Written By: Kyle Newman
(Charlotte, NC) Young guns show up the veterans today as Ryan Blaney beats Kevin Harvick in the NASCAR Xfinity Hisense 4K TV 300 to pick up his fifth career victory in the series. The race featured 200 laps, 40 cars, 3 stages, 12 cautions and one young winner.
The action was wild at the magnificent Charlotte Motor Speedway in stage 1 of the Xfinity Hisense 4K TV 300 where the green flag dropped in the heat of the afternoon around 1:20 pm. The action started before the cars even hit the track as the 3rd fastest qualifier had to forfeit his starting position and go to the rear as his crew had unapproved adjustments to his #12 race car. At the start of the race, Austin Dillion beat Justin Allgaier, the pole sitter, to the start finish line which caused a penalty to be issued. However, Dillion was saved by the first caution of the day where Christopher Bell’s #18 Sirius XM Toyota was spun out by Ryan Reed in his #16 Ford Mustang on lap 2; all Dillion had to do was go to the tail end of the longest line on the restart. Dillion said, “It just makes today a whole lot more fun.” After the caution had waved, Daniel Hemric got loose slowing his car down and damaged the right rear causing much work for his crew throughout the race. On the restart, Kevin Harvick passed Justin Allgaier and didn’t look back. The field was slowed once again after Cale Conley’s #24 spun out of turn 4 on lap 16, this was his second spin off turn 4 this weekend. Allgaier faded to 12th by the end of stage 1 and Harvick dominated leading 38 of the first 45 laps. At the end of the stage, the top ten was Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Cole Custer, Ryan Blaney, Brendan Poole, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillion, Ty Dillion, Brad Keselowski, and Ryan Reed.
After pit stops and the conclusion of stage 1 Kevin Harvick lost the lead as Hamlin and Blaney won the race off pit road. Stage 2 went green flag wire to wire, and Ryan Blaney passed Denny Hamlin down the back stretch and checked out. Ryan Blaney only took 52 laps to go from the back to the front and led the race. In the first 15 laps, he had passed 26 cars! Charlotte Motor Speedway did a great job of getting this track to rubber in and be a multi-groove track as the action picked up and the racing line expanded in stage 2. At the end of stage 2, Ryan Blaney won the stage, and the rest of the top 10 was: Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillion, Kevin Harvick, Cole Custer, Darrell Wallace Jr., Ryan Reed, Ty Dillion, Brad Keselowski, and Brennan Poole.
The final stage was full of action as Ryan Blaney pulled away and led for a while until a pit stop under a caution caused him to lose the lead. Darrell Wallace Jr. put a slide job on Kevin Harvick and really made him mad pushing Harvick to say, “I’ll Remember that later,” over the radio about Wallace Jr. Racing continued, and for about 55 laps it was green flag racing with the periodic caution for a single car incident. On lap 163, the leader came to pit road to put on their final set of Goodyear tires. Austin Dillion won the race off pit road over Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney. They stayed that way until 12 laps to go when Austin Dillion was passed by Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney, Dillion went on to finish 3rd. Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr brought out the final caution on lap 194 which lead to a restart on lap 197 that placed the 2 best cars on the day on the front row to battle for the win. Ryan Blaney passed Kevin Harvick with 2 laps to go and never looked back! Ryan Blaney goes to victory lane in the NASCAR Xfinity Hisense 4K TV 300 leading 107 of 200 laps followed by Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillion, Christopher Bell, and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 5. Now, can Ryan Blaney pull off the weekend sweep and win the 600 tomorrow?
The action was wild at the magnificent Charlotte Motor Speedway in stage 1 of the Xfinity Hisense 4K TV 300 where the green flag dropped in the heat of the afternoon around 1:20 pm. The action started before the cars even hit the track as the 3rd fastest qualifier had to forfeit his starting position and go to the rear as his crew had unapproved adjustments to his #12 race car. At the start of the race, Austin Dillion beat Justin Allgaier, the pole sitter, to the start finish line which caused a penalty to be issued. However, Dillion was saved by the first caution of the day where Christopher Bell’s #18 Sirius XM Toyota was spun out by Ryan Reed in his #16 Ford Mustang on lap 2; all Dillion had to do was go to the tail end of the longest line on the restart. Dillion said, “It just makes today a whole lot more fun.” After the caution had waved, Daniel Hemric got loose slowing his car down and damaged the right rear causing much work for his crew throughout the race. On the restart, Kevin Harvick passed Justin Allgaier and didn’t look back. The field was slowed once again after Cale Conley’s #24 spun out of turn 4 on lap 16, this was his second spin off turn 4 this weekend. Allgaier faded to 12th by the end of stage 1 and Harvick dominated leading 38 of the first 45 laps. At the end of the stage, the top ten was Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Cole Custer, Ryan Blaney, Brendan Poole, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillion, Ty Dillion, Brad Keselowski, and Ryan Reed.
After pit stops and the conclusion of stage 1 Kevin Harvick lost the lead as Hamlin and Blaney won the race off pit road. Stage 2 went green flag wire to wire, and Ryan Blaney passed Denny Hamlin down the back stretch and checked out. Ryan Blaney only took 52 laps to go from the back to the front and led the race. In the first 15 laps, he had passed 26 cars! Charlotte Motor Speedway did a great job of getting this track to rubber in and be a multi-groove track as the action picked up and the racing line expanded in stage 2. At the end of stage 2, Ryan Blaney won the stage, and the rest of the top 10 was: Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillion, Kevin Harvick, Cole Custer, Darrell Wallace Jr., Ryan Reed, Ty Dillion, Brad Keselowski, and Brennan Poole.
The final stage was full of action as Ryan Blaney pulled away and led for a while until a pit stop under a caution caused him to lose the lead. Darrell Wallace Jr. put a slide job on Kevin Harvick and really made him mad pushing Harvick to say, “I’ll Remember that later,” over the radio about Wallace Jr. Racing continued, and for about 55 laps it was green flag racing with the periodic caution for a single car incident. On lap 163, the leader came to pit road to put on their final set of Goodyear tires. Austin Dillion won the race off pit road over Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney. They stayed that way until 12 laps to go when Austin Dillion was passed by Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney, Dillion went on to finish 3rd. Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr brought out the final caution on lap 194 which lead to a restart on lap 197 that placed the 2 best cars on the day on the front row to battle for the win. Ryan Blaney passed Kevin Harvick with 2 laps to go and never looked back! Ryan Blaney goes to victory lane in the NASCAR Xfinity Hisense 4K TV 300 leading 107 of 200 laps followed by Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillion, Christopher Bell, and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 5. Now, can Ryan Blaney pull off the weekend sweep and win the 600 tomorrow?