Coca-Cola Racing Family drivers Denny Hamlin (left), Joey Logano and Ryan Newman are three of four finalists who will compete in the one-race showdown for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship on Nov. 16.
A fantastic NASCAR season is coming down to the wire, as the Nov. 16 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway will determine the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup SeriesTM champion, with the Coca-Cola Racing Family playing a huge part in who will take the ultimate victory lap.
Three of the four finalists in the one-race showdown for the title – Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman – are part of the seven-member Coca-Cola Racing Family that also includes Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart, Austin Dillon and Greg Biffle. But when the green flag drops Sunday, it will be every driver for himself.
“It will be fun to race against Denny and Ryan for sure – (it’s) pretty good odds for the Coke Family,” said Logano, who, like Hamlin and Newman, is searching for his first NASCAR Sprint Cup SeriesTM championship.
This year marked a sea change in the way NASCAR will crown its champion, as it moved from primarily a points-based system to the new, and intense, Chase for the Cup format, in which 16 drivers qualified and then four were knocked out during the Challenger, Contender and Eliminator rounds until the final quartet was left standing.
“You see that on the racetrack. You see guys taking chances and doing things that you didn’t see in the past,” Logano said. “So I think it’s been a good change for sure.”
The renewed emphasis on winning races changed the way drivers approached each event and made this season’s NASCAR home stretch one of the most exciting in years.
“We have a great opportunity in front of us and I’m going to give 1000 percent out on that race track and drive as hard as I’ve ever driven, but we’re just going to see where the chips fall,” Hamlin said during a press conference for Sunday’s race.
Logano has five wins on the season, while Hamlin has one. Newman did not capture a race win this year, but took a steady approach to get to the finale. Each driver also had to overcome adversity during the last week’s race in Phoenix. Newman needed a last-lap surge to qualify in fourth place; Hamlin was hamstrung by a flat tire, which cost him a lap; and Logano had to fight through a pit road error that placed him a lap down.
“It’s all about the guys on this team. We don’t give up. We just keep at it,” Logano said. “All year long, we haven’t let problems get us down. Getting all worked up doesn’t do anything for you. So you just need to keep at it. That’s what we did on Sunday and why we are here this weekend.”
Throughout the 10-week Chase for the NASCAR Sprint CupTM Championship period, the Coca-Cola Racing Family and NASCAR fans have been invited to #ChaseHappiness through social media platforms, whether it’s tailgating with great food and a delicious Coca-Cola, cheering on your favorite driver from the right family or the drivers making the right moves on and off the track. Learn more.
“I think there is a #ChaseHappiness moment in each round of the Chase,” Logano said. “Winning at New Hampshire locked us into the second round. Winning at Kansas locked us into the third round. And coming back from our problems in Phoenix got us to Homestead. At the end of the day, those were all #ChaseHappiness moments really, because your goal and your dream is still alive.
And that’s what Sunday’s race is all about for these drivers – chasing down a lifelong dream at 200mph.
“For me personally, just to have this opportunity, I know these guys can sit here and say the same thing, this is a chance for a dream to come true,” Newman said during a press conference. “That’s a chance for a dream to come true for one of us and all of us. Just to have a shot at it is amazing.”
For Logano, the youngest driver in the Coca-Cola Racing Family, he hoped that a NASCAR Sprint Cup SeriesTM championship might pay additional dividends beyond the glory of being the best driver in NASCAR.
“I just want a bigger role in the commercials next year if I win this championship,” he said with a laugh.