HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Joey Logano bumped his way into the finals. The 28-year-old Team Penske driver’s run toward his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was clean, although no less dramatic.
Logano seized the Ford EcoBoost 400 lead with 11 laps to go and wasn’t challenged over the closing laps Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
He was the only driver among the Championship 4 that lacked a Cup title as Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch each sought their second.
"We won the championship! I don't know what to say. I can't believe it," an overwhelmed Logano said when he climbed out of his car.
Busch, Harvick and Truex had been the dominant cars all season, but Logano came on strong in the playoffs and declared himself the favorite after bumping Truex out of the way to win at Martinsville to open the Round of 8 in the playoffs.
"I said before we weren't the underdog. We proved it why we're not. My team rose to the occasion and executed under pressure like nobody's business.
"I've worked my whole life to get here. We spent 10 seasons to get here. We are champions — NASCAR champions!"
The Championship 4 contenders were the class of the field at Homestead and finished 1-2-3-4. Truex held on for second, Harvick, the 2014 champion came home third, and Busch, the 2015 champ, finished fourth.
Truex was racing for the final time with Furniture Row Racing, which announced in September it would cease operations at season’s end. Truex, who celebrated the title here with the Denver-based team last season, will drive the No. 19 Toyota next season with the Joe Gibbs Racing.
"I'm going to miss these guys," Truex said. "It was the best time of my life. These guys have been amazing. They made me a superstar, in NASCAR."
Busch, after a couple of missteps earlier in the race, rebounded on the final pit stop as the leaders came in when Daniel Suarez was spun out with 20 laps left. Busch had been holding out for a yellow because he was on different pit strategy than the leaders.
The leaders excited pit road as the top four, but this time Busch was leading the pack. Once the race restarted with 15 laps to go, however, Truex quickly regained the lead — at least for a few moments before Logano seized the lead with 11 laps left.
Brad Keselowski finished fifth, Matt Kenseth sixth, Chase Elliott seventh, Clint Bowyer eighth, Aric Almirola ninth and Kurt Busch 10th.
The first caution of the weekend not counting the yellow flags after stages came on Lap 139 (debris). Neither Friday’s Camping World Truck Series or Saturday’s Xfinity Series races had “natural” cautions.
The second caution came after Kyle Larson clipped the wall in Turn 4 with 75 laps remaining. Larson was third at the time and led the most laps (45) than any driver not in the Championship 4.
Kyle Buch’s crew — one of the most dominant this season — had its second miscue of the race as the air gun got caught under the car during the caution for Larson. That cost Busch four spots. Earlier in the race, a tire changer dropped a lug nut.
Harvick raced minus his crew chief Rodney Childers and car chief Robert Smith, who were suspended for the final two races of the season after NASCAR found Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford had an illegal spoiler after a victory at Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 4.
The race’s start, already pushed back nearly an hour in bid to lure in more viewers, was delayed a few minutes to clean up oil left on the track by Regan Smith’s No. 95 Chevrolet during the pace laps. That came minutes a skydiver towing a flag got caught on the catch fence near Turn 1. The skydiver was not injured, according to a track spokesperson.
Follow Perez on Twitter @byajperez
