Chase Elliott led the final 18 laps in the NASCAR Xfinity Series BetMGM 300 Saturday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway to claim his sixth career win in the series. It was his first victory at Charlotte, his first Xfinity win since February 2016 and the second time the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro has been to Victory Lane this season.
After a lackluster qualifying effort, Elliott started the race in 30th place but quickly advanced, gaining 11 spots by Lap 7. He continued to methodically make his way toward the front but the turning point of the race occurred when Ryan Ellis spun, bringing out the caution flag late in the race. Most of the teams elected to pit on Lap 171 but Elliott’s team was one of a few who had a full set of new tires.
Elliott quickly passed Ellis with 17 laps remaining and took the lead. There was one more pivotal restart and a battle with Brandon Jones for the lead but Elliott prevailed, winning the race by a margin of 0.500 seconds.
“My team did a really good job. Greg (Ives, crew chief) made a good call on the tires, and I think ultimately that was what won us the race,” Elliott said after the race.”
“Hats off to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports,” he added. “It’s super-special to win with the No. 17 on the car for the boss (Rick Hendrick) and Linda. Obviously, a great honor with the Ricky Hendrick scheme. It means a lot to all of us to be a part of this.”
Brandon Jones, Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top 5 as Kyle Busch, Ryan Sieg, Josh Williams, Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson completed the top 10.
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