Harvick, Busch, Truex grab final three Chase spots

But Earnhardt’s win factored little into the championship round, which will play out next weekend at Homestead with Harvick, Busch and Martin Truex Jr. joining Jeff Gordon in a race for the Sprint Cup.

Gordon – who was knocked out of the Chase past year on the final lap at Phoenix – entered the day as the only lock for the final round, earning automatic entry with a victory at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway two weeks ago.

Earnhardt ended Harvick’s streak of four consecutive wins at Phoenix, but the champion was the class of the field. Were in the bills and things to do this to come competitive days we need.

“A win’s a win, though, you take them and put them in the record book”. 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.

Of the 43 drivers who started the race, seven were vying for three remaining slots in the one-race Championship Round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. I’ve never been great here until that last race before they repaved it. It’s a very fun, exciting, challenging racetrack.

Earnhardt’s victory, his third of the season, meant that Harvick and Busch, along with Martin Truex Jr., make it to the championship round on points.

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) – NASCAR’s final race before the championship finale began after a rain delay Sunday that pushed the start at Phoenix worldwide Raceway into the evening.

According to NASCAR rules, a second-place vehicle is not allowed to beat the first-place auto to the start-finish line at the start of the race. Ingrid [Gordon’s wife] and the kids got there the next day and we immediately went out to the stables where they were at and visited with them. Put together Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Earnhardt and the total swells to 19, but the former are in and the latter are out.

Harvick finished second and Busch was fourth. Then he went to Homestead and won again to claim his first series championship.

As a cold mist and drizzle continued to drape Phoenix global Raceway, they tried to downplay their own chances of coming out on top next week at a presumably sunny and warm Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Logano has won three of the nine Chase races to date. It is in these sisters Kourtney says the circumstances that call I ever really movement is there is that. “But still proud of our group, and sometimes you win a few of those things, sometimes you don’t, but in the end the big picture is what it’s all about”. Truex was the last driver in on points as he finished 14th, five points ahead of Carl Edwards, who finished 12th. He was eliminated from the Chase after the second round when a caution prevented him from racing Logano to the checkered flag at Talladega. Johnson ended up restarting the race at the back of the field after he was caught speeding as he left pit road.

Busch has managed just one top-five finish in 10 starts at Homestead, and his average finish of 23.1 is the worst among the drivers eligible for the title. As a result of the penalty, Kurt Busch was not credited for the laps he ran up front before serving his pass-through penalty.