starts)

Jimmie Johnson (14.1 in 15 career starts)

Kyle Busch (21.1 in 11 career starts)

If we’re going strictly by statistics at Homestead, advantage Edwards.


#CarlEdwards no more?

If you like social media, you should be rooting for Carl Edwards to win the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship this weekend at Homestead.

Why?

#CarlEdwards could be dropping the hashtag.

Edwards confessed in his media availability at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series organizational test at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October that he would join Twitter if he won the championship.

You can find the proof of that audio here.

Homestead Betting Preview: Who is going to be 2016 Sprint Cup Champ?

Jimmie Johnson is the 2/1 favorite to win between Championship 4.

Wow, this is it!

We've all been going at it strong since February, and after Sunday we'll go into hibernation for a few weeks until the 2017 NASCAR Sprint Cup season begins. Before I get started on the Championship 4 and who should win Sunday's Ford Ecoboost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, let me first thank you for visiting weekly and checking out what I have to say about the race each week.

So let's get on with who is going to be our 2016 Sprint Cup champion, and with it, I use all objectivity and won't reveal my personal rooting interest until the very end. And it's not who I think is going to win.

Last week's race at Phoenix gave us the final two pieces of the Championship 4 with Joey Logano winning and 2015 champion Kyle Busch finishing second. They'll join six-time champion Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards who already clinched a birth by virtue of each winning a race during the Round of 8.

None of the four championship eligible drivers have a point lead or deficit for Sunday's race. They're all tied and the eventual champion simply has to finish better than the other three. While there's 36 other drivers competing for the race win, the last two seasons have seen the eventual champion win at Homestead with another eligible driver finishing second. Kevin Harvick held off Ryan Newman in 2014 and last season Busch led the final six laps to finish just ahead of Harvick.

Sunday's race will have so many great storylines for each of the Championship 4. We've got Busch trying to be the first repeat champion since Johnson in 2010 while Johnson is attempting to win his seventh championship which would tie him with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for most in NASCAR history. Edwards has been the series runner-up twice, the last time in 2011 when Tony Stewart won the race to beat him. And then there's Logano who looked to be on his way to a title last season, but was taught a tough lessen during the Chase by a veteran as a form of payback. He's paid his dues and certainly is worthy of being a champion.

All four of the drivers are worthy of being champions. This season there wasn't any one driver that dominated, or stood out above everyone else. Five drivers are tied for the series-lead with four wins and nine drivers won multiple races. The entire season was very balanced with not one driver really standing out, which made it an outstanding season overall, maybe one of the best ever because of so much parity.

Let's take a look at each of the driver's resume and what makes them a good candidate to win on Homestead's high banked, 1.5-mile paperclip shaped oval. It's the 11th race this season on a 1.5-mile track, but the layout is unlike any other on the circuit.
Read More Here..........Championship 4 & Homestead Predictions on VegasInsider.com

Jimmie Johnson Championship 4 Resume

Jimmie Johnson is 2/1 favorite to win seventh Sprint Cup title.

BY THE NUMBERS

1 – Number of times Jimmie Johnson has made it to the Championship 4 in the new Chase format.

2 – Number of runner-up finishes Jimmie Johnson has posted at Homestead-Miami Speedway; it also is the career best-finish Johnson has posted at HMS (2004 and 2010).

3 – Number of top-five finishes Johnson has posted during the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

4 – Number of wins Jimmie Johnson has posted during the 2016 season; including two during the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup (Atlanta Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway).

5 – Number of top-10 finishes Jimmie Johnson has posted during the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

6 – Number of previous NASCAR Sprint Cup titles Jimmie Johnson has won (2006-2010, 2013).

10 – Number of top-five finishes Jimmie Johnson has posted this season.

11.7 – Johnson’s average finish during the first nine races of the 2016 Chase.

14.1 – Johnson’s career average finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway (second-best among the Championship 4)

14.3 – Johnson’s average finish during the 2016 season.

15 – Number of top-10 finishes Jimmie Johnson has posted this season.

96.8 – Jimmie Johnson’s career driver rating at Homestead-Miami Speedway (second-best among the Championship 4).

99 – Total number of laps led at Homestead-Miami Speedway by Jimmie Johnson.

107.2 – Jimmie Johnson’s driver rating during the first nine races of the 2016 Chase.


#Se7en On The Horizon

As the sun sets at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, Jimmie Johnson hopes to hoist the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship trophy a record seventh time to tie NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty. Johnson notched five consecutive titles from 2006-10 and his most recent in 2013.

If Johnson were to win the title this weekend in Miami, 10 seasons after his first championship, it would be the shortest period of time between first and seventh titles out of the three. Petty was crowned champion for the final time in 1979, 15 seasons after his first title (1964); Earnhardt captured his seventh championship in 1994, 14 seasons after his first (1980).

The number seven also marks Johnson’s spot on the all-time Sprint Cup Series wins list; his 79th career victory came at Martinsville this fall and vaulted him into the Championship 4.


Hoping On Homestead

In the first two years of the current Chase format, the champion was crowned after winning the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway – one of the rare tracks where Jimmie Johnson has yet to win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Of active tracks on the Sprint Cup Series schedule, only Chicago, Homestead-Miami, Kentucky and Watkins Glen have yet to host Johnson in Victory Lane.

But that’s not to say it can’t be done, and prior to this Chase format, Johnson never needed a win to guaranteed a title. Johnson has posted 10 top-10 finishes in 15 races at Homestead-Miami, including four top-fives. He has captured a pair of Coors Light Pole Awards at the 1.5-mile oval and two runner-up finishes (2004, 2010), as well.

Additionally, his career record at similar-length tracks is record-breaking. He has a record 26 wins across five other 1.5-mile tracks (Atlanta, Charlotte, Kansas, Las Vegas, Texas) and has 70 top-5 and 106 top-10 finishes at all active mile and a half circuits.


Not Quite Cloud Nine

To win a seventh championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jimmie Johnson is probably going to have to break a string of three consecutive ninth-place finishes at the track, going back to his last championship in 2013.

Although he was out of the hunt for the championship in 2014 and 2015 after being eliminated in the Round of 12 and Round of 16, respectively, his performances in those races would have fallen short of the title. In both 2014 and 2015, three of the four Championship 4 drivers finished ahead of him and the champion had to win the race both times.


Crew Chief Chasing History

It’s not just the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet who is chasing history at Homestead-Miami this weekend, crew chief Chad Knaus is looking to inch closer to the championship total of NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Inman, who won eight.

Inman captained the teams who won seven championships with "The King" Richard Petty and then followed that up by winning a title with Terry Labonte in 1984. He also tallied a record 193 wins as a crew chief.

Knaus paired up with Johnson beginning with the 2002 season, when the duo won three races. He has been with Jimmie Johnson for all six of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships and has recorded 77 wins as crew chief, to date.


Adding To His NASCAR Hall Of Fame Resume

Rick Hendrick already has a prime seat reserved for the NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony next January, as he will be one of five new members enshrined in the Class of 2017. But he is hoping to sit at the head table once again during the season-ending awards banquet in Las Vegas.

Hendrick looks to add to his tally of 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car owner championship titles, which already ranks as most all-time. All six of Jimmie Johnson’s titles have come under the Hendrick Motorsports banner, as did Jeff Gordon’s four and one from fellow Hall of Famer Terry Labonte. (Just for good measure, Hendrick also holds a trio of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owner championships and one driver title in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.)

- NASCAR

Joey Logano Championship 4 Resume

Joey Logano is 3/1 to win Sprint Cup

BY THE NUMBERS

1 – Number of top fives Joey Logano has posted at Homestead-Miami Speedway (fourth place, 2015).

2 – Number of times Joey Logano has made it to the Championship 4 in the new Chase format (ties with Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch for the most among the Championship 4) – Logano finished fourth in the 2014 Chase standings after finishing 16th in the race.

3 – Number of wins Joey Logano has posted during the 2016 season; including two during the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup (Michigan International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Phoenix International Raceway).

4 – Joey Logano’s career-best finishing position at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2015).

5 – Number of top-five finishes Joey Logano has posted during the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

7 – Number of top-10 finishes Joey Logano has posted during the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

7.9 – Logano’s average finish during the first nine races of the 2016 Chase

10.7 – Logano’s average finish during the 2016 season.

15 – Number of top-five finishes Joey Logano has posted this season.

17.7 – Logano’s career average finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway (third-best among the Championship 4)

25 – Number of top-10 finishes Joey Logano has posted this season.

72 – Total number of laps led at Homestead-Miami Speedway by Joey Logano.

83.5 – Joey Logano’s career driver rating at Homestead-Miami Speedway (fourth-best among the Championship 4).

107.1 – Joey Logano’s driver rating during the first nine races of the 2016 Chase.


Clutch Logano Lands Spot In Championship 4 With Phoenix Victory

In sports, greats elevate their game under intense playoff pressure. It’s hard to wear the crown if you wilt under the intense spotlight.

So, Joey Logano’s race in Phoenix should be considered one of the all-time great performances (and, yes, that might be a bit of a stretch … but hear us out).

It all started well before driving his No. 22 into Phoenix’s Victory Lane on Sunday.

It started after Texas, when one look at the standings and subsequent clinch scenarios showed that only a victory guaranteed entry into the Championship 4. Logano, officially, sat inside the cut-off line, but by only one point. The pressure was immediately on.

In continued in the closing laps, prior to the last caution that flew because Matt Kenseth’s car – and championship hopes – smashed into the wall.

Prior to that caution, Logano fought off Kevin Harvick, the king of Phoenix, lap after lap. That position was vital to Logano’s championship hopes. As they ran, had Harvick passed Logano, the driver of the No. 22 would not have made the Championship 4.

And finally, Logano shrugged off pressure a third time on the final restart at lap 323 at Phoenix, holding the lead and locking in the third spot in the Championship 4.


Logano Looking To Sing A Redemption Song

Above anyone, Joey Logano has experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows of this Chase format, which is now in Year 3.

In 2014, Logano made the Championship 4, only to have his title hopes dashed by a lengthy pit stop that helped lead to a 16th-place finish.

Last season, he swept the Round of 12, but the Martinsville wreck with Matt Kenseth proved the end of his title aspirations. Logano had a series-leading six wins last season.

Now, he’s back for redemption.

His Homestead numbers are solid, but not otherworldly. In seven starts, he has one top five (a fourth, last year) and two top 10s. He led 72 laps in last year’s season finale at Homestead.


Youth To Be Served?

At 26 years old (on Sunday, he’ll be 26 years, 5 months and 27 days, to be exact), Joey Logano wouldn’t rank as the youngest champion in series history, but he’d be the youngest in quite a while.

If Logano wins the championship, he’d be the youngest since Kurt Busch in 2004 (26 years, 3 months and 17 days). He also would join Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch as just the third under-30 champion since the turn of the century.


Anniversary Could Be Truly Golden For Penske

Team Penske owner Roger Penske began 2016 with a grand celebration honoring his 50th anniversary in racing. Now, he looks to end it with a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

It would be the culmination of an outstanding year for one of NASCAR’s legendary owners.

His drivers Brad Keselowski (four wins) and Joey Logano (three wins) combined for seven wins and two berths in the Chase for NASCAR Sprint Cup. Keselowski was eliminated from the Chase following the Round of 12.

On the IndyCar side, Penske captured the championship with Simon Pagenaud, who – coincidentally – also drives the No. 22.

If Logano can capture the title on Sunday, it would be Penske’s second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. The first came in 2012 with Brad Keselowski and the No. 2.


Gordon A Steady Hand Atop The Box

Driver-crew chief chemistry is a key ingredient to a championship season. And few have a better relationship than the steady Todd Gordon and the ultra-talented Joey Logano.

Though 21 years separate the two, the Gordon-Logano pairing have been a dream combo. The success is evident by taking one look at the stat sheet: 15 wins, 97 top 10s and four top 10 championship finishes.

More proof of Gordon’s success as a leader: Just three months after the heart-wrenching loss in the 2014 Championship Race due in part to a slow pit stop, the 22 team rebounded for their first Daytona 500 victory.

- NASCAR

Updated odds to win 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup heading into Homestead

We're down to just four now.

WESTGATE LAS VEGAS SUPERBOOK
ODDS TO WIN 2016 SPRINT CUP

Joey LOGANO 3/1

Kyle BUSCH 13/5

Jimmie JOHNSON 2/1

Carl EDWARDS 3/1

2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship 4 Notes - Homestead-Miami Speedway

Joey Logano has look of a champion heading into Homestead.

Joey Logano 
* In 2016, Logano has posted three wins, 15 top fives, 25 top 10s and three poles.
*  During the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Logano has posted two wins, five top fives and seven top 10s.  
* Logano’s average finish during the first nine races of the 2016 Chase was 7.9.
* During the Chase, Logano posted a driver rating of 107.1 and an average running position of 8.8.  
* This is the second time in Logano’s career he has made the Championship 4 in the new Chase format (finished fourth in 2014).  
* At Homestead, Logano has made seven starts posting one top five, two top 10s and an average finish of 17.7.  

Jimmie Johnson 
* In 2016, Johnson has posted four wins, 10 top fives, 15 top 10s and a pole.  
* During the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Johnson has posted two wins, three top fives and five top 10s.  
* Johnson’s average finish during the first nine races of the 2016 Chase was 11.7.
* During the Chase, Johnson posted a driver rating of 107.2 and an average running position of 8.7.   * This is the first time in Johnson’s career he has made the Championship 4 in the new Chase format.  
* At Homestead, Johnson has made 15 starts posting four top fives, 10 top 10s and an average finish of 14.1.  

Carl Edwards
* In 2016, Edwards has posted three wins, nine top fives, 18 top 10s and six poles.  
* During the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Edwards has posted one win, two top fives and three top 10s.  
* Edwards’ average finish during the first nine races of the 2016 Chase was 14.9.
* During the Chase, Edwards posted a driver rating of 93.0 and an average running position of 12.2.   * This is the first time in Edwards’ career he has made the Championship 4 in the new Chase format.  
* At Homestead, Edwards has made 12 starts posting two wins, five top fives, seven top 10s and an average finish of 9.2.  

Kyle Busch 
* In 2016, Busch has posted four wins, 17 top fives, 24 top 10s and two poles.  
* During the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Busch has posted six top fives and eight top 10s.  
* Busch’s average finish during the first nine races of the 2016 Chase was 7.3.
* During the Chase, Busch posted a driver rating of 103.3 and an average running position of 10.3.
* This is the second time in Busch’s career he has made the Championship 4 in the new Chase format (2015 Champion). 
* At Homestead, Busch has made 11 starts posting one win, two top fives, four top 10s and an average finish of 21.1.

Final Phoenix Betting Notes: Harvick in do or die situation

Kevin Harvick has to win on Sunday at Phoneix.

It’s basically now or never for Kevin Harvick’s championship dreams in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Cam-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, the final race of the Round of 8.

Harvick is in seventh place, 18 points behind the transfer position. But he has an edge over everyone else just because he’s been dominating the one-mile flat track since he first stepped into a stock car.

Harvick has won a track-record eight times, including six of his past eight starts, at Phoenix. One of those was a similar situation in 2014 when he had to win to advance, which carried him to his first Sprint Cup title a week later.

Phoenix Betting Notes - LVRJ

Final Phoenix Driver Ratings - LVRJ

High stakes for Matt Kenseth at Phoenix

Matt Kenseth is 12/1 to win at Phoenix Sunday.

Matt Kenseth / No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Preview
Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway

No. 20 Dollar General Toyota News and Notes:

KENSETH BY THE NUMBERS: In 27 Sprint Cup Series starts at Phoenix International Raceway, Matt Kenseth has completed 7,942 of 8,506 laps (93.4 percent) and has led for a total of 212 laps. Kenseth has earned one win, six top-five finishes, 11 top-ten finishes and one pole award at Phoenix.

JOE GIBBS RACING AT PHOENIX: Joe Gibbs Racing has 91 Sprint Cup Series starts at Phoenix International Raceway and has earned two wins, 26 top-five, and 44 top-ten finishes. The organization has led for a total of 1,368 laps, has an average start of 12.7 and an average finish of 13.4 at the 1.0-mile track in Avondale, AZ.

DOLLAR GENERAL PARTNER SUPPORT: Dollar General would like to thank vendor partners Charmin, Cheez-It, Coca-Cola, Dairy Pure, Eckrich, Eveready, First Quality, Gain, Glad, Goody’s, Hanes, IAMS, Kellogg’s, Listerine, Motrin, Powerade, Pringles, Reese’s, Rexall, Scrubbing Bubbles, TruMoo, and Zyrtec for their support of the DG Racing program.

RACE INFO: The Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway (1.0-mile) begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 13th. The race will be broadcast live on NBC, Sirius XM Channel 90 and MRN Radio.

Kenseth’s Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats:

Starts	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Poles	Laps Led	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish
612	38	171	308	18	11,275	17.4	14.1

From the Cockpit:
Matt Kenseth: “We always try to get better at every race track that we go to throughout the season, and certainly Phoenix has not been one of our best tracks since I came to Joe Gibbs Racing, but we’ve had better runs there the last few races. Phoenix is completely different from every other mile track. The only similarity is the length, but it’s a very unique race track. Turns 1 and 2 is a lot tighter than Turns 3 and 4, and then there’s that dog-leg on the backstretch, so it’s a very different place. The challenge at Phoenix is to get your balance good on both ends since both ends of the track are so very different.”

From the Pit Box:
Jason Ratcliff: “Phoenix has been a tough place in the Fall, especially for us on the No. 20 team, I feel that we look at and know that it’s high on our list of places that we know we need to run well at. We do put a lot of effort into planning for Phoenix since it has such a bearing on moving on to Homestead. I thought that the first race there was good for us and that we’ve improved in a lot of areas since the start of this season, and our teammates ran well earlier this year. So we have high hopes going into Phoenix this weekend and we’ll see what happens for us leading into this last elimination race of the Chase.”

About Dollar General:
Dollar General Corporation has been delivering value to shoppers for over 75 years. Dollar General helps shoppers Save time. Save money. Every day!® by offering products that are frequently used and replenished, such as food, snacks, health and beauty aids, cleaning supplies, basic apparel, housewares and seasonal items at low everyday prices in convenient neighborhood locations. Dollar General operated 13,000 stores in 43 states as of August 13, 2016. In addition to high quality private brands, Dollar General sells products from America’s most-trusted manufacturers such as Clorox, Energizer, Procter & Gamble, Hanes, Coca-Cola, Mars, Unilever, Nestle, Kimberly-Clark, Kellogg’s, General Mills, and PepsiCo. For more information on Dollar General, please visit www.dollargeneral.com.

- Joe Gibbs Racing

Carl Edwards can race worry-free this week at Phoenix

Edwards is 12/1 this week; lost in March by 0.001 of a second.

Carl Edwards / No. 19 STANLEY Toyota Preview
CAN-AM 500 at Phoenix International Raceway

No. 19 STANLEY Toyota News and Notes:

PHOENIX: Edwards and the No. 19 STANLEY team head to the Phoenix International Raceway with a lot off their shoulders after winning Texas and locking themselves into the “Championship 4” at Homestead-Miami. Edwards has had success on the one-mile oval and is going there with only one goal and that is to win.

EDWARDS’ STATS AT PHOENIX: In 24 starts at Charlotte, Edwards has completed 7,187 of 7,477 laps (96.1 percent) and has led for a total of 452 laps. Edwards has two wins, and has earned eight top-five and 13 top-10 finishes there. His average start is 12.0 and his average finish is 11.8. He also has four XFINITY wins there in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

RACE INFO: CAN-AM 500 at Phoenix (1.0-mile) begins at 3:30 p.m. ETon Sunday, November 15th. The race will be broadcast live on NBC, Sirius XM Channel 90 and MRN Radio.

Edwards’ 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Season Stats:

Starts	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Poles	Laps Led	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish
34	3	8	18	6	871	7.0	13.1

Edwards’ Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats:

Starts	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Poles	Laps Led	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish
443	28	124	220	22	6089	14.2	13.5

From the Cockpit:
Carl Edwards: “Phoenix is going to be a lot of fun. I love racing there and for us it’s one last week to just go have some fun, hopefully get another trophy and prepare for Homestead. Texas was the biggest win of our season and coming off of that we are really looking forward to going to Phoenix and just focus on getting another win. Phoenix is a special track for me. It’s the first place I ever raced on pavement. A lot of great runs there and a lot of wins. Very close race in the spring. That last lap was a blast. We’ll go there and have some fun. It’s a one mile tough track. Really takes communication between the driver and crew chief. Dave Rogers and I have been working on that a lot. Excited to get there and go racing.”

From the Pit Box:
Dave Rogers: “That past two weeks has been an incredible journey for our No.19 JGR Toyota team. We were on the outside looking in after Martinsville, but secured our spot in NASCAR’s championship round by winning in Texas. The Texas win permits us to go to Phoenix pressure free, but the goal for Phoenix remains the same – capture another win. We look to improve on our spring performance by a few feet. “

About Stanley Black & Decker:
Stanley Black & Decker, an S&P 500 company, is a diversified global provider of hand tools, power tools and related accessories, mechanical access and electronic security solutions, healthcare solutions, engineered fastening systems, and more. Well-known brands include: STANLEY, BLACK+DECKER, DEWALT, Porter-Cable, Bostitch, Facom, Mac Tools, Proto, Vidmar, Lista, and more.

- Joe Gibbs Racing

Jimmie Johnson has series-best 7.89 average finish at Phoenix

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Jimmie Johnson is 9/4 favorite to win Sprint Cup.

Jimmie Johnson on racing at Phoenix
“Phoenix is going to be like every other race weekend for this Lowe’s team. We are heading there to win. There is no such thing as a ‘throw away’ race in my mind. If my pit crew has more exposure in racing for the win, they have more pressure on them. We could all use practice with pressure because Homestead will bring a lot of pressure. So pressure is good for us. We will be racing for every point we can race for, even if we are locked in. We will race our race and let everyone else race theirs.”

KOBALT RACE: This weekend at Phoenix, the black and white colors of Kobalt Tools will adorn Jimmie Johnson’s Chevrolet SS for the fourth and final time this season. Kobalt tools are sold exclusively at Lowe’s.

PHOENIX DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR's loop data statistics, Johnson has the series-best driver rating at Phoenix with a score of 112.0 during the past 10 years at the track. The driver rating is a formula that combines wins, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum a driver can earn in each race is 150 points. The driver rating number is used pre-race as a prediction tool and post-race as a performance evaluator.

OTHER PHOENIX ACCOLADES: Johnson also has the series-best average running position at Phoenix -- 7.89 -- and he leads current drivers with 15 top-five finishes at the track. He has spent 85 percent of all laps run at Phoenix in the top-15, which is second-most among current drivers.

TRACK QUALIFYING RECORD: Johnson holds the track qualifying record at Phoenix International Raceway, which was set one year ago on Nov. 13, 2015, with a speed of 143.132 mph or 25.147 seconds around the track.

HOT IN THE DESERT: During the years of 2007 and 2008, Johnson put together a streak of three wins in a row at the oval racetrack in the Valley of the Sun. He won the season's penultimate event in 2007, followed by sweeping both events in 2008. The last time Johnson won at Phoenix came before the track was repaved in November 2009. Johnson won the pole for this event one year ago.

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2016 Season 1st in standings 34 starts 4 wins 1 pole position 10 top-five finishes 15 top-10 finishes 721 laps led     Career 541 starts 79 wins 35 pole positions 217 top-five finishes 329 top-10 finishes 18,430 laps led     Track Career  26 starts 4 wins 3 pole positions 15 top-five finishes 19 top-10 finishes 977 laps led

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Phoenix Preview: Harvick shortest Vegas favorite in Sprint Cup history

It's time for Phoenix which means another Harvick win.

LAS VEGAS -- You're going to look at Kevin Harvick's odds offered at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook this week and think there is an error somewhere, so let's get that notion out of the way right off the bat: Kevin Harvick is the 6-to-5 favorite (Bet $100 to win $120) to win Sunday's Cam-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Yes, as in +120, and that's not a match-up price. Those odds are to win the race against 39 other drivers.

The reason for such short odds this week is because he's owned the flat 1-mile layout of Phoenix over his career and he's going to have to win Sunday's Round of 8 finale if he wants a chance to move on to next weeks Championship Round at Homestead and the opportunity to win his second Sprint Cup title. Total desperation, and a great storyline to watch unfold throughout the race.

It's a tall task for any driver to 'have to win' when the chips are down, but Carl Edwardsdid it last week at Texas and Harvick himself did it at Phoenix in 2014 when he 'had to win' and then he went on to win his only championship a week later. This was on the Westgate crew minds when creating the odds on Monday. They've seen this movie before at Phoenix and it almost always ends the same way. This guy just doesn't get rattled, which is part of the odds equation.

But the main reason for the insanely low odds is that all he does at Phoenix is win.

Harvick has eight wins in 27 Phoenix starts, six of those coming in his past eight starts, including the March race when he led a race high 139 laps and beat Edwards by just 0.01 of a second. The Bakersfield, CA native has been crushing this track in all series since he first got into auto racing.

Jimmie Johnson and Edwards have already advanced to the Championship Round by virtue winning each of the past two races. If any of the other six drivers eligible to advance win Sunday, they'll advance. As it sits now, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch are tied in points and would advance. Matt Kenseth is 1-point behind and Denny Hamlin is 2-points behind. Harvick is down 18 points behind followed by Kurt Busch who is 34-points behind. Yes, Harvick could advance without winning if everyone else has some issues, but realistically, he has to win, as does Kurt Busch, to advance.

All of the eligible drivers have past wins at Phoenix.

Read More Here............Top-5 Finish Prediction on VegasInsider.com

Updated 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup odds heading to Phoenix

Jimmie Johnson favored to win his seventh Sprint Cup title.

WESTGATE LAS VEGAS SUPERBOOK
ODDS TO WIN 2016 SPRINT CUP

Kevin HARVICK 4/1
Joey LOGANO 8/1
Kyle BUSCH 6/1
Jimmie JOHNSON 9/4
Matt KENSETH 10/1
Carl EDWARDS 3/1
Denny HAMLIN 12/1
Kurt BUSCH 100/1

Odds to win 2016 Can-Am 500 at Phoenix

Lots on the line this week at Phoenix

WESTGATE LAS VEGAS SUPERBOOK
ODDS TO WIN CAN-AM 500
PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2016 - 2:44 PM ET

Kevin HARVICK 6/5
Kyle BUSCH 7/1
Joey LOGANO 8/1
Denny HAMLIN 8/1
Martin TRUEX JR 10/1
Brad KESELOWSKI 12/1
Matt KENSETH 12/1
Carl EDWARDS 12/1
Jimmie JOHNSON 12/1
Chase ELLIOTT 18/1
Kyle LARSON 25/1
Kasey KAHNE 40/1
Kurt BUSCH 60/1
Alex BOWMAN 100/1
Austin DILLON 100/1
Ryan NEWMAN 100/1
Jamie McMURRAY 100/1
Ryan BLANEY 100/1
AJ ALLMENDINGER 200/1
Tony STEWART 200/1
Aric ALMIROLA 500/1
Ricky STENHOUSE JR 500/1
Paul MENARD 500/1
Greg BIFFLE 500/1
Trevor BAYNE 500/1
Clint BOWYER 1000/1
Danica PATRICK 1000/1
Chris BUESCHER 1000/1
Casey MEARS 1000/1
FIELD 1000/1

Edwards races way into Championship Round with Texas win

Carl Edwards won for fourth time at Texas, and first time without doing a back-flip.

AAA Texas 500 Results

Texas Race Facts
* Carl Edwards won the 12th Annual AAA Texas 500, his 28th victory in 443 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
* With the victory, Edwards clinches a spot in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, joining Jimmie Johnson.
* This is his third victory and 18th top-10 finish in 2016.
* This is his fourth victory and 13th top-10 finish in 24 races at Texas Motor Speedway.
* With the victory, Edwards moves into a tie with Kurt Busch and NASCAR Hall of Famer Rex White for 26th on the all-time series wins list.
* Joey Logano (second) posted his seventh top-10 finish in 17 races at Texas Motor Speedway. It is his 24th top-10 finish in 2016.
* Martin Truex Jr. (third) posted his 12th top-10 finish in 23 races at Texas Motor Speedway.
* Chase Elliott (fourth) was the highest finishing rookie.

Final Texas Driver Ratings and Betting Notes: 2016 AAA Texas 500

Kevin Harvick had slow individual practice laps in Saturday Texas practices, but is fast on long runs.

Micah Roberts' Sprint Cup Driver Ratings
AAA Texas 500
Texas Motor Speedway
Sunday, November 6, 2016 - 11:16 am PT
RATING  DRIVER    ODDS                    PRACTICE 1          QUALIFIED         PRACTICE 2        PRACTICE 3 
 1. Carl Edwards (12/1)               2nd                  9th                22nd                8th 
Three-time winner, including 2008 sweep; best 10-consecutive laps average in practice 2.
 2. Matt Kenseth (8/1)                  3rd                   7th                24th              19th 
Two-time winner with 9.5 average finish, 13 top-fives and 854 laps led in 27 career starts.
 3. Kevin Harvick (4/1)                 1st                   3rd                30th               28th 
Surprisingly, no wins in 27 starts. Desperate. Slow single lap times, but super fast on long runs.
 4. Kyle Busch (6/1)                    22nd                24th               23rd                 3rd
Two-time winner, including spring race; two wins and seven top-10s on nine 1.5-mile tracks.
 5. Martin Truex Jr. (4/1)            11th                 12th               19th                 2nd 
Led race-high 141 laps in spring; led series-high 817 laps between nine races on 1.5-mile tracks.
 6. Jimmie Johnson (4/1)             33rd                 19th               16th               15th 
Six-time winner (track record), including five of last eight; two 2016 wins on 1.5-mile tracks.
 7. Joey Logano (12/1)                 4th                   2nd                 9th                 4th
2013 winner, third in the spring -- part of a run with 5 top-five finishes in last seven starts.
 8. Brad Kesleowski (12/1)          24th                  4th                27th                 1st
Two-time runner-up, including last fall. Two 2016 wins on 1.5s (Las Vegas and Kentucky).
 9. Austin Dillon (100/1)              14th                  1st                25th                 11th
Career-best 11th-place last fall; second-best 10-consecutive lap average during practice 2.
10. Chase Elliott (12/1)                 6th                 11th                7th                  5th
Fifth-place in first Cup start during spring; second-best 10-consecutive lap average in practice 3.

Note: This will be the second race of the season at Texas and 10th of 11 on 1.5-mile tracks.

Odds courtesy of Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook.

Micah Roberts, a former sports book director, has been been setting NASCAR lines in Las Vegas since 1994. Follow on Twitter @MicahRoberts7

LAS VEGAS -- Carl Edwards is in a desperate situation heading into Sunday's AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, but he showed lots of speed in Saturday's final practices to suggest he could be on his way to his fourth career win on the 1.5-mile layout which would give him an automatic birth to the Championship Round.

Edwards is currently 32-points below the transfer position sitting dead last after one of three races in the Round of 8. It's either win Sunday, or next week at Phoenix, or else he'll have to go back to the drawing board for 2017. Being so desperate can also be a distraction, not only for the driver, but the entire pit crew. They all know their situation which amplifies the intensity for this race.

Edwards doesn't have a win during any of the nine races on 1.5-mile tracks this season, but in the last one at Kansas three weeks ago he was runner-up with 61 laps led. His edge this week starting from the ninth position comes from having a car that is fast on the long runs. During Saturday's early practice he had the best 10-consecutive lap average. He also has an edge just be being with Joe Gibbs Racing which has produced four winners on these type of tracks.

The best thing about a wager on Edwards at 12-to-1 odds is knowing he's got to scratch and claw for every position to try and win, and he won't care who he knocks out of the way in a quest to grab his first Sprint Cup title.

START POSITION IMPORTANT
In 31 Texas races, 24 (77.4 percent) have been won from a top-10 start position with six winners starting on the front row. The third-place slot has been the most proficient start position, which is where Kevin Harvick starts this week. The deepest start position to win was 31st by Matt Kenseth in 2002. Harvick showed awful individual lap times during Saturday's practices, but after 15 laps he was faster than most. He's looking for his first career Texas win in 27 starts, one of only four tracks he's never won at.

SIMILAR TRACKS
The 24 degrees of banking of Texas Motor Speedway's 1.5-mile oval make it most similar to sister track at Atlanta and Charlotte. Overall, there are 11 races on 1.5-mile tracks and Sunday's race will be the 10th with Homestead still to come in the Championship Round. If looking at the data from the entire season, the driver that stands out is Martin Truex Jr. with two wins (Charlotte and Kansas) and a series-leading 817 laps led. However, he hasn't led a lap in the last two attempts, nor did he finish in the top-10. The good news for Truex this week is that he had the best 10-consecutive lap average during the final practice session.

CHICAGO TEST CATAPULT
Jimmie Johnson clinched a birth into the Championship Round with his ninth career win at Martinsville last week, but what also makes him the Westgate SuperBook's 2-to-1 favorite to win his seventh career championship is what the team learned during a test session on Chicago's 1.5-mile layout just before the Chase started. Do well on the 1.5s, which five of the 10 Chase races are, and the championship is within reach.

Crew Chief Chad Knaus figured something out during the test and the No. 48 has been dominant on these tracks ever since. Johnson led the most laps at Chicago to kick off the Chase, led a race-high 155 laps at Charlotte with a win and finished fourth at Kansas three weeks ago.

Johnson will attempt to add to his Texas record six wins, but he could park his car after the first lap and it not affect him. He's already on to the next round. He wasn't particularly special in final practice with the 15th fastest lap (188.186 mph), but with 10 laps to go it wouldn't be a surprise to see the No. 48 battling for the win.