Welcome to The Pace Lap, your catchall preview post! Let's get you started on race weekend with a metric truckload of stats, facts, opinion and innuendo.
The race: Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway
The specs: 267 laps at a 1.5-mile track.
The broadcasts: ABC, plus the live chat right here on Yahoo! Sports.
Defending champ: Carl Edwards, who made a furious charge at Johnson last year but fell short, as everyone else has in the last few years.
The standings leaders: Oh, come on. Jimmie Johnson's first and everybody else is second. That's all you need to know.
The history: The speedway was built in 1993 as a way for the area to help recover from Hurricane Andrew, and has hosted Sprint Cup racing since 1999. (First winner: Tony Stewart.) Also, I wrote this last year at this time, but I like it so I'm rerunning it here: In marked contrast to the usual prison rec yard décor of most tracks, Homestead features swathes of aqua blue, purple, turquoise, and other art-deco colors plucked straight from South Beach. Unlike South Beach, however, nobody's hanging out the windows of the cars hollering at sexy ladies.
The appropriate video: From 2006 -- Juan Pablo Montoya had spun Ryan Newman, and Newman took his fiery revenge:
Guy with the most to gain: Same story as last week -- Mark Martin has the potential to grab the Sprint Cup, but it's not really likely. Besides him, I'd say the greatest upside belongs to Dale Earnhardt Jr., who could end a wretched season on a high note with a good run this week.
Guys with the most to lose: Jimmie Johnson, of course. He's almost certain to win the Sprint Cup -- emphasis on "almost." Somebody gets stupid at the wrong time, and it's suddenly all over for JJ. That's not really likely to happen, though.
Our pick to win: Martin. I don't think Johnson is going to surrender the Sprint Cup, but I also don't think Martin is going to go quietly. He's one of the best in the sport, and he'll prove it this weekend by making Jimmie sweat just the tiniest bit.
All right, you're up. Who's your pick for this weekend? Go!
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