Elliott Climbs to 2nd in Nationwide Series Standings
Chase Elliott and the NAPA AUTO PARTS team finished 12th in Friday night’s John R. Elliott Hero Campaign 300 at Kentucky Speedway, a result consistent with their weekend grind but not so much of their late-race promise.
Elliott battled to stay with the front pack for much of the race but found himself on the outskirts of the top 10 when the final three caution flags flew at laps 169, 175 and 191. It was on the fourth restart with 27 laps to go that the No. 9 machine came to life, as Elliott used four fresh tires to clip off four spots in a single lap.
With his eye on a top-five finish, Elliott passed Kyle Larson for 10th following a restart with 20 laps to go and shaved off a half-second deficit to Trevor Bayne. But getting by Bayne wasn’t as seamless. In a tight, side-by-side duel with Bayne’s No. 6 Ford, the two cars made contact and both shot high, Bayne’s car smacking the wall. Elliott remarkably saved his car from wrecking, but not before losing three spots inside 10 laps to go. One of those lost spots was to Elliott Sadler, who used that incident and Regan Smith’s earlier wreck to overtake the Nationwide Series points lead.
With his 12th-place finish, Elliott is now in second place in the Nationwide Series standings, just four points behind Sadler and four points ahead of third-place Smith. Chase Elliott’s teammate, Kevin Harvick, won the race, taking the lead away from Kyle Busch on a restart with five laps to go and securing his second victory of the season and JR Motorsports’ fifth. Brad Keselowski, who dominated the race by leading 138 of the first 148 laps before receiving a pit-road speeding penalty, fought back to finish second. Busch, Paul Menard, and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-five finishers.
Driver Quotes | Chase Elliott
“It definitely wasn’t from a lack of effort by this NAPA team because everyone worked really hard, but we struggled from the get-go. Practice wasn’t very good, but we tried to make the most of a rough weekend. We climbed up there in the top 10 late in the race, but unfortunately got caught up (with Bayne) in the end and wasn’t able to get a very good finish. We’ll move on next week and try again. I’m looking forward to getting back into the car at Daytona.”
2014 NATIONWIDE SERIES STANDINGS – DRIVER POINTS
1. Elliott Sadler…………………………………… 541
2. Chase Elliott……………………………………… -4
3. Regan Smith……………………………………… -8
4. Ty Dillon………………………………………….. -29
5. Brian Scott………………………………………. -47
6. Trevor Bayne…………………………………… -59
7. Brendan Gaughan……………………………. -93
8. James Buescher…………………………….. -123
9. Chris Buescher……………………………….. -127
10. Landon Cassill…………………………….. -142
NAPA AUTO PARTS:@theNAPAnetwork
CHASE ELLIOTT:@ChaseElliott
JR Motorsports:@JRMotorsports
