2014 VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200

The 2014 VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 was the seventh stock car race of the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series season, and the 32nd iteration of the event. The race was held on Friday, April 11, 2014, in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington Raceway, a 1.366 miles (2.198 km) permanent egg-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 147 laps to complete. On the final restart with two to go, Chase Elliott, rookie for JR Motorsports, would manage to charge from sixth to first, passing for the lead on the final turn to win his second career NASCAR Nationwide Series victory and his second win of the season.^[1] To fill out the podium, Elliott Sadler and Matt Kenseth, both driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

The race was held at Darlington Raceway, which is a race track built for NASCAR racing located in Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends.

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

Practice

First practice

The first practice session was held on Thursday, April 10, at 1:00 PM EST. The session lasted for one hour.^[2] Joey Logano, driving for Team Penske, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 29.033 and an average speed of 169.380 miles per hour (272.591 km/h).^[3]

Final practice

The final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Thursday, April 10, at 2:30 PM EST. The session lasted for one hour and 30 minutes.^[2] Chris Buescher, driving for Roush Fenway Racing, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 28.865 and an average speed of 170.365 miles per hour (274.176 km/h).^[4]

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Friday, April 11, at 4:10 PM EST.^[2] Since Darlington Raceway is at least 1.25 miles (2.01 km) in length, the qualifying system was a multi-car system that included three rounds. The first round was 25 minutes, where every driver would be able to set a lap within the 25 minutes. Then, the second round would consist of the fastest 24 cars in Round 1, and drivers would have 10 minutes to set a lap. Round 3 consisted of the fastest 12 drivers from Round 2, and the drivers would have 5 minutes to set a time. Whoever was fastest in Round 3 would win the pole.^[5]

Kyle Busch, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would win the pole after setting a time of 28.314 and an average speed of 173.681 mph (279.512 km/h) in the third round.^[6]

No drivers would fail to qualify.

Full qualifying results

*Time not available.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Chase Elliott 271 2 Regan Smith 258 (-13) 1 3 Elliott Sadler 251 (-20) 1 4 Ty Dillon 248 (–23) 5 Trevor Bayne 241 (–30) 1 6 Brian Scott 225 (–46) 1 7 Brendan Gaughan 215 (–56) 8 Dylan Kwasniewski 200 (–71) 9 James Buescher 195 (–76) 10 Ryan Reed 172 (–99) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References