Homestead, FL (SportsNetwork.com) – Kevin Harvick captured his first
championship in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series by winning Sunday’s season-ending
Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Harvick, in his first season as driver of the No. 4 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas
Racing, passed Denny Hamlin for the lead with seven laps remaining and then
held off Ryan Newman following the last restart with three laps to go. He beat
Newman to the finish line by a half-second for his fifth win of the season and
the 28th of his Sprint Cup career.
Last weekend, Harvick won at Phoenix — the elimination race in the Eliminator
Round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup — to make the final four for Homestead.
Newman, Hamlin and Joey Logano were the other title contenders in this 400-
mile event.
Hamlin ended up finishing seventh, while Logano placed 16th. Logano had a
mishap during a late-race round of pit stops. His car came off the jack stand
during his tire change, dropping him to the tail end of the lead lap.
All four drivers had been running among the top-10 for a majority of the race.
Harvick became the 30th different driver to win a championship in the 66-year
history of NASCAR’s premier series.
