For the first time in history, a foreign-born driver has clinched a NASCAR national series championship.

On Saturday night under the lights during the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Daniel Suárez drove the race of his lifetime. The Monterrey, Mexico native led the field to the green flag for the Ford EcoBoost 300 after winning the pole earlier in the day. Despite starting first and finishing first, winning was never a certainty throughout the event for Suárez.

Justin Allgaier, Erik Jones, and Elliott Sadler were the three drivers that Suárez had to compete against for the title – and they all gave him a strong run for the money. In one of the most intense races in NASCAR history, the final four showcased true “Game 7” determination on Saturday night. At one point in the race as the laps were beginning to wind down, the front four in the running order were the four championship eligible drivers. Jones, Allgaier, Suárez and Sadler were swapping positions back and forth for multiple laps; sending the intensity meter to an all-time high.

The caution flag flew late in the race, setting up a three-lap shootout to close out the 2016 season. Jones got held up behind a slower car on the restart, impeding his chances at the championship. Meanwhile, Suárez was able to get by Sadler and shot out to the race lead. As the checkered flag was displayed, Suárez drove his No.19 ARRIS Toyota to the race and championship victory.

“To win here in Homestead, and to have a lot of fans and people from Latin America and Mexicans all over the Latin America is something great for me,” said Suárez, who is still working on his English. “I have my mom, my dad, my family from Houston, my friends from Mexico… a lot of friends were here. More than 30 people were here, just to have fun with me and to enjoy this weekend. What a better way to finish.”

Suárez’s championship is a historic moment for the sport. In 68 years of racing history, no foreign-born driver has ever accomplished what Suárez did Saturday night – and the Mexico-native was all-but speechless as he hoisted the championship trophy.

“Man, I don’t think I can speak English right now,” said Suárez after the race. “My family worked super hard since I was eleven years old to give me the right equipment, to get better, and to be able one day to do this. I’m just very proud of this team, everyone that has been helping me to get to this point. All my sponsors, my friends, everybody in Mexico – I just can’t believe it.”

Joe Gibbs, Suárez’s team owner, couldn’t have been more proud of what his driver accomplished. Gibbs was full of smiles after the race and said he believes Suarez has the potential to become a idol for kids all around the globe.

“I think that is what is neat about our sport – is that young people can actually look at him,” said Gibbs after the race. “He can become a star from them knowing that he is not going to embarrass them, his sponsor, or anybody else because he is that kind of person.”

Aside from capturing the title, Suárez also became the first graduate of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program to win a NASCAR XFINITY Series championship.

A spectacular race capped off by a historic championship – it would be hard to imagine anyone leaving the track Saturday night not feeling like they got their money’s worth.</s>HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- El campeon!

Daniel Suarez won the Xfinity Series season finale and title at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, becoming the first foreign champion in a NASCAR national series.

The 24-year-old Mexican bested fellow championship contenders Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier and Erik Jones on a botched restart with three laps to go.

"It's very hard to put into words," Suarez said. "I'm speechless right now. I'm just very proud of everyone and thankful to have the family that I have, my mom, my dad. They gave me all the tools to be here right now. They put me in a car even when we didn't have the support or the racing background. They supported me, and right now we are just living a dream."

Suarez thanked fans and his native country in Spanish in victory lane. His win was the first of the weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing, which has two drivers -- Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards -- vying for the Sprint Cup championship Sunday.

"For us, after two years, to be where we are tonight is amazing," car owner Joe Gibbs said. "This is going to be a big deal for our sport. It's huge."

It was just Suarez's third career victory, but the most important for obvious reasons.

Claiming the title at Homestead-Miami Speedway made the accomplishment all the more memorable for Suarez.

"To win here in Homestead and to have a lot of fans and people from Latin America, Mexicans, [people from] all over Latin America, it's something great for me, Suarez said. "And on the side of that, I have my mom, my dad, my family from Houston, my friends from Mexico [and] my friend Coco over there that I used to race cars with him when I was 13 years old. A lot of friends were here.

"More than 30 people were here just to have fun with me, to enjoy this weekend, and what a better way to finish [than] this way. I'm just very proud of my team, very proud of everyone that has been helping me to be in this position, and it's still hard to believe this. It's still hard to believe this. But we worked hard, and this team really deserves these results."

Sadler, who gambled by taking two tires on the final pit stop, finished third in the race and second in the standings. The former Cup driver and sentimental favorite remained without a championship at any national level in a career spanning more than two decades.

Daniel Suarez claimed the title in his sophomore campaign at the Xfinity Series after winning the Rookie of the Year award and finishing fifth in the championship standings in 2015. Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports

"This is by far the hardest because I feel like this is the best team I've probably ever worked with," said Sadler, who drove with an interim crew chief because his usual one was suspended. "We felt like we could come in here and compete, and we made a great pit call there at the end to get some clean air."

Sadler asked Cole Whitt to give him the top lane on the restart, but Whitt declined.

Allgaier finished sixth and Jones ninth. Both got stuck behind Whitt, the leader, on the final restart, and when Whitt spun his worn-out tires, Allgaier and Jones fell way behind Suarez.

"It's really frustrating," Jones said. "I don't mean to bag on the guy so much, but it's like, 'Hey, we're up here racing for the championship.' And maybe we don't even win it if he pits and lets us move up, but at least we would have had a fair shot at it. I feel like we kind of got robbed of at least our chance to race for it. Yeah, it's just unfortunate. It just wasn't a great situation altogether."

The chaos definitely benefited Suarez, who passed Sadler low and pulled away from the field. Suarez led 133 of the 200 laps in the race.

Suarez was last year's top rookie in the second-tier series. He began racing karts in Mexico and moved to North Carolina as a teenager to pursue a career at NASCAR's national level. He had to teach himself English by watching cartoons on American television, and Suarez moved through NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program to land a job with JGR.

Suarez is the first D4D driver to win a championship.

Suarez has soared in his second season with Gibbs. As Jones struggled down the stretch, Suarez upped his performance. He won at Dover to move through the Round of 12 and was runner-up at Kentucky and third at Charlotte. Then, Suarez registered finishes of third (Kansas), fifth (Texas) and fifth (Phoenix) to set up his championship-clinching victory at Homestead while working with crew chief Scott Graves.

"I feel like Scott and I, we have come a long ways," Suarez said. "In the first half of the year, we were good, and in the second half of the year, we were great. That's something really good.

"I'm really looking forward for our future, but for now, I think I'm just very proud of the performance that Scott and the guys and Joe Gibbs Racing, they brought to this race. They brought my favorite car, and that's the car that I won Michigan with. That's just my baby, and we've got it here, and we won a championship."

The championship surely make him an even bigger star back home. On a return trip to Mexico with NASCAR officials last month, Suarez was celebrated as if he was Dale Earnhardt Jr.

After Suarez won in Homestead, Earnhardt Jr. congratulated the new champion via Twitter.

Congrats to @JoeGibbsRacing and @Daniel_SuarezG on this year's @NASCAR_XFINITY championship. Daniel was awesome all season. Well-earned 🏆 — Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) November 19, 2016

For Gibbs, it is his second driver championship in the Xfinity Series but first since Busch won in 2009.

The Gibbs organization also celebrated its fifth owner's championship in the Xfinity Series.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>In Homestead, the center of South Florida’s Mexican population, Monterrey native Daniel Suarez made NASCAR history by running Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 300 as if he had a home-track advantage.

Suarez led 133 of 200 laps from the pole to win both the race and the Xfinity Series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Suarez became the first foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR series title and the first graduate of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program to win a series title.

“To win here at Homestead, to have a lot of fans and people from Latin America, Mexicans, is something great for me,” Suarez said. “Besides that, I have my Mom, my Dad, my family from Houston, my friends from Mexico, my friend I used to race karts with when I was 13 years old, a lot of friends were here. More than 30 people were here to just have fun with me and enjoy this weekend. And what a way to finish. … I’m just very proud of my team and everyone who has helped me to be in this position.”

Through a stunned chuckle, Suarez said, “It’s still hard to believe this. It’s still hard to believe this.”

Despite leading the most laps and having the strongest car early in each run between pit stops, Suarez’s relevant advantages came in four new tires and the good fortune to be in the right line on the final restart.

Applying the Sprint Cup’s Chase format to the Xfinity Series for the first time injected “You watching this?” drama into the series finale. As will be the case in Sunday’s Sprint Cup Ford EcoBoost 400, the top finisher of the Xfinity Chase’s final four — Suarez, Jason Allgaier, Elliott Sadler and Erik Jones — would get the season championship.

“The fun part was between the four of us, there was a lot of respect and a lot of hard racing,” Allgaier said. “I don’t think anybody else let anybody have anything on each other, but there was just a lot of really good hard racing and from the driver’s seat, it was fun to watch.”

Allgaier spent the day in the top five, dicing with Suarez, Kyle Larson, Ty Dillon and Jones when he wasn’t playing tag with the wall. After sitting 10th to 15th most of the day, Sadler made a run to the lead pack that got aborted by a rather hard wall smack. Jones’ race featured complaining verging on whining about his car’s power in the first 50 laps, then, later, a charge to the front with a dialed-in Toyota.

“Didn’t have the car we needed to at the beginning of the day and really through the mid part of the race,” Jones said. “Didn’t get where we needed to be until about Lap 150 or so, and the sun started to go down, track cooled down and our stuff kind of came around to us.”

With 54 laps to go, the four contenders held the top four spots. Sadler’s hard wall kiss dropped him back to 17th and was still working his way back forward when Ray Black Jr. spun in the fourth turn on the 192nd lap.

That gave Suarez a chance to duck into the pits for four new tires, a stop his team almost didn’t make. Had fewer cars come in, Suarez might have found himself with a robust car on fresh tires but too many cars to pass. Sadler’s crew, knowing their only shot at the title was in gaining track in the pits, took on only two left-side tires. Allgaier and Jones were left on bad tires.

Sadler got out first among the Chase contenders, ahead of Jones, Suarez and Allgaier. But the large pit parade didn’t include Cole Whitt. Staying out put Whitt into the lead with Sadler second.

A Sadler crew member ran down to Whitt’s pit to beg for Whitt, who had the choice of high line or low line, to take the lower line and give Sadler the advantageous high line.

Whitt took the high line. At the restart with three laps left, his car failed to accelerate so completely it appeared to be going in reverse.

“When the 14 [Whitt] didn’t go on the restart, I actually kind of stopped and hesitated,” Sadler said. “The green flag was waving, but he really wasn’t going, so I didn’t know really what to do. So, I kind of hesitated and I think that allowed Daniel go get a good run on me and cost me the championship.”

Said Jones said: “I don’t know, maybe he’s never started first before. It’s just kind of insane really. I’ve never seen anything like it. He didn’t even attempt to go. He didn’t spin his tires. He just sat there and stacked the top line up. It was pretty disrespectful, really, and I strongly hope that somebody is able to talk to him about that.”

Jones nearly ran up Whitt’s rear while Sadler moved into the lead. Suarez quickly zipped by and away to the title.</s>HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — NASCAR chairman Brian France refused Sunday to discuss his political support of President-elect Donald Trump and quickly pivoted the conversation toward his own efforts at improving diversity in his sport.

France addressed the media hours before Sunday’s title-deciding season finale, and a day after Mexican Daniel Suarez became the first foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR national title. Earlier in the 17-minute news conference, France declared that Suarez would never have been in position to win the Xfinity Series championship if not for France’s diversity efforts.

“Without the Drive for Diversity program, with certainty, Daniel Suarez is not in NASCAR,” France said.

When the topic turned to Trump, France quickly shut down the questioning.

France was an early supporter of Trump and took several drivers to a rally in Georgia earlier this year. France also appeared as a Trump supporter at a town hall meeting during the campaign.

It’s been Trump’s stance on immigration, specifically with Mexico, that has appeared to be in conflict with France’s efforts. France has pushed for increased diversity, and was outspoken on his desire to remove the Confederate flag from NASCAR events.

Asked Sunday about Suarez’s championship in comparison to his support of Trump, France cut off the question from NBCSports.com.

“I’ll stop you right there,” he said. “First of all, nobody wants to hear my political views. Not one person on this stage wants to hear from me politically. So I won’t be talking about that.

“But on my diversity, nobody, nobody in this company, has worked harder, done more and resourced it better than me. I founded the Diversity Council. I fought for every single thing that makes sense, because that’s my core belief about diversity. It’s very, very important. I talk about it frequently, and my efforts there should never be challenged, no matter what my political views might be. That’s a ridiculous thing to do.”

France was prickly about several other topics and sweating profusely under the lights of the Homestead-Miami Speedway dais.

He argued that the sport is healthy, even though Sprint is ending its 13-year association as title sponsor after Sunday’s race. NASCAR has had nearly two years to replace Sprint, but no sponsor has been named. In recent days, Monster Energy has emerged as a possible front-runner for the title rights.

“It’s taken a little longer than I thought, but it’s also a big agreement and an important agreement,” France said. “It’s not just dollars and cents, but it’s a fit for us. We don’t want to announce anything certainly around this weekend. We’re in a good spot with that, I believe, but we’ll have to see how it finally plays out.”

France also downplayed the decline in television ratings — eight Chase races have been down double-digits this season — but France doesn’t think the elimination-style playoff format is to blame. He noted ratings declines in all major sports and that consumption has shifted. For example, France said, he watched a Duke basketball game in a highlight package on his laptop rather than watch the game live on television.

While some fans have pointed to the Chase for the championship system as a reason they no longer watch races, France believes the format now used in all three national series is best for the sport.

“We’re very pleased with the formats. Wouldn’t change a thing,” he said. “Go back a year ago for the Xfinity Series … you had the winner and the champion and a couple others talk about all they needed to do was finish the race. ‘If I ran 30th, I’ll be OK.’ Well, that’s not really great for great competition.

“Speed it up to this year, you had all four thinking they’ve got to win the race. That’s a big deal for auto racing. We’re bold enough to do that.”</s>Cuffing season is a clever made up saying that many millennial use in reference to getting in a relationship or dating during the fall and winter months. Cuffing season is the season to get tied down to something real.

“Cuffing season begins around homecoming and runs until spring break,” said Jasmine Smith, a sophomore education student. During the winter months, people do not go out to clubs, bars, or different events like they would do in other months. While many people feel like it is pointless to build something with someone and then throw it away, some people agree with the concept of cuffing season.

Every year people take to social media looking for someone to spend the highly anticipated season with. The popular phrase “shoot your shot” is in full effect once the season approaches. “Cuffing season is just a time to take cute pictures for social media, and do relationship stuff,” Smith later added. Social media plays a huge role is the way cuffing season is structured.

Those who participate in the festivities say they know what to expect from the other person before they involve feelings. For many students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, relationships are a thing of the past. Some people want to be loved during the colder season as they crank up the heat and wait for the summer to roll back around. A schedule of dates that make up cuffing season is published to Twitter to remind those who are still looking for a significant other that there is still time to find someone.

“If you can make it to Valentine’s day then your cuffing season was a success,” said Suzie Winters, a freshman at NCA&T. Cuffing season is similar to a professional sports season. Before any season starts, coaches scout the field for potential players in hopes that they would be a good fit for the team. After a scout is found, the team must then draft the scout before making the scout tryout for the team. If fortunate enough to make the team, the scout is then added to the roster and plays the desired position for the team they were drafted to. In terms of cuffing season, the scout has a little more say in what happens during their season. The scout during cuffing season is only as good as the team they decide to be a part of. Cuffing season is that time where people allow their true colors to show as they pursue someone. While many of the situations that arise during cuffing season don’t last long, people still keep hope alive as they soul search. A word of advice for those who are participating in this year’s cuffing season: find someone who supports your dreams year round! Good luck and have a safe cuffing season!</s>An occasionally combative chairman Brian France said Sunday he expects to soon announce a new title sponsor for NASCAR’s top series, while aggressively pushing back on issues that included how his endorsement of President-elect Donald Trump might impact the sport’s diversity push and NASCAR’s drop in attendance and television ratings.

“Nobody wants to hear my political views; I won’t be talking about that,” France said during a news conference at Homestead-Miami Speedway, after being asked if questions will be raised about his support of Trump after Mexico-native Daniel Suarez won the Xfinity Series title Saturday night.

Suarez, the first foreign-born driver to win a national series championship, is also the first product of NASCAR’s Drive For Diversity program to win a title.

“On diversity, nobody in this company has worked harder, done more and resourced it better than me,” France said. “I founded the diversity council. I fought for every single thing that makes sense, because that’s my core belief about diversity. It’s very, very important. I talk about it frequently. My efforts there should never be challenged, no matter what my political views might be. That’s a ridiculous thing to do.”

France also pushed back on a question about NASCAR’s declining attendance and TV ratings. Although NASCAR doesn’t announce attendance figures, ticket revenues have fallen consistently since 2010. Television ratings have also dropped. France noted that other pro sports leagues, including the NFL, have also experienced a decline in ratings.

“We are still very pleased with our position in sports,” said France. “The audience isn’t going away at all. It’s sliding to different places, consuming in different ways. I would tell you some other leagues that have 30 percent drop-offs. They didn’t lose (that) from one moment to the next. That audience is just sliding and consuming in some different ways. Our digital consumption is off the charts.”

NASCAR’s financial health is actually on solid ground, thanks to an $8.2 billion, 10-year deal it signed with NBC and Fox in 2013.

But NASCAR also hasn’t announced a title sponsor for its top series for 2017 and beyond. Sprint announced in 2014 that it was leaving the sport after this season.

“It’s taken a little longer than I thought, but it’s also a big and important agreement,” France said. “It’s not just dollars and cents, but it’s a fit for us. We don’t want to announce anything certainly around this weekend. We’re in a good spot with that, I believe, but we’ll have to see how it finally plays out. It’s a complicated agreement.”

Suarez’s championship: “We’re very proud of Daniel Suarez. (It’s) historic for the sport in many ways. I got some nice calls from people south of the border last night that are very proud of him, and we’re very proud of him.

“We’re very proud that it validates our diversity plan in a significant way. All kinds of conversations on what we’ve said through the years have been that these things take time to find the kind of talent that can actually compete at a high level on the biggest stages, and he’s done that.”

Signs that the sport is consolidating, with fewer teams and potential layoffs: “That is normal. You’ve got teams that compete at a high level and do well. You have some teams that, for whatever the reasons, can’t compete at such a high level, and they have some problems. That’s throughout our history. Not abnormal at all.”

On how the charter (franchising) system has worked in its first season: “Charters are going to be a long process for us. But forget the value part of it. The things that we’re going to be able to do are going to take many, many years to achieve our end goal, which is to really lower costs in the industry by working with our interests better aligned with the teams. That’s number one, which will affect their values.

“But some of the things are not going to change, of course, like you’ve got to compete at a high level, you’ve got to get sponsorship, you’ve got to have a manufacturing relationship.

“The benefit of collectively working together to get the rules packages better, more exciting for the fans, and at a much lower cost over time, it’s the hardest thing in racing to do. Few ever achieve it, or at least consistently achieve it.

“We are after that deal. We couldn’t do that without the teams aligned together with us like they are.”

On conflicts with the NFL on Sundays in the fall and if he’s talked about it with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell: “We have a good relationship with all the leagues. I personally have good relationships with various commissioners. We can’t always figure out everything, but we have good conversations, generally speaking, especially on issues with safety. Scheduling, all the rest, we have good relationships. They have a business to run and so do we, so it doesn’t always work out.

On whether NASCAR will consider giving bonus points to the regular-season winner heading into the Chase: “We’re going to think about that. I think that’s a fair thing for us to consider, to make sure that the regular season is as important as it is. I don’t know exactly how we’ll do that, but we’ll look at that.”

On consideration of adding other manufacturers to NASCAR: “Yes, but we’re not in a position to make that announcement.”

On new rules next season limiting Cup regulars’ appearances in Xfinity and Truck series races: “Cup drivers obviously were able to compete in events, but you saw the championship get settled down to the series participants. I think it worked perfectly. We talked about it for a long time. I’m glad we did it. It got a very worthy champion in Daniel Suarez. It fit perfectly with our Chase format, too, by the way. So it worked on a lot of different fronts.”

On the overall health of the sport: “I’m happy with the health of the sport. Would I obviously like to have everything perfect? Of course, I would. But that’s sports. That’s a competitive business. The model is changing a little bit, too, maybe not even in a way that we wouldn’t like to see. We’re pleased with the health of the sport. The facilities are getting improved and are working and are good, so ...”</s>The 24-year-old won the final race of the season at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in south Florida to clinch the overall title.

"I'm just very proud of everyone and thankful to have the family that I have," Suarez said after clinching the title in front of his parents.

"My mom, my dad, they gave me all the tools to be here right now. They put me in a car even when we didn't have the support or the racing background. They supported me and right now we are just living a dream.

"It's still hard to believe this."

Suarez was born in Monterrey and started racing carts before moving to North Carolina as a teenager to pursue his career.

The Xfinity Series is a secondary competition on the stock car circuit below the main NASCAR Sprint Cup series.</s>The competition on the asphalt isn’t the only battle going on at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend.

Beneath the roar of the race cars on the track, there is a quiet, subtle competition for car sales going on.

In the business, it is called, “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.”

Whether they know it or not, car purchases by fans can be influenced by which brand of car they see win a NASCAR race.

Of course, the average fan should be properly informed that the shiny car they are looking at in the showroom is not the same car that is whirring around the track at Homestead. Sorry, didn’t mean to dash someone’s dream of cruising down Florida’s Turnpike at 200 mph, but that’s just a fact. The cars on the racetrack can go somewhere around 100 mph faster than your average four-door sedan.

The most-represented manufacturers competing in the races at Homestead are Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota, and they are competing for your car-buying money by trying to win NASCAR races. On Saturday, representatives from those three manufacturers addressed their relationship with racing and NASCAR.

Jim Campbell of Chevrolet: “First of all, we’re a car company. So, being in a sport where the cars and the drivers are the stars is straight right on the money for us. For sure, it’s a strong platform. Our history is long in NASCAR and it’s long in racing. We have stayed strong in investing in motorsports.”

Dave Pericak of Ford: “It’s no secret there is a heck of an investment we all make in this sport. We wouldn’t be doing that if we weren’t getting a return on our investment. We’re extremely committed to racing in just not NASCAR but across the board.”

Ed Laukes of Toyota: “Just getting our brand on the shopping list with NASCAR fans has been our goal. Our chairman, Akio Toyoda, said his main goal — not only with NASCAR but all around the world — is to make sure that cars don’t turn into appliances. He doesn’t want it to be a toaster, an oven or a mixer. I don’t think there is any better platform than racing to do that.”

One of the most amazing performances this NASCAR season has been turned in by rookie William Byron, at age 18 winning seven titles in a Toyota on the Truck tour. The season was capped off by his victory in the Camping World Ford EcoBoost 200 on Friday night.

Byron’s season was so good that team owner Kyle Busch said: “It’s kind of scary to be teaching him all the things I’m teaching him, but I was done about three weeks ago telling him anymore. It has been a truly remarkable performance by William this entire season. Seven wins for a rookie is remarkable and to come out here and to win this race on the stage that was set with everybody else out there was a lot of fun to watch.”

Sunday’s Fort EcoBoost 400 will be broadcast on live TV to 185 countries in 24 languages.</s>The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has grown a reputation for showcasing spectacular racing events, and that was the case once again in the season finale race on Friday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Four drivers; Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter, Christopher Bell, and Timothy Peters entered the Ford EcoBoost 200 with a shot at the championship, but only one would walk away with the trophy.

The four championship contenders battled hard throughout the 134-lap event. Early on in the race, it appeared as if Crafton had the strongest truck. The No.88 Black Label Bacon/Menards Toyota was the only one of the four contending machines that was able to get out to the race lead at some point during the event. Sauter and Bell were never far behind though, and as the race began to wind down, the battle began to heat up.

Crafton was able to fend off Sauter for a number of laps, but finally with less than 30 laps to go, the No.21 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet was able to break ahead. Once he got a sniff of the championship lead, Sauter never looked back. As the checkered flag waved, Sauter crossed the finish line 3rd, clinching the 2016 championship.

“With about 50-60 to go, I was like okay we got something here, and we were really catching the No.88,” said Sauter after the race on FS1. “Looked like he was pushing really bad. Just so proud of these guys, I can’t thank everybody enough, I mean I’m a small part of this deal. We executed like we needed to tonight.”

It’s the Necedah, WI native’s first-career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. He may not have been the most dominant truck throughout the 2016 season, but Sauter was no doubt one of the most consistent – finishing the season with three victories, nineteen top-10s, and one pole.

“My family is here, my kids are here, my wife is here,” said Sauter after the race in Victory Lane. “It’s just an awesome night. Proud to be champion, gonna do everything in our power to represent NASCAR and Camping World the best we can.”

William Byron brought home the race victory Friday night, capping off what was an impressive 2016 season. Byron earned seven wins throughout the year, earning him the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award while also bringing home the fifth all-time owner championship for Kyle Busch Motorsports.</s>Tony Stewart isn’t giving much thought to his legacy this weekend. He’s been too busy looking for his cell phone.

While walking around downtown Miami on Thursday night with his girlfriend, Stewart had his phone snatched from his pocket. So, instead of concentrating on the final race of his Sprint Cup career on Sunday in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Stewart’s been in full investigative mode.

“It was kind of fun because they have that Find My iPhone app,” Stewart said Friday. “We went chasing people forever trying to find it. Until we realized they were in the parking lot and they got in the car and they were gone. I hit block on it and deleted it and now I’ve got to get a new phone, which is devastating because I do everything off of my cell phone. My life is on that cell phone, so I start my life over (Saturday).”

Stewart’s life will change in other ways after this weekend. After 18 seasons as one of NASCAR’s biggest stars, he’s retiring from driving in the Cup series. He will focus on his duties as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, the other teams he owns in other forms of motorsports as well as his ownership of Eldora Speedway in Ohio.

“Normally legacy means you’re old, you’ve been around for a long time,” said Stewart, 45. “It’s been a fun 18 years. Not every part of it has been fun … but I’ve always said what was on my mind, whether it was popular or unpopular.

“I always fought for what I believed in, whether it was safety for other drivers or etiquette at the race track or whatever. I can sleep all right knowing that is why I did it.”

Stewart’s description of his legacy hints at how complicated it will actually be. He stresses that since he will continue to be around the NASCAR garage area most weeks his story hasn’t been fully written. But as far as a driver in NASCAR’s top level, it has.

Stewart grew up racing in his home state of Indiana, winning several U.S. Auto Club titles. He came to NASCAR in 1999 from the IndyCar Series, where he had won the 1997 championship. He has won 49 NASCAR Cup races and three championships, all the while taking time to help out racers and tracks – either financially or by his presence – in the sport’s lower divisions.

Recent years have been trying for Stewart, however.

He broke his leg in 2013 during a sprint car race and missed 15 Cup races. He missed three races in 2014 after he was involved in a sprint car accident that claimed the life of another driver on a dirt track in upstate New York. (Stewart was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, but a civil case against him is still pending.)

Then, he missed the first eight races of this season after he broke his back in a February dune-buggy accident in the California desert.

Stewart made the most of his limited schedule this season, however, qualifying for the Chase by winning at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway in June. He bowed out of the postseason after the first round.

And that sharp tongue? He’s still got it. NASCAR fined Stewart $35,000 earlier this year after he questioned recent pit-road rules changes he felt led to unsafe conditions.

“Tony brought a lot of color, excitement,” said team owner Rick Hendrick, for whom Stewart briefly drove in the Xfinity Series earlier in his career. “He mentored a lot of young drivers. He sure showed a lot of passion. He’s somebody that the sport needed and still needs. (But) he knows it’s time to step out and do something else.”

Stewart insists that, although he might continue to drive in some races in lower divisions, his days in a Cup car are definitely over. Of course, that’s what Jeff Gordon said when he retired in 2015. But when former Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered a concussion earlier this season, Gordon agreed to return as a substitute driver for eight races.

“No, I’m good; this is it,” Stewart said. “This is the last one. I think I learned my lesson from Jeff. (He) tried to do somebody a favor this year and got roped into running half the season. Thank you, Jeff, for teaching me a lesson before I got roped into it. So, no, I’m not planning on that at all.”
In NASCAR, Daniel Suárez wins the season's final race in the second-tier Xfinity Series, the Ford EcoBoost 300, claiming the season title in the process. The Mexican becomes the first foreign driver ever to win a season championship in any of NASCAR's three U.S.-based national touring series.