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Breaking down the full field for the EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway:
1. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. You don’t win seven titles without a little good fortune coming your way, but you have to put yourself in position to be there at the end, too. And that’s what Johnson and the 48 team did when Johnson drove his way from 40th on the grid after he had to start from the rear of the field because of unapproved body modifications. Congrats to Johnson for joining Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt as the Sprint Cup Series’ only seven-time champions. Grade: A+
2. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing. Larson put on a show and deserved to win the race. He dominated and was cruising to his second victory when the yellow flag was waved on Lap 253. The entire complexion of the race changed. Moments later, carnage ensued on the restart, and the complexion changed again. Then, another yellow, another restart, and this time another driver — Jimmie Johnson — got the best of him. Tough, tough way to not win a race. Grade: A++
3. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick dominated early, leading 79 laps (second to Kyle Larson‘s 132). He raced among the leaders all day and finished the season with a series-high 27 top 10s. His top fives — 17 — tied Kyle Busch for most, and his four wins were one short of Jimmie Johnson‘s series-leading five. Bottom line: Another truly remarkable season for Harvick. Grade: A+
4. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, Team Penske. After losing a tense green-flag battle with Carl Edwards and seemingly resigned to finishing runner-up to Edwards for the championship, a caution on Lap 253 gave Logano new life. Mr. Restart nailed the Lap 258 restart, but when Edwards went down to block Logano, all hell broke loose. Fortunately for Logano, he was able to emerge with minimal damage … and instead of finishing runner-up to Edwards, he finished runner-up to Jimmie Johnson. One last Logano note: His finishes in the final six races of the season were: 3rd, 1st, 9th, 1st, 2nd, 4th. Impressive. Grade: A
5. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing. McMurray survived restart roulette to post his second top five of the season.Grade: A
6. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Not enough went Busch’s way for him to win back-to-back championships, but that shouldn’t take away from a stellar season in which he tied his career best in top fives (17) and set a personal high in top 10s (25). Grade: A
7. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. On the day Tony Stewart retired as a Sprint Cup Series driver, Kenseth grabbed his 309th career top 10 to pass Smoke for 17th all time in the series. Grade: A
8. AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Chevrolet, JTG Daugherty Racing. Allmendinger closed out the season with four top 10s in his final six starts. Grade: A
9. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Check out this line for Hamlin’s second half of the season: 2 wins, 7 top fives, 15 top 10s and only one finish outside the top 15. Grade: A
10. Michael McDowell, No. 59 Chevrolet, Circle Sport-Leavine Family. McDowell finished off the best season of his Sprint Cup career with his second top-10 finish, which doubled his career total coming into 2016. Grade: A
11. Chase Elliott, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Elliott finished his terrific rookie season with 17 top 10s, which equaled the total of 2014 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Kyle Larson and is the third-highest total since 2000. Grade: B+
12. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Dillon took the same high line as Kyle Larson but unlike Larson, had brushes with the wall. Still, it was good to see him going for it. Grade: B
13. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Handling was an issue all day for the No. 41 team, which led Busch to say, “We were the slowest seventh-place car in points that I’ve ever seen.” Grade: B
14. Paul Menard, No. 27 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Menard capped off one of the worst seasons of his Sprint Cup Series career with back-to-back top-15 finishes for only the second time this season. Grade: B
15. Brian Scott, No. 44 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Maybe Scott is calling it a career too soon. Sunday’s finish was his third best this season and sixth best of his career. Grade: A-
16. Alex Bowman, No. 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Another solid day for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s main understudy. Now the question is where Bowman lands in 2017. Grade: B
17. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. An electrical issue forced the No. 16 team to replace the car’s battery multiple times, but Biffle still was able to carve out a respectable finish. Grade: B-
18. Casey Mears, No. 13 Chevrolet, Germain Racing. Mears finished 18th for the second week in a row for his first back-to-back top-20 finishes since the first two races of the Chase … last season. Grade: B
19. Danica Patrick, No. 10 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Patrick’s 14th top-20 finish this season tied a personal best set in 2014. Grade: B. Grade: B
20. Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Bayne avoided late-race mayhem to finish exactly where he started, 20th. Grade: C
21. Landon Cassill, No. 38 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Cassill suffered through his second consecutive season without a top-10 finish, but he did set career highs for laps completed, laps led, average finish, running at finish and lead-lap finishes. Grade: A
22. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Stewart finished second among “retiring drivers.” Seriously: What a run it has been. Next stop: NASCAR Hall of Fame. Grade: C
23. Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Here’s some irony: The driver who is replacing Tony Stewart in the No. 14 finished one spot below him in his new boss’ final race. Grade: C
24. Chris Buescher, No. 34 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. The rookie had five top-25 finishes in the first half of the season. Sunday’s finish gave him 11 in the second half, including his landmark win and another top five. Grade: B-
25. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Newman was collected in the massive wreck touched off by Carl Edwards‘ block of surging Joey Logano on a restart with 10 laps left in regulation. Newman’s fate in the chain reaction mess was sealed when Brad Keselowski was knocked into the wall in the immediate path of Newman and Martin Truex Jr. Grade: B-
26. Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing. Twice Blaney found the wall and brought out cautions. Only attrition from later wrecks kept him from finishing in the mid-30s. Grade: D
27. Matt DiBenedetto, No. 9 Toyota, BK Racing. DiBenedetto was another young driver who had a better second half of the season. DiBenedetto had seven top-30 finishes in the first 18 races; in the second half, in one less start, he had 11 top-30 finishes. Grade: C
28. Michael Annett, No. 46 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Annett posted his best finish at Homestead in his third start at the track. Grade: C
29. David Ragan, No. 23 Toyota, BK Racing. For the first time in his Sprint Cup career, Ragan failed to post at least one top-10 finish. He was one of four drivers — Danica Patrick, Casey Mears and Landon Cassill were the others — to start all 36 races and not post a top 10. Ragan’s only top 10 at Homestead came in his first race there (2007). Grade: C
30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Stenhouse was vying for a top-10 finish — he was ninth with four laps to go — but he got the short end of a three-wide when his car broke loose and hit the inside wall to bring out the final caution of the race. Grade: C
31. Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 83 Toyota, BK Racing. Earnhardt, who brought out the second caution when he spun trying to get onto pit road, finished seven laps back. Grade: D
32. Reed Sorenson, No. 55 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. Sorenson finished nine laps back. Grade: D
33. Ty Dillon, No. 95 Chevrolet, Circle Sport-Leavine Family. The No. 95 received just enough damage in the big wreck to spoil a solid day. Grade: B-
34. Carl Edwards, No. 19 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Cousin Carl was on his way to being King Carl until the fifth caution on Lap 253. His car was strong and he had blown by Joey Logano for second. Less than 15 green-flag laps separated Edwards from his first Sprint Cup Series title. Then came the caution and the restart to end all restarts. Not to mention Edwards’ championship hopes. Grade: B-
35. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske. After Joey Logano’s contact with Carl Edwards on the apron, the No. 22 came up the track right into Keselowski’s No. 2, sending Keselowski up into the wall in front of Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Newman. Keselowski’s great season ended with his third DNF in his final six races. Grade: B
36. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Toyota, Furniture Row Racing. To say Truex was collected in the massive restart wreck is an understatement. The No. 78 burst into flames after smashing into Brad Keselowski‘s car. To have such a great season end in that manner was just horrible. At least Truex wasn’t hurt. Grade: B
37. Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne was on his way to a decent finish when Carl Edwards‘ car shot back up the track after hitting the inside wall and ended up in front of Kahne and Regan Smith. The impact tore apart Kahne’s car. Grade: B
38. Regan Smith, No. 7 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing. Smith was two laps down when he got caught up in the big restart mess and his car was destroyed. Tough way to end his first full-time season since 2012. Grade: C-
39. Dylan Lupton, No. 32 Ford, GO FAS Racing. Who knew a driver named Dylan Lupton would ultimately be the gateway to Jimmie Johnson’s record-tying seventh Sprint Cup Series championship? If not for Lupton’s left rear tire going down, which brought out the fifth caution with less than 15 laps to go, history likely would not have been made. Grade: F
40. Aric Almirola, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Almirola’s worst season in Sprint Cup came to a painful end, which included time in the garage for a breakdown in the rear housing. Grade: F