Joey Logano wins at Miami to take 2018 Monster Energy Series title

Joey Logano passed Martin Truex Jr. with 12 laps to go with a move to the high line and held on the rest of the way to win Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In a season where the “Big 3” dominated, it was Logano who instead had the strongest car to win his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

For Logano, the win was his 21st in the Monster Energy Series and his first at the 1.5-mile track near Miami. Truex finished second with Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Logano’s teammate Brad Keselowski rounding out the top five.

RELATED: Race results

Logano led a race-high 80 of 267 laps and had to overcome a strong Championship 4 field that threw out all the stops to try to win.

With 37 laps to go, the No. 18 stayed out while the other Championship 4 contenders came to pit road. The gamble by crew chief Adam Stevens meant that the No. 18 needed a caution, and it came on Lap 246 when Daniel Suarez spun while racing four-wide near Keselowski.

On the ensuing pit stop, Busch’s team nailed it and he came off pit road in first place, with Truex Jr. second, Logano third and Harvick fourth. It was a departure from earlier in the race when Busch’s pit crew struggled.

SHOP: Joey Logano championship gear

But on the ensuing restart, Truex Jr. jumped to the lead until Logano tracked him down and passed him for the final time.

The Championship 4 all spent time out front as the race seesawed back and forth with nobody seemingly having a clear advantage.

After starting the race in 12th, Harvick took the lead on Lap 43, built a four-second lead over second-place Busch by Lap 59 and cruised to his 19th stage win of the season.

However, Larson denied Harvick of a sweep of the first two stages, passing the No. 4 on the final corner of the final lap of Stage 2 for the No. 42’s fifth stage win this season.

Larson hit the wall and brought out a caution on Lap 192 and had to come to pit road to repair damage to the right-rear of the car. On the ensuing pit stops, Busch’s team lost four spots because of a slow pit stop — the second time Busch lost a significant amount of track position on pit road.

Later in the run, on Lap 201, Truex and Logano appeared to make contact racing for the lead. Logano held onto the lead. The two had a history of tough battles with Logano knocking Truex out of the way to win at Martinsville earlier in the 2018 NASCAR Playoffs.

This story will be updated.

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