For the first time ever, the NASCAR Cup Series was racing in South Florida and it wasn’t in the month of November. See, Homestead has been the site of NASCAR’s championship weekend every year since 2002. But, with the finale site now being moved to Phoenix for 2020, Homestead needed a new place on the schedule.

This year, that new place was supposed to be March. Unfortunately, this was the second race affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the race was moved from March to this past weekend in June.

The thing about Homestead in the past though, especially under the Championship 4 format which was adopted in 2014, most of the drivers just got out of the way of the title contenders. It wasn’t uncommon for all four to finish in the top five of that said race. In fact, since 2014, the winner of each season at Homestead ended up being the series champion.

So, would the usual suspects still shine at Homestead when a championship trophy wasn’t the reward at the end of the race?

Kevin Harvick had 12 straight top 10 finishes at Homestead and six top fours in-a-row. Martin Truex Jr. had three consecutive top two finishes and led 78 laps, 20 laps and 103 laps respectively in those races. Joey Logano had five straight top six finishes while Kyle Busch had five consecutive top six finishes, three of which being in the top two as well.

They’d be the top favorites right?

Instead, they combined to lead 29 laps all race on Sunday, 27 by Logano and two by Busch. Harvick and Logano finished off the lead lap, Harvick (-1) in 26th and Logano (-2) in 27th.

Truex, was only 12th. Busch, was sixth.

So, did this race run differently without drivers racing them more conservatively? I don’t necessarily think so.

To me, the top three cars in terms of speed this season still finished 1-2-3.

Denny Hamlin won from the pole as he sits alone with most wins this year now with three trips to victory lane. Chase Elliott was second as he should have five top two finishes in his last seven starts on the season. Ryan Blaney was third as he earned his fifth top four result in his last six tries. Throw in his early season speed, and you get Blaney with what should be eight top four finishes already in 2020.

The top three on Sunday are the top three this season, just as this race has run over the last six years prior too.

Who’s to say if Homestead wasn’t the host of championship weekend again this year, that these three wouldn’t be vying for a title?