Austin Dillon Holds Off Ryan Blaney for Las Vegas Xfinity Win

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LAS VEGAS, NV - RIS - Austin Dillon survived a strong challenge from Ryan Blaney to win the Boyd Gaming 300 Xfinity race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  Blaney had four fresh tires on his car when battled Dillon in the last seven laps.  Blaney went high in an attempt to pass Dillon, but Dillon blocked him and went on to get the chers for his first Xfinity win since 2012.

Dillon led 183 of the 200 laps, but Blaney made it hard for him to close out the rout.

"When you have something as good as this, you just don't want to mess it up," Dillon said. "It was a heck of a last two laps. I was just trying not to overdrive and trying not to make mistakes."

It was the third win of Dillon's career, but first since he ran full-time in NASCAR's second tier series. Now in the Sprint Cup Series, Dillon runs only select races for Richard Childress Racing in the Xfinity Series.

He said he enjoyed racing Blaney over the closing laps for the win.

"I'm glad it ended like that, those final laps, those are the ones you remember," Dillon said.

Blaney, in a Ford for Team Penske, didn't think he had a shot at the win until a late call to bring him down pit road for new tires. On the fresh rubber, he was able to catch Dillon and nearly stole the win with a dramatic final attempt to pass.

Dillon was shocked at how quickly Blaney caught him.

"The 22 put a heck of a charge on, I didn't know he had tires," Dillon said. "It was like `Man, where did he come from?' It was like he had a jet pack."

Blaney was downtrodden after the race -- not over the defeat, but instead upset with himself for his involvement in an earlier accident with Erik Jones. Contact from Blaney sent Jones spinning hard into a section of wall that did not have an energy-absorbing SAFER barrier.

It was the third accident in three weeks in which a driver has hit an unprotected concrete wall. NASCAR and most of its tracks are reviewing their safety policies after Kyle Busch broke his right leg and left foot when he crashed into an unprotected wall in the season-opening Xfinity race at Daytona.

"It is a racing incident, but you never want to see a wrecked race car and you be a part of it," Blaney said. "I don't like getting into things with people and I hate to see a race car torn up. I hate to see it. I hope he knows I feel bad about it."

After the incident with Jones, Blaney said there was no way he would have tried to aggressively move Dillon out of his way to win the race.

"I didn't want any more people saying bad things about me after I wrecked Erik," Blaney said. "No, I was not going to move him to win the race.".

"He just lost it, obviously," Jones said. "Not a lot of car control on his end today. Really unfortunate to be taken out that late. Had a strong car."

Regan Smith finished third and was followed by Denny Hamlin, who was subbing for teammate Busch, and defending series champion Chase Elliott.  The top five featured three Chevrolets and Toyota and Ford.

Brendan Gaughan, a Las Vegas native, finished sixth at his home track. Darrell Wallace, Jr., Ty Dillon, Brennan Poole and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top 10.

Unofficial Finish:

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 $100,011 Running 5 183
2 4 22 Ryan Blaney Discount Tire Ford 200 43 1 124.4 $71,438 Running 2 2
3 7 7 Regan Smith Great Clips Chevrolet 200 41 109.2 $55,573 Running
4 11 54 Denny Hamlin(i) Monster Energy Toyota 200 0 115.4 $40,351 Running 1 1
5 8 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 200 40 1 102.6 $39,567 Running 1 1
6 5 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 200 39 1 108.4 $35,787 Running 2 3
7 12 6 Darrell Wallace Jr. # Ford EcoBoost Ford 200 37 96.8 $38,028 Running
8 20 3 Ty Dillon Red Kap/Prudential Overall Supply Chevrolet 200 36 95.9 $33,445 Running
9 16 42 Brennan Poole DC Solar Chevrolet 200 35 79.9 $32,346 Running
10 15 18 Daniel Suarez # ARRIS Toyota 200 35 1 83.2 $32,681 Running 1 3
11 9 98 Aric Almirola(i) Carroll Shelby Engine Co. Ford 200 0 86.0 $25,227 Running
12 6 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.(i) TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet 199 0 96.9 $24,671 Running
13 13 1 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Ford 199 31 86.4 $30,117 Running
14 10 60 Chris Buescher Roush Performance Products Ford 199 30 86.4 $23,603 Running
15 18 16 Ryan Reed Lilly/American Diabetes Association Ford 199 29 78.1 $29,941 Running
16 27 28 JJ Yeley Texas 28 Spirits Stage Toyota 199 28 69.9 $29,129 Running
17 31 44 David Starr Zachry Toyota 198 27 65.0 $28,942 Running
18 38 4 Ross Chastain # Flex Shot Chevrolet 198 26 59.8 $28,806 Running
19 21 25 John Wes Townley(i) Zaxby's Chevrolet 198 0 68.6 $22,695 Running
20 22 01 Landon Cassill G&K Services Chevrolet 198 24 62.5 $29,084 Running
21 14 39 Ryan Sieg Huntinator Chevrolet 197 23 75.8 $28,473 Running
22 25 51 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet 197 22 60.2 $28,332 Running
23 24 24 Eric McClure Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota 196 21 49.4 $28,196 Running
24 26 55 Jamie Dick Viva Auto Group Chevrolet 195 20 49.0 $28,085 Running
25 28 14 Cale Conley # IAVA Toyota 195 19 49.1 $28,084 Running
26 29 0 Harrison Rhodes # Flex Seal Colors Chevrolet 193 18 46.1 $27,788 Running
27 35 52 Joey Gase Donate Life Nevada Chevrolet 192 17 41.2 $27,651 Running
28 33 13 Derek White Braille Battery Grafoid Toyota 175 16 34.7 $27,505 Running
29 3 20 Erik Jones(i) Interstate Batteries Toyota 172 0 99.9 $27,354 Accident 2 7
30 23 43 Dakoda Armstrong WinField Ford 164 14 61.6 $27,517 Accident
31 37 74 Mike Harmon Jr Peters Roadside Auto Dodge 164 13 37.0 $21,087 Running
32 32 90 Mario Gosselin The D Las Vegas Chevrolet 154 12 48.9 $26,976 Accident
33 36 70 Derrike Cope SWAE Watches/Trayvax.com Chevrolet 113 11 28.4 $26,860 Running
34 40 15 Cody Ware Lilly Trucking Chevrolet 80 0 33.6 $26,748 Suspension
35 19 8 Blake Koch LeafFilter Gutter Protection Toyota 52 9 62.2 $26,627 Accident
36 30 40 Carl Long Braille Battery Grafoid Dodge 34 8 41.9 $18,428 Electrical
37 39 89 Morgan Shepherd Courtney Construction Chevrolet 15 7 33.5 $17,428 Suspension
38 2 2 Brian Scott Albertsons/Sanderson Farms Chevrolet 14 6 29.7 $22,428 Engine
39 17 19 Mike Bliss Holiday Inn Club Vacations Toyota 12 5 38.5 $21,428 Accident
40 34 10 Jeff Green TriStar Motorsports Toyota 3 4 30.2 $14,428 Vibration