Matt Kenseth won the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday.

Chase Elliott, who had clinched the driver’s championship last Saturday in Phoenix driving for JR Motorsports, finished 17th after scraping the outside wall late in the race.

Brad Keselowski finished eighth to give Roger Penske the owners’ championship.

Elliott also received Rookie of the Year honors, making the him the first driver to win both the rookie title and a series championship in the same year in any of NASCAR’s top three national series.

After losing the lead to Kyle Larson after a restart on Lap 199 of a scheduled 200, Kenseth got a second chance when NASCAR threw the 11th caution of the race for a multicar wreck behind the leader moments before Larson was to take the white flag signaling the final lap, which would have made him a winner under the caution.

Instead, Kenseth pulled ahead from the outside lane after a restart on Lap 205 and took the checkered flag on the sixth lap of overtime. Kyle Busch won a drag race to the finish line to take the runner-up spot from Larson, who held third.

Ryan Blaney and rookie Chris Buescher completed the top five.

Kenseth won for Joe Gibbs Racing in the final outing with the company for crew chief Kevin Kidd, who moves to Roush Fenway Racing next year as director of competition in the Sprint Cup Series.

“It’s been a long time since I won a race in anything, so just happy for Kevin,” Kenseth said. “Happy to send him off with a win here. That was pretty cool. Kyle got around me on that second-to-last restart, but when he chose the bottom there, and I had Kyle (Busch) behind me, I knew we had a shot.

“I just had to do a better job than I did the time before, so luckily, we got that one last chance to redeem ourselves.”

Larson, who led 111 laps, spun his tires slightly on the final restart, allowing Kenseth to take the advantage.

“I had good restarts up there until the last 50 laps or so,” Larson said. “Then I finally got a good one underneath Matt (on Lap 199) and was able to get to the lead… I was about 15 feet short of the win. Then we got the yellow, and I thought the 12 (Blaney) had been getting really good restarts, so I wanted to start in front of him (in the bottom lane).

“Spun my tires a little bit, and the 20 (Kenseth) was hanging there. I was side-drafting down the frontstretch, and he was able to swerve at me and get me shaken off him. That spun my tires into (Turn) 1, and got me sideways. I was three-wide there, and that was all the 20 needed to win.”

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NASCAR Nationwide Series Race – Ford EcoBoost 300

Homestead-Miami Speedway

Homestead, Florida

Saturday, November 15, 2014

1. (3) Matt Kenseth(i), Toyota, 206, $77375.

2. (6) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 206, $58825.

3. (2) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 206, $53725.

4. (5) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 206, $37700.

5. (10) Chris Buescher #, Ford, 206, $39025.

6. (15) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 206, $31475.

7. (21) Ty Dillon #, Chevrolet, 206, $27725.

8. (1) Brad Keselowski(i), Ford, 206, $25750.

9. (4) Elliott Sadler, Toyota, 206, $27160.

10. (7) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 206, $27550.

11. (13) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 206, $25425.

12. (31) Paul Menard(i), Chevrolet, 206, $18825.

13. (20) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 206, $24675.

14. (25) Ross Chastain(i), Toyota, 206, $24565.

15. (30) TJ Bell(i), Dodge, 206, $25055.

16. (17) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 206, $24295.

17. (14) Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, 206, $24110.

18. (24) James Buescher, Toyota, 206, $24175.

19. (9) Dylan Kwasniewski #, Chevrolet, 206, $23965.

20. (19) Dakoda Armstrong #, Ford, 206, $24405.

21. (28) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 206, $23595.

22. (22) Blake Koch, Toyota, 206, $23481.

23. (18) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 206, $23345.

24. (35) Jake Crum(i), Chevrolet, 206, $17235.

25. (12) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 206, $23575.

26. (27) Eric McClure, Toyota, 206, $22965.

27. (11) Ryan Reed #, Ford, 206, $22855.

28. (33) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 206, $16735.

29. (8) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 205, $22785.

30. (29) David Starr, Chevrolet, 205, $22775.

31. (40) Tanner Berryhill #, Toyota, 204, $22345.

32. (37) Carlos Contreras, Chevrolet, 203, $22235.

33. (26) John Wes Townley(i), Toyota, 201, $16195.

34. (39) Milka Duno, Toyota, 201, $22134.

35. (23) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, Engine, 190, $22084.

36. (32) Ryan Sieg #, Chevrolet, Suspension, 179, $20645.

37. (16) Corey LaJoie(i), Ford, Accident, 116, $20575.

38. (36) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, Transmission, 57, $20540.

39. (38) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, Engine, 54, $20250.

40. (34) Jeff Green, Toyota, Vibration, 3, $14215.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 115.442 mph.

Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 40 Mins, 36 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.713 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 11 for 48 laps.

Lead Changes: 16 among 10 drivers.

Lap Leaders: B. Keselowski(i) 1-5; K. Larson(i) 6-36; J. Clements 37; K. Busch(i) 38-39; K. Larson(i) 40-75; K. Busch(i) 76-78; K. Larson(i) 79-95; R. Blaney(i) 96-119; T. Bayne 120-122; K. Larson(i) 123-144; B. Koch 145; C. Elliott # 146; M. Kenseth(i) 147-172; P. Menard(i) 173-175; M. Kenseth(i) 176-198; K. Larson(i) 199-203; M. Kenseth(i) 204-206.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Larson(i) 5 times for 111 laps; M. Kenseth(i) 3 times for 52 laps; R. Blaney(i) 1 time for 24 laps; K. Busch(i) 2 times for 5 laps; B. Keselowski(i) 1 time for 5 laps; P. Menard(i) 1 time for 3 laps; T. Bayne 1 time for 3 laps; C. Elliott # 1 time for 1 lap; B. Koch 1 time for 1 lap; J. Clements 1 time for 1 lap.

Top 10 in Points: C. Elliott # – 1,213; R. Smith – 1,171; E. Sadler – 1,154; B. Scott – 1,154; T. Dillon # – 1,148; T. Bayne – 1,086; C. Buescher # – 1,014; B. Gaughan – 954; R. Reed # – 889; J. Buescher – 868.

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