Martin Truex, Jr. continued his post-season domination of mile-and-a-half ovals on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, holding off a late charge from Kyle Busch to win the Ford EcoBoost 400 and claim his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Truex won four of the five playoff races run on intermediate-sized ovals this fall including yesterday’s season finale, in which there was little drama until the closing laps. All qualifiers in The Championship Four – Truex, Busch, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski – ran consistently in the top 5 for much of the day and all came away with top 10 finishes. Down the stretch, Busch drove past Harvick to take second place and then set his sights on Truex, who kept his rival in the rear-view mirror and delivered Furniture Row Racing’s first Cup Series title. The margin of victory over Busch was 0.68 of a second.
Kyle Larson led a race-high 145 laps and ran third with Harvick and Chase Elliott completing the top 5. Keselowski came home in 7th place. Pole winner Denny Hamlin failed to lead a lap and placed 9th.
Truex started alongside Hamlin on the front row and quickly put the field behind him at the drop of the green flag – leading four times for 78 laps, matching his car number.
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– story by John Singler
www.mrn.com
Concord, North Carolina
1. Martin Truex, Jr.
2. Kyle Busch
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Brad Keselowski
For the complete driver standings in the Playoffs, please visit the official page on nascar.com.
Drivers eliminated after Round 3: Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Jimmie Johnson
Drivers eliminated after Round 2: Kyle Larson, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Drivers eliminated after Round 1: Ryan Newman, Austin Dillon, Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch
