Truex Jr wins NASCAR Cup title with Miami victory

Martin Truex Jr. has won the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series after taking out the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Truex Jr. (#78 Toyota) beat Kyle Busch to the line by 0.681s, while the other Championship 4 contenders in Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski finished fourth and seventh respectively.

Furniture Row Racing gave Truex Jr. the lead for the start of the final stage of the race, ahead of Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson, and he quickly pulled a gap out front as Harvick moved from fourth to third.

Truex Jr. led by half a second with 100 of 267 laps remaining, but Kyle Busch made his move on the low side 10 laps later and eventually took the position.

Kyle Busch stretched his advantage to 2.5s over the next 10 laps or so before Larson, who was by now back ahead of Harvick, rounded Truex Jr. to take over second position on Lap 195.

Truex Jr. and Harvick pitted on Lap 199, the former resuming in seventh and the latter losing a lap as his crew repaired bodywork.

The lead changed when Kyle Busch pitted on Lap 216, putting Truex Jr. back at the head of the field from Harvick, who had got his lap back, with Larson fifth after pitting on Lap 213, and Kyle Busch now seventh.

The fifth and final Caution came on Lap 226 when Kurt Busch spun, at which time Truex Jr. had led Harvick by nearly four seconds, ahead of third-placed Larson and fourth-placed Kyle Busch.

Truex Jr. continued to lead an unchanged top four, with Keselowski sixth, when the race restarted on Lap 234.

Joey Logano climbed from fifth to second on that lap, but didn’t stay there for long as Harvick closed back in on Truex Jr.

Kyle Busch took up the chase when he passed Harvick on Lap 249 and remained within striking distance as Truex Jr. tried to navigate lapped cars.

The threat remained until the end but Truex Jr. held his nerve to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, having also twice won the Xfinity Series.

Kyle Busch took second, from Stage 1 and Stage 2 winner and long-time leader Larson, Harvick, and Chase Elliott.

The top 10 was rounded out by Logano, Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, and Ryan Newman.

Of the high-profile names bowing out of the Cup series as full-timers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 25th, while Danica Patrick said that she lost a tyre after an earlier rub of the wall that caused a second, race-ending hit.

VIDEO: Final laps

VIDEO: Truex Jr. in Victory Lane

Results: Ford EcoBoost 400, Homestead-Miami Speedway

Pos	Num	Driver	Make	Laps	Laps led	Status	Pts
1	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	267	78	Running	40
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	267	43	Running	35
3	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	267	145	Running	54
4	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	267	0	Running	33
5	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	267	0	Running	39
6	22	Joey Logano	Ford	267	0	Running	36
7	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	267	1	Running	30
8	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	267	0	Running	33
9	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	267	0	Running	32
10	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	267	0	Running	27
11	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	267	0	Running	26
12	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	267	0	Running	26
13	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	266	0	Running	24
14	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	266	0	Running	23
15	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	266	0	Running	22
16	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	265	0	Running	21
17	38	David Ragan	Ford	265	0	Running	20
18	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	265	0	Running	19
19	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	265	0	Running	18
20	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	265	0	Running	17
21	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	265	0	Running	16
22	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	265	0	Running	24
23	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	265	0	Running	14
24	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	265	0	Running	13
25	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	264	0	Running	12
26	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	264	0	Running	11
27	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	264	0	Running	10
28	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	264	0	Running	9
29	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	264	0	Running	8
30	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	263	0	Running	7
31	23	Corey LaJoie	Toyota	261	0	Running	0
32	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	259	0	Running	5
33	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	234	0	Crash	4
34	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	225	0	Brakes	3
35	15	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	212	0	Engine	2
36	66	David Starr	Chevrolet	175	0	Brakes	0
37	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	139	0	Crash	1
38	51	Ray Black Jr.	Chevrolet	49	0	Too slow	0
39	83	Joey Gase	Toyota	4	0	Crash	0

Standings

Pos	Driver	Pts	Gap	Starts	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles
1	Martin Truex Jr.	5040		36	8	19	26	3
2	Kyle Busch	5035	-5	36	5	14	22	8
3	Kevin Harvick	5033	-7	36	2	14	23	4
4	Brad Keselowski	5030	-10	36	3	15	21	2
5	Chase Elliott	2377	-2663	36	0	12	21	1
6	Denny Hamlin	2353	-2687	36	2	15	22	2
7	Matt Kenseth	2344	-2696	36	1	10	18	2
8	Kyle Larson	2320	-2720	36	4	15	20	3
9	Ryan Blaney	2305	-2735	36	1	4	14	2
10	Jimmie Johnson	2260	-2780	36	3	4	11	0
11	Austin Dillon	2224	-2816	36	1	3	4	0
12	Jamie McMurray	2224	-2816	36	0	3	17	0
13	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	2222	-2818	36	2	4	9	1
14	Kurt Busch	2217	-2823	36	1	6	15	1
15	Kasey Kahne	2198	-2842	36	1	3	6	0
16	Ryan Newman	2196	-2844	36	1	7	13	0
17	Joey Logano	930	-4110	36	1	10	17	2
18	Clint Bowyer	871	-4169	36	0	6	13	0
19	Erik Jones	863	-4177	36	0	5	14	1
20	Daniel Suarez	777	-4263	36	0	1	12	0
21	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	668	-4372	36	0	1	8	2
22	Trevor Bayne	660	-4380	36	0	2	6	0
23	Paul Menard	631	-4409	36	0	2	3	0
24	Ty Dillon	593	-4447	36	0	0	0	0
25	Chris Buescher	564	-4476	36	0	0	4	0
26	Michael McDowell	542	-4498	36	0	1	1	0
27	A.J. Allmendinger	531	-4509	36	0	1	5	0
28	Danica Patrick	511	-4529	36	0	0	1	0
29	Aric Almirola	502	-4538	29	0	3	6	0
30	David Ragan	447	-4593	36	0	0	3	0
31	Landon Cassill	382	-4658	36	0	0	0	0
32	Matt DiBenedetto	363	-4677	36	0	0	2	0
33	Cole Whitt	322	-4718	36	0	0	0	0
34	Gray Gaulding	164	-4876	27	0	0	1	0
35	Reed Sorenson	150	-4890	28	0	0	0	0
36	Jeffrey Earnhardt	145	-4895	34	0	0	0	0
37	Derrike Cope	42	-4998	15	0	0	0	0
38	Michael Waltrip	29	-5011	1	0	0	1	0
39	D.J. Kennington	17	-5023	4	0	0	0	0
40	Billy Johnson	15	-5025	1	0	0	0	0
41	Boris Said	15	-5025	2	0	0	0	0
42	Gary Klutt	6	-5034	1	0	0	0	0
43	Cody Ware	6	-5034	5	0	0	0	0
44	Alon Day	5	-5035	1	0	0	0	0
45	Kyle Weatherman	5	-5035	2	0	0	0	0
46	Kevin O’Connell	4	-5036	1	0	0	0	0
47	Tommy Regan	3	-5037	1	0	0	0	0
48	Hermie Sadler	3	-5037	1	0	0	0	0
49	Corey LaJoie	0	-5040	32	0	0	0	0
50	Timmy Hill	0	-5040	15	0	0	0	0
51	Joey Gase	0	-5040	9	0	0	0	0
52	B.J. McLeod	0	-5040	8	0	0	0	0
53	Brett Moffitt	0	-5040	7	0	0	0	0
54	Ryan Sieg	0	-5040	5	0	0	0	0
55	Brendan Gaughan	0	-5040	4	0	0	1	0
56	Darrell Wallace Jr.	0	-5040	4	0	0	0	0
57	J.J. Yeley	0	-5040	4	0	0	0	0
58	Elliott Sadler	0	-5040	3	0	0	0	0
59	Carl Long	0	-5040	3	0	0	0	0
60	David Starr	0	-5040	3	0	0	0	0
61	Ray Black Jr.	0	-5040	3	0	0	0	0
62	Regan Smith	0	-5040	2	0	0	0	0
63	Ross Chastain	0	-5040	2	0	0	0	0
64	Josh Bilicki	0	-5040	2	0	0	0	0
65	Stephen Leicht	0	-5040	1	0	0	0	0
66	Mark Thompson	0	-5040	1	0	0	0	0
67	Justin Marks	0	-5040	1	0	0	0	0