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  • Ty Gibbs claims controversial Xfinity victory at Martinsville; Championship 4 field set

    Ty Gibbs claims controversial Xfinity victory at Martinsville; Championship 4 field set

    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.

  • Larson rallies for dominant Cup victory at Homestead

    Larson rallies for dominant Cup victory at Homestead

    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.

  • Gragson clinches Championship 4 spot with dominant Xfinity victory at Homestead

    Gragson clinches Championship 4 spot with dominant Xfinity victory at Homestead

    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.

  • Bell advances to Playoff’s Round of 8 with Cup victory at Charlotte Roval

    Bell advances to Playoff’s Round of 8 with Cup victory at Charlotte Roval

    Christopher Bell capitalized on a late strategic pit call for fresh tires followed by two late-race restarts by winning a wild conclusion to the fifth annual running of the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course on Sunday, October 9.

    The 27-year-old Bell from Norman, Oklahoma, led the final two of 112 over-scheduled laps en route to the victory. Prior to his victory, he was initially appeared to be eliminated from the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. When the caution flew due to debris being reported on the track with six laps remaining, an opportunity struck for Bell, who pitted for four fresh tires. Amid two late-race restarts, including the second that sent the event into overtime, and a bevy of carnage and chaos that affected a number of Playoff contenders, Bell managed to carve his way to the front as he claimed the lead from Kevin Harvick with two laps remaining. From there, he rocketed away from the field and smoothly navigate his way around the circuit for a final time to claim his second checkered flag of the 2022 Cup Series season.

    With the victory, Bell, who came into the event 54 points below the top-eight cutline to transfer to the Round of 8 in the Playoffs, was one of eight competitors to transfer and continue to pursue this year’s title while another group of four competitors, including reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, were left on the outside and out of the Playoffs.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Playoff competitor Joey Logano claimed his third pole position of the 2022 season and the 25th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 103.424 mph in 80.755 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff competitor William Byron, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 103.300 mph in 80.852 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Playoff competitor Ross Chastain along with Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Loris Hezemans and newcomer Conor Daly dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective cars. Aric Almirola also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change along with Josh Williams, who failed pre-race technical inspection and was assessed a pass-through penalty through pit road upon starting the race.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Logano fended off Byron to lead the field through the first two turns followed by the infield, road course turns while Byron was being challenged early by Suarez for second place. As the field returned to the oval turns before entering the backstretch chicane and returning to the frontstretch chicane, Logano was able to lead the first lap ahead of a four-car battle for the runner-up spot that included Byron, Suarez, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney. Behind, Austin Dillon missed the frontstretch chicane and was later assessed a pass-through penalty through pit road for failing to comply to missing the chicane by coming to a full stop on the track.

    Through the second lap of the event, Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang remained out in front by more than a second over Byron’s No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Suarez, Reddick, Blaney, Austin Cindric, Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger, Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott were scored in the top 10. 

    During the following lap, Bubba Wallace missed the frontstretch chicane after locking up the front tires of his No. 45 Root Insurance Toyota TRD Camry while running in the top 10 as he came to a full stop before proceeding to avoid a penalty. Wallace eventually pitted under green for four fresh tires after flat-sotting his original tires.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Logano stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Byron followed by Suarez, Reddick and Blaney while Cindric, Bell, Allmendinger, Elliott and Michael McDowell were running in the top 10. By then, seven of 11 Playoff competitors participating in the event were racing in the top 10 while the remaining Playoff competitors that included Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain were in 12th, 14th, 17th and 26th, respectively. Meanwhile, Noah Gragson, who was filling in for Alex Bowman for a second consecutive weekend, was in 22nd behind Erik Jones.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Logano’s advantage decreased to seven-tenths of a second over Byron, who started to close in on Logano for the lead, while Suarez remained in third place and nearly four seconds behind. While Reddick and Blaney remained in the top five, Cindric, Allmendinger, Elliott, Bell and McDowell were scored in the top 10.

    By the Lap 20 mark, pit strategy commenced as Chastain, Chris Buescher and Mike Rockenfeler pitted along with Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Gragson, Almirola, Joey Hand, Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs, Harrison Burton, Kyle Busch, the Dillon brothers, Stenhouse, Keselowski, McDowell, Cole Custer, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick, AJ Allmendinger and Elliott. During the pit stops, rookie Todd Gilliland missed his pit box and cycled around the circuit for another lap before pitting again. Meanwhile, Logano remained as the leader by half a second over a hard-charging Byron while Suarez was trying to defend Reddick for third place.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 25, Logano held off Byron by half a second to capture his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season. Suarez, who prevailed in his battle with Reddick after Reddick pitted under green a few laps earlier, settled in third followed by Blaney, Cindric, Larson, Briscoe, Hamlin, Reddick and Allmendinger. By then, eight of 12 Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 while the remaining Playoff competitors that included Elliott, Bell and Chastain were in 11th, 14th and 17th, respectively. In addition, all but one of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap while Daniil Kvyat was in the garage and scored in 39th place, dead last.

    Under the stage break, some led by Logano pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track.  

    The second stage started on Lap 29 as Reddick and Allmendinger occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick managed to fend off Allmendinger to retain the lead through the first two turns and through the infield turns while the field behind jostled for positions. Behind, Justin Haley made his way into third while Bell, Elliott and McDowell battled for fourth in front of Cole Custer and Kevin Harvick.

    During the following lap, Allmendinger, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity Series event at the Roval, muscled his No. 16 Action Industries Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 around Reddick’s No. 8 3Chi Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while re-entering the oval turns to take the lead for the first time.

    With the event surpassing the Lap 35 mark, Allmendinger was leading by nearly a second over Reddick followed by Haley, Elliott and McDowell while Bell, Custer, Harvick, Chastain and Erik Jones were in the top 10. By then, Ty Gibbs was in 11th while Truex, Burton, Corey LaJoie, Gragson, Keselowski, Buescher, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon and Briscoe occupied the top 20. Stenhouse was scored in 21st ahead of Logano, Suarez, Larson and Byron while Blaney, Almirola, Hamlin, Cindric and Gilliland were running in the top 30. Notably, Wallace, who made contact with Suarez on pit road during the first stage’s break period, was mired in 32nd ahead of Joey Hand, Loris Hezemans was in 35th, Mike Rockenfeller was back in 37th and Conor Daly was mired in 38th.

    Five laps later, Allmendinger extended his advantage to more than a second over Reddick while Haley, Elliott and McDowell remained in the top five. By then, only three of 11 Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 while the remaining eight were scored outside of the top 15, with Briscoe being the highest of the eight in 17th place. As Logano and Larson battled for 21st place, Suarez was mired in 24th in front of Byron, Blaney and Hamlin. In the midst of the Playoff competitors jockeying for positions, both Gragson and Corey LaJoie missed the backstretch chicane and both were forced to come to a full stop before proceeding.

    A few laps later, Chastain missed the backstretch chicane while running in ninth place and was forced to come to a stop before proceeding under green. Despite missing the chicane, he only lost one spot as he was back in 10th behind Erik Jones and Harvick.

    In the closing laps of the second stage, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as names including Kyle Busch, Ty Dillon, Hamlin, Gilliland, Stenhouse, Keselowski, Erik Jones, Reddick, Elliott, Wallace, Gragson, Austin Dillon, Truex, McDowell, Bell, Harvick, Custer, Haley and the leader Allmendinger pitted. In the midst of the cycle, Chastain, who opted for stage points, moved into the lead.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 50, Chastain, who started at the rear of the field in a backup car after wrecking his primary car during Saturday’s qualifying session, captured his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season. Harrison Burton settled in second while Larson, Allmendinger, Reddick, Suarez, Logano, Briscoe, Blaney and Elliott were scored in the top 10. By then, seven of 11 Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 on the track while the remaining Playoff competitors that included Byron, Cindric, Bell and Hamlin were mired in 11th, 12th, 16th and 31st, respectively. In addition, all but one of 39 starters were running on the track and on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, some led by Chastain pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger and Reddick remained on the track.

    With 55 laps remaining, the final stage started as Allmendinger and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick and Allmendinger dueled for the lead until Reddick used the outside lane to his advantage as he rocketed to the lead. Behind, Elliott overtook Haley for third followed by Harvick as the field jostled again for positions. Through the infield turns and back to the oval turns, Reddick managed to remain ahead of Allmendinger as the event surpassed its halfway mark.

    Five laps later and down to the final 50 laps of the event, Reddick was leading by six-tenths of a second over Allmendinger while Elliott, Haley, Harvick, McDowell, Custer, Bell, Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon occupied the top 10. Gragson was up in 11th followed by Erik Jones, Buescher, Truex and Gibbs while Keselowski, Hamlin, Briscoe, Almirola and Byron were running in the top 20. Wallace was mired back in 21st ahead of Ty Dillon, LaJoie, Suarez and Chastain while Cindric, Larson, Logano, Blaney and Stenhouse rounded out the top 30.

    Another 10 laps later, Reddick continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Allmendinger followed by Elliott, Haley and Harvick while McDowell, Custer, Bell, Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon remained in the top 10. By then, Elliott and Bell, who was placed in a “must-win” situation to advance in the Playoff’s Round of 8, were the only Playoff competitors running in the top 10 on the track while Briscoe, Hamlin, Byron, Larson, Chastain, Cindric, Blaney, Logano and Suarez were running in 17th, 18th, 19th, 21st, 23rd, 25th, 26th, 27th and 36th, respectively. Based on their current positions, Briscoe, who overcame contact with LaJoie at the start of the final stage in the backstretch chicane, held sole possession of the eighth and final transfer spot to the Round of 8 by 15 points over Suarez, who was having power steering issues to his No. 99 CommScope Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, with Cindric also trailing outside of the cutline.

    Not long after, Bell and Larson pitted under green along with Elliott and Buescher, Ty Dillon, Stenhouse, Logano and Cindric. Then under the final 36 laps of the event, Reddick surrendered the lead to pit along with Harvick, Custer, Truex, Briscoe, Byron and Cindric. By then, Allmendinger cycled into the lead while Suarez was lapped by the leaders.

    With 35 laps remaining, Allmendinger pitted under green while McDowell moved into the lead. By then, Hamlin, Blaney, Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Gragson and Haley made their respective pit stops under green. 

    Three laps later, Elliott, who emerged as the highest-running competitor on the track who recently pitted under green, cycled his way into the lead after overtaking Erik Jones, who still had to pit. By then, McDowell pitted under green as Reddick and Allmendinger closed in on Jones for the runner-up spot.

    A few laps later, a pair of issues struck for Trackhouse Racing’s two-car entries. The first was when Suarez, who was scored two laps behind the leaders, pitted under green to have his power steering issue diagnosed as his hopes of advancing to the Round of 8 took a hit. The second was for Chastain, who made contact with the wall and was slipping sideways through each and every turn, but continued to run under minimum speed for another pair of laps before pitting under green. Chastain, who came into the event 28 points above the Round of 8 cutline, would eventually reserve his No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to the garage due to an issue with his toe link and right rear suspension. His issues garnered the attention of Cindric, who rallied from getting into Joey Hand entering the backstretch chicane and was scored one spot outside of the cutline, while Briscoe continued to occupy the eighth and final transfer spot in the Playoff standings.

    With less than 20 laps remaining, Elliott extended his advantage to more than four seconds over Reddick and five seconds over third-place Allmendinger while Harvick, Haley, McDowell, Bell, Gragson, Austin Dillon and Custer occupied the top 10. By then, Elliott and Bell remained as the only Playoff competitors to be running in the top 10 on the track while Larson, Briscoe, Byron, Cindric, Hamlin, Blaney, Logano, Suarez and Chastain were scored in 14th, 15th, 17th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 36th and 37th, respectively.

    Nearly five laps later, Chastain returned to the track and he was mired in 37th place, nine laps behind the leaders, but still in contention of transferring to the Round of 8. Teammate Suarez, however, returned to pit road for more steering fluid. Back at the front, Elliott stabilized his large advantage to more than four seconds over Allmendinger. Reddick, meanwhile, was forced to stop on the frontstretch for missing the backstretch chicane, but he managed to proceed in third place ahead of Harvick and Haley.

    With 14 laps remaining, more issues encountered Suarez, who made contact with LaJoie as LaJoie spun towards the frontstretch chicane. Despite the incident, both competitors proceeded without drawing a caution as Elliott continued to lead by nearly four seconds over Allmendinger.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Elliott was leading by nearly four seconds over Allmendinger. Reddick remained in third in front of Harvick and Haley while McDowell, Bell, Austin Dillon, Gragson and Custer were in the top 10. By then, Briscoe, who was in 13th, continued to hold sole possession of the eighth and final transfer spot to the Round of 8 by a mere margin over Suarez, who was back in 36th and five laps behind the leaders. In the midst of this, Larson pitted and spent extra time in his pit box after reporting a toe link and right rear suspension issue to his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, an issue that stemmed from him getting into the wall in Turn 7 earlier.

    Then with six laps remaining, the caution flew due to debris reported on the track. By then, Elliott was ahead by more than four seconds over Allmendinger. In addition, Larson returned to the track following his mechanical issues as he was scored in 35th place, five laps down and one spot ahead of Suarez. During the caution period, some led by Bell pitted while the rest led by Elliott remained on the track

    When the race restarted under green with three laps remaining, Elliott and Allmendinger dueled for the lead as Gragson made contact with McDowell and spun entering the first turn. Back at the front, Allmendinger rubbed and moved Elliott up the track in Turn 3 to clear himself for the lead. Through Turn 4, however, Harvick bumped and got Allmendinger loose as he muscled his No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang into the lead. Two turns later, Reddick got into Elliott in a battle for second place as Elliott spun and plummeted below the leaderboard. Through the backstretch chicane, Briscoe spun after getting hit by Austin Dillon while Logano, Erik Jones and Byron also wrecked. Amid all the chaos, the race proceeded under green as Harvick continued to lead.

    When the field returned to the frontstretch, Harvick was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Reddick followed by Bell, Allmendinger and Haley. Not long after, more carnage ensued as Almirola and Ty Dillon collided and spun. Following the incident, the caution returned and the event was sent into overtime due to curbing that came loose on the backstretch chicane, which caused NASCAR to display the red flag and pause the event for six minutes to repair the curbs in the chicane.

    Once the field proceeded under a cautious pace after the repairs to the chicane were made, names like Byron, Gragson, Briscoe, Almirola, LaJoie, Ty Dillon, Burton, Logano, Cindric and Almirola pitted while the rest led by Harvick remained on the track.

    During the first overtime attempt, Harvick and Bell battled for the lead until Bell used the fresh tires to his advantage as he assumed the lead and cleared the field approaching the infield turns. Amid a multi-car wreck in the first turn that collected Blaney, the race remained under green as Bell started to pull away from Harvick and the field. Then through the backstretch chicane, Cindric, who was trying to fight his way into the Round of 8, locked up his front tires and sent Keselowski out of the racing groove before he spun, which all but evaporated his hopes of transferring to the next round.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bell remained as the leader by a second over Harvick and Allmendinger. As the field behind continued to jostle for last-minute positions, Bell was able to navigate his way around the circuit for the final time and cycle back to the frontstretch to win the race and earn a one-way ticket to the Round of 8.

    In addition to maintaining his championship hopes of this season by transferring to the Round of 8, Bell captured his second Cup Series victory of this season, his first since winning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July and the third of his career. The victory was also the 199th Cup victory for Joe Gibbs Racing, overall, as Bell became the fourth different competitor to win at the Roval.

    “Oh, man, I don’t even know,” Bell, who was beaming, said on NBC. “Whenever I came off pit road and I was the first car with tires, I was just trying to wait and see where I stacked up. I saw there were 11 cars that stayed out on old tires, I was the first one on new tires. I said I guess we’re going to roll the dice here and see what happens. When I got into turn one, my spotter did an amazing job. They all started wrecking. He told me to stay tight to the middle, and that kept me out of all the junk in turn one. Really proud of everyone on this DeWalt team. They deserve it, man. We’ve been trying so hard to get DeWalt in Victory Lane. We finally got this Camry here.”

    “Man, you just got to be there at the end of these things,” Bell added. “I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn’t always win. No secret that road courses have not been our strength year. We were just there at the right time. We obviously weren’t in position to win, we rolled the dice, gambled, it paid off for us. I feel really good about [us], that’s for sure. I knew that the whole time going into this second round of the Playoffs this was the troublemaker, with Talladega and then the road course being in here, when we weren’t strong on the road courses. I was really nervous about this round. I felt good about Texas. When we got out of there with no points, I thought it was going to be a really tough road. It was a really tough road. But there was an end to it.”

    Amid the late carnage and turn of events, Harvick came home in second place followed by Kyle Busch, Allmendinger and Haley. Buescher, Wallace and Reddick finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, while Briscoe claimed ninth place on the track and the eighth and final transfer spot to the Playoffs by two points over Larson, who ended up 35th and out of the Playoffs as his hopes of winning a second consecutive Cup title evaporated.

    “Man, what a wild day,” Briscoe, who was left relieved, said. “I told my guys before we took the initial green [flag] of the race, ‘There’s a difference between thinking we can move on and knowing we can move on.’ I knew we could move on. This team just never gives up. I told them I was never gonna give up. It took every bit of it there at the end. To be easily in, then that debris caution comes out and still, I thought we really had a good shot of making it in. Get wrecked on the backstretch and just crazy at the end of these races, especially the road course race. Just how much can change so quickly. I had no idea we were even gonna have a shot. Truthfully, I knew that we were probably out and I saw [Cindric] wreck. I was like, ‘Maybe, there’s still a chance.’ Just so proud of this race team. Just a really cool day. Looking forward to the Round of 8. It’s a lot of really, really good racetracks for me. If we get to Phoenix, we know we got a good car there too. Just overall, awesome day. Proud of my team and just move on.” 

    Photo by Kevin Ritchie for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “[I was worried] As soon as I hit the wall,” Larson, who was left disappointed, said. “You give up that many spots, you know that you’re gonna be close. I just made way too many mistakes all year long and made another one today and ultimately, cost us an opportunity to go chase another championship. Just extremely mad at myself and let the team down a number of times this year. [I] Let them down in a big way today. We’ll keep fighting. We’ll come back stronger and I’ll definitely come back stronger and smarter. Make better moves out there. Just mad at myself. Bummer, but just got to move on.”

    Photo by Kevin Ritchie for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Larson was not the only competitor left dejected with having championship hopes of this season diminished as Suarez, Cindric and Bowman (who did not compete due to concussion-like symptoms) were eliminated from the Playoffs.

    “It was tough,” Suarez, who ended up 36th, said. “It was very, very tough. We did what we needed to do in the first half of the race: getting stage points and everything. Once we lost the [power] steering, it was pretty much just hoping for a little bit of luck, which we almost got right there at the end. It is what it is. We have to continue to get better. We have to come back to the shop and look at what went wrong and try to get better.”

    “We were in a position where I needed one more spot,” Cindric, who fell back to 21st said. “I was working to try to get that spot. I haven’t seen the replay, but it sounds like I got hit from behind. Locked the rears [tires] and got set back. No, I just screwed that up. I think [Erik Jones] hit me there at the end. Doesn’t matter. Just trying to drive probably a little desperate for 30-lap older tires than every car around me. Just tried to make something happen. We were golden there if that red flag wouldn’t have come out. We were in a great spot to make it in. It’s the way these [races] go. Just frustrating, but that’s Playoff racing. I learned a lot in my rookie season and proud to be able to have a shot to finish out the season strong and have some fun the next couple of weeks.”

    In addition to Bell and Briscoe, Elliott, Logano, Chastain, Byron, Blaney and Hamlin have transferred to the Round of 8 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

    There were 10 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 10 laps. In total, 37 of 39 starters finished the race, with 27 finishing on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Christopher Bell, two laps led

    2. Kevin Harvick, four laps led

    3. Kyle Busch

    4. AJ Allmendinger, 24 laps led

    5. Justin Haley

    6. Chris Buescher

    7. Bubba Wallace

    8. Tyler Reddick, 21 laps led

    9. Chase Briscoe

    10. Austin Dillon

    11. Erik Jones, one lap led

    12. Corey LaJoie

    13. Denny Hamlin

    14. Brad Keselowski

    15. Aric Almirola

    16. William Byron 

    17. Martin Truex Jr.

    18. Joey Logano, 27 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    20. Chase Elliott, 30 laps led

    21. Austin Cindric

    22. Ty Gibbs

    23. Noah Gragson

    24. Cole Custer

    25. Ty Dillon

    26. Ryan Blaney

    27. Michael McDowell

    28. Harrison Burton, one lap down

    29. Mike Rockenfeller, one lap down

    30. Todd Gilliland, one lap down

    31. Josh Williams, two laps down

    32. JJ Yeley, two laps down

    33. Loris Hezemans, two laps down

    34. Conor Daly, three laps down

    35. Kyle Larson, five laps down

    36. Daniel Suarez, five laps down

    37. Ross Chastain, nine laps down, three laps led, Stage 2 winner

    38. Joey Hand – OUT, Accident

    39. Daniil Kvyat – OUT, Engine

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Chase Elliott – Advanced

    2. Christopher Bell – Advanced

    3. Ryan Blaney – Advanced

    4. Joey Logano – Advanced

    5. Denny Hamlin – Advanced

    6. William Byron – Advanced

    7. Ross Chastain – Advanced

    8. Chase Briscoe – Advanced

    9. Kyle Larson – Eliminated

    10. Daniel Suarez – Eliminated

    11. Austin Cindric – Eliminated

    12. Alex Bowman – Eliminated

    The Round of 8 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will commence next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 16. The event’s coverage is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Allmendinger claims fourth consecutive Charlotte Roval Xfinity Series win

    Allmendinger claims fourth consecutive Charlotte Roval Xfinity Series win

    The road course dominance of AJ Allmendinger continued under a sunny afternoon in Concord, North Carolina, after he claimed a late dominant victory in the fifth annual Drive for the Cure 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course on Saturday, October 8. It was his fourth consecutive Xfinity Series win at the Charlotte Roval as the field for the Playoff’s Round of 8 was set.

    The 40-year-old Allmendinger from Los Gatos, California, led two times for a race-high 25 of 72 over-scheduled laps. Allmendinger capitalized on two overtime attempts while also dealing with power steering issues to overtake and hold off Ty Gibbs to claim his historic fourth consecutive Xfinity Series victory at the Roval. This also marked his second consecutive win following a last-lap photo-finish victory over Sam Mayer at Talladega Superspeedway. Allmendinger was one of eight competitors to officially transfer to the Playoff’s Round of 8.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Allmendinger claimed his fourth pole position of the 2022 season after posting a 102.235 mph lap in 81.694 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff competitor Ty Gibbs, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 102.144 mph in 81.767 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Scott Heckert, Ryan Vargas and Kris Wright dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars along with Playoff competitor Noah Gragson, who started the event in a backup car.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Allmendinger battled and fended off Gibbs to lead the field through the first two turns and approaching the infield road course turns. As the field jostled for positions through the infield and back to the oval turns, Allmendinger remained out in front over Gibbs, Daniel Hemric, Justin Allgaier and Sheldon Creed. Through the backstretch chicane and back to the frontstretch chicane, Allmendinger retained the top spot by a decent advantage as he navigated his way back to the start/finish line and led the first lap.

    By the second lap, Allmendinger was out in front by seven-tenths of a second over Gibbs followed by Hemric, Allgaier and Creed while Sam Mayer, Landon Cassill, Austin Hill, Jeremy Clements and Sage Karam were in the top 10.

    Then on the third lap, early trouble struck for Playoff competitor Daniel Hemric, who went off the track and hit the wall in Turn 5 and damaged the left side of his No. 11 AG1 Chevrolet Camaro. Following an unscheduled pit stop for repairs, the reigning Xfinity Series champion returned to the track but plummeted to the bottom of the leaderboard.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Allmendinger was leading by nearly one-and-a-half seconds over Gibbs while Allgaier, Creed, Mayer, Cassill, Hill, Clements, Sage Karam and Riley Herbst were running in the top 10. By then, six of 12 Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 as Josh Berry was in 12th, Brandon Jones was scored in 16th, Ryan Sieg was running behind Jones in 17th, Gragson was in 20th and Hemric was mired back in 38th, dead last.

    Four laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Kris Wright wrecked in the first turn. Wright’s incident occurred two laps earlier after JJ Yeley spun all by himself in Turn 7. During the caution period, some of the drivers, including Gragson, pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 11, Allmendinger retained the lead ahead of Gibbs and the rest of the field.

    In the closing laps of the second stage, Marco Andretti, who was making his NASCAR debut in Big Machine Racing’s No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro, spun entering the backstretch chicane. In addition, Alex Labbe went off the course and got a sign stuck to his front end while Allgaier and Cassill spun together in Turn 4. In the midst of the on-track carnage, Creed, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Jones, Labbe, Kaz Grala and Hemric pitted while Allmendinger retained the lead. 

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 20, Allmendinger claimed his fourth stage victory of the 2022 season. Gibbs settled in second while Mayer, Hill, Herbst, Allgaier, Davison, Cassill, Berry and Karam were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Allmendinger pitted while the rest including Creed, Gragson, Karam, Brandon Jones, Alex Labbe, Ryan Sieg, Hemric, Grala, Josh Williams, Preston Pardus and Brandon Brown remained on the track. During the pit stops, Hill had the hood of his car up due to a power steering issue while Patrick Gallagher was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 22 as Karam and Gragson occupied the front row. At the start, Gragson used the outside lane to his advantage as he stormed to the lead entering the first turn followed by Creed while Karam was left to battle Brandon Jones for third place in front of the field.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Creed was leading ahead of Gibbs, Brandon Jones, Gragson and Karam while Hemric, Herbst, Labbe, Allmendinger and Mayer were running in the top 10. By then, six of 12 Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 as Allgaier was in 11th, Berry was in 13th, Clements was running in 15th, Sieg was back in 17th and Hill was mired back in 32nd. In the midst of the competition toward the front, Bayley Currey spun Brad Perez in Turn 8 as Andy Lally sustained damage from getting into Currey.

    At the halfway mark between Laps 33 and 34, Creed continued to lead by more than three seconds over Gibbs while Brandon Jones, Gragson and Karam remained in the top five. By then, Herbst carved his way up to sixth followed by Allmendinger, Mayer, Hemric and Allgaier while Labbe, Davison, Berry, Alfredo and Clements occupied the top 15.

    In the closing laps of the second stage, some of the drivers, including Karam, Labbe, Cassill, Stefan Parsons, Clements, Jeb Burton, Josh Bilicki, Allmendinger, Gragson and Gibbs, along with the leader, Creed, pitted under green while Brandon Jones cycled his way into the lead.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 40, Brandon Jones claimed his second stage victory of the 2022 season. Herbst settled in second while Mayer, Allgaier, Davison, Hemric, Berry, Alfredo, Creed and Gibbs were scored in the top 10. By then, six of 12 Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 while Sieg, Gragson, Allmendinger, Clements and Hill were mired in 12th, 17th, 18th, 26th and 30th, respectively. During the stage’s conclusion, Myatt Snider limped his No. 31 TaxSlayer Chevrolet Camaro back to pit road with a flat left-rear tire.

    Under the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Brandon Jones, pitted, while the rest led by Herbst remained on the track.

    With 24 laps remaining, the final stage started with Creed and Gibbs on the front row. At the start, Creed pulled ahead with the lead through the first turn while Gibbs fended off Allmendinger, Gragson and Karam to remain in second through the infield turns. As the field re-entered the oval turns and approached the backstretch chicane, Gibbs started to close in on Creed as he launched his bid for the lead while Allmendinger kept both within his sights.

    During the following lap, Gibbs moved into the lead over Creed entering the backstretch chicane while Allmendinger remained in third as he started to challenge Creed for the runner-up spot. Not long after, the caution flag flew again when Jeb Burton spun in Turn 6 after getting hit by teammate Anthony Alfredo before he was hit by Marco Andretti, whose NASCAR debut came to an end late in the event.

    When the race restarted under green with 19 laps remaining, Gibbs fended off Creed and a daring three-wide attempt from Allmendinger to lead the field through the infield turns and back to the oval turns. Shortly after, the caution flew when Preston Pardus was hit by Kaz Grala, who spun and got his car stalled backward in the backstretch chicane. In the midst of the carnage, Herbst, who was running toward the top 10, sustained significant damage to the left-rear area of his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang after a stack-up resulted in Davison hitting Herbst.

    During the following restart with 15 laps remaining, Gibbs jumped ahead and retained the lead while Allmendinger and Creed briefly battled for second as Allmendinger prevailed while Karam and Gragson were in the top five ahead of the field. While the field jostled for positions through the infield turns and the backstretch chicane, Gibbs stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Allmendinger while third-place Creed trailed by more than a second.

    A lap later, Herbst spun while exiting the backstretch chicane in 10th place. By then, Brad Perez hit the wall towards the backstretch while Joe Graf Jr. spun in Turn 6. Despite the incidents, the race remained under green flag conditions.

    With 12 laps remaining, however, the caution returned due to debris on the course after Herbst lost a flat left-rear tire carcass and sustained more damage to the left-rear area of his car. At the same time, Allgaier had a sign stuck to the front of his car.

    Three laps later, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Gibbs retained the lead with a strong start while Allmendinger battled and fended off Creed to retain the runner-up spot ahead of the field. Behind, a spin by Grala ignited a stack-up with cars wrecking in Turn 2 that involved Herbst, Patrick Gallagher, Ryan Vargas, Timmy Hill, Josh Bilicki and Brad Perez. Shortly after, Creed spun in Turn 7 after getting hit by Karam before the caution flew amid the carnage.

    Down to the final six laps of the event, the event restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs launched ahead with another strong start while Allmendinger fended off Karam for second place. Behind, teammates Gragson and Allgaier battled for fourth in front of Parsons, Brandon Jones and Labbe as the field scrambled for late positions through the infield turns and back to the oval turns.

    When the field returned to the frontstretch for the final five mark, Gibbs continued to lead by half a second over Allmendinger while Karam, Gragson and Allgaier remained in the top five. By then, Parsons remained in sixth ahead of Davison, Brandon Jones, Labbe and Berry while Mayer, Hemric, Kvyat, Casasill and Sieg were in the top 15.

    Then with four laps remaining, Karam spun from third and backed his car into the wall. As Karam continued and limped his car back to pit road, the race remained under green and Gibbs retained the lead ahead of Allmendinger. Karam’s incident allowed Gragson, Allgaier and Parsons to move up the leaderboard.

    Two laps later, the caution flew due to debris being reported on the track and the event was sent into overtime. By then, Gibbs had extended his advantage to a second over Allmendinger.

    At the start of the first overtime attempt, Gibbs and Allmendinger dueled for the lead entering the first turn. They rubbed fenders through the first two turns as Allmendinger muscled into the lead entering the third turn. Through the infield turns, Allmendinger and Gibbs pulled away from the field, with Allmendinger closing in on Gibbs. It did not take long, however, for the caution to fly again and send the event into a second overtime attempt when Herbst spun, slapped the wall between Turns 4 and 5 and picked up a billboard sign on the course. Herbst eventually retired with a wrecked race car.

    During the start of the second overtime attempt, Allmendinger and Gibbs dueled for the lead entering the first turn before Allmendinger pulled ahead and came out on top. Behind, Gibbs and Gragson battled for second while James Davison moved up to fourth in front of Allgaier. While Parsons spun in Turn 7, the field scattered to avoid hitting him as the race proceeded under green.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allmendinger remained the leader by more than a second over Gibbs and Gragson. While Gibbs tried to close in on Allmendinger through the infield turns, the oval turns and the backstretch chicane, Allmendinger had enough power to fend off and beat Gibbs to the finish line by half a second.

    In addition to claiming his fourth consecutive victory at the Roval along with his second win in recent weeks, Allmendinger recorded his 15th career victory in the Xfinity Series, his 10th on a road course venue and his fifth of the 2022 season. The victory was also the 19th overall in the Xfinity circuit for Kaulig Racing.

    “It’s unbelievable,” Allmendinger said on NBC. “All the credit goes to all the men and women at Kaulig Racing. This Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevy was pretty good, but Ty [Gibbs] was really good there at the end. I didn’t know if I was gonna be able to get him. I knew I could just get to one restart on the outside of him, at least, we had a chance. I was whining pretty bad there. I was frustrated, didn’t think we had a shot, but I’m always gonna put it on my back when it’s time to go. We got that one. We stole that one!”

    Gibbs settled in second place for the third time this season as he secured his spot in the Playoff’s Round of 8. Gragson came home in third place while James Davison and Justin Allgaier finished in the top five. Alex Labbe finished sixth followed by Brandon Jones, who secured the eighth and final transfer spot to the Round of 8 by two points over Ryan Sieg. Berry, Sieg and Landon Cassill completed the top 10 on the track. Notably, Playoff competitors Mayer, Clements, Hemric and Hill ended up 11th, 14th, 17th and 29th, respectively, while Herbst, who was unable to finish, was scored in 32nd.

    AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry, Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer, Austin Hill and Brandon Jones have transferred to the Round of 8 in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs and will continue in their pursuit of this year’s championship. Ryan Sieg, Daniel Hemric, Riley Herbst and Jeremy Clements have been eliminated from title contention. With Hemric, the reigning Xfinity Series champion, being among one of four competitors eliminated from Playoff contention, the 2022 Xfinity Series will be primed to feature a new champion at season’s conclusion.

    There were eight lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 15 laps.

    Results.

    1. AJ Allmendinger, 25 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Ty Gibbs, 24 laps led

    3. Noah Gragson, one lap led

    4. James Davison

    5. Justin Allgaier

    6. Alex Labbe

    7. Brandon Jones, three laps led, Stage 2 winner

    8. Josh Berry

    9. Ryan Sieg

    10. Landon Cassill

    11. Sam Mayer

    12. Anthony Alfredo

    13. Myatt Snider

    14. Jeremy Clements

    15. Daniil Kvyat

    16. Sheldon Creed, 18 laps led

    17. Daniel Hemric

    18. Jeb Burton

    19. JJ Yeley

    20. Brandon Brown

    21. Preston Pardus

    22. Scott Heckert

    23. Brad Perez

    24. Ryan Vargas

    25. Stefan Parsons

    26. Bayley Currey

    27. Joe Graf Jr.

    28. Timmy Hill

    29. Austin Hill, two laps down

    30. Sage Karam, two laps down

    31. Andy Lally, three laps down

    32. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    33. Patrick Gallagher – OUT, Engine

    34. Josh Bilicki, six laps down

    35. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident

    36. Marco Andretti – OUT, Accident

    37. Josh Williams – OUT, Track bar

    38. Kris Wright – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. AJ Allmendinger – Advanced

    2. Noah Gragson – Advanced

    3. Ty Gibbs – Advanced

    4. Josh Berry – Advanced

    5. Justin Allgaier – Advanced

    6. Sam Mayer – Advanced

    7. Austin Hill – Advanced

    8. Brandon Jones – Advanced

    9. Ryan Sieg – Eliminated

    10. Daniel Hemric – Eliminated

    11. Riley Herbst – Eliminated

    12. Jeremy Clements – Eliminated

    The Round of 8 in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to occur next Saturday, October 15, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The event is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Allmendinger claims photo finish win at Talladega, advances to Playoff’s Round of 8

    Allmendinger claims photo finish win at Talladega, advances to Playoff’s Round of 8

    AJ Allmendinger saved his absolute best for the last and kept his championship hopes for this season alive after beating Sam Mayer in a photo finish to win the Sparks 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, October 1.

    The 40-year-old Allmendinger from Los Gatos, California, led three times for a total of three of 113-scheduled laps. Prior to the finish, he was running in second place behind pole-sitter Austin Hill under the final 10 laps. Following a shuffle amongst the front-runners, he made his way to the front of the field with two laps remaining before being overtaken by Sam Mayer prior to the final lap as he was shuffled back to third. Allmendinger then overtook Sieg through the backstretch and tucked in behind Mayer for the following two turns until he seized an opportunity entering the frontstretch to pull a slingshot move on Mayer with drafting help from teammate Landon Cassill. From there, Allmendinger was able to surge ahead and edge Mayer by a nose to claim his fourth checkered flag of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series and a spot to the Playoff’s Round of 8.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Playoff contender Austin Hill claimed his first career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 182.036 mph in 52.605 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Ty Gibbs, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 181.981 mph in 52.621 seconds.

    Prior to the event, names like Jesse Iwuji, Caesar Bacarella, Jeremy Clements, BJ McLeod, Mason Massey and Noah Gragson dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective cars. Joey Gase also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change along with Bayley Currey, Timmy Hill and Howie Disavino III, all of whom missed driver introductions.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Hill battled Allmendinger dead even for the lead, but managed to retain the top spot and pull away from the field entering Turns 3 and 4 as he proceeded to lead the first lap with drafting help from teammate Sheldon Creed.

    During the third lap, the first caution of the event flew when Ty Gibbs got bumped off the front nose of Justin Allgaier’s No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro as his No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota Supra slipped sideways before spinning across the backstretch. Despite making light contact with the outside wall, Gibbs managed to continue as he was dodged by the field. Under the caution period, names like Gragson, Sam Mayer, Ryan Vargas, Clements and Caesar Bacarella pitted while the rest led by Hill remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on the sixth lap, Hill retained the lead followed by teammate Creed, Allgaier, Brandon Jones and the field. Not long after, Allgaier launched a bid for the lead on the outside lane before rocketing to the top on the eighth lap. By then, he had drafting help from AJ Allmendinger and a number of competitors running on the outside lane while Hill attempted to fight back on the inside lane.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Allgaier was leading ahead of Allmendinger, Hill, Daniel Hemric and Trevor Bayne while the field behind fanned out to three tight-packed lanes.

    By Lap 15, Hill, who reassumed the lead a lap prior, was out in front followed by teammate Creed and Bayne while Anthony Alfredo, Myatt Snider, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger, Gragson, Riley Herbst and Hemric were in the top 10. In addition, 10 of the 12 Playoff contenders were running within the top 20 with Sam Mayer running in 21st and Jeremy Clements mired back in 25th.

    Nearing the first stage’s conclusion on Lap 20, Hill continued to lead as he was out in front of a long line of competitors running towards the outside lane. Creed settled in second followed by Alfredo, Allmendinger, Hemric, Allgaier, Brandon Brown, JJ Yeley, Brandon Jones and Ryan Sieg while Bayne, Snider, Derek Griffith, Gibbs, Gragson, Jeb Burton, Parker Kligerman, Herbst, Berry and Mayer were in the top 20.

    Then with two laps remaining in the first stage, a number of competitors led by Allmendinger dipped to the bottom lane in an attempt to overthrow Hill, but Hill also moved below the bottom lane as he retained the lead.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 25, Hill captured his second stage victory of the 2022 season. Teammate Creed settled in second followed by Hemric, Brandon Jones, Bayne, Allmendinger, Allgaier, Gibbs, Brown and Mayer. By then, seven of 12 Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10 while Herbst, Ryan Sieg, Josh Berry, Gragson and Clements were running within the top 22.

    Under the stage break, some led by Hill pitted while others that included Currey, Timmy Hill, Howie Disavino III, Joey Gase, Ryan Vargas, David Starr, Joe Graaf Jr., Iwuji, McLod and Caesar Bacarella remained on the track. All the competitors who remained on the track under caution eventually pitted prior to the restart, giving Hill back the lead.

    The second stage started on Lap 30 as Hill and Bayne occupied the front row. At the start, Hill retained the lead on the inside lane before Bayne assumed the top spot on the outside lane with drafting help from teammate Brandon Jones, Mayer and a bevy of competitors. As Bayne continued to lead on the outside lane, Hill remained as the lead competitor on the inside lane followed by teammate Creed.

    Ten laps later, Bayne retained the lead followed by teammate Brandon Jones while Creed emerged as the first competitor on the inside lane while launching his bid for the lead followed by Brown. By then, the field started to fan out to three tight-packed lanes.

    Another five laps later, Hill, who made a bold move beneath Bayne through the frontstretch to reassume the lead three laps earlier, was out in front followed by Alfredo and Brown while Bayne, Mayer and Sieg were running three wide while battling for fourth in front of the pack.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 50, Hill, who navigated his way through both lanes while also fending off a late surge from Allgaier, captured his third stage victory of the 2022 season and second of the day. Allgaier settled in second followed by Allmendinger, Bayne, Jeb Burton, Mayer, Brown, Brandon Jones, Sieg and Berry. By then, seven of 12 Playoff were scored in the top 10 while Gibbs, Herbst, Gragson, Hemric and Clements were running in 11th, 12th, 14t, 23rd and 31st, respectively. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Hill returned to pit road for service while names like Currey, Joey Gaase, Jeffrey Earnhardt, David Starr, Joe Graf Jr., Iwuji, Caesar Bacarella, Disavino, Timmy Hill, Ryan Vargas, McLeod and Mike Harmon remained on the track. All eventually pitted prior to the restart, giving Bayne the lead followed by Mayer, Gragson, Brandon Jones and Gibbs.

    With 58 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Bayne and Gragson dueled for the lead before Gragson muscled his way into the lead while Bayne settled in second in front of teammates Brandon Jones and Gibbs. A lap later and with the field fanning out to three tight-packed lanes, Ryan Sieg emerged with the lead followed by a fast-charging Allmendinger and Hill.

    With 50 laps remaining, Sieg was the leader of the race and ahead of a long line of competitors running towards the outside wall followed by Allmendinger, Hill, Brandon Jones and Gragson while Gibbs, Herbst, Landon Cassill, Snider and Jeb Burton were in the top 10.

    Nearing the final 45 laps of the event, green flag pit stops commenced as teammates Jeb Burton and Anthony Alfredo pitted before another wave of competitors, including Gragson, pitted, mainly for fuel. During the pit stops, Myatt Snider turned across the front nose of Blaine Perkins while trying to enter his pit stall as Snider ended up looping his car backwards inside his pit stall.

    With 40 laps remaining, Currey, who was one of 11 competitors who had yet to pit, was leading while Hill, the first competitor who pitted, led a bevy competitors in 12th place as he tried to close in on the lead group.

    Eight laps later, Hill reassumed the lead when the rest of the competitors who had yet to pit led by Currey pitted. By then, Hill led a 14-car breakaway at the front followed by Allmendinger, Gragson, Cassill, Mayer, Kligerman, Creed, Sieg, Herbst, Berry, Gibbs, Bayne, Brandon Jones and Hemric. Behind, the next six competitors trailed by more than four seconds with Jeb Burton in 15th ahead of Allgaier, Alfredo, Derek Griffith, Yeley and Brandon Brown. With all but one of 12 Playoff competitors running within the top 20, Clements was the lone Playoff contender running outside of the top 20 in 25th.

    With 25 laps remaining, Hill retained the lead ahead of Allmendinger, Gragson, Cassill and Mayer while the top-14 competitors remained four seconds ahead of the 15th-place competitor Jeb Burton. In addition, the top-19 competitors were ahead by nearly 23 seconds over the 20th-place competitor Blaine Perkins.

    Five laps later and down to the final 20 laps of the event, Hill continued to lead ahead of Allmendinger, Gragson, Cassill and Mayer while Kligerman, Creed, Sieg, Herbst, Berry, Gibbs, Bayne, Brandon Jones and Hemric remained within the 14-car lead pack.

    With 10 laps remaining, Hill remained as the leader ahead of the 14-car lead pack followed by Allmendinger, Gragson, Cassill, Mayer, Kligerman, Creed, Sieg, Herbst, Berry, Gibbs, Bayne, Brandon Jones and Hemric.

    Then with six laps remaining, Mayer was the first competitor to fan out and start a second lane followed by Sieg and others as they launched a bid for the lead on Hill, who remained on the inside lane. During the following lap, Gragson made a move on the outside lane before he was blocked by Hill through the frontstretch. This then caused the field to fan out to three lanes as Hill was shoved out of the lead draft while Mayer and Allmendinger moved up and battled dead even for the lead ahead of the pack.

    With two laps remaining, Allmendinger was out in front with drafting help from teammate Cassill while Mayer fought back on the outside lane with drafting help from Sieg. Through the backstretch, Mayer gained a strong run as he cleared the field and assume the lead with both lanes to his control. While Snider spun behind the leaders in the backstretch, the race remainder under green flag conditions.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Mayer remained as the leader ahead of Sieg, Allmendinger, Cassill and the pack. He continued to lead through three turns until he started to pull away from the pack. This allowed the pack led by Allmendinger and Sieg to gain a momentum and close back in on Mayer entering the frontstretch. Then, Allmendinger, who had teammate Cassill behind him, made his move to the outside of Mayer. With the momentum on his side, Allmendinger was able to beat Mayer by 0.015 seconds to steal the victory.

    As a result, Allmendinger achieved his fourth Xfinity Series victory of the season, the 14th of his career and his first on a superspeedway venue. The victory awarded Allmendinger and his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro team a one-way ticket to the Round of 8 in the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs, where he joins Noah Gragson as the only competitors to be guaranteed a spot for the next Playoff round. It also marks the seventh Xfinity victory for Kaulig Racing on a superspeedway venue (Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway).

    Photo by Chad Wells for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “I still hate [restrictor plate racing]!” Allmendinger exclaimed on USA Network. “Gosh, we’ve been so close to winning one and I feel like I keep giving them away. I’m still learning, trying to know what too big of a lead is, but honestly, all the credit to [teammate] Landon Cassill. He kept shoving me. He stuck with me. That’s what’s great about Kaulig Racing. When you got teammates like Landon and Daniel [Hemric], that you know no matter where you go, they’re gonna go with you. [It] Makes it a little bit easier. [Cassill]’s gonna share [the win] with me, but I wish we could both be the winner because he deserves it more than I do. Man, I just wanted to win a superspeedway [event]. Finally got it.”

    Mayer, who came within inches of claiming his first Xfinity career victory, settled in a career-best second place for his 10th top-five finish of the season. With the result, Mayer, who came into Talladega a single point above the top-eight cutline, leaves Talladega with a 13-point advantage above the cutline as he is in seventh place in the Playoff standings.

    “This is my first time getting to the end of a speedway race, coming to the checkered [flag],” Mayer said. “It was a good first experience, I guess. [I will] Take a top five [finish] at a place like this any day. Going into today, we were just like get some stage points and hopefully, survive to the end. Obviously, we survived at the end and we did everything right. We were just three feet shy…I’m looking forward to [the Charlotte Roval]. I’m just happy to get through this one, but our Accelerate Chevrolet Camaro probably should be in Victory Lane right now.”

    Cassill came home in third place followed by Ryan Sieg and Josh Berry. Kligerman, Gibbs, Hemric, Brandon Jones and Gragson completed the top 10 on the track. Notably, eight of 12 Playoff competitors finished in the top 10 on the track while Herbst, Hill, Allgaier and Clements finished 11th, 14th, 15th and 20th, respectively.

    There were 20 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 11 laps. All 38 starters finished the event while 23 finished on the lead lap.

    The 2022 Sparks 300 event marks the third and final time the fall Xfinity Talladega event will occur, with the series’ scaling back to competing at Talladega once annually in 2023.

    Results.

    1. AJ Allmendinger, three laps led

    2. Sam Mayer, three laps led

    3. Landon Cassill

    4. Ryan Sieg, 11 laps led

    5. Josh Berry

    6. Parker Kligerman

    7. Ty Gibbs

    8. Daniel Hemric

    9. Brandon Jones, one lap led

    10. Noah Gragson, one lap led

    11. Riley Herbst

    12. Sheldon Creed, two laps led

    13. Trevor Bayne, 13 laps led

    14. Austin Hill, 60 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    15. Justin Allgaier, six laps led

    16. Anthony Alfredo

    17. Jeb Burton

    18. JJ Yeley

    19. Josh Williams

    20. Jeremy Clements

    21. Joey Gase

    22. Joe Garaf Jr.

    23. Derek Griffith

    24. Bayley Currey, one lap down, 12 laps led

    25. David Starr, one lap down

    26. BJ McLeod, one lap down

    27. Timmy Hill, one lap down, one lap led

    28. Jesse Iwuji, one lap down

    29. CJ McLaughlin, one lap down

    30. Ryan Vargas, one lap down

    31. Caesar Bacarella, one lap down

    32. Howie Disavino III, one lap down

    33. Brandon Brown, one lap down

    34. Mike Harmon, two laps down

    35. Myatt Snider, two laps down

    36. Blaine Perkins, three laps down

    37. Jeffrey Earnhardt, four laps down

    38. Mason Massey, 18 laps down

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Noah Gragson – Advanced

    2. AJ Allmendinger – Advanced

    3. Ty Gibbs +49

    4. Austin Hill +43

    5. Josh Berry +27

    6. Justin Allgaier +25

    7. Sam Mayer +12

    8. Ryan Sieg +6

    9. Daniel Hemric -6

    10. Riley Herbst -10

    11. Brandon Jones -10

    12. Jeremy Clements -47

    The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs will continue next weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course for a 250-mile feature and where the first round of eliminations will occur. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, October 8, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Gragson ties all-time Xfinity wins streak after victory in Playoff opener at Texas

    Gragson ties all-time Xfinity wins streak after victory in Playoff opener at Texas

    Noah Gragson commenced the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs by making history with his record-tying fourth consecutive victory in recent weeks to claim the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 24.

    The 24-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, led three times for 85 of 200-scheduled laps and executed a pit stop under the green flag with less than 50 laps remaining to his advantage. He reassumed the top spot with 12 laps remaining and beat Austin Hill by more than a second to claim his seventh NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season.

    Above all, Gragson became the first Playoff contender to punch his ticket into the Round of 8 in the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Playoff contender Brandon Jones secured his fourth pole position of the 2022 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 185.637 mph in 29.089 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Noah Gragson, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 185.363 mp in 29.132 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Playoff contender Ty Gibbs, as well as, Bayley Currey, David Starr, Akinori Ogata, Tommy Joe Martins, Stefan Parsons and JJ Yeley dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars. Garrett Smithley also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change.

    When the green flag waved and the race began, Brandon Jones surged ahead with a brief advantage over Gragson entering the first turn. Then, he slipped sideways below the apron in Turn 1 off the front nose of Daniel Hemric’s No. 11 DaaBIN Store Chevrolet Camaro. As Jones tried to straighten his No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra below the apron, the field fanned out to avoid Jones and Gragson pulled away with the lead. He went on to lead the first lap by eight-tenths ahead of John Hunter Nemechek followed by Justin Allgaier, Hemric and Landon Cassill. Meanwhile, Jones, who managed to keep his car intact without drawing a caution, was all the way back in 20th behind Alex Labbe.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Gragson was leading by a tenth of a second over Nemechek, who challenged Gragson for the lead before claiming it during the following lap. He was followed by Allgaier, Hemric and Cassill while Ryan Sieg, Brandon Brown, AJ Allmendinger, rookie Austin Hill and Josh Berry, rounding out the top 10. Playoff contender Sam Mayer was in 11th, Jeremy Clements was in 13th, Riley Herbst was scored in 15th ahead of Brandon Jones as Ty Gibbs was mired back in 24th behind Brennan Poole.

    Nine laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Jeffrey Earnhardt, who was battling Poole for a spot outside of the top 20, got into the side of Poole’s car entering the backstretch and his No. 26 YesWav/ForeverLawn Toyota Supra darted to the inside wall and wrecked hard, which ended Earnhardt’s event early. By then, Nemechek was still leading Gragson, Brandon Jones had recovered to 14th and Ty Gibbs was up in 18th behind Creed.

    During the first caution period, some like Creed, Alex Labbe, Matt Mills, David Starr, Joey Gase, Garrett Smithley and Joe Graf Jr. pitted while the rest, led by Nemechek, remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 24, Nemechek and Gragson dueled for the lead until Nemechek managed to clear Gragson for the top spot while the field jostled for positions. Behind the leaders, Sam Mayer, who got loose beneath Cassill entering Turn 1 and lost a handful of spots, hit the wall entering Turn 4 and fell to 16th. With the race proceeding under green, Gragson kept the runner-up spot ahead of Hemric, Allgaier and Allmendinger while Nemechek retained the lead.

    At the Lap 35 mark, Nemechek’s No. 18 Romco Equipment Toyota Supra was ahead by nearly six-tenths of a second over Gragson’s No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro while Hemric, Allgaier and Allmendinger remained in the top five. By then, Gibbs carved his No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota Supra into 10th place while Berry, Weatherman, Hill and Nicholas Sanchez were in sixth through ninth, respectively.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when CJ McLaughlin spun in Turn 2, though he managed to keep his car intact without hitting the wall. During the caution period, some of the drivers, led by Nemechek who slid through his pit box, pitted, while the rest, led by Hemric and Allgaier remained on the track. Playoff contenders Gragson and Gibbs were among the front-runners who also pitted along with Nemechek.

    With three laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hemric retained the lead on the inside lane while teammate Allmendinger battled Allgaier for the runner-up spot. In Turn 3, however, Allmendinger got loose and fell back to fourth behind Allgaier and Hill. Behind, JR Motorsports’ Berry and Gragson battled for fifth while Hemric held on to the top spot.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Hemric claimed his third stage victory of the 2022 season. Allgaier settled in a close second place followed by Hill, Gragson, Allmendinger, Berry, Nemechek, Ryan Sieg, Gibbs and Kyle Weatherman. By then, Playoff contenders Brandon Jones, Clements, Herbst and Mayer were in 12th, 13th, 26th and 27th, respectively.

    Under the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Hemric, and including Allgaier, Hill, Gragson, Allmendinger, Berry, Ryan Sieg, Anthony Alfredo, Joey Gase, Matt Mills, Weatherman, Clements, Poole, Yeley, Mayer and Currey pitted while the rest, led by Nemechek, remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 51 as teammates Nemechek and Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek pulled ahead with the lead on the inside lane followed by Gibbs and Nicholas Sanchez while Brandon Jones was in fourth ahead of Cassill, Brown, Creed and Ryan Sieg.

    Two laps later, Gibbs, who started the event at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his car, assumed the lead for the first time. Another two laps later, however, Nemechek reclaimed the top spot. Behind, Gragson, who was trying to navigate his way back toward the front, overtook Creed for seventh place while Hemric was mired back in 12th.

    By Lap 60, Nemechek was leading by half a second over teammate Gibbs while teammate Jones trailed by more than a second in third place. Cassill was in fourth followed by a hard-charging Gragson while Sanchez, Brown, Creed, Hemric and Hill, who reported a vibration to his No. 21 Bennett Chevrolet Camaro, were in the top 10. By then, Allmendinger was in 11th ahead of Berry and Allgaier, Herbst was back in 16th, Clements was in 20th, Mayer was in 22nd and Sieg was in 24th.

    Fifteen laps later and at the Lap 75 mark, Nemechek continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over teammate Gibbs while Gragson was up in third place and trailing the two Joe Gibbs Racing leaders by more than a second. Jones and Cassill remained in the top five while Hemric battled teammate Allmendinger for sixth ahead of Hill, Sanchez, Allgaier and Berry.

    Three laps later, the caution flew when veteran David Starr lost a right-front tire and pounded the outside wall in Turn 2 and slowly limped his car back to pit road. During the caution period, the No. 51 Straitline Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Playoff contender Jeremy Clements received a push from a wrecker after losing power as he fell out of the lead lap category. The issue was eventually enough for Clements’ crew to push the car to the garage area for further analysis. Once pit road opened for the field, some of the drivers, led by Nemechek, pitted, while the rest, led by teammates Hemric and Allmendinger, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Berry was sent to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation along with Cassill, who sped on pit road.

    With five laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, teammates Hemric and Allmendinger dueled for the lead until Allmendinger managed to navigate his No. 16 Andy’s Frozen Custard Chevrolet Camaro into the lead. In Turn 3, Hemric was locked in a battle with Sieg for the runner-up spot while Sanchez, who briefly made a bid towards the front, got loose up the outside lane as he fell out of the top 10. Soon after, Akinori Ogata spun off of Turn 4, but the race remained under green.

    Back at the front, Allmendinger continued to lead while Hemric led a four-car battle for the runner-up spot, featuring Sieg, Gragson and Nemechek.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Allmendinger, the 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season champion, captured his third stage victory of the season. Gragson muscled his way into the runner-up spot while Nemechek, Hemric, Gibbs, Hill, Allgaier, Sieg, Brandon Jones and Mayer were scored in the top 10. By then, Herbst was in 12th and Berry was back in 22nd.

    Under the stage break, some of the drivers pitted, led by Allmendinger and Hemric, while the rest, led by Gragson, remained on the track.

    With 104 laps remaining, the final stage started. Gragson secured the lead on the inside lane as he slid in front of Nemechek and was followed by Gibbs, Hill and Allgaier while Brandon Jones challenged and overtook Creed for sixth place. With the battles around the circuit ensuing, Gragson stabilized a narrow advantage over the field with Nemechek slowly closing in.

    At the halfway mark with 100 laps remaining, the battle for the lead between Gragson and Nemechek ensued with the latter attempting to intimidate the former as Gibbs, Hill and Allgaier remained in the top five. By then, seven of 12 Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 on the track and all but one were running in the top 16.

    Four laps later, the caution returned when Akinori Ogata spun in Turn 2. With the field remaining on the track and the race proceeding under green with 91 laps remaining, Gragson rocketed with the lead followed by Nemechek and Hill while Gibbs and Allgaier battled for fourth. Not long after, the caution quickly returned for a multi-car wreck entering Turn 3. It began when Allmendinger got into Brown as Brown clipped Cassill and sent Cassill into the outside wall while Mayer barely escaped the carnage. Also involved in the carnage were Myatt Snider, Anthony Alfredo, Weatherman, Joey Gase, Sieg and Brown.

    When the race restarted under green with 81 laps remaining, Hill dipped his No. 21 Chevrolet below Gragson as both, along with Nemechek, went three wide for the lead. Then in Turn 2 and entering the backstretch, the caution flew when Nemechek got loose as he slipped sideways and clipped Allgaier, who was trying to make it a four-wide battle for the lead. Both collided against one another hard alongside the outside wall. The carnage did not stop there, however, as pole-sitter, Brandon Jones, collided into both with Poole, Joe Graf Jr., Weatherman, Josh Williams, Joey Gase and Sieg while Hemric smacked the inside wall. The wreck eliminated Jones, Nemechek, Allgaier and Hemric from further competition. Allmendinger, who dodged the wreck, moved back up to 14th as Gragson managed to keep the lead ahead of Hill, Berry, Gibbs and Herbst.

    With 74 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Gragson engaged in a tight battle with Hill for the lead before clearing him while Gibbs started to challenge Hill for the runner-up spot. Shortly after, however, the caution returned when Garrett Smithley got bumped and turned off the front nose of Weatherman through the backstretch while Stefan Parsons and Myatt Snider sustained damage after clipping Smithley.

    Six laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson retained the lead while Gibbs engaged in a tight side-by-side battle for the runner-up spot alongside Hill and Herbst battled Sanchez for fourth place.

    With less than 60 laps remaining, Gragson was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Gibbs followed by Hill and Herbst while Allmendinger carved his way back into the top five in fifth. Sanchez was in sixth followed by Berry, Creed, Ryan Sieg and Mayer, rounding out the top 10. By then, eight of 12 Playoff contenders were running in the top 15.

    A few laps later, Gibbs washed up the racetrack in Turn 3 and toward the outside wall as he lost momentum and was overtaken by Hill.

    With 50 laps remaining, Gragson extended and stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Hill, who had Gibbs closing in for another challenge for the runner-up spot. Behind, Allmendinger was in fourth followed by Berry and Herbst while Creed, Sanchez, Mayer and Sieg were in the top 10.

    Six laps later, Gragson surrendered the lead to pit under green followed by Gibbs. Once Hill pitted during the following lap, Allmendinger, who has yet to pit, assumed the lead followed by Berry, Herbst, Sanchez and Mayer. By then, Gragson, Hill and Gibbs were lapped by the field.

    With less than 30 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead followed by Berry, Mayer, Currey and Jeb Burton, all of whom had yet to pit. By then, Sanchez, Creed, Herbst and others had already pitted under green while Gragson was still a lap down, but running in the top 10 on fresh tires and with enough fuel for the finish.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Allmendinger retained the lead as one of four competitors who have not yet made a pit stop while Gragson was up in fifth and still a lap down, but gaining ground. Four laps later, however, Allmendinger surrendered the lead to pit along with Berry while Jeb Burton assumed the lead followed by a hard-charging Gragson, who un-lapped himself and went to work on closing back in on Burton for the lead. 

    Then with 11 laps remaining, Gragson reassumed the lead as Jeb Burton pitted. By then, Hill made his way up to second followed by Gibbs, Allmendinger and Berry while Herbst was back in sixth.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Gragson extended his advantage to more than a second over Hill, with Hill losing ground to the leader, while third-place Gibbs trailed by more than three seconds. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gragson remained as the leader by more than a second over Hill. With Hill unable to close on the leader, Gragson was able to navigate his No. 9 Chevrolet back to the frontstretch and claim his unprecedented seventh checkered flag of the season and his fourth in a row in recent weeks.

    With his accomplishment, Gragson joined the late two-time Xfinity champion Sam Ard as the only competitors to win four consecutive Xfinity events. Gragson also secured his 12th career victory in the Xfinity circuit, his first at Texas and the 13th victory of the 2022 season for JR Motorsports. With an automatic ticket to the Round of 8, which will commence in October at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Gragson continues his pursuit to win the 2022 Xfinity title before moving up to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2023 for Petty GMS Motorsports.

    “This No. 9 team, man, they’re on fire,” Gragson said on USA Network. “The pit crew’s done awesome. Our car was as fast as Xfinity internet all day. Just so thankful for the opportunity. Such a relief. We lost this race in 2020. Just executed a great race. [Crew chief] Luke Lambert and the rest of the boys, they did a great job. Last year, I was standing with Justin Haley and saw John Hunter [Nemechek] raising the Andy’s Frozen Custard trophy over his head. He said, ‘Man, I would’ve tried a little bit harder if I would’ve seen that trophy and knew what it was.’ That made me motivated. I was like, ‘Damn, I want that [trophy], too.’ We came back and the team did a great job. We’re on fire as a team right now.”

    Playoff rookie Austin Hill notched a strong runner-up result for his 11th top-five of the season while Ty Gibbs emerged as the lone Joe Gibbs Racing competitor to finish the event by ending up in third place. Hill leaves Texas in fourth place in the Playoff standings and 30 points above the top-eight cutline to transfer to the Round of 8 while Gibbs is currently in third place and with a 46-point advantage.

    “We were faster than [Gragson],” Hill said. “I don’t know if he was just kind of pacing there or not, but [I] just got too tight there at the end. I’m sure I could’ve done a better job coming to that green flag pit stop. The guys did an excellent job all day on pit road. Pit stops were fantastic. It’s nice to start the Playoffs like this and start it off right, but at the same time, we know that if we would’ve won the race, we wouldn’t have to worry about [Talladega] or the [Charlotte] Roval. A little frustrated, but at the same time, happy with the performance. We showed speed. We just needed that little bit more.”

    “Honestly, we were a little bit tight,” Gibbs said. “[We were] fighting that all day. We fired off one run really free and just kept it tight for the rest. [The crew] adjusted what I asked for, but I asked for a little bit too much and that’s what we went to. It’s my fault. Thank you to my team. We’ll keep moving on to Talladega, which is a yard sale.”

    Meanwhile, Allmendinger survived his late incident and made his late pit strategy work to perfection as he finished fourth while Herbst completed the top five. 

    “I wished we could’ve won that race,” Allmendinger, who is 47 points above the top-eight cutline, said. “I thought we had a shot, but the way it could’ve been and the way it actually ended up to have a really good points day, we’ll take it.”

    “This was our game plan,” Herbst, who is a single point below the cutline, added. “Just fall back on what we’ve been doing all year, consistency. We need to execute tremendously better if we want to advance. To come away out of Texas with a top five, it’s good and we’ll go battle with the Monster [Energy] guys at Talladega.”

    Berry, Creed, Mayer, Ryan Sieg and CJ McLaughlin completed the top 10 on the track, with eight of 12 Playoff contenders finishing in the top 10.

    There were 14 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 52 laps. Only eight of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Noah Gragson, 85 laps led

    2. Austin Hill, one lap led

    3. Ty Gibbs, three laps led

    4. AJ Allmendinger, 34 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    5. Riley Herbst

    6. Josh Berry

    7. Sheldon Creed

    8. Sam Mayer

    9. Ryan Sieg, one lap down

    10. CJ McLaughlin, one lap down

    11. Nick Sanchez, one lap down

    12. Bayley Currey, one lap down

    13. Stefan Parsons, one lap down

    14. Tommy Joe Martins, one lap down

    15. Jeb Burton, one lap down, five laps led

    16. Matt Mills, two laps down

    17. Alex Labbe, three laps down

    18. Joe Graf Jr., three laps down

    19. Anthony Alfredo, three laps down

    20. Myatt Snider, four laps down

    21. Parker Retzlaff, 10 laps down

    22. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident

    23. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Dvp

    24. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident

    25. Joey Gase – OUT, Dvp

    26. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

    27. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident

    28. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident, 60 laps led

    29. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

    30. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident, 12 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    31. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident

    32. Mason Massey – OUT, Accident

    33. Landon Cassill – OUT, Accident

    34. JJ Yeley – OUT, Water pump

    35. Akinori Ogata – OUT, Suspension

    36. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Ignition

    37. David Starr – OUT, Accident

    38. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Noah Gragson – Advanced

    2. AJ Allmendinger +47

    3. Ty Gibbs +46

    4. Austin Hill +30

    5. Josh Berry +24

    6. Justin Allgaier +20

    7. Sam Mayer +1

    8. Ryan Sieg +1

    9. Riley Herbst -1

    10. Daniel Hemric -8

    11. Brandon Jones -13

    12. Jeremy Clements -29

    With the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs underway, the battle for the series championship in the Round of 12 will continue next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, October 1, at 4 p.m. ET on the USA Network.

  • Gragson wins the battle at Bristol; Allmendinger clinches 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season championship

    Gragson wins the battle at Bristol; Allmendinger clinches 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season championship

    In a late attrition between two Xfinity Series regulars to cap off the regular-season stretch on a strong note, Noah Gragson came out of top over a late battle against Brandon Jones to win the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 16.

    The 24-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, led the final 25 laps and benefitted through a 20-lap dash to the finish while on old tires to fend off a hard-charging Jones and capture his sixth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season and third in a row in recent weeks at Thunder Valley. The victory enabled Gragson to collect additional bonus points toward the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs as he commences the pursuit of his first NASCAR national touring series championship.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Ty Gibbs claimed his fifth career pole position and fourth of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 122.584 mph in 15.563 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Josh Berry, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 122.100 mph in 15.715 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Joe Graf Jr. and Stefan Parsons dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Gibbs and Berry dueled for the lead while AJ Allmendinger, who started fourth, briefly went up the track and struggled to come up to pace after having a gear shifting issue. By the completion of the first lap, he was mired back in eighth while Gibbs was out in front ahead of Berry, Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer and Daniel Hemric.

    On the fifth lap, the first caution flew when Nick Sanchez blew a right-front tire entering the backstretch as he fell off the pace and managed to keep the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet Camaro off the wall. At the moment of caution, Gibbs was out in front by more than a second followed by Berry, Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Mayer while Jeb Burton, Ryan Sieg, Noah Gragson, Daniel Hemric and Brandon Jones were in the top 10.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 10, Gibbs launched ahead with the lead while Allgaier moved his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro into the runner-up spot over teammate Berry. Behind, Mayer rocketed his No. 1 Huck’s Market Chevrolet Camaro into fourth place after overtaking Smith while Jeb Burton was in sixth ahead of a side-by-side battle between Gragson and Brandon Jones.

    Three laps later, however, the caution returned when Riley Herbst made contact against rookie Sheldon Creed’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro entering Turn 4 while battling for a spot in the top 15 as he spun before his No. 98 Resorts World Ford Mustang went below the apron and continued without sustaining any significant damage.

    During the following restart on Lap 18, Gibbs rocketed away with another strong restart in his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra while Allgaier fended off teammate Berry for the runner-up spot. Behind, Sammy Smith maneuvered his No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra around Mayer for fourth while Gragson battled Jeb Burton for sixth place.

    Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Gibbs was leading by nearly a second over Allgaier followed by Berry, Smith and Mayer while Gragson, Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones, Hemric and Landon Cassill were in the top 10. By then, Allmendinger was black in 11th ahead of Ryan Sieg, rookie Austin Hill, Creed and Jeremy Clements while Anthony Alfredo, Bayley Currey, Brandon Brown, Jeffrey Earnhardt and JJ Yeley were in the top 20.

    Eleven laps later, the caution flew when Sanchez spun in Turn 4 as this marked his second incident of the night. During the caution period, few names like Brandon Jones, whose window net was loose, and Creed pitted while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 41, Gibbs and Allgaier dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Gibbs managed to clear and fend off Allgaier with the lead. Behind, a trio of JR Motorsports competitors including Berry, Gragson and Mayer battled for third while Jeb Burton retained sixth ahead of Allmendinger, Smith, Hemric and Hill.

    Four laps later, the caution returned when Brandon Brown got loose entering the backstretch as he spun, pounded the inside wall and damaged the rear end of his car.

    Another five laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs and Allgaier dueled for the lead again through the first two turns before Gibbs retained the top spot on the outside lane in Turn 2. Behind, Gragson was in third followed by teammates Berry and Merry while Allmendinger was locked in a battle with Jeb Burton and Hemric for sixth.

    By Lap 60, Gibbs continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Gragson, Berry, Mayer, Allmendinger, Jeb Burton, Hemric, Smith and Ryan Sieg were running in the top 10. Meanwhile, Austin Hill was in 11th followed by Cassill, Clements, Currey and Kyle Weatherman while Creed, Herbst and Brandon Jones were in 20th, 21st and 24th, respectively.

    Fifteen laps later and at the Lap 75 mark, Gibbs stabilized his advantage to less than half a second over Allgaier, who kept teammate Gragson behind in his rearview mirror, while Mayer and Berry remained in the top five. Behind, Allmendinger retained sixth as he was slowly catching Berry for position.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 85, Gibbs, who had to navigate his way through lapped traffic while also keeping Allgaier behind him, captured his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season. Allgaier settled in second while Gragson, Mayer, Allmendinger, Berry, Jeb Burton, Hemric, Cassill and Ryan Sieg were scored in the top 10. By then, Creed was mired in 17th as he was unable to record a stage point in the first stage compared to his rivals (Hemric, Cassill and Sieg) vying for the final Playoff berths.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Gibbs pitted while Creed and Jeffrey Earnhardt remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 94 as Creed and Jeffrey Earnhardt occupied the front row. At the start, Creed took off with the lead on the outside lane followed by Gibbs and Allgaier while Earnhardt struggled to launch on the inside lane. During the following lap, Allgaier overtook Gibbs for the runner-up spot before he went to work on Creed for the lead. 

    Soon after, a tight side-by-side battle for the lead between Creed and Allgaier ignited as Creed refused to give up the top spot. With both competitors refusing to give up and making contact, Creed managed to pull away with a steady lead of half a second while Allgaier was being challenged by Gibbs for the runner-up spot. 

    At the Lap 110 mark, Creed was leading by a tenth of a second over Allgaier followed by Gibbs, Mayer and Gragson while Brandon Jones, Smith, Allmendinger, Earnhardt and Hill were in the top 10. By then, Cassill, who came into the event holding the final transfer spot to the Playoffs, made an unscheduled pit stop under green. Soon after, Cassill, who then had smoke coming out of the right front of his No. 10 Voyager Chevrolet Camaro upon returning to the track with the driver reporting a brake hub issue, took his car to the garage as his Playoff hopes were placed in jeopardy.

    Fifteen laps later, Allgaier prevailed in his intense battle with Creed as he moved into the lead while Creed was left to fend off Gibbs and Gragson for the runner-up spot. Another three laps later, however, disaster struck for Creed when Gragson bumped into the rear of Gibbs as Gibbs went up the track and collided with Creed and both competitors smacked the outside wall hard in Turn 2. The wreck was enough to eliminate Creed from the event as his hopes of making the Playoffs evaporated. Gibbs was also eliminated from the event while Gragson continued. 

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 138, Allgaier took off with the lead on the outside lane while teammate Gragson retained the runner-up spot in front of Brandon Jones, who was racing on two fresh tires. Soon after, Mayer bolted his way into third place while Allmendinger went to work in battling Jones for fourth. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 150, Allgaier was leading by more than half a second over teammate Gragson followed by Mayer, Allmendinger and Brandon Jones while Hill, Herbst, Jeb Burton, Hemric and Smith were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Ryan Sieg was in 12th in front of Berry, who got into the outside wall earlier, while Cassill was still mired in 37th and undergoing repairs in the garage.

    Ten laps later, Allgaier extended his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over teammate Gragson while Mayer, Allmendinger and Brandon Jones remained in the top five. By then, Sieg remained in Playoff contention as he was in 13th place.

    Then with four laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew when Mayer, who tried to pull a three-wide move on both CJ McLaughlin and JJ Yeley, entering Turn 1, made contact with Yeley as both spun through the turn and below the apron while being dodged by Gragson. 

    The incident involving Mayer was enough for the second stage to conclude on Lap 170 as Allgaier captured his eighth stage victory of the 2022 season. Teammate Gragson settled in second while Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Herbst, Hill, Jeb Burton, Hemric, Mayer and Sammy Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, Hemric and Sieg, who settled in 11th, were above the top-12 cutline while Cassill remained in the garage and in 37th place. In addition, Allmendinger locked up the 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season championship for a second consecutive season.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Allgaier pitted and Allgaier retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Gragson, Brandon Jones, Hill, Allmendinger and Herbst. Back on the track, however, Bayley Currey and Joe Graf Jr. remained on the track.

    With 121 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Currey and Graf occupied the front row. At the start, Currey launched ahead followed by Allgaier while Graf struggled to get up to speed on the inside lane. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Allgaier navigated his way around Currey as he reassumed the lead. Shortly after, Brandon Jones moved into second place while Currey retained third ahead of Hill, Herbst and Gragson. 

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Allgaier retained as the leader by a tenth of a second over future teammate Brandon Jones while Currey, Hill and Gragson were scored in the top five. By then, Sieg was in 10th on the track behind Hemric and scored six points above the cutline over Cassill, who was in 37th place and more than 90 laps down.

    Twenty-five laps later, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than a second over Brandon Jones, who started to have Hill pressure him for the runner-up spot, while Gragson and Herbst were running in the top five. Behind, Allmendinger was in sixth ahead of Mayer, Ryan Sieg, Currey and Stefan Parsons. By then, Cassill, who was back on the track, was 112 laps behind the leaders while Sieg continued to hold possession of the 12th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs. Hemric, who was back in 15th, also continued to remain above the top-12 cutline.

    With less than 60 laps remaining, Gragson overtook Brandon Jones for the runner-up spot while Allgaier continued to extend his advantage to more than two seconds. By then, Hemric, who was mired back in 22nd and off the lead lap category, was reporting power steering issues to his No. 11 AG1 Chevrolet Camaro.

    Down to the final 35 laps of the event, the battle for the lead started to intensify as Gragson closed in to the rear bumper of teammate Allgaier in his bid for the lead. 

    Then with 30 laps remaining, the caution flew when Yeley, who made contact with the leader Allgaier as Allgaier was trying to lap Yeley and Alex Labbe with a three-wide move, spun and pounded the inside wall in the backstretch as his event came to an end. During the caution period, some led by Allgaier pitted while the rest led by Gragson remained on the track Following the pit stops, Allgaier and Jeffrey Earnhardt were sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. 

    With 20 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson rocketed his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro to the lead ahead of Brandon Jones’ No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra while Hill started to challenge Jones for the runner-up spot. Behind, Herbst was in fourth followed by Mayer, Berry, Stefan Parsons and Ryan Sieg, who was trying to finish the event to make the Playoffs.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Gragson stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Brandon Jones followed by Hill, Herbst and Berry while Sieg remained in ninth and in contention to make the Playoffs.

    With five laps remaining, a tight battle for the lead ignited between Gragson and Brandon Jones, with the former remaining out in front by a hair over the latter as both also navigated his way through lapped traffic.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gragson retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Brandon Jones. Entering Turn 3, Jones gained a strong run on Gragson in a final bid for the lead, but the run was not enough as Gragson retained the top spot. From here, he made his way back to the frontstretch and beat Jones to the finish line by a tenth of a second to grab his sixth checkered flag of the 2022 season and his third in a row in recent weeks.

    With the victory, Gragson achieved his 11th career win in the Xfinity Series, his second at Thunder Valley and the 12th victory of the season for JR Motorsports. By accumulating six victories along with a bevy of points throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, he will commence the Playoffs with the top seed and with 2,051 points as he pursues his quest of winning his first Xfinity title.

    Photo by Jim Barnes for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Man, three [wins] in a row,” Gragson said on USA Network. “That last caution came out. I knew if we could bring the top [lane], it was gonna be hard for [Jones] to get there. [I] Appreciate Brandon Jones for racing us clean. He fed us the bumper with two [laps] to go. I was hanging on, scrubbing the fence, but we won here at Bristol in 2020. There was no fans here. This is 10 times cooler. [I] Appreciate you, Bristol. Thank you, all you fans, for coming out. You guys are awesome. Man, I’m just so thankful. What a great opportunity to race here for our fans and having the opportunity to win a race. Man, our car was fast all day. Once we got out to the top, we were rolling. Man, I had a blast.”

    Brandon Jones, who is set to join JR Motorsports to pilot the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro in 2023, trailed Gragson and his future ride to the finish line by a tenth of a second as he settled in second place for the second time of the season and for his sixth top-five result of the season. He will line up in seventh place in the Playoff standings with 2,010 points as he also commences his pursuit for his first Xfinity title.

    “I thought this [loss] hurts the most just because that was our race to win,” Jones said. “We fought so many different things tonight, adversity-wise. [I] Just kept piling back up and kept coming back. It was really cool to look at our race, in particular, as a whole to see where it started to where it ended for us. [I] Really thought when [Allgaier] sped [on pit road], I was like, ‘Aw man. Easy piece of cake. We got it.’ The bottom [lane] didn’t take off great. I didn’t have a great restart, but those newer tires, fresher tires, certainly paid a dividend at the very end. I just caught [Gragson] at the wrong time every single time. I could get in deeper into the corner and I could get him to the middle, but I just could never get to the exit. I got him, maybe, two times where I had a shot to try and get to his left rear and try to get him loose. I put maximum pressure on him. [I] Gave it everything I had today. Man, there’s a lot of momentum. These last couple of races we’ve had has really kicked it up here lately, so we’re ready. “

    Hill came home in third place followed by Mayer and Herbst, all of whom have made the 2022 Xfinity Playoffs. Allmendinger settled in sixth place while Berry, Stefan Parsons, Allgaier and Ryan Sieg completed the top 10 on the track.

    By clinching the 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season championship and being awarded an additional 15-point bonus towards the Playoffs, Allmendinger became the first Xfinity competitor to achieve multiple regular-season titles and the first to do so in back-to-back seasons. He will now line up in fourth place in the Playoff standings with 2,032 points as he pursues his first NASCAR title.

    Photo by Christian Gardner for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “[I’m] Really proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger said. “[I’m] Frustrated at myself tonight, but all in all, great to win the regular-season championship two years in a row. To finish top six today, [I] really had a really fast car at the end of the race there. On long runs, I thought we had a shot to win the race. Short runs, we struggled a little bit, but overall, great regular season. We got to get ready for the Playoffs. We’ve been struggling a little bit. Tonight was a little bit of a boost and hopefully, get ready for Texas.”

    Sieg’s 10th-place run was enough for him to claim the 12th and final spot to the Playoffs by five points over Cassill, who could only climb his way to 35th place on the track while 112 laps behind the leaders. Hemric also made the Playoffs despite finishing 20th as he will pursue his quest to defend his series title.

    Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Josh Berry, rookie Austin Hill, Brandon Jones, Jeremy Clements, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Daniel Hemric and Ryan Sieg have made the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. 

    Landon Cassill and rookie Sheldon Creed join names like Anthony Alfredo, Brandon Brown, Brett Moffitt, Jeb Burton, Myatt Snider and Alex Labbe as the remaining competitors who did not make the Playoffs.

    There were six lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 58 laps.

    Results.

    1. Noah Gragson, 25 laps led

    2. Brandon Jones

    3. Austin Hill

    4. Sam Mayer

    5. Riley Herbst

    6. AJ Allmendinger

    7. Josh Berry

    8. Stefan Parsons

    9. Justin Allgaier, 148 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    10. Ryan Sieg

    11. Bayley Currey, four laps led

    12. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    13. Anthony Alfredo

    14. Sammy Smith, one lap down

    15. Jeb Burton, one lap down

    16. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

    17. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down

    18. Sage Karam, one lap down

    19. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

    20. Daniel Hemric, two laps down

    21. Josh Williams, two laps down

    22. Myatt Snider, two laps down

    23. Joe Graf Jr., two laps down

    24. CJ McLaughlin, three laps down

    25. Kris Wright, three laps down

    26. Alex Labbe, three laps down

    27. Patrick Emerling, six laps down

    28. Ronnie Bassett Jr., six laps down

    29. Nick Sanchez, six laps down

    30. David Starr, seven laps down

    31. Bobby McCarty, 12 laps down

    32. Mason Massey – OUT, Oil line

    33. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

    34. BJ McLeod – OUT, Brakes

    35. Landon Cassill, 112 laps down

    36. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident, 89 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    37. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident, 34 laps led

    38. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident

    The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to commence next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, September 24, at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Clements captures thrilling, overtime Xfinity victory at Daytona

    Clements captures thrilling, overtime Xfinity victory at Daytona

    From a three-hour rain delay to three overtime attempts amid a series of late carnages that eliminated numerous top contenders, Jeremy Clements thrusted himself into the main spotlight in an unexpected turn of events by winning the Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway between August 26-27.

    The 37-year-old Clements from Spartanburg, South Carolina, led the final three of 118 over-scheduled laps after placing himself in prime position of contending for the win in the third and final overtime attempt, where he restarted alongside rookie Austin Hill on the front row. When Hill fell out of contention due to electrical issues prior to the restart, Clements found himself in the lead with drafting help from Sage Karam. Despite being challenged by AJ Allmendinger prior to the final lap, Clements was able to retain the lead and start the final lap when the event’s 10th and final caution flew as Riley Herbst spun in the frontstretch. With the event concluding under caution, Clements emerged as the upset winner of a wild event that commenced late Friday evening before concluding early Saturday morning. Clements’ first Xfinity victory in five seasons was also one that guaranteed him and his family-owned organization a spot in the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs.

    With on-track qualifying that would have determined the starting lineup scheduled for Friday but canceled due to rain, AJ Allmendinger was awarded the pole position based on a metric formula per NASCAR’s rulebook. Joining him on the front row was Noah Gragson.

    Prior to the event, Josh Williams dropped to the rear of the field as a result of a driver change, where he replaced Patrick Emerling in the No. 5 BJ McLeod Motorsports entry. Jesse Iwuji, Daniel Hemric and Justin Haley also dropped to the rear of the field following unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

    When the green flag waved and the race started following a three-hour delay due to rain, Allmendinger received a push from Sam Mayer to launch ahead with an early lead through the first turn. He then moved from the outside to inside lane while fending off Mayer and Noah Gragson while Sammy Smith, who started fourth, was getting shuffled out of the lead draft.

    Following the completion of the first lap, Allmendinger, who led the first lap, was ahead of Gragson and Mayer while Josh Berry was in fourth followed by rookie Sheldon Creed, Riley Herbst and the field fanning out to two tight-packed lanes.

    On the fifth lap, Gragson overtook both Allmendinger and teammate Mayer in a three-wide move across the start/finish line to lead for the first time. With Gragson moving to the lead, Allmendinger found himself getting shuffled out of the lead and toward the bottom half of the top 10 while Gragson’s teammates, Mayer and Berry, moved into the top three.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps and with the field fanning out in a tight side-by-side pack towards the front, Gragson was leading ahead of teammates Berry and Mayer while Herbst and Ty Gibbs were in the top five. Creed was in sixth ahead of Brandon Jones, Myatt Snider, Allmendinger and Ryan Sieg while Brandon Brown, Landon Cassill, John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Haley and Daniel Hemric were in the top 15. By then, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Sammy Smith, Blaine Perkins, rookie Austin Hill and Jeb Burton occupied the top 20.

    Five laps later and with Gragson continuing to lead, the first caution of the event flew. Sammy Smith, who was trying to carve his way back to the front after getting shuffled out early, spun and pounded the infield wall in Turn 4 as his first NASCAR national touring series event at Daytona came to an early end. During the caution period, some of the drivers, led by Gragson, pitted, while the rest, led by Berry, remained on the track.

    As the race restarted on Lap 19 with Berry and Herbst occupying the front row, Herbst launched ahead with the lead following a push from the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra piloted by Ty Gibbs. Herbst then moved to the outside lane through the backstretch, which allowed Gibbs to rocket to the lead with a push from Creed as the field fanned out.

    A lap later, the caution returned due to debris coming off of Kyle Sieg’s car. During the caution period, names like Jeb Burton, Berry, Haley, Sage Karam, JJ Yeley and Joe Graf Jr. pitted while the rest, led by Gibbs, remained on the track.

    With six laps remaining in the first stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, the Monster Energy competitors of Gibbs and Herbst dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Herbst received a push from Landon Cassill’s No. 10 Voyager Chevrolet Camaro to move ahead. With Gibbs fighting back on the inside lane, Herbst managed to lead the following lap before both Monster competitors dueled again for the lead.

    During the following lap, Gibbs received a push from teammate Brandon Jones and Allmendinger to pull away from the field while Herbst was getting shuffled towards the rear of the top 10.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Gibbs fended off the field over the previous five laps to claim his fourth stage victory of the 2022 season. Hill carved his way to the runner-up spot while Creed, Allmendinger, Berry, Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier, Mayer, Haley and Ryan Sieg were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Gibbs pitted while the rest led by Berry remained on the track. During the caution period, Hill and Caesar Bacarella made contact on pit road, resulting with Bacarella spinning his No. 45 Clear Cryptos Chevrolet Camaro into his pit box. In addition, Snider lost a fuel can while Stenhouse was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 34 as Berry and Jeb Burton occupied the front row. At the start, Berry and Burton dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch until Berry received a push from Brandon Brown to retain the top spot while having both lanes to his control. Two laps later, Brown moved his No. 68 Larry’s Lemonade Chevrolet Camaro to the lead before Anthony Alfredo led during the following lap.

    By Lap 40 and with the field fanning out through three tight-packed lanes, Alfredo was out in front followed by Allgaier, Gragson, Ryan Sieg and Mason Massey while Creed, Cassill, Brown, Allmendinger and Berry were in the top 10. 

    Five laps later, Allgaier, who assumed the lead on Lap 41, was leading ahead of Alfredo, Creed, Berry and Jeb Burton while Gragson, Gibbs, Herbst, Ryan Sieg and Stenhouse were in the top 10. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 50, Alfredo and Allgaier engaged in a side-by-side battle for the lead with the field also fanning out between two and three tight lanes. Shortly after, Daniel Hemric pitted under green to address a flat tire.

    Then on the final lap of the second stage, Creed, who was running in third, got turned by Allgaier as he spun his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro below the backstretch apron. With the race remaining under green and Creed limping back to pit road, Gragson retained the lead ahead of the pack. He was also able to lead the field back to the frontstretch and claim his 11th stage victory of the season after winning the second stage on Lap 60. Alfredo, who led six laps during the second stage compared to Gragson’s 10, settled in second followed by Herbst, Mayer, Berry, Nemechek, Gibbs, Allgaier, Snider and Ryan Sieg.

    Under the stage break, the majority of the field led by Allgaier pitted while names like Ryan Vargas, Jesse Iwuji, David Starr, Bayley Currey, Bacarella and Matt Mills remained on the track. Once the competitors who initially remained on track pitted prior to the restart, Gragson, who was the first competitor to exit pit road, was out in front.

    With 36 laps remaining, the final stage started as Gragson and Herbst occupied the front row. At the start, Gragson received a push from teammate Allgaier to lead the field through the first two turns. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Gibbs moved into the runner-up spot as he settled behind Gragson’s No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro while Allgaier, Herbst and Brandon Jones occupied the top five.

    With less than 30 laps remaining, Gragson was leading a long line of competitors running on the outside lane followed by Gibbs, Allgaier, Herbst, Nemechek, Allmendinger, Cassill, Brandon Jones, Stenhouse and Haley.

    Shortly after, the caution flew when Herbst lost a left-rear tire before slipping sideways and spinning his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang at over 100 mph through the infield backstretch grass. Despite looping his car wildly across the backstretch grass, Herbst managed to keep his car off the wall as he slowly limped his way back to pit road. During the caution period, names like Karam, Clements, Alex Labbe, Bayley Currey, Matt Mills, Bacarella, Joey Gase and Herbst pitted while the rest remained on the track.

    Down to the final 24 laps of the event, the race restarted under green, At the start, Gragson and Gibbs battled for the lead through the first two turns until Gragson rocketed clear with the lead followed by teammate Allgaier and Allmendinger. Haley and Jeb Burton then moved into the top five through Turns 3 and 4 while Gibbs fell back to sixth.

    With 20 laps remaining, Gragson continued to lead ahead of teammates Allgaier and Mayer while Allmendinger and Daniel Hemric were in the top five while running within a tight side-by-side pack. Scored in the top 10 were Haley, Hill, Gibbs, Creed and John Hunter Nemechek.

    Two laps later, the caution flew when Nemechek slipped off the front nose of Brandon Brown through the backstretch as he spun and was hit by Creed, whose No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro slid back across the track and was T-boned by Joe Graf Jr.’s No. 07 Chevrolet Camaro. All three competitors involved in the carnage emerged uninjured.

    With 13 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, teammates Gragson and Allgaier battled for the lead until Gragson was shoved out in front and clear of the field by Allmendinger through the backstretch. Gragson then moved up the track to stall Allgaier’s momentum on the outside lane as he retained the top spot when the field returned to the frontstretch.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Gragson remained as the leader on the outside lane followed by Allmendinger, Allgaier, Mayer and Hemric while Austin Hill was trying to work his way to the front on the inside lane.

    Then when the field returned to the frontstretch, the caution returned when Allmendinger got turned by Allgaier as both spun below the apron approaching Turn 1. Their spin triggered a chain reaction wreck as Mayer, Berry and Snider also spun below the apron while everyone else escaped. In the midst of the carnage, Hemric was scored in second behind Gragson while Brown, Sieg and Stenhouse were in the top five.

    With four laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson received drafting help from Brown and Hemric received drafting help from Ryan Sieg as all four dueled for the lead. Then through the backstretch, Hemric moved into the lead while Hill made a bold three-wide move on both Gragson and Ryan Sieg as he moved into third place.

    During the following lap, Austin Hill assumed the lead as the competitors began to scramble towards the front. Through Turns 3 and 4, Cassill got into the wall after slipping in front of Jeb Burton as he fell off the pace with a flat right-front tire. With the race remaining under green, the caution then returned when Hemric spun while trying to block Gragson as a multi-car wreck erupted in the frontstretch that consumed Brandon Jones, Herbst, David Starr, Alfredo, Allgaier, Jeb Burton and Sage Karam. The multi-car wreck was enough to send the event into overtime.

    At the start of the first overtime attempt amid a stacked restart with contact occurring towards the front, Gragson and Hill dueled for the lead. Not long after, the caution flew and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt when Herbst made contact with Brown through the backstretch as Brown spun and clipped Haley as Gibbs and Ryan Sieg were also clipped and sent spinning. This triggered another multi-car wreck that involved Alex Labbe, Bayley Currey, Caesar Bacarella, Josh Williams, Herbst, Jeb Burton, Kyle Sieg, Ryan Vargas and Stenhouse. In the midst of the incident, Allmendinger carved his way back to third behind Hill and Gragson while Timmy Hill, Clements and Karam were in the top six.

    During the second overtime attempt, Hill retained the lead and moved up the track through the first two turns to block and stall Gragson’s momentum. Just then, the caution returned when Gragson got bumped and turned off the front nose of Allmendinger as he collided head-on into the outside wall on the backstretch. Gragson was then hit hard by Cassill and Myatt Snider, with Blaine Perkins, Hemric, Gibbs and Matt Mills all wrecking in the backstretch. With Hill leading and Allmendinger occupying the runner-up spot, names like Clements, Timmy Hill, Karam, JJ Yeley, Ryan Vargas, Kyle Sieg, Jesse Iwuji and Herbst were in the top 10.

    Prior to the third overtime attempt, Allmendinger, who was in second, peeled to pit road after his No. 16 Action Industries Chevrolet Camaro ran out of fuel. In addition, Hill, who remained on the track as the leader, reported electrical issues to his No. 21 United Rentals Chevrolet Camaro as he kept his car running below the apron through the turns and shaking it back and forth to keep it under race pace.

    Then at the start of the third overtime attempt, Hill’s electrical issues knocked him out of contention as he was unable to launch on the restart. This allowed Clements to take the lead followed by Karam through the first two turns. Meanwhile, Allmendinger, who emerged in fourth place through the first two turns, began his dash back to the front as he pushed Brown while closing in on both Clements and Karam. Through the backstretch and entering Turns 3 and 4, Karam was shuffled back to fifth while being overtaken by Brown, Allmendinger and Timmy Hill. In addition, Allmendinger overtook Brown for the runner-up spot as he then made his move beneath Clements for the lead.

    With the leaders approaching the frontstretch to start the final lap, contact from Karam sent Herbst, who joined the battle, spinning towards the pit road entrance before he came back across the track and was dodged by the field. By then, Clements’ No. 51 One Stop/ASE Chevrolet Camaro managed to fend off Allmendinger as he took the white flag and started the final lap. A few seconds later, the caution flew and the race was deemed official, thus handing Clements the victory.

    With the victory, Clements achieved his second career win in the Xfinity Series and his first since claiming his first series win at Road America in August 2017. In addition to becoming the 127th different competitor to win multiple Xfinity events, he became the eighth series regular to win throughout the 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season stretch and secure a spot for the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs that will commence in mid-September.

    “I’m speechless, man,” Clements said on USA Network. “I don’t even know what to say. That’s incredible, man. We were as fast as Xfinity internet and it feels so good. We survived that big wreck back there somehow. It was like a Days of Thunder wreck. Then I was like, ‘Well, if we can just keep up with these guys, it’ll be a good day.’ Top five and bring this car home in one piece, and that’s a good day. Wow, this is incredible. Thank you, [fans], so much for sticking around. I know it’s late as hell. It’s time to drink a beer!”


    “I just, honestly, didn’t have the car to get up there,” Clements added. “I had a car to just stay with the pack. I couldn’t really get in there. I’d have to have somebody pushing me. Just trying to be aggressively cautious and it worked for once. I’ve done a lot of these speedway races and a lot of them haven’t worked out. I guess we finally got one. It’s incredible to win at Day-freaking-tona, man! Holy crap! Wow!”

    In the midst of the carnage and unexpected turn of events capped with a surprise winner, Timmy Hill claimed a career-best runner-up result followed by Allmendinger, who maintained his lead in the regular-season standings. Brandon Brown and Sage Karam finished in the top five while Ryan Vargas, Ty Gibbs, Alex Labbe, JJ Yeley and Kyle Sieg completed the top 10 on the track.

    There were 19 lead changes for 12 different leaders. The event featured 10 cautions for 41 laps.

    With three races remaining in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season stretch, AJ Allmendinger continues to lead the regular-season standings by 58 points over Ty Gibbs, 80 over Justin Allgaier and 115 over Noah Gragson.

    Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Josh Berry, rookie Austin Hill, Brandon Jones and Jeremy Clements are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Xfinity Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular season stretch while Riley Herbst, Sam Mayer, Daniel Hemric and Landon Cassill occupy the remaining vacant spots to the Playoffs based on points. Ryan Sieg trails the top-12 cutline by 12 points, rookie Sheldon Creed trails by 55, Anthony Alfredo trails by 91 and Brandon Brown trails by 98.

    Results.

    1. Jeremy Clements, three laps led

    2. Timmy Hill 

    3. AJ Allmendinger, four laps led

    4. Brandon Brown

    5. Sage Karam

    6. Ryan Vargas, one lap led

    7. Ty Gibbs, 11 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    8. Alex Labbe

    9. JJ Yeley

    10. Kyle Sieg

    11. Jesse Iwuji

    12. Myatt Snider

    13. Justin Allgaier, 11 laps led

    14. Austin Hill, 18 laps led

    15. Riley Herbst, two laps led

    16. Joey Gase, two laps down

    17. Blaine Perkins, two laps down

    18. Josh Berry, three laps down, six laps led

    19. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Dvp, one lap led

    20. Brandon Jones, four laps down

    21. Jeb Burton, five laps down

    22. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident, 52 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    23. Landon Cassill – OUT, Accident

    24. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

    25. Justin Haley – OUT, Accident

    26. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Accident

    27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

    28. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident

    29. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

    30. Bayley Currey – OUT, Accident

    31. David Starr – OUT, Accident

    32. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident, eight laps led

    33. Mason Massey – OUT, Engine

    34. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

    35. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident

    36. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident

    37. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Accident

    38. Sammy Smith – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ second trip of the season to Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, on Saturday, September 3, during Labor Day weekend. The event is scheduled to occur at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Larson sweeps the weekend with second Cup victory of 2022 at Watkins Glen

    Larson sweeps the weekend with second Cup victory of 2022 at Watkins Glen

    A day after emerging late for an Xfinity Series victory at Watkins Glen International, Kyle Larson benefitted through another late-race restart and outlasted a challenge from AJ Allmendinger to win the rain-delayed Go Bowling at The Glen on Sunday, August 21.

    The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion led the final five of 90-scheduled laps and was running in second place behind teammate Chase Elliott with 12 laps remaining before a caution for an on-track incident involving Joey Hand stacked up the field. Two restarts later, Larson executed a strong launch on the inside lane to overtake Elliott for the lead on a restart with five laps remaining. From there, he kept Allmendinger at bay as he went on to claim his second victory of the 2022 Cup Series season and earn additional momentum with the Playoffs looming and in his quest to defend his series title.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Chase Elliott pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 124.857 mph in 70.477 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Kyle Larson, winner of last year’s Cup event at The Glen, who posted his best qualifying lap at 123.939 mph in 70.516 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell dropped to the rear of the field for engine changes made to their respective cars. In addition, names like William Byron, Daniil Kyat, Ty Gibbs, Cody Ware and Kyle Tilley 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 amid a nearly two-hour delay due to lightning with the competitors starting on slick tires under a single-file restart formation amid wet conditions, the field quickly fanned out to multiple lanes entering the first turn as Elliott was out in front. Behind, Michael McDowell and Larson made contact, with the former assuming the runner-up spot. As the field made their way through the seven-turn circuit and back to the start/finish line, Elliott led the first lap followed by McDowell, Larson, Tyler Reddick and AJ Allmendinger. 

    Then in Turn 1, Allmendinger got bumped by rookie Austin Cindric as he spun off the circuit without sustaining any significant damage. Soon after, Harrison Burton also spun in the first turn, but the event proceeded under green as Elliott retained the lead ahead of McDowell. 

    During the second lap, Harrison Burton’s rough start went rougher as he spun for a second time in the first turn and plummeted below the leaderboard.

    Then during the third lap, McDowell gained a strong run on Elliott through the first three turns as he moved his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang into the lead. Not long after, Tyler Reddick moved his No. 8 KC Motorgroup Ltd. Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the runner-up spot while Elliott fell back to third ahead of teammate Larson.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, McDowell was leading by four-tenths of a second over Reddick followed by Elliott, Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez. Larson was mired back in sixth after he missed the Inner Loop and had to come to a full stop before proceeding while Cindric, Chase Briscoe, rookie Todd Gilliland and Ross Chastain were in the top 10. Austin Dillon was back in 11th followed by Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Joey Hand, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ty Dillon, Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Kimi Räikkönen and Erik Jones. Ryan Blaney was in 21st ahead of William Byron, Kyle Busch, Mike Rockenfeller and Martin Truex Jr. while Cole Custer, Loris Hezemans, Christopher Bell, Corey LaJoie and Denny Hamlin, who was reporting engine issues, were in the top 30. Meanwhile, Ty Gibbs was in 31st ahead of AJ Allmendinger, Kevin Harvick, Daniil Kyat and Cody Ware while Aric Almirola, Kyle Tilley, Harrison Burton and Justin Haley, who pitted to have his window net reattached, rounded out the 39-car field.

    Two laps later and with the track conditions drying, Buescher pitted his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang under green for slick tires while McDowell remained as the leader by seven-tenths of a second over Reddick. Another lap later, Briscoe pitted his No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang under green.

    By the Lap 10 mark, McDowell continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Reddick while Elliott, Gilliland and Suarez were scored in the top five. In addition, names like Bubba Wallace, Blaney, Cindric, Kyle Busch, Truex, Ty Dillon and Cody Ware pitted under green.

    Two laps later, McDowell surrendered the lead to pit for slick tires as Reddick assumed the lead. Another lap later, Reddick pitted for slick tires as Elliott, who has yet to pit for slicks, assumed the lead followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Larson. Meanwhile, Briscoe, the first competitor on slicks, was in fourth while McDowell was in fifth. Following his pit stop, however, Reddick was forced to serve a “stop-and-go” on-track penalty for missing the inner loop.

    Then on Lap 15, Briscoe overtook Elliott, who remained on wet tires, through Turn 5 to assume the lead with McDowell quickly pursuing behind. Meanwhile, Larson, who also remained on wet tires, had fallen back to 11th while being overtaken by competitors on slicks.

    With two laps remaining in the first stage, Elliott, who was struggling on the track on wet tires but opted for a two-pit strategy, pitted his No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green along with teammate Larson, Christopher Bell, Cindric, Alex Bowman, William Byron, Blaney, Truex, Buescher and McDowell while Briscoe continued to lead. Following the pit stops, Cindric was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 20, Briscoe captured his fourth stage victory of the season. Reddick settled in second followed by Suarez, Gilliland, Chastain, Joey Logano, Ty Dillon, McDowell, Kyle Busch and Allmendinger. Despite settling in 23rd place in the first stage, Elliott clinched the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship.

    Under the stage break, some led by Briscoe pitted while the rest led by Gilliland and Logano remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 23 under green. By then, the field returned to double-file restart formation as Gilliland and Logano occupied the front row. At the start, Gilliland briefly dueled with Logano before assuming full command of the field through the first four turns and approaching the Inner Loop. Behind, Logano was in second while Kyle Busch muscled his No. 18 Snickers Toyota TRD Camry into third place followed by McDowell and Ty Dillon.

    At the Lap 25 mark, Gilliland was leading by half a second over Logano followed by Kyle Busch, McDowell and Ty Dillon while Joey Hand, Corey LaJoie, Custer, Räikkönen and Elliott were in the top 10.

    Two laps later, Logano moved his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang into the lead followed by Kyle Busch, McDowell, Ty Dillon and Joey Hand while Gilliland, who initially lost the lead in the first turn before regaining it through the esses but losing it again through the carousel, pitted under green to address a broken axle.

    By Lap 30, Logano was leading by half a second over Kyle Busch while McDowell, Ty Dillon and Joey Hand remained in the top five. Elliott was up in sixth followed by Custer, Räikkönen, Buescher and LaJoie while Larson, Bell, Loris Hezemans, Stenhouse, Blaney, Allmendinger, Truex, Chastain, Bowman and Mike Rockenfeller occupied the top 20.

    A lap later, Reddick and Rockenfeller spun through the Inner Loop while battling for 20th place before both proceeded under green.

    Through the first 35 scheduled laps, Logano retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Kyle Busch followed by McDowell, Elliott and Ty Dillon. Meanwhile, Joey Hand retained sixth ahead of Custer, Buescher, Larson and Räikkönen.

    Soon after, names like Räikkönen, Truex, Loris Hezemans and LaJoie pitted under green while Logano remained as the leader by less than a second over Kyle Busch.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 40, Logano secured his fourth stage victory of the 2022 season after fending off Kyle Busch by half a second. McDowell settled in third followed by Elliott, Ty Dillon, Joey Hand, Buescher, Larson, Custer and Christopher Bell.

    Under the stage break, names like Logano, Kyle Busch, Ty Dillon, Custer, Reddick, LaJoie, Bubba Wallace, Briscoe, Mike Rockenfeller, Cody Ware and Hamlin pitted while the rest led by McDowell and Elliott remained on the track.

    With 46 laps remaining, the final stage started as McDowell and Elliott occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, McDowell, who nearly went off the course in the first turn, fended off Elliott and Joey Hand to retain the lead through the fourth turn and entering the esses. Then through the esses, a stack-up occurred towards the middle of the pack as Austin Dillon got turned and spun by Ross Chastain. At the same time, Hezemans made contact with Räikkönen, who got sent into the tire barriers as his strong debut in NASCAR’s premier series came to an end just shy of the halfway mark.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “It was good fun,” Räikkönen said at the infield care center on USA Network. “I felt more confidence all the time. I had some good battles. It’s a shame. I think the car felt like it had a lot of speed in there, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”

    With 43 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, McDowell retained the lead ahead of Elliott, who had Bell challenging him for third place as Larson was up in fourth ahead of Joey Hand. 

    Two laps later, Elliott overtook McDowell on the outside lane approaching Turn 6 to assume the lead as Larson started to close in on the two leaders. 

    With less than 40 laps remaining, Elliott was leading by more than a second over McDowell, who had Larson challenging him for the runner-up spot. Bell was in fourth followed by Joey Hand, who remained uncertain about completing the remainder of the event on his current fuel tank, while Allmendinger was up in sixth following his opening lap spin. Buescher, Stenhouse, Erik Jones and Blaney were in the top 10 while Suarez, Byron, Harvick, Justin Haley, Bowman, Logano, Chastain, Burton, Wallace and Brad Keselowski were in the top 20.

    Then with 34 laps remaining, McDowell and Larson, both of whom were in second and third, pitted under green along with Erik Jones, Logano, Harvick and Truex as Elliott continued to lead. By then, Stenhouse, Reddick, Buescher and Joey Hand had made pit stops. Allmendinger, Chastain, Kyle Busch, Bell, Byron, Haley, Wallace, Ty Dillon, Hamlin and Blaney would soon pit.

    With 32 laps remaining, the leader Elliott pitted under green as Custer, who has yet to pit, assumed the lead. Following his service, Elliott was able to exit pit road and remain ahead of teammate Larson, who pitted earlier.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Custer remained as the leader by more than 10 seconds over LaJoie followed by Austin Dillon and Mike Rockenfeller, all of whom still needing to pit prior to the event’s conclusion. Elliott, the first competitor on fresh tires and fuel, was in fifth while teammate Larson, McDowell, Kyle Busch, Logano and Allmendinger were in the top 10. By then, Chastain and Briscoe were straightening their cars after both spun through the Inner Loop.

    A lap later, Custer surrendered the lead to pit under green while Austin Dillon was out in front by a mere margin over LaJoie while third-place Rockenfeller trailed by three seconds. Meanwhile, Elliott trailed in fourth place by four-and-a-half seconds while teammate Larson was in fifth. In addition, Cody Ware spun through the Inner Loop, but the race proceeded under green.

    With 20 laps remaining, Austin Dillon was leading by a second over Elliott, who overtook LaJoie earlier and was closing in on Dillon’s rear bumper. A lap later, however, Elliott gained a strong run and overtook Dillon for the lead in Turn 5. Behind, Larson overtook Dillon’s No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to move into the runner-up spot as he started his bid on teammate Elliott for the lead and win.

    Two laps later, Kyle Busch, who was running in ninth after rallying from restarting towards the rear of the field at the start of the final stage, got loose and spun in Turn 1 after running over the curb before hitting the Armco wall driver’s side before proceeding, cycling his way around the circuit and pitting under green. Back at the front, Elliott was leading by more than a second over teammate Larson while Austin Dillon retained third place ahead of McDowell and Allmendinger.

    Then with 12 laps remaining, the caution flew when Joey Hand, who was having a stellar run within the top 10, got loose and spun entering Turn 1 before backing his No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford Mustang into the Armco barrier, though he continued with rear-end damage. By then, Austin Dillon pitted under green and Elliott was out in front by more than two seconds over teammate Larson.

    During the caution period, names like while the rest led by teammates Elliott and Larson remained on the track.

    Down to the final nine laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Elliott dueled and fended off teammate Larson to retain the lead and Allmendinger muscled his way into third place as the field scrambled for late positions. By then, McDowell, who was in third, got shuffled back to sixth.

    During the following lap, the caution returned when Loris Hezemans spun and got his car stuck on the gravel trap in Turn 6.

    With five laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, teammates Elliott and Larson dueled for the lead until Larson, who locked up the front tires and went briefly wide, managed to emerge with the lead ahead of teammate Elliott. In addition, Allmendinger moved into the runner-up spot as Logano and Reddick overtook Elliott through the Inner Loop. When the field returned to the start/finish line, Larson was ahead by half a second over Allmendinger and Elliott was mired back in fifth as the field scrambled for late positions.

    Three laps later, Larson continued to lead by less than half a second over Allmendinger, who found himself pursuing Larson for a win at The Glen for a second consecutive day, while Logano, Elliott and Suarez were in the top five. Behind, Reddick and McDowell fell back to sixth and seventh while Bell, Buescher and Erik Jones were in the top 10.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Allmendinger. Through the first four turns, Larson stabilized his steady advantage. While Allmendinger gained a small advantage through the Inner Loop, he could not close the gap through the final three turns as Larson managed to smoothly navigate his way back to the finish line and claim the checkered flag by eight-tenths of a second over Allmendinger.

    With his second victory of the 2022 season, Larson joined Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose and teammate Chase Elliott as the only competitors to achieve back-to-back Cup victories at The Glen. He also became the eighth competitor to achieve multiple victories throughout this year’s regular-season stretch as he recorded his 18th career victory in NASCAR’s premier series and first since winning at Auto Club Speedway in February.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “I knew that was my only opportunity [to beat Elliott in Turn 1],” Larson said on USA Network. “I’m not proud of it, but being in the inside lane or the right lane, being the leader, choosing the left lane, it definitely wins out. But when it gets too late in the race, it’s definitely risky. I felt like our cars were pretty equal today. [I] Had a lot of fun after the green-flag [pit] cycle trying to chase him down. Kind of burnt my stuff up a little bit, but the restarts kept me in it and kept our team in it. Proud of our guys. Good to get another win here at Watkins Glen. Get some more bonus points going into the Playoffs. We haven’t had many of those this year. Hopefully, this [win] will build on some momentum and we can rack up some more points.”

    Allmendinger recovered from his opening lap spin to methodically work his way to a strong runner-up result a day after finishing in the runner-up spot behind Larson in the Xfinity event at The Glen. Logano came home in third followed by Elliott, who led a race-high 29 laps and remained humble over the defeat, though he clinched the 2022 Cup Series regular-season championship.

    “Huge congratulations to Kyle [Larson] and everybody on the No. 5 team,” Elliott said. “Congratulations to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for getting another win. [I] Appreciate Kelley Blue Book for being on our car this weekend. Proud of that and looking forward to next week.“ 

    Suarez rounded out the top five in fifth while McDowell, Reddick, Bell, Buescher and Erik Jones completed the top 10 on the track.

    There were 12 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 11 laps.

    With one regular-season race remaining to this season, Chase Elliott, who secured the 2022 Cup Series regular-season championship, leads the regular-season standings by 134 points over teammate Kyle Larson and 143 over Ryan Blaney. 

    Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Kevin Harvick, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, rookie Austin Cindric and Kurt Busch have clinched spots for the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular-season stretch while Ryan Blaney occupies the 16th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs based on points by 25 points over Martin Truex Jr. The following competitors that include Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Justin Haley, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Cole Custer, Brad Keselowski, Harrison Burton, Ty Dillon and Todd Gilliland control their fate in making the Playoffs by winning next weekend at Daytona.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Larson, five laps led

    2. AJ Allmendinger

    3. Joey Logano, 15 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    4. Chase Elliott, 29 laps led

    5. Daniel Suarez

    6. Michael McDowell, 14 laps led

    7. Tyler Reddick, two laps led

    8. Christopher Bell

    9. Chris Buescher

    10. Erik Jones

    11. Cole Custer, seven laps led

    12. Kevin Harvick

    13. Austin Cindric

    14. Alex Bowman

    15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    16. Ty Dillon

    17. Austin Dillon, six laps led

    18. Justin Haley

    19. Brad Keselowski

    20. Denny Hamlin

    21. Ross Chastain

    22. William Byron

    23. Martin Truex Jr.

    24. Ryan Blaney

    25. Chase Briscoe, seven laps led, Stage 1 winner

    26. Ty Gibbs

    27. Corey LaJoie

    28. Harrison Burton

    29. Aric Almirola

    30. Mike Rockenfeller

    31. Joey Hand

    32. Kyle Busch, one lap down

    33. Loris Hezemans, one lap down

    34. Cody Ware, two laps down

    35. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Suspension

    36. Daniil Kvyat, 32 laps down

    37. Kimi Räikkönen – OUT, Accident

    38. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Rear end

    39. Kyle Tilley – OUT, Steering

    The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season stretch is set to cap off next weekend at Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero Sugar 400. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, August 27, at 7 p.m. ET on NBC.