In no particular order, here are a few thoughts on the whole darn thing...
-You just had to sit and shake your head over Matt Kenseth's misfortune. Here he was, a lap and a few 100 yards away from earning his spot to race for the title. Then Michael McDowell's tire decided to give out.
Once they restarted, Kenseth got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time when he tried to go to the low side as Alex Bowman -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s substitute driver in the No. 88 -- tried to grab the spot.
The end result: Kenseth spun and hopes for a shot at a second championship went out with his tattered No. 20 Toyota Camry.
When all was said and done after 12 extra laps, Joey Logano survived the second overtime round and took the checkered flag by just over a half-second in front of Kyle Busch. With his finish, Busch claimed the last spot in the foursome that will run for the title.
The final margin was six points better than teammate Denny Hamlin, who finished seventh and led four laps.
So after all the hype and worry for the non-fans, Joe Gibbs Racing managed to get two cars in the Championship 4. Busch gets to defend his title and Carl Edwards -- thanks to his win at Texas last week -- gets to make a bid to purge the nightmare of the 2011 title hunt from his soul.
There won't be any ties this time around. Finish in front of your challengers, hold the big trophy.
-Let's face facts here: We're all pretty much thankful that Cup driver participation will be limited in the XFINITY Series next season. After what happened for the inaugural Chase, it's easy to understand why.
For the fourth time in the six Chase races, a Cup regular won. For the 10th time in his 17 starts (half the schedule), Kyle Busch ended up in Victory Lane at the Ticket Galaxy 200.
It was Busch's third win in the last four races he's entered, and it was dominating as usual. He led 190 of the 200 laps at Phoenix and finished the year with 2,052 laps led out of a possible 2,995.
That's 69 percent of the total, folks. Is it any wonder why his presence was so reviled by the skeptics? Personally, it's hard to stomach a race when someone is so off-the-charts dominant.
Not quite like the days when the race winner won by laps, but it's pretty close.
Rant aside, the Championship Four for Homestead will be Elliott Sadler, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones and Justin Allgaier. The group finished with nine of the 11 victories earned by series regulars. The other two were by part-timers in Justin Marks (Mid-Ohio) and Sam Hornish Jr. (Iowa 1).
With Allgaier in the mix for the title, we could very well finish with a champion that didn't win a race for the year. The odds are long, but it will leave a bad mark on the series if it happens.
-The Camping World Truck Series has drivers from four different race teams who will run for the title Friday night at Homestead. Johnny Sauter (GMS Racing), Matt Crafton (ThorSport), Christopher Bell (Kyle Busch Motorsports) and Timothy Peters (Red Horse Racing) are the ones who made it through the inaugural Chase for NASCAR's No. 3 series.
On the surface, Sauter could easily be pegged as the favorite following back-to-back wins at Martinsville and Texas. He added a runner-up effort at Phoenix, so serious momentum is on his side.
Matt Crafton -- Sauter's former teammate at ThorSport -- already has two truck titles on his resume and would move into second place on the all-time series list behind Ron Hornaday's four if he beats his challengers at Homestead.
Crafton was runner-up to Sauter at Texas and finished third at Phoenix. As he looks for title No. 3, it's not about racing for points now.
Christopher Bell kept KBM in the title hunt and made up for the loss of teammate and pre-Chase favorite William Byron. Byron's Chase hopes went up in smoke when he lost an engine and finished 27th at Phoenix.
And like the XFINITY Series, we could crown a champ who didn't win a race. Peters finished with four top-5s in the six Chase races, so that will serve him and Red Horse Racing well.
Will the champion be required to take the checkered flag to win the title? It's a mystery that will be fun to explore this weekend, particularly on the XFINITY and Truck side. Unknowns are good, but holding great big trophies will be much better.
Follow Tom Zulewski on Twitter @TommyZee81 or email tominator19@yahoo.com.
THIS WEEK'S RACES
Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile D-shaped oval), Homestead, Florida.
-SPRINT CUP: Ford EcoBoost 400, Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT, NBC. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 400.5 miles, 267 laps.
2015 champion: Kyle Busch.
-XFINITY SERIES: Ford EcoBoost 300, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.
2015 champion: Kyle Larson
-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Ford EcoBoost 200, Friday, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, Fox Sports 1. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 201 miles, 134 laps.
2015 champion: Matt Crafton.
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