Austin Dillon was fast in XFINITY Series practice on Friday and was even faster Saturday afternoon, as he will lead the 40 car field to the green flag for the BOYD Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He will share the front row with his Richard Childress Racing teammate Brian Scott.
The first round of qualifying was relatively uneventful. The session was halted with eleven minutes remaining due to debris in turn one. Three of the four RCR cars finished the round in the top five, with Dillon first and his teammates Scott and Brendan Gaughan clocking in second and fifth, respectively. Younger brother Ty, with four minutes remaining, was knocked out of the top 24, but came back and finished the round in 22nd place. Dexter Bean and Josh Reaume missed the race after failing to qualify on time.
The RCR cars followed a fast first round with a 1-2 finish in round 2, this time with Brian Scott besting his 2013 XFINITY Series champion teammate. Ryan Blaney, who will start his first race of the season in the No. 22 Penske Racing entry, finished the round in third, with Erik Jones, Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. completing the top half dozen.
In the final minute of the round, rookie Darrell Wallace Jr. ran a lap at 29.848 sec., only .009 good enough to remove his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Elliott Sadler from the top 12. Aric Almirola, Regan Smith, Brendan Gaughan, Denny Hamlin in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing car and XFINITY Series points leader Chris Buescher were the remaining drivers to advance to the final five minute round.
In the final round of qualifying, Dillon posted a time of 29.498 on his first lap, then two tenths faster on lap 2. With a time of 29.295 sec, he cemented his place on top of the charts and on the pole for today’s BOYD Gaming 300. Scott will start second, with Jones, Blaney and Gaughan completing the top five. The JR Motorsports cars will start sixth, seventh and eighth, with Earnhardt Jr., Smith and Elliott, respectively. Almirola, Buescher, Hamlin, and Wallace Jr., who ran eight laps combined between the three rounds, rounded out the top twelve.
The third race of the XFINITY Series season can be seen today (Saturday) at 4:00 PM ET on FOX Sports 1.
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