Gaughan prevails in Kentucky Nationwide race

Sep 21, 2014 - 3:54 AM Sparta, KY (SportsNetwork.com) - Brendan Gaughan saved his best for last to win Saturday night's 300-mile Nationwide Series race at Kentucky Speedway.

Gaughan made a bold move in passing Chase Elliott and Ty Dillon for the lead with six laps to go, as he used the outside lane to get around both rookie drivers. Dillon, who is Gaughan's teammate at Richard Childress Racing, started on the pole and dominated most of this race by leading 155 of 200 laps.

The eighth and final caution for an incident involving Landon Cassill set up a seven-lap shootout to the finish. Elliott led the way while Gaughan ran in fourth for the restart.

"I love my restarts," Gaughan said. "It was an awesome restart."

Gaughan scored his second career Nationwide win, while Brian Scott crossed the line in second and Dillon third to give RCR a 1-2-3 sweep at this 1.5-mile racetrack. Gaughan's first victory in the series came in June at Road America, a four-mile road course in Wisconsin.

"It means a lot, especially the way I did it in passing Chase Elliott and my teammate Ty Dillon," Gaughan said of his first Nationwide win on an oval. "Great race teams and great young race car drivers (Elliott and Dillon), but this old dog still had a little something left."

Gaughan led 12 laps early in the race before Dillon took command. But Dillon gave up the top spot when Elliott pulled ahead of him just before the sixth caution flag waved for an accident involving Eric McClure following a restart on lap 175.

"These restarts are tough," Dillon said. "I thought the top (of the track) was the way to go, and I spun the tires a little bit, and (Elliott) was able to get around me. It's just hard racing."

Elliott, the current points leader, finished fourth, while his JR Motorsports teammate, Regan Smith, placed fifth. Elliott holds a 20-point advantage over Smith with six races to go.

Cale Conley, who runs a partial schedule for RCR, was sixth.

Chris Buescher, Michael McDowell, Justin Boston, who made his Nationwide debut, and Ross Chastain completed the top-10.

Dillon trails Elliott by 38 points, and Scott is 55 points behind.