Jeff Gordon waits backstage with his daughter Ella for the driver introduction at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, Sunday, November 22, 2015, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla.
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Busch returned for May’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he finished 11th. Gordon finished his career with an impressive 93 wins and four championships.
Kevin Harvick sat at the dais, scratched his face and cracked a small smile watching Kyle Busch celebrate the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship on TV. “Whoo!” – Kyle Busch after being congratulated upon his win on NBCSN.
Busch and his brother Kurt Busch (2004 NSCS champion) join Terry and Bobby Labonte as the only brothers to earn NSCS titles.. It was also the first championship – in his first season as a Sprint Cup crew chief – for Adam Stevens.
Toyota, which began full-time racing in the NSCS in 2007, has now captured a driver’s championship in all three NASCAR national series.
“It’s a dream of a lifetime, a dream come true”, Kyle Busch said.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing him win the championship because he’s meant so much to NASCAR over the years”.
“It’s really awesome, awesome, awesome”, he continued.
“I thought there at the end, I thought we’d do a little better”, Harvick said.
But beyond the winning, Gordon was just a classy individual who did things the right way, with just a bit more polish in a rough-and-tumble game.
“I said back then and I’ll say it again, the rehab and then getting back and getting ready, getting healed and focused, all of that was the hardest part. To put it all together here tonight, this night wasn’t all that hard”. “I didn’t know what shape his legs were in, if it was going to be this year or next year, or if he would walk again”. I said, ‘This is interesting. This will be quite the exciting picture for the Ford EcoBoost 400 as the race draws into a close.
IndyCar legend Mario Andretti, who also has a Daytona 500 win and a Formula One championship to his credit, was basking in Gordon’s limelight.
That he should have never even been in the Chase because he missed the first 11 races with a broken leg.
But Busch won four races after his return at the Coca-Cola 600 and cracked the top 30 in points after 11 races back, which made him eligible to compete in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Gordon, in his retirement season, finished sixth. Tony Stewart was granted the waiver in 2014 after missing three races because of the tragic accident that killed driver Kevin Ward Jr.
Keselowski took the lead on a restart just past lap 170.
Out front, Logano took off. By Lap 110, his lead over second-place Busch was 1.4 seconds over Busch and 3.5 over Harvick.
As the laps ticked down it was soon becoming clear that without a caution, that chance simply wasn’t coming.
Out of the caution, Busch went to the lead over a late-charging Kyle Larson and just beat second-place Harvick. A lap later, Harvick followed him in and then Gordon who was running ninth. The field headed to pit road, Busch asked for an adjustment, and he was second on the restart with seven laps remaining. “Now I’m going to throw up because I’m nervous”.
“There’s going to be a few insanity and I’m just taking it all in and being really calm and cool about it all”. I don’t know if Brad spun his tyres or what.
Team Penske teammates Logano and Keselowski were non-Chase for the Sprint Cup drivers who led laps. I’m a little sad, but he’s had a great career. It’s fun to be able to run like this. We talked about the television station that filmed my quarter midget race when I was like 6 years old and I never understood why. He races for Joe Gibbs Racing, a team that will partner with Truex and FRR in a technical alliance starting next season. He ends the season with two straight as well after finishing second at Phoenix the week before.
It might not have been the ending they wanted, but there’s still a lot to be proud of.
Count No. 42 among those pulling for No. 24 in NASCAR’s season finale. But after replacing just two tires for a quicker pit stop, he lost his grip. We took 2 early, and it didn’t work out.
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Still, for the single-car Furniture Row team, carrying far less sponsorship than the other contenders and having no team cars for added input, it was a successful season. “It was a big deal for us and I wish we could have performed better today”. “It wasn’t for lack of effort, we tried a lot, didn’t have a lot of speed in practice and we changed a lot last night”.
