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. Max Pacioretty Jersey . Now tied for second in the league in shootout goals, the 24-year-old likes to see what the opposing goaltender has in store before he ultimately lands on a move. Cody Eakin Jersey . The veteran safety was a starter for the Bengals from 2008-2012. He totaled 41 tackles and three interceptions while starting all but four of the 13 games he played last season. http://www.goldenknightssale.com/authentic-tomas-nosek-golden-knights-jersey/ . -- Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis was charged Thursday with driving while intoxicated, a day after he was suspended for an NFL substance-abuse policy violation. Shea Theodore Jersey . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. Mark Stone Jersey . The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. Alex Morgan and Christen Press missed penalties in a shootout and the United States womens soccer team crashed out of the Olympics without a medal after losing to Sweden in the quarterfinals on Friday.Morgans 77th-minute goal had canceled out Stina Blackstenius opener for Sweden before the game went to penalties at 1-1, where Sweden won 4-3 and eliminated the three-time defending gold medalists.After the U.S. failed to medal for the first time since womens soccer became an Olympic sport in 1996, goalkeeper Hope Solo criticized Swedens defensive style of play.I thought that we played a courageous game, Solo said. I thought that we had many opportunities on goal. I think we showed a lot of heart. We came back from a goal down, Im very proud of this team.I also think we played a bunch of cowards. But, you know, the best team did not win today; I strongly, firmly believe that. I think you saw Americas heart. You saw us give everything that we had today. Unfortunately the better team didnt win.Told about Solos comments, Sweden coach Pia Sundhage said: Its OK to be a coward if you win.The U.S. threatened three minutes into the game when Morgans header was cleared off the line, and?Morgan Brians follow-up attempt was tipped over the bar by Sweden keeper?Hedvig Lindahl.Morgan started another U.S. charge in the 27th minute when she carried the ball wide of the goal then cut back for Carli Lloyd, whose first-time shot was saved.The Americans best chance in the first half came just before the break when Mallory Pugh played through Lloyd, but?Lindahl came off her line to make a good save.Lloyd came close again as the second half began, but her free kick sailed over the bar.Sweden, led by former U.S. Sundhage, took the lead in the 61st minute when?Lisa Dahlkvist split the U.S. center-backs with a long through ball from within her own half. Substitute Blackstenius ran onto the ball, took one touch and sent a low shot past Solo inside the far post.The U.S. pushed for an equalizer and came close 10 minutes later when substitute?Crystal Dunn squared the ball to a sliding Morgan, who could not keep a shot on target, and Lloyds follow-up went wide.With Sweden packing defenders into the box, Pughs shot went high, before Brians header drifted wide of the post.Bu