NASCAR Ford 400 Fact Sheet

Even though Ford Championship Weekend is a bit of a misnomer, this is still the: Ford 400.

NASCAR’s capital of pastel shades of green, yellow and blue: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Fla.

Not exactly comforting to the also-rans: Jimmie Johnson, who has never won here, is on the pole.

Big guns: Johnson, Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Carl Edwards, Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth.

Long shots: Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Marcos Ambrose, Scott Speed, Jeff Burton, Casey Mears, David Reutimann, Jamie McMurray and David Ragan.

The hunch here: Johnson.

Just the facts, please

            This is the only track on the schedule where Jeff Gordon has never won.

Jack Roush-owned Fords have won this race the past five years.

            Johnson’s average finish this season is 11.3. Mark Martin, the runner-up in points, has an average of 13.7. The best average finish belongs to Tony Stewart (10.1).

            Juan Pablo Montoya’s average finish at what is essentially his home track (he lives in Miami) is only 22.0.

            The best Homestead average finish among Chase drivers belongs to Carl Edwards (6.4), who won the Ford 400 last year.

Snappy quotes

“To be honest with you, my goal next year is to be able to match the performance we had this year. Of course, you want more things.” – Juan Pablo Montoya.

“This is it. This is our last shot to get a win this season, so we couldn’t come to a better race track.” – Carl Edwards.

“I would have to say this is probably as good as it gets.” – Rick Hendrick, whose drivers occupy the top three spots in the Sprint Cup standings.

“The only car I've driven in the Cup Series has been a Chevy. It's been a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and a Lowe's Chevrolet. I'm very, very proud of that stuff.” – Jimmie Johnson.

n  Monte Dutton, mdutton@gastongazette.com