CONCORD, N.C. — Recap by Race Chaser Online Correspondent James Pike — Streeter Lecka/Getty Images North America photo –
There is a pattern developing for Austin Dillon when he wins in the XFINITY Series: win the pole, dominate the race, and head to Victory Lane.
Saturday was no exception to this trend, as Dillon started from the pole and led 163 of 200 laps to win the Hisense 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In the process, Dillon recorded a perfect driver rating of 150.0 for the third time in his Xfinity Series career.
Austin Dillon took the lead on the opening lap of the race and held it through the first 98 laps. He only relinquished it momentarily during a green flag pit cycle before regaining it at lap 106.
It was at lap 111 that strategy finally began to take shape in the race. During a round of pit stops during the second caution flag, Dillon took two tires. However, he was beaten out of pit road by the No. 18 of Daniel Suarez and the No. 33 of Kevin Harvick, who both opted for no tires.
Harvick lead the field back to the green flag on lap 117, but it only took 6 laps for Dillon to bring the No. 33 Rheem Chevrolet Camaro around Harvick and back to the front of the field.
Dillon would lead through to the race’s final caution on lap 160, when Kyle Fowler lost a right front tire and hit the wall in turn 1.
The race’s final restart came on lap 166. Dillon chose the inside lane while Denny Hamlin, driving the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, chose the outside lane.
Hamlin held his momentum on the outside lane off of the restart. Dillon was able to stay with Hamlin until the No. 33 got loose in Turn 2. At that point, Hamlin surged forward to the lead, and Dillon was swallowed into a three-wide battle that saw him drop back to fourth.
After losing the lead, Dillon immediately regrouped and began to methodically pick his way back to the front of the field. He passed Regan Smith two laps after losing the lead, then drove down and caught Kasey Kahne for second on lap 175.
Ten laps later, Dillon’s return to the front of the field culminated in a daring pass for the lead. The No. 3 went three-wide in between Hamlin and the slower car No. 97 of Peyton Sellers, and barely squeezed through the middle to take the lead at the start/ finish line.
Two laps later, Dillon had stretched his lead out to almost a second, and he cruised in the final 10 laps to claim his first victory in a NASCAR national touring series event at Charlotte.
As part of the Xfinity Dash4Cash program, four drivers qualified for the first round of that competition to be held in next weekend’s race at Dover International Speedway: Regan Smith, Darrell Wallace, Jr., Daniel Suarez, and Ty Dillon (who finished fourth through seventh, respectively).
Following the race, Hamlin admitted that even though he thought he had a great restart, the No. 33 was the best car on the track all day long. “I thought that when the 33 gave us the outside, that was a big advantage for us,” Hamlin said. “We were able to stay with him in 1 and 2 and get position on him. He even got shuffled back a few spots down the back straight, and that was good.”
“But his car was just so good. Once I got past him, I needed all of the lapped cars to go up high so I could pass them. And all of them did, except the No. 97. He stayed down on the bottom and it killed our chances to win.”
Afterwards, Dillon spoke on what it meant to him to win at his home track. “I talked to one my friends earlier this weekend about North Carolina drivers in the Sprint Cup Series- there’s only two of us now, myself and Junior, and my brother is coming up in XFINITY,” Dillon said.
“It’s huge for us North Carolina boys to take home our trophy. It’s pretty special to do this on Memorial Day weekend as well- I have a lot of friends and family here, so it’s a special moment for sure.”
The NASCAR XFINITY Series will return to the track next Saturday, May 30, with the Buckle Up 200 Presented by Click It or Ticket from Dover International Speedway.
