Joey Logano beats Truex to win 2018 NASCAR Cup Series title

Logano passed leader Martin Truex Jr. with 12 of 267 laps remaining and held on to win Sunday’s Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, capturing his first career series championship.

The win was the third of the season for Logano, who was overshadowed much of the year by his fellow title contenders Truex, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch (who combined for 20 wins).

"We did it! We won the championship! 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. We won the championship! Oh my God!”

Logano, as he had said all week, repeated that he never considered himself the underdog in the championship race.

"I told you we weren’t and showed you why were not. We were the favorite like I told you before the race started. I am so proud of everybody for rising to the occasion. We executed down the stretch like nobody’s business," he said.

"We got Ford not only the drivers championship but the manufacturers’ championship. I can’t wait to break that Mustang out.”

Asked to describe he emotions when he came to the checkered flag, Logano said: "Just a lot of screaming. I think I pulled a muscle. Man, I worked my whole life to get here. To win a championship. We have been so close.

"It has been 10 seasons of fighting for this. I wasn’t sure we were going to get it but Todd made a good adjustment at the end and we had that no quit attitude.”

Truex ended up second in the race, Harvick was third and Kyle Busch fourth and the Championship 4 swept the top four positions.

Logano’s teammate, Brad Keselowski, rounded out the top-five.

The championship is also the first for Ford Motor Co. in the Cup series since 2004 (Kurt Busch won with Roush Fenway Racing).

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, Logano was first off pit road followed by Harvick, Truex, Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson. The final stage went green on Lap 167.

Logano went to the inside of Harvick and reclaimed the lead exiting Turn 4 on the restart. Truex moved into second and Harvick dropped to third.

With 77 laps left in the race, Logano held a small lead over Larson, with Truex in third, Harvick fourth and Kyle Busch running fifth.

With 74 to go, Larson – while running in second – hit the wall twice and fell off the pace, doing significance damage to his No. 42 Chevrolet.

All of the lead-lap cars elected to pit with Logano once again the first off pit road, followed by Truex, Harvick and Hamlin. Kyle Busch had another slow stop and lined up ninth on the restart with 68 to go.

With 65 to go, Logano held a small advantage over Truex with Harvick in third. Kyle Busch moved up to fifth.

All four title contenders ran in the top four with 60 laps remaining in the season finale as Logano maintain a 1.2-second lead over Truex.

With 49 laps remaining, Truex got around Logano to take the lead for the first time in the race. Harvick ran third and Kyle Busch was fifth.

Truex opened up a 1.7-second lead over Loganp with 40 laps left in the race. Harvick remained in third while Kyle Busch ran fifth.

A final round of green-flag pit stops kicked off with Harvick heading to pit road with 37 laps remaining. Truex and Logano soon followed on the next lap. Kyle Busch remained on the track.

Truex had a slow pit stop as his No. 78 Toyota fell off the jack before the tire was on.

Before Bush elected to pit, Brad Keselowski got into Daniel Suarez and sent him spinning into the infield and brought out a caution.

All of the lead-lap cars pit with Kyle Busch first off pit road, followed by fellow title contenders Truex, Logano and Harvick. The race returned to green with 15 to go.

Logano powered into the lead with 12 to go.

Cla	#	Driver	4506	Laps	Time	Laps Led
1	22	Joey Logano	Ford	267		80
2	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	267	1.725	20
3	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	267	3.735	58
4	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	267	5.566	21
5	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	267	6.174
6	6	Matt Kenseth	Ford	267	7.150
7	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	267	8.140
8	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	267	8.155
9	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	267	9.227
10	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	267	9.744
11	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	267	11.313
12	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	267	11.983	41
13	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	267	12.223	45
14	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	267	12.803
15	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	267	13.283
16	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	267	14.241
17	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	267	16.264
18	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	267	18.744
19	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	266	1 lap
20	38	David Ragan	Ford	266	1 lap
21	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	266	1 lap
22	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	266	1 lap
23	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	266	1 lap
24	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	266	1 lap
25	21	Paul Menard	Ford	265	2 laps
26	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	264	3 laps
27	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	264	3 laps
28	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	263	4 laps	2
29	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	263	4 laps
30	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	262	5 laps
31	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	262	5 laps
32	23	J.J. Yeley	Ford	261	6 laps
33	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	259	8 laps
34	72	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	259	8 laps
35	51	B.J. McLeod	Ford	256	11 laps
36	99	Kyle Weatherman	Chevrolet	256	11 laps
37	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	254	13 laps
38	97	Tanner Berryhill	Toyota	254	13 laps
39	95	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	240	27 laps