HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Here’s a tweet for Brad Keselowski: NASCAR champion.

Roger Penske must like the sound of that, too.

The kid who stole the show at the season-opening Daytona 500 ended the year under the biggest spotlight of them all Sunday, beating five-time champion Jimmie Johnson to deliver the first Sprint Cup championship to Penske Racing.

His first act as champion? Sending a tweet, of course, from inside his car: “We did it!” with a picture of the celebration waiting for him.

“Always, throughout my whole life I’ve been told I’m not big enough, not fast enough, not strong enough and I don’t have what it takes,” Keselowski said from the championship stage. “I’ve used that as a chip on my shoulder to carry me through my whole career. It took until this year for me to realize that that was right, man, they were right.

“I’m not big enough, fast enough, strong enough. No person is. Only a team can do that.”

So, with the Penske organization behind him, he delivered a trophy that had eluded “The Captain” since his 1972 NASCAR debut. Although his motorsports organization is considered the gold standard of open-wheel racing — 15 Indianapolis 500 wins — and his empire has made Penske one of the most successful businessmen in America, his NASCAR team has always been just average.

Then came Keselowski, the blue collar, Twitter-loving, Michigan native who visited Penske in 2008 convinced the NASCAR team could win, too.

Three years later, they hoisted the Sprint Cup trophy together at Homestead-Miami Speedway following Keselowski’s 15th-place finish Sunday night.

“It’s all about the people in our organization and obviously Brad coming on our board three years ago, and we set a plan and we stuck to it,” the 75-year-old Penske said. “To win this championship is amazing.”

Keselowski needed 125 starts to win his first championship, the fewest starts since four-time champion Jeff Gordon won his first title in 93 starts in 1995. Keselowski also won a second-tier Nationwide title in 2010, his first season with Penske and the owner’s first official NASCAR championship.

Gordon, who avoided suspension this week but was fined $100,000 by NASCAR for intentionally wrecking Clint Bowyer last week at Phoenix, overcame the controversy to win the race in a 20th anniversary celebration for sponsor Dupont and Hendrick Motorsports.

It was Gordon’s first victory at Homestead, which leaves Kentucky as the only active NASCAR track where he’s yet to win.

Who did Gordon beat? Bowyer, of course.

And Bowyer’s second-place finish moved him to a career-best second in the final standings. Third-place went to Ryan Newman, who got his break in NASCAR with Penske and spent seven seasons driving for the owner.

“He deserves this probably as much as anybody else, if not more because of what he’s done for motor racing in general, NASCAR, his dedication to all forms of race cars is probably more than anybody else in the history of auto racing,” Newman said. “I know this is probably one of the sweetest moments in his racing career.”

Keselowski started the race up 20 points on Johnson, who blew a tire and crashed last week at Phoenix to give Keselowski a nice cushion and needing only to finish 15th or higher in the finale to wrap up his first championship. But the Penske team took nothing for granted — not after Will Power crashed in the IndyCar finale to blow a 17-point lead and lose the championship.

And this one got tight, too, especially when Keselowski ran out of gas on pit road during green flag pit stops. It put him a lap down with Johnson leading, and Keselowski and crew chief Paul Wolfe frantically tried to figure out how dire the situation had become.

Wolfe crunched the numbers, figuring the No. 2 Dodge would cycle out in the mid-20s, a lap down from the leaders.

“I know the scenario, and it’s not good,” Keselowski said.

But minutes later, Johnson went to pit road for his own stop and pulled away with a missing lug nut. NASCAR flagged the Hendrick Motorsports team and Johnson was forced back to pit road for another stop.

WHERE THEY FINISHED

Listed below are the final results and stats from

Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway:

1. (15) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 267 laps, 116 rating, 47 points, $334,161.

2. (6) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 267, 118.5, 42, $263,749.

3. (19) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 267, 98.3, 42, $228,768.

4. (8) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 267, 142.5, 42, $198,318.

5. (13) Greg Biffle, Ford, 267, 82.6, 39, $143,060.

6. (7) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 267, 117.2, 39, $131,199.

7. (5) Aric Almirola, Ford, 267, 99.4, 37, $132,446.

8. (23) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 267, 83.3, 36, $134,121.

9. (26) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 267, 89.5, 35, $107,318.

10. (16) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 267, 82.4, 34, $87,085.

11. (18) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 267, 84.4, 33, $84,810.

12. (4) Carl Edwards, Ford, 267, 105.9, 32, $119,176.

13. (2) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 267, 86.5, 32, $103,268.

14. (1) Joey Logano, Toyota, 267, 77.1, 30, $88,810.

15. (3) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 266, 95.6, 29, $108,980.

16. (9) Mark Martin, Toyota, 266, 78.7, 28, $75,385.

17. (35) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 266, 65.8, 27, $128,535.

18. (11) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 266, 99.1, 27, $119,171.

19. (33) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 266, 65, 25, $112,160.

20. (14) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 266, 68.6, 24, $105,668.

21. (12) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 266, 90.5, 24, $81,135.

22. (17) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 266, 79.6, 0, $113,960.

23. (20) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 266, 72.6, 0, $72,310.

24. (41) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 266, 63, 20, $113,976.

25. (32) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 265, 54.7, 19, $96,743.

26. (38) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, 265, 48.6, 18, $93,893.

27. (30) Landon Cassill, Toyota, 265, 48.9, 17, $97,780.

28. (21) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 264, 53.6, 16, $101,126.

29. (28) Casey Mears, Ford, 264, 52.5, 15, $82,318.

30. (24) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 264, 50.6, 14, $89,257.

31. (34) David Ragan, Ford, 263, 43.3, 13, $67,235.

32. (31) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 263, 45.8, 12, $67,010.

33. (40) David Gilliland, Ford, 262, 35.4, 11, $66,810.

34. (37) David Reutimann, Chevrolet, 261, 34.4, 10, $66,610.

35. (39) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, 261, 33.4, 9, $66,410.

36. (10) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, rear gear, 224, 94.3, 9, $113,396.

37. (42) Ken Schrader, Ford, engine, 219, 29.7, 7, $74,255.

38. (22) David Stremme, Toyota, electrical, 183, 37.7, 6, $65,753.

39. (27) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, accident, 157, 51.9, 0, $62,850.

40. (36) Josh Wise, Ford, vibration, 38, 28.3, 4, $64,120.

41. (25) Michael McDowell, Ford, overheating, 34, 36.5, 3, $62,405.

42. (43) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, vibration, 23, 27.6, 2, $62,110.

43. (29) Mike Bliss, Toyota, electrical, 16, 28.4, 0, $62,429.

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 142.245 mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 48 minutes, 56 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 1.028 seconds.

Caution Flags: 3 for 17 laps.

Lead Changes: 19 among 8 drivers.

Lap Leaders: M.Ambrose 1-14; Ky.Busch 15-49; R.Newman 50; Ky.Busch 51-116; M.Truex Jr. 117-127; J.Johnson 128; M.Kenseth 129-130; R.Newman 131-132; Ky.Busch 133-144; J.Johnson 145-157; K.Kahne 158-161; Ky.Busch 162-165; K.Kahne 166; Ky.Busch 167-199; K.Kahne 200-201; J.Johnson 202-212; J.Gordon 213; Ky.Busch 214-254; J.Gordon 255-267.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): Ky.Busch, 6 times for 191 laps; J.Johnson, 3 times for 25 laps; J.Gordon, 2 times for 14 laps; M.Ambrose, 1 time for 14 laps; M.Truex Jr., 1 time for 11 laps; K.Kahne, 3 times for 7 laps; R.Newman, 2 times for 3 laps; M.Kenseth, 1 time for 2 laps.

Top 12 in Points: 1. B.Keselowski, 2,400; 2. C.Bowyer, 2,361; 3. J.Johnson, 2,360; 4. K.Kahne, 2,345; 5. G.Biffle, 2,332; 6. D.Hamlin, 2,329; 7. M.Kenseth, 2,324; 8. K.Harvick, 2,321; 9. T.Stewart, 2,311; 10. J.Gordon, 2,303; 11. M.Truex Jr., 2,299; 12. D.Earnhardt Jr., 2,245.