CP MOTORSPORTS - CLEAN AIR, FAST CAR PROPELS DILLON TO XFINITY WIN
In NASCAR, clean air is key.
Austin Dillon used the clean air to dominate Saturday's Hisense 300 from Charlotte Motor Speedway. Dillon led 163 of the scheduled 200 laps on his way to his second victory of the Xfinity series season.
The victory is Dillon's first Xfinity win at Charlotte and his fourth in the series overall.
"The car was so good I didn't want to get out of it," Dillon told reporters in Victory Lane. "It was a heck of a race at the end with Denny (Hamlin) and Kasey (Kahne). I had to go when we got in lapped traffic. I knew the tires might go, and I might not make it happen."
Dillon started from the pole, led 183 laps and won earlier this season at Las Vegas. All four of his wins have come when starting on the pole.
The 25-year old North Carolinian knows winning in front of the home crowd is a big deal.
"It's huge," Dillon admitted. "I talked to Bob (Pockrass) earlier in the weekend about North Carolina drivers that are still in the sport. I know in the Cup series there are only two of us, me and Junior. I got my brother coming up in the Xfinity. It's huge for our North Carolina boys to take home our trophy in our state, so it's very special on Memorial Day weekend, also. Very pleased; a lot of friends and family here.
"It's a special moment for sure."
The race's final restart on lap 166 saw Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, challenge and take the lead from a dominant Dillon. Hamlin was able to lead 19 laps but ultimately took the checkered flag with a second place finish.
Hamlin, who won $1 million dollars last week at Charlotte in the Sprint All-Star Race, knew beating Dillon would have been a tall task.
"Those guys have got some fast cars," Hamlin said. "You do your best to try to hold them off, but similar to when I ran in this No. 54 car at Vegas, Austin (Dillon) was just two, three tenths faster than the field and those RCR cars are strong and you just as an organization you've got to get a little bit better. So you learn and see where you need to get better."
Kasey Kahne, driving the No. 5 Armour Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, ran up front for most of the race and finished in third place. Regan Smith and Darrell Wallace, Jr, rounded out the top five finishers. Austin Dillon's brother Ty Dillon finished in sixth place.
Regan Smith, Darrell Wallace, Jr, Daniel Suarez, and Ty Dillon all qualified for this season's edition of the "Dash4Cash" program, which is a program designed to be a unique competition between Xfinity series championship eligible and could allow for a driver to win $1 million dollars.
Ty Dillon won big in last season's edition of the "Dash4Cash".
"It's an awesome program Xfinity is putting back on," Ty Dillon said. "I think everybody in the offseason was real worried that the series might go away, but I think everybody's jacked up again. I was fortunate enough to win it last year when I won Indianapolis, and it's a huge added bonus for everybody."
Last week's winner at Iowa, Chris Buescher, finished in 11th and maintained his Xfinity series points lead by just four points over Ty Dillon. Last season's Xfinity Champion Chase Elliott is 28 points back in third as the series heads to Dover next weekend.
NASCAR XFINITY Series Race Number 11
Unofficial Race Results for the 34Th Annual Hisense 300 - Saturday, May 23, 2015
Charlotte Motor Speedway - Concord, NC - 1.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 300 Miles - Purse: $1,157,940
Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 1 33 Austin Dillon(i) Rheem Chevrolet 200 0 150.0 $70,854 Running 4 163
2 4 54 Denny Hamlin(i) Monster Energy Toyota 200 0 118.0 $45,242 Running 1 19
3 8 5 Kasey Kahne(i) Armour Vienna Sausage Chevrolet 200 0 113.5 $35,150 Running 1 1
4 15 7 Regan Smith Anderson's Pure Maple Syrup Chevrolet 200 40 92.5 $34,424 Running
5 2 6 Darrell Wallace Jr. # Cheez-It Ford 200 40 1 119.9 $35,548 Running 1 1
6 19 18 Daniel Suarez # ARRIS Toyota 200 39 1 96.4 $29,090 Running 1 1
7 9 3 Ty Dillon Bass Pro Shops/NWTF.org Chevrolet 200 37 93.7 $27,577 Running
8 16 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 200 36 99.6 $27,640 Running
9 11 1 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Ford 200 35 93.0 $25,831 Running
10 12 22 Ryan Blaney Discount Tire Ford 200 34 85.5 $25,997 Running
11 14 60 Chris Buescher Roush Performance Products Ford 200 33 82.3 $24,514 Running
12 10 16 Ryan Reed Lilly/American Diabetes Association Ford 200 32 80.0 $23,983 Running
13 24 51 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com/AllSouthElectric.com Chev 200 31 75.1 $23,375 Running
14 13 88 Kevin Harvick(i) Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet 200 0 100.2 $16,895 Running 1 11
15 7 20 Erik Jones(i) GameStop Toyota 200 0 92.3 $23,170 Running
16 18 43 Dakoda Armstrong WinField Ford 200 28 70.1 $22,287 Running
17 21 01 Landon Cassill Flex Seal Chevrolet 200 28 1 67.6 $22,060 Running 1 4
18 17 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 199 26 72.7 $21,832 Running
19 6 98 Aric Almirola(i) Carroll Shelby Engine Co. Ford 199 0 74.5 $15,806 Running
20 3 2 Brian Scott Shore Lodge Chevrolet 197 24 88.1 $22,255 Running
21 25 28 JJ Yeley Texas 28 Spirits Stage Toyota 196 23 58.5 $21,554 Running
22 32 44 David Starr Zachry Toyota 196 22 55.1 $21,497 Running
23 30 8 Blake Koch Toyota 196 21 53.8 $21,448 Running
24 22 39 Ryan Sieg Uncle Bob's Self Storage Chevrolet 195 20 59.2 $21,381 Running
25 28 84 Chad Boat(i) CorvetteParts.net Chevrolet 194 0 46.5 $15,496 Running
26 35 90 Jimmy Weller Geneva-Liberty Steel/myvideolibrary.com Chevrolet 193 18 43.5 $21,311 Running
27 34 26 Kyle Fowler(i) Power All Toyota 192 0 46.7 $15,275 Running
28 38 97 Peyton Sellers # VroomBrands Chevrolet 192 16 38.0 $21,240 Running
29 23 25 John Wes Townley(i) Zaxby's Chevrolet 191 0 56.3 $21,194 Running
30 36 24 Eric McClure Hefty Toyota 189 14 33.8 $21,449 Running
31 20 4 Ross Chastain # Flex Shot Chevrolet 187 13 58.3 $21,113 Engine
32 39 52 Joey Gase Agri Supply Chevrolet 186 12 29.7 $21,067 Running
33 5 42 Kyle Larson(i) ENEOS Chevrolet 183 0 94.4 $15,097 Running
34 26 14 Cale Conley # IAVA Toyota 146 10 41.5 $20,991 Running
35 27 0 Harrison Rhodes # Vecoplan Chevrolet 141 9 46.9 $20,957 Transmission
36 37 13 Carl Long Jaret's Angels/Industrial Technologies Dodge 129 8 32.1 $19,499 Engine
37 33 15 BJ McLeod(i) BYB Extreme Fighting/Lilly Trucking Chevrolet 58 0 28.3 $18,499 Fuel Pump
38 31 55 Jamie Dick Viva Auto Group Chevrolet 45 6 31.9 $17,499 Accident
39 29 40 Timmy Hill(i) Braille Battery/Grafoid Toyota 40 0 34.7 $10,499 Electrical
40 40 19 Jeff Green TriStar Motorsports Toyota 2 4 29.2 $9,499 Vibration
Race Comments: Austin Dillon won the Hisense 300, his fourth career NASCAR XFINITY Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reason indicated: No. 55, 84 (unapproved adjustments).
Failed to Qualify: (2) 70 Derrike Cope, 74 Mike Harmon.
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 08 Mins, 44 Secs. Average Speed: 139.824 MPH Margin of Victory: 2.692 Seconds
Caution Flags: 3 for 22 laps: Laps: 49-56 (Oil on track from #55 [01]); 111-117 (Debris turn 4 [43]); 160-166 (#26 accident turn 1 [01]).
Lead Changes: 9 among 7 drivers: A. Dillon(i) 1-98; D. Wallace Jr. # 99; K. Kahne(i) 100; D. Suarez # 101; L. Cassill 102-105; A. Dillon(i) 106-111; K. Harvick(i) 112-122; A. Dillon(i) 123-166; D. Hamlin(i) 167-185; A. Dillon(i) 186-200.
Top 10 Driver Points: (1) C. Buescher 401;(2) T. Dillon 397;(3) C. Elliott 373;(4) D. Wallace Jr. # 371;(5) R. Smith 360;(6) E. Sadler 352;(7) B. Scott 350;(8) R. Reed 320;(9) D. Suarez # 320;(10) B. Gaughan 309.
3M Lap Leader : Austin Dillon, #33 163 Laps Coors Light Pole Award : Austin Dillon, #33 184.615 mph
Duralast Brakes "Brake in the Race" : Austin Dillon, #33 Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race : Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engines, #33
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race : Darrell Wallace Jr, #6 Sunoco Rookie of the Race : Darrell Wallace Jr, #6
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: May. 30, 2015 - Dover International Speedway
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