Regan Smith wins at Homestead, Stenhouse wins second title

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has won his second consecutive NASCAR Nationwide Series title. Stenhouse Jr. entered the day with a 20 point lead over Elliott Sadler in the point standings. The two had been back and forth all season at the top of the standings but Sadler’s wreck at Phoenix left him in a sizable hole entering the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The hole proved to be too much to overcome.

RELATED: Second title convincing of Stenhouse ability

Kyle Busch sat on the pole for the race while fifteen first time drivers took to Miami-Homestead Speedway. Busch led much of the early portion of the race but as the sun went down his car began to fade. Sam Hornish and Austin Dillon both took turns leading the field around the 1.5 mile track.

Regan Smith who was making his first start at JR Motorsports ran towards the front of the field all night. He found himself leading prior to a late race caution for a wreck involving the No. 70 car of Johanna Long. Long’s car crashed into the inside wall on the backstretch after the No. 18 of Joey Logano made contact with the left rear quarter panel.

The race restarted with 15 laps to go. As Smith pulled away Dillon, Sadler and Stenhouse all raced each other side by side. Brian Scott raced along side the three. While there was some close racing, no contact was made.

Smith cruised across the line ahead of Busch. Busch had been hoping to win a race in the series for the ninth straight year.

As he did burnouts on the front stretch, Smith was joined by Stenhouse and Logano. Logano was part of the No. 18 team which won the Owners championship. Stenhouse’s back-to-back titles are the sixth occurrence in the series’ history.

Dillion impressively finished on the lead lap in 32 of 33 races this season marking just the third time such a feat had been accomplished.

Results for Ford EcoBoost 300

Pos Driver Lap Behind Led
1 Regan Smith 200 0 24
2 Kyle Busch 200 1.375 89
3 Brendan Gaughan 200 2.663 0
4 Sam Hornish Jr. 200 4.245 6
5 Austin Dillon 200 6.06 66
6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 200 6.473 2
7 Brian Scott 200 6.845 0
8 Ryan Blaney 200 7.327 0
9 Elliott Sadler 200 7.655 3
10 Cole Whitt 200 8.263 0
11 Justin Allgaier 200 9.303 0
12 Michael Annett 200 9.859 0
13 Danica Patrick 200 9.898 4
14 Joey Coulter 200 10.558 0
15 Kenny Wallace 200 13.038 2
16 Joey Logano 200 13.994 1
17 Brad Sweet 200 14.344 0
18 Joe Nemechek 200 20.499 0
19 Mike Bliss 200 20.534 0
20 Scott Lagasse 199 1 Lap 0
21 Kevin Swindell 199 1 Lap 3
22 Jeremy Clements 199 1 Lap 0
23 Jeffrey Earnhardt 198 2 Laps 0
24 David Starr 198 2 Laps 0
25 Dakoda Armstrong 197 3 Laps 0
26 Mike Wallace 197 3 Laps 0
27 Eric McClure 196 4 Laps 0
28 Andrew Ranger 195 5 Laps 0
29 Jason Bowles 195 5 Laps 0
30 Hal Martin 195 5 Laps 0
31 Danny Efland 193 7 Laps 0
32 Joey Gase 190 10 Laps 0
33 Robert Richardson Jr. 188 12 Laps 0
34 Johanna Long 177 23 Laps 0
35 Erik Darnell 147 53 Laps 0
36 John Blankenship 92 108 Laps 0
37 Juan Carlos Blum 92 108 Laps 0
38 Ryan Truex 66 134 Laps 0
39 Blake Koch 40 160 Laps 0
40 Jeff Green 17 183 Laps 0
41 Chase Miller 6 194 Laps 0
42 Josh Wise 6 194 Laps 0
43 Dexter Stacey 0 200 Laps 0
John Boarman
John Boarmanhttp://www.tireball.com
Founder and Owner of Tireball Sports.

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