Chase Elliott scored his third career NASCAR Nationwide Series victory on Saturday at the Chicagoland Speedway in the fourth annual EnjoyIllinois.com 300. This win will give Elliott his 13th career top-10 finish in the season after leading the most laps of 85. He will also leave the 1.5-mile oval with the series points lead by seven over Regan Smith. Elliott begun the 200-lap event by starting in the third spot.
Finishing in second, which he done by pit strategy on the final cycle of green flag pit stops, was Trevor Bayne. Before having to pit, Bayne led a total of 14 laps that earned him just enough of a lead to come down pit road for the final time without losing many positions. He came back onto the track running in third and quickly passed Kyle Larson to finish 1.773 seconds behind the race winner. It was his third finish inside the top-10 this season.
Kyle Larson, who was another driver that had a dominate car, finished in the third spot for his first top-10 finish in only three starts at Chicago. Larson led a total of 23 laps of the race but wasn’t able to maintain the lead because he had a very loose car. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender earned his 10th top-five finish in 16 starts this season. Larson was 9.283 seconds behind Elliott when he took the checkered flag.
Sam Hornish Jr. was the only contender that had a problem all evening long as he lost an engine on his seventh lap of the race. Hornish had a good starting spot as he rolled off in the sixth-position. The No. 54 Toyota still leads the owner points standings but only by five points over the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.
The next race for the NASCAR Nationwide Series will be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the third annual event. You can catch the race at 4:30 p.m. Et, live on ESPN2. The IMS Radio Network will carry the live radio broadcast but the race will air on many of the same PRN radio stations. The four Dash 4 Cash drivers at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be: Chase Elliott, Trevor Bayne, Ty Dillon and Brian Scott. Scott claimed an extra $100,000 by being the highest finishing eligible driver at Chicago.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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