RICHMOND, Va. — Recap by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Sarah Crabill/Getty Images for NASCAR photo —
Two significant streaks came to an end in Friday night’s Virginia 529 College Savings 250.
Reigning series champion Chase Elliott broke a 39-race, year-long winless drought, and in the process ended a run of 22 consecutive NASCAR XFINITY Series races at Richmond International Raceway won by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars.
Elliott took the lead on a lap 169 restart from Ross Chastain — who stayed out to gain track position — and led the rest of the distance, holding off all-time NXS winner Kyle Busch on a 25 lap dash to the finish to claim his fourth career series win, first of the season and first at Richmond.
Ironically enough, Busch was the last XFINITY regular to win at Richmond before the Cup interlopers began their run, taking his first of a record 73 series wins at RIR on May 14, 2004.
On this night, however, the No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet was simply a cut above the rest — proving to any doubters that the fire to succeed in both driver and team has not diminished at all.
(Sarah Crabill/Getty Images for NASCAR photo)
“Man, it’s just been wild,” Elliott, who led the most laps (83) of anyone on the night, said of his season-to-date. “That’s why we never give up. We’ve had a couple chances [to win races this season] and things just haven’t gone our way, but these guys [referencing his pit crew] won the race tonight. Phenomenal pit stops.”
“This is amazing. I wish my mom and dad were here for it, they weren’t here this weekend. It’s good to be back in Victory Lane though. I’m happy to be here.”
The win was also big for Elliott’s manufacturer, being the 400th career XFINITY win for Chevrolet, and for his chances of defending the series championship he won a year ago — his performance moved him to second in points, 22 markers behind leader Chris Buescher, with just eight races left in the season.
“I don’t know that we’ve changed anything as far as how we run the race,” Elliott added of his team’s attitude, bolstered following a motor issue late in the race at Darlington a week prior. “We always want to come and give it our best shot to try and win. Everyone brought it this weekend though. [Crew chief] Ernie [Cope] brought a great car, like I said before, the pit stops were great — I’m just super excited to be back here.”
The final green flag run was set up by a caution on lap 217, when Ryan Truex lost a right front tire and slammed the outside wall. That sent the leaders down pit road for fresh tires, and though Busch got a strong run on the inside once the racing action resumed, he could never run down Elliott as the pair traversed slower traffic in the closing stages.
After leading the first 53 laps from the pole, and 78 circuits overall, Busch could only watch as Elliott drove off into the Virginia night — leaving his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota to finish second.
“We had a really good short run car, I guess,” Busch said after the race. “We had to play catch up for a lot of the race, and finally on that last run the car was the best it had been all night. We could pressure Chase, but I was just too tight — I was going to nerf him if I got in there too far.”
“If he had gotten bottled up [in lapped traffic] one more corner, I think I could have gotten to him, but he was just better than us. Even if I’d gotten around him I think he could have gotten back to me and passed me back. Just didn’t quite have enough tonight.
Brian Scott, who was making his 200th XFINITY Series start and led 63 laps during the middle stages of the race, finished third. Sprint Cup polesitter Joey Logano and Erik Jones rounded out the top five.
JR Motorsports teammates Regan Smith and Josh Berry crossed the line sixth and seventh, respectively, with Berry’s run coming despite three lackluster pit stops that cost him a total of 12 spots throughout the night.
The Tennessee native charged from 11th to seventh over the final run after running as high as second during the 250-lap race.
“That was an awesome run we had tonight,” Berry said of just his third career NXS start. “I just need to do better on restarts and on pit road. Had I done that tonight, I think we had a shot at winning that race. If it had stayed green that last run, we had such a car on long runs that it kept the tires on it real nice and we were running them down.”
“I’m proud of this team. They brought a great car here to Richmond. We’re looking for a partner to go full-time next year in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, so I sure hope I helped that cause. I’m just a short track racer at heart, so tonight played into my favor. I’ve still got a lot to learn on these big tracks, but that was a blast tonight.”
Brothers Ty and Austin Dillon, followed by Buescher, were the balance of the top 10.
In a largely clean race, only six cautions slowed the action for a total of 48 laps. The largest came on lap one, when Joey Gase, John Wes Townley, Benny Gordon, David Starr and Jimmy Weller were involved in a multi-car crash during the initial start.
The NASCAR XFINITY Series returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 19 for the Furious 7 300 from Chicagoland Speedway. Kevin Harvick is the defending race winner.
RESULTS: NASCAR XFINITY Series; Virginia 529 College Savings 250; Richmond International Raceway; September 11, 2015
- Chase Elliott
- Kyle Busch
- Brian Scott
- Joey Logano
- Erik Jones
- Regan Smith
- Josh Berry
- Ty Dillon
- Austin Dillon
- Chris Buescher
- Brennan Poole
- Daniel Suarez
- Ryan Reed
- Darrell Wallace Jr.
- Ross Chastain
- Brendan Gaughan
- Ryan Sieg
- Landon Cassill
- Blake Koch
- J.J. Yeley
- Dakoda Armstrong
- Cale Conley
- Harrison Rhodes
- Elliott Sadler
- Dylan Kwasniewski
- Eric McClure
- Joey Gase
- Josh Reaume
- Mike Harmon
- John Wes Townley
- Ryan Truex
- Hermie Sadler
- Matt Waltz
- Jeremy Clements
- Ryan Ellis
- Carl Long
- David Starr
- Benny Gordon
- Jimmy Weller
- Jeff Green
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s. He is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: speed77radio@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
