Zoo Miami cheetah spots Kevin Harvick as NASCAR championship victor

WHO ELSE HAD A GOOD RACE: Obviously, it was a great race for Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Harvick – not so much for where they finished, but because they all stayed above the points cutoff to advance to the championship finale at Miami along with Gordon.

When the race started under the lights, it rained once again, prompting NASCAR to end it only after 218 laps, to which at that point Harvick was running second to eventual victor Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Traditionally, this hasn’t been the best time of the year for Busch and his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team.

One of the strangest seasons in NASCAR history got another weird twist in setting the field for its championship race Sunday night at Phoenix worldwide Raceway.

That left seven drivers vying for three spots.

It was a weird race.

The start of the race was delayed six-and-a-half hours due to rain in the region.

Little E won by virtue of the odd – but fair – rule that scores the leader during a caution by who gets to the start-finish line at the middle of the pit road first. Crew chief Greg Ives brought Earnhardt into the pits during a green-flag cycle just as the caution flew for a two-car crash involving Joey Gase and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. “Who would have thought you’d come to the desert and it’s going to rain?” He had the best average finish of the four title-eligible drivers, 7.1. Harvick admitted it was “kind of bittersweet”, but he can still “chase”.

“I hope so badly that we get to race”, Edwards said moments before NASCAR called the race.

Earnhardt was eliminated from the playoffs in the second round, though, so the victory had no championship implications.

“We were working our way back up and we’re in the mix now”, Kurt Busch said before the race was called. “Well, I just about rivaled that race with that run we had at Talladega, but we didn’t win, so nobody’s ever going to remember that one”. Brad Keselowski wasn’t a contender during the race scheduled for mid-afternoon and run at night.

The first moment came at Kansas, when Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano made contact while racing for the lead with five laps to go.

“Kevin Harvick has been the favorite since before we rolled into Daytona in February”, Fox Sports analyst Darrell Waltrip said.

Rosberg wins from pole for 2nd straight win: SAO PAULO – Nico Rosberg won the Brazilian Grand Prix, leading from start to finish to beat Mercedes teammate and already-crowned season champion Lewis Hamilton. Hasn’t won a race in the Chase, but has been steady since the first round. Although he came up short last year’s defending series champion will have a chance at back-to-back titles.

“That’s the way this game is played”. “That’s the way the Chase is”. There’s no doubt in my mind we’re still the strongest team on the race track.

“I don’t even think it was a penalty”, Kurt Busch said after the race ended. Harvick is the reigning champion with the incredible knack for finishing second, and Truex is the long shot, a representative of a single-car (though heavily assisted) operation headquartered in Denver, Colorado. “We had many opportunities to try to get ourselves to the font, we just weren’t as fast (as Harvick)”. It hasn’t been one-hundred percent pretty from one end to the other, but I think as you look at the Chase, it’s been championship material and that’s proven by making it to the championship race. They’ve done a lot of work trying to improve there. That was encouraging just as a team and the way we analyzed everything. It’s an issue Gordon asked about during the prerace drivers meeting.