Jimmie Johnson is on the verge of history, closing in on his third-consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Sunday’s Ford 400 will decide his fate.

In Friday night’s Ford 200, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title will be decided, as only three points separate leader Johnny Benson from second-place Ron Hornaday Jr.

In Saturday’s Ford 300, the NASCAR Nationwide Series will crown either points leader Clint Bowyer or second-place Carl Edwards as its champion.

Storylines follow, but first here’s a look at Florida natives in the NASCAR garage.

Jimmie Johnson needs to finish 36th or better in Sunday’s Ford 400 to become only the second driver to win three consecutive championships. Cale Yarborough is the only other driver to do so (1976-78).

Johnson now leads second-place Carl Edwards by 141 points. Even if Edwards were to win and lead the most laps on Sunday – a 195-point day – Johnson would clinch with that 36th-place finish.

A phenomenal Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has put Johnson in this position. Over the nine races, Johnson has three wins, six top fives, eight top 10s, an average finish of 4.7 and a Driver Rating of 118.7.

Behind every great driver is a great crew chief. That is certainly true when discussing Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus. If Johnson and the No. 48 team hold on, Knaus will become the first ever crew chief to win three consecutive championships.

Anything can happen. That’s Edwards’ mantra going into this weekend. His Roush Fenway Racing team has won the last four Homestead races (three by Greg Biffle, one by Matt Kenseth), so that can give Edwards some optimism.

No matter the outcome, Edwards has had an excellent Chase. In the nine races thus far, Edwards two wins, seven top fives, an average finish of 8.8 and a Driver Rating of 113.2.

If Johnson holds on to win the championship, it will be the eighth driver championship for owner Rick Hendrick. Thus far, he has won four with Jeff Gordon, two with Jimmie Johnson and one with Terry Labonte.

Additionally, if Johnson does win, it will be Hendrick’s 11th car owner championship across NASCAR’s three national series. Richard Childress currently is the leader with 11 owners championships, and is going for No. 12 this weekend with the No. 2 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The No. 2 is currently second in the owners points.

Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon looks to end two "slumps" this weekend. Gordon, winless in 2008, has won a race in 14 consecutive seasons. He has one more race to continue that streak. Unfortunately for him, Gordon has not had much success at Homestead. It is one of two tracks at which Gordon has yet to win a race (Texas is the other). His best Homestead finish is third in 2004, and he has finished in the top 10 in seven of his nine races there.

Additionally, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick – both winless this season – are looking to continue season winning streaks. Kenseth has won at least one race in six consecutive season and Harvick has won in three consecutive seasons.

A race within a race will undoubtedly play out this weekend, as teams around the all-important top 35 bubble look to lock up guaranteed starting spots for next season. All teams in the top 35 in owners points after Homestead are guaranteed spots in the field for the first five races of 2009. Currently, the No. 47 Toyota driven by Marcos Ambrose holds the 35th position. But it is only 17 points ahead of the No. 84 Toyota in 36th-place.

Tony Stewart will compete in his last race for Joe Gibbs Racing on Sunday, ending a 10-year run that brought 33 wins and two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships to JGR. In 2009, Stewart will drive for his own team – Stewart-Haas Racing.

Three titles come down to the final race of season with the driver championship to be decided at the last race for the first time since 2005. It will be the 14th time in the 27-year history of the series that the title is decided in the last race. Below are the many championship storylines for the series:

Clint Bowyer, seeking his first NASCAR national series title, leads reigning series champion Carl Edwards by 56 points – the closest one and two have been heading into the final race since 2003 when Brian Vickers led David Green by 22 points. (Vickers won the championship.)

Edwards has made an incredible charge over the last seven races when he was 207 points behind. In that span, he’s won three times, had two runner-up finishes and hasn’t finished out of the top 5.

If Bowyer finishes eighth or better in Saturday’s race, he will clinch the title regardless of how Edwards finishes.

The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has a 28-point lead over the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Joey Logano will drive the No. 20 at Homestead and attempt to bring JGR its first NASCAR Nationwide Series title. Clint Bowyer will try to wrestle the title back for defending owner champion RCR, which is tied with DEI for the all-time lead with four series owner titles.

If the No. 20 finishes second, it would clinch regardless of what the No. 2 does. The No. 2 needs to finish 33rd or better in order to stay in contention until the end of the race.

At Phoenix, Landon Cassill took the lead in the rookie race by six points over second-place Bryan Clauson, who gets one more shot as he’s entered at Homestead. Cassill will have to watch – Dale Earnhardt Jr. is entered in the No. 5 Chevrolet. Seven former series Rookies of the Year are entered in the race

Kenny Wallace is set to reach a series milestone at Homestead. A start for the NASCAR veteran will be the 418th of his series career, second only to Jason Keller’s 456. Wallace will surpass Tommy Houston, who held the mark at 417 before Keller surpassed it last October. Wallace started his 400th series race at Milwaukee in July and has 772 combined starts in NASCAR’s three national series.

Kyle Busch has one more chance to break the season record for wins he holds with two-time champion Sam Ard. Busch won his 10^th race at Texas. … Four former series champions are entered at Homestead, including 1994 champion David Green. He’s vying to make his first start in series since 2007 at Kentucky. …Michael Annett will attempt to make his series debut for Germain Racing. Annett has eight starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with one top five and two top 10s. … Patrick Sheltra, a native of Indiantown, Fla., made his series debut at Phoenix and is also entered at Homestead.

The closest championship battle in series history – and second closest in a NASCAR national series since the current point system was implemented in 1975 – heads for resolution in this week’s Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Johnny Benson leads Ron Hornaday Jr. by just three points entering the 2008 finale. The closest points battle going into the final race in national series history was 1979, when Darrell Waltrip led Richard Petty by two going into the finale (Petty won the championship).

What’s at stake: Benson’s first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title. He is the 1995 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion. Hornaday would claim an unprecedented fourth championship; become the series’ first back-to-back champion and be the oldest NASCAR national series champion at age 50 years four months 25 days.

The race: Benson is the defending winner of the Ford 200. Hornaday won the race in 2000. There have been 12 consecutive different winners at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 1.5-mile facility was the first track of more than a mile in length to host a series race (in 1996).

Erik Darnell in fourth and Rick Crawford in seventh are separated by just 31 points. The two, along with Mike Skinner in fifth and Matt Crafton in sixth will jockey for position this weekend. Also watch for the top 10 battle. Terry Cook holds a 59-point lead over Chad McCumbee for the 10th position.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series owner championship remains a three-way race. Gail Davis (Benson) holds a three-point lead over DeLana Harvick (Hornaday). Billy Ballew, however, remains mathematically in contention. His Kyle Busch-driven Toyota is 98 points off the lead.