Kenseth wins Nationwide season-finale at Homestead

Nov 16, 2014 - 1:43 AM Homestead, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Matt Kenseth won Saturday's season-ending race and the final one for Nationwide Insurance as title sponsor of NASCAR's second-tier series after passing Kyle Larson for the lead with two laps to go at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead featured a green-white-checkered finish due to a multi-car crash in the closing laps. Larson took the lead from Kenseth just before the 11th and final caution.

After the last restart, Kenseth quickly pulled ahead of Larson to reclaim the top spot. Kenseth then held off Kyle Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, at the finish by 0.714 seconds. It was his 29th career Nationwide victory but his first since October 2013 at Kansas, snapping his 22-race winless streak in this series.

Larson, who started on the pole and dominated most of this race by leading 111 laps, ended up finishing third. Ryan Blaney was fourth and Chris Buescher fifth.

Chase Elliott finished 17th and was officially crowned the 2014 Nationwide Series champion. The 18-year-old Elliott had already clinched the title with a fifth-place run in last weekend's race at Phoenix. He concluded the season with a 42-point margin over second place and JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith, who finished sixth at Homestead.

Elliott suffered a flat right-rear tire, which forced a caution with 13 laps to go. He pitted for new tires but remained on the lead lap.

Brad Keselowski's eighth-place run allowed Team Penske's No. 22 team to clinch the owners' championship in the series for the second year in a row.