Maybe something from an uplifting sports movie or drama. Kind of like a Knute Rockne's “win one for the Gipper” or a “Carpe diem” type of line.

So what movie was quoted during the Sprint Cup championship contenders press conference Thursday?

“Dumb and dumber.”

Suffice to say, the contenders media day lacked much deep thought.

The “Dumb and Dumber” scene, of course, is when actor Jim Carrey is told by a pretty woman that he has a one-in-a-million chance of getting together with her.

“So you’re telling me there’s a chance? Yeah!” he says.

For Kevin Harvick, that appears to be his inspiration.

“It’s kind of like that quote from ‘Dumber and Dumber’ — so you’re saying there’s a chance, that’s all you want is a chance,” said Harvick, obviously not an expert on movie names.

Harvick is 34 points behind points leader Jimmie Johnson and six points behind Matt Kenseth going into the season finale Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

All Johnson needs to do is finish 23rd — 24th or 25th if he leads — to win the title.

Only twice this year has Kenseth scored more than 28 points than Johnson in a race. That’s what he’d have to do Sunday. Harvick would need to gain 35 points.

Kenseth referenced his deficit as the reason the drivers were relaxed at their press conference Thursday. They know Johnson would have to have a rare off day or mechanical failure to lose the title.


HARVICK OVERCOMES CONTROVERSY


In the hours after Kevin Harvick ripped the grandsons of team owner Richard Childress, many believed he had sealed his fate for the rest of 2013.

Harvick says he still believed he could win the Sprint Cup championship but many others believed he had created too much drama and tension for even the fiercest of competitors to overcome.

Harvick called Childress’ grandsons, Austin and Ty Dillon, “punk-ass kids” in a fit of rage after Ty wrecked him in the Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. Just 46 points behind the points leader with four races remaining, it appeared that Harvick had just ruined any team chemistry needed to win the title.

Even crew chief Gil Martin had questions about the team's ability to overcome the crisis until Harvick apologized and went out and finished sixth in the Sprint Cup race the next day. And in a year when Harvick's goal has been to prove he can perform despite being a lame-duck driver, he still has a shot at the championship going into the season finale Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“You realize you didn’t want to be in that position, but you can’t go backwards, you have to go forwards,” Harvick said Thursday. “We had our conversations Sunday morning and tried to put it behind us and do the best we could.

“There’s been a lot of stuff, whether it be that weekend or stuff behind the scenes that you have to deal with on a weekly basis from the politics standpoint that you have to put behind yourself throughout the year to when you get in the car. That was one that was unnecessary but we dealt with it and moved on.”

Harvick followed up with two more top-10s, finishing eighth at Texas and then winning the Cup race Sunday at Phoenix. He is third in the standings, a longshot at 34 points behind Johnson.

“This deal is tough enough like it is, and obviously you don't want things like that to happen, but it did,” Martin said. “I felt like after several phone conversations and several face to face conversations that we would get right back on track.”


FRANCHITTI FORCED TO RETIRE


Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti said Thursday that doctors have told him he can no longer race because of injuries sustained in an IndyCar crash last month.

Franchitti fractured his spine, broke his right ankle and suffered a concussion in the Oct. 6 crash at Houston. The crash occurred on the last lap when his car made contact with another car and went sailing into a fence.

The 40-year-old Franchitti underwent two surgeries on his ankle and recently returned home to Scotland to recover.

"One month removed from the crash and based upon the expert advice of the doctors who have treated and assessed my head and spinal injuries post accident, it is their best medical opinion that I must stop racing," Franchitti said. "They have made it very clear that the risks involved in further racing are too great and could be detrimental to my long term well-being. Based on this medical advice, I have no choice but to stop."

The four-time IndyCar champion has been the face of the series since he returned in 2009 following a brief stint in NASCAR. He won three consecutive titles from 2009 to 2011, and two of his three Indy 500 wins.


DAUGHTERS HELP DUO


With daughters close to the same age, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson can’t help but talk to each other.

That’s because their daughters like to talk to each other. Kenseth’s daughters, Kaylin, 4, and Grace, 2, are friends with Johnson’s 3-year-old daughter, Genevieve, and that has impacted how the two drivers feel about each other, at least off the racetrack.

Johnson typically tries to steer clear of drivers he's racing for the championship. It's not that easy this year.

“In 2010, I didn’t want to talk to Denny (Hamlin),” Johnson said. “When I saw him, I wanted to look the other way.

“When Matt and I are on stage, we both have our daughters, they're talking and friends and we’re chatting and it’s just much more relaxed.”

It’s so relaxed that Johnson actually visited Kenseth’s motorhome on race day at Martinsville Speedway last month. Not to see Matt — he already had gone to the garage.

But a delivery had to be made. Johnson explains:

“We ran up the street (Saturday) at Martinsville to CVS just to get (my wife) Chani out of the bus — she’d been in there for so many days trapped with two kids — and my daughter wanted to get play dough for Matt’s kids. … We walked down (Sunday) and rang the doorbell and Genevieve handed out the play dough.”

But that wasn’t the end of the story.

“She actually stayed (there),” Johnson said. “She wanted to stay and play and (Kenseth’s wife) Katie had her come in for a little bit. When I went back to my bus, my wife was like, ‘You let her stay there? It’s race day. You can’t do that to Katie.’

“I’m like, ‘I know. I knew I was going to get in trouble for this. But Katie insisted.’ She was like, ‘You go get her,’ so I went back down to get her.”

Contributors: Bob Pockrass, The Associated Press

PHOTOS: 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup winners