Harvick wins to reach final round; Gordon edged out for last spot

AVONDALE, Ariz. - Kevin Harvick dominated a race he had to win to advance to the final round of NASCAR's playoffs, while Jeff Gordon was knocked out when Ryan Newman completed a last-lap pass.

Harvick led 264 laps at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday to earn an automatic spot next week in the four-man Chase field in the finale at Homestead. He has won the Phoenix fall race three years in a row, also won at the track in March, and has a record six victories on the mile oval.

Now he takes Stewart-Haas Racing into the championship race next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the four championship contenders will all be seeking their first Sprint Cup title. Harvick came into Sunday ranked eighth in the eight-driver Chase field.

"Wow, I guess that's what it feels like to hit a walk-off in the extra innings," Harvick said.

Gordon finished second, but lost his bid for a fifth Sprint Cup championship when Newman knocked Kyle Larson into the wall on the final lap to finish 11th - and one point ahead of Gordon.

Denny Hamlin, the points leader after finishing fifth, and Joey Logano also advanced. The title will be decided by finishing order among the final four at Homestead.

Failing to advance with Gordon were Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, and Carl Edwards.

Logano finished third, Keselowski was fourth, and Edwards 15th.

Newman's move on Larson in the final turn made for a stunning shake-up in the points. Winless on the season, his first with Richard Childress Racing, he was aggressive with his pass of Larson to knock Gordon out of the finale.

"I didn't take him out," Newman said. "In a day or two, he'll understand. It's hard to rationalize that, but I did what I had to do. I don't like racing that way."

Gordon, a four-time winner this season and the points leader for most of the year, was denied a chance to race for his fifth title.

"I'm disappointed, I thought if we came out of here second, even if it was to Kevin or Brad, I thought we'd still make it in," Gordon said. "That's pretty disappointing to do all of that, and it just makes last week that much more disappointing."

Gordon was in position to win at Texas last week until a late caution forced the field into a restart that went bad when Keselowski tried to wedge his car into a small hole and ended up making contact with Gordon. He got a flat tire, spun, and finished 29th to fall from first to fourth in the standings.

Still, he doesn't blame Newman for doing what he had to do to get into the finale.

"That's the system we have," Gordon said.

It was a devastating blow for Keselowski, who leads the series this season with six wins and won a race in each of the first two rounds of the Chase. But he fell into a hole because of a mechanical problem at Martinsville in the first event of this three-race round that he couldn't recover from despite strong finishes at Texas and Phoenix.