NASCAR travels to Phoenix Raceway this week for the final race of the year where the driver that achieves the highest finish in their respective series will be crowned the 2022 NASCAR Champion.
Chase Elliott, 2020 Champion, Joey Logano, 2018 Cup Series Champion, Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain will be competing for the NASCAR Cup Series trophy Sunday afternoon.
Justin Allgaier, Josh Berry, Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson will race Saturday evening for the NASCAR Xfinity Series title, each hoping to claim their first championship.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship contenders will hit the track Friday night as Ty Majeski, Ben Rhodes, Chandler Smith and Zane Smith battle for the coveted trophy.
All times are Eastern.
Thursday, Nov. 3
8:05 p.m.: Truck Series Practice – All Entries – No TV 9:30 p.m.: ARCA Menards Series West – Practice/Qualifying – No TV
Friday, Nov. 4
2:30 p.m.: ARCA Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100 – FloRacing/MRN 6 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying (Impound – Single Vehicle/1 Lap/ All Entries) FS1 7:05 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice – All Entries – USA 8:05 p.m.: Truck Series Practice – All Entries – USA/MRN
10 p.m.: Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 Distance 150 Laps = 150 Miles Stages: 45/90/150 Laps FS1/MRN/SiriusXM Purse: $817,025
Saturday, Nov. 5
2:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – (Impound – Single Vehicle/1 Lap/ All Entries) NBC Sports App 3:30 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying – (Impound – Group A & B/ Single Vehicle/1 Lap/2 Rounds) USA/MRN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship race Distance: 200 Laps = 200 Miles Stages 45/90/200 Laps USA/MRN/SiriusXM/NBC Sports App The Purse: $1,645,625
Sunday, Nov. 6
3 p.m.: NASCAR Cup Series Championship race Distance: 312 Laps = 312 Miles Stages: 60/185/312 Laps NBC/Peacock/MRN/SiriusXM The Purse: $10,542,284
Three weeks after executing on a “must-win” situation to transfer to the Playoff’s Round of 8 by winning at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, Christopher Bell rose to the occasion once again by claiming a late dominant victory in the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, October 30. Only on this occasion, the victory awarded Bell a spot to the Championship 4 round and with an opportunity to contend for his first NASCAR Cup Series championship.
The 27-year-old Bell from Norman, Oklahoma, led three times for 150 of 500-scheduled laps and benefitted during a 24-lap dash to the finish on fresh tires to overtake Chase Briscoe with five laps remaining and pull away en route to his third Cup victory of the 2022 season and with a championship finale spot all to his for next weekend’s season finale at Phoenix Raceway. As a result, Bell will square off for the 2022 title against Joey Logano, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain, who executed a bold “video game” move by riding his car against the outside wall on the final lap to finish in the top five and claim the final transfer spot to the finale while knocking veteran Denny Hamlin out of title contention at the last second.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Kyle Larson secured his fourth pole position of the 2022 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 96.078 mph in 19.709 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate and Playoff competitor Chase Elliott, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 96.019 mph in 19.721 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Larson took off with the advantage on the outside lane and had both lanes to his control through the first two turns while teammate Elliott and Ryan Blaney battled for second in front of Chase Briscoe and Brad Keselowski. As Larson went on to lead the first lap, Elliott and Blaney continued to duel for second as Briscoe joined the battle.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Larson was leading by nearly eight-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott followed by Blaney, Briscoe and Keselowski while Cole Custer, Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick were in the top 10. Behind, Joey Logano was in 11th ahead of Corey LaJoie, rookie Harrison Burton, Michael McDowell and Austin Dillon wile Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson and Chis Buescher. Meanwhile, William Byron was in 24th in between Bubba Wallace and Erik Jones while Martin Truex Jr. was in 26th in front of rookie Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs.
Fifteen laps later, Larson, who started to approach lapped traffic, retained the lead nearly a second over teammate Elliott while Blaney, Briscoe and Keselowski remained in the top five. By then, five of eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 on the track while remaining Playoff competitors that included Logano, Bell and Byron were mired back in 11th, 18th and 24th, respectively.
Another 25 laps later on the Lap 50 mark, Larson continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott followed by Briscoe, who battled hard against Blaney and bumped him for third place earlier. Meanwhile, Cole Custer battled Keselowski for fifth place while Chastain, Suarez, Hamlin and Harvick were scored in the top 10.
On Lap 71, Elliott muscled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead over teammate Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as Briscoe and Blaney started to close in on Larson for the runner-up spot. By then, Kyle Busch, who was making his penultimate Cup start for Joe Gibbs Racing, was lapped by the leaders.
Nineteen laps later, Elliott was leading by more than a second over teammate Larson followed by a two-car battle between Custer and Hamlin for third place while Briscoe was in fifth ahead of Keselowski, Blaney, Chastain, Suarez and Harvick.
At the Lap 100 mark, Elliott continued to lead by less than a second over a hard-charging Hamlin, who overtook Larson and Custer a few laps earlier, while Briscoe remained in fifth. Meanwhile, Blaney was back in seventh behind Keselowski as he was losing ground of the leaders with his tires wearing out. By then, big names that included Cindric, Reddick, Allmendinger and Truex were lapped by Elliott.
Ten laps later, a heated battle for the lead ignited between Elliott and Hamlin as Hamlin drew his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry alongside Elliott’s Chevrolet and tried to clear him for the lead through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1. Despite Elliott’s attempt to stall his momentum, Hamlin prevailed during the following lap through Turns 3 and 4 as he became the third different leader of the event with the clean air to his advantage.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 130, Hamlin, who came into Martinsville five points below the top-four cutline to advance to the Championship 4 round, claimed his fourth stage victory of the 2022 season as he received critical stage points to keep his title hopes alive. Elliott settled in second while Custer, Larson, Briscoe, Keselowski, Bell, Blaney, Chastain and Suarez were scored in the top 10. By then, six of eight Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 and received the first wave of stage points while the remaining Playoff competitors that included Logano and Byron were in 13th and 18th, respectively. By then, Byron had been lapped by Hamlin as only 17 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the stage break, the field led by Hamlin pitted for the first time of the event. Following the pit stops, Hamlin retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Elliott, Larson, Custer, Keselowski and Bell. In addition, Briscoe, who came into the event 44 points below the cutline and in a “must-win” situation, was penalized for his gas can out of his pit box while Playoff competitors Blaney and Bell made slight contact on pit road.
The second stage started on Lap 139 as Hamlin and Elliott occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin retained the lead over Elliott and Larson as the field behind jostled for positions. In the process, Bell, who came into the event 33 points below the cutline and in a “must-win” situation, moved his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota TRD Camry into the top five in fifth behind Custer and in front of Keselowski.
Twenty-one laps later, Hamlin was out in front by more than a second over Elliott followed by Larson, Custer and Bell while Keselowski, Blaney, Suarez, Logano and Chastain were running in the top 10. Meanwhile, Harvick was in 11th ahead of teammate Almirola, Burton, Wallace and rookie Todd Gilliland while McDowell, Byron and Briscoe rounded out the competitors running on the lead lap. By then, LaJoie and Austin Dillon, both of whom were the first two competitors a lap behind the leaders, rounded out the top 20.
Another 10 laps later and by Lap 175, Hamlin continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Elliott while Larson, Custer and Bell remained in the top five. By then, all eight Playoff competitors continued to run no lower than 18th place and on the lead lap, with six scored in the top 10 on the track.
Just past the Lap 190 mark, Tyler Reddick took his No. 8 3Chi Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the garage due to feeling under weather as he was transported to the infield care center.
At the Lap 200 mark, Hamlin retained the lead by more than two seconds over Elliott while Larson, Custer and Bell continued to run in the top five. By then, Playoff competitors Hamlin, Elliott, Bell, Blaney, Logano and Chastain were scored in the top 10 while Byron and Briscoe were mired back in 17th and 18th.
By Lap 225, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over runner-up Elliott and more than five seconds over Larson. By then, Byron and Briscoe, both of whom remained in 17th and 18th, were lapped by the leaders.
At the halfway mark on Lap 250, Hamlin continued to lead by more than four seconds over followed by Larson, Custer and Bell while Blaney, Keselowski, Logano, Suarez and Chastain were in the top 10. Behind, Wallace was in 11th ahead of Almirola, Harvick, Burton and Gilliland wile McDowel, Byron, Briscoe, Austin Dillon and LaJoie rounded out the top 20. Meanwhile, Erik Jones, Truex, Stenhouse, Gibbs and Buescher occupied the top 25 in front of Gragson, Cindric was mired in 29th and Kyle Busch was back in 34th and six laps down while dealing with an ill-handling No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 260, Hamlin captured his fifth stage victory of the 2022 season as he swept both stages and earned another round of critical stage points to his championship hopes. Elliott settled in second while Larson, Custer, Bell, Blaney, Keselowski, Logano, Suarez and Chastain were scored in the top 10. By then, 13 competitors were scored on the lead lap. In addition, six of eight Playoff competitors earned a second wave of Playoff points while Byron and Briscoe were not on the lead lap and mired back in the top 20.
Under the stage break, the field led by Hamlin pitted for the second time of the event. Following the pit stops, Hamlin retained the lead after exiting pit road first with a large advantage followed by Larson, Elliott, Blaney, Custer and Logano.
With 229 laps remaining, the final stage started as Hamlin and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin rocketed with the lead and Elliott challenged teammate Larson for the runner-up spot after Larson struggled to come up to speed at the start. Behind, Custer and Blaney battled for fourth in front of Bell while Logano battled Keselowski and Chastain for seventh.
Two laps later, the first caution not related to a stage break flew when Chastain got into Keselowski as Keselowski, who was vying for eighth place, spun and made light contact with the outside wall. During the caution period, names that included Logano, Byron, Chastain and Keselowski pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track. Logano would return to pit road for a second time to address a fire to the left front of his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang.
When the race restarted under green with 220 laps remaining, Hamlin retained the lead over Elliott and the field.
With 200 laps remaining, Hamlin was out in front by seven-tenths of a second over Elliott followed by Bell, Custer and Blaney while Larson, Suarez, Wallace, Almirola and Burton were scored in the top 10. Behind, Harvick, Keselowski, Chastain, Logano and Byron rounded out the top 15 and as the last round of competitors scored on the lead lap while Playoff competitor Briscoe was mired a lap down in 16th in front of Gilliland, McDowell, Austin Dillon, Gibbs, Erik Jones, Truex, LaJoie, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Justin Haley.
Nineteen laps later, the caution flew when Austin Dillon got loose and pounded the outside wall entering Turn 4 hard due to a front rotor issue, though he emerged uninjured. During the caution period, the leaders led by Hamlin pitted. Following the pit stops, Bell emerged as the new leader after exiting first just ahead of Blaney and Elliott while Hamlin exited in fourth place ahead of Larson and Custer.
During the following restart with 171 laps remaining, Bell took off with the lead followed by a side-by-side battle against Blaney and Elliott for the runner-up spot while Larson and Hamlin dueled for fourth place. Not long after, Elliott cleared Blaney for second while Larson moved into fourth over Hamlin as Custer joined the battle.
With 150 laps remaining, Bell was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Elliott followed by Blaney, Hamlin and Larson while Suarez, Custer, Wallace, Almirola and Logano occupied the top 10. By then, all eight Playoff competitors were scored on the lead lap and no lower than 16th place, which was occupied by Briscoe, while Chastain and Byron were in 13th and 14th.
Twenty-five laps later, Bell, who remained in a “must-win” situation to maintain his title hopes, continued to lead by two-and-a-half seconds over Elliott while Blaney, Hamlin and Larson remained in the top five.
Then with 107 laps remaining, the caution flew when JJ Yeley spun in Turn 3. Under caution, the leaders led by Bell returned to pit road. Following the pit stops, Bell retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Blaney, Elliott, Larson, Wallace and Hamlin.
Down to the final 97 laps of the event, the race proceeded under green as Bell and Blaney, both of whom were placed in a “must-win” situation to transfer to the championship finale round, occupied the front row. At the start, Bell and Blaney dueled for the lead in front of Elliott, Larson and Hamlin while Logano and Keselowski marched to the front on the outside lane as they challenged Wallace for sixth. As the field jostled for late spots, Bell managed to clear Blaney and retain the lead.
With 75 laps remaining, Bell retained the lead by a second over Blaney followed by Elliott, Larson and Hamlin while Wallace, Keselowski, Logano, Custer and Briscoe were scored in the top 10. By then, all eight Playoff competitors were running no lower than 13th, which was occupied by Chastain as Byron was in 11th.
Twenty-five laps later and with 50 laps remaining, Bell continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Blaney while Elliott, Larson and Hamlin remained in the top five. The remaining Playoff competitors that included Logano, Briscoe, Byron and Chastain were running eighth, 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively, as a total of 17 of 36 starters were currently scored on the lead lap.
Then with 34 laps remaining, the caution flew when Landon Cassill pounded the outside wall hard in Turn 3 as his damaged No. 77 Nations Guard Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 came to a halt with the driver emerging uninjured. During the caution period, the majority of the field led by Bell returned to pit road and Larson exited first following a two-tire pit stop followed by Keselowski, Byron, Bell, Blaney and Elliott. Bacon the track, however, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Briscoe and Custer remained on the track as they emerged as the new leaders. During the pit stops, Hamlin endured a slow pit stop as he was mired back in 12th behind Chastain.
Down to the final 24 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Briscoe retained the lead while teammate Custer was able to fend off Larson and Keselowski to hold the runner-up spot ahead of a hungry pack of competitors running through two tight lanes.
A few laps later, a heated side-by-side battle for a spot for the Championship 4 round ensued between Hamlin and Chastain as both made contact and refused to give an inch to one another. With Hamlin eventually prevailing for 11th and needing to finish within four spots ahead of Chastain to transfer to the finale, Briscoe continued to lead by half a second over teammate Custer. Soon after, Keselowski, Bell, Larson and Blaney began to challenge one another for third place as both Blaney and Bell were placed in deficits of not transferring to the finale along with Byron and Hamlin.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Briscoe was leading by half a second over Keselowski and eight-tenths of a second over third-place Bell. Behind, Hamlin overtook Logano for eighth place, which made him above the cutline by a single point over Chastain, who was in 12th.
Two laps later, Bell rocketed past Keselowski for the runner-up spot as he had his sights on Briscoe for the lead and a spot to the championship finale. Another three laps later, Bell shoved his No. 20 Toyota beneath Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford with contact ensuing as he reassumed the lead and moved back into the cutline, thus kicking Briscoe back below the cutline. Meanwhile, Chastain challenged Elliott for 11th, which he prevailed as he moved back into the cutline in a tie-breaker over Hamlin. Hamlin, however, responded back by overtaking Logano, Briscoe and Byron to move into fifth place, which put him back into the cutline by two points.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bell remained as the leader by eight-tenths of a second over Larson. Having four fresh tires to his advantage and executing when it mattered most, Bell was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and claim his spot for the championship finale with his third checkered flag of the 2022 season.
Just then, Chastain, who was running in 10th place and on the verge of being eliminated from title contention by two points, floored his No. 1 Moose Fraternity Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 against the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4, which he rode and scraped his car against the wall at full speed as he gained five spots in the process. In addition, Chastain also overtook Hamlin as he finished in fifth place, which was more than enough for the Floridian to grab the fourth and final transfer spot to the Championship 4 round by four points over Hamlin.
With his bold move and the spots gained on the final lap and final corner, Chastain will make his first career appearance in the Championship 4 round as he will contend for his first NASCAR Cup Series championship along with Trackhouse Racing, which is in its second year of NASCAR competition. Hamlin, meanwhile, ended up being the first competitor to be eliminated from title contention as he still pursues his first elusive Cup title.
“[I] Played a lot of NASCAR 2005 on the game cube with [brother] Chad growing up and you could get away with it,” Chastain said on NBC. “I never knew if [the move] would actually work. I did that [move] when I was eight years old. I grabbed fifth gear. I asked off of [Turn] 2 on the last lap if we needed it and we did. I couldn’t tell who was leading. I made my choice, I grabbed fifth gear down the [backstretch] and full committed. Once I got up against the wall, I basically let go of the [steering] wheel and just hoped that it didn’t catch the Turn 4 access gate or something crazy, but I was willing to do it for this Trackhouse group. Today for our Moose Chevy, we didn’t have what we needed. Just glad we could do whatever we could do. All we asked for is a chance…To be here fighting for a championship now, it’s just so surreal. I just cannot believe that we have a chance to fight for a championship. We kept our world small today and this year so far. We’ll do the same thing going into Phoenix.”
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“You gotta execute all day,” Hamlin, who finished sixth, said. “We just didn’t control the race when we had control of it. Each caution, we just kept losing some spots. It’s the way it is, but thank [crew chief] Chris Gabehart and [the] whole FedEx Camry team for giving me a really fast car today. It was just unbelievable when it was out front. [I] Couldn’t quite hang on to it there on pit road. Hopefully, [Bell] can carry the [championship] banner for us…It’s what racing is here at Martinsville. [I’m] Actually pretty happy with how somewhat clean it was there towards the end as crazy as it was with guys on different tires. [I] Can’t say enough for my team to give us a shot. We were in the 20s for most of this season in points just because of our up-and-down execution, but we’re gonna end up fifth in points. It is what it is. Great move [for Chastain]. When you have no other choice, it certainly is easy to do that, but well-executed.”
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
While Chastain celebrated on pit road, Bell celebrated his race victory on the track as he claimed his fourth Cup Series career victory and first at Martinsville. In the process, Bell recorded the 200th NASCAR Cup career win for Joe Gibbs Racing as he also will make his first appearance in the Championship 4 round as a title contender.
“Mom and dad, we did it!” Bell, who fought back tears of joy, exclaimed. “I can’t believe it, man. To come here to Martinsville. This place has always been so tough on me. [During] pre-race, I was looking up and seeing all the fans. This place is packed. I don’t even know what to say. Thank you so much to DeWalt, Rheem, Toyota, everyone on this Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 team. They believe in me since day one. Very appreciative to be here. I don’t even know what to say…This entire No. 20 group. They never give up. [When] Our backs [are] against the wall and it looks like it’s over, they show up and give me the fastest car out here. Words can’t describe this feeling.”
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Also transferring to the Championship 4 round was Chase Elliott, who finished 11th as he will square off against Joey Logano, Bell and Chastain for his second Cup title.
“We just got back a little further than we had been throughout the day,” Elliott, who transferred by four points, said. “Track position was everything unless you were just a couple of guys. I thought it was really a solid day. We did what we needed to do, I guess, on the driver’s side. Nice to have a shot at the driver’s championship next weekend. Nonetheless, [I’m] Excited to get out there [to Phoenix] and give it our best shot to try to get another big trophy. We’ll be ready to go come next weekend. I don’t have any doubt about that.”
Hamlin joins William Byron, Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe as the remaining four competitors to be eliminated from title contention and not moving past the Round of 8 in the Playoffs.
“We didn’t start off very good,” Blaney, who rallied to finish third but missed the cutline by 26 points, said. “I think we kind of faded at the end of the first stage. We got better and better all night, which is good. We had a shot to grab the lead there before the last caution. I just couldn’t get around [Bell] and kind of burned my stuff off trying to pass [Bell]. Then, just a wild restart and just didn’t get through the traffic as quickly as Bell did and he ended up winning the race. Proud of the Discount Tire guys. I put us in a bad spot the first two races of this round and we almost had a really good night to where we could move on. Appreciate their support. It stinks not making it to the Final Four, but we’ll learn and hopefully apply the good things next year.”
“I needed probably eight less laps,” Briscoe, who fell back to 10th and missed the cutline by 61 points, added. “That would’ve been nice. If I would have known that move that Ross did worked, I would have just done that for eight more laps. I just fell off a cliff pretty hard. Just couldn’t hold them guys off with new tires. I just didn’t have the forward-drive or getting the side bite to hold them off. Proud of our team. We were in position there at the end to potentially capitalize on it. Win as a team, lose as a team. [We’ll] Go to Phoenix next week and see if we can win.”
“We just didn’t have it, unfortunately,” Byron, who ended up 11th and missed the cutline by 21 points, said. “[We] Put a lot of effort in and it just wasn’t anything like we had here in the spring. Just struggled. The first couple stages, I knew it was gonna be a grind. The best thing we could do was try to put ourselves in a position in the top five late where, hopefully, the leaders get together. Just unfortunately not enough all day. That’s just the way it goes sometimes…Just got to learn from it. It’s been a good run for us. Unfortunately, it wasn’t our best.”
Larson, who will contend for an owners’ title next weekend at Phoenix, came home in second place on the track behind Bell while Blaney, Keselowski and Chastain finished in the top five. Hamlin, Logano, Byron, Wallace and Briscoe completed the top 10 while Elliott settled in 11th. Following the race and the post-race inspection process, Keselowski was disqualified due to his car failing to meet minimum weight as he was demoted to 36th place, dead last.
There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 53 laps.
Results.
1. Christopher Bell, 150 laps led
2. Kyle Larson, 68 laps led
3. Ryan Blaney
4. Ross Chastain
5. Denny Hamlin, 203 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
6. Joey Logano
7. William Byron
8. Bubba Wallace
9. Chase Briscoe, 25 laps led
10. Chase Elliott, 54 laps led
11. Harrison Burton
12. Daniel Suarez
13. Todd Gilliland
14. Cole Custer
15. Aric Almirola
16. Kevin Harvick
17. Michael McDowell
18. Erik Jones, two laps down
19. Ty Gibbs, two laps down
20. Martin Truex Jr., two laps down
21. Corey LaJoie, two laps down
22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., two laps down
23. AJ Allmendinger, two laps down
24. Chris Buescher, three laps down
25. Noah Gragson, three laps down
26. Austin Cindric, three laps down
27. Justin Haley, three laps down
28. Cody Ware, five laps down
29. Kyle Busch, six laps down
30. JJ Yeley, 12 laps down
31. Ty Dillon – OUT, Brakes
32. Landon Cassill – OUT, Accident
33. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident
34. BJ McLeod – OUT, Fire
35. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident
36. Brad Keselowski – Disqualified
*Bold indicates Playoff contenders
Playoff standings
1. Joey Logano – Advanced
2. Christopher Bell – Advanced
3. Chase Elliott – Advanced
4. Ross Chastain – Advanced
5. Denny Hamlin – Eliminated
6. William Byron – Eliminated
7. Ryan Blaney – Eliminated
8. Chase Briscoe – Eliminated
With the Championship 4 field set, the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to conclude at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, November 6, where a champion will be crowned. The event is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
With the championship finale looming over the NASCAR Xfinity Series competition and spots to battle for the title up for grabs, Ty Gibbs spoiled teammate Brandon Jones’ opportunity to compete for this year’s title by wrecking him on the final lap before proceeding to claim a controversial victory in the Dead on Tools 250 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, October 29.
The 20-year-old Gibbs from Charlotte, North Carolina, led seven times for a race-high 102 of 269 over-scheduled laps and took care of business for the majority of the event to secure a spot for the Championship 4 round based on points. Under the final 10 laps and pushing his car for more, however, Gibbs found himself squared off against teammate Brandon Jones, who was placed in a “must-win” situation to maintain his title hopes through a series of late restarts and incidents that sent the event into overtime three times.
During the third and final overtime attempt, Jones, who traded paint with Gibbs throughout a series of late restarts, managed to navigate his way around Gibbs and the field for the lead, but Gibbs delivered the final blow on the final lap by bumping and sending his teammate backward into the wall. The incident netted Gibbs an unpopular victory from the grandstands while Jones was one of four competitors to have their championship hopes for this season come to a late end.
By claiming his sixth victory of the 2022 Xfinity Series season, Gibbs is set to square off against JR Motorsports’ Josh Berry, Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier for this year’s Xfinity title that will determine a champion next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Playoff competitor Brandon Jones scored his fifth pole position of the 2022 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 95.482 mph in 19.832 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Sheldon Creed, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 95.333 mph in 19.863 seconds.
Prior to the event, the following competitors that included Playoff competitor Austin Hill, Derek Griffith and Kyle Weatherman dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars. Daniel Hemric also dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car after he wrecked his primary car during the practice session on Friday.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Brandon Jones rocketed with an early advantage through the first two turns ahead of Creed and Sammy Smith while Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson dueled for fourth place. As the field battled through two lanes for a full circuit, Jones went on to lead the first lap.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Jones was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Creed followed by Smith, Gibbs and Gragson while Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Riley Herbst, Anthony Alfredo and Jeb Burton were running in the top 10. Jeremy Clements, Joe Graf Jr., Josh Berry, Ryan Sieg and Landon Cassill occupied the top 15 while Sam Mayer was back in 16th.
Ten laps later, Jones continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Gibbs while Creed, Smith and Gragson were all scored in the top five. By then, six of eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 on the track, minus Mayer and Hill.
On Lap 32, the first caution of the event flew when Patrick Emerling got into the rear of Joe Graf Jr. entering Turn 1 as Graf backed his car hard into the outside wall while Emerling also spun in front of Jeremy Clements and Howie Disavino III. During the first caution period, some led by Gragson pitted while the rest led by Jones remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Gragson was penalized for speeding while entering pit road.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 41, Jones retained the lead over teammate Gibbs and the field. As the field jostled for positions, Jones was able to maintain the top spot for the duration of the first stage as he went on to claim his third stage victory of the 2022 season on Lap 60, which marked the first stage’s conclusion. Teammate Gibbs settled in second followed by Allgaier, Berry and Smith while Herbst, Creed, Allmendinger, Mayer and Hill claimed top-10 spots and the first round of stage points.
Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Jones pitted while Gragson and Rajah Caruth remained on the track. During the pit stops, Kyle Weatherman and Alex Labbe were both penalized for safety violations.
The second stage started on Lap 70 as Gragson and Caruth occupied the front row. At the start, Gragson took off with the lead and managed to cross over from the outside lane to the inside lane entering the first turn. Behind, the field fanned out to three lanes as Jones muscled his way into the runner-up spot while Berry and Gibbs were also scored in the top five. Behind, Allgaier battled Smith for sixth place while racing on the outside lane as the field continued to duel and rub against one another for spots.
Eighteen laps later, Gibbs emerged as the third different leader of the event after he overtook Gragson.
On Lap 106, the caution flew when Landon Cassill wheel-hopped his No. 10 StormX Chevrolet Camaro entering Turn 3 and smacked the outside wall hard while locking up his front tires. During the caution period, some led by Gibbs remained on the track while the rest led by Jones pitted.
With nine laps remaining in the second stage, the race proceeded under green as Gibbs and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier gained momentum on the outside lane to move his No. 7 iRacing/BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro into the lead. Five laps later, however, Allgaier slipped up the track entering Turn 3, which allowed Gibbs to reassume the top spot. As Gibbs maintained his ground with the lead, Berry and Hill rubbed fenders while battling for sixth place.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 120, Gibbs claimed his eighth stage victory of the 2022 season. Allgaier settled in second while Allmendinger, Gragson, Sanchez, Berry, Hill, Jeb Burton, Ryan Sieg and Alfredo were scored in the top 10. By then, six of eight Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 and were awarded a second round of stage points while Brandon Jones and Mayer were mired back in 11th and 18th.
Under the stage break, some led by Gibbs pitted while the rest led by Berry remained on the track.
With 122 laps remaining, the final stage started as Berry and Sammy Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Berry retained the lead and had both lanes to his control with clean air while Hill intimidated Smith for the runner-up spot by bumping him and trying to move him up entering the turns. Smith, however, retained his ground and the runner-up spot while Creed and Jones battled for fourth in front of Herbst and Hemric. A few laps later, Hill prevailed over his battle with Smith as he moved into the runner-up spot while Jones tried to issue a challenge on teammate Smith for third place.
Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Berry was leading by more than a second over Jones, who battled and overtook Hill for the runner-up spot, while Herbst and Gibbs were scored in the top five. Smith, Mayer, Allmendinger, Gragson and Creed were running in the top 10 ahead of Allgaier, Sanchez, Hemric, Perkins and Snider while Alfredo, Labbe, Sieg, Weatherman and Derek Griffith occupied the top 20.
Eleven laps later, the caution returned when Yeley wrecked in Turn 3 after wheel-hopping entering the turn and sustaining significant rear-end damage to his car. During the caution periods, the leaders returned to pit road and Jones managed to reassume the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Berry, Gibbs, Gragson and Herbst.
When the race restarted under green with 81 laps remaining, Jones rocketed with the lead entering the first turn while Berry settled in the runner-up spot behind Jones and in front of Gibbs before Gibbs assumed Berry’s spot during the following lap. Behind, Herbst was in fourth while Allmendinger and Gragson battled for fifth place in front of Hill.
Then with 72 laps remaining, Gibbs muscled his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra into the lead over teammate Jones’ No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra through Turns 3 and 4 as Jones was placed back into a “must-win” situation to maintain his title hopes.
Sixteen laps later, the caution flew when Kris Wright got bumped by Disavino III as both spun in Turn 3. During the caution period, some that included Allmendinger and Hill pitted while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track.
With 48 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green as teammates Gibbs and Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs, who restarted on the outside lane, rocketed away from the field entering Turn 1 before he crossed over to the inside lane entering the backstretch to block Jones, who was being challenged by Gragson for more. Not long after, however, the caution returned when Ryan Sieg spun towards the outside wall in Turn 1 after getting hit by Hemric’s No. 11 AG1 Chevrolet Camaro.
As the race restarted with 40 laps remaining, Gibbs took off with another strong start while Jones and Gragson dueled for second in front of Smith, Berry, Mayer and Allgaier. Three laps later, however, the caution was displayed when Hill, Clements and Parsons came together as all three wrecked entering the backstretch. The incident prompted Hill to pit his No. 21 Global Industrial Chevrolet Camaro from the top 20 during the caution period as his hopes of advancing to the Championship 4 round were placed in jeopardy.
When the race restarted with 32 laps remaining, Gibbs and Gragson dueled for the lead for nearly a full lap before Gibbs, who officially clinched his spot for the Championship 4 finale, cleared the field and had both lanes to his control through Turn 4. It did not take long, however, for the caution to return for a multi-car stack-up that struck entering Turn 4 when Snider got turned and collected Hill, Emerling, CJ McLaughlin, Disavino, Kris Wright, Stefan Parsons and Mason Massey. During the caution period, Berry surrendered seventh place to pit along with Labbe, Hill and Josh Williams while the rest of the competitors remained on the track.
During the following restart with 23 laps remaining, Gibbs took off with the lead while Jones battled Gragson for second place in front of Smith, Mayer, Herbst and Allgaier. Jones prevailed over Gragson during the following lap as he moved into second place while Allgaier and Allmendinger dueled and rubbed fenders for seventh place.
With less than 20 laps remaining, the battle for seventh place on the track and for a championship finale spot ignited between Allgaier and Allmendinger as Allgaier, who got moved up the track following a bump by Allmendinger a few laps earlier, ran into the rear of Allmendinger in Turn 3 as both dueled against one another. Then with 17 laps remaining, Allgaier, who got moved up the track again by Allmendinger in Turn 1, delivered the final blow as he pounded into Allmendinger’s rear bumper twice entering Turn 3. With Allmendinger moving up the track, Allgaier seized his opportunity and made contact into the side of Allmendinger as Allmendinger nearly got loose in Turn 4 before falling off the pace after cutting a left-rear tire amid the contact. With the caution flying, Allmendinger pitted his No. 16 Action Industries Chevrolet Camaro for fresh tires as his hopes of transferring to the finale were placed in jeopardy. The incident also erased Gibbs’ steady advantage over teammate Jones.
Down to the final nine laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Gibbs and Gragson squared off against one another on the front row. At the start, Jones, who restarted behind teammate Gibbs, made his move for the lead after getting into the rear of Gibbs. Just as Jones started to pull ahead of Gibbs with the lead, the caution flew due to Weatherman wrecking in Turn 1 along with Brandon Brown and Jeb Burton. The incident was enough to send the event into overtime.
During the first overtime attempt, Jones, who restarted on the inside lane alongside teammate Smith and in front of Gibbs, dueled against Smith for the lead entering Turn 1 before Gibbs shoved his nose beneath Jones entering the backstretch. This resulted in all three Joe Gibbs Racing competitors racing three wide for the lead entering Turn 3. That was when Smith got rubbed by Jones as Smith went for a spin as the caution flew and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt. At the moment of caution, NASCAR ruled that Jones was the leader followed by teammate Gibbs as Herbst, Gragson and Creed completed the top five.
At the start of the second overtime attempt, Jones briefly pulled away from the field entering the first turn until he barely slipped up the track, which allowed Gibbs to stick his car beneath Jones and challenge him for the lead through the backstretch. By then, however, the caution returned when Berry got turned in Turn 2 by teammate Allgaier after he got bumped by teammate Mayer. At the moment of caution, Gibbs was scored as the leader ahead of Jones, who fell back to a “must-win” situation as Allgaier, who continued to run towards the front, moved back up into contention to make the finale.
The start of the third overtime attempt favored Jones, who made his move beneath Gibbs and Gragson in Turn 1 before all three competitors fanned out to three lanes in a battle for the win through the backstretch. Jones then managed to pull ahead with the lead with a push from Creed through Turns 3 and 4 as he commenced the final lap followed by a hard-charging Gibbs. Then entering Turn 1, Gibbs ran into the rear bumper of Jones, which caused Jones to spin as he backed his No. 19 Toyota into the outside wall in Turn 1. With the caution being displayed, the event was deemed official as Gibbs hustled his way back to the frontstretch and claim the victory.
By winning for the sixth time in 2022 and for the first time at Martinsville, Gibbs claimed his 10th career win in the Xfinity circuit as he will be making his first appearance in the Championship 4 round as a championship contender, all of which will come in his first full-time Xfinity campaign.
Gibbs’ victory was met with mixed results as he received a chorus of boos from the grandstands with the winning driver saluting them before claiming the checkered flag.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I definitely didn’t want to wreck [Jones],” Gibbs said on NBC. “I wanted to get him out of the groove. I felt like we lost here earlier in the spring race just in the same way. I’m just pumped to get this win. It’s so awesome, especially at a track I feel like I’ve been coming to forever. It’s super cool to win here.”
The last lap incident involving Jones knocked Jones out of the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs as his hopes of competing for this year’s title evaporated along with the hopes of Allmendinger, Mayer and Hill, who was involved in a post-race altercation with Snider on pit road. On the contrary, the incident fell in the favor of Allgaier, who ended up in fifth place and managed to secure the fourth and final transfer spot to the Championship 4 Round. This season will mark Allgaier’s fifth appearance in the final round as a title contender, where he will contend for his first NASCAR national touring series championship alongside Gibbs and teammates Berry and Gragson.
“I had the race won, I think,” Jones, who ended up 23rd, said. “I love my guys. I love everyone on this No. 19 group. I’m excited to make my move to [JR Motorsports] next year and be a part of that organization. A little bit more respect over there, probably, given next year. We got one race left at Phoenix. I know we can go out there and win that, shake this [title fight] a little bit still yet and try to steal a little thunder there. I have no words. I know that we had some fun beating and banging back and forth a little bit, but I’ve never wrecked [Gibbs] or done anything for a win. It kind of shows where that level was there. I think [racing Gibbs earlier] opened up the opportunity to get moved, but I don’t know about dumped, destroyed and finished dead last. At the end of the day, I needed to win the race. Second and last, it is what it is. [I] Just expected to, maybe, have a little bit more of a shot at it there. To me, that’s what’s fun about this sport is having a duel, not just completely destroying somebody’s day.”
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“It was definitely a long day,” Allgaier, who finished fifth, said. “We just didn’t have the handling that we wanted to on our iRacing/BRANDT Camaro. We were OK. We were a top-five car all day. Obviously, AJ and I battled a lot today. We were both pushing each other really hard. I hate having to use the bumper, but our team has done such a good job this year and gave themselves a shot to go for a championship. I had to make the most of it today. Proud of our team at JR Motorsports. To put three cars in the final four. We got a long work this week to be ready for Phoenix, but it’s a great racetrack for us. We’re gonna go there. We’re gonna lay it all on the line. It’s gonna be a battle, for sure.”
“[The battle with Allgaier]’s all fair,” Allmendinger, who settled in 16th, said. “We knew it was gonna be a battle. Thank you to everybody at Kaulig Racing. Our Action Industries Chevy, we were making the best of it. It’s disappointing to end it like that, but still a great year. [We] Did everything we could.”
In addition to this year’s driver’s championship battle, the final four title contenders (Berry, Gragson, Gibbs and Allgaier) will contend for the 2022 Xfinity owners’ championship next weekend at Phoenix.
There were 18 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 14 cautions for 91 laps.
Results.
1. Ty Gibbs, 102 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Sheldon Creed
3. Riley Herbst
4. Noah Gragson, 23 laps led
5. Justin Allgaier, five laps led
6. Sam Mayer
7. Nicholas Sanchez
8. Daniel Hemric
9. Blaine Perkins
10. Austin Hill
11. Jeb Burton
12. Alex Labbe
13. Rajah Caruth
14. Myatt Snider
15. AJ Allmendinger
16. Derek Griffith
17. Sammy Smith, one lap led
18. Jeremy Clements
19. Brandon Brown
20. Josh Berry, 40 laps led
21. Anthony Alfredo
22. Josh Williams
23. Brandon Jones, 98 laps led, Stage 1 winner
24. CJ McLaughlin, one lap down
25. Mason Massey, four laps down
26. Kris Wright, eight laps down
27. Joe Graf Jr., nine laps down
28. Howie Disavino III, 10 laps down
29. Ryan Vargas, 21 laps down
30. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident
31. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Accident
32. Patrick Emerling – OUT, Accident
33. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Accident
34. JJ Yeley – OUT, Brakes
35. Matt Mills – OUT, Engine
36. Chad Finchum – OUT, Brakes
37. Landon Cassill – OUT, Accident
38. Bayley Currey – OUT, Accident
*Bold indicates Playoff contenders
Playoff standings
1. Noah Gragson – Advanced
2. Ty Gibbs – Advanced
3. Josh Berry – Advanced
4. Justin Allgaier – Advanced
5. AJ Allmendinger – Eliminated
6. Austin Hill – Eliminated
7. Sam Mayer – Eliminated
8. Brandon Jones – Eliminated
The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is set to conclude at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, November 5, where a champion will be crowned. The finale is set to commence at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.
This week the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series travel to Martinsville Speedway. After the race, only four drivers from each series will move on to compete for the 2022 championship trophy at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 6.
The Camping World Truck Series championship contenders were set last week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Drivers Ty Majeski, Ben Rhodes, Chandler Smith and Zane Smith made the final cut.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour takes center stage Thursday afternoon with practice (3 p.m.) and qualifying (6 p.m.) in preparation for Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 at 8 p.m. on floracing.com and MRN.
All times are Eastern.
NASCAR Press Pass Live will be available for post-qualifying (Xfinity) and post-race (Xfinity and Cup).
Friday, Oct. 28
4 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice (Group 1 & 2) USA 4:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying (Impound-Single Vehicle/2 Laps/All Entries) USA
Saturday, Oct. 29
12 p.m.: Cup Series Practice (Group – A & B) USA at 12:30 p.m. 12:45 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying (Impound)-Group A & B/Single Vehicle/2 Laps/2 Rounds) USA/MRN/SiriusXM 3 p.m.: Xfinity Dead On Tools 250 Distance: 250 Laps = 131.5 Miles Stage1 ends on Lap 60, Stage 2 ends on Lap 120, Final Stage ends on Lap 250 NBC/Peacock/MRN/SiriusXM The Purse: $1,339,357
Sunday, Oct. 30
2 p.m.: Cup Series Xfinity 500 Distance: 500 Laps = 263 Miles Stage 1 ends on Lap 130, Stage 2 ends on Lap 260, Final Stage ends on Lap 500 NBC/MRN/SiriusXM The Purse: $8,132,735
Kyle Larson rallied from a two-race slump that vanquished his hopes of defending his NASCAR Cup Series championship by grabbing a dominant victory in the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, October 23.
The 2021 Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led five times for a race-high 199 of 267-scheduled laps as he also rallied from making late-race contact with Martin Truex Jr. on pit road during a late caution period that knocked Truex out of contention to fend off Ross Chastain and the field during a 17-lap dash to the finish. The victory was Larson’s first at Homestead in NASCAR’s premier series along with his third of the season.
Mired within Larson’s dominant victory at Homestead was the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs as no Playoff competitor was able to win at Miami nor join Joey Logano with early automatic passes to the Championship 4 round. With that, three spots remain vacant approaching next weekend’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway, which will determine the four finalists who will contend for this year’s title.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Playoff competitor William Byron captured his first pole position of the 2022 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 166.389 mph in 32.454 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff competitor Christopher Bell, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 166.139 mph in 32.503 seconds.
Prior to the event, rookie Todd Gilliland and Corey LaJoie dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Byron pulled ahead and managed to clear Bell entering the first turn to assume full command of the field through the backstretch. As the field behind fanned out and jostled early for positions, Byron proceeded to lead the first lap. As John Hunter Nemechek, who was filling in for the suspended Bubba Wallace, challenged Bell for the runner-up spot, a three-car battle for fourth place between Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott ensued while Ryan Blaney started to join the battle.
Through the first five scheduled laps, Byron was leading by nine-tenths of a second over teammate Larson followed by Bell, Nemechek and Elliott while Blaney, Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick was in 11th ahead of Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick while Martin Truex Jr., Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola and Michael McDowell battled in the top 20 on the track.
At the Lap 10 mark, Byron retained the lead by nine-tenths of a second over teammate Larson followed by Bell and Nemechek while Allmendinger moved into fifth place over Elliott. By then, five of the remaining eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10, minus Chastain, Hamlin and Chase Briscoe.
Fifteen laps later, Byron continued to lead by nearly half a second over teammate Larson followed by a hard-charging Reddick. Nemechek and Allmendinger were scored in the top five while Bell, Elliott, Logano, Chastain and Blaney were running in the top 10. With six of eight Playoff competitors running in the top 10, the remaining two that included Hamlin and Briscoe were running in 13th and 20th, respectively.
Two laps later, Larson muscled his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead over teammate Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. By then, both Hendrick Motorsports competitors were more than five seconds ahead of third-place Reddick’s No. 8 3Chi Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
Another four laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Nemechek, who was running in fourth place, got loose while running close towards the outside lane entering the backstretch and slipped sideways before spinning the No. 45 Columbia Toyota TRD Camry across the track and towards the infield before making contact with the inside wall and continuing. During the first caution period, the leaders led by Byron pitted early for tires, fuel and adjustments. Following the pit stops, Byron reassumed the lead after exiting in first place followed by teammate Larson, with Reddick, Bell and Elliott in the top five spots.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 35, Byron retained the lead over Larson, Reddick and Elliott as the field fanned out through the first two turns and through the backstretch before returning to the frontstretch. Three laps later, the battle for the lead intensified as Larson reassumed the top spot over teammate Byron while Reddick remained in third ahead of Elliott and a hard-charging Allmendinger. Meanwhile, Keselowski was in sixth ahead of Blaney, Chastain and Bell while Truex trailed behind in 10th.
By Lap 45 and with a series of on-track battles occurring around Homestead, Larson was leading by more than a second over Reddick, who prevailed in a battle against Byron for the runner-up spot, while Allmendinger was battling Elliott for fourth place. Behind, Keselowski remained in sixth ahead of Blaney, Truex, Chastain and Logano while Bell, Austin Dillon, Buescher, Gibbs, Justin Haley, Daniel Suarez, Aric Almirola, Harvick, Hamlin and Briscoe occupied the top 20 ahead of Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, Corey LaJoie and rookie Harrison Burton. Meanwhile, rookie Austin Cindric was in 27th, Noah Gragson was in 29th while filling in for Alex Bowman and Nemechek was mired back in 31st.
Fifteen laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than five seconds over Reddick while Byron, Allmendinger and Truex were scored in the top five. By then, Austin Dillon was in the top 10 in seventh place behind Elliott while Keselowski, Logano and Blaney occupied the top 10 on the track.
Another 10 laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than nine seconds over runner-up Reddick and nearly 10 seconds over teammate Byron while Allmendinger and Truex battled for fourth place. Soon after, Austin Dillon started to close in on Elliott for sixth place while Playoff competitors Chastain, Hamlin, Bell and Briscoe were mired outside the top 10.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 80, Larson captured his fifth stage victory of the 2022 season with an advantage of more than eight seconds over teammate Byron, who managed to hold off Truex in the closing stages of the first stage. Reddick, who briefly fell off the pace a few laps earlier, settled in fourth ahead of teammate Austin Dillon, Allmendinger, Keselowski, Elliott, Blaney and Logano. By then, four of eight Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 and received the first round of stage points while the remaining Playoff competitors that included Hamlin, Chastain, Bell and Briscoe were mired in 13th, 14th, 15th and 17th, respectively. In addition 29 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the stage break, the leaders led by Larson returned to pit road for service and Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by teammate Byron, Truex, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Elliott.
The second stage started on Lap 87 as teammates Larson and Byron occupied the front row. At the start and as the field fanned out entering the first turn, Byron and Larson dueled for the lead and they remained dead even through the frontstretch and back to the backstretch during the following lap. Soon after, Larson cleared Byron to retain the lead as Truex initiated his challenge for the runner-up spot over Byron. Behind, Elliott was in fourth ahead of Keselowski and Blaney while Allmendinger, who endured a slow pit road during the first stage break, made his way to seventh in front of Chastain, Austin Dillon and Logano.
Through the first 100 scheduled laps, Larson was leading by more than a second over Truex, who overtook Byron two laps earlier, while Blaney and Elliott were scored in the top five ahead of Keselowski, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Logano and Allmendinger. By then, Suarez was in 11th ahead of Reddick, Harvick, Bell and Hamlin while Kyle Busch, Haley, Cindric, Stenhouse and Buescher were scored in the top 20. In addition, 30 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Fifteen laps later, Larson extended his advantage to nearly three seconds over Truex while third-place Byron, who was the highest-running Playoff competitor on the track, trailed by more than six seconds. By then, four of eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 while Logano, Hamlin, Bell and Briscoe were mired back in 12th, 14th, 18th and 20th.
Nearly five laps later, the first round of green flag pit stops commenced as Cindric pitted along with Cole Custer, Briscoe, Logano, Harrison Burton and a bevy of competitors. Not long after, Larson surrendered the lead to pit as he nearly made contact with Landon Cassill as Cassill got sideways while trying to pit. In the process, Larson nearly got hit by Hamlin, who was exiting his pit stall while Larson was trying to enter his. Following the pit stops, Gragson was penalized for speeding on pit road.
By Lap 125 and with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop, Bell, who had yet to pit, was leading by more than seven seconds over Nemechek followed by Larson, the first competitor on four fresh tires and fuel. Another two laps later, Larson reassumed the lead once Bell and Nemechek pitted.
At the halfway mark between Laps 133 and 134, Larson was leading by more than five seconds over Truex followed by Byron, Blaney and Keselowski while Elliott, Chastain, Suarez, Harvick and Logano were in the top 10. Allmendinger was in 11th ahead of Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Stenhouse and Cindric while Buescher, Haley, Burton, Briscoe and Bell occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Almirola was mired in 21st followed by McDowell, Austin Dillon and Corey LaJoie, all of whom were scored on the lead lap, while Ty Gibbs was the first competitor mired a lap down in 25th. Reddick, who missed his pit box during the green flag pit stops, was strapped in 26th, Gragson was in 28th ahead of Erik Jones and Nemechek, who endured a slow pit stop to tighten a loose left-front wheel, was in 30th.
By Lap 150, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than four seconds over runner-up Truex and more than nine seconds over third-place Byron while Blaney and Keselowski were running in the top five.
Eleven laps later, the caution flew when Playoff competitor Briscoe, who made contact with Nemechek on the frontstretch a few laps earlier, briefly got loose before getting into the outside wall hard in Turn 1 and fell off the pace with damage to the right side of his car. Briscoe’s incident was enough to terminate his day in the garage due to suspension damage to his No. 14 Magical Vacation Planner Ford Mustang as he now faces a “must-win” situation next weekend at Martinsville Speedway to maintain his championship hopes. It was also enough for the second stage scheduled on Lap 165 to conclude under caution as Larson captured his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season and completed a stage sweep of the day. Truex settled in second while Byron, Blaney, Keselowski, Elliott, Suarez, Chastain, Logano and Hamlin were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the leaders led by Larson pitted and Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Truex, Byron, Blaney and Elliott.
With 97 laps remaining, the final stage started as Larson and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, Larson and Truex dueled for the lead until Larson managed to fend off Truex and Byron to retain the lead through the backstretch as the field fanned out. Through the frontstretch, Blaney muscled his No. 12 Pennzoil/Menards Ford Mustang into third place over Hamlin, Elliott and Truex while Larson remained as the leader ahead of Byron.
Seven laps later, Larson was out in front by more than a second over Blaney, who continued to rocket his way towards the front, while Hamlin, Truex and Byron were in the top five. Meanwhile, Elliott was in sixth ahead of Suarez and Logano while Chastain and Keselowski occupied the top 10.
Another four laps later, Hamlin got loose entering Turn 1 and made contact with the wall while battling Blaney for the runner-up spot. Despite falling back to fifth, Hamlin managed to continue running straight and the race proceeded under green.
With 75 laps remaining, Larson extended his advantage to more than five seconds over Blaney followed by Truex while Elliott was running in fourth ahead of Hamlin, Logano, Suarez, Chastain, Harvick and Byron.
Then with nearly 60 laps remaining, another round of green flag pit stops commenced as Byron pitted, though he endured a slow pit stop to tighten a loose wheel, along with Logano, Blaney, Reddick, Elliott, Truex, Chastain and others. A few laps later, however, the caution returned when Blaney, who had just made a pit stop, spun on the access road while exiting pit road.
During the caution period, the remaining competitor who had yet to pit, including the leader, Larson, pitted. With 19 competitors scored on the lead lap, Truex cycled his way into the lead followed by Chastain while Larson, who was the first competitor to exit pit road, lined up in third place alongside Suarez.
When the race restarted with 51 laps remaining, Hamlin made a bold move beneath Chastain and Truex to assume the lead entering the backstretch as the field fanned out and scrambled for late positions. As Hamlin remained out in front while navigating his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry back to the frontstretch, Chastain and Truex battled for second while Larson was trying to navigate around Keselowski for fourth. With 46 laps remaining, however, Truex, who was riding a one-year winless drought, muscled his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry into the lead.
With 35 laps remaining, Truex was leading by more than a second over Chastain followed by Larson, Hamlin and Allmendinger while Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Harvick, Stenhouse and Logano were running in the top 10. By then, three of seven Playoff competitors running on the track were running in the top 10 while Bell, Elliott, Byron, and Blaney were mired back in 12th, 14th, 15th and 17th.
A few laps later, Larson rocketed by Chastain for the runner-up spot as he commenced his charge on Truex for the lead.
With 23 laps remaining, the caution returned when Reddick slipped sideways while running towards the outside wall entering the backstretch before he spun his No. 8 3Chi Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 below the track and hit the inside wall hard as his race came to an end. During the caution period, the leaders led by Truex peeled off the track to pit. As the field approached their respective pit stalls, a bump from Larson sent Truex spinning and sliding into his pit stall as Truex came to rest in his stall backward. The issue, which forced Truex’s pit crew to service the car while the No. 19 Toyota was backward, plummeted Truex below the leaderboard as Larson, who did not sustain any damage to his No. 5 Chevrolet, rallied to exit pit road first followed by Hamlin, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Keselowski and Harvick.
Down to the final 17 laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Larson fended off both Hamlin and Chastain to retain the lead through the first two turns. With the field jostling for later positions, Hamlin and Chastain dueled for second in front of Harvick, Allmendinger and Austin Dillon while Larson was trying to pull away with the lead.
A few laps later, a three-car battle for the runner-up spot commenced as Allmendinger overtook Hamlin for the spot followed by a hard-charging Chastain, who squeezed his No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into third place over Hamlin in Turn 3, as they were all within less than a second behind the leader Larson.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson was leading by three-tenths of a second over Chastain, who was being attacked by Allmendinger for the spot, as Austin Dillon moved up to fourth. Meanwhile, Hamlin was back in fifth while being closed in by Keselowski.
Another few laps later, Chastain and Allmendinger continued to duel for the runner-up spot, with the former prevailing, while Larson extended his advantage to nearly a second.
With five laps remaining, Larson continued to lead by a second over Chastain as Allmendinger kept Chastain close within his front windshield.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by more than a second over Chastain and Allmendinger. Having no challengers closing in for a final lap, Larson was able to maintain his ground and advantage as he cycled back to the frontstretch and streaked across the finish line in first place for his third checkered flag of the 2022 season.
With his victory, Larson, who achieved his 19th Cup Series career win, secured a spot for his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team to contend for the 2022 Cup Series owners’ championship at Phoenix Raceway in early November.
“Yeah, definitely the best run we’ve had all year long,” Larson said on NBC. “We’ve been capable of it, I feel like, many weekends. We just haven’t quite put it all together. [Crew chief] Cliff [Daniels] gave a great speech this morning and got us all ready to go and focused. [I] Did my best to keep it out of the wall. I got into the wall a few times, but I could still make speed doing that. Amazing race car. I knew that last run was gonna be short enough where I was gonna be in some sort of trouble there, but thankfully, AJ [Allmendinger] and Ross [Chastain] were racing hard behind me. Happy for our team. We get to go race for an owners’ title at Phoenix in a couple of weeks. We’re still, technically, not out of it. I know I can’t win the championship, but it means more to me to win it as a team. We’re gonna go to Phoenix and try to get another championship.”
Chastain, who rolled off the grid in 20th place, fended off Allmendinger to finish in second place for the fifth time this season and to emerge as the highest-finishing Playoff competitor of the day. With that, Chastain leaves Miami 19 points above the top-four cutline to make the Championship 4 round and approaching next weekend’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville.
“Not the way you would have scripted it,” Chastain said. “I feel like we had a top-three or four car all day, all weekend, and a little too tight in qualifying, and come behind that with a driver that chose the complete wrong lane in [Turns] 3 and 4, against everything I’ve ever trained for and prepared for. Qualified 20th, and it took us all day long. We need to get the car turning better from qualifying into the race. We were too tight. [Crew chief] Phil Surgen and his whole team got it turning better, and pit stops were incredible again. Our guys were just, they’re just rock stars on pit road, and I’m so glad to go to battle with them.
“At the end of the day, I know we didn’t score a ton of stage points. We put ourselves in position at the end and just keep executing. I almost spun off Turn 2 in front of Daniel [Suarez], and I had my arms all crossed up and I just took a deep breath down the back, and thought, what can I control here? I can control not spinning out, so let’s go a little slower next time, and had a shot at it.”
Austin Dillon and Keselowski completed the top five on the track followed by Truex, who rallied from his late-race pit road incident with Larson that spoiled Truex’s opportunity in claiming his first victory of the season.
“It’s really hard to see through these windshields right now with the sun like that and all the stuff covering it,” Truex said. “I did see my box late for sure, so I slowed down before I turned out of the way of [Larson] there. Obviously, partly on me. I didn’t expect to get turned around. I’m glad nobody got hurt there. But overall, it’s just disappointing. To have a good day going like that and have a shot at winning and couldn’t close the deal. I hate it for my team. It’s been one of those years.”
Hamlin, Harvick, Kyle Busch and Suarez finished in the top 10. Notably, Playoff competitors Bell, Byron, Elliott, Blaney and Logano finished 11th, 12th, 14th, 17th and 18th, respectively. As a result, teammates Elliott and Byron are above the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings along with Chastain as well as Logano, who is already guaranteed a spot for the finale after winning last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, while Hamlin, Blaney, Bell and Briscoe are left looking on the outside and with one last race to maintain their title hopes.
“Pit crew did a great job the second half,” Hamlin, who trails the cutline by five points, said. “I can’t get my car to go. I can’t get it to turn. We’re just too slow on the short runs. Something we have to work on for sure. We weren’t fast enough to really compete with those guys even when we got the lead, we were a sitting duck because I couldn’t go anywhere. Nearly crashed into [Chastain], that was exciting and just kept going. We’ve got to get stage points. We can’t be outside the top 10 the first two stages. That’s what has hurt us. We always have. We just have to go there and get it done and perform well. I think we can. We have to perform well and execute.”
Today’s event at Miami featured 11 lead changes for five different leaders. The race also featured five cautions for 30 laps.
Results.
1. Kyle Larson, 199 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
2. Ross Chastain
3. AJ Allmendinger
4. Austin Dillon
5. Brad Keselowski
6. Martin Truex Jr., 28 laps led
7. Denny Hamlin, four laps led
8. Kevin Harvick
9. Kyle Busch
10. Daniel Suarez
11. Christopher Bell, four laps led
12. William Byron, 32 laps led
13. Chris Buescher
14. Chase Elliott
15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
16. Michael McDowell
17. Ryan Blaney
18. Joey Logano
19. Austin Cindric
20. Harrison Burton
21. Aric Almirola
22. Ty Gibbs
23. Corey LaJoie
24. Cole Custer, one lap down
25. Noah Gragson, one lap down
26. Ty Dillon, one lap down
27. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down
28. Justin Haley, one lap down
29. Landon Cassill, one lap down
30. Erik Jones, three laps down
31. Todd Gilliland, three laps down
32. JJ Yeley, four laps down
33. BJ McLeod, five laps down
34. Cody Ware, five laps down
35. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident
36. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident
*Bold indicates Playoff contenders
Playoff standings
1. Joey Logano – Advanced
2. Ross Chastain +19
3. Chase Elliott +11
4. William Byron +5
5. Denny Hamlin -5
6. Ryan Blaney -18
7. Christopher Bell -33
8. Chase Briscoe -44
Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff schedule is Martinsville Speedway, where the Championship 4 field will be determined. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, October 30, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
Noah Gragson’s dream 2022 season has been elevated to another high note after the driver of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro clinched a Championship 4 berth with a late dominant victory in the Contender Boats 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 22.
The 24-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, led six times for a race-high 127 of 200-scheduled laps and was initially on his way to claim a dominant victory with a large advantage when a caution with 13 laps remaining due to an on-track incident briefly stalled his run. Despite the caution, Gragson’s pit crew capitalized late by giving him the final fresh of sticker tires needed for a short run with the lead. During a five-lap dash to the finish, he executed at the start to fend off his fellow Playoff rivals to score his unprecedented eighth victory of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.
Above all, Gragson became the second Playoff competitor to punch his ticket into the Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway in November alongside teammate Josh Berry, where he will contend for his first Xfinity Series championship.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Trevor Bayne secured his second pole position of the 2022 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 166.667 mph in 32.400 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff competitor Noah Gragson, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 165.731 mph in 32.583 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Bayne and Gragson dueled for the lead in Turn 1 and again in Turn 3 until Bayne managed to pull ahead and lead the first lap while the field behind jostled early for positions. As Bayne retained the top spot, Gragson was being challenged early for the runner-up spot by Ty Gibbs and Daniel Hemric while Sam Mayer was in fifth.
On the third lap, the first caution of the event flew when Jeb Burton made contact with JJ Yeley and sent Yeley up the track as he squeezed Riley Herbst into the outside wall in the backstretch.
During the following restart on the seventh lap, Bayne and Gragson dueled for the lead again until Bayne pulled ahead to retain the lead. Behind, Gragson was left to battle Gibbs for second place while Mayer, who was trying to overtake Hemric for fourth place, got loose entering Turn 3. Mayer’s minor slip-up, which nearly collected Hemric, allowed Hemric to retain fourth followed by Brandon Jones, Kyle Weatherman and AJ Allmendinger while Mayer fell back to eighth in front of Austin Hill.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Bayne was leading ahead of teammate Gibbs, Gragson, Brandon Jones and a hard-charging Weatherman while Hemric, Allmendinger, Mayer, Hill and Chandler Smith occupied the top 10. By then, Josh Berry, a Championship 4 finalist after winning last weekend’s event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, was in 12th while teammate Justin Allgaier was back in 14th.
Thirteen laps later, Gragson battled and overtook Bayne to become the second different leader of the day. By then, Gibbs, Hill and Allmendinger were scored in the top five followed by Landon Cassill, Hemric, Weatherman, Allgaier and Berry while Mayer and Brandon Jones fell back to 11th and 12th. In addition, Sheldon Creed made an unscheduled pit stop under green after cutting a right-rear tire.
At the Lap 35 mark, Gragson retained the lead by more than four seconds over Gibbs while Cassill muscled his No. 10 Voyager Chevrolet Camaro into third place. Bayne, meanwhile, fell back to fourth in front of Hill and Allmendinger while Hemric, Mayer, Allgaier and Weatherman were running in the top 10.
Six laps later, the second caution of the event flew when Mason Massey had fallen off the pace in Turn 2 after getting into the wall. At the same time, CJ McLaughlin spun from the top to the bottom and below the apron through the backstretch as his car came to a stop. The incident was enough for the first stage scheduled on Lap 45 to conclude under caution as Gragson captured his 15th stage victory of the 2022 season. Cassill settled in second followed by Gibbs, Bayne, Allmendinger, Hill, Hemric, Mayer, Weatherman and Allgaier. By then, six of eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 while the remaining two which included Berry and Brandon Jones were scored in 11th and 12th, respectively.
Under the stage break, the leaders led by Gragson pitted for four fresh tires and fuel. Following the pit stops, Cassill emerged with the lead followed by Gibbs, Gragson and Hill. During the pit stops, Nick Sanchez, the 2022 ARCA Menards Series champion, missed his pit stall and had to cycle around the circuit for a second time for service.
The second stage started on Lap 50 as Cassill and Gragson occupied the front row. At the start and amid a brief stack-up towards the front, Gibbs muscled his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra into the lead until Gragson rocketed his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro back into the lead through the backstretch and back to the frontstretch. Shortly after, a three-car battle for the lead intensified between Gragson, Gibbs and Hill while Allmendinger was in fourth ahead of Cassill, Mayer and a bevy of competitors vying for positions.
By Lap 55, Hill led a lap for himself and he retained the top spot ahead of Gragson and Gibbs while Allmendinger, Mayer, Cassill, Berry, Bayne, Allgaier and Hemric were running in the top 10. By then, all but one of eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 as Brandon Jones was mired in 14th.
Fifteen laps later, Hill retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Gragson followed by Allmendinger, Bayne and Gibbs while Allgaier, Mayer, Cassill, Hemric and Chandler Smith were running in the top 10. By then, Berry made an unscheduled pit stop under green after making contact with the outside wall.
Another lap later, Gragson reassumed the lead over Hill as Allmendinger started to close in on the two leaders. While Bayne and Gibbs stabilized themselves in the top five, a three-car battle for sixth place occurred between Cassill, Allgaier and Mayer. Not long after, Creed made another pit stop under green after getting into the wall and cutting a right-rear tire.
By Lap 80, Gragson was leading by more than a second over Allmendinger, who overtook Hill for the runner-up spot, while Bayne and Gibbs remained in the top five. A few laps later, Weatherman, who was having a strong run toward the front, pitted under green after making contact with the wall. Soon after, Ryan Sieg was off the pace while running in the access road with flat tires while Allgaier made a pit stop under green with a flat right-front tire.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Gragson captured his 16th stage victory of the 2022 season and the second of the day. Allmendinger settled in second followed by Hill, Bayne, Mayer, Gibbs, Cassill, Hemric, Chandler Smith and Stefan Parsons. By then, five of eight Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 while the remaining Playoff competitors that included Brandon Jones, Berry and Allgaier were scored in 11th, 19th and 24th, respectively.
Under the stage break, the leaders led by Gragson pitted and Gragson retained the lead after exiting pit road first and by a hair over Hill, Allmendinger, Bayne and Mayer.
With 104 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Gragson and Hill dueled for the lead until Gragson cleared the field and pulled away through the backstretch followed by Bayne. During the following lap and as the field behind jostled for positions, Hill overtook Gragson through Turns 3 and 4 to take the lead while Bayne was running third place in front of a side-by-side battle between Mayer and Allmendinger. Brandon Jones soon joined the battle toward the front along with Gibbs, Hemric and Cassill.
At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Hill and Bayne battled dead even for the lead, with the latter returning to the lead, while Gragson, Allmendinger and Brandon Jones were running in the top five. Behind, Hemric, Gibbs, Mayer, Cassill and Berry scrambled within the top 10 while Chandler Smith, Herbst, Parsons, Sanchez and Parker Retzlaff were running in the top 15 ahead of Bayley Currey, Anthony Alfredo, Jeb Burton, Brennan Poole, Myatt Snider and Allgaier.
Ten laps later, Bayne was out in front by more than a second over Hill while Allmendinger, Gragson, Berry, Cassill, Gibbs, Brandon Jones, Hemric and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, six of eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 while the remaining two that included Mayer and Allgaier were in 11th and 16th.
Another 15 laps later and with a series of spots being swapped towards the front, Gragson, who overtook Hill three laps earlier and was starting to reel in on Bayne for the lead, executed a bold move beneath Bayne entering the first turn to reassume the lead. Not long after taking the lead, Gragson extended his advantage to more than a second while Bayne was starting to be challenged by Allmendinger and Hill for the runner-up spot.
With less than 70 laps remaining, Allmendinger moved his way into the runner-up spot over Hill following a heated between Hill while Gragson continued to extend his advantage to more than four seconds. Behind, Berry was in fourth ahead of Bayne while Gibbs, Cassill, Hemric, Smith and Mayer were in the top 10.
Then with less than 65 laps remaining, Allgaier, who was running in 17th, pitted under green but endured a slow stop from his crew due to a jack issue.
With 60 laps remaining, pit stops under green commenced as Hill pitted followed by the leader Gragson, Bayne, Brandon Jones, Gibbs, Mayer and others. Following the pit stops, Bayne was penalized for speeding while entering pit road. Under the final 55 scheduled laps and with the cycle of green flag pit stops complete, Gragson cycled his way back into the lead followed by a hard-charging Hill while Allmendinger, Gibbs and Cassill were scored in the top five.
Five laps later, Gragson’s advantage decreased to a tenth of a second over Hill, who continued to close in on Gragson despite radioing concerns about a vibration to his No. 21 United Rentals Chevrolet Camaro. Another three laps later, Hill surrendered the runner-up spot to pit under green to have the vibration issue addressed as he dropped out of the lead lap category.
Back on the track and with 45 laps remaining, Gragson was leading by more than five seconds over runner-up Allmendinger and by more than nine seconds over third-place Berry while Cassill and Gibbs were in the top five.
Two laps later, Cassill, who was running towards the top five, pitted under green for four fresh tires and fuel while Gragson retained the lead by more than six seconds over Allmendinger.
With 30 laps remaining, Gragson stabilized his advantage to more than six seconds over Allmendinger while Berry, Hemric and Gibbs were scored in the top five. By then, seven of eight Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 while the remaining Playoff competitor, Allgaier, was in 12th. In addition, 13 competitors were scored on the lead lap.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event and with a handful of competitors making contact against one another and towards the wall, Gragson extended his advantage to nearly eight seconds over Allmendinger while third-place Berry trailed by more than eight seconds. While Hemric and Gibbs remained in the top five, Chandler Smith was up in sixth while Mayer, Hill, Allgaier and Herbst were in the top 10.
Then with 13 laps remaining, the caution flew when Stefan Parsons spun in Turn 1 with damage to his entry. By then, Nick Sanchez had fallen off the pace below the apron with flat right-side tires after making contact with the wall earlier as his strong night towards the front was spoiled. Parsons’ incident erased Gragson’s advantage of more than eight seconds over teammate Berry.
Under caution, the leaders led by Gragson pitted and Gragson exited with the lead still in his possession followed by Allmendinger, Hemric, Gibbs and Hill.
Down to the final five laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson launched away with the lead following a strong start while Allmendinger was left to fend off Gibbs for second place. Through the backstretch, however, Allmendinger and Gibbs gained ground on Gragson, who continued to lead as he returned to the frontstretch. As the laps dwindled, Gragson slightly extended his advantage to nearly half a second over Allmendinger while Gibbs kept Allmendinger close in front of him.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gragson remained as the leader by half a second over Gibbs while Allmendinger was back in third. Having no late challenges mounting behind him, Gragson muscled his way back to the frontstretch under full power and streaked across the finish line for his unprecedented eighth victory of the 2022 season and to claim a second spot in the championship finale.
In addition, Gragson recorded his 13th career victory in the Xfinity Series and his first at Homestead after dominating the previous three Xfinity events in Miami before falling short of the victory. Gragson’s victory was also the 15th of the season for JR Motorsports, which marked the 73rd overall Xfinity victory for JRM, and the 23rd of the season for Chevrolet, which clinched the manufacturer’s title a week ago.
“I wanted this one so bad the last three years,” Gragson said on USA Network. “Words can’t describe how thankful I am for everybody at JR Motorsports. Unbelievable. Thank you, Bass Pro Shops. Man, I’m worn out. It takes a lot of focus to run the fence like that. Pit crew did a great job. Really grateful.”
Ty Gibbs posted his fourth runner-up result of the season and left Homestead with a 30-point advantage above the top-four cutline to transfer to the Championship 4 round while Allmendinger, who came into the event 16 points below the cutline, moved back into the cutline with a five-point advantage with his sixth third-place finish of this season.
“We were just battling our race car, I feel like, all day,” Gibbs said. “We made great adjustments and my guys never gave up. Thank you to my whole Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra No. 54 group. We’ll move on to Martinsville. I feel like that’s a place we were really fast earlier this year and probably had a shot to win at, so I’m excited to go back there. To come out with a P2 finish is, I feel like, pretty good. We’re plus 30 [in the Playoff standings], so I think that’s really strong.”
“[I’m] Really proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger said. “Our Action Industries Chevy was pretty damn good. It was probably still better than the driver. Overall, we made up a lot of points there and we at least have a shot down at Martinsville.”
Hemric and Mayer finished fourth and fifth while Bayne, Chandler Smith, Herbst, Hill and Allgaier, who rallied from an eventful run from the rear towards the front, completed the top 10 on the track.
“I’m glad [today’s] over,” Allgaier, who is five points below the cutline, said. “Our team, definitely, had some adversity tonight. The only saving grace, I think, was about a 70-lap run there. We were able to drive away from [Gragson] and keep on the lead lap or tail end of the lead lap. I felt like we definitely made good strides over the course of the day to get our BRANDT Foundation Camaro up where we needed to be. The jack [issue] hurt us the most. That green flag stop, just losing all that track position, and I just tried to push it as hard as I could to get back up there. Ultimately, it worked out. We got back on the lead lap and were able to score some points there. We’re below the cut. We’ll go [to Martinsville] and we can lay it all on the line. Five points [deficit] is nothing. We can go there and have a good weekend. We’ll lock our way into Phoenix.”
There were 13 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 24 laps.
Results.
1. Noah Gragson, 127 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
2. Ty Gibbs, one lap led
3. AJ Allmendinger, one lap led
4. Daniel Hemric
5. Sam Mayer
6. Trevor Bayne, 46 laps led
7. Chandler Smith
8. Riley Herbst
9. Austin Hill, 19 laps led
10. Justin Allgaier
11. Josh Berry, three laps led
12. Landon Cassill, three laps led
13. Bayley Currey
14. Brennan Poole
15. Brandon Jones, one lap down
16. Parker Retzlaff, one lap down
17. Sheldon Creed, one lap down
18. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down
19. Jeb Burton, one lap down
20. Kyle Weatherman, two laps down
21. David Starr, two laps down
22. Myatt Snider, two laps down
23. Patrick Emerling, two laps down
24. Joe Graf Jr., two laps down
25. Nicholas Sanchez, two laps down
26. Jeremy Clements, three laps down
27. Kris Wright, four laps down
28. Julia Landauer, four laps down
29. Timmy Hill, five laps down
30. Josh Williams, five laps down
31. CJ McLaughlin, five laps down
32. Matt Mills, five laps down
33. Ryan Sieg, 10 laps down
34. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Accident
35. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Accident
36. BJ McLeod – OUT, Electrical
37. Mason Massey – OUT, Engine
38. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident
*Bold indicates Playoff contenders
Playoff standings
1. Noah Gragson – Advanced
2. Josh Berry – Advanced
3. Ty Gibbs +30
4. AJ Allmendinger +5
5. Justin Allgaier -5
6. Austin Hill -7
7. Sam Mayer -28
8. Brandon Jones -38
Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ return to Martinsville Speedway, where the Championship 4 field will be determined. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, October 29, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
A month after locking himself into the Championship 4 round with his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career victory at Bristol Motor Speedway, Ty Majeski doubled down with additional momentum after claiming a late dominant victory in the Baptist Health Cancer Care 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 22.
The 28-year-old Majeski from Seymour, Wisconsin, led two times for a race-high 67 of 134-scheduled laps, including the final 33, and beat runner-up Zane Smith by more than four seconds to claim the second Truck Series victory of his career at Miami. By winning two of three Round of 8 events during the Playoffs and automatically transferring to the Championship 4 round, Majeski will square off against Zane Smith, Chandler Smith and reigning series champion Ben Rhodes for this year’s Truck Series championship that will be determined at Phoenix Raceway in early November.
With on-track qualifying that was scheduled for Friday being canceled due to rain, the starting lineup was determined through a metric system from NASCAR’s rulebook. As a result, Ryan Preece was initially awarded the pole position for the main event. Preece, however, dropped to the rear of the field along with Lawless Alan and Nick Leitz due to unapproved adjustments. With that, Playoff competitor Ben Rhodes led the field to the start alongside Matt DiBenedetto.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Rhodes launched ahead of DiBenedetto, who spun the tires at the start, before Chandler Smith drew himself alongside Rhodes in his early bid for the lead through the first two turns. Following an early side-by-side battle with Chandler Smith, Rhodes pulled ahead through Turns 3 and 4 as he led the first lap while the field behind fanned out and jostled early for positions.
Through the first five laps of the event, Rhodes was leading ahead of Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, Zane Smith and Stewart Friesen while Tyler Ankrum, Matt DiBenedetto, John Hunter Nemechek, Parker Kligerman and Matt Crafton were running in the top 10. By then, Ty Majeski was in 12th, Corey Heim was back in 16th and Grant Enfinger was vying for 17th.
At the Lap 10 mark, Rhodes’ No. 99 Kubota Toyota Tundra TRD Pro continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith’s No. 18 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro followed by Zane Smith, Friesen and Eckes. By then, all 36 starters were on the lead lap. In addition, the remaining eight Playoff contenders were running in the top 11.
A few laps later, Nemechek, who made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3 on the third lap, got into the wall again in the third turn before hitting the wall hard in Turn 1 after losing a tire. The incident prompted Nemechek, who came into the event five laps behind the top-four cutline to make the championship finale, to make an unscheduled pit stop under green and fall out of the lead lap category. Nemechek would eventually make multiple trips to pit road for repairs to his No. 4 Gearwrench Toyota Tundra TRD Pro as his title hopes took an early serious hit.
By Lap 20, Rhodes remained as the leader by more than a second over Chandler Smith followed by Zane Smith, Friesen and Majeski while Eckes was back in sixth.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Rhodes, who came into Miami three points above the top-four cutline, captured his ninth stage victory of the 2022 season. Zane Smith settled in second followed by Friesen, Majeski, Enfinger, Eckes, Chandler Smith, Crafton, Parker Kligerman and Preece.
Under the stage break, the leaders led by Rhodes pitted and Zane Smith emerged with the lead over the field. Following the pit stops, Parker Kligerman was penalized for speeding on pit road along with Matt Crafton, whose pit crew jumped over the pit stall too soon. In addition, Blaine Perkins was penalized due to crew member interference.
The second stage started on Lap 36 as Zane Smith and Enfinger occupied the front row. At the start, Rhodes used the outside lane to his advantage as he rocketed past Zane Smith and Enfinger with a three-wide move to reassume the lead through the backstretch. Enfinger, however, fought back during the following lap as he drew his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST alongside Rhodes while Zane Smith tried to close back in on the two leaders. Behind, Preece and Majeski battled for fourth while Heim occupied sixth place.
By the Lap 40 mark, a side-by-side battle for the lead commenced between Rhodes and Zane Smith, with Rhodes using the outside lane to his advantage while Smith tried to use the inside lane to pull ahead of Rhodes. During the following lap, Smith managed to pull his No. 38 Speed Ford F-150 in front of Rhodes entering Turn 4 and fend off a crossover move by Rhodes to claim the outside lane and the lead. Not long after, Preece battled and overtook Rhodes for second followed by Majeski while Enfinger remained in fifth.
Ten laps later on Lap 50, Zane Smith was leading by more than a second over Majeski followed by Preece, Rhodes and Eckes while Enfinger, Friesen, Heim, Chandler Smith and Colby Howard occupied the top 10. With seven of eight Playoff competitors running in the top 10 on the track, Nemechek was the lone Playoff competitor running in the back of the pack as he was mired in 36th, dead last, while scored two laps down.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 60, Zane Smith, who came into Miami 18 points above the top-four cutline, captured his eighth stage victory of the 2022 season. Majeski trailed in second place by more than a second while Preece, Friesen, Rhodes, Eckes, Enfinger, Howard, Heim and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, Nemechek was pinned three laps behind in 36th place.
Under the stage break, the leader led by Zane Smith pitted and Preece exited with the lead followed by Majeski, Eckes, Zane Smith and Heim. During the pit stops, Rhodes suffered a slow pit stop as he exited pit road in 15th place. Following the pit stops, Kaden Honeycutt was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.
With 68 laps remaining, the final stage started as Preece and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out engines the first turn, Majeski muscled ahead with the lead on the inside lane followed by Preece and Zane Smith while Eckes and Enfinger battled for fourth in front of Heim and the field.
Eight laps later and with 60 laps remaining, Majeski was leading by a tenth of a second over Zane Smith followed by a heated four-truck battle for third place between Eckes, Heim, Enfinger and Preece. Friesen, meanwhile, was in seventh while Derek Kraus, Chandler Smith and Rhodes were scored in the top 10. By then, Nemechek was still pinned multiple laps down in 36th place, dead last.
Then with 55 laps remaining, Enfinger’s championship hopes took a serious hit after he made an unscheduled pit stop under green to address a flat right-front tire due to making contact with the outside wall. After pitting for four fresh tires, Enfinger, who came into Miami in a “must-win” situation, lost a lap to the leaders.
Back on the track with 50 laps remaining, Majeski retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Zane Smith followed by Heim, Eckes and Friesen while Preece, Chandler Smith, Crafton, Rhodes and Kraus occupied the top 10. With Enfinger mired in 31st, Nemechek was back in 36th, dead last, as both Playoff competitors were in jeopardy of not transferring to the finale.
With 40 laps remaining, pit stops under green commenced as Preece pitted followed by Bret Holmes. Rhodes also pitted along with Kligerman, Chase Purdy, Hailie Deegan, Friesen and a wave of competitors.
With 32 laps remaining and with the cycle of green flag pit stops complete, Majeski reassumed the lead followed by a hard-charging Zane Smith while Preece was in third. By then, Friesen was back in fourth as he was contending for a transfer spot to the finale against Rhodes, who was in eighth and held sole possession of the fourth and final transfer spot to the finale by a single point.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Majeski continued to lead by more than a second over Zane Smith and more than 10 seconds over third-place Preece. Meanwhile, Friesen was in fourth in front of Heim and Eckes while Rhodes was trying to fend off Chandler Smith for seventh place and for a spot in the finale. By then, Enfinger rallied to 11th while Nemechek was mired in 32nd palace, four laps down.
Six laps later, Friesen overtook Preece for third place and drew himself into a tie for the fourth and final transfer spot to the finale over Rhodes, who remained in seventh but owned the tie-breaker for recording the best finish during the Round of 8 at Talladega Superspeedway with a second-place result.
With 10 laps remaining, Majeski retained the lead by nearly three seconds over Zane Smith. Behind, Friesen remained in third place, trailing the leaders by more than 14 seconds, while Rhodes was locked in a battle with teammate Crafton for seventh place, a spot Rhodes needs to retain to transfer to the finale. Eckes, meanwhile, was running in sixth, but eight points below the top-four cutline.
Down to the final five laps of the event, Majeski stabilized his advantage to more than four seconds over Zane Smith while Rhodes, who briefly lost seventh place to Crafton, retained his spot on the track in front of his ThorSport Racing teammate and with a spot to the finale on the line. A few laps later, Rhodes managed to track and overtake teammate Eckes for sixth place, which placed Rhodes in a one-point advantage over Friesen, who remained in third place, in the standings.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski remained as the leader by more than four seconds over Zane Smith. With no challenges lurking behind or in front of him, Majeski was able to navigate his way around Homestead for a final time as he cycled back to the finish line and claimed his second checkered flag in the series.
The victory, which was enough for Toyota to secure the manufacturer’s title for the 13th time overall, gave Majeski and his No. 66 ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro team additional momentum approaching the championship finale at Phoenix Raceway in November, where the Wisconsin native will contend for his first Truck Series title.
“Man, this is awesome,” Majeski said on FS1. “This place is so hard to read and practice. Nobody has any grip, right? I didn’t know really what we had, but man, this No. 66 Road Ranger Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was bad to the bone today. Man, just thank you to Joe Shear, my crew chief. We’ve been working great this year together. Just so thankful that we’re able to make the most of this thing. We’re gonna go chase a championship [in] two weeks. [There’s gonna be] A lot of sim time, a lot of simulator just like the rest of the year. We’ve been working really hard on Phoenix ever since we won Bristol. We’re bringing that truck back. I feel really good about what we have so far. Keep fine-tuning [the truck]. If it’s anywhere near this [Homestead truck] today, we’ll be pretty good.”
Zane Smith settled in second place for the fifth time this season, which was more than for him to transfer to the Championship 4 finale for a third consecutive season as he will contend for his first Truck Series championship.
“Another really good [Front Row Motorsports] Ford,” Zane Smith said. “Man, I really wanted to get that [win]. Just hats off to my whole team. They’ve put in a lot of hours the past couple of weeks. [I] Just really wanted this one for them, but we get to go fight for another championship, which is really cool. One more left. That’s all that matters. I pretty much figured out every way to lose one, so third time’s a charm, hopefully. We’ve been fast all year. Regardless of what happens at Phoenix, it’s just an outstanding year.”
Friesen came home in third place, trailing the leaders by more than 13 seconds, but missed the top-four cutline by a single point over Rhodes, who finished sixth in front of teammates Eckes and Crafton. As a result, Rhodes will join teammate Majeski, Zane Smith and 10th-place finisher Chandler Smith as the four competitors to transfer to the Championship 4 finale and contend for the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship.
“Every spot matters,” Rhodes said. “We got in by one point from what I understand. I’m just really, really happy [that] we had a good showing for this Kubota Toyota Tundra. Man, I wished [the race] was easier. It seemed harder than it should have. Just glad that we can defend the title. It’s been an up-and-down season. We aren’t the best on mile-and-a-halfs, but we made leaps and bounds here. We were able to get the first stage win, be fifth in the second [stage] and when we had that bad pit stop and went back to 15th, I was sweating bullets. I knew I had a lot of work to do. I just didn’t know it was gonna be that tough. We just got to be consistent. We’re working on that. So far, so good. I’m thrilled with the last two races, Now, we’ve turned everything around and made it back in.”
“We, overall, just missed it today,” Chandler Smith said. “With that being said, we are all focused on going to run for a championship. I’m really happy with that. Being here with my Satellite [Kyle Busch Motorsports] group. This is awesome to be able to have the opportunity to go and run for a championship. I may never be able to do this in my career again, so really, really, thankful for the opportunity. Just super blessed right now. I’m feeling humbled.”
Friesen, meanwhile, joins seventh-place finisher Eckes, 14th-place finisher Enfinger and 35th-place finisher Nemechek as the four competitors who have been eliminated from Playoff contention.
“I didn’t have a teammate to lay over and give me an extra point like they were doing in the back,” Friesen said. “I’m so proud of our race team. That’s the best truck we’ve ever had here. Just a beautiful race car today. It was so fun to drive. We nailed it. We just lost a couple of spots in the pits and the front two could fire off a little bit better and get gone. That was it. I was praying for a caution. It didn’t happen, but I’m proud of our race team. I’m excited to move forward and keep building our race team. That’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna keep building over the winter.”
“[I] Just made a mistake on my end,” Nemechek said. “I got dirtied up behind [Friesen] early on in stage in and hit the fence and just trying to make up time and was pushing the issue probably a little too hard. Ultimately pushed it a little too hard, hit the fence again and had the right front go flat. Came in, pitted and ended up not clearing tires good enough and had another tire go down and had to pit again. Then had to play pit strategy and after that, it was just damage control. It’s on me. It’s just frustrating for myself for sure to not advance to the final four, but still have a couple races left to go out and try to win.”
In addition to the driver’s championship battle, the final four title contenders (Majeski, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith and Rhodes) will contend for this year’s owners’ championship.
There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured two cautions for 10 laps. All 36 starters finished the race while 10 finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Ty Majeski, 67 laps led
2. Zane Smith, 26 laps led, Stage 2 winner
3. Stewart Friesen
4. Ryan Preece, two laps led
5. Corey Heim
6. Ben Rhodes, 37 laps led, Stage 1 winner
7. Christian Eckes
8. Matt Crafton
9. Parker Kligerman
10. Chandler Smith
11. Tyler Ankrum, one lap down
12. Carson Hocevar, one lap down
13. Colby Howard, one lap down
14. Grant Enfinger, one lap down
15. Derek Kraus, one lap down
16. Chase Purdy, one lap down
17. Hailie Deegan, one lap down
18. Kaz Grala, one lap down
19. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down
20. Timmy Hill, one lap down, two laps led
21. Max Gutierrez, one lap down
22. Blaine Perkins, two laps down
23. Dean Thompson, two laps down
24. Brennan Poole, two laps down
25. Tanner Gray, two laps down
26. Stefan Parsons, two laps down
27. Kaden Honeycutt, two laps down
28. Nick Leitz, three laps down
29. Tyler Hill, three laps down
30. Chad Chastain, three laps down
31. Jack Wood, four laps down
32. Mason Maggio, five laps down
33. Bret Holmes, five laps down
34. Lawless Alan, five laps down
35. John Hunter Nemechek, six laps down
36. Spencer Boyd, 10 laps down
*Bold indicates Playoff contenders
Playoff standings.
1. Ty Majeski – Advanced
2. Zane Smith – Advanced
3. Chandler Smith – Advanced
4. Ben Rhodes – Advanced
5. Stewart Friesen – Eliminated
6. Christian Eckes – Eliminated
7. Grant Enfinger – Eliminated
8. John Hunter Nemechek – Eliminated
The 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season is set to conclude at Phoenix Raceway on November 4, where a champion will be crowned. The finale is scheduled to occur at 10 p.m. ET on FS1.
NASCAR travels to Homestead-Miami Speedway this week as the Playoffs continue. Team Penske’s Joey Logano clinched his spot in the Cup Series Championship 4 Round with a win at Las Vegas last weekend.
JR Motorsports driver Josh Berry scored the victory in the Xfinity Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the first race of the Xfinity Round of 8 and secured his place in the final four.
Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series race is the last event in the series Round of 8. ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski is the only contender who has earned a spot in the Championship 4 with a win at Bristol in September. Matt DiBenedetto, a non-playoff driver, won the second race in the Round of 8 at Talladega.
NASCAR Press Pass Live will be available throughout the weekend.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, Oct. 21
4 p.m.: Truck Series Practice (All Entries) No TV 4:30 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying (Impound/Single Vehicle/1 Lap/All Entries) No TV 6:05 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice (All Entries) USA/NBC Sports App 6:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying (Impound/Single Vehicle/1 Lap/All Entries) USA/NBC Sports App
Saturday, Oct. 22
10:05 a.m.: Cup Series Practice (Group A & B- MRN/NBC Sports App 10:50 a.m.: Cup Series Qualifying (Impound/Group A & B/Single Vehicle/1 Lap/2 Rounds) MRN/SiriusXM/NBC Sports App
1 p.m.: Truck Series Baptist Health 200 Distance: 134 laps = 201 miles Stage 1 ends on Lap 30, Stage 2 ends on Lap 60, Final Stage ends on Lap 134 FS1/MRN/SiriusXM The Purse: $721,227
4:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Contender Boats 300 Distance: 200 laps = 300 miles Stage 1 ends on Lap 45, Stage 2 ends on Lap 90, Final Stage ends on Lap 200 USA/MRN/SiriusXM/ NBC Sports App The Purse: $1,392,256
Sunday, Oct. 23
2:30 p.m.: Cup Series Dixie Vodka 400 Distance: 267 laps = 400.5 miles Stage 1 ends on Lap 80, Stage 2 ends on Lap 165, Final Stage ends on Lap 267 NBC/MRN/ SiriusXM/NBC Sports App The Purse: $7,342,738
Joey Logano punched his ticket to the Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway after muscling his way to a late thrilling victory in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 16.
The 2018 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, led two times for 32 of 267-scheduled laps overall. Prior to his victory, Logano pitted for fresh tires during a late caution period and prior to a restart with 22 laps remaining. Following another restart with 16 laps remaining, he used the tires to methodically work his way back to the front before executing a bold pass for the lead on Playoff rival Ross Chastain with three laps remaining.
From there, Logano made the remaining three laps work to his advantage as he claimed both his third Cup Series victory of the 2022 season and one of four spots to the championship finale.
By winning the first of three events in the Round of 8 and automatically earning a transfer spot to the finale, Logano and his No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang team will contend for a second series championship in November.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Tyler Reddick captured his third pole position of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 184.603 mph in 29.252 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Austin Cindric, who posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 184.288 mph in 29.302 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Reddick and Cindric dueled early for the lead as the field began to fan out entering the first two turns. Following an early duel for the lead, Reddick led the first lap by a hair over Cindric while Playoff competitors Ryan Blaney and William Byron battled for third place. Behind, Playoff competitor Joey Logano battled and overtook Daniel Suarez for sixth place as the field continued to jostle for early spots.
Through the first five scheduled laps, Reddick, who continued to battle dead even with Cindric until he prevailed by the third lap, was leading by three-tenths of a second over Cindric followed by Byron, Blaney and Logano while Suarez, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, rookie Harrison Burton and Austin Dillon were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson was in 11th followed by Kevin Harvick, Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher and Kyle Busch while Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, AJ Allmendinger and Noah Gragson occupied the top 20.
By Lap 10, Reddick continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Cindric while Byron was scored as the highest-running Playoff competitor on the track in third place in front of Blaney and Logano. In addition, four of the remaining eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 on the track as Bell remained in seventh while Elliott, who started 20th, was up in 15th in front of Chastain. Meanwhile, the remaining Playoff competitors of Briscoe and Hamlin were mired back in 24th and 25th.
Fifteen laps later, Reddick stabilized his advantage to four-tenths of a second over Cindric while Blaney, Byron and Logano remained in the top five. By then, Suarez, Bell and Wallace remained in sixth through eighth, respectively, while Larson and Kyle Busch cracked the top 10. Behind, Elliott picked up two additional spots on the track to move up to 13th in front of Chastain, Hamlin was back in 22nd and Briscoe was mired in 28th behind Brad Keselowski and Ty Dillon.
Another nine laps later, Cindric muscled his No. 2 AutoTrader Ford Mustang into the lead. In addition, teammate Blaney overtook Reddick for the runner-up spot. Shortly after, the first round of green flag pit stops commenced as Chris Buescher pitted followed by Cole Custer, Suarez, Kyle Busch, Truex, Larson, Wallace, Reddick, Logano, Byron, Harvick, Keselowski, Blaney, Hamlin, McDowell, Chastain, Bell, Elliott, the leader Cindric and others.
By Lap 45 and with the first round of green flag pit stops complete, Suarez cycled his way into the lead followed by Wallace, Logano, Kyle Busch and Reddick while Blaney, Bell, Cindric, Byron and Larson were scored in the top 10. By then, Chastain, Elliott and Hamlin were scored in the top 16 while Briscoe was back in 26th.
On Lap 57, Wallace gained a strong run on Suarez entering Turn 1 before muscling his No. 45 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry into the lead through the backstretch. Suarez, however, kept Wallace close within his sights as Logano started to close in on the two leaders in his No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang. Behind, Blaney was locked in a tight battle against Bell and Kyle Busch for fourth place while Cindric and Reddick were back in seventh and eighth.
By Lap 70, Wallace retained the lead by half a second over Logano and nearly a second over third-place Suarez. Behind, Bell trailed by more than a second in fourth place while Blaney and Kyle Busch remained in a tight battle for sixth place. By then, Playoff competitor Briscoe, who earned the final transfer spot into the Round of 8 following his late charge at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course a week ago, was lapped by Wallace.
Then with three laps remaining in the first stage, the first caution of the event flew when Kyle Busch got loose and spun his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry across the frontstretch. Busch’s spin was enough for the first stage scheduled on Lap 80 to conclude under caution as Wallace captured his second stage victory of the 2022 season. Logano settled in second followed by Suarez, Bell, Blaney, Cindric, Larson, Truex, Reddick and Byron. By then, four of eight Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10. The remaining Playoff competitors that included Chastain, Hamlin, Elliott and Briscoe were mired back in 11th, 15th, 19th and 25th, respectively.
Under the stage break, the leaders led by Wallace pitted and Wallace retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Suarez, Logano, Truex, Chastain and Byron.
The second stage started on Lap 85 as Wallace and Suarez occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the first two turns, Suarez reassumed the lead followed by teammate Chastain while Wallace fell back to third. Behind, the field continued to fan out to three lanes as Logano moved up to fourth followed by Blaney, Harvick and Truex while Larson, Bell and Byron battled within the top 10.
Nine laps later, the caution returned when Larson, who made a dive bomb move entering Turn 3 while trying to overtake both Harvick and Wallace and move into the top five, slid up the track and ran Wallace towards the outside wall as Wallace hit the wall before bumping against Larson. Then when both competitors were trying to straighten their cars entering the frontstretch, Wallace veered dead left into Larson as both competitors spun and wrecked alongside the frontstretch wall while also collecting Bell, who sustained damage to his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry. Moments after the carnage, Wallace, who emerged uninjured from his wrecked car, made his way to Larson and instigated a shoving match to express his displeasure towards the reigning Cup champion before walking back to his pit stall.
During the caution period, the leaders returned to pit road and Hamlin emerged with the lead following a two-tire pit stop followed by Suarez, Chastain, Logano, Blaney and Harvick. By then, Bell was still on pit road as his crew was trying to repair the damage to his car. The damage, however, was enough to knock Bell out of the race as his 10-minute DVP clock period expired.
During the following restart attempt on Lap 102, the caution quickly returned when Stenhouse spun below the apron in the frontstretch as he was entering Turn 1. In addition, Briscoe made contact with Truex as he pitted during the caution period.
When the race restarted on Lap 107, Suarez, who reassumed the lead from Hamlin during the initial, brief restart, received a push from teammate Chastain to retain the lead as the field fanned out. Not long after, however, Chastain overtook his Trackhouse Racing teammate to move his No. 1 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead as the field continued to jostle for spots on the track.
By Lap 125, Chastain was leading by three-tenths of a second over teammate Suarez followed by Blaney, Logano and Byron while Hamlin, Reddick, Harvick, Cindric and Erik Jones occupied the top 10. Three laps later, however, Blaney cycled his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang atop the leaderboard.
At the halfway mark between Laps 133 and 134, Blaney was leading by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Logano while Chastain, Suarez, Byron, Reddick, Hamlin, Harvick, Cindric and Gragson occupied the top 10 as 30 of 36 starters were running on the lead lap. By then, five of eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 on the track while one, Bell, was out of the race. Meanwhile, Elliott was mired back in 20th and Briscoe was running behind him in 21st place.
With 15 laps remaining in the second stage, Blaney continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Logano while Chastain, Suarez and Hamlin were running in the top five. By then, Byron was back in sixth followed by Cindric, Reddick, Harvick and Truex while Kyle Busch, Gragson, Almirola, Allmendinger and Erik Jones were scored in the top 15.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 165, Blaney captured his eighth stage victory of the 2022 season. Teammate Logano settled in second followed by Suarez, Chastain, Hamlin, Byron, Harvick, Truex, Cindric and Kyle Busch. By then five of seven Playoff competitors on the track were scored in the top 10 while the remaining Playoff competitors that included Briscoe and Elliott were back in 19th and 23rd, respectively. In addition, 27 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the stage break, the leaders led by Blaney pitted, but teammate Logano exited pit road first followed by Hamlin, Blaney, Chastain, Almirola and Harvick. Following the pit stops, Ty Gibbs was penalized for speeding on pit road.
With 96 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Logano and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, Logano muscled into the lead on the inside lane and teammate Blaney rocketed his way to second place as the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the backstretch and back to the frontstretch.
With 80 laps remaining, Logano was out in front by two-tenths of a second over teammate Blaney while Chastain, Harvick, Hamlin, Byron, Cindric, Reddick, Kyle Busch and Truex were running in the top 10. By then, Briscoe was up in 12th while Elliott was back in 20th.
Six laps later, the caution flew when JJ Yeley spun in Turn 4. During the caution period, the leaders led by Logano pitted, but Chastain exited first with four fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Custer was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, teammate Harvick pitted again to have the left-rear wheel on his car tightened.
When the race restarted with 68 laps remaining, Chastain retained the lead and checked out over the field that fanned out entering the backstretch.
Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Chastain was leading by more than a second over Almirola while Blaney, Logano and Kyle Busch were in the top five. Erik Jones, Hamlin, Briscoe, Byron and Justin Haley were scored in the top 10 as 28 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap. With six of seven Playoff competitors running on the track in the top 10, Elliott was the lowest-running Playoff competitor in 17th place behind Harvick. By then, Cindric, who made early contact with the wall in Turn 1, was strapped in 32nd, multiple laps down, as he pitted under green.
Then with 40 laps remaining, the caution flew when Blaney, who was battling teammate Logano for the runner-up spot, wiggled up the track in Turn 1 and brushed against the outside wall. Blaney then hit the wall again as he got loose and slid below the frontstretch before hitting the inside wall and damaging his car. Despite damaging his car, Blaney, who lost multiple laps to the leaders, was able to meet minimum speed to continue.
During the caution period, the leaders led by Chastain returned to pit road for service and Haley exited with the lead following a two-tire pit stop followed by Chastain, Almirola, Kyle Busch. Byron, Ty Dillon and Briscoe. As the field exited pit road, Kyle Busch’s car went up in smoke before the left-front wheel, which was not properly installed, came off of Busch’s Toyota through the backstretch, which forced the two-time Cup champion to pit for another wheel.
During the following restart with 35 laps remaining, the field fanned out to multiple lanes as Haley retained the lead. Behind, Briscoe carved his way to second while Chastain and Suarez battled for third. The following lap, Briscoe slipped up the track, which caused Chastain to bump him and step out of the gas to avoid igniting a wreck.
Five laps later, Ty Dillon made contact with the wall, but the race remained under green flag conditions as Haley was leading by three-tenths of a second over Briscoe followed by Suarez, a hard-charging Reddick and Chastain. Another three laps later, however, the caution flew when Reddick slid up in front of Suarez in a battle for third entering the frontstretch. Reddick’s move caused Suarez to slide sideways as he spun and looped his No. 99 Kid Rock Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the frontstretch grass before proceeding. During the caution period, some led by Logano pitted while the rest led by Haley remained on the track.
With 22 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Haley and Briscoe dueled for the lead. As the battle for the lead intensified while the field fanned out, the caution quickly returned when Landon Cassill spun in Turn 4.
Down to the final 16 laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Haley and Briscoe dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Chastain pulled a bold three-wide move on both to reassume the lead entering Turn 3 and when the field returned to the frontstretch.
With 10 laps remaining, Chastain was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Briscoe and a second over a hard-charging Logano, who would overtake Briscoe a lap later, while Kyle Busch and Hamlin were in the top five. By then, Erik Jones, Truex, Haley, Reddick and Allmendinger were running in the top 10 as the field jostled for late positions.
Five laps later, the battle for the lead and a championship spot for the finale crescendoed to its highest peak as Logano, who was inching closer to Chastain, drew himself to Chastain’s rear bumper. While Logano got close to Chastain’s rear bumper, Chastain withstood his ground and managed to retain the top spot while running close to the outside wall for momentum. Their battle allowed Kyle Busch and Briscoe to close in on the two leaders.
After trying to navigate his way around Chastain amid lapped traffic, Logano seized an opportunity with three laps remaining as he moved beneath Chastain in Turn 1 before sliding up and clearing Chastain in the backstretch. With the clean air to his advantage, Logano started to slowly pull away while Kyle Busch tried to close in on Chastain for second place.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano was out in front by half a second Chastain and eight-tenths over third-place Kyle Busch. As Chastain and Busch battled for second, they were unable to close back in on Logano, who navigated his way back to the frontstretch and streaked across the finish line to grab the victory and his spot to the championship finale.
In addition, Logano claimed his third Cup triumph at Las Vegas, his 30th career victory in NASCAR’s premier series and his first since winning at World Wide Technology Raceway in June. After becoming the first competitor to secure a spot in the 2022 Championship 4 finale, it will mark Logano’s fifth appearance as a title finalist for the finale.
“We’re racing for a championship! Let’s go!” Logano exclaimed on the frontstretch on NBC. “Man, what a great car. The Penske cars were all fast. All of them were really fast today. All you want to do is get to the Championship 4 when the season starts and race for a championship. We got the team to do it. I don’t see why not we can’t win at this point. Things are looking really good for us. Awesome Pennzoil Mustang. Man, just a lot of adversity. [I] Fought through the last 50 laps or so. I thought we were gonna win, then we kind of fell out, had the tires. Racing Ross [Chastain] was fun. He was doing a good job, blocking me. I was trying to be patient and eventually, I was like, ‘I gotta go here.’ Just great to win out here in Vegas again and it means so much to get into the championship [finale].”
Chastain fended off Kyle Busch, who scrubbed the wall after getting blocked by Chastain approaching the checkered flag, to finish second while Briscoe and Hamlin completed the top five.
“For our Tootsies Chevy, that was all we had,” Chastain, who is 18 points above the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings, said. “There was a clear difference in tires there, so we fully believed that we could hold [Logano] off and win the race on the tires we had. Joey did a good job of getting through the field. At the end there, I hope I’m racing that guy for a really long time. Like we’ve been saying all year, this is the arrival of Trackhouse [Racing], and I wouldn’t want to be doing it with anybody else. I’m sure I can go back and find a few things, and to run the top there and let him get inside of me, I thought I had one more corner to do that, and he just got positioned on me there on the frontstretch, and we were just really tight.”
Reddick, Truex, Erik Jones, Allmendinger and Austin Dillon came home in the top 10 as 25 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap. With four of eight Playoff competitors finishing in the top 10 on the track, the remaining Playoff competitors that included Byron, Elliott, Blaney and Bell ended up 13th, 21st, 28th and 34th, respectively.
There were 18 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 42 laps.
Results.
1. Joey Logano, 32 laps led
2. Ross Chastain, 68 laps led
3. Kyle Busch
4. Chase Briscoe, six laps led
5. Denny Hamlin, five laps led
6. Tyler Reddick, 32 laps led
7. Martin Truex Jr.
8. Erik Jones
9. AJ Allmendinger
10. Austin Dillon
11. Noah Gragson
12. Kevin Harvick
13. William Byron
14. Justin Haley, 16 laps led
15. Chris Buescher
16. Daniel Suarez, 31 laps led
17. Brad Keselowski
18. Aric Almirola
19. Michael McDowell
20. Cole Custer
21. Chase Elliott
22. Ty Gibbs
23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap led
24. Corey LaJoie
25. Todd Gilliland
26. Harrison Burton, one lap down
27. Cody Ware, three laps down
28. Ryan Blaney, seven laps down, 39 laps led, Stage 2 winner
29. Austin Cindric, eight laps down, eight laps led
The Round of 8 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will continue next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, October 23, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Josh Berry drove his No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet to victory lane Saturday evening at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to claim his fifth Xfinity Series career win and a spot in the Championship 4.
He also led a decisive 65 laps, including the final 34, to give Chevrolet its 500th win in the series to clinch the Manufacturer Championship.
Berry described the day as, “just really, really, really, special. You know when I started on this journey and found out I was gonna run full-time this year we all sat down at the beginning of the year and said that our goal was to make the Championship 4. We felt like we were capable of that. We knew what we could do. We knew there would be bumps along the road in my first full season but we believed in our hearts that we could be at Phoenix.
His teammates, Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier finished second and third, respectively, giving JR Motorsports a 1-2-3 sweep at Las Vegas.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs and Trevor Bayne finished fourth and fifth with Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones and Anthony Alfredo rounding out the top 10.
Gragson leaves Las Vegas leading the standings by 19 points over Gibbs and with a 29-point advantage over Allgaier.
Regular season champion AJ Allmendinger started on the pole and led seven laps, finishing seventh in Stage 1 and 10th in Stage 2. But, after experiencing a vibration caused by two loose tires, he had to make a green flag pit stop, putting him a lap down. Allmendinger finished 22nd, the lowest of the playoff contenders.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Hailie Deegan finished 13th, the best finish ever by a woman in an Xfinity Series debut.
After the race, Deegan said, “I’m pretty excited right now; the guys gave me an amazing car.”
When asked if we might see her competing in more Xfinity Series races, she said, “I would love to be. If anyone’s out there that wants to pay the bills I’d be more than happy to run some more Xfinity races.”
The Xfinity Series Playoffs continue next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway at 4:30 ET Saturday on the USA Network with radio coverage by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
