Keselowski Wins Race, Elliott Clinches Championship

Chase Elliott

18-year-old Chase Elliott became the youngest champion in NASCAR history on Saturday, clinching the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series title in the DAV 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Elliott beat out his teammate Regan Smith for the season crown with a fifth-place finish behind race leader Brad Keselowski, who bested Kyle Busch with a last-lap pass in a final three-lap shootout.

Elliott Sadler was third, followed by Ty Dillon.

Elliott, the son of 1988 Sprint Cup Champion Bill Elliott, is the youngest champion since Brian Vickers captured the Nationwide Series title in 2003 at the age of 20 and the first rookie to win a champion in any of NASCAR's three major touring series. He and his father become the fourth father-son duo to win a NASCAR championship, joining Lee and Richard Petty, David and Larry Pearson, Ned and Dale Jarrett, and Dale Earnhardt, Sr. and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Earnhardt, Jr. was on hand in Victory Lane to as the championship-winning car owner of Elliott's NAPA-sponsored JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.

"I'm so in disbelief I don't know what to feel right now," said Elliott. "I've never been a part of anything like this. Just to have the opportunity to work with guys like we had this year has been a blessing.

"I never would have even believed this was in my future. At the beginning of this season I had only run a couple of truck races. I feel lot of this is just due to the group of guys I was able to work with. Those guys were bringing me super-fast cars every week."

Making Elliott's title run even more remarkable is that he's still in high school and won't actually graduate until next May.

Elliott began competing in NASCAR in 2011 after signing a driver development deal with Hendrick Motorsports, running in the K&N Pro Series East before moving onto the Camping World Truck Series in last year. In September, he won his first race to become the youngest winner in the history of the truck series, a mark since surpassed this past season by 16-year-old Cole Custer.

This past January, JR Motorsports announced Elliott would run a full season in the Nationwide Series with sponsorship from NAPA. So far this season, Elliott has collected three wins putting him fourth in most wins this season behind Busch, Keselowski and Harvick.

Not bad for a kid still in high school who didn't even know where he'd be racing after last season.

"A year ago at this time we had nothing, absolutely nothing," said his dad, Bill Elliott. "It wasn't until late December, early January that we put this deal together with JRM and Rick (Hendrick), and for us – it was a miracle. And then to come into this season and have the incredible year this kid had ad has been totally beyond belief".

Brad Keselowski

Keselowski picked up his fifth win of the season in Saturday's race at the expense of Kyle Busch, who came within 100 yards of a victory only to see it slip away.

Busch had dominated the race all day, leading a race-high 187 of 206 laps. After passing Keselowski with 25 laps to go, Busch set sail and opened up a full straightaway lead and looked to have an easy run to the checkers.

Coming out of turn four looking for the white flag – which would have ended the race – Busch saw the caution flag wave for the stalled car of Alex Bowman, setting up a green-white-checkered overtime finish.

On the restart, Busch held the top spot for the opening lap before Keselowski dived to the inside going into turn one, clearing Busch's Toyota Camry as they entered the backstretch and holding him off as they came the finish line.

It was the 32nd-career Nationwide Series victory for Keselowski and his first at Phoenix in 16 series starts.

"He (Busch) had the race won today, but the yellow came out," said Keselowski. "I could understand if he was upset about that, but we didn't give up. Kyle was really fast and probably had a tenth or two on everybody and then that yellow came out and I don't know what happened. It's like we grabbed a gear or he slowed down, I don't know which one happened but either way we were able to get to victory lane."

After the race, Busch was dubious about the timing of the caution, considering Bowman's car was rolling and undamaged with no debris on the race track.

"Brad (Keselowski) got his car to bend in the middle of (turns) three and four and got under me and got by me," said Busch. "It's pretty pathetic NASCAR throws these Kyle Busch cautions — it's really getting old and aggravating for us in this Nationwide Series. It's their prerogative, it's their series and they get to do what they want to and I just have to settle for second and miss our opportunity on another owner's championship this year."

Keselowski and Busch are currently at the top of the Nationwide Series owners standings with Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing team trailing Keselowski's Team Penske team in by 29 points with one race remaining in the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide season.

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