Busch wins his first title as Gordon takes his final laps

Before news came that Kyle and Samantha were expecting their first child was the emotional roller coaster that comes with infertility. “They were lit up a little bit so I joined them for a little while and continued on with them for some more celebration before getting a couple hours of sleep to get on an airplane this morning”.

“There’s going to be some insanity and I’m just taking it all in and being really calm and cool about it all”. This auto had fiery red flames on the front half and the word “DuPont” written across the hood.

Jeff Gordon didn’t give his fans one more championship.

Morphing from vilified to beloved is not uncommon and is in some ways part of the natural cycle almost every great NASCAR driver experiences.

The California native started his Cup career back in 1993, and won titles in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001. He still didn’t have enough points to get in the top 30, but it certainly helped. Instead of finishing 14th, like he did in his rookie season, he moved up to 8th in 1994.

Kyle Busch won the race and his first Sprint Cup championship.

Then he hit the best stretch of his entire career, spanning from 1995-2001.

NASCAR vice chairman Mike Helton is warning teams not to interfere with the championship race. In just his second season, he had win a Winston Cup Series Championship and that set him up for pure domination in the next three seasons. He won 93 races in 23 full seasons. Kyle Busch crafted an wonderful final chapter for that comeback story of the year. And they did get their monies’ worth.

Megastar Lewis Hamilton, who recently wrapped up his third F1 championship, made the rounds with Gordon after driver introductions, as Gordon paused for a seemingly endless succession of last-race photos with the famous and not-so-famous.

Truex, hoping for a short green flag run after his two-tire gamble, dropped out of the top 10.

On his final day in a Sprint Cup vehicle, Jeff Gordon also took note of Busch’s emergence as a true championship contender.

He slowed down a little in 1999 and 2000 but still managed to win 7 races and 3 races respectively.

“I actually felt like, when I got ahead of Kyle, that we actually pulled away from him”, Gordon said.

Over the next 13 years, Gordon would go on to solidify his position as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history.

In a time of the season where Busch had often crumbled under adversity, the No. 18 team rose to the occasion. He wanted one more – which would have been bigger than the rest. Also, he had some ongoing back issues that had given him trouble during the 2014 season.

Before the race, NASCAR paid tribute to Gordon when fans in the grandstands revealed a banner reading “24 ever”, referring the the number Gordon drove the entirety of his career. (In fact, the title is a first for Busch’s manufacturer, too.) Truex’s 12th place finish belies the fight he and his crew showed all race. Right now, I am caught up in the moment, but it did show what we are made of and what got us here. The 30-year-old Busch missed the first eleven Sprint Cup races of the season, then went on a tear and won four of his first eight races back.

Gordon has a chance to ride off into the sunset in the ultimate style. He capped off an incredible career that night in Miami. In the end, the adjustments were never quite enough. He said he’d like to see a similar Chase format in the Truck and Xfinity Series.

Sonoma Raceway was the first of those tracks. Shortly thereafter, the rain came, negating the opportunity to restart the race and making Earnhardt the victor. He would clinch with one race to spare.

His retirement leaves Tony Stewart as NASCAR Sprint Cup’s longest tenured full-time driver for 2016. His hometown is Pittsboro, Indiana, which created a sense of homecoming whenever he was around. Greg Kozlowski was a strong contender for his final run of the season leading 86 laps to finish third.

But he returned to the track, and began rattling off wins. He led 41 laps (most importantly, the last seven), but knows he didn’t do it on his own. As they hit turn 1, Gordon took the lead and never looked back.