Kyle Busch was a victor twice in the Ford EcoBoost 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, claiming the race win and his first Sprint Cup championship. Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon were the final four drivers in the race vying for the season championship. With 25 laps to go Austin Dillon passed Truex, dropping him down to 14th and nearly a half a minute behind the leader.
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It was also significant because it was the first Sprint Cup driver championship for Toyota, which has been trying to win one since 2007. He rounded into form his fifth race back by speeding to Victory Lane at Sonoma, catalyzing a dominant run of four wins in his next four starts, including three in a row at Kentucky, New Hampshire and Indianapolis.
Don’t measure Gordon’s legacy just by wins or records, though. “Am I still going to be eligible for it?”
But when the festivities were over, the hard truth was that Gordon did not have the handling or speed in his Chevrolet to keep pace with Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.
Harvick partied and hoisted that trophy high over his head last season. It wasn’t Truex Jr’s night, as he hung back for most of the race and one point dealt with a fire in his pit.
NASCAR offered a almost impossible challenge, telling Busch he could qualify for the Chase for the Championship if he won a race and finished among the top 30 in points. “I’d have loved to have won it, loved to have seen him go out with a championship, but we went out in the top four and not many guys do better than that”.
“That sendoff at the drivers’ meeting, you know, drivers are so competitive, and they don’t show — they might have it inside them, but to show it publicly, their appreciation for other competitors, just doesn’t happen like that very often, and I really, really appreciate it very, very much”, Gordon said.
“She walked in and we started hugging and talking and I just started thanking her over and over and over again for all that they did for me”, Gordon said.
“Today is pure joy that he’s actually going out like this, ” Gordon’s wife, Ingrid Vandebosch said. “But I’m super-proud of the season”.
“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.
Standings… Race finish… Laps led… Comeback kids Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin crossed the line in ninth and tenth places after their early setbacks, Hamlin having benefited from the rapid-fire early series of cautions to gain three free passes back onto the lead lap. “We had a lot of trouble getting up off the corner and putting the power down”. “You always want to win, but I’ve learned not to get greedy”.
“All the turmoil that I went through, that my family went through”. A slow pit stop brought him out in 11th place, worst of the four Chase contenders.
Jeff Gordon signs autographs for fans before NASCAR Sprint Cup auto racing practice at Texas Motor Speedway on November 6, 2015, in Fort Worth, Texas. “To just get vertical and get straight up and down, I did about three seconds and I was seeing stars”. With Brexton’s birth set for delivery May 18, Busch used that date as a goal to drive himself to not only be ready to assist in the birth, but to get back in his race vehicle far earlier than anyone honestly expected. The items later were moved to a safe, Gordon said.
Jeff Gordon (24) prepares to get into his vehicle before qualifying for… Were the race to go green to the end, Busch would have surely won the championship without winning the race, but it was not to be so easy, as a caution was called with just 11 laps left for debris, appearing to be a piece of metal that briefly slid down the front straight.
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Gordon conceded he was impressed and endeared by the pair’s presence at his celebrated final race.
