The 44-year-old earned his four championships within his first nine full-time Cup seasons, the last of those coming in 2001.
Advertisement
Race leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a different opinion about the weather.
“He’s got four championships, so I think he’s got the advantage”, said Harvick, who finished second. “We knew that was going to be a tough situation, but it ended up that it bit us, and I just hate it for these guys”.
One can’t help but wonder, though, what might have happened if NASCAR brought everyone back Monday morning to finish the race. The team reported neither right-side tire was flat, but discovered one of the tires had a small cut after running over a piece of debris. “But, in the end, the big picture is what it’s all about”.
Busch has managed just one top-five finish in 10 starts at Homestead, and his average finish of 23.1 is the worst among the drivers eligible for the title. He missed the first 11 races of the Cup season after breaking his right leg and left foot during the Xfinity opener at Daytona worldwide Speedway. Drivers Joey Logano and Kyle Busch finished the race in 3 and 4 respectively. Busch did more than that. Gordon clinched his advancement to the final round of the Chase with his win at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on November 1. They don’t have a Chase and they have an exciting championship battle heading into their final race of 2015.
The season finale at Homestead may not have the Penske team, but will have the sport’s other three strongest teams represented. He came to Phoenix hoping to win for a fifth consecutive time at the 1-mile track in the desert and led for 143 of the rain-shorted race’s 219 laps. When asked about the ongoing weirdness for him during this year’s Chase – including the Phoenix round – Logano stuck to a positive spin.
“It feels awesome. This is what the format is and you have to go race against three other guys”.
Sunday’s rain-shortened finish to the Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix was a fitting way to continue what’s been an ultimately unsatisfying Chase. “(Today’s race) actually went a little better than we anticipated. That was encouraging just as a team and the way we analyzed everything. “We’ll go do the same thing next week”. But when a pivotal race that decides the championship field isn’t run to completion, it’s hard to see clearly through the clouds. “You just want a chance”. Truex beat Edwards by five points, but that’s just five positions on the track. There was obviously a few bittersweet emotions in Earnhardt Jr. He sounded happy to get his third win of 2015, and finishing in the Top 5 in 16 races, but couldn’t mask the disappointment of not being able to contend for his first ever Sprint-Cup title.
“I think the reason why we won this race is because of the way we qualified to give ourselves a position to be up front (well, relatively near it) all night”, Earnhardt said to NBC Sports.
“It’s different now and I appreciate that, but at the same time sometimes it’s really cool the way the points are and sometimes it’s very frustrating the way the points are. It works out for a few, and some it doesn’t”. Rain postponed the start of the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500, scheduled for 2:45 PM eastern time, for nearly seven hours. Beating Martin to the caution flag, Gordon was able to remain on the lead lap and catch up to the rear of the field.
Advertisement
But before the green flag could come back out, the rain again descended upon Phoenix and NASCAR was forced to call the race.
