Well, Chase Elliott hasn’t lost his step in the Xfinity Series.
The 2014 Xfinity champion held off a hard-charging Brandon Jones to take the win at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday (May 25). The win is his first in the Xfinity Series since winning the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway way back in 2016.
Elliott and crew chief Greg Ives found themselves with a set of new tires late in the race, which helped propel the No. 17 to its second victory of the year after Kyle Larson won in the ride at Circuit of the Americas.
“Greg made a good call,” Elliott told FOX Sports 1 after the race. “I think ultimately, that’s what won us the race. […] Hats off to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Super special to win with the [No.] 17 on the car for the boss […] obviously a great honor here with the Ricky Hendrick scheme. It means a lot to all of us that get to be a part of this whenever it runs.”
Behind Jones were his teammates Sammy Smith in third and Sam Mayer in fourth. AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top five. Kyle Busch, Ryan Sieg, Josh Williams, Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson completed the top 10.
Gibbs started on pole and led the opening 23 laps, but was then passed by Busch on lap 24, making his first start in a Richard Childress Racing-owned Xfinity car.
The first caution came out on lap 30 when Riley Herbst was turned off of turn 2 by Allmendinger, sending the No. 98 hard into the inside wall and ending his day.
“He had a run off the top,” Herbst said after being released from the infield care center. “Which is fine. And he could’ve tried to slide me back and get some momentum, but instead he just got my left rear and hooked me.
“So, [it’s] unfortunate, but probably unfortunate for him.”
Gibbs won the race off of pit road, but varying strategies caused him to start back in fifth. However he was able to make quick work of those who stayed out, as he put himself back in the lead in two corners. The No. 20 soon found pressure from Justin Allgaier, who was able to get the lead with four laps to go and hang on for the stage one victory.
Allgaier sailed out to the lead in stage two as both Gibbs and Allmendinger smacked the wall in separate incidents within the opening laps. Stage two ran green until lap 73, when Parker Kligerman got loose and spun his No. 48 in turn 4 to bring out the third caution of the afternoon. Contact with the wall broke Kligerman’s steering and he was…
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