Kevin Harvick wins the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship
Kevin Harvick showed why his nickname is “The Closer” on Sunday night, passing 13 cars in the final six laps to win the Ford EcoBoost 400 and more importantly, the 2014 Sprint Cup Series championship.
“Holy cow, this is unbelievable!” the Stewart-Haas Racing driver said over his radio channel as he crossed the finish line.
In the final laps of the race, Ryan Newman battled Harvick for the lead, but the No. 31 car was running on only two fresh tires, compared to Harvick’s four.
“The race came down to a pit call, and I thought we were in big trouble there,” Harvick said about crew chief’s Rodney Childers late-race pit decision.
This is the first championship title for the 38-year-old Bakersfield, Calif. native. This is Harvick's first year as part of Stewart-Haas Racing.
For the other Chase drivers, Newman finished second, Denny Hamlin third, and Joey Logano 24th.
Here's your UNOFFICIAL finishing order:
| Pos. | No. | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Kevin Harvick |
| 2 | 31 | Ryan Newman |
| 3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin |
| 4 | 2 | Brad Keselowski |
| 5 | 27 | Paul Menard |
| 6 | 1 | Jamie McMurray |
| 7 | 20 | Matt Kenseth |
| 8 | 41 | Kurt Busch |
| 9 | 42 | Kyle Larson # |
| 10 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson |
| 11 | 15 | Clint Bowyer |
| 12 | 5 | Kasey Kahne |
| 13 | 24 | Jeff Gordon |
| 14 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
| 15 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. |
| 16 | 51 | Justin Allgaier # |
| 17 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
| 18 | 55 | Brian Vickers |
| 19 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose |
| 20 | 10 | Danica Patrick |
| 21 | 43 | Aric Almirola |
| 22 | 3 | Austin Dillon # |
| 23 | 13 | Casey Mears |
| 24 | 22 | Joey Logano |
| 25 | 36 | Reed Sorenson |
| 26 | 33 | Brian Scott(i) |
| 27 | 26 | Cole Whitt # |
| 28 | 34 | David Ragan |
| 29 | 98 | Josh Wise |
| 30 | 40 | Landon Cassill(i) |
| 31 | 95 | Michael McDowell |
| 32 | 38 | David Gilliland |
| 33 | 23 | Alex Bowman # |
| 34 | 99 | Carl Edwards |
| 35 | 7 | Michael Annett # |
| 36 | 66 | Brett Moffitt |
| 37 | 83 | JJ Yeley(i) |
| 38 | 32 | Blake Koch(i) |
| 39 | 18 | Kyle Busch |
| 40 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger |
| 41 | 16 | Greg Biffle |
| 42 | 21 | Trevor Bayne(i) |
| 43 | 14 | Tony Stewart |