Chase Elliott celebrates his NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at the Daytona International Speedway. [Russ Lake Photo]
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – On a picture-perfect day at the Daytona International Speedway, Chase Elliott drove a picture-perfect race to win the Powershares QQQ 300, the season opener for NASCAR’s Xfinity Series.
With Elliott in command as the laps wound down, hard-charging Joey Logano attempted to overtake the leader on the final lap only to get blocked as the field charged toward the finish line. The two touched gently, slowing his momentum and the 2015 Daytona 500 winner came up short by a scant .043 seconds.
In winning, Elliott became the youngest Xfinity Series winner at Daytona. Overall, he has five series wins in 67 races. He drove the TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet fielded by JR Motorsports, and he led three times for 19 laps.
His Chevrolet ran out of gas upon stopping to pick up the checkered flag.
“It was a fantastic Saturday to start the Daytona 500,” the winner said. “He (Logano) was pushing me hard at the end. I thought he and I had gotten away from everyone else. I knew he was going to make a move; he faked me to the bottom and I went back up but not soon enough. I was coming up and we hit. I thought we were wrecked as I didn’t know if we were going to make it across the line. Once we got together, it stalled his momentum. I got lucky with the way it worked out.”
Elliott did apologize for possibly causing an early race wreck that damaged Bobby Labonte’s car.
Said team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., “Chase made a real gutsy move on that last lap. It could have turned out differently. I am really proud of him.”
Seeking to give owner Roger Penske a victory on his 79th birthday, Logano came up short in the Discount Tire Ford. He led 40 laps, the most by anyone.
“We have had three races that have been so close, and I have been so close to winning one of them, I tried hard to pass Chase but No. 1 (Elliott Sadler) hung me out,” Logano said. “Everyone behind me also wanted to win, which is the same attitude I have. I started pushing and I had a good run on that last lap but Chase blocked me. I thought we were going to hit the wall but we didn’t, and then we made contact, which killed my forward momentum. Unfortunately, we finished second again.”
Two more JR Motorsports drivers, Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler ended up third and fourth.
Austin Dillon took fifth.
Sixth through 10th were Darrell Wallace Jr., Brandon Jones, Daniel Suarez, Blake Koch and Brendan Gaughan.
Four caution flags flew for 17 laps with three of them coming in the opening 23 laps.
