Busch won the Ford EcoBoost 400 in the NASCAR finale Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway to win the Chase.
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The title is the fourth NASCAR crown for Joe Gibbs, a three-time Super Bowl winning coach, but first Cup title since 2005.
“In the past, he’d wear his emotions on his sleeve”, Gibbs said four days before Sunday’s race, while explaining his ace pilot’s old approach to problem solving.
Jeff Gordon celebrates his second Winston Cup Championship at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., on November 16, 1997.
“A day of a lifetime”, he said.
“It’s really awesome, awesome, awesome”, he continued.
While it is Busch’s night, it is also a special moment for #24 and we hope Gordon enjoys retirement. “This night wasn’t quite that hard”. Before a almost two-hour delay to start the race because of rain, the FRR team rejiggered the car’s set-up, unhappy with how it handled in practice sessions Saturday.
Before the race, NASCAR paid tribute to Gordon when fans in the grandstands revealed a banner reading “24 ever”, referring the the number Gordon drove the entirety of his career.
With only three career wins in 369 races, Truex never really found a sustained hot streak at Homestead – though his No. 78 Chevrolet caught fire during a pit spot. In the final race of his career, Gordon needed to finish ahead of Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch to become the Sprint Cup champion but Busch won the race to take the title. But it never came back after the green flag flew-for a staggering 237 out of 267 laps.
Busch, starting on the outside of the front row of a restart with seven laps left, got past Brad Keselowski and led the rest of the way. Kyle Busch, defending series champion Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. also will race for the championship Sunday. “The 18 vehicle, he just had us beat for the most part”. His talent is undeniable; his record 76 victories in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and 34 wins in the top-level Cup Series are ample evidence of that.
During the race, he got to hang with the frontrunners (after qualifying 14th) and even lead the pack around for nine laps-the first of which drew a standing ovation from the crowd-until his teammate Kasey Kahne smacked the wall and brought out the second caution of the day.
As the laps ticked down it was soon becoming clear that without a caution, that chance simply wasn’t coming.
Gordon conceded he was impressed and endeared by the pair’s presence at his celebrated final race. Harvick had a rocky road making the final four, but he was one of the best fantasy values all season until the playoffs began.
He didn’t have the vehicle to do it. Busch got the lead out of turns 1 and 2 on the restart and started pulling away. I thought going into today we had something for them. Jeff Gordon closed his account in sixth place after an astonishing 797 consecutive race starts, with JGR’s Matt Kenseth and SHR’s Kurt Busch rounding out the top eight. He remained in the top ten over the next 100 laps, although he was over a half a lap behind the leaders over a long green flag stretch. “The guys put a lot of work into this auto in Denver”. And the longer the run went, the looser that we would get up off the corner. So, it’s fun to be able to run like this.
“I think when you race your whole life and you accomplish what you’ve raced for your whole life, it’s exciting”, Harvick said. “It’s a thrill for us, a thrill me to (win) in two sports like this. I was just lacking a couple little things”. I want it really, really bad.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t win and that’s what we wanted to do”, said Keselowski’s team mate Logano who finished right behind him in fourth. “I’m proud of the effort; I’m proud of everything”. Both also dropped a few positions outside the top 10 at times. But after replacing just two tires for a quicker pit stop, he lost his grip.
“Our vehicle fired off good”, Harvick said.
California-born Gordon is credited with expanding NASCAR’s popularity to a much wider audience. What a great champion. “I’ve been fortunate to experience that a year ago and know that feeling and know how gratifying that is”.
Helton sent his edict during the pre-race drivers’ meeting.
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“It’s real now, ” Hendrick said, holding Gordon’s helmet.
