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HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Today's NASCAR Sprint Cup season finale marks the end of an era for Tony Stewart, who will leave the only team he's raced for in Cup to start his own team next year.

Stewart leaves Joe Gibbs Racing where he made his series debut in 1999 and went on to win two championships and 33 races.

Stewart admits the realization of leaving JGR, crew chief Greg Zipadelli and the crew hit him this weekend.

"We all just want to do good because it's the last time that we're together,'' Stewart said. "It's a hard weekend for all of us. It's been hard on me.

"We don't want to end with a wreck or a 35th-place finish. This is a weekend where we want to have a good run and show everybody how we got where we are after 10 years."

Also moving on is Ryan Newman, who has been with Penske Racing since 2000 when he made his Cup debut. Newman won 13 races, including this year's Daytona 500, and finished in the top 10 in points four times.

Other changes for next year include Mark Martin moving from Dale Earnhardt Inc. to race for Hendrick Motorsports full time. Casey Mears leaves Hendrick to join Richard Childress Racing as that organization expands to four cars. Also, Paul Menard leaves DEI for Yates Racing, and Reed Sorenson leaves Ganassi Racing for Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

FIXING THE SPORT: Three-time champion Darrell Waltrip says NASCAR needs to make several changes -- other than the test ban for 2009 -- to help the sport. One major change he would make is with the schedule.

"You've got to get the season shortened up, so we're not competing against the NFL," Waltrip said of the fall portion of the schedule. "I firmly believe this would help TV ratings and it would also give us an offseason."

Fine, so what would he do?

"I'd race on New Year's Eve," he said. "I'd go to Fontana (Calif.). I could pack the joint. I'd have a race that afternoon, and I would have fireworks that night. People would love that.

"I'd race on Super Bowl Sunday. We could start the race at 1 o'clock like we used to, everybody is at home and parties are going on for the Super Bowl, plus I get to watch a race."

JUNIOR ON MERGER: Dale Earnhardt Jr. talked this weekend for the first time publicly about the merger between his old team, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing. He was asked what his father might have thought of the deal.

"He would had better luck at securing the sponsorship than they currently do with the state they are in," Earnhardt Jr. said of DEI. "When my daddy died, all of that changed. If he was here, he would be sad, but he is not and everybody has to go do their own thing and make their own way."

WINLESS STREAKS: Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick are among drivers looking to snap season-long winless streaks today. Gordon has not gone winless in a season since 1993. Kenseth has had at least one win a year for six seasons. Harvick has had at least one win a year the past three seasons.

NATIONWIDE: Carl Edwards won the season-ending Ford 300 on Saturday night in Homestead, Fla., but came up 21 points short in his attempt to overtake Clint Bowyer for the Nationwide Series championship.

All Bowyer had to do to keep Edwards from winning a second straight title was finish in the top eight, and he did that easily. He grabbed fifth to stay on top of the standings, right where he has been most of the year.

PIT STOPS: Denny Hamlin was the fastest in Saturday's final practice session with a lap of 164.429 mph. Greg Biffle (163.607 mph) was second with Scott Speed (163.478) next. Points leader Jimmie Johnson was fourth with a lap of 163.339 mph. He radioed his crew at the end of practice that his shifter broke off. Carl Edwards was 22nd on the speed chart at 162.113 mph.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com