The Championship Four started the race at the Homestead-Miami Speedway with one goal, win the race and win the 2019 Championship in NASCAR. Kyle Busch achieved that goal.

Kyle, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick all had the chance to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title when the green flag waived to start the Ford EcoBoost 400. They all looked strong early in the race. However, it was some mistakes that took the chance to win away from three of them.

Kevin Harvick had a great short run set up in his car. The team gambled that would be needed to win the race. There were only three cautions during the race and two of them were at the end of stages one and two.

Martin Truex Jr. was dominating early in the race. He led 103 laps in total during the race. However, during a pit stop the team accidentally put the right front tire on the left side and left front tire on the right side. Martin had to pit again to correct the issue and went a lap down as a result. The only caution of the race for an on track incident allowed him to get back on the lead lap. However, he couldn’t quite catch back up to Kyle Busch to challenge for the win from the back of the lead lap cars.

Denny Hamlin’s team put a huge piece of tape on his grill during a pit stop. This was to help him go faster. However, it blocked enough air flow to the engine that his car began to overheat. Denny had to come back to pit row to have the tape removed. His car just couldn’t catch Kyle Busch after that.

Kyle Busch and his team ran mistake free during the race. Kyle led the most laps in the race, 120 out of a total of 267 laps. The most important one was the last lap. Kyle crossed the finish line first, took home the checkered flag and the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship trophy. This makes Kyle two-time winner at Homestead-Miami Speedway and a two-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion. He won both in the 2015 NASCAR Season.

Martin Truex Jr. battled back from his team’s mistake to claim second place in the race and in the final standings for the year. Erik Jones claimed the third place finish in the race. Kevin Harvick came across the finish line fourth and claims third place in the standings to end the year. Joey Logano rounded out the top five in the race. Denny Hamlin finished the race in 10th place to claim the fourth place finish in the year end season standings.

See the complete race results for the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway here.

See the complete final standings for the 2019 Monster Energy Cup Series season here.

Now the drivers and teams get a break from racing and start preparing for the 2020 season. The new season officially starts Sunday, February 16th with the Daytona 500.

By: Buck Stevens