Posted on by Data Skrive

Martin Truex Jr placed second in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, adding 35 points to his season total.

Truex ranks No. 2 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings with 5035 points. He’s collected 15 top-five finishes in 2019.

Kyle Busch earned the checkered flag in the race, with Erik Jones placing third. Kevin Harvick took fourth place, followed by Joey Logano to round out the top five.

Truex came away victorious in Stage 1, and Busch won Stage 2.

Truex qualified in third position. He led on four occasions for a total of 103 laps. The 16th-year driver has tallied 26 career victories, 102 top-five finishes and has placed in the top 10 in 205 races.

There were 40 cars in the field, and the race endured three cautions and 15 caution laps. There were 14 lead changes.

Toyota added 40 points to its season total with Busch’s victory. Overall, Toyota ranks No. 1 with 1318 points, followed by Ford in the No. 2 spot with 1268. Chevrolet sits at No. 3 with 1222 points on the season.

Martin Truex Driver Page | Get Martin Truex Jr Gear | Race Center

Posted on by Staff Report

The race-winning No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Kyle Busch passed post-race technical inspection Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway with no issues.

The No. 18 Toyota was found to be compliant with the 2019 NASCAR Rule Book after Busch won the championship finale in Miami.

The No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota of Matt DiBenedetto had one lug nut not safe and secure in post-race inspection. The other Championship 4 cars — the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Kevin Harvick, the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Denny Hamlin and the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. — will be taken back to the R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina.

With post-race teardown complete, the race results are official. Busch is the 2019 NASCAR champion.

RELATED: Results | Busch scores second championship

The post-race process is part of a new, more timely approach to inspection for all three NASCAR national series. Competition officials announced in February that thorough post-race inspections would take place shortly after the checkered flag at the track instead of midweek at the Research & Development Center.

Those inspections come with a stiffer deterrence structure that includes disqualification for significant rules infractions — “a total culture change,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer. In the past, race-winning teams found in violation of the rules were penalized with post-race fines, points deductions and/or suspensions, but victories were allowed to stand.

Competition officials introduced the quicker post-race inspection timetable in an effort to make the results official on race day, aiming for a 90-minute target time frame to complete their scrutinizing. The new post-race inspection process was also designed to deal with potential violations more promptly, avoiding any midweek news that might cloud the previous week’s results or the build-up to the following week’s event.

NASCAR will still inspect cars and parts at the R&D Center as needed, but the more comprehensive at-track inspection will take priority.

According to NASCAR statistical archives, the last time a premier-series driver was disqualified occurred in 1973, when early retiree Buddy Baker was demoted to last place in the National 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The last time an apparent race winner in NASCAR’s top division was disqualified came on April 17, 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis’ victory at Wilson (N.C.) Speedway was thrown out because of an oversized fuel tank on his No. 85 Chevrolet.

Posted on by Staff Report

Daniel Hemric used his best performance of the year on an intermediate track to clinch the 2019 Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The Richard Childress Racing rookie entered the final race of the year 10 points ahead of JTG Daugherty’s Ryan Preece, then turned in a 12th-place performance in the Ford EcoBoost 400. The 25-point day topped Preece’s 12-point race, clinching the honor.

“It’s pretty special to say the least,” Hemric said. “I wish we were able to win Rookie of the Year and have a couple more solid finishes throughout the year than what we had, but about five or six years ago, myself and Preece somehow ended up tied with four or five races to go, so we knew we had to buckle down. And really proud of this group for doing that.”

Hemric drove the No. 8 for Richard Childress Racing this year, finishing the year with one top-five finish, two top-10 finishes and one Busch Pole Award.

The 28-year-old Kannapolis, North Carolina, native will join JR Motorsports in 2020 and drive 21 NASCAR Xfinity Series in that team’s No. 8.

“We are proud of Daniel Hemric for winning the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year title,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet’s U.S. Vice President of Performance and Motorsports. “Daniel is a talented driver, teammate, and class act. We are excited that he won this award and we look forward to more great things from him in the future.”

Hemric joins Chase Briscoe and Tyler Ankrum as the top rookies of the year. Briscoe won the honor in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, with Ankrum taking it in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Denny Hamlin was on the verge of giving the other Championship 4 drivers a late-race run for their money Sunday night at Miami. Then it was taken away by tape.

With 45 laps remaining in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Hamlin was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop after the No. 11 Toyota began to overheat due to an aggressive application of tape on the grille.

“I was gonna blow up,” Hamlin said on pit road after the race. “I had to make the right call. Try to un-lap ourselves and try to get a caution … drop a miracle. It stinks but also we had a great year.”

Hamlin’s effort to rally back came up short after un-lapping himself under green with the advantage of fresh tires, finishing 10th to claim fourth in the final standings for the 2019 season while his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch drove off to win his second title.

“I don’t think I could have done a better job,” Hamlin said. “I don’t think I could have ‑‑ I didn’t leave anything out there. So, for the first half of the race we just weren’t fast enough, we weren’t handling very good, and all of a sudden it went nighttime and we took off, and suddenly I perked up and got a little more and was thinking that we’ve got a chance.”

RELATED: Busch wins second title at Miami | Hamlin’s career highlights

For crew chief Chris Gabehart, it was an aggressive play late in the race that just didn’t work out.

“That was a tough scenario there with what we were trying to pull off,” Gabehart said. “It’s uncharted territory a little bit for how our cars are built. … We just didn’t execute that play, and I wish I could have it back and not be so greedy there because I don’t know we needed it anyway.”

“What we tried to pull off here is trying to win Homestead and let the emotion of the moment get the best of us of trying to do it,” he added. “We just got too aggressive. Plain and simple. That’s on me.”

Both Hamlin and Gabehart admitted that they didn’t have the speed throughout the first two stages to compete with Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick, boxing them into making a bold adjustment. But once dusk settled over South Florida, the 11 car came to life before it spewing water out at temperatures of 300+ degrees.

“We were awful, I mean awful for two straight stages,” Gabehart said. “Then Denny Hamlin got on the radio and said we are not done.”

While they didn’t win the big trophy, the move is what Gabehart feels championship-caliber teams have to do sometimes. Taking a risk just doesn’t always work out.

“A race team is not going to be this good because they don’t live by the fire,” Gabehart said. “You have got to dance with the fire to beat these guys and that’s what this race team does. But the problem with dancing with it is every now and then you get burned.”

Gabehart was also quick to place the blame on himself, not the team for a piece of tape that turned into travesty.

“This is pro sports,” Gabehart said. “Winners want the ball and they take the shots and sometimes they miss it. My team is full of winners and they want the ball. That don’t mean they are going to execute every time they want the ball. … I am the leader of this race team, I called an aggressive play and they tried to execute it because that’s what they do.”

Despite the heartbreak, Hamlin isn’t going to let the defeat eat away at him going into the offseason after winning six races in his first season, optimistic for what the future holds with what he was able to accomplish with a new leader atop the pit box.

“It’s not like I’m going to go through the offseason upset or sad,” Hamlin said. “It’s like, I’m looking forward to having the momentum that we took through this year with a first‑year crew chief, and we’re going to win a lot, like a lot next year. I just think that we’ll have another opportunity. There’s no question.” 

Posted on by Reid Spencer

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – With a flair for the dramatic and a car that asserted its superiority after a blood-red Florida sunset over Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kyle Busch claimed a milestone victory in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 — along with his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title.

At the same time, Busch emerged from the shadow cast by doubters who discounted the chances of the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, who hadn’t won a race in NASCAR’s top series since the June event at Pocono Raceway.

Other than seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, Busch is now the only active driver with more than one title. Finishing 4.578 seconds ahead of JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr., who was thwarted by a colossal mix-up on pit road after leading 8 of the first 120 laps, Busch is the first driver to win multiple titles under NASCAR’s elimination Playoff format.

RELATED: Race results | Shop: Busch gear

“Everybody always says you never give up,” said Busch, who picked up his 56th victory, breaking a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for ninth all-time. “We’re no different. We just do what we can do each and every week.

“Sometimes we may not be the best. Sometimes we may not have the right track position. Today we had a really good car, and I could race around and move around. That’s what’s so special about Homestead-Miami Speedway, is the ability to put on a show. I felt like we did that there racing those guys.

“It was a lot of fun to cap off such an amazing year.”

After a cycle of green-flag pit stops, Busch led the last 45 laps. Crew chief Adam Stevens called the No. 18 Camry to pit road on Lap 210, and Truex didn’t pit for service until four laps later. With four extra laps on new tires, Busch cycled out to a lead of nearly 11 seconds, and though Truex, the 2017 champion, cut the margin down to fewer than five seconds, he ran out of time.

Truex already had lost his track position during a green-flag stop on Lap 120, when his crew bolted right-side tires to the left side of the car and vice versa. That rare mistake forced Truex to return to pit road under green, dropping him to 13th in the running order, one lap down.

Though Truex regained his lap under the only incident-related caution of the race — for John Hunter Nemechek’s spin on Lap 136 — he was never in position to challenge Busch for the win.

WATCH: Brexton goes for a joy ride

“Yeah, ultimately it was the loss of track position that bit us,” Truex said. “We restarted the third stage in third, and really wish I could have been either second or fourth. I got blitzed on the outside by the 20 (third-place finisher Erik Jones) and the 22 (fifth-place Joey Logano) and a couple of those guys, and then I had to just run the crap out of my right front to get back by them, and I got tight on that run, and it took me forever to just get by a few cars.

“Ultimately, it came down to track position, and I felt like if I could have been up front and controlled the race, I could have drove away from them.”

Given the way the race played out, the other two Championship 4 contenders — Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin — weren’t factors in the run to the finish. Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford had excellent short-run speed, but the event stayed green for the final 101 laps, nullifying his strength on restarts.

Hamlin had to make an extra pit stop in the final run to pull tape from the grille of his No. 11 JGR Toyota to prevent the car from overheating. Under the Playoff format where he highest finishing of the Championship 4 drivers is crowned the champion, Harvick came home fourth, 14 seconds off Busch’s pace.

Hamlin was 10th, the last driver on the lead lap.

TRUEX: This one got away from us

In an odd way, the 2019 run to the title seemed similar to the 2015 championship season, as far as Stevens was concerned. Busch missed the first 11 races that year because of injuries suffered in a crash in the season-opening NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona.

He won four races in a five-event stretch shortly after his return. Then he won at Homestead to secure the Cup trophy.

“We had a cold spell there,” Stevens said of this year’s five-month drought. “It’s been well-documented, believe it or not. Quite a few questions about it. Felt a little bit like 2015 to me. Take the broken legs out of the equation. We were hot early in 2015 when Kyle came back. We didn’t win since Indy that year, then came to Homestead and got the job done.

“You got to remember, too, we’re in such a unique situation, as a competitive team that runs up front with the goal of winning the championship every year. Everything we do is to make that happen, right? To win the regular season points championship, then try to maintain that and get to Homestead–that’s what it’s all about.”

Posted on by Staff Report

The Candy Man can. And did.

Kyle Busch secured his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, besting perhaps the most impressive field of championship contenders in the six-year history of the elimination-style playoffs.

Busch outran fellow finalists Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr., winning the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 on the strength of a clever pit strategy and a car that came to life under the lights. Hamlin was making his first Championship 4 appearance since 2014, while Harvick and Truex were making return trips to the finale.

RELATED: Race results

“We have a great race team and a great owner,” an emotional Busch said after climbing from his car. “Everybody always says you never give up and we’re no different,. Sometimes we may not be the best, sometimes we may not have the right track position. Today we had a really good car and I could race around and move around.

“There’s always your doubters, there’s always your haters,” Busch said smiling. “You know what? This one’s for the Rowdy Nation. You guys are the best. Thank you so much.”

Busch had claimed the series’ regular-season championship in September, building a stockpile of playoff points that guided him to his fifth straight appearance in the Championship 4 field. The 34-year-old driver also won the title in NASCAR’s premier series in 2015, the second year of the elimination format.

Sunday’s march to the title capped a brilliant — and sometimes, difficult — year for the driver of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota. A four-win regular season marked his fifth straight year with multiple victories in NASCAR’s top series, but Busch entered the Miami race winless since early June. That skid, plus a dominant Round of 8 from all three of his title competitors, put “Rowdy” and the No. 18 team flying under the radar for championship weekend.

“We had a cold spell there,” crew chief Adam Stevens. “It’s been well-documented, believe it or not. Quite a few questions about it. Felt a little bit like 2015 to me. Take the broken legs out of the equation. We were hot early in 2015 when Kyle came back. We didn’t win since Indy that year, then came to Homestead and got the job done.”

Busch also scored four Xfinity Series wins and five victories in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series, totals that helped him surpass 200 career wins in NASCAR national series competition in March.

The year was not without tragedy, though. Joe Gibbs’ son J.D., co-founder of Joe Gibbs Racing, died in January after complications after a long battle with a degenerative neurological disease.

“It’s been a difficult time,” Busch said. “To be able to reward them with a championship, I don’t know how much it means to them, but it’s the best I can do. I know JD was looking down on us all season long.”

MORE: Full race recap

Busch becomes the 16th driver with more than one premier series championship. Seven-time champ Jimmie Johnson is the only other active driver with multiple titles on his resume. Busch also is the first repeat champion in the elimination-style postseason.

Both championships came with Stevens calling the shots on the pit box. The 41-year-old crew chief raced dirt late models before starting his NASCAR career as a fabricator with Richard Petty Motorsports.

Busch’s first title was a story of resilience as he recovered from severe leg and foot injuries after a crash in the season-opening weekend at Daytona International Speedway. He missed 11 races but met the criteria for a playoff waiver in a big way, winning five races on his path to a title-clinching performance at Homestead.

Busch also is a former champion of what is now called the NASCAR Xfinity Series, riding a nine-win season to that tour’s title in 2009.

MORE: Hamlin has late issue

Contributing: Holly Cain

Posted on by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: How to find NBCSN | Get the NBC Sports App | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App

Monday, November 18
12:30 a.m., Glory Road: NASCAR’s Lost Tracks (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
2 p.m., NASCAR 120: Homestead-Miami, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
5 p.m., NASCAR America: Monday, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

Tuesday, November 19
5 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
6 p.m., Wood Brothers (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App

Wednesday, November 20
5 p.m., NASCAR America: Motormouths, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., Dale Jr. Download (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App

Thursday, November 21
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

Posted on by Staff Report

Every 2019 race, except the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, is comprised of three stages — Stage 1, Stage 2 and the Final Stage. The Coca-Cola 600 added a fourth stage. Drivers who finish in the top 10 in Stage 1 and Stage 2 earn additional race points, with the winner of each stage earning 10 points, second place earning nine points, third place earning eight points, etc., down to one point for 10th place. Stage 3 of the Coca-Cola 600 awards points in the same manner as Stages 1 and 2 in the other races.

The Final Stage produces the race results and awards points across the field.

Below is a cumulative running tally of how many stage points drivers have earned this year, as well as their stage wins — a stage win will provide an additional bonus point per win of the postseason.

RELATED: Stage lengths for the 2019 season

Through Miami
Note: Does not include points earned for the Gander RV Duels at Daytona

2019 TOTAL STAGE POINTS
RANK DRIVER TEAM STAGE POINTS STAGE WINS
1. Joey Logano Team Penske 358 11
2. Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 326 6
3. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing 294 12
4. Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing 293 9
5. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 271 6
6. Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing 254 5
7. Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 249 5
8. Brad Keselowski Team Penske 238 4
9. Ryan Blaney Team Penske 237 2
10. William Byron Hendrick Motorsports 192 2
t-11. Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing 154 3
t-11. Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing 154 1
t-13. Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 144 2
t-13. Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 144 0
15. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports 121 1
16. Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing 120 0
17. Daniel Suarez Stewart-Haas Racing 100 0
18. Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing 86 2
19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing 71 0
20. Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing 57 0
21. Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing 34 0
22. Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing 33 0
23. Ty Dillon Germain Racing 20 2
24. Matt DiBenedetto Leavine Family Racing 16 0
t-25. Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports 15 0
t-25. Daniel Hemric Richard Childress Racing 15 0
27. Bubba Wallace Richard Petty Motorsports 7 0
28. Ryan Preece JTG Daugherty Racing 3 0

 

Posted on by Staff Report

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Martin Truex Jr.’s early domination in Sunday’s Monster Energy Series championship race left the impression that he might just win a second title in a walk. The wheels didn’t fall off, though; they just wound up in the wrong place at a crucial time.

A pit-road gaffe during the second stage of the Ford EcoBoost 400 marked the beginning of a downward turn for Truex and the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 team, which rallied but finished second to teammate and eventual champion Kyle Busch. The event marked the second consecutive runner-up result for Truex in the season finale and the corresponding title race.

RELATED: Busch takes home second championship at Miami

“Yeah, these things don’t come around every day,” said Truex, the 2017 series champ. “Second two years in a row definitely stings a little, but the fact that we have one is still really a big deal. It’s hard to win these things. Congrats to Kyle and the 18 guys. It’s a huge accomplishment just to get here I feel like. Yes, sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. It just wasn’t our day.”

Early on, the day belonged to Truex, who led 98 of the first 120 laps before making his scheduled Stage 2 pit stop. The seemingly routine four-tire stop went awry when the tires became mixed up, something No. 19 crew chief Cole Pearn noticed nearly immediately. “I think we got the tires switched. Bring it back to me,” Pearn radioed Truex, who said he knew as soon as he sensed the car’s imbalance on the pit-access road.

That mistake knocked Truex down to 13th place, first among the cars one lap down.

“Yeah, I’ve never had that happen. No. No. I don’t even know what to say,” Truex said post-race. “No. It doesn’t drive good with the left-front on the right-front, though, I can tell you that. It’s very tight.”

Tommy DiBlasi, the No. 19’s tire specialist who joined JGR along with Truex and Pearn from their former home at Furniture Row Racing, said the crew had made no changes to the tire-changing procedures they had used all year.

“I’m not sure,” DiBlasi told NASCAR.com. “We had them laid out the same way we always have them laid out, and the tire carrier picks up the two tires that he goes over the wall with, and I guess he just accidentally grabbed the wrong one. It’s all that was. We were coming in to pit, turned around, grabbed two, went over the wall and as soon as the jack dropped, we saw that it said right-rear on the left-front, so it is what it is. People make mistakes, I guess.”

Pearn left his perch atop the pit box to consult with the rest of the crew after the stop, with TV cameras capturing an animated conversation among the group. “They were just trying to figure out what happened,” Pearn said, noting he could only recall a similar incident happening one other time, several years ago at Pocono. “Of course, no one’s got a good answer when stuff goes bad.”

Truex rallied back to the lead lap with a timely caution period on Lap 138 for John Hunter Nemechek’s lazy spin and mounted a charge back to finish fourth in the stage. But the No. 19’s strength wasn’t as pronounced as daytime racing shifted to night for the final stage, and a longer wait to make the team’s last pit stop kept Truex at a further loss with track position. 

Truex made up a small batch of ground during the final stretch, but his pursuit of Busch became a stalemate. He was 4.578 seconds back at the last checkered flag of the season.

“I think we were still really good, I just think everybody got a little bit better,” Pearn said. “They were struggling a bit more in the daytime than what we were, so yeah, we got a little bit tight there that last run. Should’ve maybe adjusted it more for that, but I don’t know. Hindsight’s 20-20.”

Sunday’s finish capped what was an otherwise stellar season for Truex, who contributed a series-best seven wins to JGR’s new single-season record of 19 victories. That overall performance gave Truex his fourth Championship 4 appearance in the last five years, but the final margin wasn’t enough to claim the main trophy.

“Tough to swallow,” Pearn said. “I feel like we put the effort in.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Busch took advantage of a mistake by the crew of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and Championship 4 competitor Martin Truex Jr. to secure the Stage 2 victory in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

RELATED: Stage 2 results 

Kevin Harvick, another Championship 4 driver, placed second, with Kyle Larson third and Championship 4 drivers Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin rounding out the top five.

Halfway through the stage, Truex Jr. — who had led a dominant 98 laps to that point — was forced to make a second trip down pit road after his team made a costly mistake during green flag stops. The No. 19 JGR crew had accidentally swapped his right and front left tires, urging Truex to immediately radio to his crew that something was wrong. The 2017 champ came back down to fix the issue, losing a lap and bowing out of immediate contention.

MORE: Pit-road mistake puts Truex lap down

Busch inherited the lead, but things once again shook up shortly after.

With 24 laps to go, the caution came out when John Hunter Nemechek spun — bringing redemption to the No. 19 crew and handing Truex Jr. the free pass to put him back in contention on the lead lap.

On the ensuing restart, Busch maintained his lead before quickly ceding to Harvick, who led for several laps before Busch re-took the lead with three laps to go for his series-best 12th stage win of the season.

Truex, meanwhile, was feverishly picking cars off in the closing laps, putting together a late Stage 2 run to put himself back into the top five and the title picture.

The Championship 4 driver that finishes highest in the Final Stage wins the championship.

Driver Team Pts
1 Kyle Busch (P) Joe Gibbs Racing 10
2 Kevin Harvick (P) Stewart-Haas Racing 9
3 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing 8
4 Martin Truex Jr. (P) Joe Gibbs Racing 7
5 Denny Hamlin (P) Joe Gibbs Racing 6
6 Ryan Blaney Team Penske 5
7 Joey Logano Team Penske 4
8 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing 3
9 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports 2
10 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing 1

STAGE 1

Martin Truex Jr. topped Stage 1 in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Looking for a second career title, Truex led 60 of 80 laps in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Kyle Larson, eliminated from championship contention last week at ISM Raceway, was second in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

Truex’s teammate and fellow Championship 4 competitor Kyle Busch was third in the No. 18 JGR Toyota. The remainder of the Championship 4 field rounded out the top five, with Kevin Harvick fourth in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and Denny Hamlin fifth in the No. 11 JGR Toyota.

RELATED: Stage 1 results 

Harvick took the lead from polesitter Hamlin on Lap 3, pacing the field out front for 20 laps. Truex, the 2017 champ, overtook the No. 4 shortly after on Lap 21 to hold the lead the rest of the way.

The top 10 was littered with talent, as former 2019 playoff drivers Ryan Blaney, Clint Bowyer and and William Byron placed sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, and seven-time champ Jimmie Johnson placed ninth.

Driver Team Pts
1 Martin Truex Jr. (P) Joe Gibbs Racing 10
2 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing 9
3 Kyle Busch (P) Joe Gibbs Racing 8
4 Kevin Harvick (P) Stewart-Haas Racing 7
5 Denny Hamlin (P) Joe Gibbs Racing 6
6 Ryan Blaney Team Penske 5
7 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing 4
8 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports 3
9 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports 2
10 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing 1