Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins Nationwide crown
- He becomes sixth driver to successfully defend title
- Elliott Sadler comes in second -- again
- JR Motorsports driver Regan Smith wins first Nationwide race in five years
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Things got so intense Saturday night between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and spotter Mike Calinoff that Stenhouse took matters into his own hands. He depressed his radio microphone button to ensure he wouldn't have to hear him again.
Whatever Stenhouse did or didn't hear, it worked. He fended off challenges from Elliott Sadler and Austin Dillon to claim his second consecutive NASCAR Nationwide Series championship with a sixth-place finish in the Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Stenhouse found himself in difficult situations several times, including moments when he was racing directly against his two closest challengers in the championship – Richard Childress Racing teammates Sadler and Dillon. That's when Calinoff's voice came over the airwaves.
"Stop racing him," Calinoff said. "Stop racing him."
Stenhouse got annoyed.
"I got tired of listening to him, so I keyed the mic so he couldn't talk to me the rest of the night," Stenhouse said. "He wanted me to let them go, but I wanted 20 top-fives this season. We came up one short. We wanted to win the race. That's what we come to do every weekend."
Stenhouse's team owner, Jack Roush, admitted Calinoff was getting on his nerves, too. When the radio went silent, Roush was in on the joke and its message.
"All the alarms went off when the mic got stuck," Roush said. "I motioned to Mike that it was in the steering wheel, that Ricky was doing it himself. When it first started, we thought it was a crewman that had his mic depressed, but then we heard car noise, so we knew it was Ricky. My concern was that he would fool around and hit the wall while he was trying to hold the damned button down."
Afterward, Stenhouse, who is headed for the Roush Fenway No. 17 Ford in Sprint Cup next year, didn't appear overly thrilled with his championship.
"We lost the race," he said. "I like winning races. I didn't come to Homestead, my favorite racetrack, to finish sixth."
Sadler finished second in the final standings, 23 points behind Stenhouse, with his ninth-place finish, while Dillon finished third in points with his fifth-place effort.
The drama of the championship contenders overwhelmed a dramatic victory by Regan Smith, who gave Dale Earnhardt Jr. his first victory as a Nationwide owner since Jamie McMurray won for him at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2010.
"Outside of the champions, only three other people are going to leave here happy," Smith said. "Fortunately we're one of the teams who can."
Kyle Busch, still smarting from his grinding runner-up finish Friday night to Cale Gale in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, finished second again Saturday.
"I don't know that I've ever lost so many different ways in a season," Busch said, "but this is that year."
Brendan Gaughan finished third, with Sam Hornish Jr. fourth.
Dillon had the best finish among the three championship contenders, at times looking like he had the car to win. After a restart with 22 laps remaining in the 200-lap race, Dillon bolted into the lead, with Stenhouse on his tail.
"As soon as we took tires, it was over," Dillon said. "We went to the front so fast. It was a blast being out there racing like that."
The situation quickly became too dicey for Stenhouse and his Roush Fenway Racing crew. With 12 laps left, Calinoff continued to urge Stenhouse to get away from other cars, but drivers continued to challenge him. At one point, all three of the championship contenders were racing together for fifth position.
"That's just the racer in Ricky," said Mike Kelley, Stenhouse's crew chief. "He wants to win every race we are in, and you can't ask more than that. We were big-picture racing and just had to do what was right tonight."
Sadler also fought a car that wasn't right. When he lost positions after multiple changes during a pit stop late in the race, Sadler came on the radio. "What did y'all do to this thing?" he said. "We're junk. Absolute junk."
The second championship served as a final bow for Stenhouse and his Nationwide crew. The 25-year-old from Olive Branch, Miss., is headed to Matt Kenseth's ride next year.
"We'll celebrate this on Monday," Stenhouse said. "We've got a Cup race to run tomorrow."
Joe Gibbs Racing won the owners' championship with its No. 18 car, which was driven by Joey Logano, who finished 16th in spite of a late incident with Johanna Long.
Danica Patrick finished 10th in the final standings, the highest finish in the Nationwide championship by a female driver.
