Sunday’s AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway represented all that is good, great, and bad about NASCAR. From the outset, the race had a feeling of shaking up the points standings. Only four Chasers started in the top-10, and that did not include either Jimmie Johnson or Brad Keselowski. Johnson, in fact, started 24th, worst among all Chase drivers. Johnson’s poll position would influence the events that followed.

Pole-sitter Kyle Busch dominated the majority of the race, supplanted by only Denny Hamlin and Keselowski for certain stretches. However, Busch’s dominance was completely overshadowed by the final 85 laps of the race. On lap 235, Johnson blew a right-front tire, causing him to hit the wall hard off Turn 4. His crew would have to do repairs behind the wall, dropping him to a finishing position of 32nd. In turn, all Keselowski had to do to leave Phoenix with the points lead was stay away from any and all trouble. Easier said than done.

During a lap 272 caution period, Keselowski pitted from third place, dropping himself to seventh. Keselowski was never really able to break free of traffic, and remained in the bottom half of the top-10 for the duration of the race. With just under 15 laps remaining, Chasers Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon made contact following a restart, resulting in a cut tire for Gordon, and eventually ending with him brushing the wall. Coming to the white flag, Gordon found himself alongside Bowyer once more, and proceeded to spin him hard into the wall, wrecking himself, Bowyer, as well as an innocent Joey Logano. Aric Almirola spun into them as well.

What followed was even more chaotic. The race was red-flagged as Gordon made his way back to the garage area. At the same time, Bowyer’s crew rushed over to meet him and a melee ensued between both crews. The cameras were also on Bowyer as he sprinted from his destroyed car to the garage area to confront Gordon. All drivers and team members were eventually restrained, but the media story of the week had already been created.

Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick, who had stolen the lead from Busch on the same restart when Bowyer and Gordon originally made contact, had to endure a Green-White-Checkered restart. Harvick, as well as several others, were close on fuel, raising the stakes even more. Following the GWC restart, Jeff Burton got into the back of Danica Patrick, wrecking her in the process. NASCAR, however, did NOT throw the caution, despite Patrick being stationary in the middle of turns 3 & 4. As she got going, oil and various other fluids streamed from beneath her car, spreading all over the track. Still, officials failed to slow the field, resulting in all the drivers racing through the debris and fluid. The first few, including the leader Harvick, made it through, but the same could not be said for Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, and others. The heavy crash as the field crossed the finish line nearly took out Keselowski, who managed to finish sixth with only minor damage.

Harvick was the winner, his first victory since Richmond in the fall of 2011. Hamlin and Kyle Busch would follow him across the line, with Kasey Kahne and a wrecking Newman filling out the top-five. Keselowski, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard, and Martin rounded out the top-10. The points standings were shook up a great deal by the finishing results, and even more by the 25 point penalty levied against Gordon for his on-track actions.

The official standings look this way.

This week all three major NASCAR series move to Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida. With his 20-point lead, Brad Keselowski needs only to finish 15th or better to clinch his first NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, regardless of what Jimmie Johnson is able to accomplish.

Last season’s race was won by Tony Stewart on his way to his third Sprint Cup championship. It was also his third victory at Homestead. Greg Biffle is the only other driver to match him at Homestead, with three wins of his own. Among other Chasers, only Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth have wins at Homestead. The driver with the best average finish, however, is Carl Edwards at 5.3, including two victories. Roush Fenway Racing has eight victories in total at Homestead, so expect them to be strong once again.

It will be very interesting to see if Johnson can overcome his 20-point deficit this weekend. It will take an uncharacteristically poor run by Keselowski and his team, however. Despite never finishing better than 13th at Homestead in the past, expect him to continue his strong end-of-year run. Over the last 21 races this year, dating back to June, Keselowski has finished worse than 15th only once. I expect him to be crowned champion at the end of the night.

Coverage of Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 will begin at 1pm on ESPN. Happy watching!