Behind the dramatic race to the checkers, James Buescher rolled to his first series championship, securing the title with a 13th-place run.

In a championship battle that generated little drama until the closing laps — when rookie Ty Dillon made a last-ditch move — Buescher drove a methodical race en route to the title. After Dillon wrecked with two laps left in regulation distance, Buescher finished six points ahead of series runner-up Timothy Peters, who ran eighth Friday.

Joey Coulter finished third in the season finale, followed by Nelson Piquet Jr. and Miguel Paludo.

Gale claimed the first victory of his career in a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the race six laps beyond its scheduled distance of 134 laps. As he and Busch exited the final turn, Gale pinched Busch’s No. 18 Toyota against the outside wall, taking the checkered flag by a nose in a shower of sparks.

“I got drove into the fence,” Busch said. “That’s it. You saw it.”

Gale didn’t disagree.

“It’s not my style, but I knew that, if I could pinch him a little bit, I could get the advantage, and pretty much, that’s what I was thinking at that point,” Gale said. “A guy like me, it’s my first opportunity to come down for the checkered flag in a NASCAR race.

“Kyle’s a racer. He’s been in the same position I’ve been in. We’ve all seen hungry racers get an opportunity and take it. That’s what you have to do in this sport. He owes me, but I saw the checkers in the final race. That’s all I can say…

“When it comes down to the final straightaway to win at Homestead in the last race, and your first NASCAR win, I believe anybody would do it.”

Buescher started 17th, 14 spots behind Dillon (who entered the race 12 points behind the leader), but the driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet moved briskly toward the front, working his way up to eighth by the time debris from Bryan Silas’ contact with the outside wall in Turn 4 caused the second caution on Lap 43.

Buescher had dropped to 12th, the last car on the lead lap, when NASCAR called the third caution on Lap 104, again for debris. He held that spot after pit stops under the yellow and gained one spot to 11th before Max Gresham’s spin with 10 laps left brought out caution No. 4.

After a restart on Lap 130, Dillon charged into second place, 11 positions ahead of Buescher, but contact between the trucks of Kyle Larson and Dillon wrecked both as they fought for second and also collected the Dodge of Ryan Blaney.

Buescher pitted for tires after a 10-minute, 40-second stoppage and came home 13th after the two-lap sprint to the finish.

“Everybody on this team has done a fantastic job,” said Buescher, who won four times on the way to the title. “We had a shot at it last year, but we came into this year swinging and did a lot of work over the offseason. It definitely paid off. This is definitely the coolest thing I’ve ever done in racing.”

Despite the wreck that took him out of contention and dropped him to fourth in the standings behind Coulter, Dillon was philosophical when he talked about the final race.

“We just had to go out there and win the race and make something happen,” said Dillon, the series rookie of the year. “I just tried to make something happen there at the end, I got to second, and the points were looking good.

“We just missed that championship by a little bit, but I’m all right with everything that played out. We were going for it. We almost had it. We were trying to hit the home run in the bottom of the ninth and almost did it. But it’s all right. We’ll be back next year, fighting harder than ever.”

Blaney, making just his third truck series start, held off a final charge by Ty Dillon, who snared the points lead with a runner-up finish. The youngster, who drove a Brad Keselowski-owned truck to Ram’s first win in the series since 2008, celebrated in Victory Lane with his father, Sprint Cup series driver Dave Blaney.

“This is pretty incredible,” said the younger Blaney. “. . . It’s unbelievable — hopefully, we can get us a few more here.”

Said Dave Blaney: “He does so good and catches on so quick. It’s fun to watch.”

The 20-year-old Dillon, who closed to finish .168 seconds behind Blaney at the checkered flag, lauded the teenager’s poise in the frantic final stretch.

“I wanted it bad there at the end,” Dillon said. “We were coming, but Ryan Blaney, he’s an amazing driver. I’m glad we didn’t have to race against him all year this year. He’s a great guy and he really deserves this.”

Todd Bodine, who also praised the younger Blaney as “a chip off the old block,” finished third for his first top-five finish since his victory at Dover International Speedway on June 1. Johnny Sauter and Cale Gale completed the top five.

Dillon started the night third in the standings, but capitalized on rough nights by his closest rivals. Timothy Peters, who won the truck series’ first event of the season at Iowa in July, fell from the points lead after a crash in the 34th lap. Peters squeezed Matt Crafton on the exit of turn four, forcing both trucks into the wall.

Peters remained on the lead lap despite several stops for repairs, but faded further after a late stop to replace a faulty battery and cool an overheating engine. He salvaged a 19th-place finish, two laps down.

James Buescher was in line to snatch the points lead from Peters until his spin with six laps to go brought out the last of nine caution periods. He finished 17th, one lap off the pace.

The standings shuffle put Dillon atop the heap by eight points over Peters with Buescher 11 points off the top.

First-time pole starter Parker Kligerman led 107 of the 200 laps, but was bitten by pit strategy that forced him to stop for service during the race’s longest green-flag stretch. Kligerman rallied to as high as fourth place in the running order before spinning with 21 laps left. He wound up 23rd, three laps down.

At a racetrack where a casino is an integral part of the complex, Todd Bodine gambled and won big.

Despite spinning early in Friday’s rain-shortened Lucas Oil 200, Bodine remained on the lead leap, and with a contrarian pit strategy, he worked his way into the lead. When rain forced NASCAR to call the race after 147 laps, Bodine was the winner, breaking a drought of 37 races dating to 2010.

The two-time series champion won for the 22nd time in his career after fending off an assault from Parker Kligerman, the race runner-up. Pole-sitter Kevin Harvick, who dominated the first half of the race, was third when NASCAR called the event after a second stoppage for rain.

Nelson Piquet Jr. finished fourth and Cale Gale fifth.

Bodine came to the pits on Lap 98 and remained on the track when Harvick, Tim Peters, James Buescher and series leader Justin Lofton surrendered top-five positions by pitting for fuel before the resumption of the race after the first rain delay on Lap 124.

Harvick’s truck, lightning fast in clean air, tightened up in traffic, and Bodine was able to hold the top spot until a second rain shower necessitated the ninth caution on Lap 143. Four laps later, with no chance to dry the track before nightfall, the race was over.

Bodine credited Red Horse Racing crew chief Rick Gay with the race-winning call.

“We didn’t have the best (truck) today, but Rick made a great call,” Bodine said. “I didn’t realize what he was trying to accomplish, or how close we were on fuel, but it worked out. You don’t like to win ‘em this way, but you know what? I’ve lost ‘em this way, so I’m going to take this one, and we’re going to go to the house.

“Kevin had the best truck, but racing isn’t always about having the best truck. It’s about strategy and putting yourself in the right position, and Rick Gay did that for this team.”

Harvick began to assert his dominance as soon as the race began. By the time the engine in Jason White’s No. 23 Ford blew on Lap 12, Harvick had opened a three-second leader over hard-luck Johnny Sauter.

A contender for the series championship last year, Sauter brought his truck to pit road under the fifth caution on Lap 98 because of a power steering failure. The long stay on pit road dropped Sauter to 18th in the running order, the last truck on the lead lap.

Harvick held a comfortable lead when Wes Burton’s spin and contact with the inside wall caused the sixth caution of the afternoon. Rain began to fall while the field circulated under yellow.

NASCAR brought the field to pit road on Lap 121 and red-flagged the event for 15 minutes, 23 seconds, but the rain abated and provided an opportunity to restart the race on Lap 124.

Note: The last Truck Series race shortened because of rain was the 2011 season finale at Homestead. Lofton, who finished 10th, maintained a one-point edge over second-place Peters (ninth Friday) in the series standings.

The first two came on rural short tracks in Virginia. The third was a shocker — Friday night’s improbable victory in the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

It took three attempts at a green-white-checkered-flag finish for King to win his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in his eighth start in the series and his first on a superspeedway.

King was in the lead in the third overtime when Joey Coulter’s Chevrolet flew into the catch fence on the frontstretch after James Buescher’s Chevy turned sideways from contact with the truck of Ron Hornaday Jr. Coulter walked away from the wreck.

The resulting caution froze the field and made a winner of King, who still seemed amazed at his accomplishment when he talked to reporters after the race.

“This is feature win No. 3 for me — in my whole career,” King said. “It’s unbelievable. I couldn’t imagine being here, and we’re here.”

A hard crash on Lap 104 — four laps into overtime at the 2.5-mile track — took out race leader Johnny Sauter, who turned into the outside wall in the tri-oval off the bumper of King, igniting a multicar melee behind them.

“Golly, I flat freakin’ wrecked him,” King lamented on his radio after NASCAR red-flagged the race to clean up debris from the wreck.

Five laps and an 11-minute stoppage later, after a torrent of reassuring words from crew chief Chad Kendrick, King was in victory lane. Timothy Peters, King’s Red Horse Racing teammate came home second. Justin Lofton was credited with a third-place finish, followed by Travis Kvapil and Jason White.

“All I know was, the closing rate was real fast, and I couldn’t get off of him,” King said of the contact with Sauter’s car. “I’m a rookie, and I’ve never pushed (another car in the draft) in my life, and this is my first time at Daytona Speedway or any superspeedway.

“I apologize to him from the bottom of my heart. It wasn’t my intention at all.”

A caution on Lap 61 for a crash involving John King, Cale Gale and Mike Skinner provided a window for drivers to make their final pit stops. The trip down pit road failed to break up the dominant combination of Turner Motorsports drivers Buescher and polesitter Miguel Paludo.

Nelson Piquet Jr., the third of the Turner drivers, took the lead soon after a restart on Lap 69, and the Turner Chevrolets ran 1-2-3 as the race closed in on the 75-lap mark. To that point, Turner drivers had led every green-flag lap.

Lap after lap they maintained that order, Piquet leading Paludo and Buescher, all three trucks hugging the yellow line at the bottom of the track until White led a surge in the outside lane and grabbed the lead from Paludo on Lap 84.

As the trucks approached the stripe on that circuit, Paludo’s Chevy turned sideways and slammed nose-first into the inside wall, bring an abrupt end to the Turner triumvirate.

White led the field to the subsequent restart on Lap 91, with Piquet in second, Sauter third and Buescher fourth. White stayed out front until Parker Kilgerman’s Dodge spun sideways on Lap 95, scattering the back half of the field and damaging the trucks of David Starr, Ross Chastain, Dusty Davis and Bryan Silas.

Notes: Ward Burton finished eighth in his first start in any of NASCAR’s top three series since 2007… Paulie Harraka, who triggered an early wreck, got five straight “lucky dogs” (free passes to regain lost laps) as the highest-scored lapped car. He finished 19th in his first start in the series.

Rheem also signed an agreement with Eddie Sharp Racing to sponsor that team’s No. 33 Camping World Truck Series team for the entire season with driver Cale Gale. As part of the agreement, ESR has formed a technical alliance with RCR in which RCR will provide ESR with engineering, testing, and technical assistance. ESR will also receive factory support and support from Earnhardt Childress Engines.

ESR purchased the assets of Kevin Harvick Inc, which will be shut down at season’s end.

Keselowski, Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Cale Gale, and David Stremme rounded out the top 5.

Scott Wimmer, Kyle Busch, David Reutimann, Brian Vickers and Steven Wallace finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Dario Franchitti (11th), Joey Logano (16th), Elliott Sadler (21st), David Ragan (25th), Denny Hamlin (36th), and Carl Edwards (37th).

Edwards blew a tire while he was under Sadler. He drifted up into Sadler, sending Sadler sideways into the wall and down the track. Edwards hit the wall, too.

A late mistake on pit road cost Busch. He had to return to pit road to recover a missing lugnut.

The win marks Busch’s 15th win in NASCAR’s top three series this season. (Yawn!)

Top 5: Busch, Colin Braun, Mike Bliss, Scott Wimmer, and Josh Wise.

Cale Gale, Landon Cassill, Joey Logano,  David Ragan, and Steve Wallace rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Carl Edwards (11th), David Stremme (13th), Brian Keselowski (15th), Jason Leffler (16th), Clint Bowyer (18th), Brad Keselowski (19th), David Reutimann (26th), and Kelly Bires (36th).

Give a call to Colin Braun and Josh Wise. Both of these young drivers had tremendous days running up near the front all race, and they held on to post good finishes. Brian Keselowski also posted a top 15.

Carl Edwards also deserves a nod for battling back from three laps down to rally to finish 11th.

Mike Bliss also gets a call. He spun early but battled back to finish third.

Joey Logano, Bowyer, David Ragan, and David Reutimann rounded out the top 5.

The rest of the top 10 were Scott Wimmer, Mike Bliss, Brad Keselowski, Jason Keller, and Jason Leffler.

Notables: Kelly Bires (11th), Cale Gale (12th), Mark Green (13th), Marcos Ambrose (16th), and David Stremme (34th).

Brad Keselowski appeared to have the car to beat early in the race, leading multiple times for over 100 laps. But, while racing for the lead, Keselowski and Joey Logano got together, damaging Keselowski’s left front fender. The resulting damage turned Keseleowski’s No. 88 Navy Chevy from a winning car into a eighth place car.

Logano also got together with Bowyer on pit road, which Bowyer wasn’t too happy about. He also got together with Chase Miller in the closing laps.