Five drivers.

One great big piece of hardware.

A ton of cash.

And 400 miles to sort it all out.

And the winner will be….

Remember, you heard it here first.

NASCAR.

I know. I know. This is a great bit of insight and I don’t like to print anything this absurdly obvious. If you read this column last week I said something exactly the same then proceeded to bash NASCAR as the source of all known evil in the universe.

No matter what happens on Sunday — Kurt Busch could go out and lead every lap and his four closest competitors could run into each other on the first lap and finish 40th through 43rd — NASCAR still comes out looking great. A fact ensured by the events at Darlington last week, even though Darlington has become irrelevant for NASCAR, a subject that I am going to leave alone this week.

Going into the final race this weekend at Homestead five drivers are separated by 82 points, giving them all a chance to win the championship and Brian France is looking like a genius. NASCAR even has a good mix of drivers still alive for the championship — someone for everyone.

You’ve got a sentimental favorite in Mark Martin, the 45-year-old who is trying for his first crown after coming so close so many times. Then there is the crowd favorite: NASCAR golden boy Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is looking to continue his father’s legacy. Then there’s the man who has dominated Cup racing for the past decade: Jeff Gordon, who is looking to win his fifth title.

Next is Jimmie Johnson, who is riding a wave of emotion after the tragedy at Hendrick Motorsports and surging after winning four of the last five races. Finally there is Kurt Busch: one of those drivers that polarizes fans. Very few people are indifferent about Kurt Busch — they either love to cheer for him or love to boo him.

If you don’t know this by today, the NASCAR hype machine has failed, which is hard to believe since it got cranked up into high gear before the lights went out last Sunday at Darlington.

This is the closest points in NASCAR history entering the final race and the most dramatic since 1992 when Davey Allison entered the final race at Atlanta leading Alan Kulwicki by 30 points, Bill Elliott by 40, Harry Gant by 97, Kyle Petty by 98 and Mark Martin by 113.

Of course this turned out to be the most dramatic race in NASCAR history. Kulwicki won the championship by the slimmest margin in history, 10 points over Bill Elliott, after collecting the bonus points for leading the most laps. If Elliott collects the five bonus points, then he and Kulwicki tie and Elliott wins the championship by virtue of winning more races that season.

Allison needed to finish sixth to clinch but was caught up in an Ernie Irvan crash that ended his championship bid, even though his team worked feverishly to get him back on the track. I bet I have watched this race 100 times over the last 12 years and knowing the outcome of the race and what would transpire over the next eight months, I get emotional every time.

The worst part is when Allison gets out of his car and waves to the crowd and Ken Squire comments that it just wasn’t his day but he was a young man and he would have other opportunities to win a championship.

Different format then, but Sunday’s race can have this same degree of high drama.

The Chase for the Championship has been an unmitigated success. A fact that is very hard for me to admit since I spent the first part of the season trashing the new format as something that resembled Soviet-style communism.

Proving that he has the same flair for the obvious as I do, France announced this week that the format would be used again in 2005.

Considering the last several championship scenarios — since 1998 only one, 2002, was not decided before the drivers entered the last race — sticking with the Chase format seemed like a foregone conclusion. No announcement necessary.

I guess Mr. France wanted to bask in the glory of what he has created during the biggest week in NASCAR in a long time.