NASCAR Championship 4 results: Chase Elliott wins Cup Series title, Jimmie Johnson fifth in final race

NASCAR's most popular driver is now a Cup Series champion

Chase Elliott won his first NASCAR Cup Series championship by winning the final race of the season at Phoenix. The 24-year-old becomes the third youngest driver to win the title behind Jeff Gordon and Bill Rexford.

Elliott took the lead from Joey Logano with 42 laps to go rather handily and drove on to take the checkered flag in his first Championship 4 appearance. The No. 9 started the race from the rear after failing pre-race inspection twice but had no problem finding the speed to lead a race-high 153 laps.

This was the second-straight race win for Elliott, who punched his ticket to the Championship 4 by winning the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville last week. Elliott finishes the season with a career-high five race wins. He now has 11 wins total in the Cup Series. 

NASCAR's Most Popular Driver is the second person in his family to win a Cup title. Chase's dad Bill Elliott won the championship in 1988. The Elliotts become NASCAR's third father-son duo to win a title, joining the Petty's (Lee and Richard) and Jarrett's (Ned and Dale).  

"I'm at a loss for words," Elliott said on NBC shortly after taking the checkered flag. "This is unbelievable. Oh my gosh. We did it. I mean, we did it. That's all I've got to tell you. Unreal."

Shortly after winning the title, Elliott was congratulated by seven-time champion and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson in a pass-the-torch moment. The two then embraced on pit road after Elliott climbed out of the car. Johnson finished fifth, highest of any non-playoff driver, in his final career NASCAR Cup Series start as a full-time driver. 

"Those are moments you can only dream of," Elliott said of the exchange with Johnson. "This is a dream. I'm just hoping I don't ever wake up."

"I'm so happy for that guy," said Johnson, who noted that Elliott winning the title was the top takeaway from his final race. "To watch him grow up and to be around him and to give him some advice from time to time has really been meaningful for me. Today I think more about a championship than anything is pretty awesome."

Elliott explained after the race that the last text message he read before getting into the car was from Johnson providing encouragement with regards to the No. 9 starting from the rear. Elliott, a lifelong Johnson fan, went on to say that his idol would go down in history as the greatest to ever race in NASCAR.

With the help of Johnson's seven titles and Elliott's first career title, Hendrick Motorsports has now won 50 percent of the past 26 Cup Series championships. Johnson, a surefire first ballot Hall of Famer, is certain to be elected in two years when he becomes eligible. 

As for the other drivers wrapping their careers, Clint Bowyer finished 14th in his final full-time race in the No. 14 car. Matt Kenseth, who came out of retirement to replace a suspended Kyle Larson this season, finished 25th in what may be his final race as well. 

In terms of the Championship 4 drivers, they finished the race 1-2-3-4 as Brad Keselowski finished runner-up ahead of Logano and Denny Hamlin. All four drivers ran up front throughout the race. Logano won Stage 1 and Keselowski won Stage 2. Hamlin was the only driver not to lead a lap in the final race and remains one of the winningest drivers in NASCAR history without a title. 

"No one has won more than we have over the last two years," Hamlin noted after the race. "We will come back and do it again next year. I'm looking forward to it. We will win as many races as we possibly can to get ourselves back to Phoenix again with another shot."

Hamlin won seven races this season which was the second most in the series. Kevin Harvick had the most wins, taking nine trips to Victory Lane. In the end, Harvick missed the Championship 4 and finished fifth in the standings. Hamlin finished fourth. 

By completing the championship race, NASCAR became one of the few sports to run a full season despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The sport endured a brief shutdown from March to May, but by utilizing midweek races and one-day shows, the sport was able to complete its schedule. 

"I thought it was really amazing what the sport was able to achieve," said Keselowski. "To be here today and have a great race for our championship, I think that's really impressive and NASCAR maybe doesn't get enough credit for being able to pull that off considering the landscape."

While the COVID-19 pandemic has led to its fair share of shutdowns, one thing can be for certain. The folks in Elliott's hometown of Dawsonville, Georgia are celebrating as the infamous 'sireen' blares through the town as it has after every Chase and Bill Elliott win. 

"I don't know if it's right or wrong but I feel like the town of Dawsonville should just exempt all work and school tomorrow," Elliott joked at the end of his post-race availability, thanking his hometown for all the support. 

"Heck I'm still not sure I completely realize what has exactly happened," Elliott said. "I don't feel like I'm a crier in these situations but dang you know I feel like there's gonna come a time where I'm probably going to break down and really lose it."

[Nov 8, 2020 at 6:04 pm ET · Matthew Mayer]

BREAKING: Chase Elliott has won his 1st career NASCAR Cup championship, unofficially, taking the checkered flag at Phoenix. Elliott is the 3rd youngest driver to win the title. Chase & Bill Elliott are now the 3rd father-son championship duo, joining the Pettys & Jarretts.