Dale Earnhardt Jr. was strong all day on his way to winning the NASCAR XFINITYSeries ToyotaCare 250 on Saturday at Richmond International Raceway in an overtime finish set up by some late cautions and a big wreck that ruined the day for two Dash 4 Cash contenders.
Earnhardt Jr. led 128 of the race’s 149 laps en route to his 24th career XFINITY Series win and his first since 2010. The win was also his first driving for the team he co-owns, JR Motorsports. The overtime finish was the first in the XFINITY Series this year under NASCAR’s new rules.
Ty Dillon finished in second to secure the Dash 4 Cash prize of $100,000 as the top finishing driver among the four eligible drivers determined by the two heat races earlier in the afternoon. Brennan Poole (10th), Erik Jones (34th) and Justin Allgaier (35th) were the other drivers eligible for the prize.
Allgaier looked to be closing in on the Dash 4 Cash prize with eight laps to go in the scheduled 140-lap event. However, contact in the left rear quarter panel from Poole turned Allgaier from the lead and triggered a nine-car wreck in Turn 2. Allgaier,Erik Jones and Matt Tifft, who had all enjoyed runs in the top eight up into that point, saw their promising runs come to an end with that accident.
JR Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing took home six of the top seven spots in the race. Besides, Earnhardt Jr. and Ty Dillon’s 1-2 finish, Elliott Sadler (JRM) finished third, Austin Dillon (RCR) was fifth, Cole Custer (JRM) sixth in his XFINITYSeries debut and Brendan Gaughan (RCR) was seventh.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Daniel Suarez holds the points lead coming out of Richmond, with a nine-point edge on Sadler. Suarez scored a fourth-place finish on the day.
The race opened with 124 laps of green-flag racing, with the first caution coming with 16 to go. That is when business really picked up and the boys got up on the wheel!
Check out the unofficial results from the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
