Carl Edwards, No. 99 AFLAC Ford: “A Roush Fenway car has won (at Homestead) almost every year that I’ve been doing this at this level. I have real high hopes going in there. We’re just going to go until the last lap and give it a hundred percent with guns blazing. We’re going for the win. Hopefully we’ll get a shot at it.” With three victories, Roush Fenway Racing is suffering its leanest year since 2001 when the team won just twice. The team won 11 races a year ago. Roush Fenway drivers have won six of the past seven races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Homestead-Miami Speedway is the only active NASCAR Sprint Cup track at which Jeff Gordon has failed to win. Gordon marked Texas Motor Speedway off his to-do list in the spring leaving just the 1.5-mile South Florida speedway in the way of a noteworthy sweep. “A win, you know, is huge, especially at Homestead, because it is the final race. It would be huge for us. We’ve never won there before. I think that everybody feels that way,” said Gordon.

This week’s race marks the eighth consecutive year the season has ended at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Atlanta Motor Speedway hosted the finale from 1987-2000. In 2001, the finale was held at New Hampshire Motor Speedway because of the 9/11 attacks. From 1974 through 1986, the season ended on the West Coast at now-shuttered tracks in Ontario and Riverside, Calif. The last time the season ended on a short track was 1970 at Langley Field Speedway in Virginia.