NASCAR XFINITY Series
Bristol 300
Bristol Motor Speedway
Friday, August 21, 2015
Race Highlights:
- Ty Dillon finished fourth and was the highest finishing Richard Childress Racing driver in the Bristol 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Brian Scott finished sixth, Brendan Gaughan 10th and Brandon Jones 13th.
- Richard Childress Racing completed its one-millionth lap of competition in NASCAR’s top three touring series, only the third team in NASCAR history to accomplish the feat.
- Richard Childress Racing driver Brian Scott started fourth and was the highest qualifying NASCAR XFINITY Series driver in the RCR camp. Ty Dillon qualified 11th, Brandon Jones 13th and Brendan Gaughan 15th.
- With their finishes tonight at Bristol Motor Speedway, Ty Dillon and Brian Scott both qualified for the #Dash4Cash $100,00 bonus at Darlington Raceway, which takes place on Saturday, September 5.
- Next up for the XFINITY Series is the Road America 180 Fired Up by Johnsonville at Road America. Catch all the action live on Saturday, August 29 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on NBC Sports Network, broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Satellite Radio channel 90.
Brian Scott Finishes Sixth at Bristol Motor Speedway
After starting fourth in the NASCAR XFINITY Series Bristol 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Brian Scott and the No. 2 Shore Lodge Chevrolet finished sixth after maintaining a position inside the top-10 running order for the entire race. Scott made three visits to pit road, all under yellow-flag conditions during the scheduled 300-lap event, to alleviate a tight-handling Camaro. All three stops included four tires, fuel and air pressure and wedge adjustments with the final stop coming on lap 193. A green-white-checkered finish had Scott restarting fifth on the bottom groove. Unfortunately, that was not the lane to be in on restarts, leading Scott to finish sixth. The good news is the finish qualified Scott and the No. 2 team for the #Dash4Cash $100,000 bonus at Darlington Raceway in two weeks on September 5.
Start – 4 Finish – 6 Laps Led – 0 Points – 8
Brian Scott Quote:
“I’m really proud of this Shore Lodge Chevrolet team for the way we ran tonight. We should’ve had a fourth-place finish but being on the bottom on the restarts really hurt us. I’m really happy about qualifying for #Dash4Cash at Darlington. We’ll be supporting a throwback scheme and will have Safeway and Sanderson Farms on board. Hopefully we’ll be able to capitalize on the payout.”
Ty Dillon Records Fourth Consecutive Top-Five Finish at Bristol Motor Speedway
Ty Dillon drove Richard Childress Racing’s No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Chevrolet Camaro to a fourth-place finish Friday evening under the lights of Bristol Motor Speedway, recording the team’s fourth consecutive top-five finish. Dillon, who qualified 11th earlier in the afternoon, was the highest finishing NASCAR XFINITY Series regular and remained second in the XFINITY Series driver points standings, now just 19 points behind the leader. The team raced most of the scheduled 300-lap race around the top 10 running order, battling for position mostly on long green-flag runs. Crew chief Nick Harrison used a two-tire pit stop on lap 54 to gain track position and two additional four-tire and fuel pit stops to improve the car’s overall balance on laps 131 and 194. Toward the end of the race, Dillon was racing in the eighth position when a caution flag came out on lap 296. The race would conclude in a green-white-checkered flag finish, where Dillon used a dominant restart to jump from eighth place to fourth when he crossed the finish line. The finish also qualified Dillon for the XFINITY Series’ #Dash4Cash $100,000 bonus on Saturday, September 5 at Darlington Raceway.
Start – 11 Finish – 4 Laps Led – 0 Points – 2nd
TY DILLON QUOTE:
“Man, I’m so proud of my guys for sticking with it today. We had a tough start to our practice this morning, but they kept with it all the way to the end. This Bass Pro Chevy was super fast there at the end of the race and it was fun to drive. I thought that last restart was our best one of the day and obviously most important. This race was an overall great points day for us and I’m excited to be a #Dash4Cash qualifier. It was also cool to see RCR record its one-millionth lap today, definitely a great accomplishment for our company and I’m honored to be a part of this milestone.”
Brandon Jones Earns Top-15 Finish at Bristol
Brandon Jones and the No. 33 Tide/Menards team finished 13th in the NASCAR XFINITY Series Bristol 300 under the lights at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday night. Marking his fourth XFINITY Series start with the Richard Childress Racing team, Jones started the 300-lap event from the 13th position. After taking the initial green flag, Jones reported he was too loose around the half-mile bullring. Crew chief Danny Stockman called the 18-year-old driver to the attention of the Tide/Menards pit crew on lap 54 during a caution period. The No. 33 pit crew serviced the neon yellow and orange Chevrolet with four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment to alleviate the loose-handling condition. Jones restarted 14th on the ensuing green flag and was scored 11th a few laps later. As Jones was racing another competitor, he made slight contact with the outside wall on lap 89 and slipped back to 14th, but raced his way into the top 10 as the race neared the halfway point. Jones continued to battle tight and loose-handling conditions throughout the remainder of the race. The Stockman-led team utilized caution periods to make adjustments on the No. 33 Camaro and improve Jones’ handling. He ran as high as seventh during the 300-lap event, but suffered a tight-handling condition that resulted in a loss of track position, relegating Jones to a 13th-place finish.
Start – 13 Finish – 13 Laps Led – 0 Owner Points – 5
BRANDON JONES QUOTE:
“I can’t thank Richard Childress Racing and Menards for this opportunity. It was great to be able to run back-to-back weekends with this No. 33 team. I learned a lot here at Bristol. This is a tough place to race. I’ve been able to test here and ran the (NASCAR Camping World) Truck Series race here on Wednesday night, and I think that really helped me tonight. We just couldn’t get the handling dialed in, but we were real fast on the high groove of the race track. I have one more XFINITY Series race left with RCR, and I’m confident we can get a top-five finish.”
Brendan Gaughan and No. 62 South Point team earn top-10 finish at Bristol
Brendan Gaughan and the No. 62 South Point Resort & Casino Chevrolet Camaro team started its day at Bristol Motor Speedway in grand fashion by posting the fastest time in the only NASCAR XFINITY Series practice on Friday. After qualifying 15th, Gaughan and crew chief Shane Wilson knew they needed to run a smart race to earn a good finish. They did that by utilizing several pit stops under caution to change four tires and top off with fuel while making various air pressure and chassis adjustments. While the changes didn’t move the team forward like they hoped, they were able to maintain a top-15 running position throughout the Bristol 300. When the caution waved on lap 295, of the scheduled 300, it set up a green-white-checkered finish. When the green was displayed, Gaughan mashed the gas and picked up one position to earn the team’s 11th top-10 finish of the 2015 season at the checkered flag on lap 302. He remains ninth in driver points standings as the Series heads to Road America this coming weekend; where Gaughan and team are the reigning victors.
Start – 15 Finish – 10 Laps Led – 0 Points – 9
Brendan Gaughan Quote:
“That race was kind of weird because nothing bad happened, but then again nothing great happened, either. We had great pit stops from the South Point pit crew, we only had one little scare during the race when the No. 1 car came across my front, but we had no significant damage and kept on going. We ran in the top-15 positions and came away with a top-10 finish. And, we were part of RCR completing its 1 millionth lap of competition, which I think is really cool. We’ll take that and head up to Road America to see if we can repeat what we did last year.”
