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For 36 weeks NASCAR has raced all across the country; virtually every weekend from February until this weekend NASCAR crisscrosses the nation. For NASCAR fans that means that most will put their lives on hold for a few hours most Sunday’s and those few Saturday nights when NASCAR races. And while those fans will see different race winners each week, there can only be one NASCAR Cup Series champion.

Just who that that champion will be will be decided Sunday at Homestead. Jimmie Johnson leads Mark Martin by 108 points and while that may seem like an insurmountable gap to overcome, Martin has overcome that deficit nine times, the last time three weeks ago in Texas when Johnson finished 38th and Martin fourth. Martin made up 111 points and could very well do it again this Sunday.

While no one can know the outcome at this point, there are two sure scenarios; either Johnson will become the champion and make NASCAR history as the first driver to accomplish the feat four consecutive times, or Martin will become the oldest Cup champion ever.

The agenda for Johnson and Martin is clear; do whatever they have to in order to win the championship.

For everyone else it will be all about winning that final race of the year.

Every driver wants to win, but some are downright desperate.

Drivers like Greg Biffle. Biffle was hopeful when the Chase started. He was seeded 12th but well within site of first place. But unlike Johnson and Martin, several bad races have taken him out of championship contention and now as the last race nears, Biffle admitted he was somewhat discouraged at times during the Chase.

“At times it's frustrating. At times you feel like you're gaining on them, at times you feel, like at Kansas, for instance, we were a fair amount better than the 48 at Kansas, and it was something new we were trying, something in our development plan,” Biffle said. “So, we were super-excited, we were celebrating like we just won the Daytona 500, won 10 races in a row, even though we finished third, handed it to Tony Stewart, we felt like at that point, man, we've really made a year-and-a-half's worth of gain here in one race”

And then we went to the next week and it was like we didn't know what we were doing. Speaking as far as our car or our team goes, that was a little frustrating, how we were on a high and then we were on a low. We went to California, which we thought would be similar to what worked there would work there and it clearly didn't."

Biffle now finds himself seventh in points heading to the final race. He’s winless so far this year and a winless season is something Biffle wants desperately to avoid. That’s because he has won at least one race every single season since he debuted fulltime in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series in 2003.

Biffle will have a pretty good opportunity to score that much needed win this weekend. He has three consecutive wins in 2004, 2005 and 2006 at Homestead and is the favorite to make it four this Sunday.

“Biffle has an incredible record at Homestead with his three wins in a row,” said his crew chief Greg Erwin. “We know he can get it done if we can give him a fast racecar. Just like most every other week this year, we need to qualify up front and stay there with good pit stops. If we can do that, the rest will be up to Biffle and we should be able to compete for the win. It would be nice to get one in the 'W' column this season and this is our last chance."

He may not have a chance at the championship, but Biffle will still be trying to win and move up in the points.

“Getting the highest finish we can in the points is important,” Biffle said. “We really have an opportunity to be fifth, I think, or at least sixth, it depends what happens. To finish fifth in points would be really big for me, I think. That would be big for our team. So, you're always trying to get the most points you can and try and get your car going for next year, and you're sort of all doing it together."

As Biffle races for the win this Sunday, he said he knows who he like to see win this years NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship.

“I've been rooting for Mark Martin ever since it started, right after myself.” Biffle said “So, I'm still rooting for Mark and I'm still rooting for myself to get fifth in points, or fourth. I think just out of the guys in the Chase, and how hard he's worked and what he's done for our sport, I wouldn't say anybody deserves it, but he certainly is just eligible as everybody else out of the whole mix."

No matter what happens after this Sunday, NASCAR fans will have to figure out what to do until it starts all over again next February.