Austin Dillon cruises to NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Dillon's second win of the season is his fourth career win in the Xfinity Series

For the second straight Saturday, Denny Hamlin had the chance to hold off a race’s strongest car for the victory.

Unlike last Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, however, there were too many laps left after the final restart in Saturday’s Hisense 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and pole sitter Austin Dillon powered past Hamlin on lap 186 of 200 to finish the race where he belonged -- at the front of the field.

By the time he crossed the finish line, Dillon was 2.692 seconds ahead of Hamlin, who had taken the lead during a restart on lap 167 that saw Dillon fall back to fourth from the inside lane by the time the leaders exited turn two.

One by one, Dillon picked off Regan Smith, Kasey Kahne and Hamlin on the way to his second Xfinity Series victory of the season, his first at Charlotte and the fourth of his career.

Kahne ran third behind Dillon and Hamlin, followed by Smith and rookies Darrell Wallace Jr. and Daniel Suarez. Ty Dillon came home seventh and trimmed the series lead of 11th-place finisher Chris Buescher to four points.

Dillon led 163 laps and held an advantage of more than six seconds during a 54-lap green-flag run that preceded the second caution of the race on lap 110.

Austin Dillon breezes across the finish line in Charlotte with a lead of nearly three seconds. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

How good was Dillon’s No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet?

“I didn’t want to get out of this thing,” Dillon said in victory lane. “This thing drove so good. It was a heck of a race there with Denny at the end and Kasey (Kahne). I had to go right there in lapped traffic (to make the winning pass).

“I knew if I didn’t hurry up and get in front of him right there, the tires might equalize (in terms of grip).”

But when Dillon picked the inside lane for what proved to be the final restart -- after a caution for Kyle Fowler’s wreck in turn one -- Hamlin seized what he considered a fortuitous opportunity and surged into the lead.

“I thought when the 33 gave us the outside, that was a big advantage for us if we could stay with him through turns one and two,” said Hamlin, who last Saturday held off Kevin Harvick in the final 10-lap shootout to win the all-star race. “We (did), and it allowed us to get position on him and even get him shuffled a few spots.

“That was all good, but his car was just so fast he just overcame that track position.”

Hamlin lost the lead when the lapped car of Peyton Sellers stayed low and forced Hamlin’s No. 54 Toyota to pass on the outside.

“I needed to stay on the bottom,” Hamlin said. “My car was best on the bottom. His car was pinned to the bottom as well. So I needed all of the lapped cars to move up high, and all of them did, except for the 97 (Sellers). He gave us the high line. That just killed us and killed our chances from that point, once the 33 got to our inside.”

Dillon chose the inside line because his car had worked well on the bottom for the entire race to that point.

“My spotter (Andy Houston) made the fact that we should have probably taken the top, and I had been on the bottom all day, so I chose the bottom again,” Dillon said. “I just didn’t want to let these guys down (his crew). The Rheem car was so fast...

“I thought about it, and I probably should have used the top, just because I would have had the run down the backstretch. It seems that, as the race goes on, that the outside can stop spinning the tires, and the rubber lays down...

“Andy made the point, and it all worked out, but I’ll definitely learn from that, for sure.”

Smith, Wallace, Suarez and Ty Dillon qualified for next week’s Xfinity Dash4Cash competition at Dover as the top-four finishers among series regulars. Those drivers will compete for $100,000 in next Saturday’s race at Dover, with the top finisher among them claiming the prize.

 

NASCAR XFINITY Series Race - Hisense 300

Charlotte Motor Speedway

Concord, North Carolina

Saturday's Results

               1. (1) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200, $70854.

               2. (4) Denny Hamlin(i), Toyota, 200, $45242.

               3. (8) Kasey Kahne(i), Chevrolet, 200, $35150.

               4. (15) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 200, $34424.

               5. (2) Darrell Wallace Jr. #, Ford, 200, $35548.

               6. (19) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 200, $29090.

               7. (9) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 200, $27577.

               8. (16) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 200, $27640.

               9. (11) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 200, $25831.

               10. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 200, $25997.

               11. (14) Chris Buescher, Ford, 200, $24514.

               12. (10) Ryan Reed, Ford, 200, $23983.

               13. (24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 200, $23375.

               14. (13) Kevin Harvick(i), Chevrolet, 200, $16895.

               15. (7) Erik Jones(i), Toyota, 200, $23170.

               16. (18) Dakoda Armstrong, Ford, 200, $22287.

               17. (21) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 200, $22060.

               18. (17) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 199, $21832.

               19. (6) Aric Almirola(i), Ford, 199, $15806.

               20. (3) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 197, $22255.

               21. (25) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 196, $21554.

               22. (32) David Starr, Toyota, 196, $21497.

               23. (30) Blake Koch, Toyota, 196, $21448.

               24. (22) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 195, $21381.

               25. (28) Chad Boat(i), Chevrolet, 194, $15496.

               26. (35) Jimmy Weller, Chevrolet, 193, $21311.

               27. (34) Kyle Fowler(i), Toyota, 192, $15275.

               28. (38) Peyton Sellers #, Chevrolet, 192, $21240.

               29. (23) John Wes Townley(i), Chevrolet, 191, $21194.

               30. (36) Eric McClure, Toyota, 189, $21449.

               31. (20) Ross Chastain #, Chevrolet, Engine, 187, $21113.

               32. (39) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 186, $21067.

               33. (5) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 183, $15097.

               34. (26) Cale Conley #, Toyota, 146, $20991.

               35. (27) Harrison Rhodes #, Chevrolet, Transmission, 141, $20957.

               36. (37) Carl Long, Dodge, Engine, 129, $19499.

               37. (33) BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, Fuel Pump, 58, $18499.

               38. (31) Jamie Dick, Chevrolet, Accident, 45, $17499.

               39. (29) Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, Electrical, 40, $10499.

               40. (40) Jeff Green, Toyota, Vibration, 2, $9499.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  139.824 mph.

Time of Race:  02 Hrs, 08 Mins, 44 Secs. Margin of Victory:  2.692 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  3 for 22 laps.

Lead Changes:  9 among 7 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   A. Dillon(i) 1-98; D. Wallace Jr. # 99; K. Kahne(i) 100; D. Suarez # 101; L. Cassill 102-105; A. Dillon(i) 106-111; K. Harvick(i) 112-122; A. Dillon(i) 123-166; D. Hamlin(i) 167-185; A. Dillon(i) 186-200.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  A. Dillon(i) 4 times for 163 laps; D. Hamlin(i) 1 time for 19 laps; K. Harvick(i) 1 time for 11 laps; L. Cassill 1 time for 4 laps; D. Suarez # 1 time for 1 lap; K. Kahne(i) 1 time for 1 lap; D. Wallace Jr. # 1 time for 1 lap.

Top 10 in Points: C. Buescher - 401; T. Dillon - 397; C. Elliott - 373; D. Wallace Jr. # - 371; R. Smith - 360; E. Sadler - 352; B. Scott - 350; R. Reed - 320; D. Suarez # - 320; B. Gaughan - 309.

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2016 BMW 3 Series To Arrive at Dealerships This Fall | Edmunds.com

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WOODCLIFF LAKE, New Jersey — A new top-of-the-line 2016 BMW 340i sedan will arrive at U.S. BMW dealerships this fall as part of a midcycle freshening for all BMW 3 Series sedans and wagons for model year 2016.

Introduced in 2011, the current 3 Series family also will add its first-ever plug-in hybrid, the BMW 330e, in calendar 2016, BMW spokesman Thomas Plucinsky told Edmunds.

Pricing on the 2016 3 Series lineup is not available at this point, he said.

The range-topping 340i is equipped with a new turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine and eight-speed Steptronic automatic transmission with steering wheel paddle shifters. The engine makes 320 horsepower and 330 pound-feet of torque and enables 0-60 acceleration in 4.8 seconds (4.6 seconds on the xDrive version). Top speed is limited to 155 mph.

Sport Line trim is standard on the 340i, as well as the 328i and 328d. The latter two models come with a standard eight-speed Steptronic transmission. A six-speed manual transmission is available as a no-cost option on the 320i, 328i, 328d and 340i.

While exterior and interior styling changes are modest, the 3 Series chassis has been retuned and upgraded with new front struts, new rear dampers and redesigned electric power steering.

A new Track Handling package for gasoline-engine models includes variable sport steering, Adaptive M suspension, M sport brakes with blue calipers, 18-inch alloy wheels and Michelin Super Sport tires. Options include 19-inch wheels and tires, as well as M Sport and Adaptive M suspension.

Available tech features include navigation with over-the-air updates, color head-up display, forward collision warning, city collision mitigation, pedestrian warning, lane-departure warning and parking assistant.

Although specs have yet to be finalized on the hybrid, BMW estimates the new 330e will have a combined output of around 250 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque, 0-60 mph acceleration in about 6.1 seconds, top speed of 140 mph and the ability to travel up to 22 miles in all-electric mode.

A 2016 BMW M3 is part of the lineup, but BMW has not provided any information about it at this point.

Key competitors to the BMW 3 Series include the Audi A4, Lexus IS and Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

Edmunds says: The BMW 3 Series has been widely regarded by car shoppers as the most sporting entry-luxury sedan. The lineup gets broadened further with the addition of a plug-in hybrid model.

View more Consumer Car News articles

Comments mittzombie Posts: May 07

Turbos, automatics, idrives, BMW keeps ruining what used to be a great experience, well other than always weak reliability.

Flag softrose4you Posts: May 07

I would like to see a comparison test with the Mercedes Benz C400 which has 329 horsepower and 354 lb of torque. It will be interesting to see which car is better....

Flag patrickw Posts: May 08

Glad to hear they have redesigned the electric power steering. I look forward to driving it.

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BMW owners celebrate 40 years of 3 Series

BMW owners celebrate 40 years of 3 SeriesChris Bruce

With a recent refresh and introduction of the 340i, BMW is continuing to evolve the 3 Series to make sure that the it can keep up in the competitive world of sport sedans. However, the company doesn't want to forgot the past 40 years of the 3 Series' history. In a new video, the brand travels the world to let owners of a few classic examples explain just what makes this model so special.

While several generations get their turn in the limelight, fans of the E30 from the '80s and early '90s will find a lot to like here. BMW travels to Las Vegas, NV, to talk with a guy who specializes in restoring them, and then the company goes to Jakarta, Indonesia, to check out one that's grabbing trophies on the racetrack. A bit of advice, though: make sure to turn on the subtitles for this video because portions of it include interviews with Spanish and German owners in their native languages.

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