Chase Elliott Eyes Indianapolis With Points Lead In Hand

Chase Elliott Eyes Indianapolis With Points Lead In Hand                                                

Records beware: Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Chase Elliott is coming. The second generation driver reclaimed the NASCAR Nationwide Series points lead following his third win of the season, and in doing so has positioned himself to become the first rookie in NASCAR national series history to win a series championship. He’s also zeroing in on the single-season wins record of five, held by Greg Biffle (2001), Kyle Busch (2004) and Carl Edwards (2005).

Elliott is the first rookie since 2005 (Edwards) to win three or more races in his rookie campaign. He also is the 10th driver in series history to win three races in his first 18.  Elliott’s three wins is tied with Kyle Busch for the most this season.

To accompany his wins Elliott has posted eight top fives and 13 top 10s, an average finish of 9.1 and a season-to-date Driver Rating of 109.3 – second only to Busch and tops among championship contenders. Elliot is currently seven points ahead of teammate Regan Smith and eight points up on third-place Elliott Sadler. He will be making his series debut at Indianapolis this weekend, the track at which his father and NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Bill Elliott won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in 2002.

“It’s one of the places I look back on, I do have memories of The Brickyard win he (Bill Elliott) had, I think it was 2002,” Chase Elliott said. “That’s a special race track for me. I always love going back there ever since then knowing he has been to Victory Lane. We are going to give it our best shot.”  

JR Motorsports now have won seven of the 18 races this season – Chase Elliott (Texas, Darlington and Chicago), Kevin Harvick (Richmond, Kentucky), Regan Smith (Daytona-1) and Kasey Kahne (Daytona-2).  The team has led the driver points after 17 of 18 races this season (Elliott Sadler was the lone outlier, leading the points after Kentucky).

Penske, Gibbs Take Aim In Owner Title Hunt

With a pillow of smoke on Lap 8 at Chicago last weekend, the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Toyota team felt the sting of losing 28 owner points to Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford crew in the NASCAR Nationwide Series owner standings. With the first DNF since last season (5/4/2013 - Talladega) the Joe Gibbs’ owned No. 54 has opened the door of for Roger Penske’s No. 22 – which now sits five points off the lead.

Former series champs Kyle Busch (in the No. 54) and Brad Keselowski (in the No. 22) will square off this weekend at IMS. Keselowski steered the No. 22 car to Victory Lane at the inaugural NASCAR Nationwide Series event at IMS in 2011. Busch followed suit and won in the No. 54 last season.  Both teams this season will be looking to make it a best of three.

Joe Gibbs is vying for his fifth owner title this season, but Roger Penske won his first NNS owner championship last season.   

Dash 4 Cash Round 3 Kicks Off In Indy

Round 3 of the NASCAR Nationwide Series Dash 4 Cash program kicks off this Saturday, following wins by Regan Smith and Brian Scott in the first two rounds. 

Scott won Round 2 of the Dash 4 Cash program, at Chicagoland Speedway last Saturday night. Now he and the top-three finishing NASCAR Nationwide Series championship contenders in last weekend’s race at Chicago – Chase Elliott, Trevor Bayne and Ty Dillon – qualify to compete in the third round of Nationwide’s Dash 4 Cash program at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday with an opportunity to win $100,000.

The highest finisher of the four eligible drivers at Indianapolis will win the money and automatically qualify for the Dash 4 Cash at Iowa the following weekend. The three highest finishing NNS regulars at Indianapolis not already qualified will also get to compete for the $100,000 bonus at Iowa – the final event. Also, four fans will be selected to win an all-expense paid trip to Iowa Speedway where they will be randomly paired with the four eligible drivers. The fan paired with the driver who wins the Dash 4 Cash at Iowa will also walk away with $100,000.

Elliot and Dillon will be making their series debuts at IMS. Bayne has one start at IMS with a finish of 16th. Scott finished second at Indianapolis last season.

“It’s a great program that Nationwide Insurance does,” Scott said. “It (winning Round 2) comes at a really good time. Our team has got a lot of momentum heading to Indianapolis where we finished second and almost won that race last season.”