No Conor McGregor among Chase finalists, who all get along - for now

MIAMI BEACH -- If NASCAR’s four championship contenders hadn’t been wearing their firesuits during a Thursday news conference, you could have mistaken them for buddies hanging out talking about racing.

All that was missing was a dinner table or a bar. Otherwise, the jokes, smiles, side conversations – and even some smartphone checking (we’re looking at you, Kyle Busch) – were more telling of a friendly gathering than a preview of NASCAR’s championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, NBC).

These guys seem to really like each other, at least for the time being.

“Right now, yes,” Busch said. “In about 25 more seconds, no.”

They laughed together at that comment, as they’d been doing throughout a week-long media tour.

“We love each other,” Joey Logano said, only half-joking.

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Shouldn’t these four hate each other, shooting icy glares toward the competition like boxers before a heavyweight fight? Shouldn’t they threaten to toss a chair like Conor McGregor?

They don’t see a reason to.

“I don’t think anything I’m going to say to these guys is going to make their car any slower on Sunday, so there’s really no point,” Carl Edwards said.

“You’re going to make him go faster, you’re going to make him want it more,” Busch said of any trash-talking. “There’s no sense in doing any of that.”

Busch paused, then wondered aloud why other athletes bother with all the theatrics in the first place.

“The UFC fighters, they egg each other on – but you’re just going to get hit harder,” the defending Cup champion said.

But the cordial tone isn’t like this every year in NASCAR. In 2010, Jimmie Johnson played mind games with a nervous Denny Hamlin until the latter driver started looking pale (Hamlin then coughed up the title a few days later). In 2011, Tony Stewart needled Edwards with swagger-filled promises (“I’d wreck my mom to win a championship”) and ultimately backed it up. And in 2014, Kevin Harvick took shots at Logano, who didn’t seem particularly amused – even less so after Harvick won.

No one was going there Thursday, though.

Johnson said there were two reasons for the lack of barbs. First, everyone in the final already has experience in a championship fight, so any mind games would be negated (“I’ve sat on this stage before where guys were kind of going for their first opportunity under these lights, and I don’t have that luxury this year,” said the six-time champion).

Second, there’s no bad blood carrying over from any incidents – from the Chase or even the regular season. This wasn’t exactly a year of rivalries, and that’s now reflected in the finale.

“There’s really nothing lingering -- not to say there won’t be by Sunday night,” Johnson said. “So it doesn’t surprise me with the group of four that’s there. If you change a couple people out, it could have definitely been different. With this group, I can’t recall anybody having an issue with one another.”

Harvick wouldn’t have been as pleasant, in all likelihood. Brad Keselowski might have tried to mix things up. Stewart? NASCAR might have had to charge admission.

But this particular group is about respect over rivalry. Perhaps it’s because they know their championship hopes are roughly equal, with none of them really the true favorite.

That’s what can happen in a format with a one-race championship among four drivers: No one has an edge.

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So with a chance to enjoy the ride, the drivers have been doing just that. Edwards and Busch helped Johnson ride a high-wheel bicycle down the hallway during one media stop this week; they laughed through a Facebook Live chat at another.

“It’s kind of been fun,” Busch said. “These guys are easy to get along with, easy to talk to, easy to have a good time with and joke around and mess around, so it’s been good.”

The championship battle would certainly be more interesting if it was the opposite, but the drivers can’t force it. They race against each other from February through November, live in the same motorhome community, and they get to know each other as people – away from the temper-filled cockpits of their cars.

“We’re all out there as competitors, but right now we’re outside the car, we also get along, right?” Logano said. “We’ve gotten to spend a lot of time together this week.”

As it turns out, familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt.

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck