AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Kyle Busch won for the eighth time this season to tie Kevin Harvick for the most victories this season and set up a head-to-head battle for the championship.
Busch's victory in the Can-Am 500 at ISM Raceway outside of Phoenix was the final qualifying event for next week's finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Harvick was the favorite to win and started from the pole, but an early flat tire made Sunday's race more eventful than Harvick expected.
He found himself racing late against Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Aric Almirola for the fourth transfer spot to Homestead, but Busch was wrecked late and Almirola had to win the race to snatch the berth away from Harvick.
"We were in big trouble out there with the flat tire," Harvick said.
The final four will be NASCAR's Big Three of Kyle Busch, Harvick and reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr., as well as Joey Logano. The field is two Ford drivers, two Toyota drivers and represents four different organizations. Chevrolet was shut out of the finale.
Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson, both already eliminated from the playoffs, finished second and third. Almirola was fourth and Harvick fifth.
Harvick was stripped of his berth to Homestead that he'd earned by winning a week ago at Texas when NASCAR ruled his car was illegal. The penalty forced him to requalify and he had to do it without his crew chief or car chief. But he's a nine-time winner at this track, was fastest in practice, started on the pole and led the first 72 laps before his tire went flat.
That put Harvick back in 30th and one lap down, and he had to work his way back to the front the rest of the race. He was aided by a flurry of mistakes by the other championship contenders. Clint Bowyer had a flat tire that caused him to wreck, Kurt Busch was wrecked and that accident collected Chase Elliott, who earlier had been penalized for speeding on pit road. Kurt Busch also had been penalized early in the race for passing the pace car.
The intensity of the race picked up with a flurry of late cautions that began when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wrecked with 48 laps remaining. Stewart-Haas Racing used split strategy on the ensuing pit stop as Kurt Busch stayed on the track to move into second and Harvick pitted for new tires to restart sixth. NASCAR then stopped the race for the extensive cleanup needed for Stenhouse's crash and the cars parked on the track for close 11 minutes.
But Kurt Busch never got to find out if his strategy was the right one as he was promptly wrecked on the restart. Denny Hamlin, trying to keep his streak of winning at least once in every season, aggressively tried to dart to the front and while doing so shoved Busch's car into the wall. As Busch's car ricocheted back into traffic he tagged Chase Elliott to end Elliott's bid to race his way into the finale.
"Denny came out of nowhere and cleaned us out," said Kurt Busch.
Alex Bowman then spun, NASCAR again stopped the race for a cleanup, and Aric Almirola used the sequence to make his play for the victory. He restarted third, behind teammate Harvick, on the restart.
Almirola dove to the bottom of the track to slip past Harvick and move into second. Another caution with 17 laps remaining put Almirola on the front row alongside Kyle Busch for the restart with 12 to go. But Almirola didn't have much for Kyle Busch, who pulled away. With Almirola out of contention for the victory, Harvick was finally in the clear.
Logano had a short day at Phoenix because his left rear tire went flat and caused him to spin. He wound up 37th with an early exit, but didn't think it would hurt his momentum for the championship.
"These things are out of your control, so it doesn't really knock your confidence down," Logano said. "There's nothing my team could do different, so there's really nothing to get depressed about."
Logano believes he's the favorite to win the title because by winning the opening race of this round to qualify for Homestead gave Team Penske two additional weeks to focus on the main event.
Sports on 11/12/2018