NASCAR Cup Series: Will it take a win to be crowned champion?

Never before in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 has the champion not won the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Will that remain the case?

The 2019 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 field is set following the third and final race of the round of 8 of the four-round, 10-race playoffs at ISM Raceway.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch as well as Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick are set to compete in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a chance to be crowned 2019 Cup Series champion.

The highest finisher of these four drivers in this 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Homestead-Miami Speedway oval in Homestead, Florida will be crowned champion.

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This format was introduced ahead of the 2014 season, and even with the implementation of stages and stage points this hasn’t changed; none of these four drivers will be eligible to score stage points in this race, and all of their point totals have been reset to 5,000; they no longer carry any playoff points.

With the highest finisher of these four drivers in this race set to be crowned champion, will it take a Ford EcoBoost 400 victory to win the championship?

The answer to that question has never been no, and there is no reason to believe that that will change this year.

In 2014, Harvick, Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano were the four Championship 4 drivers. Harvick won the race ahead of Newman in second place. In 2015, Championship 4 drivers locked out the top two again, with Kyle Busch winning the race and the championship ahead of Harvick in second.

In 2016, Championship 4 drivers likely would have locked out the top two again had it not been for a late wreck that involved Logano took out championship contender and race leader Carl Edwards. Nevertheless, Championship 4 driver Jimmie Johnson still won the race.

Then in 2017, Championship 4 drivers swept the top two once again, this time with Truex Jr. becoming a champion ahead of Busch in second place. In 2018, all four Championship 4 drivers finished in the top four, with Logano winning the championship ahead of Truex, Harvick and Busch in second, third and fourth, respectively.

In 2019, there is no reason to expect any of this to change. The four Championship 4 drivers will be the hungriest four drivers competing in this race, and the majority, even if not all, of the other drivers in the field know enough to respect this, as has been demonstrated on numerous occasions during the first five editions of the Championship 4.

There’s a reason why these four drivers have won 21 of the season’s first 35 races, including the last four, and that same reason points toward a 22nd overall victory and a fifth consecutive victory this Sunday afternoon. All four drivers have won at Homestead-Miami Speedway before as well.

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Tune in to NBC’s live broadcast of the Ford EcoBoost 400 this Sunday, November 17 at 2:30 p.m. ET to see who will be crowned 2019 NASCAR Cup Series champion and whether that driver will need to win this race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in order to secure the title.

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