Subpar result can't ruin Chase's championship night

A rash of cautions during the second half of the scheduled 200-lap race and a gamble to stay out under yellow on one occasion didn’t knock the JR Motorsports driver out of contention. But contact with the wall with less than 10 laps remaining proved to be a bit more difficult to overcome.

“Lack of a driver there at the end,” said Elliott, who had wrapped up the series championship a week earlier with a fifth-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway.

“We had a really fast car tonight and we tried to do something different. It only takes one thing — if that run goes green, then we are in a great position and everybody else is in a bad spot. When you’re one of the only people on pit road that can work one of two ways, and unfortunately it didn’t go our way. So we had to bite the bullet and stay out there toward the end on tires.

“Lost a lot of track position, finally got back on equal tires and … drove back up to fight with Kyle (Busch) for fifth.”

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular Matt Kenseth won the season-ending race, with Busch and Kyle Larson taking second and third. Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher completed the top five.

JRM teammate Regan Smith, Elliott’s chief competition for the title down the stretch, finished sixth in the race and second in points. With the last race run, he finished 42 points behind the Dawsonville, Georgia, native.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Elliott Sadler (-59) finished third in points while Richard Childress Racing drivers Brian Scott (-59) and fellow rookie Ty Dillon (-65) rounded out the top five in the final standings.

The son of 1988 NASCAR premier series champion Bill Elliott, the 18-year-old Elliott became the first driver in a national NASCAR series to win the championship as well as rookie of the year honors in the same season.

“We had a solid night,” crew chief Greg Ives said. “We didn’t finish where we wanted to. … When Chase gets back to 25th, 28th, whatever, that I put him there on those pit stops, it’s an opportunity for him to grow and learn, and part of it is just keeping it together through the whole race.

“That’s a mental challenge on his part, mental challenge on the whole team’s part, to make that happen. I couldn’t be more proud of what he was able to do, to drive it back to contending for a top-five. … He’s going to give it all he’s got.”

It was the first owners’ championship for JRM, owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelley Earnhardt Miller and Rick Hendrick.

JRM and Hendrick combined resources in 2008, with the goal of the collaborative effort being to groom talent and help employees progress up the ladder.

“Dale and I talked about it … how we could use the company to grow young people, and Dale has always liked to give young drivers a chance, and I’ve always admired him for that,” said Hendrick, owner of the Sprint Cup organization for which Earnhardt Jr. drives.

“I’ve known these two since they were kids, and we’ve raced together, we’ve been together, and to see them get the championship really is rewarding to me inside.

“To see Chase — I said I wasn’t going to do any more driver development, and then signed him when he was like 15, and boy, he’s been unbelievable.”

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