NASCAR Cup Series

Scott, Bayne, others still have plenty to race for in NNS finale

Published Nov. 15, 2014 9:02 a.m. ET

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The NASCAR Nationwide Series championship may already be wrapped up with rookie Chase Elliott clinching the title last weekend in Phoenix. Yet for the rest of the field, there is plenty to race for Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

While there have been 14 different winners thus far in 2014, two drivers who have been on Elliott's rear bumper on in the points standings yet remain winless on the season are Richard Childress Racing's Brian Scott and Roush Fenway Racing's Trevor Bayne.

Although they have both been in contention for wins throughout the season, neither has been able to seal the deal and score a win. Yet neither driver believes the success of their season hinges on whether or not they go to Victory Lane.

"I do feel like there's unfinished business," Scott told FOXSports.com. "For how good we've run as a team all year and how good we are as a team, we should have gone to Victory Lane a couple times. We've been close. It just seems like we're always missing one piece of the puzzle or the stars don't quite align for us."

In his fifth full season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Scott said he and crew chief Phil Gould have struggled to get the car right at the end of the race, while poor restarts and mistakes on pit road have also hurt their efforts.

"I'd say it was a solid season, a consistent season," said Scott. "We put together a lot of strong runs. We were up front a lot. Yeah, wish we would have got to Victory Lane, but we still had a good year. We'll finish in the top five in points. There's a lot to be proud of."

While Scott will have another season in the Nationwide Series, Bayne will be moving up to the Sprint Cup Series to drive the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford full time in 2015.

"If we don't win this weekend, it doesn't make or break our season," said Bayne. "We want to win and that's what we're here to do. We'd love to get a win to finish up the Nationwide Series that way for me going to Sprint Cup next year. I'd love to get a win this year, but if we don't it's not the end of the world for our team."

After an up-and-down season, Bayne feels the team has come together as of late and they have been having some of their best performances in the final weeks of the season. That was shown two weekends ago at Texas Motor Speedway, where Bayne had one of the strongest cars but a blown tire sent his No. 6 Ford hard into the outside wall and ending his day.

"You can't rate a season or yourself off of a win or not," he said. "I feel like I've given it 110 percent every single weekend, we just haven't had the speed to be able to do it. If I felt like I made mistakes throughout the year and gave away wins, then yeah, I'd feel like I had unfinished business. Man, I've given it everything I have this year. Our cars just haven't been the best. Texas, had that hope of being able to win and blew a right front tire. Nobody can do anything about that."

Despite his struggles, Bayne is confident in his team's ability and is optimistic about his chances at scoring that first victory of the season on Saturday.

"I think we've got a great shot at it this weekend," he said. "We've got speed, it drives pretty good, we made big gains in practice, and we came here to do one thing. We can't change in the points, we can't fall from sixth, we can't get any better than sixth, so we're here to win."

So, while Chase Elliott may have wrapped up the championship last weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, there is still plenty to race for during Saturday's season-finale at Homestead. 

VIDEO: Chase Elliott celebrates clinching the 2014 Nationwide Series championship at Phoenix

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