FULL SERIES COVERAGE
"It’s like a combination of the old school draft and the cars hooking up and bumping, so it’s kind of a combo of what’s going on out there, but it’s so fun and so intense," Logano said. "I’m still trying to catch my breath, but it’s so intense out there and you’re looking at everything in the mirror the whole time, so it was cool to get this thing in Victory Lane. Our pit coach, Brian Haaland, his dad passed away this week so we know he was riding along with us."
Brian Scott drove his smoking Richard Childress Racing No. 2 Chevrolet entry across the finish line second, just .130 seconds behind Logano at the checkered flag. Austin Dillon, winner of the Coors Light Pole Award earlier in the day, came home third in another Childress Chevy. J.J. Yeley finished fourth with Joey Gase a career-high fifth.
Ty Dillon finished a remarkable eighth to emerge with the lead in the shaken-up XFINITY Series standings after a topsy-turvy day. He started second alongside his older brother RCR teammate Austin Dillon and led 26 laps early until he was penalized for speeding during the first round of green-flag pit stops.
The younger Dillon’s day got worse in the 74th of a scheduled 113 laps when a 10-car crash erupted as the field slowed to make the second round of green-flag stops. By the time the smoke cleared, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Reed, Kenny Wallace, Aric Almirola, John Wes Townley, Chad Boat, Brendan Gaughan, Ryan Seig and Gase were also involved. The third caution period of the day eventually brought out a red flag for massive clean-up.
The crash sent cars sliding down the early segments of pit road. One of those was Gaughan’s No. 62 Chevrolet, which hit the pit wall nearly head-on as he slowed to a stop. The impact caught two crew members for the Biagi-DenBeste Racing No. 98 team. Both were sent to the track’s infield care center; one was eventually transported to a local hospital.
Dillon was in the center of another multi-car melee that brought out the eighth yellow flag on Lap 97, when contact between his car and the No. 84 of Boat sparked another stack-up off Turn 4. The cars of Kasey Kahne, Dakoda Armstrong, Darrell Wallace Jr., Mark Thompson, Benny Gordon and Blake Koch were also collected.
Defending series champion Chase Elliott hit trouble early, causing the second caution after a flat right-front tire sent him into the Turn 2 wall on the 38th lap. Elliott had just completed a green-flag pit stop, skidding onto the entrance of pit road when he locked up his brakes of his JR Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet in an attempt to slow for the 55-mph pit road speed limit.
Elliott radioed his JRM crew to say, "absolutely killed," to describe the car’s right-side damage. After emerging from the car in the XFINITY Series garage, the 19-year-old driver said the skid contributed to the tire giving way. He eventually returned to the race, but finished 37th, 29 laps down.
"Just flat-spotted the right-front coming in, and a few laps later, there she went," said Elliott, who ranked second in the XFINITY standings before the race. "I hate it. We’ll try to get it fixed. I’d say it’s pretty well done, but maybe not. We’ll try to get some points if we can. If not, we’ve got a long ways to go."
The race was in its second lap when a near-disastrous collision at the front of the field triggered the first caution. Race leader Elliott Sadler chopped down on Roush Fenway Racing teammate Darrell Wallace Jr. on the backstretch, sending both cars sliding toward the apron.
Both drivers managed to avoid a complete spin, but the cars of Brendan Gaughan and Mike Bliss tangled behind the front two, trying to avoid a major pileup.
After the major developments, Dillon stayed atop the standings, nine points ahead of Chris Buescher, who led the next-to-last lap before fading to a sixth-place finish. Elliott slipped to third in the XFINITY standings, tied with Darrell Wallace Jr., 37 points off the top.
