Kyle Busch Wins Championship with Homestead Victory

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Busch won the Ford 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday afternoon to win his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

Busch came into the weekend as the underdog after going winless over the last 21 races.  The victory was Busch’s first since June 2 at Pocono Raceway.

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Busch picked up his fifth win of the season at Homestead, and said his success was a testament to his team’s hard work as they struggled to find victory lane.

“We have a great race team and a great owner,” Busch said.  “I just can’t say enough and can’t thank everyone enough for this opportunity.  I may be the one who’s able to hoist the trophy or have a championship, but it wouldn’t be possible without [crew chief] Adam Stevens and Coach Joe Gibbs.”

Busch took the lead late in the race after his teammates suffered pit miscues.  Denny Hamlin had to make an unscheduled stop when his car started overheating after the team put too much tape on the nose, and Martin Truex Jr. was caught too far behind the leader without enough time to make up the difference after he pitted later than the rest of the leaders.

Hamlin said he was disappointed he couldn’t celebrate his first title.

“It’s disappointing, but all you can ask for is a chance,” Hamlin said.  “Chris [Gabehart, Hamlin’s crew chief] is aggressive; he’s an aggressive crew chief.  He tried to get me all the speed he could there and it was just too much tape.  We were going to blow up.”

Truex had a dominant car and led 103 laps, but fell short to Busch over the final run.

Truex said he and his team lost control of the race in the third stage.

“Having to restart back where we did…and we started the third stage for sure too tight,” Truex said.  “We were faster the whole last run, we were just too far behind and it was too much to make up with traffic.”

Busch, who has always been a polarizing figure in the sport, said the victory and the championship was for his fans.

“There’s always your doubters; there’s always your haters,” Busch said.  “This one’s for Rowdy Nation, because you guys are the best.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Martin Truex Jr.

3. Erik Jones

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Joey Logano

6. Clint Bowyer

7. Ryan Newman

8. Austin Dillon

9. Alex Bowman

10. Denny Hamlin

11. Ryan Blaney

12. Daniel Hemric

13. Jimmie Johnson

14. Daniel Suarez

15. Chase Elliott

16. Chris Buescher

17. Paul Menard

18. Brad Keselowski

19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

20. Matt DiBenedetto

21. Kurt Busch

22. Aric Almirola

23. John Hunter Nemechek

24. Ty Dillon

25. Ryan Preece

26. Michael McDowell

27. David Ragan

28. Landon Cassill

29. Drew Herring

30. JJ Yeley

31. Corey LaJoie

32. BJ McLeod

33. Timmy Hill

34. Bubba Wallace

35. Ross Chastain

36. Josh Bilicki

37. Reed Sorenson

38. Joe Nemechek

39. William Byron

40. Kyle Larson

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Harvick Dominant in Texas Victory

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kevin Harvick won the AAA Texas 500 from Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon to lock himself into the Championship Round of the Playoffs.

Harvick had a dominant car all weekend.  After winning the pole on Saturday, Harvick led 119 laps on Sunday on his way to victory lane.

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A penalty on a pit stop forced Harvick to restart in the back, and it looked as though his car struggled in traffic.  After another round of pit stops, Harvick was able to work his way through traffic, and he was able to get past his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola to take the lead.

Harvick said a bad set of tires and a bad restart caused the slow start in the back.

“We had a bad restart one time and we got buried back there,” Harvick said.  “We came in, put another set of tires on, and we were really able to make up some time.”

Harvick now sets his sight on Homestead-Miami Speedway in two weeks, where he will fight for the Championship.

Harvick said his team has been preparing for the finale for awhile.

“We’ve already been going down that road,” Harvick said.  “They’ve already built the car…picked a direction.”

While Harvick locked himself into the finale at Homestead, Denny Hamlin made his road to the championship harder.  After spinning early in the race and damaging the nose to his car, Hamlin finished 28th.

After coming into Texas with a 24-point lead above 5th-place in the standings, Hamlin now sits 20 points below the cutoff.

Hamlin said his team is going to go to Phoenix next weekend looking for a victory.

“The car and effort will be there, that’s for sure,” Hamlin said.  “There’s no doubt in my mind we can go there and win, especially in these circumstances.”

“I like the challenge.  We’re going to go out there and give it our best shot, put our best foot forward and see if we can win next week.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Aric Almirola

3. Daniel Suarez

4. Joey Logano

5. Alex Bowman

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. Kyle Busch

8. Ryan Blaney

9. Kurt Busch

10. Erik Jones

11. Clint Bowyer

12. Kyle Larson

13. Austin Dillon

14. Matt DiBenedetto

15. Ryan Newman

16. Daniel Hemric

17. William Byron

18. Ty Dillon

19. Chris Buescher

20. Paul Menard

21. John Hunter Nemechek

22. Parker Kligerman

23. Ryan Preece

24. Bubba Wallace

25. Michael McDowell

26. JJ Yeley

27. Landon Cassill

28. Denny Hamlin

29. Joe Nemechek

30. Josh Bilicki

31. Ross Chastain

32. Chase Elliott

33. Quin Houff

34. Jimmie Johnson

35. David Ragan

36. Garrett Smithley

37. Timmy Hill

38. Corey LaJoie

39. Brad Keselowski

40. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images