Chase drivers give final thoughts before Miami showdown

Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet

Starting position: 5th.

Saturday's practice: 1st in second practice; 8th in final practice.

Saturday recap: Harvick was consistent in the amount of laps he ran, completing 30 in Saturday's first session and running 29 in the final practice. His speed, though, dipped from a high-water mark of 175.200 mph early to 173.099 mph late. "We never got the balance right to run it really far enough into the run, to run 20 or 25 laps," Harvick said.

Down time: Harvick was concise in predicting his evening activities, offering a one-word answer: "Eat!"

Sunday's outlook: Harvick starts nearest to the front of any championship hopeful, but said there's still work to be done to get the handling just right on his No. 4 entry. "Yeah, we struggled getting the balance right, and I don't think we've really hit it exactly where we need it to be yet," Harvick said. "So, we'll go back through the stuff that everybody did on our cars and definitely try to improve for tomorrow."

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota

Starting position: 8th.

Saturday's practice: 5th in second practice; 13th in final practice.

Saturday recap: Hamlin avoided trouble at the end of the final practice session when he dipped his tires onto the grass as he overshot the access road below the track apron. Though he said that the car's ensuing slide was "pretty exciting for a little while," he was pleased with the car's capabilities, especially if lengthy green-flag stretches develop Sunday. "The car was good. It's definitely gaining on some things," Hamlin said. "Feel pretty good about it. It's definitely a long run car -- feels really good on the long run."

Down time: Hamlin turns 34 years old on Tuesday and there would be no better birthday present than a first championship at NASCAR's top level. Before his actual birthdate, the Virginia native planned on an early celebration before Sunday's big day. "Pretty much have birthday dinner and relax," Hamlin said. "Come in here in the morning ready to go."

Sunday's outlook: Hamlin projected a care-free approach in events leading up to Sunday's finale, but it's also translated into his determination to erase the heartbreak of past defeats. "As high as it should be," Hamlin said of his confidence level. "We've got a car that we can compete with and that's the main thing. You worry when you come down here if it's going to be like it was or how it was previous years and how it was in the test, but it's pretty good."

Joey Logano, Team Penske No. 22 Ford

Starting position: 9th.

Saturday's practice: 6th in second practice; 7th in final practice.

Saturday recap: Logano was right on the edges of the top five in both 50-minute practices Saturday, with his best lap in the final session less than a tenth of a second slower than his early speed. Logano said his Team Penske crew will lean heavily on the information it gathered in a two-day test session here at the end of October, but that the team learned plenty in this weekend's practice about running different grooves on the Homestead track. "I still think the top is preferred for everybody," Logano said, "but you have to be able to move around a little bit and I feel like our car can do that."

Down time: Logano offered a detailed description of what the hours ahead would hold, including the likelihood of a pineapple chicken dish prepared by his fiancé, Brittany. "I will do the same thing I do any other time except hopefully we are celebrating a (team owner) championship on the Nationwide side," Logano said. "That would be a good thing. From here I will go debrief with (crew chief) Todd (Gordon) and get a read on what our car did. We will go to our team meeting and make some good adjustments for tomorrow and then watch the Nationwide race. I suppose later I will watch some TV and then go to sleep. The Nationwide celebration should go fairly late and we will enjoy that. That is a lot of hard work so hopefully we are able to do that. Then we will go home -- I say home, but to the motor home -- and we will have some dinner. Brittany and I will talk. We have been watching 'Boy Meets World' like nobody's business so we will probably watch an episode of that and go to sleep."

Sunday's outlook: Despite the pressure-packed intensity of the season finale, Logano insists his team won't deviate from the game plan that's worked for 35 races so far this season. "I think we treat it like any other Sunday. Why change what we have been doing? We will approach it the same. Obviously there will probably be a couple extra thoughts that we don't typically have, a couple of moments of reflection. We have had those moments and raced the last few weeks with those thoughts in our minds of what we need to do to get through the Chase. We will just keep it how we have been doing things."

Ryan Newman, Richard Childress Racing No. 31 Chevrolet

Starting position: 21st.

Saturday's practice: 12th in second practice; 12th in final practice.

Saturday recap: Newman escaped one of the close calls from the first practice session. Shortly after Brian Scott pulled his car off the track with engine failure, Newman reported to his RCR crew that he'd run over a piece of debris. The team replaced a rattling bead blower fan and changed out the scratched-up splitter in a fairly minor repair job. Overall, though, he hoped for improvement on Sunday after posting the slowest average over the two Saturday practices of any of the Championship 4. "It could have gone better, but we got a lot of good information," Newman said. "Still just working on the balance of the race car a little bit and making it so it's fast. It seems like I can put it anywhere, just got to get a little bit more speed out of the car doing that."

Down time: Newman's night before the championship doesn't look much different than a Saturday evening for many of the tailgating fans camping out on the Homestead-Miami grounds. Newman said he planned on a small cookout near his motorcoach, spending time with friends and family. "I don't ever have a high-pressure night," Newman said. "Just try to keep an even keel, I guess."

Sunday's outlook: Despite starting midpack in Sunday's 400, Newman hasn't let his position on the grid pose a concern. Though he's heard the label of underdog applied to him in the days leading up to the season finale, Newman starts Sunday on even footing in terms of the points standings. "Oh, confidence isn't an issue," Newman said. "We are having fun. Our starting spot is not where we want to be, but our finishing spot hopefully is a lot better."

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