A Championship Night for Elliott and NAPA AUTO PARTS

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In: Xfinity Series News

Chase Elliott raced his No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet to a 17th-place finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  The finish wasn’t all that important for Elliott and crew as they wrapped up the championship the week prior in Phoenix, allowing them to take risks they may not normally take at Homestead.  At night’s end, Elliott was officially crowned as the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion.

Early in the race, Elliott remained patient, working his way into the top 10 while managing a lack of grip.  Crew chief Greg Ives consistently made adjustments to improve Elliott’s Chevrolet which propelled him inside the top five at one point.

The South Florida track is notorious for seeing drastic drop off in lap times, making tire management extra important throughout the race.  This proved true as Ives called Elliott to pit road for four fresh tires under a lap-89 caution while many others elected to not pit or take fuel only.  In the short run, the decision allowed Elliott to rocket his way from 16th to fourth, but forced the team into a different strategy to conserve their tires for the end of the race.

Elliott found his way up to seventh in the final 10 laps before brushing the wall and cutting down his right-rear tire.  The trouble dropped Elliott to the tail end of the lead lap in 28th.  Through a pair of late-race restarts, he was able to recover 11 positions to finish the night 17th.

In Nationwide Insurance’s finale as title sponsor of NASCAR’s second series, Elliott also took away the Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors, making him the first rookie to win a NASCAR championship.  Elliott’s JR Motorsports teammate ended the night sixth to solidify the company’s one-two finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings, marking the first time teammates took the top-two spots since 2000.

In a green-white checkered finish, Matt Kenseth topped Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher.

Chase Elliott, driver No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS team

“It’s been a very fun road.  I feel very fortunate to have Greg (Ives), Dale, Kelley and Mr. Hendrick supporting me.  It is absolutely the best group of people you could have supporting you.  When you surround yourself with these types of people, you’ll find success.  They certainly make me look a heck of a lot better than I really am; I can tell you that.  I am just honored to work with these guys.  Like I have said before, if it wasn’t for NAPA AUTO PARTS coming onboard as strong as they did, we wouldn’t be sitting up here tonight talking about our accomplishments because it wouldn’t have been possible.”

JR Motorsports PR

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