Kyle Busch won Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to score his second NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Busch recorded his 56th career victory to end a winless streak that dated back to June 2 at Pocono Raceway. He became the 16th driver in NASCAR history to win multiple titles.
“We have a great race team and a great owner…I just can’t say enough and thank you everyone for this opportunity,” Busch said. “It wouldn’t be possible without Adam Stevens and Coach Joe Gibbs, JD Gibbs, Coy Gibbs, the whole family.
Cup Series Champions | All-Time Winners
Busch addressed the people who doubted whether or not he could win the championship after going 21 races since his last victory.
“There’s always your doubters,” he said. “There’s always your haters. This one is for Rowdy Nation.”
Busch beat his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. to the finish line by 4.6-seconds.
Erik Jones, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano rounded out the top five.
Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin completed the first 10 finishers.
Busch will officially be celebrated as the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion at the annual Awards Ceremony on December 5th in Nashville.
How Busch Won: Busch took the lead from JGR teammate Denny Hamlin on Lap 170 and never gave up the top spot the rest of the way. Busch was able to extend his advantage over the field as the race wound down and took the checkered flag with a comfortable margin.
Who Had a Good Day: Truex Jr. battled back from a pit road tire miscue to score his third straight top-two finish at Homestead and finished second in the championship for the second straight year (Read More)…Jones had his best finish since his Darlington win and his 10th top five in 2019 is his most in a season…Last year’s champion Logano finished fifth in the standings with his fifth straight top-six finish at Homestead…Daniel Hemric won the 2019 Rookie of the Year award with a 12th-place finish (Read More).
Who Had a Bad Day: Denny Hamlin’s hope of finally winning his first career Cup title ended late in the race when his car was saddled with overheating problems when his team applied too much tape to his front grille (Read More)…Kyle Larson had one of the best cars in the race at times but he exited with a blown engine…William Byron’s first year with crew chief Chad Knaus ended on a bitter note when he experienced oil pressure issue.
What Else Happened: The final Championship 4 race at Homestead provided the same kind of racing the 1.5-mile track has built a reputation for over nearly two decades. Despite the added downforce in this year’s Cup Series rules package and teams having no notes to fall back on since the track hosts just one race per year, drivers had options and lanes to choose from around the 1.5-mile track. As conditions changed when the sun set and additional tire wear took hold, it changed the dynamic even more in the closing stages of the race.
Quotable: “Well, that was traumatic. I don’t know how the hell we did that,” crew chief Cole Pearn after Truex Jr.’s team put the wrong front tires on during a mid-race pit stop.
Notables: The champion has won the season finale every year since the Championship 4 format was introduced six year ago…Busch scored the sixth career Cup championship for JGR…Busch is the first repeat Cup champion in the six seasons with elimination style playoffs.
