Brad Keselowski has handed legendary team owner Roger Penske his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title in the final race of the 2012 season at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The 28-year-old Keselowski was assured the championship when rival Jimmie Johnson pulled his Hendrick Chevrolet into the garage with a driveline failure with just 40 laps to go.
Johnson had been in a promising position to overhaul Keselowski’s points lead in the closing stages before a bungled final pitstop necessitated a return to pitlane several laps prior to the eventual failure.
Keselowski’s success also marks Dodge’s first Cup Series championship since Richard Petty scored his sixth crown in 1975. The car manufacturer announced mid-season that it will not continue in the sport next year.
The Homestead race was won by Hendrick driver Jeff Gordon, who led home the Waltrip Toyota of Clint Bowyer just one week after the two drivers and their respective teams clashed on and off track at Phoenix.
The result proved enough for Bowyer to overhaul Johnson for second in the points standings.
Filling third through 10th in the final race were Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Martin Truex Jr, Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Australian Marcos Ambrose finished 13th, two places ahead of champion Keselowski.
Result: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Homestead-Miami
|
FIN |
ST |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
PTS/BNS |
LAPS |
STATUS |
| 1 | 15 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | DuPont 20 Years ‘Celebratory’ | 47/1 | 267 | Running |
| 2 | 6 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-hour Energy | 42/0 | 267 | Running |
| 3 | 19 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | U.S. Army | 42/1 | 267 | Running |
| 4 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M’s | 42/2 | 267 | Running |
| 5 | 13 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M / SP Richards | 39/0 | 267 | Running |
| 6 | 7 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 39/1 | 267 | Running |
| 7 | 5 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Smithfield | 37/0 | 267 | Running |
| 8 | 23 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 36/0 | 267 | Running |
| 9 | 26 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Furniture Row | 35/0 | 267 | Running |
| 10 | 16 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | National Guard / Diet Mountain Dew | 34/0 | 267 | Running |
| 11 | 18 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Menards / Duracell | 33/0 | 267 | Running |
| 12 | 4 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Fastenal | 32/0 | 267 | Running |
| 13 | 2 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Black & Decker | 32/1 | 267 | Running |
| 14 | 1 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot / redbeacon.com | 30/0 | 267 | Running |
| 15 | 3 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 29/0 | 267 | Running |
| 16 | 9 | Mark Martin | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 28/0 | 267 | Running |
| 17 | 35 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 27/0 | 267 | Running |
| 18 | 11 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Best Buy | 27/1 | 267 | Running |
| 19 | 33 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 25/0 | 267 | Running |
| 20 | 14 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats | 24/0 | 267 | Running |
| 21 | 12 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 24/1 | 267 | Running |
| 22 | 17 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 0 | 267 | Running |
| 23 | 20 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Motorcraft / Quick Lane | 0 | 267 | Running |
| 24 | 41 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Express | 20/0 | 267 | Running |
| 25 | 32 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Clorox | 19/0 | 265 | Running |
| 26 | 38 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King | 18/0 | 265 | Running |
| 27 | 30 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King | 17/0 | 265 | Running |
| 28 | 21 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 16/0 | 264 | Running |
| 29 | 28 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 15/0 | 264 | Running |
| 30 | 24 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction | 14/0 | 264 | Running |
| 31 | 34 | David Ragan | Ford | CertainTeed / 31-W Insulation | 13/0 | 263 | Running |
| 32 | 31 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Florida Lottery | 12/0 | 263 | Running |
| 33 | 40 | David Gilliland | Ford | Long John Silver’s | 11/0 | 262 | Running |
| 34 | 37 | David Reutimann | Chevrolet | TMone.com | 10/0 | 261 | Running |
| 35 | 39 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | C&C Audio Video & Appliance, Inc. | 9/0 | 261 | Running |
| 36 | 10 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s | 9/1 | 224 | In Pit |
| 37 | 42 | Ken Schrader | Ford | Federated Auto Parts | 7/0 | 219 | Out of Race |
| 38 | 22 | David Stremme | Toyota | Swan Racing | 6/0 | 183 | Out of Race |
| 39 | 27 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | Fifth Third Bank | 0 | 157 | In Pit |
| 40 | 36 | Josh Wise * | Ford | MDS Transport | 4/0 | 38 | In Pit |
| 41 | 25 | Michael McDowell | Ford | Phil Parsons Racing | 3/0 | 34 | In Pit |
| 42 | 43 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | North Texas Pipe | 2/0 | 23 | In Pit |
| 43 | 29 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | Plinker Tactical | 0 | 16 | Out of Race |
Championship standings after 36 of 36 races
|
RANK |
DRIVER |
POINTS |
| 1 | Brad Keselowski | 2400 |
| 2 | Clint Bowyer | 2361 |
| 3 | Jimmie Johnson | 2360 |
| 4 | Kasey Kahne | 2345 |
| 5 | Greg Biffle | 2332 |
| 6 | Denny Hamlin | 2329 |
| 7 | Matt Kenseth | 2324 |
| 8 | Kevin Harvick | 2321 |
| 9 | Tony Stewart | 2311 |
| 10 | Jeff Gordon | 2303 |
| 11 | Martin Truex Jr. | 2299 |
| 12 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 2245 |
| 13 | Kyle Busch | 1133 |
| 14 | Ryan Newman | 1051 |
| 15 | Carl Edwards | 1030 |
| 16 | Paul Menard | 1006 |
| 17 | Joey Logano | 965 |
| 18 | Marcos Ambrose | 950 |
| 19 | Jeff Burton | 883 |
| 20 | Aric Almirola | 868 |
| 21 | Jamie McMurray | 868 |
| 22 | Juan Montoya | 810 |
| 23 | Bobby Labonte | 772 |
| 24 | Regan Smith | 747 |
| 25 | Kurt Busch | 735 |
| 26 | Mark Martin | 701 |
| 27 | Travis Kvapil | 638 |
| 28 | David Ragan | 622 |
| 29 | Casey Mears | 612 |
| 30 | David Gilliland | 605 |
| 31 | Landon Cassill | 598 |
| 32 | AJ Allmendinger | 453 |
| 33 | Dave Blaney | 417 |
| 34 | David Reutimann | 373 |
| 35 | Brian Vickers | 250 |
| 36 | David Stremme | 236 |
| 37 | Michael McDowell | 187 |
| 38 | J.J. Yeley | 166 |
| 39 | Josh Wise* | 147 |
| 40 | Ken Schrader | 146 |
| 41 | Stephen Leicht* | 126 |
| 42 | Scott Speed | 124 |
| 43 | Michael Waltrip | 94 |
| 44 | Terry Labonte | 94 |
| 45 | Tony Raines | 71 |
| 46 | Scott Riggs | 56 |
| 47 | Brendan Gaughan | 50 |
| 48 | Boris Said | 34 |
| 49 | Bill Elliott | 14 |
| 50 | Hermie Sadler | 13 |
| 51 | Mike Olsen | 11 |
| 52 | Robby Gordon | 11 |
| 53 | Mike Skinner | 10 |
| 54 | Kelly Bires | 9 |
| 55 | Tomy Drissi | 6 |
| 56 | Stacy Compton | 5 |
| 57 | David Mayhew | 4 |
| 58 | Patrick Long | 2 |
| 59 | Sam Hornish Jr. | 0 |
| 60 | Trevor Bayne | 0 |
| 61 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 0 |
| 62 | Danica Patrick | 0 |
| 63 | Timmy Hill | 0 |
| 64 | Mike Bliss | 0 |
| 65 | Austin Dillon | 0 |
| 66 | Robert Richardson Jr. | 0 |
| 67 | Elliott Sadler | 0 |
| 68 | Joe Nemechek | 0 |
| 69 | Reed Sorenson | 0 |
| 70 | T.J. Bell | 0 |
| 71 | Jason Leffler | 0 |
| 72 | Jason White | 0 |
| 73 | Cole Whitt | 0 |
| 74 | Chris Cook | 0 |
| 75 | Tim Andrews | 0 |
| 76 | Brian Simo | 0 |
| 77 | Jeff Green | 0 |
| 78 | Mark Green | 0 |
| 79 | Mike Wallace | 0 |
| 80 | Kenny Wallace | 0 |
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