Busch sat outside the Chase for much of the final 20 laps, as he would have lost the tiebreaker with Logano, but clawed his way out of the jaws of defeat in the end.
The defending Sprint Cup champion lamented the penultimate restart, however, feeling that he had eliminated Kenseth’s chances at a title.
“It is really unfortunate to have the race come down to the end like that,” Busch said. “I had a better start than the 88 there. I felt like I had enough of a run on him that if I went to the inside of him, he was going to chop me and get hit and that’s what happened, but it carried on into the 20 and essentially I wrecked a teammate. That’s so frustrating and aggravating and I feel horrible about it. It’s a shame to see it come down like that.”
Denny Hamlin, Kenseth, multi-time Phoenix winner and pre-race favorite Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch were the four drivers eliminated from championship contention at the end of Sunday afternoon’s race.
Kyle Larson fought his way up to third on the bottom lane during the race’s final restart and was followed in the finishing order by Harvick, who failed to advance to the Championship 4 for the first time in the three-year history of the current format.
Kurt Busch completed the top five ahead of Bowman, who had a masterful day and led 194 laps in the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
Bowman had only led nine career laps in his previous 79 career Cup starts, but dominated Sunday afternoon in scoring his career-best finish and contending for the victory all the way to the end.
“I’m not sure if he thought he was clear. It was unfortunate. You don’t want to ruin a Chase guy’s day,” Bowman explained. “The 18 (Busch) jacked me up there but I was inside the line when I made contact with him (Kenseth), so I’m not sure what happened. I’m not here to do anything but win races. I’m here to race and here to win.”
Hamlin finished seventh, followed by non-Chasers Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Paul Menard.
Kenseth was credited with 21st after the incident with Bowman on the first overtime attempt.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will crown a champion during the Ford EcoBoost 400 on Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM).
