LOS ANGELES -- As much as the on-court product this season has been can't miss fodder for Los Angeles Lakers fans hungry for a winner, it was a courtside fan rooting on the Lakers' 122-101 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday that stole the show.

The fan just so happened to be Kobe Bryant.

"That's one of the greatest players to ever play this game, taking time out of his day on a Sunday," said LeBron James who put up 33 points, 12 assists and 7 rebounds. "So I'm just trying to put on a show for him and give him a reason like, 'OK, we might come to another game.'"

Bryant, in the building to promote his children's fantasy novel, "Epoca: The Tree of Ecrof," he created with author Ivy Claire, played the dual role of proud Laker alumnus and proud papa, as he attended the game with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Maria "Gigi" Bryant.

"He's got one of the greatest female players that's about to come up sitting next to him in Gigi," James added.

Hawks star Trae Young was delighted to hear that while Kobe might have been there for the Lakers, Gigi was there for him.

"It was crazy, because he told me his daughter is a huge fan of mine and I'm one of her favorite players," Young said. "It's kind of crazy, because I'll be watching her highlights, too. They pop up on my timeline."

There was a time when the thought of seeing Bryant in Staples Center in 2019 embracing Dwight Howard back wearing the purple and gold would have been unheard of. But sure enough, Howard was one of the first Lakers to greet the future Hall of Famer.

"Were there ever any hard feelings? It doesn't matter," said Howard, who has even taken to wearing Bryant's signature Nike sneakers this season because he likes how they feel. "That's the past. This is a new age. A new day. We're all about positive vibes."

Even though it ended up being a warm encounter, Howard was surprised by Bryant's presence at first.

"I didn't even know who he was. Slapped me on the back of the neck. I was about to elbow him. But then he said, 'Hey, what's up? You're playing good,'" Howard said, changing his voice to a deep baritone to imitate Bryant. "I said, 'OK.' But it was cool. I was glad he came to the game. It was a lot of fun having him in the building."

The crowd ate it up whenever Bryant was featured on the video screen. Or really, when he did just about anything. When James first shook hands with Bryant midway through the first quarter and immediately stroked a 3 to put L.A. up 24-5, they cheered.

When highlights from Bryant's 81-point game were shown, immediately followed by Bryant being introduced by Lakers P.A. announcer Lawrence Tanter, they cheered.

When Bryant stood up to snap photos of Gigi posing with comedian Kevin Hart and Quavo and Offset from the hip-hop group Migos, they snapped photos of Bryant snapping photos and cheered.

When James hit a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock in the fourth quarter and immediately turned to shoot Bryant a look as he ran back on defense, they cheered even louder.

"I got chills when the crowd started going nuts," said Lakers coach Frank Vogel. "His presence. And he deserves it. One of the greatest Lakers of all time and one of the greatest players of all time and we're very lucky to have him here in attendance and definitely energized the crowd and our team."

Kyle Kuzma, who considers Bryant a mentor, doesn't normally interact with the big names in the building but was willing to make an exception.

"Don't really talk to people on the sidelines. I try to be focused," Kuzma said. "But, that's my guy. So I had to."

Last season, Bryant came to L.A.'s fifth game of the season -- a 121-114 win over the Denver Nuggets -- but the win brought the Lakers' record to just 2-3 at the time.

Sunday's win pushed L.A.'s record to 11-2, giving the Lakers the best mark in the league. The biggest change has been the addition of Anthony Davis, who had 14 points on 5-for-14 shooting against the Hawks and added five assists and five blocks.

"I mean it's great," Davis said. "I never thought I'd be playing here in such an iconic franchise and have the opportunity to do something great here. Obviously it's going to be nothing compared to what Kobe's done here, but just trying to write my own story and take it game by game, year by year and just keep building."

And Bryant witnessed a historic night for James, whose plus-minus of plus-41 in 18 minutes in the first half was the best plus-minus of any half of his 17-year career, according to research by ESPN Stats & Info.

"Just having him in the building and knowing what he meant to this franchise and L.A. for me and my teammates, what it means to be a part of this Laker Nation and Laker family, it's a beautiful thing," James said. "And for me, I grew up watching, admiring. I was one of the kids obviously who had a chance to come out straight out of high school so, he did it. And I was just watching him.

"It's just dope. It's just so surreal for me just a kid from Akron to be able to have a guy like Kobe just take time out of his day. Even at this point in my career it's still special."

POMONA, Calif. – Doug Kalitta did everything he had to do on Sunday at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, but it wasn’t enough for him to earn his first NHRA Top Fuel crown.

The veteran Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel pilot raced to his third Top Fuel victory of the season on Sunday during the 55th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals. Unfortunately he couldn’t prevent Steve Torrence from claiming his second-straight title.

Other event winners during the 55th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals included Jack Beckman (Funny Car), Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) and Jianna Salinas (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

RELATED: Hight, Torrence, Enders & Hines Earn NHRA Crowns

Torrence locked up the Top Fuel title by simply making a clean run down the track during the semifinals in a loss to Kalitta’s teammate Richie Crampton. Kalitta came up only three points short of Torrence, just missing out on his first Top Fuel world title.

In the final against Crampton, Kalitta went 3.716 seconds at 332.67 mph to win the event and sweep both races this year in Pomona, Calif. He knocked off Terry McMillen, Justin Ashley and Leah Pritchett to reach the final round.

“It was fun, for sure,” Kalitta said. “I was real proud of the effort we put in today. We gave it all we could and it’s definitely still on our list to win a championship. I was real proud of my guys today coming out of here with a win, and I love running here in Pomona. It’s a great team effort we got going on here, so I’ll keep digging.”

In Funny Car, Beckman picked up the victory after world champion Robert Hight’s car shut off after a massive burnout. After Hight’s car shut off, Beckman took advantage, going 3.920 seconds at 323.27 mph in his Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge SRT Hellcat to close his year in style.

Beckman finished second in points with the win, eight behind Hight, claiming his second win this year and 30th in his career. Beckman reached the final round for the 63rd time overall thanks to round wins against John Hale, J.R. Todd and Blake Alexander.

“I’ve never won Funny Car at Pomona, so that was awesome,” Beckman said. “If you win at (the World Finals), the off-season is going to be fantastic. They’ve given me such a great racecar lately, and finished a solid second, ended the year with a win and we’ve got a phenomenal car. Things are awesome right now. I’m feeling on top of the world, to be honest with you.”

The Pro Stock Wally went to Coughlin, whose Elite Motorsports teammate Erica Enders claimed her third Pro Stock title Sunday.

Coughlin picked up the Pro Stock win over Fernando Cuadra with a 6.558-second pass at 210.54 mph in his JEGS.com Chevrolet Camaro. It is Coughlin’s second win this year and 63rd in his career, capping off a memorable day for Elite Motorsports.

Coughlin, who was also the No. 1 qualifier, beat Joey Grose, Aaron Stanfield and Bo Butner to reach his 111th final round.

“It was a tough race day and there was a lot of emotions going on, but it was a great weekend,” Coughlin said. “It felt really good today to bring home the win, and a double win with Erica bringing home the championship and with us securing the No. 2 position. To have 2020 be the 50th year for Pro Stock, it’s going to be exciting. I think the class right now is looking extremely good.”

Salinas broke through in a big way in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final, upending Jerry Savoie to earn her first Wally in the process. The loss proved heartbreaking for Savoie, who needed to beat Salinas to claim his second Pro Stock Motorcycle world title.

Instead it was Salinas who went to victory lane on her Scrappers Racing Suzuki, going 7.464 seconds at 180.81 mph in the final round after Savoie broke. It capped off an unbelievable day for the rookie, which started with the win against eventual Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion Andrew Hines after he went red.

She followed with wins against Steve Johnson, defending world champion Matt Smith, who broke after needing to win the race to clinch the title, to reach her first final round.

“On Saturday morning, I was just fighting to qualify and I never thought I would be able to pull this off,” Salinas said. “To be here right now in this moment, it’s not something I would ever thought would happen this soon. On raceday, anything can happen. Sometimes consistency is all you need to win, and I’m just there to race my race. I felt very lucky and when it’s your day, it’s your day.”

POMONA, Calif. – Robert Hight raced to his third NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car world title and second in three years on Sunday by advancing to the final round of the 55th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also claimed world championships in their respective categories at the final race of the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship.

Hight knocked off championship hopeful and No. 1 qualifier Matt Hagan with a strong run of 3.977 seconds at 324.59 mph in his Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS to reach the final, where he just needed to not lose any points.

In the final, Hight performed a massive burnout to the delight of the fans before the car shut off, handing him the championship during what was the best season of his career.

“The most important run of my life was in the semifinals against Matt Hagan,” Hight said. “When it comes down to one run to win a championship, how will you perform? My heart was beating out of my chest, but we got it done. This has just been the steadiest year I’ve ever had and that’s a real tribute to this team. It’s amazing and I’m the luckiest guy in the world to drive this Funny Car. To win six races, lead the points with the competition level in Funny Car, I’m going to cherish this championship the most because we earned it. We did our job.”

Torrence clinched his second straight NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Top Fuel world title by advancing to the semifinals and making it down the track during that round on Sunday.

In a massive second-round matchup with 2017 world champ Brittany Force, Torrence pulled away at the top end, going 3.749 seconds at 326.48 in his CAPCO Contractors dragster. It followed a heated first-round matchup with Cameron Ferre, which saw Torrence win the round before getting into a shoving match with Ferre post-race.

The CAPCO team rose to the occasion against Force, performing big in another clutch situation and making a clean pass in the semifinals to win back-to-back titles.

“It’s been really special to be part of a team that goes out and has the success we’ve had,” Torrence said. “It’s really special to win one championship, much less two and to do it back-to-back. I knew what we had to do and we were going to decide who had the best chance at it in the second round. The guys prevailed and gave me the racecar, and I did the job I needed to do when I needed to do it. Our group of guys has been together for years and that continuity is what has been a key recipe to our success.”

It capped off another remarkable season for the Texan, as Torrence was again in control for most of the year. He finished with nine Top Fuel wins, including a dominant stretch of eight wins in a nine-race span.

Torrence, who won 11 races a year ago en route to his first title, also advanced to 14 final rounds in 2019, as he now has 36 wins and 55 finals appearances in his career. His playoff victory in Charlotte gave him the points lead for good, as Torrence’s path to the championship included three finals in the Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship.

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Virgil van Dijk says the Netherlands are "back where they belong" after sealing automatic qualification for the 2020 European Championship.

The Dutch, who did not qualify for Euro 2016 or the 2018 World Cup, sealed progress to the finals of next year's tournament with a game to spare after Saturday's 0-0 draw against Northern Ireland.

With the finals being held at 12 venues across Europe, the Netherlands could play their group stage matches at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, with the draw being made on Nov. 30.

"I'm very delighted that we are back at the Euros, back where we belong I think," Van Dijk told reporters. "It means a lot to the people. I've heard we're going to probably play all our group games in Amsterdam, it will be massive.

"It was a big thing for us to miss those tournaments, it was tough. .. We have missed two, maybe we have to get used to it again."

Ronald Koeman's side are second in Group C, two points behind leaders Germany -- the only side to beat them in the qualifiers.

Van Dijk, who will miss their final qualifier against winless Estonia on Tuesday due to personal reasons, said there was still room for improvement.

"We know we can improve, can do a lot better in certain aspects of the game," he added. "But you know, we qualified after missing two tournaments, so we have to enjoy it."

India women 50 for 7 (Vastrakar 10, Matthews 3-13) beat West Indies women 45 for 5 (Matthews 11, Patil 2-8) by five runs

India continued their dominance against West Indies in the series, beating them by five runs in a nine-overs-a-side affair in Providence in the fourth T20I to make it 4-0. The hosts were unable to chase down a target of 51 in the rain-hit encounter, losing five wickets in the process to India's spinners Anuja Patil, Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav.

West Indies spinners had clicked too, stopping India from posting a huge total, reducing them to 40 for 7 in 7.5 overs. In Smriti Mandhana's absence, Jemimah Rodrigues opened with Shafali Verma and Veda Krishnamurthy played at No. 3. All three of them were removed by offpsinner Hayley Matthews inside the third over. West Indies spinners continued to cause damage, removing six India batters for single-digit scores, restricting them for 50 for 7 at the end of nine overs.

In reply, West Indies managed to keep their wickets intact initially, losing just two wickets in the first six overs, but their required run rate soared over 8 - they were scoring at just 4.16 till then, India's spinners keeping them quiet. A boundary in the penultimate over by McLean helped reduce the requirement for West Indies to 13 runs off the last over. But they lost two wickets in that over - Shemaine Campbelle was run out and Sheneta Grimmond was caught behind off Patil - and couldn't manage to find the boundary.

Tamim Iqbal will once again work with coach Mohammad Salahuddin in this season's Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), this time for the Dhaka Platoon team - the pair had played key roles in Comilla Victorians' triumph last season. Tamim was the first pick in the draft on Sunday, and the Dhaka side later picked Mashrafe Mortaza too, a second A-plus category player.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah, the two other A-plus local players went to Khulna Tigers and Chattogram Challengers respectively. Rangpur Rangers took Mustafizur Rahman, while Rajshahi Royals went for Liton Das. Cumilla Warriors - the name the franchise will go by this season, following the official change in the city's name last year - also signed Soumya Sarkar and Sylhet picked Mohammad Mithun from the locals' A category.

Among the overseas players, last season's highest scorer in the BPL, Rilee Rossouw, was picked by Khulna while Chattogram went for Chris Gayle. Rangpur took Afghanistan allrounder Mohammad Nabi and West Indies batsman Shai Hope, Sylhet took the big-hitting Sherfane Rutherford, and Rajshahi picked Afghanistan opener Hazratullah Zazai. Cumilla picked Sri Lanka big-hitter Kusal Perera and England's Dawid Malan, who was in red-hot form in the recently concluded T20I series against New Zealand.

There are some new faces among the coaches too: Ottis Gibson (Cumilla), Grant Flower (Rangpur), Kabir Ali (Chattogram) and Owais Shah (Rajshahi), while Khaled Mahmud appears to be with the Khulna side.

No captains have been named yet for the squads.

Full squads:

Chattogram Challengers: Mahmudullah, Imrul Kayes, Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Chris Gayle, Kesrick Williams, Nurul Hasan (wk), Enamul Haque, Muktar Ali, Pinak Ghosh, Avishka Fernando, Rayad Emrit, Nasum Ahmed, Junaid Siddique, Ryan Burl, Imad Wasim

Cumilla Warriors: Soumya Sarkar, Al-Amin Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Yasir Ali, Kusal Perera, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sunzamul Islam, Abu Hider, Mahidul Islam Ankon (wk), Sumon Khan, Dawid Malan, Dasun Shanaka, Fardeen Hasan Ony

Dhaka Platoon: Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque (wk), Hasan Mahmud, Mahedi Hasan, Thisara Perera, Laurie Evans, Ariful Haque, Mominul Haque, Shuvagata Hom, Mashrafe Mortaza, Wahab Riaz, Asif Ali, Raqibul Hasan, Jaker Ali, Shahid Afridi, Luis Reece

Khulna Tigers: Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Aminul Islam, Rilee Rossouw, Robert Frylinck, Shamsur Rahman, Saif Hassan, Mehedi Hasan, Shahidul Islam, Mohammad Amir, Najibullah Zadran, Tanvir Islam, Aliss Islam, Rahmanullah Gurbaz

Rajshahi Royals: Liton Das (wk), Afif Hossain, Abu Jayed, Farhad Reza, Ravi Bopara, Hazratullah Zazai, Taijul Islam, Alok Kapali, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Irfan Sukkur, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Irfan, Minhajul Abedin Afridi, Nahidul Islam

Rangpur Rangers: Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Naim, Arafat Sunny, Jahurul Islam (wk), Mohammad Nabi, Shai Hope, Taskin Ahmed, Zakir Hasan, Fazle Mahmud, Nadif Chowdhury, Rishad Hossain, Lewis Gregory, Cameron Delport, Sanjit Saha

Sylhet Thunders: Mohammad Mithun (wk), Mosaddek Hossain, Nazmul Islam, Sohag Gazi, Sherfane Rutherford, Shafiqullah, Rony Talukdar, Nayeem Hasan, Delwar Hossain, Monir Hossain, Johnson Charles, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ruyel Miah, Jeevan Mendis

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Kyle Busch casually collected the championship flag from his team and did a slow, subdued celebratory lap. The most polarizing driver in NASCAR had just won his second Cup title and wanted his true fans to enjoy the moment with him.

It was a lesson learned from his first Cup title in 2015 when Busch ruined the massive championship banner doing smoke-filled burnouts.

"It messed up the flag and everything and I wanted to get a good shot with the flag everywhere, make sure everybody could get a good shot of the flag because we're the 2019 champions," Busch said. "There are always your doubters. There are always your haters. You know what? This one's for 'Rowdy Nation' because you guys are the best. Thank you so much."

Busch emerged from the Joe Gibbs Racing juggernaut as NASCAR's latest champion, winning his second title Sunday after teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. were slowed by pit-road gaffes.

Busch won the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to snap a 21-race losing streak and beat Hamlin, Truex and rival Kevin Harvick for the Cup. Busch joined seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson as the only active drivers with multiple titles.

"Ol' two-timer out there," crew chief Adam Stevens radioed. "I'm proud of you, buddy."

The 34-year-old Busch simply thanked his crew. He's the 16th driver in NASCAR history to win multiple championships, and one of only five to win titles in both the Cup Series and the second-tier Xfinity Series.

The No. 18 crew climbed the pit wall and handed Busch the championship flag for his post-race celebration, and he was met on the frontstretch by 4-year-old son Brexton, who immediately asked: "Dad, are you going to throw me in the air again?" about their celebratory tradition.

"He was asking if he could get thrown up in the air because we won a race," Busch said. "He's a little lighter than the trophy, so I think I'm OK."

Busch had raced for a second championship in each of the past three seasons and fell short a year ago in part because of his crew's own pit error. This time, it was Truex and Hamlin bitten by silly mistakes. Truex dominated early but fell a lap back after his crew put tires on the wrong side of his Toyota.

"You've got to be perfect. One mistake probably cost us the championship," Truex said. "I've never had that happen. I don't even know what to say. It doesn't drive good with the left front on the right front, though, I can tell you that. It's very tight."

Hamlin fell out of contention when an aggressive aerodynamic gamble backfired because a large piece of tape placed across the front of his car caused his engine to overheat. Hamlin had to make an unscheduled pit stop to remove the tape.

Truex recovered to finish second, but Hamlin didn't have enough time to overcome the miscue and was a disappointing 10th.

"I feel like I did all I could. I don't feel I could have done a better job. I didn't leave anything out there," Hamlin said. "I was thinking we got a chance and it just didn't work out. We got a little aggressive there and it cost us."

Harvick, the only Ford driver in the championship field, never had anything on long runs for the Gibbs cars and finished fourth.

"On the restarts I could do what I wanted to do and hold them off for 15 or 20 laps," Harvick said. "This race has come down to that every year. You kind of play toward that and they were quite a bit better than us on the long run. We had a really good car for those first 15 to 20 laps on the restarts and had a lot of speed, we just never got to try to race for it there."

The finale pitted a trio of Toyota drivers from Hall of Fame owner Gibbs against Harvick, the handpicked driver of former Gibbs protege Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing. The Gibbs group had the edge based on its tremendous season -- Busch's win was the 19th out of 36 races for the organization -- and the trio insisted it would continue its note-sharing all weekend.

Las Vegas couldn't choose a title favorite and the four had essentially even odds at the start of the race, even though Busch was probably the least likely contender of the group. Although he won the regular-season crown, his last Cup win was at Pocono in June, his playoffs leading into Homestead had been mediocre at best and his mood soured with every missed Victory Lane.

"We had a cold spell there. It's been well documented," Stevens said. "Quite a few questions about it. We're in such a unique situation, as a competitive team that runs up front with the goal of winning the championship every year, everything we do is to make that happen, right? To win the regular-season points championship, then try to maintain that and get to Homestead, that's what it's all about."

Hamlin, Harvick and Truex had all won playoff races, and Hamlin's win at Phoenix last week gave him all the momentum. But with friend and fan Michael Jordan in attendance, Hamlin failed to win his first championship in his third try. Hamlin is the only driver in the final four without a Cup title.

"Our year was fantastic in every way you can think of, and it just didn't pan out in one race in our favor," said Hamlin, who won the Daytona 500 and five other races a year removed from a winless season.

Busch, ironically, had one of his worst races in the pits in last year's finale as his front-tire changer had hiccups on two stops. But he was flawless Sunday night and led a race-high 120 laps.

"Everybody always says you never give up. We're no different. We just do what we can do each and every week," Busch said. "Sometimes we may not be the best; sometimes we may not have the right track position. We had a really good car and I could race around and move around. That's what's so special about Homestead Miami Speedway, is the ability to put on a show.

"I felt like we did that there racing those guys. I know it kind of dulled out toward the end. It was exciting enough from my seat. It was a lot of fun to cap off such an amazing year."

Busch gave Gibbs his fifth Cup title and bookended a season in which the Gibbs cars opened the year 1-2-3 at the Daytona 500. Gibbs this entire year has been mourning the death of his son, JGR co-chairman J.D. Gibbs, and the organization promoted a "Do it for J.D." theme the entire weekend.

The season ended with a 1-2-3 finish in the finale as it was Busch, Truex and Erik Jones across the finish line for Gibbs.

"I know J.D. was looking down on us all year long," Busch said. "I mean, damn, what a season Joe Gibbs Racing put together."

Busch gave Toyota its third drivers' championship in five seasons.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A content Daniel Hemric opened a few more eyes Sunday night en route to clinching Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Hemric hovered just outside the top 10 for most of the Ford EcoBoost 400, staying on the lead lap or just off it even as the Toyotas of Martin Truex Jr., and later eventual winner Kyle Busch, dominated up front.

A timely fight to hold the free-pass position at the end of the first stage paid off with Hemric returning to the lead lap in 14th, and once he got back in touch with the frontrunners Hemric hung on for nearly the rest of the night.

Busch ultimately lapped Hemric in the waning moments, but not before Hemric was able to notch a 12th-place finish – his best run in 12 races, going back to a similar finish at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in August.

After ending up tied in points with Ryan Preece – his rival for top rookie honors – coming down to the final few races of the year, Hemric knew he had to push hard down the stretch, and that’s exactly what he did.

“It’s pretty special, to say the least,” Hemric noted. “I wish we were able to win Rookie of the Year and have a couple more solid finishes throughout the year than what we had, but myself and Preece somehow ended up tied with four or five races to go, so we knew we had to buckle down. I’m really proud of this group for doing that. It’s tough for them, obviously, with me announcing my plans over the last couple days, a lot of those guys’ future is unknown. It would have been easy for them to lay down, and they didn’t. They kept continuing to put their best effort in every single week.

“I’m just proud of those guys and the heart they continue to fight with,” he continued. “A lot of really important people in our sport have been able to take these honors home, so I’m going to take pride in the Rookie of the Year title and look forward to the next chapter.”

Hemric entered the finale leading Preece by 10 points, so any issues would have opened the door for Preece to pounce, but the Kannapolis, N.C., native didn’t let that happen.

His No. 8 Chevrolet outran Preece’s No. 47 Chevrolet all night long, assuring the final outcome.

“Trust me, I wish it wouldn’t have been as close as it was. We had to sweat way too much over the last two or three months, but the dedication these guys committed to sticking to and putting the time and effort in was cool. To see everyone really latch on to what the Rookie of the Year battle was felt neat.

“We were fortunate enough to come out on top tonight, but I have a ton of respect for Preece tonight. That guy has devoted his life, as well as his family devoted their lives, to racing,” Hemric added. “To see a guy like that have the opportunity he has, I’m pulling for him next year to continue to be better, and hopefully I can get back to this level and show I belong here.”

While he was pleased with the speed his team ended the year with, Hemric still felt some disappointment that they couldn’t find that pace together sooner than they did.

“It’s bittersweet, for sure,” Hemric admitted. “You want to go out on a good note for sure, but a spade being a spade … there’s so many different paths you can go down as a race team, from car builds to downforce to drag and all that stuff, and I felt like when we brought the car, I felt like what I needed in the seat of the race car, what I felt like I wanted and I needed week in and week out, we (only) brought that particular type of race car four times out of 36 weeks. That’s frustrating.

“But I’m glad we were able to at least rally and at least stay committed to the path of bringing the best piece possible to Homestead. Those guys could have just said, ‘hey, we’ve got a car built already with a different body, we’ll come down here and see what happens,’ but that’s not what they did,” Hemric continued. “I hate to whine about that, but I just wish we had a little more of a fair shake at it.

“That’s life, though. “I’m not going to cry about it and not going to lose sleep over it. It’s just part of it.”

Hemric will drop down from the Cup Series in 2020 and race the majority of next year in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving 21 races for JR Motorsports in the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro and splitting time with Jeb Burton and team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.

While it’s a step back that he didn’t want to have to take, Hemric is eager for the upcoming opportunity.

“I’m really pumped up, starting right now, about getting to work on that deal. It’s kind of a breath of fresh air knowing I’ve got the opportunity to go back and do what we’re setting up to do at JR Motorsports,” Hemric said. “Having runs like tonight make me go into the off‑season knowing I can compete and race at this level, even though I’ll be back in the Xfinity Series next year.

“We’ve got some really good tracks lined up on the schedule that we’re still somewhat putting together, but there’s a lot of opportunity there to go out and perform, and there’s no gray area,” he added. “They know why I’m coming there. They know my goal is to get back to this level, and I feel like it’ll be a full-force effort to get me back.”

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A car built for the short runs was Kevin Harvick’s downfall in his quest for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang rocketed forward on restarts during the Ford EcoBoost 400, but faded as the runs wore on longer and wasn’t able to be a factor during a 101-lap run to the finish.

That left the 2014 Cup Series champion and crew chief Rodney Childers no choice but to try a strategy ploy and stay out long on the final round of green flag pit stops, waiting all the way until lap 223 to come down pit road in the hopes that nearly 20-lap fresher tires would make a difference down the stretch.

Unfortunately for Harvick, those hopes never came true and he was forced to rally from a lap down inside the final 45 laps, getting back to fourth on-track but still ending up 14 seconds adrift of race winner and champion Kyle Busch at the checkered flag.

Ending up third in the season standings, Harvick noted afterward that his team’s only shot was to do the opposite of what Busch did from the lead, as he wasn’t going to be the No. 18 on sheer speed.

“We just needed to do something different,” he said. “Those guys, they were so much better than us on the long run. Our best chance was to have a caution there at the end, and we never got one. We just did something different hoping for a caution, and that’s what you’re supposed to do in those late situations like that, is to do the opposite of the cars you’re trying to race.

“It just didn’t work out.”

Harvick ended his year with four wins, 15 top fives and 26 top 10s in 36 races, with his fifth Championship 4 appearance in the last six years and his 10th straight top-10 finish in points.

However, that didn’t take the sting out of Sunday’s final result, with Harvick playing toward a sprint to the finish that never materialized and disappointed he wasn’t able to better contend for a second title.

“On the restarts, I could do what I wanted to do, and I could hold them off for 15 or 20 laps,” Harvick said. “This race has come down to that (type of a run) every year, so you kind of play towards that as a team. They (Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin) were quite a bit better than us on the long run, but we had a really good car for those first 15 or 20 laps on the restarts and had a lot of speed.

“We just never got to try to race for it there with a caution. It’s a bummer, for sure, but we’ll be back.”

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – As Kyle Busch put together a flawless race Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, rare mistakes hampered his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates and ultimately scuttled their title chances.

Both Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin fell short of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship glory during the Ford EcoBoost 400, showing strength at various points during the race and even running nearly nose-to-tail at one point in the top three positions as they jockeyed for the crown.

However, one fatal flaw befell each team and bounced them from contention at the end.

Truex’s demise actually came on lap 121, when his No. 19 Toyota Camry crew put the front tires on in the wrong positions (left front on right side and vice versa) during a routine green-flag pit stop in the second stage.

Though the Mayetta, N.J., driver felt the issue immediately, Truex was forced to come back down pit road a lap later for an extra stop, rectifying the issue but dropping him a lap down as a result.

Truex caught a break on lap 136, when John Hunter Nemechek spun in turn two and brought out the only non-stage-related yellow of the night, giving him the free pass and putting him back on the lead lap.

However, though Truex rallied from 13th to fourth by the end of the second stage at lap 160, he was still just far enough back that traffic wreaked havoc on him during the final run to the finish.

When the race went green with 101 to go, Truex lined up third but got pinned behind Kevin Harvick, who got a slow start and bottlenecked the bottom lane as Busch and Hamlin got away up high.

Truex settled in fourth at that point, and it took him nearly 30 laps before he could retake third, passing Harvick before closing on Hamlin’s rear bumper for the runner-up position.

However, Busch was running away at that point, leaving Truex no choice but to stay out long in an attempt to use fresher tires at the very end to try and chase the No. 18 down for the win.

Busch pitted from the lead with 57 to go, while Truex waited five laps longer before making his final stop and came out 10 seconds back of Busch when the pit cycle finally concluded at lap 223 of 267.

But the die was cast by then. Busch hung on, as Truex could only trim his deficit down to 4.578 seconds.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for Truex, who led 98 of the first 140 laps and lapped all the way up to 13th during the opening stage with a car that appeared to be the fastest mount in town for much of the day.

“Ultimately, it was the loss of track position that bit us,” Truex explained. “We restarted the third stage in third, and I really wish I could have been second or fourth at that point. I got blitzed on the outside by a couple guys, and then I had to just run the crap out of my right front (tire) to get by back them. I got tight on that run, and it took me forever to just get by a few cars.

“I lost a bunch of ground there and then just was too far back to make anything happen on the last run,” he added. “It came down to track position, and if I could have been up front and controlled the race, I think I could have driven away. At the end we were quite a bit quicker, but it it was too much of a gap.”

Truex also noted the tires being swapped wasn’t a miscue he’d ever encountered in his driving career.

“I’ve never had that happen,” Truex lamented. “I don’t even know what to say.  It doesn’t drive well with the left front on the right front, though, I can tell you that. It’s very tight.

“You’ve got to be perfect in this format, and that one mistake probably cost us a shot at it.”

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