As the Florida sun faded to darkness at Homestead-Miami Speedway and a first-time champion was crowned, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the season’s final race, the Ford EcoBoost 400.
It’s not often that a driver can double down in NASCAR but Kevin Harvick did just that, winning the Ford EcoBoost 400 as well as the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. This was Harvick’s 28th victory in 502 Cup races, his fifth victory of the season and his first victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
While Goodyear is celebrating the end of the season in Homestead, pronouncing it a ‘good year’, they are already manufacturing tires for the New Year and preparing for new season testing.
In a thrilling green-white-checkered finish, Matt Kenseth, behind the wheel of the No. 20 GameStop/Rock Candy Toyota, held both Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson at bay to win the 20th annual Ford EcoBoost 300.
For Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 23 DipYourCar.com Toyota for BK Racing, this season has been one of firsts and lasts. One of those firsts, in the last race of the season, is that he is competing at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the very first time in his career.
In a blur of burnouts, Darrell Wallace Jr. won the EcoBoost 200, Matt Crafton won the Truck Series championship, and Kyle Busch Motorsports won the owner’s championship. Ben Kennedy also secured Rookie of the Year honors for the Camping World Truck Series.
Jeff Gordon, who fell out of championship contention last week, scored his first ever pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway and the 200th pole for Hendrick Motorsports. And with that he also announced that he fully intends to pursue the spoiler role in the NASCAR race season finale.
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet and the likely Rookie of the Year, took a moment to reflect on rookie lessons learned as he met with the media at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the site of the last NASCAR racing of 2014.
In a wide-ranging State of the Sport press conference, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France discussed everything from the new Chase format, the sanctioning body’s domestic violence policies, fights in the sport, and the drivers who may be crowned champion this weekend.
Following an issue on pit road that saw him leave his pit stall with the gas can still attached, Joey Logano would fight back during the second half of the race, including getting a lucky dog, to post a sixth place finish.
The two-time Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, led nine of 266 over-scheduled laps and became the first Playoff competitor to transfer from the Round of 16 to 12 by winning the 2024 Playoff for the first time ever.
An overtime-inducing caution brought out the yellow with just two laps remaining, as Hemric sat 16th. After one overtime attempt, Hemric finished 11th.
Christopher Bell (fourth) and Tyler Reddick (sixth) both overcame adversity on pit road to lead Toyota with strong top-10 finishes at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday evening.
