Homestead, FL (The Sports Network) - Amid the palm trees in South Florida, the 2010 Sprint Cup Series season will conclude in dramatic fashion this weekend at Homestead Florida, as three drivers -- Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick -- will battle for the championship.

Only 15 points separate the leader Hamlin from second-place Johnson, making it the closest points margin between the top two drivers heading into the final Chase race of the season since NASCAR began its playoff format for its top- tier series in 2004.

Kevin Harvick currently trails Hamlin by 46 points.

The points margin among the top-three drivers significantly tightened after Sunday's race at Phoenix.

Hamlin dominated most of the race by leading 190 laps, but was forced to pit with 14 laps remaining. He wound up finishing 12th and saw his lead shrink from 33 points to 15 over Johnson, who conserved enough fuel at the end to finish fifth. Harvick overcame a loose lugnut during a late-race pit stop to cross the line in sixth.

If Hamlin, the defending race winner at Homestead, wins the 400-mile race or finishes second with the most laps led, he is guaranteed his first Sprint Cup championship.

"We just hope to have a clean race next week and the best car win; that's all we can ask for to crown the champ," Hamlin said. "I'm proud that we've stepped up our performance like we have over these last few weeks. It's very proud for me to be able to do that. So I'm just going to continue to keep digging as hard as I can go and try to beat those guys.

"It's going to be tough. Those guys are going to be good. We see that every week. They're top five. As far as I'm concerned, it's going to take a win."

Hamlin leads the series with eight wins so far this season, including two in the Chase (Martinsville and Texas). If Homestead concludes with a points tie for the championship, Hamlin would clinch the title based on his eight wins for the year. Johnson has six victories, while Harvick has three.

Johnson is aiming for his record-extending fifth straight title. He had gone into the season-finale as the points leader in all four of his championship seasons, including a triple-digit points advantage heading to Homestead in each of the past two years.

"It probably would be received better than the ones in the past, with the runaway show we've had on a couple of them," Johnson said. "I don't care how I win it. However we win it, that's cool. I would love to come back and win from behind and eliminate that stat because that seems to be the only thing that everyone talks about right now."

Since NASCAR revised its points system in 1975, just two drivers have overcome a deficit in the last race of the season to win the Cup championship. Richard Petty accomplished the feat in 1979 to earn his seventh title, and Alan Kulwicki turned the trick in 1992.

Johnson finished 25th in the first race of the Chase in September in Loudon, New Hampshire. He has placed ninth or better in each of the last eight races, including a win at Dover.

"When I look at the way we started the Chase, I'm more frustrated at what we did then in the fact we didn't capitalize at Loudon," he said. "We missed a pit call late in the race [at Texas]. Everybody behind us had tires on. We ended up ninth. When you go back through the season, look at little things, we've left points on the table. That's unlike us from years past. That's the part we're fighting right now."

Johnson has yet to win in nine starts at Homestead. His best finish at this 1.5-mile oval is second, which came in 2004. He finished fifth here one year ago.

Harvick is also winless in nine Cup races at Homestead, but has been impressive the last two years here, finishing second in 2008 and third in '09.

"That's been a great racetrack, statistically, for us," Harvick said. "It's our best racetrack on the circuit, so we're looking forward to it."

When the series came to Homestead in 2004, five drivers remained in championship contention, with an 82-point margin separating leader Kurt Busch from fifth-place Mark Martin. Johnson trailed Busch by 18 points, while Jeff Gordon was 21 down and Dale Earnhardt Jr. 72 back.

Busch rebounded from a detached right front wheel early in the race to finish fifth and clinch the inaugural Chase title by a scant eight points over Johnson, making it the closest championship battle in series history.

Will we see a closer points finish on Sunday?

Forty-five teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Ford 400.