NASCAR Xfinity Series at Kentucky 2015 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction
Ryan Blaney is nowhere close to the top of the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings, but he was relentless in his pursuit of a win Saturday night. Blaney outdueled Ty Dillon to earn his second win of the season at the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 in Kentucky.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series congratulated him on his victory:
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Blaney led 81 of the race's 201 laps, but Dillon and others made sure he would have to work for his win. A restart with six laps to go gave Dillon a chance to race to the front, but Blaney would not give up.
He stayed in third and eventually overtook Dillon and Regan Smith to earn the victory. Here's a look at the top 10 of Saturday night's race:
| 1 | Ryan Blaney | Leader | 81 | 382 |
| 2 | Ty Dillon | 0.52 | 43 | 963 |
| 3 | Regan Smith | 0.894 | 0 | 935 |
| 4 | Chase Elliott | 1.09 | 0 | 957 |
| 5 | Brandon Jones | 1.344 | 16 | 0 |
| 6 | Brendan Gaughan | 1.715 | 0 | 836 |
| 7 | Chris Buescher | 2.044 | 0 | 982 |
| 8 | Erik Jones | 2.141 | 13 | 0 |
| 9 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | 2.457 | 1 | 874 |
| 10 | Matt Tifft | 2.881 | 0 | 0 |
Blaney earned everything he got Saturday, but he might have gotten some help from a determined and partially vindictive Smith. Dillon and Smith had a run-in at the Zippo 300 at Watkins Glen last month. As Aaron Bearden of Frontstretch mentioned, Smith vowed he would do everything in his power to make sure Dillon didn't win the Xfinity Series title:
If his aggressiveness during the restart was any indication, Smith meant every word he said.
When the race was over, Dillon kept it simple when describing his feelings, per Chris Knight of CatchFence:
His second-place finish helped him gain ground on points leader Chris Buescher—who finished seventh without leading a lap—but not as much as he would have had he won the race. Here's a look at the updated standings:
| 1 | Chris Buescher | 60 | 982 | Leader | 2 | 11 |
| 2 | Ty Dillon | 3 | 963 | -19 | 0 | 9 |
| 3 | Chase Elliott | 9 | 957 | -25 | 1 | 11 |
| 4 | Regan Smith | 7 | 935 | -47 | 1 | 8 |
| 5 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | 6 | 874 | -108 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Elliott Sadler | 1 | 872 | -110 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 | Brian Scott | 2 | 857 | -125 | 0 | 5 |
| 8 | Daniel Suarez | 18 | 852 | -130 | 0 | 6 |
| 9 | Brendan Gaughan | 62 | 836 | -146 | 0 | 3 |
| 10 | Ryan Reed | 16 | 735 | -247 | 1 | 1 |
Without a top-five finish in his last three races or a win since May 30, Buescher is leaving the door wide-open for Dillon to run him down in the standings.
There are six races remaining on the Xfinity Series schedule. Next up is the Hisense 200 on Saturday, October 3, at Dover International Speedway. Last year, Kyle Busch took the event, but many racing fans will be focused on the increasingly interesting battle between Dillon and Buescher.
Dover was the site of Buescher's last win this season, so he and his team have to be hoping that means something Saturday. He has a week to get into the right mindset, and his team has the same amount of time to make sure the No. 60 car is in top condition.
After next week's race, check out Bleacher Report for more details and reaction.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
