Race report

NASCAR O'Reilly Darlington

Sadler wins Xfinity race at Darlington: "This is for Dale Jr."

A first win at iconic Darlington (S.C.) Raceway was very big for Xfinity Series veteran Elliott Sadler but as he crossed the finish line to claim the win Saturday there was something more important on his mind.

Jim Utter

Edited: Sep 3, 2016, 10:02 PM

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Race winner Elliott Sadler, JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

“This win today is for my man, Dale Earnhardt Jr.” Sadler said after holding off Denny Hamlin in a wild battle over the final three laps to win Saturday’s Sports Clips 200. “He’s out and not being able to race for the rest of the year.

“He was riding there with me today and he’s given me such a great opportunity to be a part of his race team and put great guys behind me. I can’t thank he and Kelley (Earnhardt Miller) and Mr. (Rick Hendrick) enough.”

The win is Sadler’s second this season and 12th of his Xfinity career. Sadler drives the No. 1 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports and both he and his sponsor, OneMain, recently signed a contract extension.

Daniel Suarez finished third, Kyle Larson was fourth and Brennan Poole completed the top five.

The battle for the win

Sadler took the lead for the final time with 36 of 147 laps remaining on a restart when he passed Hamlin on the outside going into Turn 1.

He appeared to have the victory well in hand but with two laps remaining, Sadler hit the wall, which allowed Hamlin to close in dramatically. Sadler gathered himself quickly held off Hamlin in a side-by-side battle through most of the final lap.

“With two laps left, I about messed up,” Sadler said. “I could kind of see him coming a little bit and I was trying to make up time. I started focusing on a lap car in front of me and kind of ran out of room.

“I almost gave it to him but all in all I was able to hold him off.”

Sadler has now led the series points standings after 10 of the 24 races this season, including the past six.

Hamlin struggled with restarts much of the race and had trouble catching up with Sadler, who ran the high groove most of the remainder of the race.

“My car was entirely too tight to run low and so it limited our passing opportunities,” Hamlin said. “I did a slide job there in Turn 3 and on that one lap, he messed up, but it didn’t happen. I’m proud of him and his team.”

Larson was in good position to pick up the victory but as he began a green-flag pit stop while leading on Lap 103, he spun while trying to enter pit road.

His incident produced a chain reaction accident involving Ryan Blaney, Carl Long and Ross Chastain that put the race under caution and allowed Hamlin to move into the lead after pit stops.

Just 34 laps into the race, one of the contenders for the win, Sprint Cup Series points leader Kevin Harvick, pull off the track and drove directly to the garage with an apparent engine problem on his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

“Motor blew up,” Harvick said after exiting his car.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeLaps LedPoints 1 1 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 147 1:34'09 75 45 2 18 Denny Hamlin Toyota 147 0.455 47 3 19 Daniel Suarez Toyota 147 3.385 38 4 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 147 5.538 12 5 48 Brennan Poole Chevrolet 147 10.765 36 6 20 Erik Jones Toyota 147 10.863 35 7 22 Ryan Blaney Ford 147 12.580 5 8 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 147 16.660 33 9 33 Brandon Jones Chevrolet 147 18.565 32 10 01 Ryan Preece Chevrolet 147 21.378 31

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