Buescher wins Truck championship after chaotic ending

• James Buescher won the Truck Series championship after Ty Dillon crashed with two laps remaining
• Timothy Peters also edged out Dillon by one point to finish second in the final standings
• Cale Gale earned his first career race win when he held off Kyle Busch for the checkered flag

Homestead, Fla. — After all the speed the three contenders could muster, the championship of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series came down to an untimely crash and a timely application of brakes.

Ty Dillon crashed as Kyle Larson tried to pass him with two laps remaining in the season finale Friday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway. As cars piled up in front of him, James Buescher hit the brakes, avoided the mess and held off Dillon and Timothy Peters to win the truck championship with a 13th-place finish.

"It definitely was a nail-biter right down to the end," Buescher said. "We were in the range to be the champion right down to the end. We did what we had to do to win the championship. Championship or no championship, it was going to be a great year. But the championship makes it an incredible year."

Dillon, who came into the race 12 points behind Buescher in the standings, gave it a run late in the race, moving to second place briefly after a restart with five laps remaining. As Larson tried to dive below Dillon with little more than a lap remaining, Dillon moved low. Larson lost control and spun, taking Dillon to the wall with him.

"We laid it all on the line like we should have," said Dillon, the 20-year-old grandson of car owner Richard Childress and younger brother of Austin Dillon, who has a chance to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship Saturday. "I couldn't ask for much more than a championship in my rookie year."

Buescher's championship was nearly overshadowed by the fender -bending, green-white-checkered win by Cale Gale, who crossed the finish line a few inches and 0.014 seconds ahead of Kyle Busch with the two cars locked together and showering sparks.

"He owes me, but I saw the checkered in the final race. That's all I can say," said Gale, a 27-year-old from Mobile, Ala., who hadn't seen the Homestead oval before arriving Saturday. "It's not my style. I'm about as clean as anybody. But when it comes down to the final straightaway of the last race and your first NASCAR win, I believe anybody would do it."

Busch had little to say about the incident. "I got drove in the fence," he said. "You saw it."

Peters finished eighth, the best among the three championship contenders, but it wasn't enough. He finished six points behind Buescher in the final standings.

"This season has been an A-plus-plus-plus," Peters said. "From where we were when we left this race a year ago to where we are now is leaps and bounds. ... This race didn't go the way we wanted it to go, but in the end it showed that we have persevered."

Buescher, a 22-year-old from Plano, Texas, said he struggled with his truck throughout the race.

"Ty gave us a run for it at the end," Buescher said. "We were getting everything we could out of this Chevy. It wasn't wanting to go forward. It was maxed out on speed. It was loose and flying around. I just about went into the fence myself, but held it together. Everything came our way."

The key moment in the race — Larson's move to slip below Dillon and the ensuing crash — was seen differently by the drivers involved.

"I know he didn't try to do that on purpose," Dillon said. "But I don't think I crowded him."

*****

Ford EcoBoost 200

Friday's results from Homestead-Miami Speedway (with rank, driver, car make, laps completed, driver rating and points):

1. (5) Cale Gale, Chevrolet, 140 laps, 108.1 rating, 47 points.

2. (6) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 140, 133.1, 0.

3. (11) Joey Coulter, Chevrolet, 140, 97.2, 41.

4. (4) Nelson Piquet Jr., Chevrolet, 140, 124.2, 41.

5. (7) Miguel Paludo, Chevrolet, 140, 86.8, 39.

6. (10) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 140, 100.2, 39.

7. (1) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, 140, 109.4, 38.

8. (14) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 140, 85, 36.

9. (12) Justin Lofton, Chevrolet, 140, 74.7, 35.

10. (18) Ross Chastain, Toyota, 140, 73.2, 34.

11. (19) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 140, 81.6, 34.

12. (9) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 140, 103.9, 32.

13. (17) James Buescher, Chevrolet, 140, 84.5, 31.

14. (21) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 140, 74.3, 30.

15. (28) German Quiroga, Toyota, 139, 59.3, 29.

16. (29) David Starr, Toyota, 139, 53.3, 28.

17. (22) Jason White, Ford, 139, 55.3, 27.

18. (30) Tim George Jr., Chevrolet, 139, 53.9, 26.

19. (25) Jason Leffler, Chevrolet, 138, 62, 25.

20. (8) Ron Hornaday Jr., Chevrolet, 138, 66.6, 24.

21. (24) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, 138, 50.7, 23.

22. (20) Jake Crum, Chevrolet, 137, 58.1, 22.

23. (13) Max Gresham, Chevrolet, 137, 69.6, 21.

24. (26) Jeff Agnew, Chevrolet, 136, 41.9, 20.

25. (3) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 135, 89.1, 19.

26. (36) Travis Miller, Chevrolet, 135, 37.1, 18.

27. (2) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, accident, 131, 111.3, 19.

28. (16) Ryan Blaney, Ram, accident, 131, 75.8, 16.

29. (35) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 131, 32.8, 15.

30. (34) Ryan Lynch, Chevrolet, 130, 31.7, 14.

31. (32) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Ram, 129, 28.6, 13.

32. (15) John Wes Townley, Toyota, 118, 43.2, 12.

33. (33) Bryan Silas, Ford, accident, 43, 34.7, 11.

34. (23) Dusty Davis, Toyota, clutch, 28, 48.2, 10.

35. (27) Chris Jones, Chevrolet, brakes, 10, 30.1, 9.

36. (31) Blake Koch, Ford, transmission, 3, 26.8.

Race statistics

Average speed of winner: 121.407 mph.

Time of race: 1 hour, 43 minutes, 47 seconds.

Margin of victory: 0.014 seconds.

Caution flags: 5 for 23 laps.

Lead changes: 11 among 7 drivers.

Lap leaders: P.Kligerman 1-5; N.Piquet Jr. 6-37; K.Busch 38-50; K.Larson 51-86; K.Busch 87; N.Piquet Jr. 88; J.Sauter 89; T.Bodine 90-93; K.Larson 94-105; J.Sauter 106-108; K.Busch 109-139; C.Gale 140.

Leaders summary (Driver, times led, laps led): K.Larson, 2 times for 48 laps; K.Busch, 3 times for 45 laps; N.Piquet Jr., 2 times for 33 laps; P.Kligerman, 1 time for 5 laps; J.Sauter, 2 times for 4 laps; T.Bodine, 1 time for 4 laps; C.Gale, 1 time for 1 lap.

Final Top 10 in points: 1. J.Buescher, 777; 2. T.Peters, 766; 3. T.Dillon, 765; 4. J.Coulter, 748; 5. P.Kligerman, 740; 6. M.Crafton, 727; 7. N.Piquet Jr., 706; 8. J.Lofton, 675; 9. J.Sauter, 639; 10. M.Paludo, 629.