Chase Elliott Becomes Second Youngest NASCAR Nationwide Series Winner Friday Night at Texas

One of NASCAR’s rising stars shown through on Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway by winning his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series race in only his sixth start. It was Chase Elliott, who drove the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts JR Motorsports Chevrolet to victory lane to become the second youngest driver to win in the series at 18 years, 4 months, and 7 days.

Elliott, who is still a senior in high school, outran some of the biggest names in NASCAR and made the winning pass on teammate Kevin Harvick with 16 laps to go.

“Unbelievable man, I just can’t believe it,” Elliott said in victory lane. “Just to have the opportunity to come and race with these guys at JR Motorsports with NAPA Auto Parts on board…Just a great night.”

There was a long line of people waiting to congratulate Elliott on the huge win when he was done doing his victory burnout. Kevin Harvick leaned in his window along with getting high fives from Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson who finished second and third respectively. Elliott got a big congrats from his father Bill Elliott and mother Cindy before taking a call from Rick Hendrick in victory lane before exiting his car. After his interview Jimmie Johnson congratulated him.

The O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 started with Kevin Harvick on the pole and strong cars of Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson at the rear of the 40 car field due to not passing inspection before qualifying. Early on Harvick set sail and by lap 10 of 200 was leading over Regan Smith, Elliott Sadler, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Matt Kenseth. Kyle Busch was up to 11th and Kyle Larson 12th as they stormed through the field.

By lap 20 Harvick had a 3.4 second lead over Smith and Busch was up to sixth. On lap 31 Busch moved into second past Dale Earnhardt Jr. The first caution would fly on lap 42 when Trevor Bayne had a right-rear tire come apart on his No. 6 Ford off Turn 2. When he got to Turn 3 he lost control and spun out. Bayne had damage from the tire to his left side rear fender and would finish the race in 23rd.

Kevin Harvick won the race off pit road with Busch second, Earnhardt third, Larson fourth, and Elliott fifth. That is how they restarted on lap 47. Harvick was strong and held the lead easily but the second caution would fly on lap 54 when Robert Richardson Jr blew his engine entering Turn 3 and then got into the wall. He would finish 34th.

The lead cars did not pit this time and the race restarted on lap 60 and again Harvick set sail. The third caution came out quickly on lap 63 when Tanner Berryhill had a right-rear tire come apart. He would finish 30th.

Again the leaders did not pit and the race restarted on lap 69. Harvick was strong on the start again and opened a lead. But this time Kyle Busch didn’t let him get too far away. On lap 87 Harvick barely led Busch at the line and on lap 88 Busch completed the pass for good. Kyle Larson then took the second position on lap 89 as Harvick began to fall back. It was found out on the next pit stop that Harvick had a wheel weight come off.

At lap 100 the running order was Busch, Larson, Earnhardt, Elliott, and Harvick in the top five. Green flag pit stops also started that lap with Chase Elliott pitting. Busch pitted on lap 101 and Larson on lap 102. The round of green flag stops would cycle around and Busch was back in the lead over Earnhardt, Elliott, Harvick, Kenseth, and Larson.

The fourth caution flew on lap 122 when Chad Boat got into the wall off Turn 4 and then spun in the tri-oval and hit the wall again. Boat would finish 31st. Off pit road Busch held the lead with Harvick second and then Dale Jr, Elliott, and Larson.

The race restarted on lap 126 and Harvick dropped quickly all the way to eighth as he was not happy with an adjustment made to his car. Kyle Busch was leading but Dale Jr and Elliott were right with him. On lap 133 Chase Elliott took second from Earnhardt and then took his first lead of the race on lap 135 by passing the Nationwide Series driver with the most wins all-time.

The boss of JR Motorsports would run down Elliott though and Earnhardt took the lead on lap 155 from the youngster. He was leading when the fifth caution flew on lap 169 when James Buescher spun Jamie Dick off Turn 2. Chris Buescher had nowhere to go and slammed into the sideways car of Dick on the backstretch and then Dick slammed into the inside retaining wall. Chris Buescher would finish 27th and Dick finished 28th.

Kevin Harvick’s crew churned out a 12.4 second pit stop coupled with the number one pit stall due to winning the pole to move him from fourth to the lead for the lap 178 restart. Elliott was on his outside with Earnhardt in third, Larson fourth, and Busch fifth. Harvick got a good start and so did Busch. Busch’s move into Turn 1 kicked Earnhardt back to fifth.

Harvick though could not get away from Chase Elliott and the 18-year-old made a great move with a run on the high side to take the lead off Turn 4 on lap 185. From there Elliott started stretching his lead quickly. On lap 194 he had opened the lead to 2.1 second over second place driver Kyle Busch. Elliott cruised to victory from there.

His first career Nationwide Series win came in a lot less controversial way than his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win did last summer at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park when he crashed Ty Dillon in the final turn to win. Joey Logano is the youngest winner in the Nationwide Series with Elliott now second.

Finishing second was Kyle Busch with Kyle Larson third, Kevin Harvick fourth, and Dale Earnhardt Jr fifth. Matt Kenseth was sixth, Regan Smith seventh, Ryan Blaney eighth, Ty Dillon ninth, and Elliott Sadler tenth. Brendan Gaughan was 11th, Brian Scott 12th, James Buescher 13th, and the final lead lap car was Dylan Kwasniewski in 14th.

With the win Chase Elliott has also taken the points lead after six races. He is two points ahead of teammate Regan Smith. Ty Dillon is 10 points back in third, Elliott Sadler is 16 back in fourth, and Trevor Bayne is 18 back in fifth. Brendan Gaughan is sixth, Brian Scott seventh, Dylan Kwasniewski eighth, James Buescher ninth, and Ryan Reed tenth.

The next race on the Nationwide Series schedule is the VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway on Friday, April 11th.

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