Kyle Busch wins the race and the championship

But that’s exactly what happened Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with Busch pulling off another unlikely victory in the Ford EcoBoost 400 – his fifth of the season – to clinch his first career championship. The corrective surgery at the time required the placement of rods and screws to assist in his recovery. The injuries he suffered in that fateful crash nine months ago at Daytona (a broken leg, a busted foot) were a major wake-up call.

“It’s pretty unbelievable”, Busch said on the NBC telecast on Victory Lane. “All the turmoil that I went through, that my family went through”.

Well, we have waited all year and 35 races later we are finally here.

“The 18 vehicle (Busch), he just had the speed all night, for the most part”. “I don’t know what it is; I’ve never talked to him and got into details about it. But when he came back, not only was he driven and just inspired by it, but you can tell he was racing smarter, with more patience, just being more deliberate”.

Said the new champion, “So far, it feels wonderful”.

Busch’s title caps an impressive recent run of success for Las Vegas athletes as Kris Bryant was named National League Rookie of the Year on November 16 and Bryce Harper was crowned the NL Most Valuable Player on Thursday. Kyle has won 154 races in NASCAR’s top three tiers since his debut in the truck series in 2001 and won the Xfinity Series title in 2009. Jeff Gordon, the sentimental favorite for the title in his final season, was sixth and Martin Truex Jr. During the 11 races he missed, he’d spent time with his wife and developed a perspective on life that he’d never had before. Gordon, 44, said before the season started he would retire after this race. By mid-May he was ready to return to active racing and salvage what was left of the season.

It seemed more destined to happen when Gordon won for the ninth time at Martinsville Speedway in the first race of the third round of this Chase, benefiting from Matt Kenseth’s punt of race-leading Joey Logano to earn an automatic berth in the one-off final here.

It didn’t look good at first, but much like in the aftermath of his crash, Busch rallied.

Gordon started to lose it as Hendrick whispered in his ear, but managed to keep his composure.

NASCAR presented Gordon with a tribute video during the pre-race drivers’ meeting and then everyone in the room, including drivers, sponsors and dignitaries, gave him a standing ovation.

Harvick was going for a championship repeat himself, but had no chance of catching Busch on the final restart with seven laps to go.

He hopes to remember all the details of his celebratory day, including visits from racing legend Mario Andretti, three-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton and sports-car ace Scott Pruett.

Champion Busch earned his first crown, becoming the 31st different series champion.

The good of the final four racing for the Chase was that you had four great story lines.

“His talent is so strong, and that team really found some things this year”, Gordon said of Busch.

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

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. He came off pit road in second place and quickly shot past race-leader Brad Keselowski on the re-start. If there is one takeaway from what Busch accomplished this season, it’s that this may be the beginning to the rest of his career. “I think becoming a champion doesn’t necessarily change fans’ opinion of you, but I think how you are the sport’s champion will change perception of how people think of you”. The battle hit its highest point in Phoenix when the two went at it all day long, before Gordon took matters into his own hands and spun Bowyer late in the race. He was aided by Kevin Harvick, who pushed Keselowski towards him.

As the old wrestling adage goes, to be the man you’ve got to be the man, and that’s exactly what Kyle Busch did Sunday night in dramatic fashion.