Finally, NASCAR has found lasting home at Homestead

Moments after Jimmie Johnson crossed the finish line to win his third consecutive Cup Series championship this past weekend, a mobile stage was rolled into place at Homestead-Miami Speedway and an expertly crafted and rehearsed celebration of the season began.

But like many traditions, the idea of a permanent season finale has evolved over time. In NASCAR's early years, not only did the season wind up at what seemed like randomly selected locations, but the last race of the season was frequently not even the last race of the year. And in a blatant attempt to thumb their nose at the calendar, the first race of the 1957 season was run before the final race of the 1956 season.

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Five different tracks hosted the final race of the season in NASCAR's first five seasons, and there were five different winners. The 1949 season came to an end at North Wilkesboro, where Bob Flock took the checkered flag. In 1950, it was Lee Petty winning at Hillsboro. The 1951 season went well into late November, when Frank Moody scored the win at Mobile.

The 1952 season was a rarity, in that the year began and ended at the same track: West Palm Beach. Eventual champion Tim Flock won in January and outgoing champ Herb Thomas took the victory in November. The following year, Buck Baker took home the trophy from the season's final race at Atlanta's Lakewood Speedway.

But starting in 1954, NASCAR began to treat the racing calendar as a separate entity. Even though Oregon's Hershel McGriff won the last race of the season at North Wilkesboro, the race two weeks later -- on Nov. 7, 1954 at High Point, N.C. -- signaled the start of the 1955 season. And for the next 14 seasons, that was the rule rather than the exception.

The most unusual instance of this came in November of 1956. One week after Marvin Panch kicked off the 1957 season with a win on the oiled dirt road course at Lancaster, Calif., on Nov. 11, 1956, Buck Baker capped his 1956 championship season with a win at the Wilson (N.C.) Fairgrounds Speedway in one of Carl Kiekhafer's Chryslers on Nov. 18, 1956.

From 1955 until 1969, teams barely had a chance to catch their collective breaths before the next season. For instance, Darel Dieringer won the 1963 season finale at Riverside International Raceway in California, and the 1964 season kicked off one weekend later at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. That season, there were seven points races in the books before Richard Petty won the first of his seven Daytona 500s.

By 1969, the schedule had thankfully returned to some sense of normalcy, starting at Riverside and in three of the next four seasons, ending at Texas World Speedway. Richard Petty's win there on Dec. 12, 1971, remains the latest scheduled season finale in Cup history.

In contrast, the 1973 season ended at North Carolina Motor Speedway on Oct. 21, the earliest scheduled last race of the season in the Modern Era.

In 1974, NASCAR began finishing the season on the West Coast, first at Ontario Motor Speedway, and when that facility closed its doors, Riverside moved from its traditional season-opening date to the tail end of the schedule from 1981 through 1986.

Atlanta Motor Speedway, which hosted the season finale in 1960 -- the year the track opened for business -- then took ownership of the season finale through the 2000 season. Atlanta was also scheduled to host the final race in 2001, but the events following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11 forced NASCAR officials to reschedule New Hampshire's race for the weekend following the traditional season finale, which placed it after Thanksgiving.

Concerns about holding a Nov. 23 race at the northern-most track on the Cup circuit were alleviated when the weather cooperated nicely. That remains the latest calendar date for a Cup points-paying race since 1975.

The following season, the schedule was revamped, placing Homestead-Miami Speedway as the 36th race of the year. And in case you're wondering, the 2009 season is scheduled to come to a close there on Nov. 22, unforeseen circumstances not withstanding.

One statistical oddity: NASCAR's season finale has been quite partial to drivers whose first initial is B. Starting with Bob Flock in 1949, drivers named Bob or Bobby have won 13 curtain closers. Five of those went to Bobby Allison, while Bobby Labonte has won the season's last race four times.

Three-time season-finale victors include Buck and Buddy Baker, Bill Elliott and Greg Biffle, who won three consecutive Homestead events. Surprisingly, seven-time Cup champions Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt rarely fared well in the season's final race. Only one of Petty's 200 Cup victories came in the season finale -- in a year in which he won 21 times -- and the Intimidator never got to add the icing on the cake with a trip to Victory Lane in any of his championship seasons.

NASCAR's time in the sun
• Caraviello: Homestead the right place to host sport's final weekend (Continued)