Keselowski wins at Phoenix; Elliott secures Nationwide title

Racing hard paid off again for Brad Keselowski.

And it didn’t do badly for Chase Elliott, either.

Keselowski, who received a lot of criticism for how he raced Jeff Gordon last weekend at Texas, passed Kyle Busch on the final lap of a two-lap overtime to win Saturday’s DAV 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Busch, who led all but 19 of the 206 laps, appeared to have a victory in hand when a caution was thrown on Lap 199 when Alex Bowman suddenly fell of the pace and out of gas.

Busch could not get away from Keselowski on the restart and Keselowski was able to complete the pass on the last lap for his fourth Nationwide Series win of the season and 32nd of his career.

“I tried everything I could in Turn 1 and I couldn’t keep pace with him,” Keselowski said of Busch on the final restart. “I got beside him off (Turn) 4 and it was a drag race into Turn 1.

“From there, it was just about bringing it home.”

Busch was unhappy with the caution for Bowman’s car but said his car just was not very good on restarts.

“It’s really a shame that NASCAR throws these ‘Kyle Busch’ cautions – it’s really pathetic,” he said. “It’s really starting to get aggravating.

“Everything was fine, just my car wouldn’t quite turn as good on the restarts as it needed to. Brad got his car to bend in the middle of (Turns) 3 and 4 and got under me and got by me.”

Elliott ran in the Top 10 much of the race and looked like he would lose some ground in the series championship points battle but instead pulled out a fifth-place finish, allowing him to clinch the title.

He holds a 52-point lead over JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith with one race still remaining this season – a margin that cannot be overcome in one race.

Elliott, 18, is the youngest winner of a championship in NASCAR’s three national series – Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Trucks.

“This has really been a dream come true just for me to be able to compete this season. This race a year ago we really didn’t have plans to race Nationwide this season,” Elliott said.

“There was just a lot of new things this season that I hadn’t seen before. I feel like a lot of it has been about the guys that I work with at JR Motorsports. Those guys have brought me super-fast race cars every week.”

Elliott’s official coronation won’t take place until next weekend at Homestead but he there still remains work to be done.

“We still have one more week to get another win,” said Elliott, who has three wins this season. “This has certainly not set in for me by any means. I want to enjoy every bit of it and enjoy it all the way until the green flag at Daytona.”

This story was originally published November 8, 2014 at 7:50 PM with the headline "Keselowski wins at Phoenix; Elliott secures Nationwide title."