AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — NASCAR’s most popular driver is now a Cup champion, too.
Chase Elliott took the torch from teammate Jimmie Johnson by winning his first Cup title Sunday, driving from the back of the field to victory lane at Phoenix Raceway. The win for Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet was the first since Johnson, who retired after the race, won his seventh and final crown in 2016.
“I just, man, I’m at a loss for words,” Elliott said. “This is unbelievable. Oh, my gosh. We did it. I mean, we did it. That’s all I’ve got to tell you. Unreal.”
Elliott’s car failed pre-race inspection and the penalty cost him the pole when he was sent to the rear. But the quiet driver from Georgia raced his way through traffic in the first stage and then took control of the championship. Elliott led seven times for a race-high 153 laps.
Johnson finished fifth — his best result since August — in his final ride in Hendrick’s No. 48 Chevrolet.
“My heart is full,” said Johnson, who is tied with Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt with seven titles. His 83 victories rank sixth on the career wins list and his stretch of five consecutive titles from 2006-2010 is a NASCAR record.
Elliott, who turns 25 later this month, is the son of Hall of Famer Bill Elliott. His father — “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville” Georgia — won the 1988 championship and 16 times was voted by the fans NASCAR’s most popular driver.
Chase Elliott became the fan favorite in 2018 after Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired. He’s the first most popular driver to win the championship since his father won his only title.
The Elliotts joined Lee and Richard Petty and Ned and Dale Jarrett as just the third father-son combination to win a NASCAR Cup title. The Elliotts, along with Hall of Famer Tim Flock, are the only three drivers from Georgia to win the title.
Hendrick Motorsports extended its NASCAR record of championships with a 13th title.
Elliott passed Joey Logano with 42 laps remaining and pulled away in a race Elliott controlled even as the four title contenders ran 1-2-3-4 most of the afternoon. Elliott had charged through the field during the first stage to clump the four contenders in the winner-take-all season finale.
It was Elliott’s fifth win of the season, trailing only Kevin Harvick (nine) and Denny Hamlin (seven). Elliott’s win at Martinsville last week not only locked him into the final four, but eliminated regular-season champion Harvick.
“I felt like we took some really big strides this year, and last week was a huge one,” said Elliott, who also won the All-Star race at Bristol. “To come out of that with a win and a shot to come here and have a chance to race is unbelievable.”
Elliott beat Brad Keselowski, who was followed by Team Penske teammate Logano and then Hamlin, who is now 0 for 4 in titles races. Hamlin is considered along with Hall of Famer Mark Martin the best driver without a Cup title.
“We just quite didn’t have enough,” said Hamlin, the only driver of the four contenders not to lead a lap.
Logano led 125 laps, but most of them early.
“It stings not winning, I’m not going to lie. It hurts,” said Logano.
Keselowski had been holding out hope for a late caution to set up a short sprint to the finish, which is how both the Truck Series and Xfinity Series titles were decided the previous two nights.
“I would have loved to have raced it out,” Keselowski said. “We just didn’t get any yellows.”
The race had just four total cautions, three of them scheduled breaks. It made Elliott’s coronation look easy.
On the cool-down lap, Johnson pulled up alongside Elliott and fist-bumped the new face of Hendrick, of Chevrolet and of NASCAR. Johnson and his family then walked to Elliott’s No. 9, where he shared strong hugs with Elliott and his boss.
“Oh my gosh, I mean, to share a moment like that, Jimmie’s last race, to win and lock the championship,” said Elliott, “those are moments you can only dream, you know, and this is a dream.
“Just hoping I don’t ever wake up.”
The race completed NASCAR’s frenzied 38-race schedule that was overhauled because of the pandemic. The season was suspended five days after NASCAR raced at Phoenix in March, a race won by Logano, and the engines idled for 10 weeks.
But facing crippling financial losses to the teams and the industry, NASCAR was one of the first sports to resume competition. NASCAR went racing again May 17 and used doubleheaders, midweek races and a massive scheduling shuffle to complete the season for all three of its national series.
