Kyle Busch wins his way to Sprint Cup title at Homestead

Gordon, whose final race was Sunday, is proof of the possible transition Busch can make.

Following the race, Gordon saw one his biggest fans, Timothy Prior, as he was heading to the media center and invited him in for the press conference. The organization granted Busch a waiver that would allow him to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup provided he won at least one race and finish in the Top 30 in the drivers standings.

“Going through the rehab, it was hard”.

“I don’t know if I quite understand life yet, but there’s something to be said about this year”, an emotional Busch said on his team radio.

“I think when you race your whole life and you accomplish what you’ve raced for your whole life, it’s exciting”, Harvick said. We had a few good runs and made an adjustment that just took it out of the track, and by the time we got it back, we lost too much track position.

“Between having a baby, the thing that happened to him at Daytona, the time with his wife and other things, I think he had a lot of time to think about a lot of things”. “To put it all together here tonight, this night wasn’t all that hard”.

Said the retiring Gordon, “When I took the lead, I got so excited, got my hopes up but after a restart, I knew I didn’t have what the others had”. After starting 11th and surging to the front, Truex struggled with his car’s handling and faded deep into the top 13-where he spent a good chunk of the afternoon battling Gordon.

“I’m a little disappointed, I’ll be honest”, he said after the race ended, referring to not being able to win what would have been his fifth championship.

A year ago, Harvick seized his opportunity with a relentless dash through the field, picking off vehicle after auto to win the race and claim his first championship.

Kenseth doomed Logano by wrecking him at Martinsville, and thus Kenseth was suspended for the two races that followed that short-track debacle, redeemed only by Gordon’s 93rd career victory.

The final checkered flag of the 2015 season has waved and a new NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion has been crowned.

(IndyCar)-First tests by some IndyCar drivers at Phoenix International Raceway, the site of IndyCar’s second race of 2016, have some drivers talking of possible new lap records. Kyle Busch crafted an fantastic final chapter for that comeback story of the year.

Truex, who drives for the one-car operation Furniture Row Racing, drove off without much incident. Some said he just needed to “grow up”. Harvick was the defending Sprint Cup series champion. But there was little drama, as Busch pulled away from race leader Brad Keselowski and set sail for the title. The crowd showed their support during driver introductions and then erupted in cheers, similar to when Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes the lead at Talladega Superspeedway, when Gordon took the lead in the race at lap 36.

Harvick got a modern-day keepsake when he stopped by Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet – which got a police escort to pit road – and posed for a photo. But Busch passed Truex in the first corner on the restart, and Truex finished 12th. “It’s the dream of a lifetime”.

The title is a sweet reward for Busch, who has made huge personal and professional gains over the last several years. He wound up missing just 11 races and returned to his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota right before his 30th birthday and right before wife Samantha gave birth to their first child, a son.

“I never would’ve believed in a thousand years that this would happen the way that it did”, Busch said.

Congratulations to the guy they used to call ‘Shrub, ‘ as he’s the younger brother of another former Cup champioin driver Kurt Busch.

Plenty of celebration lies ahead, though, especially given the circumstances that Busch won under.

It was the fourth Cup title for team owner Joe Gibbs, and the first for Toyota.