Focus for finale on securing top-10 spot in Busch points

After 34 races, it all comes down to this: One race, just 200 laps to decide the final outcome.

True, Carl Edwards sealed his first championship two weeks ago at Texas. But for a handful of others, Saturday's season finale Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (4 p.m. ET, ESPN2) is a chance to secure a coveted spot in the top 10 and a seat at the year-end awards ceremony.

"At the start of the year a big goal of ours was to finish the season in the top 10 in driver's points, and coming into Homestead we have that in our sights," said series rookie and Busch regular Marcos Ambrose.

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Ambrose sits eighth in the standings -- a spot that sounds secure considering the wide gap between drivers in the top half of the points. But the bottom portion of the group isn't so lucky. Ambrose is just 44 points clear of 10th place.

Part-time competitor Greg Biffle is ninth, 27 points back of Ambrose. Homestead has been a playground for Biffle, at least in the Cup Series. He's won the last three races held there in NASCAR's senior series. The Busch Series, however, has been night and day; he was second two years ago but 38th last year.

Biffle, like Ambrose, is winless this year.

"I still can't believe this team has not won a Busch race this year," said Biffle, who has won a race in the series for six consecutive seasons. "This is our last chance to get a win ... We've got the same car that should've won at Texas two weeks ago, so hopefully it will be just as strong at Homestead."

Then there's Mike Wallace. He's just 16 points back of Biffle and sits in 10th place despite not recording a top-10 finish the entire season. Fourteen points behind him is Matt Kenseth, who won this race a year ago.

"We've been up front competing for the win multiple times this year, but seem to walk away with second place a little too much," said Kenseth, who has two victories this season but also has finished second an amazing seven times.

Crew chief Drew Blickensderfer put it more plainly: "We are all tired of settling for second and really want to go out there and win the final race of the season."

So do the 46 other drivers on the swollen entry list for Saturday's race. The challenge, however, is in the racetrack.

With just one trip to Miami on the schedule, and a progressively banked racetrack that continuously loses grip, it's difficult for a driver to get a taste of what the car needs in terms of adjustability. That places huge circles on the two practice sessions Friday.

"In the Busch Series, you don't have enough time to make big changes," said Clint Bowyer, who is 12th in points. "When you unload, you know what you've got and it's a good feeling when you're good right off the truck."

It's that one trip, however, that can be the lasting memory of a good -- or bad -- season.

"We only race there once a year, so when you run at Homestead it always feels special because everyone is looking forward to going there and there is a real party atmosphere around the event," Ambrose said of the season's final weekend for all three national series. "We will be pushing very hard and giving it everything we have got to finish the year strongly to keep us in the top 10."