NXS: Austin Dillon Tops First Practice for Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Austin Dillon wanted to run more XFINITY races to give himself some more seat time, and so far, it’s going really well. Dillon would lead the first practice with a lap of 29.838 seconds.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., making his second XFINITY start of the year, was second quickest, followed by his JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith. Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five, followed by Ty Dillon, Aric Almirola, Brendan Gaughan, Daniel Saurez and Erik Jones.

Brian Scott wouldn’t get any laps on track, as he would blow a motor at the beginning of the session.

“Coming through the gears, I couldn’t get it in fourth gear,” Scott commented. “It was grinding all the way through and once I got to fourth gear, it just shut off. It’s the first motor that I have blew with these guys as the ECR engines are good.”

14 drivers missed the first 15 minutes of practice due to being late to inspection last week – Elliott Sadler, Ross Chastain, Darrell Wallace Jr., Smith, Elliott, Cale Conley, Saurez, Jones, Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Earnhardt. Saurez also missed the beginning of practice due to being under the weather, as Joe Gibbs Racing got Matt Kenseth to practice the car till Saurez was ready.

Many drivers missed the first couple of minutes practice, though, as a result of technical inspection delays.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Almirola said. Whether less officials or issues in technical inspection, but we just weren’t through tech yet. It’s making it harder on everybody. There’s only been a handful of drivers that have gotten on the track anyway.”