NASCAR championship race at Homestead: Start time, lineup, TV schedule
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — This is it. It's NASCAR championship race day at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and we've got some essential information you need to get ready for today's Ford EcoBoost 400.
START TIME: Joe Hinrichs, president of Ford for the Americas, will instruct drivers to start their engines at 3:10 p.m. Eastern time today, followed by the green flag at 3:17 p.m. So if you want to skip the pre-race show and just tune in for the race, turn on your TV at 3:10 p.m.
RACE DISTANCE: The Ford EcoBoost 400 is 267 laps around the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway for a total of 400.5 miles. This is NASCAR's championship race and whoever finishes first among four drivers -- Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman -- will be the champion.
NATIONAL ANTHEM: American Idol winner Caleb Johnson will sing the national anthem before today's race.
TV/RADIO SCHEDULE: ESPN will broadcast today's race and has a pre-race show beginning at 1 p.m. ET. This is ESPN's final race as a NASCAR broadcaster. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will call the race on the radio.
WEATHER: The National Weather Service is calling for a typical day in South Florida with partly sunny skies and a high in the low 80s. Rain is not expected to be a factor.
LAST TIME: Hamlin got some much-needed momentum in the final race of 2013 by driving to victory lane as Jimmie Johnson secured his sixth championship.
STARTING LINEUP: Despite not being a championship contender after getting eliminated last week at Phoenix International Raceway, Jeff Gordon won the pole for today's race and will start alongside Kurt Busch.
Here's the starting lineup for today's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season finale at Homestead:
- Jeff Gordon
- Kurt Busch
- Matt Kenseth
- Brad Keselowski
- Kevin Harvick
- Clint Bowyer
- Kyle Busch
- Denny Hamlin
- Joey Logano
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Jimmie Johnson
- Brian Vickers
- Justin Allgaier
- Carl Edwards
- Paul Menard
- Marcos Ambrose
- Aric Almirola
- Jamie McMurray
- Greg Biffle
- Ryan Newman
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Kasey Kahne
- Austin Dillon
- AJ Allmendinger
- Trevor Bayne
- Kyle Larson
- Tony Stewart
- Casey Mears
- Brian Scott
- David Ragan
- Danica Patrick
- Landon Cassill
- JJ Yeley
- David Gilliland
- Reed Sorenson
- Josh Wise
- Michael McDowell
- Michael Annett
- Blake Koch
- Alex Bowman
- Cole Whitt
- Brett Moffitt
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