A trip to New York on the line for rest of Chase guys

The championship is down to two, but that doesn't mean the other 10 Chase drivers have nothing to drive for in the final race of the season, the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The top-10 will earn the right to represent their team in New York City for Champions Week and Kurt Busch intends to be there.

"The championship picture is pretty clear in that Jimmie [Johnson] should be able to coast on through to his second championship," Busch said. "He'll have to have major problems to squander that 86-point lead that he has over [Jeff] Gordon.

"But, there certainly is a tight battle going on from about sixth-place on back and that could be very interesting. All the Chase drivers want to finish at least in the top 10 in the points. The way they have it this year is that there are 12 drivers in the Chase, but only the top 10 get to drive their show cars around Manhattan and take to the stage at the NASCAR Awards Banquet.

"It's a case of team pride and wanting to be able to do all you can for your sponsors. To tell you the truth, as hard as all the teams work toward making the Chase, it's kind of sad that two teams get left out like that. I really don't understand that, but I guess you just have to accept it and go on."

Busch is 10th in the points standings, but leads 11th-place Martin Truex Jr. by just 47 points. Denny Hamlin is 12th, 83 points behind Busch and Busch knows anything can happen in these final 400 miles.

"Matt [Kenseth] has put a string of strong finishes together and he's climbed to sixth, but the fact is that he's only 47 points in front of us," Busch said. "There are five guys right there within that narrow margin and several spots can change at Homestead on Sunday."

Another motivating factor for the No. 2 Penske Dodge team is this will be the final race in the "old-style" car before the Car of Tomorrow goes to full implementation in 2008. Busch would love to see his name in the history books as the last driver to win in this style of car.

"It's the final race for the old-style cars and certainly every team wants to have being the final winners on their resumes," Busch said. "We feel like we are bringing our best car down to Homestead, hoping to achieve that distinction in racing history."

Speaking of history, Busch has made some of his own at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In 2002, Busch started from the pole and won by more than two seconds over Joe Nemechek. In 2004, Busch survived losing a tire and finished fifth, clinching his first championship, and the first Chase championship, by eight points over Jimmie Johnson.

In six races at Homestead, Busch has started from the pole twice and has two top-five finishes including the '02 victory. Last year, Busch had his worst finish at the track when he crashed nine laps in and came home 43rd.

But with that in his rear-view mirror, Busch will focus on ending 2007 on the right foot and using it as a stepping stone to another successful season in 2008.

"Regardless of the outcome, our Miller Lite Dodge Team is proud of our accomplishments this season," Busch said. "We entered the year with the major goals of winning races and making the Chase and we accomplished that. With the COT cars being the standard at all races in 2008, we know that we'll have a very challenging year ahead."