Denny Hamlin is interviewed after the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series FORD 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic))

LOSERS

Denny Hamlin – An early altercation with Greg Biffle put the points leader behind the eight ball, and while his car was a rocket at times, he was forced to play catch-up for far too long.

Kevin Harvick – Pit road speeding penalty was a setback, but the Richard Childress Racing driver needed help – in the form of major problems for Hamlin and Johnson – to take the title. It was help he didn’t get.

Jeff Gordon – Lost a cylinder early, which eventually put the Hendrick Motorsports driver two laps down. When his engine expired just shy of the 200-lap mark, his season was done.

Kyle Busch – Was running in the top five when contact with Harvick on lap 243 sent the JGR driver spinning into the wall with his car eventually catching fire.

David Reutimann – The MWR driver brought out the season’s first caution in the last race after slapping the wall early in the Ford 400. Running at the end, the Franchise finished 38th.

Jeff Burton – Finished 15th or worse in 10 Chase races. This time it was a 31st-place finish after cutting a tire on lap 183.

COOL DOWN LAP

“I think finally, finally after being able to pull this off, he’ll get the respect he deserves.” No. 48 crew chief Chad Knaus, on Johnson.

“[Kyle Busch] raced me like a clown all day.” – Kevin Harvick

“[Kevin Harvick] is such a two-faced guy it doesn’t matter.” – Kyle Busch

“This is fuel for me. This is going to fuel me in the off-season to try to get better. That’s what I’ll do is get better.” – Denny Hamlin

“That’s two times with [Juan Pablo Montoya] this year, so we’ve got to figure that out. I don’t know what the deal is.” – Joey Logano

“It ended up ultimately blowing out a left rear and got us into the wall … pretty much destroyed the car.” – David Reutimann

"We had nowhere to go and just plowed into the rear of [Reutimann's] car and side swiped the fence." – Kurt Busch

"I’ve got a lot of friends that work on this car and I hope that I have a chance to work with them again sometime down the road.” – Sam Hornish Jr.

"We had a good car, we just didn’t have the luck on our side and that seems to be the way of how a lot of our season has gone." – David Ragan

SceneDaily.com • Red Bull Racing crewman hit by Kevin Harvick expected to be released from hospital