Keselowski wins as Dillon claims Nationwide title
Distributed by The Sports Xchange
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Making up seven positions in three laps, Brad Keselowski surged to the lead with two laps left and went on to win Saturday night's Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the season finale for the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
Behind him, Austin Dillon locked up the series championship with a 12th-place result, holding off eighth-place finisher Sam Hornish Jr. by three points.
Hornish's Penske Racing teammate, Joey Logano, ran sixth to give Penske Racing's No. 22 Ford the owners' championship by a single point over the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Kyle Busch.
Kyle Larson ran second to secure the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title. Keselowski's win gave Ford the NNS manufacturers' championship.
The victory was Keselowski's seventh of the season but his first in the No. 48. Keselowski won his first six races in the No. 22 Logano drove on Saturday. Keselowski, the 2010 NNS champion, notched his 27th victory in the series.
With the race under caution due to Parker Kligerman's spin on Lap 149, Hornish restarted 11th and Austin Dillon 16th on Lap 154, with brother Ty Dillon in the lead on old tires. Before the cars could complete a lap, a tap from Justin Allgaier's Chevrolet sent Brad Sweet's Camaro spinning into the wall.
Hornish had picked up four spots before the caution was called, while Dillon, trying to preserve any part of his eight-point advantage, had dropped back to 17th. But with a masterful restart on Lap 160, Dillon made up five spots and worked his way up to 10th before Justin Allgaier's spin coming off Turn 2 caused the ninth caution of the evening.
That set up a restart on Lap 183, with Larson in the lead and both the drivers' and owners' championships still in the balance. One caution later, the result of a four-car wreck off Turn 4, Dillon sewed up the drivers' title in a five-lap dash to the finish, and Logano propelled the No. 22 Ford to the owners' championship by a single point.
