HOMESTEAD, Fla. —  Chris Buescher knew precisely where he needed to finish Saturday to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. He finished three positions better than that.

With help from a controversial yet profitable pit stop late in the race, Buescher finished 11th in the Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, allowing him to edge three other contenders for the championship of NASCAR’s second-level series.

“It is every bit as stressful as I thought It would be,” said Buescher, who drives the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang. “It’s always difficult. There’s a tremendous depth of talent in this series and through all the NASCAR series. It makes it that much more special, knowing that we beat some of the best guys coming up through this sport right now. To be able to pull it off at the end is a very special, very humbling experience. It’s not easy. This is a very difficult thing to get.”

While in ninth place on Lap 174 of the 200-lap race, Buescher’s crew chief, Scott Graves, called his driver to the pits under caution while the other three championship contenders — Chase Elliott, Ty Dillon and Regan Smith — stayed on track. The move sent Buescher to 12th place, dangerously close to losing the points battle.

At the time, Buescher needed to finish 14th to clinch the title. Instead, when Kyle Busch spun out one lap after the restart, Buescher moved up one spot, got back on the lead lap and held on as the other three contenders finished ahead of him.

Buescher entered the race with an 18-point lead over Elliott, with Dillon 22 points back and Smith 24 down. Before the race, Buescher needed to finish 13th or better to clinch the championship, and said before the race that he didn’t plan to be overly cautious.

Near the end of the race, though, caution took over. Graves brought Buescher to the pits — a move questioned by some observers — but Busch’s spin 21 laps from the end of the race helped Buescher secure the championship.

“It was nerve-wracking,” Graves said. “I knew when we were a lap down and the other (contenders) weren’t, that’s when we most vulnerable. Once we ended up being on the same lap, that helped out quite a bit.”

Elliott, the defending Xfinity champion who will replace retiring Jeff Gordon in Cup next season, congratulated Buescher after finishing second in points, 15 points behind.

“They just outran us, fair and square,” Elliott said. “There’s no reason to be upset about that, other than we need to do a better job and I need to be better. They just beat us.”

Buescher started 11th Saturday, one position behind Dillon but two ahead of Elliott and three ahead of Smith. Buescher dropped back to 12th place on Lap 46, and was lapped by Kyle Larson on Lap 69, but stayed within his top-13 window throughout the race.

After a pit stop during a brief rain delay that began on Lap 141, Buescher emerged in 11th place. He stayed in that general vicinity to the finish as Dillon finished seventh, Elliott eighth and Smith ninth.

Larson roared back after a back-and-forth duel with Busch to win the race over Austin Dillon. Erik Jones, who won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship Friday night, finished third in Saturday’s race.

Larson, like Busch a Cup regular, hadn’t won a race since May 24, 2014, when he claimed an Xfinity (then Nationwide) Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He showed up at the post-race press conference wearing a vintage hat from Jeff Gordon’s rookie season in 1993.

“I was 1 at the time,” Larson said. “It’s cool to pay respect back to Jeff Gordon. It’s also neat to say that I was able to win a race on his final weekend of racing. I hope I can win it tomorrow. Everybody in this sport has looked up to him. It will be sad to see him run his final laps tomorrow, but it will be awesome if he can pull off that championship.”

Daniel Suarez, a 23-year-old from Monterrey, Mexico, was named the Sunoco Rookie of the year. Roger Penske, who fielded four different drivers and won six races with the No. 22 Ford Mustang, won the owner’s championship for the third consecutive year. Ryan Blaney drove the car to a fifth-place finish Saturday.

Follow Olson on Twitter @jeffolson77

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NASCAR Xfinity Ford EcoBoost 300

Saturday’s results from the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway (start position in parentheses):

1. (9) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 200 laps, 0 points, $85,343.

2. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 200, 0, $62,858.

3. (7) Erik Jones, Toyota, 200, 0, $57,863.

4. (4) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 200, 40, $48,941.

5. (5) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 200, 39, $42,390.

6. (2) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 200, 38, $37,076.

7. (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 200, 37, $32,254.

8. (13) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 200, 36, $32,524.

9. (14) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 200, 35, $30,930.

10. (21) Darrell Wallace Jr., Ford, 200, 34, $33,365.

11. (11) Chris Buescher, Ford, 200, 33, $29,785.

12. (6) Aric Almirola, Ford, 199, 0, $23,580.

13. (8) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 199, 31, $29,229.

14. (16) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 199, 30, $28,918.

15. (19) Dakoda Armstrong, Ford, 199, 29, $29,156.

16. (20) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 199, 28, $28,846.

17. (17) Ryan Reed, Ford, 199, 27, $28,459.

18. (25) Blake Koch, Toyota, 199, 26, $28,323.

19. (24) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 199, 25, $28,161.

20. (18) Ben Rhodes, Chevrolet, 198, 24, $28,550.

21. (15) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 198, 23, $27,940.

22. (22) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 198, 22, $27,825.

23. (12) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 198, 21, $27,687.

24. (28) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, 197, 20, $27,576.

25. (33) David Starr, Toyota, 197, 19, $27,565.

26. (26) Mason Mingus, Chevrolet, 195, 0, $27,304.

27. (30) Anthony Kumpen, Chevrolet, 193, 17, $21,193.

28. (34) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 192, 0, $21,072.

29. (36) Eric McClure, Toyota, 190, 15, $26,921.

30. (1) Kyle Busch, Toyota, accident, 185, 0, $28,110.

31. (37) Josh Reaume, Chevrolet, 185, 13, $20,679.

32. (29) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, ignition, 180, 12, $26,568.

33. (40) Tim Viens, Dodge, 156, 0, $26,528.

34. (31) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, suspension, 88, 10, $26,466.

35. (39) Derek White, Dodge, engine, 81, 9, $26,416.

36. (38) Carlos Contreras, Chevrolet, engine, 59, 8, $24,246.

37. (23) Mike Bliss, Toyota, vibration, 44, 8, $23,246.

38. (32) B.J. McLeod, Chevrolet, vibration, 36, 0, $16,246.

39. (35) T.J. Bell, Toyota, vibration, 23, 0, $15,246.

40. (27) Jeff Green, Toyota, transmission, 3, 4, $14,246.

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Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 128.266 mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 20 minutes, 20 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 0.934 seconds.

Caution Flags: 6 for 26 laps.

Lead Changes: 13 among 5 drivers.

Lap Leaders: K.Busch 1-27; M.Bliss 28; K.Busch 29-30; K.Larson 31-33; K.Busch 34-63; K.Larson 64-78; K.Busch 79-81; K.Larson 82-142; E.Jones 143; K.Larson 144-145; K.Busch 146-147; K.Larson 148-179; A.Dillon 180-195; K.Larson 196-200.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Larson, 6 times for 118 laps; K.Busch, 5 times for 64 laps; A.Dillon, 1 time for 16 laps; E.Jones, 1 time for 1 lap; M.Bliss, 1 time for 1 lap.

Final Xfinity Top 10 Points: 1. C.Buescher, 1,190; 2. C.Elliott, 1,175; 3. T.Dillon, 1,172; 4. R.Smith, 1,168; 5. D.Suarez, 1,078; 6. E.Sadler, 1,075; 7. D.Wallace Jr., 1,071; 8. B.Scott, 1,032; 9. B.Gaughan, 1,012; 10. R.Reed, 902.