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Harvick Falls Short In NASCAR Championship Defense

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HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) - Kevin Harvick sat at the dais, scratched his face and cracked a small smile watching Kyle Busch celebrate the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship on TV.

He was the one partying last season.

Harvick failed in his bid to win back-to-back Sprint Cup championships, settling for a runner-up finish to Busch on Sunday. He could never find what he needed in the No. 4 Chevrolet and simply didn't have enough to zip past Busch off the final restart.

He publicly defused talk all week he was the favorite to defend his title. Harvick was right and finished a distant second in his second season at Stewart-Haas Racing.

Harvick sat in the same seat at the podium last year, jostled his young son on his lap, and egged him on to speak into the microphone and tell the world his daddy was the NASCAR champion.

He could only watch Busch get bathed in confetti on the championship stage.

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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