NASCAR notebook

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Martin Truex overcame a series of setbacks Saturday to win his second consecutive NASCAR Busch Series season title, finishing seventh as Ryan Newman won the Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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Nextel Cup stars Newman and Greg Biffle battled at the front of the pack through most of the season-ending, 200-lap race.

Biffle, who has one victory and eight runner-up finishes this year in the Busch Series, passed Newman for the lead on lap 172 and began to pull away.

For Newman, a part-time performer in Busch, it was his sixth victory in nine races this season - all of them coming in his past seven races.

"I've got to thank Biff for racing me clean," Newman said. "It was just a good restart for us. Biffle was coming at the end, but there weren't enough laps for him to get to me."

Truex came into the race with a 64-point lead over Clint Bowyer and wound up winning by 68 points as Bowyer finished behind him in eighth.

Truex, who will move up to Cup full-time next season, had to survive quite a bit of drama to become the first driver to win consecutive Busch Series titles since Chance 2 Motorsports team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. did it in 1998 and 1999.

First, the defending champion made his job tougher by crashing during his qualifying attempt Saturday afternoon. He had to switch to a backup car, which meant Truex was forced to start from the rear of the 43-car field.

Truex quickly made his way toward the front and was running in the top 10 when he began to feel a vibration. It became bad enough he pitted under the green flag on lap 59 to change the right rear tire. That left Truex a lap down in 31st place.

But the champion didn't stay there long.

He again charged toward the front, got back on the lead lap with the help of a series of caution flags and again moved into the top 10, keeping Bowyer within sight most of the way.

VETERAN FINALLY TAKES TITLE: In Homestead, Fla., crew members piled onto the back of Ted Musgrave's truck as he started to drive around Homestead-Miami Speedway.

They all wanted to be part of this celebration - one that eluded them for several years.

Musgrave finished 20th in the rain-postponed Ford 200 on Saturday and edged Dennis Setzer for his first NASCAR Truck Series championship.

Musgrave, 49, became NASCAR's oldest champion.