Kevin Harvick dominated a race he had to win to advance to the final round of NASCAR’s playoffs, while Jeff Gordon was knocked out when Ryan Newman completed a last-lap pass.

Harvick led 264 laps at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday to earn an automatic spot next week in the four-man Chase field in the finale at Homestead.

Gordon finished second, but lost his bid for a fifth Sprint Cup championship when Newman knocked Kyle Larson into the wall on the final lap to finish 11th – and a point ahead of Gordon.

Denny Hamlin, the points leader after finishing fifth, and Joey Logano also advanced. The title will be decided by finishing order among the final four at Homestead.

Failing to advance with Gordon were Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards.

Logano finished third, Keselowski was fourth and Edwards 15th.

It was a devastating blow for Keselowski, series leader this season with six victories and winning a race in each of the first two rounds of the Chase.

But he fell into a hole because of a mechanical problem at Martinsville in the first event of this three-race round that he couldn’t recover from despite strong finishes at Texas and Phoenix.

His mettle was definitely tested, too, as his aggressive driving style angered his competitors and led to two fights in four races.

He was fined $US50,000 ($A54,100) for his post-race behaviour at Charlotte last month – actions that caused Kenseth to jump him from behind in the garage – and he and Gordon were both bloodied when the drivers and the teams brawled on pit road after last week’s race at Texas.

Hamlin, who came to Phoenix tied with Logano for the points lead, won the pole and needed only to finish 11th or better to guarantee himself a spot in the finale.

But a broken valve stem caused his right rear tyre to go flat under caution immediately after the first round of pit stops. Hamlin had to pit a second time, went from fourth to 35th on the restart and sounded panicky as he struggled to regain his lost positions.