NASCAR Xfinity Series at Dover 2015 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

Regan Smith overcame rain, fire, the threat of darkness and his fellow NASCAR drivers at Saturday's Hisense 200 to claim the checkered flag.

With a tropical storm inbound and producing a lengthy red flag at one point, Smith and close competitors Kyle Busch and beyond fought just to reach the halfway mark, then surprisingly finished the event as storms passed.

It was a thrilling chess match of an event with huge implications on the leaderboard for both Smith and all involved, as one championship contender crashed early.

NASCAR on NBC captured Smith in Victory Lane:

Here's a look at the entire top 10, with the full order available at ESPN.com:

Position	Driver	Car No.
1	Regan Smith	7
2	Denny Hamlin	20
3	Kyle Busch	54
4	Ryan Blaney	22
5	Kyle Larson	42
6	Austin Dillon	33
7	Chase Elliott	9
8	Chris Buescher	60
9	Elliott Sadler	1
10	Daniel Suarez	18

ESPN.com provided a look at the updated standings:

RK	DRIVER	POINTS
1	Chris Buescher	1018
2	Chase Elliott	994
3	Regan Smith	982
4	Ty Dillon	979
5	Elliott Sadler	908
6	Darrell Wallace Jr.	907
7	Daniel Suarez	886
8	Brian Scott	870
9	Brendan Gaughan	864
10	Ryan Reed	765

The race didn't get through many laps before a yellow flag, an expected occurrence given the cancellation of practices in the week leading up to the event.

With the first 10 laps as a pseudo-practice, the drivers set a blistering pace but faltered when teenager Ben Rhodes lost control. NASCAR on NBC captured the mishap:

The race didn't get back under a green flag for long after the restart before another yellow.

This time, though, the initial cause of the yellow wasn't important—more critical to championship implications was the blown tire suffered by Ty Dillon as he slowed to adhere to the caution.

NASCAR Xfinity captured the unexpected turn of events for the contender:

Dillon entered the day second in the standings, meaning his 29th-place finish is a crushing blow to his championship hopes with five races left on the schedule.

In an odd turn of events, while the racers attempted to hit the halfway mark for fear of water from above, a fire broke out on pit road from Brian Scott's car:

Around the 68-lap mark, another yellow went up for the second of two competition cautions on the day, mandated stoppages from the series itself due to the lack of practice.

On the restart, Busch held the lead while fending off Denny Hamlin and others. He and the drivers in the top five made it just over the halfway mark, meaning the results would be official if the race had to be called off early.

Just past the halfway mark, though, Cale Conley and Stanton Barrett got involved in a wicked wreck producing even more flames. NASCAR on NBC provided the footage:

The question during the caution was simple: Does a leader such as Busch pit and lose a bit of time but plan for the next 100 laps? Or does he stay out and bank on rain ending things early?

The answer? Most every one of the big names elected to pit—then the race got hit with a red flag due to rain a few laps later.

In a shocking turn of events, it wasn't Busch or Hamlin who came out of the pit with the lead but Elliott Sadler. Xfinity's Twitter account provided a summary of who did what on the critical pit:

After about 30 minutes, the covers came back off the cars with the track dry and the racers then faced Mother Nature's next offering: nightfall.

It wasn't Busch or Sadler who came out of the red flag, though. Rather, it was Smith.

Smith held on the rest of the way and wound up leading 80 laps. After the fact, he received congratulatory notes from many, including Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 

Busch wound up finishing third (despite leading 110 laps) as he gears up for the final race of the Chase. Hamlin took second place.

For Smith, the finish bumped him into third place with Dillon falling to fourth. Chase Elliott remains the name to watch in second place, although Smith has put himself in striking distance of the lead.

The Xfinity Series next has a quick turnaround for a Friday event in Charlotte for the Drive for the Cure 300.

There, Smith and a new-look leaderboard will hope to avoid Mother Nature and have a more routine event. With Chris Buescher's lead in the standings nothing close to a sure thing, expect the event to stand as one of the year's most competitive.

Stats and info courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.