Chase Elliott wins in maiden voyage at Darlington
Apr. 11, 2014
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
DARLINGTON, S.C.—There's a new sheriff in town, and he's barely legal.
With
a banzai run in a two-lap dash to the finish of Friday night's
Nationwide Series race at Darlington Raceway, 18-year-old Chase Elliott
muscled
his way past Elliott Sadler on the final lap to score his second
straight win in his seventh start in the series.
Elliott,
who restarted sixth on Lap 146, charged to the front and claimed
victory in the VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 in his first event at the
fabled 1.366-mile track. The victory was Elliott's second in as many
weeks and the second of his fledgling career.
Sadler,
who gambled on two tires for the final restart with two laps left, held
the second spot. Matt Kenseth ran third, followed by polesitter
Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick.
"I
knew the guys on two tires (Sadler and Larson) were going to be a
little slower than the guys on four," Elliott said of the final restart.
"Our
lane went and Elliott (Sadler) got a little loose off (Turn) 2 and let
me get to the outside, and that was where I wanted to be anyway."
Elliott
won last Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway, but the victory at
Darlington, where his father, Bill Elliott, won five NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series
races, had special significance.
"Darlington
has always been my favorite place to watch a race," said Elliott, the
youngest driver ever to win at Nationwide Series race at Darlington
at 18 years, four months, four days. "Just to be a part of this race is
unbelievable.
"To win this thing is a day I'll never forget."
Elliott
also is the youngest driver ever to win two NNS races, and he's the
youngest driver to lead the series points standings, a feat he achieved
for the first time last week at Texas. On Friday night, Elliott
extended his points lead to 13 over Regan Smith, who recovered from a
spin to finish eighth.
Elliot
asserted his superiority early in the race. After restarting fourth on
Lap 24, he made short work of the cars in front on him. On Lap 27,
he stormed past Harvick and Matt Kenseth into the second spot and seven
laps later sped by Busch, the polesitter, for the lead.
Harvick
followed into second place four laps later, and the top three—Elliott,
Harvick and Busch—remained constant until NASCAR called a caution
on Lap 59 for debris on the backstretch. During pit stops under the
yellow, Harvick and Elliott swapped the top two positions, and Harvick
led the field to green on Lap 65.
By
the time they got back to the stripe, Elliott had retaken the top spot,
but the green-flag run didn't last long. On Lap 68, a wild wreck
involving
the Chevrolet of Dylan Kwasniewski and the Ford of Chris Buescher
slowed the field for the third time.
Elliott
controlled the action through two subsequent yellows but lost four
positions during pit stops under caution on Lap 89 for Smith's spin in
Turn 1. Busch assumed the lead off pit road, with Kenseth, Harvick,
Larson and Elliott trailing for a restart on Lap 94.
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