Kurt Busch Wins Championship

Busch, in just his fourth season in NASCAR's biggest series, never wavered despite a championship battle too close to call through most of the race. The points lead changed several times - sometimes on consecutive laps. If the results had stayed as they were at one point late in the race, the top three drivers would have tied, and Johnson would have won based on his eight victories.

Johnson and four-time champion Gordon gave it everything they had, finishing second and third after Biffle grabbed the lead on the last restart held off Johnson for the last four laps.

"With the 97 (Busch) behind me there at the end, I knew the championship was out of the question and I was just racing Jeff for second," said Johnson, who had won four of five races before the finale.

Gordon failed to lead a lap in the race and said he knew he didn't have the car to win. Mark Martin finished 4th.

Harvick Holds at Homestead

Kevin Harvick held off Jamie McMurray's bid for a third consecutive victory, taking a green-white checkered flag in the NASCAR Busch Series season-ending Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday.

Harvick was in front following a restart with three laps remaining and hung on for his 13th career Busch Series win and second this season, finishing .218 seconds ahead of McMurray's Dodge Intrepid.

"I knew coming in to the checker that (McMurray) was going to drive it in for all that it was worth coming into turn 3, so I just backed off and made sure that I was able to get a good run coming off the corner," Harvick said. "He was outside there in the center of the corner, but I got a good drive off the corner. We did what we had to do."

Jimmy Johnson On Track

Jimmy Johnson, StatLeader.com's pick to win the Nextel Cup Championship, moved to within 18 points of "Chase" leader Kurt Busch.

"This is what we have now with the points structure, a playoff system where everybody is on edge, everybody has to make those split-second decisions and drive the same way," Busch said. "There's no real template on what to do because this has never been done before."

The title is up for grabs among drivers so skilled that it's not a question of who will win it, rather who will lose it.

Heading into the Home Stretch

Well, it's come down to two races left, and we really only have 4 guys still in the chase.

Jimmie Johnson (currently in fourth) is our pick for the one to watch, he races well at both of the remaining tracks - Darlington and Homestead. I really think that it is going to come down to the two Hendricks cars, Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson.

As for the race this weekend in Darlington, we'll see if Ryan "The Rocket" Newman can go for an unheard of fifth straight pole. He has a great shot at it since he won the pole there last year and is on a "pole tear."

Teams have already begun making driver changes - Ward Burton is out of the 0 car and Mike Bliss will be taking over for the final two races, (not that is going to change the results for that team.)

NASCAR lifts ban on liquor sponsorship

As reported by StatLeader.com on October 15th, NASCAR returned to it's roots Wednesday by lifting a ban on liquor ads on cars, opening the door for teams to be sponsored next season by distilled spirits.

"We felt the time was right," NASCAR president Mike Helton said. "Attitudes have changed, and spirits companies have a long record of responsible advertising."

NASCAR already allowed beer and malt liquor sponsorships. Budweiser sponsors Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car, for example, and Busch sponsors a lower-tier racing series.

But NASCAR restricted what liquor companies could do, most recently denying a bid from Roush Racing in June to put a liquor company on the car that Jeff Burton drove. International Speedway Corp., a sister company also controlled by NASCAR's founding France family, has agreements with Crown Royal, however.

Diageo, a British liquor company that was already an associate sponsor for Matt Kenseth with it's Smirnoff ICE malt beverage, immediately announced Wednesday that it's Crown Royal distilled whiskey will be the sponsor on another Roush car next season.

"Our association with this world-class racing team will allow us to connect with millions of adult consumers, who are devoted NASCAR fans, and remind them about the importance of responsible drinking," Diageo spokesman Mark Waller said. "A multimillion dollar marketing budget supporting this sponsorship will include dedicated social responsibility messaging."

(AP) -- Suddenly, the 25 points Dale Earnhardt Jr. lost for uttering a vulgarity during a live TV interview are looming very large indeed.

Junior came up with a big victory Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, leaping from fifth to third in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings. With only two races left, he trails series leader Kurt Busch by 47 points and second-place Jeff Gordon by six.

Restore the points that Earnhardt was docked for his slip of the tongue after his previous win, Oct. 3 at Talladega, and he would be only 22 points off the pace.

Although he admits he watched his language after his latest victory - the 15th of his career - Junior really hasn't given much thought to the lost points. After all, he points out, even with those 25 points, Earnhardt would still be behind Busch.

"Well, being in second still ain't first, so it really doesn't matter," Earnhardt said after outdueling Gordon at the end Sunday. "I'm not going to dwell on that."

"The Chase" Tightens Up

A victory Sunday in the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway would make Johnson the first driver to win four in a row since teammate, friend and car owner Jeff Gordon did it in 1998.

Johnson's charge, combined with the first slip by Busch since the 10-race Chase began, has injected some real drama back into NASCAR's new championship format.

Thanks to Busch's blown engine at Atlanta, where he wound up 42nd - the first time he finished outside the top six since the Chase began - the top five drivers are bunched within 98 points with only Phoenix, Darlington and Homestead remaining on the schedule.

Four-time champion Gordon, four-time series runner-up Mark Martin and fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr., who beat Johnson in last year's race, all remain solidly in the hunt coming to Phoenix, where there have been 14 winners in the 16 years that NASCAR has raced there. Only the late Davey Allison (1991 and 1992) and Jeff Burton (2000 and 2001) have won more than once on the one-mile oval.

Rookie Busch Continues to Impress

Kyle Busch keeps piling up rookie records in NASCAR's Busch Series. The 19-year-old brother of Nextel Cup points leader Kurt Busch on Thursday added a fifth pole to the record he already holds, taking the top spot for Saturday's Bashas' Supermarket 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Busch turned a track record lap of 133.819 mph on the one-mile Phoenix oval, plenty fast enough to beat Greg Biffle's 132.319 and the 132.319 of Jamie McMurray, both full-time drivers in the Cup series. Series leader Martin Truex Jr. was ninth at 131.694.

Rusty Wallace Fined

Rusty Wallace was fined $10,000 for intentionally bumping another driver at the end of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race held October 24 at Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR officials announced Tuesday.

The driver of the No. 2 Dodge for Penske Racing South, Wallace was penalized for the deliberate contact he made with the car of Ryan Newman as the field was returning to pit lane following the conclusion of the race.