Luckily for Busch, he was able to pull ahead of Harvick and not only win the race, but capture his first ever Sprint Cup Series Championship. With his wife at his side, and his physical therapist coaching him along, Busch missed just 11 races- less than one-third of the season- with a broken leg and a broken foot. NASCAR granted him a waiver to race for the championship if he earned a berth in the playoffs, and Busch was off and running. “This is so unbelievable, so incredible and it means so much to be right here, right now and probably will for a long, long time to come”, he said. Having watched that race from a hospital bed and the next ten from his home, Busch was determined to get back in the drivers seat.
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Harvick finished a distant second, Gordon was a mediocre sixth and Martin Truex Jr., the fourth driver in the championship field, finished 12th. While the road race NASCAR events at venues like Watkins Glen worldwide and Sonoma Raceway (which actually require drivers to turn right) are hard for many competitors, Jeff Gordon has consistently performed well.
NASCAR’s soaring popularity over the past 20 years can be attributed in large part to the baby faced Gordon whose skill behind a wheel and competitive fire burned right to the very end of his final race Sunday.
Once the green flag dropped, Gordon started fifth and a raucous cheer went up from the crowd at Homestead-Miami Speedway when he later led nine laps. I think when you race your whole life and you accomplish what you’ve raced for your whole life, it’s exciting. “I’m sure it’s been done in some sport, but I don’t think it’s ever been done in this sport”.
Gordon eventually made his way to victory lane to congratulate Busch, who began his career as Gordon’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports. Sometime-Missourian Clint Bowyer was caught up in a multi-car crash on the 45 lap and finished last in his final race with Michael Waltrip Racing, which is going out of business.
As the old wrestling adage goes, to be the man you’ve got to be the man, and that’s exactly what Kyle Busch did Sunday night in dramatic fashion. “We felt like we had to take a really big swing at it”.
While Harvick blasted through to second, by the time he got there Busch was already out of reach.
Busch was the first of the two title contenders to lead, taking the top spot by getting off pit road first on lap 19. He has out ran cars owned by Junior Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, Kenny Bernstein, Lake Speed, the Stavola Brothers, Cale Yarborough, Bud Moore and Leo Jackson.
It seemed more destined to happen when Gordon won for the ninth time at Martinsville Speedway in the first race of the third round of this Chase, benefiting from Matt Kenseth’s punt of race-leading Joey Logano to earn an automatic berth in the one-off final here.
The title is a sweet reward for Busch, who has made huge personal and professional gains over the last several years.
In the days after his return to racing, Busch turned 30 and celebrated the birth of his son.
“I don’t know if I quite understand life yet”, an emotional Busch said on the team radio, “but there’s something to be said about this year”. I’d get on the seams, and then it would push the front and slide the back. To put it all together and be heretonight, this wasn’t that hard but I have one special driver in Tony Stewart come see me and he helped me through a lot of that stuff. Gordon rides off into the sunset after 23 years in Sprint Cup competition, winning 93 races and four championships along the way. “I know we’re disappointed about finishing second tonight, but that’s been kind of the theme of the year – finishing second”.
In a time of the season where Busch had often crumbled under adversity, the No. 18 team rose to the occasion.
He signed hundreds of autographs for fans in the garage area before the race and some wept as their favorite driver handed back a program or hat.
For the second year in a row, the victor of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season finale race at Homestead-Miami Speedway also took the championship.
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Gibbs led the Redskins to three Super Bowl titles (1982, 1987 and 1991).
