Two men, one race, eight points.
That’s all that’s left of the 2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series season.
And this afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Austin Dillon and Sam Hornish Jr. will settle the Nationwide Series championship between them in the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 300.
Dillon comes in with an 8-point lead, but Hornish was faster in both practices on Friday, despite scraping the wall with his Penske Racing Ford early in the morning session.
Not only is this the closest battle of the three NASCAR championships to be settled during Ford Championship Weekend, it’s also the most marked study in contrasts between the two contenders.
Hornish is 34 years old, Dillon is 23.
Dillon is expected to move up to the Sprint Cup Series next year, and at the moment, Hornish doesn’t have a ride for 2014.
Hornish is married and lives in a small-town in Ohio, where he and his wife, Crystal, are expecting their third child next February. Dillon is very much single.
Dillon is very conspicuous walking through the garage in his Charlie 1 Horse cowboy hat. Hornish is so low-key he’s easy to miss.
Hornish drives for Roger Penske, Dillon drivers for his grandfather, Richard Childress.
Dillon pilots a Chevrolet, Hornish a Ford.
Hornish is a three-time IndyCar Series champion, Dillon the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champ.
Where they might be closest is in stats. Dillon is winless on the year, with 13 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes, while Hornish has one victory, 16 top fives and 24 top 10s. But he also has one more DNF than Dillon.
And then there’s this: Both men have a burning desire to walk out of Homestead as the new Nationwide champion.
“I want to win the championship really badly,” said Hornish. “I feel like we're going to go out there and we're going to race hard for it. But we also know that doing it the right way and trying to do it the way a champion would do it is necessary. That's part of winning it.”
“Winning a Nationwide title would mean a lot, have it in your back pocket. Gives you extra confidence,” said Dillon. “I don't lack any confidence. For lack of better words, I'm comfortable in my own skin and happy with where I'm at right now. Just focused on going out and having a solid run. I think that would mean more to me than anything, is putting together a final finishing run this year. It would be great, just keeping it solid all weekend long.”
The two will settle things this afternoon.
Qualifying for the EcoBoost 300 is at 1:05 p.m. ET, with the race set for 4:30 p.m. And afterwards, one man will walk away as the new series champion.
