Earnhardt, Jr. Wins Richmond Xfinity Race on G-W-C Finish

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RICHMOND, VA – RIS – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was the recipient of good racing luck as he took advantage of a late race caution to win the Xfinity Series race at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday.  Jason Allgaier was leading with six laps remaining when a restart resulted in a pileup at the front of the pack damaging several cars.  Earnhardt ended up first on the restart and held off Ty Dillon for the win, his first of 2016.

Earnhardt held off Dillon by .266 seconds in a main event that ran nine laps past its scheduled distance of 140 laps, but Dillon collected the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus available to the two highest finishes among XFINITY Series regulars from each of the two heats that preceded the main event.

The victory was Earnhardt's fourth at Richmond -- his first at the .75-mile short track since 2002 -- and the 24th of his career. Earnhardt's last win in the series came in the July 2010 race at Daytona in a No. 3 Chevrolet owned by Richard Childress.

Earnhardt has not driven the No. 3, the number closely associated with his father, since that victory. On Saturday, he drove the No. 88 Chevrolet in his last scheduled start of the season for JR Motorsports.

Though Earnhardt led 128 of the 149 laps after passing Erik Jones for the top spot on Lap 18, the final two were a challenge, with Dillon restarting beside him for the two-lap overtime.

"Those last couple of laps, we were real loose in the corner," Earnhardt said. "I thought Ty was going to get to me -- he tried to get to me. When we got to (Turn 3), we drove into the corner wide-open."

But Dillon couldn't pull even with Earnhardt, who cleared Dillon's No. 3 Chevrolet off Turn 4 on the first overtime lap.

"We came up a little short, but we're going to get one soon," Dillon said.

Dillon wouldn't have had a shot at the win at all, had a nine-car pileup on Lap 134 not bunched the field and necessitated the overtime.

The wreck came moments after a restart, with Brennan Poole leading the field to the green. Poole had stayed out on old tires when Earnhardt and the rest of the lead-lap drivers came to pit road for fresh rubber under caution on Lap 127.

Earnhardt restarted third behind Poole and JR Motorsports teammate Allgaier , but when Poole spun his tires, Earnhardt dived to the inside approaching Turn 1, creating a three-wide lead group. After side-by-side contact with Earnhardt's No. 88, Poole's No. 48 Chevrolet washed up the track, clipped and turned Allgaier's No. 7 and ignited a chain-reaction wreck that damaged three of the four cars eligible for the Dash 4 Cash bonus – those of Poole, Allgaier and Jones.

"When he spun the tires, I had to go to the inside," Earnhardt said. "I tried not to drive up into him – I don't think I got into him. They just kind of came together up there (in the outside lane) and had a heck of a wreck.  I hate that it happened, but, man, I had to do what I had to do to try to get the win. We ran so well and led all those laps."

Elliott Sadler came home third, followed by series leader Daniel Suárez, who leaves Richmond nine points ahead of Sadler in second. Austin Dillon ran fifth and Cole Custer sixth in Custer's XFINITY Series debut.  Poole brought his damaged car home in 10th.

Final unofficil Results

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Status Tms Laps
1 3 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.(i) Hellmann's Chevrolet 149 0 149.7 Running 2 128
2 2 3 Ty Dillon WESCO Chevrolet 149 39 116.7 Running
3 9 1 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Chevrolet 149 38 96.8 Running
4 6 19 Daniel Suarez Juniper Networks Toyota 149 37 108.8 Running
5 10 2 Austin Dillon(i) Ruud Chevrolet 149 0 100.2 Running
6 17 5 Cole Custer(i) Haas Automation Chevrolet 149 0 95.1 Running
7 15 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 149 34 88.8 Running
8 16 11 Blake Koch LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 149 33 85.0 Running
9 8 22 Brad Keselowski(i) Discount Tire Ford 149 0 99.4 Running
10 7 48 Brennan Poole # DC Solar Chevrolet 149 32 1 97.1 Running 1 3
11 18 16 Ryan Reed Lilly Diabetes/American Diabetes Association Ford 149 30 77.3 Running
12 19 44 JJ Yeley Zachry Toyota 149 29 82.3 Running
13 12 42 Justin Marks Katerra Chevrolet 149 28 82.6 Running
14 25 28 Dakoda Armstrong WinField Toyota 149 27 71.8 Running
15 13 33 Brandon Jones # Chevrolet Military Discount Chevrolet 148 26 74.2 Running
16 11 6 Darrell Wallace Jr. Ford EcoBoost Ford 148 25 78.3 Running
17 22 21 Spencer Gallagher(i) Water Pulse Chevrolet 148 0 63.8 Running
18 14 4 Ross Chastain Florida Watermelon Association Chevrolet 148 23 66.3 Running
19 21 43 Jeb Burton J. Streicher Ford 148 22 70.5 Running
20 26 0 Garrett Smithley # teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 147 21 56.7 Running
21 20 39 Ryan Sieg RSS Racing Chevrolet 147 20 64.3 Running
22 23 51 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet 147 19 59.5 Running
23 24 01 Ryan Preece # GK Services Chevrolet 146 18 53.7 Running
24 29 07 Ray Black Jr. # Scuba Life Chevrolet 146 17 52.4 Running
25 30 15 Travis Kvapil(i) Corvetteparts.net Ford 146 16 44.6 Running
26 32 52 Joey Gase Donate Life Virginia Chevrolet 146 15 46.7 Running
27 31 25 Harrison Rhodes Lilly Trucking/CarportEmpire.com Chevrolet 146 14 46.2 Running
28 28 78 BJ McLeod # Main Gate Ford 146 13 41.3 Running
29 33 97 Ryan Ellis Vroom Brands Chevrolet 145 12 45.0 Running
30 37 70 Derrike Cope Acredale Vending Chevrolet 144 11 38.0 Running
31 38 13 Timmy Hill(i) Braille Battery/Grafoid Dodge 143 0 33.5 Running
32 36 90 Todd Peck BuckedUp Ford 143 9 32.5 Running
33 5 18 Matt Tifft(i) NOS Energy Drink Toyota 135 0 92.1 Accident
34 1 20 Erik Jones # Hisense USA Toyota 134 8 1 97.3 Accident 1 17
35 4 7 Justin Allgaier Brandt Chevrolet 134 7 1 99.8 Accident 1 1
36 34 74 Mike Harmon Dodge 123 5 33.4 Accident
37 27 14 Jeff Green Tri-Star Motorsports Toyota 104 4 48.3 Brakes
38 35 40 Carl Long TLC Vacation Club Dodge 17 3 25.2 Brakes
39 39 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 12 2 26.5 Suspension
40 40 93 Josh Wise(i) RSS Racing Chevrolet 7 0 25.0 Transmission