Matt Kenseth Wins Nationwide Series Finale
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| Champion Chase Elliott |
| Mike Mercurio/AR1.com |
Matt Kenseth took home the winner's trophy in the NASCAR Nationwide Series season finale on Saturday, holding off Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson for the victory while 18-year-old rookie Chase Elliott was officially crowned as the 2014 series champion in the Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Kenseth got around Larson on the first lap of a three-lap green-white-checker shootout and then pulled away as Busch and Larson duked it out for second place with Busch taking the runner-up spot over Larson. Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher rounded out the top five.
Kenseth's victory was his 29th-career NASCAR Nationwide Series win and his first in 16 starts this season.
"It's been a long time since I won a race in anything," said Kenseth. "Kyle (Larson) got around me on that second-to-last restart, but when he chose the bottom there and I had Kyle (Busch) behind me, I knew that we had a shot."
"Really happy for Kevin (Kidd, crew chief) and this whole group behind me. They've worked really hard on this thing the last few years and haven't gotten as many wins as we'd like to have. I was glad to send them off on a winning note here."
Saturday's race was not only the season finale, but also the final race for title sponsor Nationwide Insurance. Comcast will take over as series sponsor in 2015 under their XFINITY brand.
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Elliott, who clinched the championship following last weekend's race at Phoenix, finished 17th after hitting the wall late in the race but finally got to hoist the championship trophy as the youngest champion in the history of NASCAR's three major touring series as well as the fifth father-son champion in NASCAR, joined by his father and 1988 Cup Champion, Bill Elliott.
"It's just been a very, very fun road," said Elliott. "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.
"Had I not put her in the fence there on the racetrack and during my burnout, it would have been a pretty perfect night."
Despite the championship having already been decided, Saturday's race was anything but anti-climatic, with the battle for the win coming right down to the wire.
Larson had dominated the race from the outset, first grabbing the lead from pole sitter Brad Keselowski on lap six and going on to lead 106 of the first 144 laps.
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Kenseth took over the top spot following a round of yellow-flag stops on lap 147 and took over the race, opening up a half-straightaway lead as Larson had his hands full battling Busch and Keselowski for second.
A late caution flag with five laps to go gave Larson one more shot at Kenseth and he made it stick – getting just inside of the no. 20 Toyota Camry to take over the top spot as the 11th caution flag of the night waved for a two car incident in turn four, setting up a green-white-checker finish.
For the restart, Larson chose the inside lane in a bid to hold off any charge from Blaney, but it was Kenseth on the high side coming around Larson for the lead as the field came off turn two.
On the backstretch, Larson found himself three-wide with Busch and Blaney for the second spot as Kenseth pulled away. Busch would pull off the pass to move into the second spot but had no chance of catching Kenseth, who cruised to the finish by three car lengths.
Despite the second place finish, Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing team ended up losing the owners points title by 23 points to Team Penske, who won their second straight owners championship.
It's a shame we could only come home second tonight, but it's cool to see a JGR car win and go off into the off-season with a win," said Busch. "Come up short on the owner's championship and it's just a hard fought year. We had too many bad runs that knocked us out. All in all, we gave it everything we had tonight and just wish we had more."
Larson, who is expected to win rookie of the year honors in the Cup Series at season's end, picked up his 13th top five finish in 17 starts this season, but was still upset about letting this win get away.
"I spun my tires into (turn) 1, got me sideways, and I was three wide there. That was all the 20 (Kenseth) needed to win," said Larson. "Almost had second, but Kyle (Busch) was able to squeeze around me. I probably could have shut the door on him, but we weren't going to win, so there was no point in maybe tearing up two cars
"Disappointed, super disappointed. Really close to a win today."
Regan Smith finished the night in sixth place, capping a frustrating week that saw him lose out on a chance to battle Elliott for the title, winding up second in the points standings. Ty Dillon, Keselowski, Elliott Sadler and Brian Scott made up the rest of the top five.
Results
| POS | CAR NO. | DRIVER | START | LAPS | LED | STATUS |
| 1 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | 3 | 206 | 52 | Running |
| 2 | 54 | Kyle Busch | 6 | 206 | 5 | Running |
| 3 | 42 | Kyle Larson | 2 | 206 | 111 | Running |
| 4 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | 5 | 206 | 24 | Running |
| 5 | 60 | Chris Buescher | 10 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 6 | 7 | Regan Smith | 15 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 7 | 3 | Ty Dillon | 21 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 8 | 22 | Brad Keselowski | 1 | 206 | 5 | Running |
| 9 | 11 | Elliott Sadler | 4 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 10 | 2 | Brian Scott | 7 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 11 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | 13 | 206 | 3 | Running |
| 12 | 33 | Paul Menard | 31 | 206 | 3 | Running |
| 13 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | 20 | 206 | 1 | Running |
| 14 | 10 | Ross Chastain | 25 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 15 | 93 | T.J. Bell | 30 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 16 | 28 | J.J. Yeley | 17 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 17 | 9 | Chase Elliott | 14 | 206 | 1 | Running |
| 18 | 99 | James Buescher | 24 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 19 | 31 | Dylan Kwasniewski | 9 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 20 | 43 | Dakoda Armstrong | 19 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 21 | 4 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | 28 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 22 | 44 | Blake Koch | 22 | 206 | 1 | Running |
| 23 | 19 | Mike Bliss | 18 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 24 | 26 | Jake Crum | 35 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 25 | 5 | Josh Berry | 12 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 26 | 14 | Eric McClure | 27 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 27 | 16 | Ryan Reed | 11 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 28 | 36 | Ryan Preece | 33 | 206 | 0 | Running |
| 29 | 62 | Brendan Gaughan | 8 | 205 | 0 | Running |
| 30 | 55 | David Starr | 29 | 205 | 0 | Running |
| 31 | 17 | Tanner Berryhill | 40 | 204 | 0 | Running |
| 32 | 23 | Carlos Contreras | 37 | 203 | 0 | Running |
| 33 | 25 | John Wes Townley | 26 | 201 | 0 | Running |
| 34 | 87 | Milka Duno | 39 | 201 | 0 | Running |
| 35 | 01 | Landon Cassill | 23 | 190 | 0 | Engine |
| 36 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | 32 | 179 | 0 | Suspension |
| 37 | 98 | Corey Lajoie | 16 | 116 | 0 | Accident |
| 38 | 40 | Matt DiBenedetto | 36 | 57 | 0 | Transmission |
| 39 | 52 | Joey Gase | 38 | 54 | 0 | Engine |
| 40 | 91 | Jeff Green | 34 | 3 | 0 | Vibration |