Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, took home his first checkered flag of the XFINITY series season at RIR Friday, winning the 2015 Virginia529 College Savings 250. It was also Elliott’s first win at RIR, who managed to hold off a late surge from a determined Kyle Busch down the stretch.
“It’s been a really solid weekend overall,” said Elliott. “You never know when you’ll get back to Victory Lane, so we’ll try to take the momentum and learn from what we did so we’re even better next time.”
The victory marked the first time a non-full time Cup driver won the Richmond XFINITY Series event in over 10 years. It was actually Busch, race pole-sitter and runner-up, who was the last driver to do so – winning the FUNAI 250 back in May 2004.
But that wasn’t the only drought broken tonight, it was also Elliott’s first win in 39 races.
“Chase put the pressure on (himself) this weekend,” said JR Motorsports owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. “He told me ‘If I only won by 21 points last year then I can definitely make some things happen.'”
Rounding out the top-5 were Brian Scott (No. 2 Shore Lodge Chevrolet), Joey Logano (No. 22 Hertz Ford) and Erik Jones (No. 20 Gamestop/Lego Dimensions Toyota). Josh Barry, Elliott’s JR Motorsports teammate, finished 7th in just his second career XFINITY Series start.
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Chris Graham
