For the first time in history, a foreign-born driver has clinched a NASCAR national series championship.

On Saturday night under the lights during the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Daniel Suárez drove the race of his lifetime. The Monterrey, Mexico native led the field to the green flag for the Ford EcoBoost 300 after winning the pole earlier in the day. Despite starting first and finishing first, winning was never a certainty throughout the event for Suárez.

Justin Allgaier, Erik Jones, and Elliott Sadler were the three drivers that Suárez had to compete against for the title – and they all gave him a strong run for the money. In one of the most intense races in NASCAR history, the final four showcased true “Game 7” determination on Saturday night. At one point in the race as the laps were beginning to wind down, the front four in the running order were the four championship eligible drivers. Jones, Allgaier, Suárez and Sadler were swapping positions back and forth for multiple laps; sending the intensity meter to an all-time high.

The caution flag flew late in the race, setting up a three-lap shootout to close out the 2016 season. Jones got held up behind a slower car on the restart, impeding his chances at the championship. Meanwhile, Suárez was able to get by Sadler and shot out to the race lead. As the checkered flag was displayed, Suárez drove his No.19 ARRIS Toyota to the race and championship victory.

“To win here in Homestead, and to have a lot of fans and people from Latin America and Mexicans all over the Latin America is something great for me,” said Suárez, who is still working on his English. “I have my mom, my dad, my family from Houston, my friends from Mexico… a lot of friends were here. More than 30 people were here, just to have fun with me and to enjoy this weekend. What a better way to finish.”

Suárez’s championship is a historic moment for the sport. In 68 years of racing history, no foreign-born driver has ever accomplished what Suárez did Saturday night – and the Mexico-native was all-but speechless as he hoisted the championship trophy.

“Man, I don’t think I can speak English right now,” said Suárez after the race. “My family worked super hard since I was eleven years old to give me the right equipment, to get better, and to be able one day to do this. I’m just very proud of this team, everyone that has been helping me to get to this point. All my sponsors, my friends, everybody in Mexico – I just can’t believe it.”

Joe Gibbs, Suárez’s team owner, couldn’t have been more proud of what his driver accomplished. Gibbs was full of smiles after the race and said he believes Suarez has the potential to become a idol for kids all around the globe.

“I think that is what is neat about our sport – is that young people can actually look at him,” said Gibbs after the race. “He can become a star from them knowing that he is not going to embarrass them, his sponsor, or anybody else because he is that kind of person.”

Aside from capturing the title, Suárez also became the first graduate of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program to win a NASCAR XFINITY Series championship.

A spectacular race capped off by a historic championship – it would be hard to imagine anyone leaving the track Saturday night not feeling like they got their money’s worth. </s> In Homestead, the center of South Florida’s Mexican population, Monterrey native Daniel Suarez made NASCAR history by running Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 300 as if he had a home-track advantage.

Suarez led 133 of 200 laps from the pole to win both the race and the Xfinity Series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Suarez became the first foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR series title and the first graduate of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program to win a series title.

“To win here at Homestead, to have a lot of fans and people from Latin America, Mexicans, is something great for me,” Suarez said. “Besides that, I have my Mom, my Dad, my family from Houston, my friends from Mexico, my friend I used to race karts with when I was 13 years old, a lot of friends were here. More than 30 people were here to just have fun with me and enjoy this weekend. And what a way to finish. … I’m just very proud of my team and everyone who has helped me to be in this position.”

Through a stunned chuckle, Suarez said, “It’s still hard to believe this. It’s still hard to believe this.”

Despite leading the most laps and having the strongest car early in each run between pit stops, Suarez’s relevant advantages came in four new tires and the good fortune to be in the right line on the final restart.

Applying the Sprint Cup’s Chase format to the Xfinity Series for the first time injected “You watching this?” drama into the series finale. As will be the case in Sunday’s Sprint Cup Ford EcoBoost 400, the top finisher of the Xfinity Chase’s final four — Suarez, Jason Allgaier, Elliott Sadler and Erik Jones — would get the season championship.

“The fun part was between the four of us, there was a lot of respect and a lot of hard racing,” Allgaier said. “I don’t think anybody else let anybody have anything on each other, but there was just a lot of really good hard racing and from the driver’s seat, it was fun to watch.”

Allgaier spent the day in the top five, dicing with Suarez, Kyle Larson, Ty Dillon and Jones when he wasn’t playing tag with the wall. After sitting 10th to 15th most of the day, Sadler made a run to the lead pack that got aborted by a rather hard wall smack. Jones’ race featured complaining verging on whining about his car’s power in the first 50 laps, then, later, a charge to the front with a dialed-in Toyota.

“Didn’t have the car we needed to at the beginning of the day and really through the mid part of the race,” Jones said. “Didn’t get where we needed to be until about Lap 150 or so, and the sun started to go down, track cooled down and our stuff kind of came around to us.”

With 54 laps to go, the four contenders held the top four spots. Sadler’s hard wall kiss dropped him back to 17th and was still working his way back forward when Ray Black Jr. spun in the fourth turn on the 192nd lap.

That gave Suarez a chance to duck into the pits for four new tires, a stop his team almost didn’t make. Had fewer cars come in, Suarez might have found himself with a robust car on fresh tires but too many cars to pass. Sadler’s crew, knowing their only shot at the title was in gaining track in the pits, took on only two left-side tires. Allgaier and Jones were left on bad tires.

Sadler got out first among the Chase contenders, ahead of Jones, Suarez and Allgaier. But the large pit parade didn’t include Cole Whitt. Staying out put Whitt into the lead with Sadler second.

A Sadler crew member ran down to Whitt’s pit to beg for Whitt, who had the choice of high line or low line, to take the lower line and give Sadler the advantageous high line.

Whitt took the high line. At the restart with three laps left, his car failed to accelerate so completely it appeared to be going in reverse.

“When the 14 [Whitt] didn’t go on the restart, I actually kind of stopped and hesitated,” Sadler said. “The green flag was waving, but he really wasn’t going, so I didn’t know really what to do. So, I kind of hesitated and I think that allowed Daniel go get a good run on me and cost me the championship.”

Said Jones said: “I don’t know, maybe he’s never started first before. It’s just kind of insane really. I’ve never seen anything like it. He didn’t even attempt to go. He didn’t spin his tires. He just sat there and stacked the top line up. It was pretty disrespectful, really, and I strongly hope that somebody is able to talk to him about that.”

Jones nearly ran up Whitt’s rear while Sadler moved into the lead. Suarez quickly zipped by and away to the title. </s> HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- El campeon!

Daniel Suarez won the Xfinity Series season finale and title at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, becoming the first foreign champion in a NASCAR national series.

The 24-year-old Mexican bested fellow championship contenders Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier and Erik Jones on a botched restart with three laps to go.

"It's very hard to put into words," Suarez said. "I'm speechless right now. I'm just very proud of everyone and thankful to have the family that I have, my mom, my dad. They gave me all the tools to be here right now. They put me in a car even when we didn't have the support or the racing background. They supported me, and right now we are just living a dream."

Suarez thanked fans and his native country in Spanish in victory lane. His win was the first of the weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing, which has two drivers -- Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards -- vying for the Sprint Cup championship Sunday.

"For us, after two years, to be where we are tonight is amazing," car owner Joe Gibbs said. "This is going to be a big deal for our sport. It's huge."

It was just Suarez's third career victory, but the most important for obvious reasons.

Claiming the title at Homestead-Miami Speedway made the accomplishment all the more memorable for Suarez.

"To win here in Homestead and to have a lot of fans and people from Latin America, Mexicans, [people from] all over Latin America, it's something great for me, Suarez said. "And on the side of that, I have my mom, my dad, my family from Houston, my friends from Mexico [and] my friend Coco over there that I used to race cars with him when I was 13 years old. A lot of friends were here.

"More than 30 people were here just to have fun with me, to enjoy this weekend, and what a better way to finish [than] this way. I'm just very proud of my team, very proud of everyone that has been helping me to be in this position, and it's still hard to believe this. It's still hard to believe this. But we worked hard, and this team really deserves these results."

Sadler, who gambled by taking two tires on the final pit stop, finished third in the race and second in the standings. The former Cup driver and sentimental favorite remained without a championship at any national level in a career spanning more than two decades.

Daniel Suarez claimed the title in his sophomore campaign at the Xfinity Series after winning the Rookie of the Year award and finishing fifth in the championship standings in 2015. Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports

"This is by far the hardest because I feel like this is the best team I've probably ever worked with," said Sadler, who drove with an interim crew chief because his usual one was suspended. "We felt like we could come in here and compete, and we made a great pit call there at the end to get some clean air."

Sadler asked Cole Whitt to give him the top lane on the restart, but Whitt declined.

Allgaier finished sixth and Jones ninth. Both got stuck behind Whitt, the leader, on the final restart, and when Whitt spun his worn-out tires, Allgaier and Jones fell way behind Suarez.

"It's really frustrating," Jones said. "I don't mean to bag on the guy so much, but it's like, 'Hey, we're up here racing for the championship.' And maybe we don't even win it if he pits and lets us move up, but at least we would have had a fair shot at it. I feel like we kind of got robbed of at least our chance to race for it. Yeah, it's just unfortunate. It just wasn't a great situation altogether."

The chaos definitely benefited Suarez, who passed Sadler low and pulled away from the field. Suarez led 133 of the 200 laps in the race.

Suarez was last year's top rookie in the second-tier series. He began racing karts in Mexico and moved to North Carolina as a teenager to pursue a career at NASCAR's national level. He had to teach himself English by watching cartoons on American television, and Suarez moved through NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program to land a job with JGR.

Suarez is the first D4D driver to win a championship.

Suarez has soared in his second season with Gibbs. As Jones struggled down the stretch, Suarez upped his performance. He won at Dover to move through the Round of 12 and was runner-up at Kentucky and third at Charlotte. Then, Suarez registered finishes of third (Kansas), fifth (Texas) and fifth (Phoenix) to set up his championship-clinching victory at Homestead while working with crew chief Scott Graves.

"I feel like Scott and I, we have come a long ways," Suarez said. "In the first half of the year, we were good, and in the second half of the year, we were great. That's something really good.

"I'm really looking forward for our future, but for now, I think I'm just very proud of the performance that Scott and the guys and Joe Gibbs Racing, they brought to this race. They brought my favorite car, and that's the car that I won Michigan with. That's just my baby, and we've got it here, and we won a championship."

The championship surely make him an even bigger star back home. On a return trip to Mexico with NASCAR officials last month, Suarez was celebrated as if he was Dale Earnhardt Jr.

After Suarez won in Homestead, Earnhardt Jr. congratulated the new champion via Twitter.

Congrats to @JoeGibbsRacing and @Daniel_SuarezG on this year's @NASCAR_XFINITY championship. Daniel was awesome all season. Well-earned 🏆 — Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) November 19, 2016

For Gibbs, it is his second driver championship in the Xfinity Series but first since Busch won in 2009.

The Gibbs organization also celebrated its fifth owner's championship in the Xfinity Series.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has grown a reputation for showcasing spectacular racing events, and that was the case once again in the season finale race on Friday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Four drivers; Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter, Christopher Bell, and Timothy Peters entered the Ford EcoBoost 200 with a shot at the championship, but only one would walk away with the trophy.

The four championship contenders battled hard throughout the 134-lap event. Early on in the race, it appeared as if Crafton had the strongest truck. The No.88 Black Label Bacon/Menards Toyota was the only one of the four contending machines that was able to get out to the race lead at some point during the event. Sauter and Bell were never far behind though, and as the race began to wind down, the battle began to heat up.

Crafton was able to fend off Sauter for a number of laps, but finally with less than 30 laps to go, the No.21 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet was able to break ahead. Once he got a sniff of the championship lead, Sauter never looked back. As the checkered flag waved, Sauter crossed the finish line 3rd, clinching the 2016 championship.

“With about 50-60 to go, I was like okay we got something here, and we were really catching the No.88,” said Sauter after the race on FS1. “Looked like he was pushing really bad. Just so proud of these guys, I can’t thank everybody enough, I mean I’m a small part of this deal. We executed like we needed to tonight.”

It’s the Necedah, WI native’s first-career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. He may not have been the most dominant truck throughout the 2016 season, but Sauter was no doubt one of the most consistent – finishing the season with three victories, nineteen top-10s, and one pole.

“My family is here, my kids are here, my wife is here,” said Sauter after the race in Victory Lane. “It’s just an awesome night. Proud to be champion, gonna do everything in our power to represent NASCAR and Camping World the best we can.”

William Byron brought home the race victory Friday night, capping off what was an impressive 2016 season. Byron earned seven wins throughout the year, earning him the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award while also bringing home the fifth all-time owner championship for Kyle Busch Motorsports. </s> The 24-year-old won the final race of the season at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in south Florida to clinch the overall title.

"I'm just very proud of everyone and thankful to have the family that I have," Suarez said after clinching the title in front of his parents.

"My mom, my dad, they gave me all the tools to be here right now. They put me in a car even when we didn't have the support or the racing background. They supported me and right now we are just living a dream.

"It's still hard to believe this."

Suarez was born in Monterrey and started racing carts before moving to North Carolina as a teenager to pursue his career.

The Xfinity Series is a secondary competition on the stock car circuit below the main NASCAR Sprint Cup series. </s> HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Joey Logano proved that NASCAR's playoff system is about performance late in the year, as he turned a one-win regular season into his first career NASCAR Cup Series title.

Logano, who was fifth in the regular-season standings, capped a strong playoff run with two wins in the last four races, including capturing the victory Sunday in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"I told you we weren't (an underdog) and showed you why we were not," said Logano, who had declared himself the favorite a week ago. "We were the favorite like I told you before the race started."

The Team Penske driver took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. with 12 laps remaining for his first win at a 1.5-mile track since an October 2015 victory at Kansas Speedway. He outlasted the three other championship contenders, who finished 2-3-4. Truex placed second, Kevin Harvick finished third and Kyle Busch was fourth.

"I am so proud of everybody for rising to the occasion. We executed down the stretch like nobody's business. ... I can't believe it," Logano said. "I don't know what to say. This team, (owner) Roger Penske, (crew chief) Todd Gordon, the pit crew. Oh my God.

"They gave me the car I needed at the end to do my job, put me in position to do my job. I couldn't be more proud of them."

The championship race changed complexion with 20 laps remaining when Daniel Suarez spun following contact with Brad Keselowski.

Busch, who had not been in contention all day because of issues on pit road, was the leader because he had opted not to pit under green when the leaders pitted. Busch's only chance to win the title was to stay out, get track position, and hope the caution would come out before he ran out of fuel.

That happened with the Keselowski-Suarez contact, and following pit stops, Busch retained the lead, with Truex second, Logano third and Harvick fourth.

The race resumed with 15 laps remaining. Truex took the lead on the restart, but Logano blew by him a few laps later.

Joey Logano lifted the NASCAR Cup Series trophy for the first time. Sean Gardner/Getty Images

"I just needed time," said Truex, the 2017 Cup champion. "That's all I needed. They were faster than us for 15 or 20 laps all day long.

"It was like a reverse scenario from last year. Last year we took advantage of the short run car at the end -- (Busch's) 18 car should've won the race (last year) and tonight we should've won the race and they took advantage of the short-run car. I don't know what else we could've done."

Harvick possibly could have battled for the win, too, if not for the late-race caution. But the driver who led 58 of the first 167 laps didn't have as strong a car following sundown.

Both Harvick and Busch finished the season with eight wins (five more than Logano) but ended up without the title.

"Lots of wins," Busch said. "Forget about it now. Move on. ... Our car was just not even close. I don't know what happened to it, I thought we were way better than that and way closer than that.

"We wouldn't have unloaded today if we thought we were that far off."

Harvick was without his crew chief, Rodney Childers, who was suspended for the final two races of the year for an illegal spoiler in the win at Texas.

"It's been a great year and we just got beat," Harvick said.

Joey Logano raced to the championship with a win at Homestead. Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Logano didn't have the great season of the other championship contenders, as he entered the finale with 12 top-5 finishes, the fewest among them. But he has been on the brink all year, proved by his 25 top-10 finishes in the 35 previous races.

Once the playoffs started, he showed his strength as he earned more points than any other driver in the playoffs. He had four top-5s and seven top-10s in the first nine playoff races, and his win at Martinsville to open the third round gave his team two extra weeks to prepare knowing it was in the championship event.

It was at that race at Martinsville where he executed a bump-and-run on Truex to capture the win. While viewed by Truex and others as potentially overaggressive, Logano has raced in that style for several years, especially after struggling in his four seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing.

He moved to Team Penske in 2013 and soon found a place where he could thrive. The 28-year-old had made two previous championship appearances, finishing fourth in 2014 and second in 2016.

"There's no question that Joey wanted it bad," Penske said. "The team gave him a terrific car. We had the benefit of being able to work on our car after we got in at Martinsville, which certainly gives you a couple of weeks to not have the pressure, which definitely was a benefit of us.

"There's no question we had for 30-35 laps was outstanding."

Logano led a race-high 80 laps as he capped a comeback from a year ago when he didn't make the playoffs and finished 17th -- the best of the non-playoff drivers -- in the standings.

The title was the second for Team Penske to go with the 2012 title won by Brad Keselowski. It added another highlight to a year where the motorsports organization won the 2018 Indianapolis 500 with Will Power, earned its 500th overall victory with Keselowski at Vegas and is contention to win the V8 Supercars championship in Australia.

"It's something I never imagined it at the beginning (of the year)," Penske said. "We started out at strong when you looked at our speeds at Daytona. We had a little bit of a shallow spell there and our guys got to work."

It was also a big win for Ford, which had not had a driver win a championship since 2004 with Kurt Busch.

The 2018 season finale was possibly the last race for 2003 champion Matt Kenseth, who finished sixth, his best race of the 15 he competed in this year while running a part-time schedule for Roush Fenway Racing.

It also was the last race for driver Jimmie Johnson to be paired with crew chief Chad Knaus. They won seven championships and 81 races over their 17 years together. Knaus will move to Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron next year while JR Motorsports crew chief Kevin Meendering will crew chief Johnson.

It was the first winless season of Johnson's career.

"I've had such a fortunate career and I would have loved to keep that streak alive -- clearly that is not the case," Johnson said. "Instead of reflecting on this year and how bad it was because I know that reality, I've been living it first-hand.

"I just think it's important for me and the team right now to look back on what we have done together over 17 years together." </s> Everything you need to know about Sunday’s EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, in three minutes:

1. For all the twists and turns of the Chase, the championship round comes down to something simple: Whomever finishes first among Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano wins the Cup title.

2. History could be in the making as Johnson goes for a record-tying seventh title. That would equal the mark set by Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.

3. This is Tony Stewart’s final race before he retires. Stewart, a three-time champion, starts 11th as he goes for his 50th career victory. Stewart, incidentally, has won three times at Homestead.

All four of the championship contenders will start farther back in the field than they would have liked. The fifth row is composed of Busch and Edwards, while Johnson and Logano will be in the seventh row.

There’s always a chance that a driver not racing for the championship could win the race. Pole-winner Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. or Brad Keselowski seem particularly suited to do just that. Eleven different drivers have won the 17 Cup races held at Homestead.

Winning the race has been the pathway to the title. Kevin Harvick did it in 2014; Busch won in 2015.

If Logano wins, it would complete a NASCAR-IndyCar double for Team Penske as the organization celebrates its 50th anniversary. The Mooresville-based team’s Simon Pagenaud won the IndyCar championship September.

Edwards had the fastest lap of the four finalists (174.031 mph) in Saturday’s final Cup practice.

Three picks for your fantasy team:

He has won when he’s really needed to during the Chase and that could well continue on Sunday’s big stage.

No victories in the Chase (yet), but all he needs to do is finish ahead of his three rivals to win a second consecutive championship.

He was having such a great season until he bowed out of the Chase at Talladega. Was fastest in Saturday’s final practice (174.289 mph).

He said it

“ I’m just excited. I’m imagining all of us are, just to get to go race.” -- Edwards. </s> HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Joey Logano busted up The Big Three and captured an improbable first NASCAR title by soundly beating a trio of champions.

Logano won the season finale Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway to grab his first Cup championship in a season in which he barely contended until the playoffs began. The year was dominated by Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr., with Logano calling the final-four field “The Big Three and Me.” But Logano kicked it into another gear to steal the title.

He passed Truex with 12 laps remaining and pulled away to win for Roger Penske, the car owner who celebrated this year his election into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, a 17th victory in the Indianapolis 500 and now a second title in NASCAR’s top series.

It marked the first championship for Ford since 2004.

Truex finished second in his final race with Furniture Row Racing. The team is closing because it lost its primary sponsor midway through Truex’s championship reign.

“It’s a tough night, a tough way to lose,” Truex said. “I had nothing for him at the end. That’s just the way it goes. I don’t know what else to say. It hurts a little, and I’m going to miss all of the guys.”

Harvick was third and Busch fourth as the title contenders followed each other across the finish line.

“We weren’t even close,” said Busch, who used strategy to keep up with the other title contenders.

But it was Logano who took the checkered flag, climbed to the roof of his car and was embraced by his Penske crew.

Logano had to move Truex out of his way in the final turn at Martinsville Speedway last month to earn his berth in the championship race. The 28-year-old Connecticut racer was criticized for his aggressiveness, and Truex promised he’d prevent Logano from winning the Cup, but Logano insisted he made the necessary move to win a championship.

And in the final 15-lap shootout to the finish, Logano used a power move on the outside line to shoot past Truex and drive away. If Truex had any intention of stopping Logano he had to catch him first, he couldn’t and finished 1.725 seconds behind.

Logano had been adamant he was the favorite to win the race, in part because he wasn’t even supposed to make the final four and had just one regular season victory. Busch and Harvick ended the season with eight wins each, while Truex had four.

Logano’s third win came at Homestead, where the champion has won the race to win the title since this format was introduced in 2014. Logano was the favorite to win the 2015 title but missed the finale, was the championship runner-up in 2016 and a penalty kept his No. 22 out of last season’s playoffs. </s> DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Kurt Busch had a monster start to the season with a last-lap pass to win the crash-filled Daytona 500.

Busch is sponsored by Monster Energy, which kicked off its first season as the title sponsor for NASCAR’s top series Sunday with the season-opener. It wasn’t NASCAR finest moment, though, as multiple accidents pared down the field and had a mismatched group of drivers racing for the win at the end.

“The more that becomes unpredictable about Daytona, the more it becomes predictable to predict unpredictability,” Busch said. “This car’s completely thrashed. There’s not a straight panel on it. The strategy today, who knew what to pit when, what segments were what. Everybody’s wrecking as soon as we’re done with the second segment.

“The more that I’ve run this race, the more that I just throw caution to the wind, let it rip and just elbows out. That’s what we did.”

It appeared to be pole-sitter Chase Elliott’s race to lose, then he ran out of gas. So did Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr. and Paul Menard. As they all slipped off the pace, Busch sailed through for his first career Daytona 500 victory.

It also was the first Daytona 500 win for Stewart-Haas Racing, which is co-owned by Tony Stewart. The three-time champion retired at the end of last season and watched his four cars race from the pits.

“I ran this damn race (17) years and couldn’t win it, so finally won it as an owner,” Stewart said.

Ryan Blaney finished second in a Ford. AJ Allmendinger was third in a Chevrolet, and Aric Almirola was fourth for Richard Petty Motorsports.

The win was a huge boost for Ford, which lured Stewart-Haas Racing away from Chevrolet this season and celebrated the coup with its second Daytona 500 victory in three years. Joey Logano won in a Ford in 2015.

The first points race of the Monster era was run under a new format that split the 500 miles into three stages. Kyle Busch won the first stage, Kevin Harvick won the second stage and neither was a contender for the win. NASCAR also this year passed a rule that gave teams just five minutes to repair any damage on their cars or they were forced to retire.

But the race was slowed by wreck after wreck after wreck, including a 17-car accident at the start of the final stage that ended the race for seven-time and reigning series champion Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick. It was a particularly rough incident for Patrick and her Stewart-Haas Racing team, which had all four of its cars collected in the accident.

“Just seems like that could have been avoided and was uncalled for,” Johnson said of the aggressive racing behind him that triggered the accident.
In NASCAR, Daniel Suárez wins the season's final race in the second-tier Xfinity Series, the Ford EcoBoost 300, claiming the season title in the process. The Mexican becomes the first foreign driver ever to win a season championship in any of NASCAR's three U.S.-based national touring series.