Kyle Busch becomes NASCAR champion

Kyle Busch made sure they only needed to use one. Were the race to go green to the end, Busch would have surely won the championship without winning the race, but it was not to be so easy, as a caution was called with just 11 laps left for debris, appearing to be a piece of metal that briefly slid down the front straight. But he has mellowed with marriage, gained perspective after the Daytona wreck, and was determined to be on his feet in the delivery room when wife Samantha delivered their first baby, a boy born in May – right after Busch returned to the race vehicle and celebrated his 30th birthday. His auto was strong enough to lead 46 laps, but didn’t have enough to catch Busch on the final restart. He easily did both.

“No doubt. I said back then, I’ll say it again: the rehab of getting back, getting ready and focused, all that was the hardest part and the hardest thing I have ever gone through”, he admitted. “To put it all together here tonight, this night wasn’t quite that hard”. Three years later, Busch was suspended for a race after intentionally wrecking a rival in the truck series.

Winning the race, however, only made Busch’s improbable accomplishment even more implausible.

“That’s a great comeback story”, Harvick said. Reigning champion Kevin Harvick, who talked about his respect for Gordon earlier this week, had his picture taken kneeling next to Gordon’s vehicle before the race. Truex was not a factor in the finish, telling his crew chief at one point with 33 laps to go, “It’s frustrating, man. We’re bad”. Bowyer, starting MWR’s final race before the team folds, shot straight up the track and got into Ty Dillon. “We kept throwing stuff at it but never really found anything that helped the vehicle”.

“I’m really proud of my team”, Truex said. After previous year, when we had everything go our way, I’ve learned not to be greedy.

“If the finish were to bleed a little bit after 7, 15 or 20 minutes, we would stay with the race and the crowning of the champion”, NBC Sports Group chairman Mark Lazarus told The Associated Press on Sunday.

“He said I love you and I said I love you, ” Hendrick said. “I thought going into the race we had something for them”.

When Gordon woke up Sunday and raised the blinds on his motor coach, he saw his mother, Carol, walking by.

With a few 300 family, friends and invited guests in town, Gordon said he was having “the time of my life” with the anticipated touch of “insanity”. “As soon as I saw her, I got emotional”. “But today’s been a lot of hugs and thank-yous and (about) appreciating what we built and what we did for a long time”.

“Boo-hooing as loud as a person could boo-hoo”, Gordon said.

The sport slow to yield its North Carolina accent and Confederate flags became popular from coast to coast because Gordon led the way. He was swarmed by fans and media.

The race had 18 lead changes among eight drivers. The driver that beat him?

“We took a big swing at the setup, but never could hit on anything all weekend”, noted Truex, who led one lap. Larson and Harvick resumed third and fourth, respectively. Busch was second and Harvick fourth.

“I don’t know that you could have scripted it any better”, Busch said of beating Gordon, his former teammate at Hendrick Motorsports.

“He said, ‘I should have waited to extend my contract, ‘” Gibbs said. I wasn’t expecting that.’ I didn’t want Harvick behind me.

Busch didn’t have to win Sunday’s race, but he did have to be the first of the four contenders to cross the finish line.

Keselowski chose to restart on the inside, Busch on the outside with Harvick just behind. “I just wanted everybody to have something as an appreciation from me to them of what they meant to me racing against them over all the years, and (it) seemed like they appreciated it”.

Busch also joins older brother, Kurt, as a NASCAR champion.