Kenseth Wins, Elliott Celebrates Nationwide Series Championship

  In a race that saw three-wide battles for the lead, a green-white-checkered finish only added to the drama of the Ford EcoBoost 300. Matt Kenseth came out on top step of the podium while Chase Elliott was crowned the Nationwide Series Champion in his first season (the Nationwide Series will be sponsored by Xfinity next year).

    After winning the Nationwide Series Championship, Chase Elliott also claimed Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors, the first driver to capture both titles in one season. He is the youngest ever to win a National NASCAR Series championship ever.

  Elliott finishes the year with 3 wins, 16 top 5 finishes, and a driver rating of 108.6.

  “It’s just been a very, very, fun road,” said Elliott. “I feel very fortunate to have not just this year with Greg and Dale [Earnhardt Jr.] and Kelley [Earnhardt] and Mr. [Rick] Hendrick, and just honestly, the best group of people that you could possibly have surrounding you in racing in the past five years that I’ve been short track racing and whatnot. I feel like I’ve had the absolute best possible people there, too, and I feel like all these people along the way have made me look a heck of a lot better than I really am, and they’re the reason we’re up there tonight. It’s been an honor to work with these guys and not just this year, but all along the way. It’s been fun.”

  His owner is fan favorite Sprint Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is a two time Nationwide Series Champion himself, and now is a championship-winning owner in the series.

  “It’s very satisfying to have been a part of JR Motorsports for all these years and to have come up through the three stocks and late models and pro Cup Series and anything else we’ve ever done.” Earnhardt said.

  For the second night in a row, Kyle Larson was dominant for most of the race, but Kenseth got the better of the late restarts. Kenseth hung around the top 5 for most of the night, capitalizing when the opportunity presented itself. With a strong restart, Kenseth held off a hard charging Larson and Kyle Busch for the win.

  “We were able to lead a lot of laps today, a lot more than I’ve probably ever led in my career,” said Larson after the race. “That was fun. I had good restarts up there until the last 50 laps or so, and then I finally got a good one underneath Matt [Kenseth], was able to get to the lead, and was about 15 feet short of the win.”

   Larson explained his decision to take the inside lane rather on the restart.

  “We got the yellow, and I thought the 12 had been getting really good restarts, so I wanted to start in front of him, and spun my tires a little bit, and the 20 was able to hang with me there,” said Larson. “I was side drafting him down the front stretch, and he was able to shake or swerve at me and get me shaken off of him. Then I spun my tires into 1, got me sideways, and I was three wide there. That was all the 20 needed to win.”

  Race winner Matt Kenseth was asked if he was surprised about the young driver’s move.

  “Well, I was, except for the fact that I had the lead on the outside so I was the one who controlled when we started the race, and he beat me and got the lead.”

  Chase Elliott had a promising run throughout the race at multiple points, but it was ultimately a disappointing finish in Homestead with a 17th place result.  

  Pole sitter Brad Keselowski dropped quickly in the race and wasn’t able to regain the momentum after running in dirty air. Keselowski finished eighth.

Penske Wins Owners Championship

  Team Penske won their second consecutive Owners Championship. The 22 car can secure the championship for the owner and closing out the season with 1,347 points. The drivers of the car throughout the season were Brad Keselowski (10 races), Joey Logano (10 races), Ryan Blaney (10 races), Alex Tagliani (two races), and Michael McDowell (one race).

  The team will attempt to make history tomorrow by having their driver win the IndyCar title, the owner’s championship in the Nationwide Series, and have Joey Logano win the Sprint Cup Series Championship.

  On the cusp of completing this unique sweep, Roger Penske said “Well, it would be a dream come true, there’s no question. It’s a goal that the team had when we started at the beginning of the year.”