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And so, here we are on Sunday, nine months to the day since the 2006 Nextel Cup season was born just a few hundred miles up the eastern Florida coast in Daytona Beach. And like a typical pregnancy that runs its full course of gestation, Sunday's Ford 400 will give birth to a new champion in the world of stock car racing. Sure, there have been labor pains along the way, including Tony Stewart missing the Chase for the Nextel Cup, thus being unable to defend last year's championship. Even as the season was conceived, there were issues like Chad Knaus being suspended for the first four races after trying to play fast and loose with the rules at Daytona. And on the way to full term, there was the occasional kicking – OK, maybe booting might be a better choice of words – like when Brian Vickers punted both Dale Earnhardt Jr. and current points leader Jimmie Johnson – the clear title favorite – out of the way on the final lap at Talladega. There also was morning sickness every Monday after the first nine Chase races, as several Chase competitors still were sick to their stomachs over the horrible races they had endured the day before. Looking around Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, you could see and hear fans acting much like expectant parents. But instead of asking whether the newborn would be a boy or girl, they want to know if their driver would make it to the checkered flag first. Drive anywhere near the sprawling HMS complex south of Miami and you definitely can see that fans are wearing their emotions on their sleeves – those that are part of colorful t-shirts, that is – not to mention on the caps on their heads or the jackets on their backs. Scan the horizon and there's no question that the vast majority of those in attendance want the Chase competitor with the least likely chance of winning the championship – Dale Earnhardt, driver of the bright red No. 8 Chevrolet – to be crowned king. Coming into Sunday's race 115 points behind Johnson, Earnhardt's chances are slim at best. About the only way he might have a chance at the title is if he surreptitiously sneaks into the Cup garage in the middle of the night and dumps sugar in the gas tanks of Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick. But as many fans as Junior will have rooting him on, the other Chase finalists will also be well-represented. Reflecting back on the last two Chase-concluding races here in South Florida, Johnson seems to have earned a whole new audience this year. Even though it's an imprecise study, my recollection of Johnson fans the last two years was they were in far less abundance than this year. It's the same with Kevin Harvick, who has earned more attractors than detractors both at Homestead and across the rest of the NASCAR Nation, partly because this is his first Chase but also as a result of the more mature and under-control personality he has displayed in 2006, just like Johnson. Last but certainly not least are the two opposite ends of the spectrum: the guy with the most experience and overall career success of any driver in the title hunt vs. the one with the least. 2003 Cup champ Matt Kenseth, who at 34 is the old man among the five title contenders, against the newest and youngest kid on the block, rookie Denny Hamlin, who turned 26 on Saturday. What a birthday present the Virginia native could give himself on Sunday if he finds a way to beat out Kenseth, Johnson, Harvick and Earnhardt. And with a horrible track record at HMS, Kenseth concedes it'll take a near-miracle for him to overtake Johnson and become the second driver in Cup history to win a championship both before and as a part of the Chase (Tony Stewart has done it). Kenseth is everything Hamlin aspires to be: a solid performer who is calm and collected. And while Kenseth has cracked somewhat from the pressure of this year's Chase, Hamlin still is as steady and loose today as he was going into his first Daytona 500. In his first full season in the Cup series, Hamlin has enjoyed the best season of a newcomer since Stewart in 1999 – somewhat ironic considering they not only are teammates on Joe Gibbs Racing, they also are pupil (Hamlin) and teacher (Stewart). One thing that likely won't be a factor in Sunday's race is weather. NASCAR couldn't have ordered a more perfect day, with temperatures expected to be in the mid-70s and with only a 10 percent chance of precipitation. But the late stages of the scheduled 267-lap race over the 1½-mile race track could be dramatically affected by searing glare on the frontstretch, with the race slated to finish under the lights. That glare was a factor in the last two races, particularly in 2004 when 14 cautions stretched what typically is a three to 3½-hour event to a nearly four-hour marathon. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sun had risen just a couple hours earlier as I drove to the track prior to Friday's practice and qualifying. Along the way, I spied a majestic-looking white crane standing alongside one of the myriad irrigation ditches that run through the numerous farms and tree nurseries that surround HMS. I couldn't help but connect the symbolism of the beautiful bird to the start of Sunday's race, with an upright flair of alertness and anticipation, ready for anything that came in its path. As I drove to the track Saturday, I spotted the complete antithesis of that crane: an eight-foot alligator lazily lounging in the same canal not more than a few feet from where I saw the crane the day before. I wondered where the crane was. Did the alligator have him for breakfast? My mind quickly went back to the race and the symbolism both animals held. Will Sunday's event be three-plus hours of exciting racing that will finish with crane-like majesty, or will it be one of wreck-filled mayhem perpetrated by someone who devours everything in his path? We'll find out Sunday when the new champion enters the world. Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski is Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR columnist. Send Jerry a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.