Kyle Busch is a champion after long road

“I had to stand on my broken leg and not put any weight on my left foot because the foot was worse. It’s something that only happens so often and I just can’t believe it with everything that happened this year”.

Gibbs’ oldest son, J.D., is president of Joe Gibbs Racing. Back in the day, Busch would melt down over the slightest mishap. Now? He said his most “surreal” moment was hearing fans chant his name as he climbed into his vehicle for final practice. Overall, Harvick amassed a series-best 28 top-10 finishes in 36 races in addition to leading all drivers in laps led and average finish. Quite simply, Busch drove like there was nothing riding on the result.

And why not? His auto was near flawless. Kevin Harvick, who finished second, never seriously challenged in the final laps.

Adam Stevens didn’t go through the adversity his driver Kyle Busch did in 2015, but he did have a whirlwind year. Harvick was unable to successfully defend his 2014 championship.

Busch withstood multiple surgeries, went through a grueling rehabilitation program and missed only 11 races. “This is so cool!” he said, and then he let out a little yelp.

But that’s not to say he didn’t get his happily ever after.

“I’ll be honest: The competitor in me got so caught up in the moment of the race where we took the lead and I got really excited”, he said. Gordon won his third Championship that season and his second consecutive and had already changed NASCAR just six seasons into his storied career. “I think it was just a great chance for me to recoup and regather my thoughts and myself in order to go after this championship run”. Let’s see what we have. And I knew I needed a few adjustments. The track was really slick.

“We came here to win and I am disappointed that we didn’t give it a better effort”, said Truex. But as I spoke to him as he walked to a waiting golf cart, he wasn’t into reflecting on the past, his focus was still on the future and putting him and his team into position for another title, which of course, he did. And then we had that restart. I am also super proud of all our guys at the track, the pit crew and all the guys back at the shop in Denver. “We were just a little bit off all weekend”.

He has 12 finishes of fifth or better.

GIBBS’ CHAMPIONSHIPS: Maybe it’s time Joe Gibbs got a new nickname. He was aided by Kevin Harvick, who pushed Keselowski towards him. But if Harvick smarted from this historic setback, he didn’t betray as much afterward.

He finished it in Victory Lane in Florida as the last man standing.

“It was just ideal, ” Gordon said. I’ve been fortunate to experience that past year and know that feeling and know how gratifying that is.

Underdog Truex and his Furniture Row team tried several bold strategy gambles to get into the mix, and though the tactics kept vaulting him towards the front, he ultimately lacked the speed and fell away to a distant 12th.

Champion Busch earned his first crown, becoming the 31st different series champion. “I didn’t want to come back and not be ready to contend for Top 5s”, he said at the time, after winning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “This is a special group of guys, led by our crew chief Cole Pearn”. It still seemed an incredulous road to drive. But, alas, he couldn’t hold his positioning.

On Lap 137, green flag stops began.

A crash on Lap 96 took Petty out of the race in 35th place, hardly a fitting end for a driver who had accumulated 200 victories and seven championships while rewriting the NASCAR record books.

“It’s been a great couple of years and I’m looking forward to next year”.

Gordon led nine laps early in the race and was third for an early restart, but he bobbled it and plummeted to eighth. He came back into the race three laps down, but clawed his way back and finished 10th.

“He transformed NASCAR from a regional sport with mostly Deep South markets to mainstream markets like Chicago and Miami”, said Al Garcia, Homestead-Miami Speedway vice president.