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By Reid SpencerNASCAR Wire ServiceJimmie Johnson has been there before -- more than any other driver in the past two decades.But this trip to Homestead-Miami Speedway for Sundays Ford EcoBoost 400 (2:30 p.m. ET) is different. In the first place, Johnson has his first opportunity to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship under the 16-driver elimination format introduced by the sanctioning body in 2014.Beyond that, in what is the transcendent story of this years Chase, Johnson has a chance to win a seventh series title, one that would tie him for the all-time lead with NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.And crew chief Chad Knaus has been with the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for every mile of the journey -- well, almost every mile, the occasional suspension notwithstanding.Yeah, its a little different for sure, Knaus said of the elimination format. Obviously weve been able to go down to Homestead and bid for the championship in a lot of different scenarios, with a points deficit, with a points lead, and this is definitely unique, starting at zero and just going out there for the best man to win. Im comfortable with it. Im looking forward to it.Quite honestly, I think the Lowes Chevrolet has been fast over the course of the last handful of weeks. Our pit crew has been performing very well. Jimmie is very comfortable and in a good state of mind. Im really excited about it. Im looking forward to getting down there for sure.Knaus could tie Richard Pettys long-time crew chief, Dale Inman (another NASCAR Hall of Famer) with seven titles with the same driver. In fact, continuity has been the hallmark of the No. 48 teams effort since day one.Whats really cool about it is, if we were able to pull this off, it would be seven titles with the same driver, same crew chief, same sponsor (Lowes) and same team, which would be even more phenomenal, Knaus said. Its been an honor to be able to work with Jimmie, Lowes and Hendrick Motorsports throughout this portion of my career. Looking forward to it extending a long time.But being able to represent this company and our associates the way that we have has been a lot of fun. To Jimmie personally, obviously he is by far one of my best friends, and to be able to have seen him grow and mature into the driver and the family man that he is has been awesome. Its been a great ride.A seventh title for Johnson, however, is far from a given. Joe Gibbs Racing has two entries with defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, and they have two sets of data to use in preparation for the Championship 4 race.Additionally, Edwards participated in a tire test at Homestead in October, and crew chief Dave Rogers feels that gives his driver a slight edge over his teammate.Yeah, I think testing there is an advantage, Rogers said. We talked early in the season about which teams want to test where, and then we all agreed on which teams would test at each track. It was important for Carl and I to test at Homestead because we do think its an advantage. Its absolutely open notebook. All of our teammates have every bit of data.I took my personal notes, what I thought, things I saw, when the clouds came in, when the rain showers came in, how I thought it affected the race car beyond what you see in the data, and I gave that to all of our crew chiefs, including Adam (Stevens, Buschs crew chief). So they have that information.But its the personal experience. Its living it. Its seeing the cars with your own eyes. Its seeing the expression in the drivers face. That live experience, theres something to it. I think our teammates are going to get 85 to 90 percent by looking at our notes and looking at our data, but that extra 10 percent is just being there and living through it.Stevens, on the other hand, feels he can rely on the data gather by Edwards and Rogers.With regard to the test, in my eyes theres really not much difference from my perspective of being at the test or having a teammate go, said Stevens, who won the title last year in his first year as Buschs Sprint Cup crew chief. The biggest benefit from acquiring the test data is literally getting the track data from the car and the driver to use to develop our simulation tools.We could have sent anybody down there to do that. Certainly Carl and Dave gathered that information for us and shared everything they could to help make our program as good as it can be. Would it have been nice to go? Yes. But that also takes away from preparing for that weeks event. As tight as the schedules are, you kind of have to balance that out and spread that workload out amongst the teams.Joey Logano didnt participate in the Homestead tire test, but he has performed admirably on tracks that have featured the same tire codes as the ones in use at Homestead this weekend. Logano was runner-up in the Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway and finished second to Edwards at Texas.We led a lot at Texas, Loganos crew chief, Todd Gordon said. I felt like we were very strong there. Finished second to Carl on a rain-shortened race. Id have loved to have seen where that race went. But I feel very strong about our chances going forward here. I feel really good about the improvements weve made.I felt like at Charlotte we had speed, and we had a tire failure, but showed some of that. We finished well and were second at Chicago on the same tire. We were second at Texas on this tire that weve got at Homestead. I feel like weve been able to battle for it, and were continuing to make our stuff better. I love our chances going to Homestead. Wholesale Blue Jays Jerseys . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Blue Jays Jerseys 2020 . -- Ken Appleby made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season to lead the Oshawa Generals to a 2-0 win over the Belleville Bulls on Wednesday in Ontario Hockey League action. https://www.cheapbluejays.com/ . "We have always prided ourselves on the way we play defence. Having two big pieces back is going to be a key for us moving forward for years to come," said Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen. Toronto Blue Jays Gear . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. Toronto Blue Jays Pro Shop . Numbers Game examines the deal that sees Michael Del Zotto and Kevin Klein switch places. The Predators Get: D Michael Del Zotto. David Warner may yet miss both of Australias warm-up matches in Sri Lanka, but both he and coach Darren Lehmann are confident he will be fit and ready for the first Test starting on July 26.Warner missed the second half of the recent one-day tri-series in the West Indies due to a broken finger and he is expected to sit out of an intra-squad practice match in Sri Lanka next week. The Australians hope Warner will be able to play a first-class tour game that follows, but even if he misses that he could still figure in the first Test.Ive done it before, Warner told reporters in Sydney on Friday, referring to going into a Test with no warm-up games. Ive picked up a bat and gone back out there and tried to play to the best of my abilities. Sometimes it comes off. You always want some time in the nets.For myself, Ive said in the past, less is more. I prefer to go into a lot of the games fresh. I dont usually hit a lot leading into any series or any game. I just like to go in there and bat for 20 minutes or so.The injury to Warners left index finger, sustained while fielding in an ODI in St Kitts, has prevented him from any form of batting for nearly a month. Warner said more than batting, he was concerned about how ready he would be to take an active part in the field for Australia, in his usual position in the slip cordon.The biggest thing for myself is the fielding aspect, Warner said. I field in the slips, so Im going to hhave to try take a handful of catches there to make sure its nice and warm.ddddddddddddustralias coach Darren Lehmann was equally confident that Warner would be ready to take his place alongside Joe Burns at the top of the order for the first Test. Shaun Marsh is the back-up batsman in Australias squad who would likely step in if Warner was ruled out.He will be fine, Lehmann told the Age. He probably wont play the two-day game but should play the first-class game - the tour game before we play the first Test. Even if he didnt, I am not too worried about that. He is one of these guys who picks up a bat quite quickly.He has had broken fingers and injuries before, and we have just plugged him back into Test cricket and he is fine. We would like him to play the tour game and, hopefully, medically he can, but if he cant, I am not too stressed. As long as he is available for the first Test.Lehmann is also returning from some time off, having stayed at home in Australia while Justin Langer stood in as head coach for the tour of the West Indies.I am really excited to get back in the hot seat, if you like, Lehmann said. Justin did a great job and obviously had a good result in the West Indies. I think he summed it up beautifully, the way we have a bit of improvement to do in that format of the game. ' ' '