Elliott Sadler delivers Darlington pick-me-up win for boss Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Elliott Sadler gave boss Dale Earnhardt Jr. his best news of the week, winning Saturday's Xfinity Series race at Darlington.

“This win today is for my man, Dale Earnhardt Jr.” Sadler said after holding off Denny Hamlin.

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Sadler and Hamlin staged a tough fight over the last two laps. However, Hamlin couldn't get by while Sadler kept riding the high line to victory. Behind them came Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson and Brennan Poole.

Hamlin and Larson will return for Sunday's Sprint Cup race, the Southern 500, which begins after 6 p.m. ET.

Friday, Hendrick Motorsports announced Earnhardt would not race again this season and concentrate on recovering from a brain injury. Earnhardt, NASCAR's most popular driver the past 13 years, had not raced since July 9 at Kentucky. Jeff Gordon will drive Earnhardt's car on Sunday and three more times this season. The other eight races will find Alex Bowman driving.

It was Sadler's second victory of the season.

Earnhardt "was riding there with me today and he’s given me such a great opportunity to be a part of his race team and put great guys behind me," Sadler said.

It was Sadler's first Darlington victory and his 12th in Xfinity.

Six Cup drivers took competed on Saturday. Behind Hamlin and Larson were Ryan Blaney, seventh; Paul Menard, 20th; Kevin Harvick, 35th because of a sour engine; and Matt DiBenedetto, 40th.

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With two laps left in the 147-lap event, the outcome was in the balance. Sadler had a lead of 0.715 seconds when he crossed the stripe to complete Lap 145. But he started sliding toward the outside wall in Turn 2 and had to fight to keep his No. 1 Chevrolet under control.
 
Hamlin pulled to the inside and the cars were side-by-side down the backstretch. But as they entered Turn 3, Sadler regained momentum and pulled ahead in the top lane as the drivers approached the white flag. Hamlin got an excellent run through Turns 1 and 2 on the final lap but not enough to make a pass.
 
“I messed up, man,” Sadler said of the close call on the penultimate lap. “I could kind of see him coming, and I was trying to make up some time, and I started focusing on a lapped car in front of me, and I ran out of room and almost gave it to him.
 
“But all in all, we were able to hold him off.”

— Contributing: Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service