CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Austin Dillon passed Denny Hamlin with 15 laps left and won the Xfinity Series race Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The 25-year-old Dillon started on the pole and had the fastest car all day, leading the first 98 laps and 163 of 200 overall for his first win on his home track.

Hamlin finished second, nearly 3 seconds behind Dillon.

Kasey Kahne was third, followed by Regan Smith and Xfinity Series regular Darrell Wallace Jr.

“I didn’t want to get out of this car (because) it drove so good,” Dillon said.

Points leader Chris Buescher was 11th, but was never in contention for the lead.

It was Dillon’s fourth career series victory. He has seven top-five finishes in nine Xfinity starts this season.

Dillon simply couldn’t be caught when his No. 33 Chevrolet had clean air.

He would regularly stretch his lead to more than four seconds during long stretches of green flag racing in the first half of the race.

“I thought it was pretty much a battle for second place all day,” Hamlin said. “He had an exceptionally strong car.”

Even Clint Bowyer, who was working as a Fox Sports analyst, seemed a little bored with Dillon extending his lead late in the race, remarking, “I don’t know about you guys, but I would like to see a caution right now.”

With 34 laps to go, Bowyer got his wish.

On a restart, Hamlin took the outside line and passed Dillon to take the lead for the first time and Kahne boxed out Dillon to take over second place.

Dillon didn’t flinch. He passed Kahne with 23 laps to go and aimed at Hamlin.

He took his shot with 15 laps to go, blowing by Kahne on the low side of the track amid lap traffic and quickly pulled away and cruised to the win.

Kyle Larson, last year’s winner, had to take his car behind the wall midway through the race after his No. 4 Chevrolet sustained a broken rear shock mount. He finished 33rd.

It was another tough weekend for Jamie Dick when his engine blew up in turn one 48 laps into the race, causing smoke to engulf is car and sending it spinning down the track and into the wall.

At the last race in Iowa, Dick received a scare when a tungsten weight flew out of the back of Ross Chastain’s car and punctured Dick’s front windshield, raising further safety concerns from drivers.

Brian Scott was running near the top before being penalized for speeding on pit row and being sent to the back of the field.