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Charlotte NASCAR: First win for Austin Dillon after rain delay

Austin Dillon won the delayed NASCAR Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, sweeping to victory for Richard Childress Racing in the series' first-ever four-part event

Dillon took the lead on the final lap of the race, after a split in strategy emerged between the leaders.

While most made late pitstops under green, Jimmie Johnson, Dillon, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman were among those to try and stretch their fuel mileage to the end.

Though the other three faded, Dillon just held on to cross the line first and take his maiden Cup series win, ahead of hard-chargers Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.

Truex, who dominated this event last year, mastered his restarts all evening, and was able to keep main challengers Johnson and Kyle Busch at arm's length for the majority of the night.

Though he led 233 of the race's 400 laps, he was ultimately unable to close the gap at the very end.

Already NASCAR's longest event at 600 miles, the race was further elongated by a stoppage for a brief but heavy deluge of rain on lap 143 of 400.

After more than an hour and a half, most of which was spent drying the track, the action finally resumed.

The majority of the race's nine cautions were for minor incidents, save for one, when Truex and Johnson had to take avoiding action from an incident involving Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott during the first stage.

Jeffrey Earnhardt's Circle Sport Chevrolet had spilled oil and metal debris all over the circuit on lap 19, Elliott struck debris and his Hendrick Chevrolet burst into flames and slowed suddenly.

Keselowski, unable to slow down due to the oil, careened into the back of him, and while both retired on the spot, Truex and Johnson threaded their way through the middle of the two destroyed cars.

Dillon finished ahead of a quartet of Toyotas, with Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin completing the top five behind Busch and Truex.

Kurt Busch and rookie Erik Jones followed, with poleman Kevin Harvick eighth, Ryan Newman ninth and Dale Earnhardt Jr rounding out the top 10.

The result marks the first victory for the iconic #3 car in the Cup series since Dale Earnhardt Sr's final win in 2000.

RESULTS - 400 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4h19m22.s
2 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 0.835s
3 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 1.152s
4 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 5.378s
5 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 10.611s
6 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 11.429s
7 Erik Jones Furniture Row Racing Toyota 14.409s
8 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 16.323s
9 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 18.703s
10 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 20.486s
11 Daniel Suarez Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21.805s
12 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 25.189s
13 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 25.967s
14 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 27.243s
15 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 30.355s
16 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 30.959s
17 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet s
18 A.J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 1 Lap
19 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 1 Lap
20 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 1 Lap
21 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 1 Lap
22 Regan Smith Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 1 Lap
23 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 3 Laps
24 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 4 Laps
25 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 4 Laps
26 J.J. Yeley Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 5 Laps
27 Gray Gaulding BK Racing Toyota 7 Laps
28 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 7 Laps
29 Timmy Hill Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 16 Laps
30 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 25 Laps
31 Derrike Cope Premium Motorsports Toyota 73 Laps
32 Corey LaJoie BK Racing Toyota Engine
33 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Accident
34 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet Engine
35 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Accident
36 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet Rear end
37 Matt DiBenedetto Go FAS Racing Ford Accident
38 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Accident
39 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford Accident
40 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport / TMG Chevrolet Rear end

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Martin Truex Jr. 491
2 Kyle Larson 486
3 Brad Keselowski 409
4 Kevin Harvick 388
5 Kyle Busch 386
6 Jamie McMurray 385
7 Chase Elliott 362
8 Jimmie Johnson 359
9 Clint Bowyer 343
10 Joey Logano 336
11 Denny Hamlin 332
12 Ryan Blaney 308
13 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 298
14 Kurt Busch 290
15 Matt Kenseth 288
16 Trevor Bayne 271
17 Ryan Newman 266
18 Erik Jones 256
19 Daniel Suarez 246
20 Kasey Kahne 244
21 Austin Dillon 238
22 Ty Dillon 205
23 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 202
24 Paul Menard 197
25 Aric Almirola 188
26 Chris Buescher 172
27 David Ragan 158
28 Michael McDowell 155
29 A.J. Allmendinger 149
30 Cole Whitt 139
31 Landon Cassill 137
32 Danica Patrick 127
33 Matt DiBenedetto 124
34 Reed Sorenson 63
35 Gray Gaulding 61
36 Jeffrey Earnhardt 50
37 Michael Waltrip 29
38 Derrike Cope 22
39 D.J. Kennington 1
39 Cody Ware 1


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