Earnhardt led 128 laps, surviving two late-race cautions and a hard-charging Ty Dillon in a Green-White-Checkered finish.

“In the first 20 laps there was a lot of guys as good, maybe better than us,” Earnhardt said. “I think it was Ty (Dillon) was better than me on the last couple of laps. It was a good race and a good finish.”      

The first scheduled XFINITY Series day race for the track since 1997 featured two 35-lap heat races and a 140-lap feature.

While Dillon finished second, he will still go home $100,000 richer, as he took home the XFINITY Series Dash4Cash as the highest finishing eligible driver.

“You’re sure this is Richmond, right?” Dillion laughed. “This place has been really tough on me and my team as a whole. To finish second and run the way we did all day was just impressive.”

While the win is the 24th of Earnhardt’s XFINITY Series career, it’s his first victory while driving a car he owns.

“I knew we had great cars at Richmond and that’s why I picked to run here,” Earnhardt said. “This was one of the races I asked if I could run, so I was lucky to just be able to drive our stuff here.”

Virginia native Elliott Sadler came home third. Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon rounded out the top-five.

Cole Custer, in his XFINITY Series debut, finished sixth.

“It was just a great day for us,” Custer said.

Racing returns to Richmond International Raceway tomorrow for the TOYOTA OWNERS 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

The race begins at 1:00 p.m.

Tickets are on-sale now and may be purchased at www.rir.com.