Blaney wins Xfinity race at Charlotte

Ryan Blaney demonstrated his improving patience and made sure that Kevin Harvick’s misery at Charlotte Motor Speedway continued.

Blaney passed Harvick on a restart with three laps to go Saturday and held on to win the Xfinity Series race in Concord, N.C.

Blaney went from last to first for his fifth career Xfinity victory. He had qualified third, but was sent to the back of the field to start the race because of unapproved tire changes to his No. 12 Ford.

“I have a lot better patience than I did a couple of years ago,” the 23-year-old Blaney joked when asked about starting at the back of the field. “You learn that as you run a little bit more in NASCAR. When you start in the back or something goes wrong and you lose five or six spots it’s the patience aspect of it.

“We were super patient working back up through the field. It helps when you have a really good car and you know you can be patient.”

Meanwhile, Harvick’s tough luck at Charlotte continued.

He has won 46 career Xfinity Series races, but remains winless at Charlotte.

“I just can’t seem to get to Victory Lane here,” said Harvick, who will start on the pole for the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday.

Austin Dillon finished third, and Christopher Bell fourth in his Xfinity Series race debut.

Blaney led the middle portion of the race and captured Stage 2. But he got boxed in on pit road with 26 laps remaining and Harvick took over the lead. “I was pretty upset I didn’t get into my box well and didn’t do a good job of getting angled out,” Blaney said.