Chase Elliott won the VFW Sports Clip Help a Hero 200 in his first start at Darlington, conquering the legendary track in a dramatic finish. This is his second consecutive victory following his win at Texas last week and his sixth top-10 finish in 2014.
He’s not only winning races but breaking records as well. He’s the youngest driver to win two NASCAR Nationwide Series races at 18 years, 4 months and 14 days. Joey Logano previously held the record at 18 years, 10 months and 18 days. He’s also the youngest driver to win a Nationwide Series race at Darlington and the youngest points leader in the Nationwide Series history. Elliott is only the fourth driver to win his first NASCAR National Series race in his first start at Darlington. Johnny Mantz did so in 1950, Herb Thomas in 1951 and Dick Rathmann in 1952.
Elliott’s car was fast all night but he had challenges from Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Matt Kenseth and particularly, Kyle Busch who led the most laps with 84. The last caution of the night came out on lap 142 and lasted through lap 145. The race restarted with two to go. Due to a quick pit stop, Elliott Sadler restarted in first place but Chase Elliott was not to be denied. He quickly raced through the field from sixth place to fight for the win.
Elliott was able to clear Sadler in turn three of the last lap to claim the win. It was intense competition but both drivers raced cleanly and Chase Elliott drove his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet to his second win in seven starts in the series.
“This is unbelievable,” Elliott said in victory lane. “I couldn’t believe last week, much less here at Darlington. This truly is a dream come true. This is a place I always loved watching races. It was probably my favorite place to watch a race as a fan for a long, long time. Just to come and be a part of this race is unbelievable, but to come and win this thing that’s a deal I’ll never forget.”
JR Motorsports team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke about how impressed he is with his young driver and even gave him a special nickname.
“The thing I like about Chase is obviously he’s successful and winning but his personality, man, I like to call him the new Elvis. He’s the full package, man, he just has it all. The sky’s the limit with that kid.”
Elliott Sadler finished second and praised his crew chief Chris Gayle for making the call to only take two tires on the last pit stop.
“It was a great call by Chris to put me in that position,” he said.
Sadler also expressed disappointment. “I have a lot of second-place finishes here. He continued, “Second is a good finish of course, but it’s not what we wanted. I really want to win at this place. Just felt like I let one get away from us tonight.”
Matt Kenseth finished in third place saying “it was an up and down night. I thought we had a top-five car most of the night and got a decent finish out of that last run.”
Kyle Busch came home in fourth place followed by Joey Logano in fifth. Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, Regan Smith, Trevor Bayne and Ty Dillon round out the top-10 finishers.
Chase Elliott leaves Darlington Raceway ranked first in the points standings, 13 points ahead of Regan Smith in second. Sadler, Dillon and Trevor Bayne are third, fourth and fifth in the standings.
