DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Austin Dillon led just nine laps Saturday night, including the one that mattered most.
Dillon, grandson of legendary team owner Richard Childress, outlasted Elliott Sadler and Chase Elliott during a green-white-checkered finish to claim the crash-filled Subway Firecracker 250, the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
“This is Daytona, man,” Dillon said during the post-race celebration. “There are so many family memories here. … I’m just happy for my grandfather. He told me once when we were here in Victory Lane with Dale Earnhardt that you’ll have this opportunity one day. It means so much to be here.”
A multi-car crash on Lap 96 of the 100-lap race took out Brian Scott, who led 84 laps and was in front when the crash started. Scott moved to the outside line to block Elliott Sadler, but was spun out, collecting several cars. Dillon slipped through the crash, then stayed ahead of Elliott after the final restart.
Sadler recovered from the crash and surged past Elliott as the field reached the checkered flag to finish second. Afterward, he blamed Scott for the crash.
“Either Brian’s spotter or Brian tried to make the move too late to block us,” Sadler said. “We were already up to his right rear door. It wrecked us, man. This is Daytona. It’s a shame. We had a car good enough to win.”
Scott admitted the move was aggressive and poorly timed, but said he thought Sader could have given him room.
“I told myself I was going to be aggressive, and I was going for the win,” Scott said. “I was trying to time that run. I knew the outside lane was coming. Obviously I mistimed it a little bit, but I still felt like I gave them room to split me and go high. Instead of going high on me, he turned me into the wall.”
Dillon scored his third XFINITY Series win of 2015 and fifth of his career, putting a smile on his grandfather’s face.
“It’s cool any time you win here at Daytona,” Childress said.
A 12-car pile-up with 10 laps to go collected the top two in the XFINITY points standings – Chris Buescher and Ty Dillon – and set the stage for a restart with five laps remaining. Scott restarted ahead of Sadler and Austin Dillon.
Sadler fell behind in the outside line but regained momentum and appeared to be ready to pass Scott, who was leading the inside line. Scott moved up to get in front of Sadler, but didn’t have enough room and was turned into the wall.
The crash left only nine cars on the lead lap. Dillon restarted ahead of Dakoda Armstrong and Chase Elliott for the green-white-checkered finish, and Elliott quickly moved into second on the low line. He finished third, followed by Kasey Kahne, Benny Gordon and Armstrong.
1 18 Daniel Suarez # ARRIS Toyota 49.929 180.256
2 2 Brian Scott Shore Lodge Chevrolet 50.048 179.827
3 20 David Ragan(i) Interstate Batteries Toyota 50.140 179.497
4 22 Joey Logano(i) Discount Tire Ford 50.164 179.412
5 54 Erik Jones(i) Monster Energy Toyota 50.193 179.308
6 3 Ty Dillon Yuengling America’s Oldest Brewery Chevrolet 50.242 179.133
7 33 Austin Dillon(i) Rheem Chevrolet 50.243 179.129
8 16 Ryan Reed Lilly/American Diabetes Association Ford 50.351 178.745
9 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 50.381 178.639
10 1 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Ford 50.398 178.579
11 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 50.446 178.409
12 15 Scott Lagasse Jr. Florida DOT Chevrolet 50.454 178.380
13 60 Chris Buescher Bit-O-Honey Ford 50.286 178.976
14 6 Darrell Wallace Jr. # Cheez-It Ford 50.302 178.919
15 7 Regan Smith Fire Alarm Services Chevrolet 50.306 178.905
16 42 Brennan Poole DC Solar Chevrolet 50.395 178.589
17 43 Dakoda Armstrong WinField Ford 50.412 178.529
18 26 Timmy Hill(i) JGL Racing Toyota 50.497 178.228
19 98 Aric Almirola(i) Fresh from Florida Ford 50.541 178.073
20 66 Benny Gordon SomersetRegionalWaterResources Chevrolet 50.599 177.869
21 88 Kasey Kahne(i) Ragu Chevrolet 50.692 177.543
22 8 Blake Koch Celsius Healthy Energy Cola Toyota 50.692 177.543
23 25 John Wes Townley(i) Zaxby’s Chevrolet 50.699 177.518
24 01 Landon Cassill Flex Seal Chevrolet 50.712 177.473
25 44 David Starr Zachry Toyota 50.767 177.281
26 85 Bobby Gerhart Lucas Oil Chevrolet 50.799 177.169
27 92 Dexter Bean CrashClaimsR.us Chevrolet 50.878 176.894
28 28 JJ Yeley Texas 28 Spirits Stage Toyota 50.888 176.859
29 89 Morgan Shepherd Courtney Construction Chevrolet 51.007 176.446
30 90 Martin Roy Gamache Truck Center Chevrolet 51.038 176.339
31 74 Mike Harmon FatBobsGarage.com Dodge 51.056 176.277
32 39 Ryan Sieg Uncle Bob’s Self Storage Chevrolet 51.135 176.005
33 70 Derrike Cope EvergreenFabrication&IndustrialServices Chev 51.148 175.960
34 4 Ross Chastain # Flex Shot Chevrolet Owner Points
35 0 Harrison Rhodes # Flex Seal Colors Chevrolet Owner Points
36 51 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com/BRTExtrusions Chev Owner Points
37 14 Cale Conley # IAVA Toyota Owner Points
38 52 Joey Gase FaithofourFathers/SupportMilitary.org Chev Owner Points
39 24 Eric McClure Hefty Easy Grip Cups Toyota Owner Points
40 97 Peyton Sellers # Vroom Brands Chevrolet Owner Points
during the NASCAR XFINITY Series Great Clips 250 Benefiting Paralyzed Veterans of America at Michigan International Speedway on June 13, 2015 in Brooklyn, Michigan.
June 13, 2015
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
BROOKLYN, Mich. – In his first NASCAR XFINITY Series race back from a broken right leg and left foot, Kyle Busch proved conclusively that he hasn’t lost a step.
Taking advantage of contact between the Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick and the Ford of polesitter Joey Logano—as those two drivers were battling for the lead—Busch passed Chase Elliott for the lead on lap 122 of 125 and held on to win Saturday’s Great Clips 250 at Michigan International Speedway.
Busch’s series-best 71st victory, his second at the two-mile track, came nearly two months after the driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was sidelined by a brutal Feb. 21 crash into a concrete wall in Turn 1 at Daytona International Speedway.
Busch returned to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series action in the Sprint All-Star Race in May, but deferred his XFINITY Series comeback to Saturday’s race at Michigan.
“It feels good,” Busch said after climbing from his car in Victory Lane. “This is only a preliminary for what we’ve got to do on Sundays (in the Sprint Cup Series), but it’s a start. You’ve got to start somewhere, right?
“I can’t say enough about this team. (Crew chief) Chris Gayle did an awesome job today with this race car. We messed up a little bit today on a pit call, but we made up for it. Hard racing today, man. It was crazy, the side-by-side action we got here. The track’s kind of widening out, lending itself to some cool action.”
After a restart on Lap 116, the race unraveled for Logano and Harvick. As the two drivers fought for the lead in Turn 3, with Logano to the outside, Harvick’s Chevrolet got loose and washed up the track into Logano’s Ford.
The right rear of Logano’s Ford brushed the outside wall, but both drivers were able to continue, albeit after losing several positions. Harvick finished sixth, and Logano, who led a race-high 54 laps came home seventh.
Harvick took responsibility for the incident.
“I just got loose underneath him,” Harvick explained. “I had a huge run down the back straightaway. That late in the race, I figured I need to try to win the race, and I got in there, and he was on the outside of me, but it was too late to not have contact at that point.
“So totally my fault. I just got loose under him going for the win.”
Harvick’s mea culpa was little consolation for Logano, who had the race’s dominant car for most of the day.
“We were racing for a win here, and it just seems like he drove in there pretty hard trying to slide me,” Logano said. “I drove up in there, too, and he got loose underneath me and got into my left rear and up we both went into the race track.
“It’s unfortunate. I had a fast Discount Tire Ford, obviously the winning car, leading a ton of laps and up there at the end of the race. I was racing hard, and he just drove over his head a little bit.”
Despite his runner-up finish, Elliott left Michigan disappointed he couldn’t find a way to keep Busch behind him in the closing laps.
“I’ll be honest—second does not feel good, to me at least,” Elliott said. “I thought we had a car good enough to compete today… We finally got ourselves in position there. We had two even-numbered restarts where we were six and fourth (in the preferred outside lane) that put us in position there to have an opportunity on that last restart.
“Obviously, the 22 (Logano) would have been really hard to beat, and Kevin got into him by accident and moved him up the race track. Obviously, that opened up our opportunity to have a shot at the win… (Kyle) is really good at what he does, and I don’t really have an excuse for it. So, yeah, he outran me.”
Kyle Larson finished third, followed by Chris Buescher, who extended his series lead to 25 points over Ty Dillon, who came home 13th. Elliott is third in the standings, 35 points back.
NASCAR XFINITY Series Race – Great Clips 250 benefiting Paralyzed Veterans of America
Michigan International Speedway
Brooklyn, Michigan
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Average Speed of Race Winner: 132.567 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 53 Mins, 09 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.477 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 26 laps.
Lead Changes: 13 among 7 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Logano(i) 1-9; B. Scott 10-15; K. Busch(i) 16-29; B. Scott 30-33; K. Busch(i) 34-42; J. Logano(i) 43-73; P. Menard(i) 74-78; C. Buescher 79-88; A. Almirola(i) 89; J. Logano(i) 90-92; C. Buescher 93-105; J. Logano(i) 106-116; C. Elliott 117-121; K. Busch(i) 122-125.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): J. Logano(i) 4 times for 54 laps; K. Busch(i) 3 times for 27 laps; C. Buescher 2 times for 23 laps; B. Scott 2 times for 10 laps; P. Menard(i) 1 time for 5 laps; C. Elliott 1 time for 5 laps; A. Almirola(i) 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: C. Buescher – 489; T. Dillon – 464; C. Elliott – 454; R. Smith – 434; D. Wallace Jr. # – 428; E. Sadler – 414; B. Scott – 394; R. Reed – 378; B. Gaughan – 378; D. Suarez # – 369.
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The Final Lap Weekly 