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Filed under: Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR Live Blogging, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

NASCAR's 36-race season culminates today at Homestead-Miami Speedway when Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick battle to take home the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

It's bound to be a thrilling finish of NASCAR's closest points battle in the Chase for the Championship era.

Join the FanHouse team as we keep you updated live on the race's progress. Don't miss out at 1 p.m./ET.

 

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Filed under: Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

Denny Hamlin certainly had plenty of frustration boiling over after late-race strategy failed to work in his favor. So, he took a water bottle and threw it Sunday in Phoenix.

The temperament, however, may be unjustified: Hamlin heads into Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the proverbial driver's seat to win the 2010 crown.

Sure, the Virginia driver is sporting just a 15-point lead and could lose it by finishing second to Jimmie Johnson at Homestead.

But if that happens, Hamlin will be just the third driver in NASCAR's modern points system era to lose the championship in the season's final race. The first was 1979 when Richard Petty beat Darrell Waltrip and the second in 1992 when Alan Kulwicki topped Davey Allison.

Hamlin, however, clinches his fate by simply leading the most laps and finishing second or better. If Hamlin pulls that feat while Jimmie Johnson wins, the two will finish tied in the point standings.

 

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Filed under: Nationwide Series, FanHouse Exclusive, IRL, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

Far away from the red carpet, bright lights, television cameras and massive crowds of fans, Danica Patrick emerged from the office in her Andretti Autosport transporter Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway dressed casually in jeans and a white polo shirt.

Smiling and engaging, she candidly and calmly analyzed what has been a character-builder of a race season juggling between her full time job competing in the IZOD IndyCar Series and her part-time foray into NASCAR.

People are more accustomed to seeing America's most famous race car driver in sexy television commercials for her sponsor, GoDaddy.com, smiling on Hollywood red carpets or posing for provocative photo spreads.

But Patrick is one of the most thoughtful, genuine and honest athletes you'll ever meet. For all the confidence and self-assurance she exudes, she also has an air of vulnerability and is admittedly a work in progress.

Patrick has struggled this year in IndyCar, where she's ranked 11th -- her worst since finishing 17th in the final standings in her rookie year -- and has only two top-fives in 16 races. Likewise in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, where she has yet to post a top-20 finish in seven starts.

Everyone else seems to have an opinion on her efforts as the most successful female IndyCar driver in history. As she finishes up the IndyCar season here Saturday and prepares to finish out the NASCAR schedule, here's what she has to say in this FanHouse Exclusive about what she calls a "humbling experience" in the "hardest year" of her career.

 

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