"It hasn't really hit me yet," Arana said. "A lot of things happened for this -- I won five races, won three in a row, set the national record, won the championship. This is awesome, and having my family and Lucas Oil behind me and supporting me, it's a great feeling. I don't have to worry about anything else."
Wins in Brainerd, Minneapolis and Indianapolis lifted Arana to third by the start of the Countdown to 1st playoff and he then qualified No. 1 at four of the final five races and racking up two more victories in three final-round showings.
As it turned out, Krawiec and Hines were the closest to Arana in the final point standings, but they couldn't quite do enough to win it all. Krawiec ended up second, just two points back, while Hines was third, 144 off Arana's pace.
"I just knew I had it, knew it was there," Arana said of the final push that earned him the title. "With Lucas Oil behind me, how could I quit? When things were going tough, I just worked harder. My determination was even more. It never crossed my mind to quit. I knew I was going to stick to the end until I found a solution. Now I am the champion."
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