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
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