SPARTA, Ky. — Chaos and carnage ruled the night in the bluegrass state, and Elliott Sadler survived the onslaught to score the victory in the XFINITY Chase opener.
Erik Jones led the field to the green flag at 8:17 p.m. It proceeded orderly until the first caution flew on lap 26 for a scheduled competition caution. Ty Dillon exited pit road with the race lead.
The race restarted on lap 32 and the second caution flew for the first of many spins by Justin Marks through the night when he got loose and spun out in turn 3.
After the race went back green on lap 36, it settled into a long green run. The only significant note of interest was Jones retaking the lead on lap 60. The third caution was brought out by Matt Waltz after his car caught fire on pit road.
At this point, the race set into short green bursts of a few laps before something prompted a caution. This included a three-car wreck by Joey Gase, Ray Black Jr. and Blake Jones on lap 77 just a lap after the restart, Timmy Hill blowing a motor a lap after the lap 88 restart, Marks getting turned by a loose Josh Berry and collecting Brandon Jones in turn 4 on the same lap as the restart on lap 96, Ryan Sieg spinning out in turn 4 12 laps after the restart, Marks rear-ending the wall in turn 3 on lap 123 just a lap after a restart and Sam Hornish Jr. bouncing off Daniel Suarez, getting loose in turn 2 and getting clipped by Justin Allgaier on lap 130 just two laps after a restart.
The race calmed down a little after it restarted on lap 135, only for race leader Matt Tifft to be handed a pass through penalty for jumping the restart. Smoke from Derrick Cope brought out the 10th caution on lap with under 25 to go. Sadler exited pit road first after taking fuel only.
The race restarted with 19 to go and the caution flew for the 11th time, a new track record, for Berry slamming the wall in turn 4 with 17 to go.
The race went back green with 13 to go and the new track record for cautions was extended to 12 with Jones getting loose in turn 3, spinning out and taking out Dillon.
“I just got sucked around,” Jones said. “I was slamming on the brakes, trying to slow down. But Ty didn’t want to be really tight there on the restart, slamming doors in (Turns) 1 and 2. He was on me pretty tight down there. It’s my fault, but it’s tough when you’re in that situation. It’s a pretty tough aero situation into (Turn) 3. Just couldn’t hang onto it. I tried to slow down like I said and give some room on entry, but he kept slamming down on my door. I did all I could do to hang onto it.
“We definitely had a winning car, but we just made a mistake and it ended our night.”
It forced the race to be red-flagged for five minutes and 34 seconds. Dillon was disqualified from continuing on in the race after his crew was found working on the car during the red flag
The race restarted with four laps to go and Sadler drove on to score the victory.
“We fought through a lot tonight,” Sadler said in victory lane. “These guys (his crew) are my heroes. We had a 10th or 15th place car. Just had to come in and really take our time and work on it. Great pit calls at the end by Kevin (Meendering) and the guys to get us in position. We had a good push there in the end. I do want to say thanks to Josh Berry. He helped me a ton tonight. That kid did some cool things on the restarts. This One Main Financial team has no quit in them. We just fight to the end. This is a great way to start the Chase.”
It’s his 13th career victory in 323 XFINITY Series starts, third of the season, 24th top-10 finish of 2016 and first win in 11 starts at Kentucky Speedway.
Daniel Suarez came home second in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
It’s his 21st top-10 finish of 2016 and third top-10 finish in four races at Kentucky.
Ryan Blaney rounded out the podium in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.
Sam Hornish Jr. finished fourth in his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Tifft recovered from his pass through penalty to round out the top-five in his No. 18 JGR Toyota.
Brendan Gaughan finished sixth in his No. 62 RCR Chevrolet. Ryan Reed finished seventh in his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Darrell Wallace Jr. finished eighth in his No. 6 RFR Ford. Justin Allgaier finished ninth in his No. 7 JRM Chevrolet. Brennan Poole rounded out the top-10 in his No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
The race lasted two hours, 48 minutes and 37 seconds at an average speed of 106.751 mph. There were 16 lead changes among eight different drivers and 12 cautions for 64 laps.
Sadler leaves Kentucky with an eight-point lead over Suarez in the points standings.
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