HOMESTEAD, Florida — Kevin Harvick claimed his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup title by earning his 29th career series win Sunday in the Ford EcoBoost 400 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Fellow Chase for the Sprint Cup competitor Ryan Newman finished second, while Brad Keselowski, Paul Menard and Jamie McMurray finished third through fifth. Title contenders Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano finished seventh and 16th, respectively.
Harvick became the 30th driver to win a NASCAR series championship.
“It’s been an amazing year,” Newman said moments after the race ended. “They say you’ve got to lose one before you win one. I’m ready to win one now.”
Harvick restarted in 12th with just under 20 laps to go after taking four tires. Jeff Gordon and Hamlin stayed out to restart on the front row, and Hamlin took the lead on the restart. Newman was also in the top five after taking only two tires, while Logano was mired outside the top 20 after his car fell off its jack on pit road.
The yellow flag waved two additional times. On a restart with nine laps to go, Harvick lined up seventh and then quickly moved up to second when the race returned to green. After a final caution with six laps to go, Harvick, Newman and Hamlin restarted first through third with Logano still outside the top 20.
Gordon dominated the early part of the race after starting on the pole, only temporarily giving up leads to Harvick and Hamlin.
Harvick, Hamlin, and Logano all started the race inside the top 10, while Newman started midpack in 21st. Harvick, Hamlin and Logano ran inside or just outside the top five most of the race. Newman worked his way into the top 10 by lap 60 and then into the top five by lap 77. Like his championship rivals, Newman ran in or near the top five for most of the remainder of the race.
Harvick led significant laps after taking the lead from Gordon soon after a restart on lap 127. However, when the yellow flag waved about 30 laps later, Gordon got off pit road first to restart with the lead.
When the yellow flag waved again a few laps later, for the sixth time in the race, Gordon restarted with the lead again but lost the top spot to Hamlin. Other title contenders also got by Gordon, as Logano moved into second and Harvick third, but after a few laps of green-flag racing, Gordon got back up to second.
Gordon retook the lead by getting off pit road first during the seventh caution of the race to restart up front with 69 laps to go. During the yellow flag, Logano endured a slow stop to restart in the back of the top 10. Newman restarted eighth. Hamlin and Harvick, meanwhile, restarted second and third, respectively, behind Gordon.
Hamlin gained the lead again on a restart just inside 60 laps to go, but Gordon got off pit road first to move back in front during a yellow flag on lap 220. During the same caution, Newman got back into the top five. For the first time in the race, Logano fell outside the top 10, restarting 11th after his team dropped a lugnut during his pit stop.
NOTES: Roger Penske, owner of Joey Logano’s No. 22 car, entered Homestead-Miami with a chance to become the first motorsport team owner to win a Verizon IndyCar championship and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in the same year, with Will Power claiming the IndyCar title. He came close to the feat in 2012 with a Sprint Cup championship with driver Brad Keselowski but fell short with Power in the IndyCar season finale. … The Ford EcoBoost 400 was the final NASCAR race for Marcos Ambrose, who is returning to his native Australia to race V8 Supercars for Penske. The race is also expected to be the last for crew chiefs Jimmy Fennig (Carl Edwards) and Steve Letarte (Dale Earnhardt Jr.). Fennig is expected to retire, and Letarte is moving to the NBC Sports broadcast booth. … Denny Hamlin won the 2013 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, his second victory at the track. He was the only previous winner at Homestead among the four championship contenders. … Joey Logano headed into Homestead with the highest average Chase race finish at 5.3. … Ryan Newman was the only winless driver among the four Chasers. No driver has won a NASCAR Cup championship without at least one race win. … Tony Stewart’s steak of 15 consecutive seasons with at least one win ended when he took his car to the garage because of an overheating issue in the final third of the race.