{"id":5132,"date":"2016-08-19T23:11:29","date_gmt":"2016-08-20T04:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=5132"},"modified":"2016-08-20T13:39:12","modified_gmt":"2016-08-20T18:39:12","slug":"austin-dillon-gets-improbable-win-in-wild-nascar-xfinity-race-at-bristol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/19\/austin-dillon-gets-improbable-win-in-wild-nascar-xfinity-race-at-bristol\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Dillon gets improbable win in wild NASCAR XFINITY race at Bristol"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer
\nNASCAR Wire Service<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

BRISTOL, Tenn. \u2013 A remarkable chain of circumstances gave Austin Dillon<\/strong> the chance to win Friday night\u2019s Food City 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series<\/a> race at Bristol Motor Speedway.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Austin

Austin Dillon, driver of the #2 Rheem Chevrolet, places the winner’s decal on his car in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 19, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Jeff Curry\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Dillon took full advantage, completing two harrowing overtime laps to edge surprise runner-up Justin Allgaier in a race that went eight laps beyond the scheduled distance at the ultra-fast .533-mile concrete short track.<\/p>\n

Dillon didn\u2019t take the top spot until Lap 305 of 308, when Brad Keselowski\u2019s No. 22 Ford ran out of fuel while leading under the eighth and final caution of the evening.<\/p>\n

Driving a No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet that slipped noticeably in Turn 3 on the white-flag lap \u2013 just after crossing the overtime line at the entrance to the corner \u2013 Dillon nevertheless held off Allgaier, third-place finisher Kyle Larson and fourth-place Elliott Sadler, who swapped positions behind the winner on the two overtime laps.<\/p>\n

Dillon crossed the finish line .227 seconds ahead of Allgaier, who won a drag race against Larson off the final corner. And in Victory Lane, Dillon stayed busy counting his blessings, not the least of which was a shout-out to fianc\u00e9e Whitney Ward, who recently accepted Dillon\u2019s marriage proposal.<\/p>\n

\"Austin

Austin Dillon, driver of the #2 Rheem Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 19, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Jeff Curry\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

“It was just a war of attrition,” said Dillon, whose new crew chief, Justin Alexander, got his first victory. “We had a pretty good car \u2013 maybe not the fastest car \u2013 but the car that won. I made a mistake in (Turn) 3 coming to the white, but, luckily, everybody else got loose\u2026<\/p>\n

“It was just a war of attrition, and we did what we had to do to win.”<\/p>\n

Keselowski\u2019s empty fuel tank was simply the last domino in a sequence of events that put Dillon in position to win for the first time at Bristol \u2013 or on any short track for that matter \u2013 the second time this season and the eighth time in his career.<\/p>\n

On Lap 243, pole winner Erik Jones spun Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Daniel Suarez in Turn 3, triggering a six-car wreck that sent both Jones and Suarez to the garage.<\/p>\n

\"Austin

Austin Dillon, driver of the #2 Rheem Chevrolet, celebrates with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 19, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

“I just made a mistake,” Jones said ruefully. “I basically turned the 19 (Suarez). It\u2019s unfortunate. I feel bad for Daniel and I feel bad for this team and my guys. The (car) was really good, and it deserved a good finish and was probably good enough to win.<\/p>\n

“I just threw it away on that restart and tried to make too much happen too quick. Just trying to get back in line behind them before the others got there, and I wasn\u2019t clear. Just mad at myself.”<\/p>\n

The pivotal wreck that followed was even more dramatic. Keselowski and Kyle Busch were fighting for the lead on Lap 296 when Busch tried a pass in the lower lane and slid his No. 18 Toyota up the track in front of Keselowski\u2019s Mustang.<\/p>\n

Unwilling to surrender the position, Keselowski maintained his momentum off the corner, clipped the right rear of Busch\u2019s Camry and sent both cars into the outside wall. Keselowski was able to continue, but Busch blew a tire and shot up into the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4, collecting Ty Dillon, younger brother of the race winner, who was running behind \u2013 and who had led briefly after a restart on Lap 287.<\/p>\n

\"Austin

Austin Dillon, driver of the #2 Rheem Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 19, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

“Kyle is, of course, real good at this track, and he was quite a bit faster,” Keselowski said. “I was just trying to hold him off anyway I could. He got a good run on the bottom, and the bottom groove was just a little bit faster in (Turns) 1 and 2 than it was in 3 and 4. He knew that and made a really smart move and got up next to me, but I had a big run on exit and he wasn\u2019t quite clear.<\/p>\n

“I knew he needed to come up because 3 and 4, like I said, the bottom groove wasn\u2019t as good. He knew he needed to come up and there just wasn\u2019t enough room. I was already there and it clipped him in the right rear. I don\u2019t really know what happened from there, but it was tough. We were battling really hard and definitely didn\u2019t want to see it end that way.”<\/p>\n

When the race went past its posted distance and Keselowski had issues picking up fuel under the yellow, that left Dillon to hold off Larson, who had led 200 laps at that point.<\/p>\n

With advice from his grandfather and team owner, Richard Childress, Dillon picked the outside lane for the final restart and pulled out a victory that would have seemed an unlikely outcome just 50 laps earlier.<\/p>\n

Note: \u00a0Additional photos posted below race results.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Austin

Austin Dillon, driver of the #2 Rheem Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 19, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

NASCAR XFINITY Series Race – Food City 300
\nBristol Motor Speedway
\nBristol, Tennessee
\nFriday, August 19, 2016
\n1. (5) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 308.
\n2. (8) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 308.
\n3. (7) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 308.
\n4. (15) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 308.
\n5. (14) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 308.
\n6. (12) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 308.
\n7. (6) Darrell Wallace Jr, Ford, 308.
\n8. (17) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 308.
\n9. (4) Brandon Jones #, Chevrolet, 307.
\n10. (20) Corey LaJoie, Toyota, 307.
\n11. (9) Regan Smith(i), Chevrolet, 306.
\n12. (11) Brad Keselowski(i), Ford, 306.
\n13. (21) Gray Gaulding, Ford, 303.
\n14. (28) Ray Black Jr #, Chevrolet, 302.
\n15. (18) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 301.
\n16. (30) David Starr, Chevrolet, 301.
\n17. (25) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, 301.
\n18. (29) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 301.
\n19. (26) BJ McLeod #, Ford, 300.
\n20. (27) Travis Kvapil(i), Ford, 299.
\n21. (32) Brandon Gdovic, Chevrolet, 299.
\n22. (31) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 299.
\n23. (38) Garrett Smithley #, Chevrolet, 299.
\n24. (2) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, Accident, 296.
\n25. (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 296.
\n26. (39) Camden Murphy, Chevrolet, 295.
\n27. (19) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 293.
\n28. (13) Brennan Poole #, Chevrolet, 291.
\n29. (35) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 290.
\n30. (3) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 286.
\n31. (37) TJ Bell, Chevrolet, 286.
\n32. (16) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Accident, 278.
\n33. (1) Erik Jones #, Toyota, Accident, 244.
\n34. (36) Hermie Sadler III, Toyota, Fuel Pump, 228.
\n35. (22) Ryan Reed, Ford, 226.
\n36. (40) Mike Harmon, Dodge, Brakes, 168.
\n37. (23) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, Suspension, 165.
\n38. (34) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, Engine, 36.
\n39. (33) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Handling, 27.
\n40. (24) Matt DiBenedetto(i), Toyota, Brakes, 3.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:\u00a0 84.827 mph.
\nTime of Race:\u00a0 01 Hrs, 56 Mins, 07 Secs. Margin of Victory:\u00a0 0.277 Seconds.
\nCaution Flags:\u00a0 8 for 54 laps.
\nLead Changes:\u00a0 16 among 7 drivers.
\nLap Leaders:\u00a0\u00a0 E. Jones # 1; D. Wallace Jr 2-5; E. Jones # 6-31; K. Larson(i) 32-33; E. Jones # 34; K. Larson(i) 35-77; E. Jones # 78; K. Larson(i) 79-153; E. Jones # 154; K. Larson(i) 155-234; E. Jones # 235; B. Keselowski(i) 236-287; K. Busch(i) 288; B. Keselowski(i) 289; T. Dillon 290; B. Keselowski(i) 291-304; A. Dillon(i) 305-308.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):\u00a0 K. Larson(i) 4 times for 200 laps; B. Keselowski(i) 3 times for 67 laps; E. Jones # 6 times for 31 laps; D. Wallace Jr 1 time for 4 laps; A. Dillon(i) 1 time for 4 laps; K. Busch(i) 1 time for 1 lap; T. Dillon 1 time for 1 lap.
\nTop 10 in Points: E. Sadler – 737; D. Suarez – 686; J. Allgaier – 685; T. Dillon – 684; B. Gaughan – 667; E. Jones # – 657; B. Poole # – 631; B. Jones # – 627; D. Wallace Jr – 574; R. Reed – 532.<\/p>\n

\"Erik

Erik Jones, driver of the #20 Resers Main Street Bistro Toyota, leads the field past the green flag to start the NASCAR XFINITY Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 19, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Darrell

Darrell Wallace Jr, driver of the #6 LoudMouth Exhaust Ford, leads a pack of cars during the NASCAR XFINITY Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 19, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Elliott

Elliott Sadler, driver of the #1 OneMain Chevrolet, pits during the NASCAR XFINITY Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 19, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Rey Del Rio\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Daniel

Daniel Suarez, driver of the #19 ARRIS Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the NASCAR XFINITY Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 19, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Rey Del Rio\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Austin

Austin Dillon, driver of the #2 Rheem Chevrolet, races during the NASCAR XFINITY Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 19, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Jeff Curry\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Austin

Austin Dillon, driver of the #2 Rheem Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag during the NASCAR XFINITY Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 19, 2016 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. \u2013 A remarkable chain of circumstances gave Austin Dillon the chance to win Friday night\u2019s Food City 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Dillon took full advantage, completing two harrowing overtime laps to edge surprise runner-up Justin Allgaier in a race that went eight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[322,177,16,181],"class_list":["post-5132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-austin-dillon","tag-bristol-motor-speedway","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-xfinity-series"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/BMS_081916_15.jpg?fit=4452%2C2916&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-1kM","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5132"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5145,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5132\/revisions\/5145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}