Joey Logano won the Ford Ecoboost 400 from
Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday night to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
championship.
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| Sean Gardner/Getty Images |
Logano was considered the underdog for the
championship heading into the race as he went up against the strong trio of
Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. in the Championship Round.
Truex and Harvick had the dominant cars all day, but
Logano had the fastest car for the first 20 laps of a run. When the four drivers lined up for a final
restart with 15 laps to go, Logano was able to work his way around Truex to win
the race.
Logano said he knew he had a fast car and that he
wanted the victory.
“I knew I was going to pass that car,” Logano
said. “We rise to the occasion and
execute under pressure like that. Our
car was a short-run car…it came down to that short run and we’re champions.”
As a teenager, Logano was called “the best thing since
sliced bread” by NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin. Logano said he was happy to finally back up
the legend’s praises in his 10th season at the Cup level.
“I’ve worked my whole life to get here,” Logano
said. “I’ve spent 10 seasons fighting
for this. I can’t believe it. It’s a dream come true.”
Truex finished second on Sunday, falling one position
short of repeating as Cup Series Champion.
Truex said his car just wasn’t fast enough on the short run to compete with
Logano.
“We had it, we just couldn’t go over 15 laps,” Truex
said. “I was just slow for 15 laps. Not the way we wanted to go out, but a hell
of an effort.”
Truex’s team, Furniture Row Racing, is shutting down after
Homestead. Truex, who will be moving on
to Joe Gibbs Racing next year, said he was sad to see his team disband after
five years together.
“I’m going to miss these guys; wish we could have won
it,” Truex said. “Been the best time of
my life. These guys, they’ve been
amazing.”
“They’ve made me a superstar in NASCAR, and I’m just
very thankful for them all.”
Unofficial results:
1. Joey Logano
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Kyle Busch
5. Brad Keselowski
6. Matt Kenseth
7. Chase Elliott
8. Clint Bowyer
9. Aric Almirola
10. Kurt Busch
11. Austin Dillon
12. Denny Hamlin
13. Kyle Larson
14. Jimmie Johnson
15. Ryan Newman
16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
17. Ryan Blaney
18. Jamie McMurray
19. AJ Allmendinger
20. David Ragan
21. Darrell Wallace Jr.
22. Ty Dillon
23. Chris Buescher
24. William Byron
25. Paul Menard
26. Matt DiBenedetto
27. Erik Jones
28. Michael McDowell
29. Alex Bowman
30. Daniel Suarez
31. Landon Cassill
32. JJ Yeley
33. Ross Chastain
34. Corey LaJoie
35. BJ McLeod
36. Kyle Weatherman
37. Timmy Hill
38. Tanner Berryhill
39. Regan Smith
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| Robert Laberge/Getty Images |
