Much of the attention in the stock car racing world has surrounded the new-format Chase, with drama, both on and off track. Meanwhile, over in the Nationwide Series, Chase Elliott has left little doubt through much of the second half of the season as to who was going to win that series’ title.
But it’s important to note the history that Elliott is going to make.
First, Elliott is 48 points ahead of JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith heading to the penultimate race at Phoenix. Only 48 points can be made up in a single race, and given that Elliott would hold the tiebreaker, if he just maintains that lead at Phoenix, he wouldn’t even have to climb in the car at Homestead to lock up a championship.
Elliott has finished ahead of Regan Smith in 21 of 31 races this season, and in each of the last five and eight of the last nine races. So, locking up the title this weekend seems to be likely.
Here’s just a sampling of the history that Elliott would make if/when he clinches the title.
At 18 years old (he’ll turn 19 shortly after the season ends), he’ll become the first teenage champion in NASCAR National Series history (combining the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck series). The previous youngest champion was Brian Vickers, who won the 2003 Nationwide (then Busch) Series title at 20 years, 22 days old.
He’d also become the first rookie to win a NASCAR National Series championship.
No comments:
Post a Comment