|
 Gaughan, with a three-wide pass, powered around leaders Chase
Elliott and Ty Dillon in the closing laps and cleared his
competition in Turn 1, allowing him to cruise to an eight-tenths of
a second lead over Richard Childress Racing teammate Brian Scott.
"I love my restarts," Gaughan said in Victory Lane. "It was an
awesome restart. Shane (Wilson, crew chief) kept telling me that lap
times were great when everyone did two and we did four (tires), so
it took us a while to get back (towards the lead) there, but four
Goodyear tires in the end were the difference."
On the final restart of the night, Dillon and Elliott battled
extremely hard for the win, but they forgot about the guy behind
them on four tires. Gaughan with a head of steam used momentum to
clear his competition with six laps to go and cruised to his second
career NNS win, and first on an oval. He also won June's road course
race at Road America.
Richard Childress Racing swept the top-three finishing positions
with Brian Scott second and Dillon finishing third after a
dominating performance.
Gaughan, 39, credited his Earnhardt Childress Racing engine and
transmission for assisting him in his triumph over the much younger
Elliott (18) and Dillon (22).
"There are great race teams and great young race car drivers, but
the old dog still has something left," Gaughan said.
Scott on the verge of netting his first career Nationwide victory,
settled for his best performance of the season after restarting
sixth.
"I thought it was the right call to take four tires at the end,"
Scott said. "I restarted sixth and got a good restart and got up to
fourth and I thought we were going to win this race. But,
unfortunately, we didn't get any long runs and our Shore Lodge
Camaro was a little too tight."
Dillon, who led 155 laps, said, "I'm sick for my guys. Our Bass Pros
Chevy was top-notch, it's a good thing for confidence to lead all
those laps, but this hurts for sure."
Dillon's dominance would be challenged on Lap 171 when Cody Ware
lost an engine. The fifth caution flag of the night proved to be a
significant break for the leaders, as they avoided green flag pit
stops. On pit road, Dillon exercised a two-tire stop with fuel with
Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Elliott Sadler also vying for
the same strategy.
Racing resumed with Chase Elliott making a valiant effort to
overtake the lead from Dillon. He was able to nip ahead of Dillon's
No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, when Eric McClure crashed in Turn 4.
With 19 laps to go, Elliott fended off a challenge from Dillon on
the initial restart, but his opportunity to stretch his lead would
be short lived, after Regan Smith made contact with Sam Hornish Jr.
on Lap 184, sending him hard into the Turn 1 wall.
A flawless restart from Elliott allowed the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts
Chevrolet Camaro to escape the hungry pack behind him. Again,
Elliott's gap would be diminished by yet another caution for debris
on Lap 190 - which would prove the difference in the race.
Leaving Kentucky, fourth-place finisher Elliott holds a 20-point
cushion over JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith in the championship
standings with six races remaining.
Next up for the NASCAR Nationwide Series is a trip to Dover (Del.)
International Speedway for the running of the Dover 200 on Saturday,
Sept. 27. Joey Logano is the defending champion.
NASCAR Nationwide Series Race - VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300
Kentucky Speedway
Sparta, Kentucky
Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014
1. (3) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 200, $72735.
2. (5) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 200, $49185.
3. (1) Ty Dillon #, Chevrolet, 200, $48855.
4. (9) Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, 200, $29575.
5. (10) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 200, $27000.
6. (4) Cale Conley(i), Chevrolet, 200, $23375.
7. (6) Chris Buescher #, Ford, 200, $25475.
8. (8) Michael McDowell(i), Ford, 200, $21875.
9. (12) Justin Boston(i), Toyota, 200, $21550.
10. (15) Ross Chastain(i), Toyota, 200, $15975.
11. (16) Ryan Reed #, Ford, 200, $20280.
[to top of second column]
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12. (13) Dylan Kwasniewski #, Chevrolet, 200, $19855.
13. (7) Elliott Sadler, Toyota, 200, $19405.
14. (20) James Buescher, Toyota, 200, $18950.
15. (11) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 200, $19615.
16. (19) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 199, $18630.
17. (21) Ryan Sieg #, Chevrolet, 198, $18525.
18. (18) Austin Theriault, Chevrolet, 198, $18395.
19. (14) Dakoda Armstrong #, Ford, 198, $18282.
20. (17) Chase Pistone(i), Chevrolet, 198, $18860.
21. (24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 197, $18055.
22. (31) Kevin Swindell, Dodge, 197, $17950.
23. (25) JJ Yeley, Dodge, 197, $17825.
24. (23) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 197, $17695.
25. (30) Blake Koch, Toyota, 197, $18090.
26. (27) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, 197, $17485.
27. (26) Jamie Dick, Chevrolet, 197, $17380.
28. (34) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 196, $17275.
29. (22) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, Vibration, 191, $17150.
30. (2) Sam Hornish Jr., Toyota, Accident, 186, $18345.
31. (28) Eric McClure, Toyota, Accident, 170, $16940.
32. (38) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, Engine, 159, $10830.
33. (33) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 45, $10740.
34. (29) Tanner Berryhill #, Dodge, Vibration, 36, $10650.
35. (37) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, Suspension, 33, $10555.
36. (35) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Vibration, 17, $10000.
37. (39) Josh Reaume, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 9, $9970.
38. (40) Mike Harmon, Dodge, Transmission, 9, $9941.
39. (36) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, Vibration, 6, $9810.
40. (32) Jeff Green, Toyota, Vibration, 3, $9710.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 127.119 mph.
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 21 Mins, 36 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.878
Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 35 laps.
Lead Changes: 9 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Dillon # 1-8; B. Gaughan 9-24; T. Dillon # 25; B.
Koch 26; T. Berryhill # 27; T. Dillon # 28-69; J. Clements 70; T.
Dillon # 71-174; C. Elliott # 175-194; B. Gaughan 195-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): T. Dillon # 4 times
for 155 laps; B. Gaughan 2 times for 22 laps; C. Elliott # 1 time
for 20 laps; B. Koch 1 time for 1 lap; J. Clements 1 time for 1 lap;
T. Berryhill # 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: C. Elliott # - 992; R. Smith - 972; T. Dillon # -
954; B. Scott - 937; E. Sadler - 931; T. Bayne - 900; C. Buescher #
- 817; B. Gaughan - 798; R. Reed # - 739; J. Buescher - 727.
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