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  • Allgaier cruises to a dominant Xfinity Series victory at Nashville

    Allgaier cruises to a dominant Xfinity Series victory at Nashville

    Justin Allgaier outlasted the warm humidity surrounding the state of Tennessee by scoring a dominant NASCAR Xfinity Series win in the Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday, June 25.

    The 36-year-old Allgaier from Riverton, Illinois, led five times for a race-high 134 of 188 laps, including the final 40. He swept both stages en route to his second Xfinity victory of the 2022 season and his first at Nashville after beating runner-up Trevor Bayne by four-and-a-half seconds.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring Saturday, Riley Herbst started on pole position for the second time in his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 156.665 mph in 30.562 seconds. Joining him on the front row was AJ Allmendinger, winner of the previous Xfinity event at Portland International Raceway who posted a qualifying lap at 156.200 mph in 30.653 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Tyler Reddick started at the rear of the field due to an engine change. Natalie Decker also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to her car.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Herbst and Allmendinger dueled early for the lead through the first two turns until Allmendinger gained the advantage on the outside lane in Turn 3 to take the lead as he led the first lap. Behind, the field fanned out and jostled for positions through the frontstretch as Allmendinger stabilized his early advantage over Herbst.

    By the fifth lap, Allmendinger was leading by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Herbst followed by Trevor Bayne, rookie Austin Hill and Justin Allgaier while Jeb Burton, Josh Berry, Daniel Hemric, Noah Gragson and Brandon Jones were in the top 10.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Allmendinger continued to lead by a second over Herbst while Allgaier continued his march to the front as he battled Bayne for third place. Behind, Hill remained in fifth while Gragson, Brandon Jones and Ty Gibbs battled for ninth.

    Five laps later, Allgaier muscled his No, 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro to the runner-up spot after he overtook Herbst’s No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang. Another four laps later, Allgaier emerged as the second leader of the event after he overtook Allmendinger’s No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro for the top spot. 

    Through the first 35 laps of the event, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than four seconds over both Allmendinger and Herbst as Hill and Bayne joined the battle in the top five. Meanwhile, Berry was in sixth while Jeb Burton, Ty Gibbs, Brandon Jones and Hemric were in the top 10. Sam Mayer was in 11th ahead of teammate Noah Gragson, Landon Cassill, Ryan Preece and Jeffrey Earnhardt while rookie Sheldon Creed, Brett Moffitt, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Brown and Kyle Weatherman were in the top 20.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Allgaier, who continued to extend his advantage to six seconds, captured his fourth stage victory of the 2022 Xfinity season. Bayne made his way into the runner-up spot followed by Herbst, Allmendinger, Hill, Berry, Gibbs, Brandon Jones, Mayer and Gragson.

    Under the stage break, the field led by Allgaier pitted as Allgaier exited with the lead followed by teammate Berry, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger, Gibbs and Hill. Following the pit stops, Kaulig Racing’s Allmendinger, Cassill and Hemric were penalized for speeding on pit road along with Sheldon Creed and Kyle Sieg. Jeb Burton was also penalized due to an equipment interference while Bayne endured a slow pit stop due to Herbst hitting Bayne’s crew member.

    The second stage started on Lap 52 as teammates Allgaier and Berry occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Allgaier rocketed away with the lead while Gibbs battled Berry for the runner-up spot. Behind, teammate Mayer along with Brandon Jones, Herbst and Hill battled towards the front as Allgaier checked away from the field.

    By Lap 60, Allgaier was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Gibbs followed by Mayer, Herbst and Hill while Berry, Gragson, Bayne, Brandon Jones and Ryan Preece were running in the top 10. By then, Allmendinger was mired in 13th, Tyler Reddick was up in 16th and Hemric was back in 22nd.

    At the Lap 75 mark, Allgaier extended his advantage to nearly one-and-a-half seconds over Gibbs while Mayer, Herbst and Bayne remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Hill was back in 10th while Preece made his way up to eighth. Allmendinger could only make his way back up to 11th while Hemric was mired in 17th ahead of teammate Landon Cassill.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Allgaier claimed his fifth stage victory of this season and swept both stages of the event in Nashville after beating Gibbs by more than two seconds. Gibbs settled in second followed by Mayer, Herbst, Bayne, Gragson, Berry, Brandon Jones, Preece and Hill.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Allgaier returned to pit road as Gibbs edged Allgaier to emerge with the lead followed by Bayne, Gragson, Herbst and Mayer. Following the pit stops, Mayer and Anthony Alfredo were penalized for speeding on pit road.

    With 92 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Allgaier and Gibbs dueled for the lead through the backstretch until Allgaier retained the lead approaching Turn 4. Behind, Bayne and Hill battled for third in front of a flurry of competitors led by Brandon Jones. 

    Back at the front, Gibbs reignited his battle for the lead against Allgaier as he swapped the top spot with the JR Motorsports veteran before he assumed the lead with 89 laps remaining. Allgaier, however, fought back during the following lap as the battle between him and Gibbs continued to ignite. Behind, Bayne trailed by eight-tenths of a second while Brandon Jones, Hill and Allmendinger, who rallied from his early pit road speeding penalty, battled for spots in the top five.

    With 83 laps remaining, the caution flew when Berry slipped sideways and spun off the front nose of Preece through the backstretch. During the caution period, some like Ryan Sieg, Brandon Brown, Alfredo and Berry pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.

    Four laps later, the race proceeded under green, At the start, Allgaier gained another strong start to retain the lead while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bayne and Ty Gibbs battled for the runner-up spot. Behind, Hill was in fourth ahead of Hemric, who recovered from his early pit road speeding penalty, while a three-wide action occurred between Gragson, Creed and Jeb Burton.

    Then with 72 laps remaining, the caution returned when Jeffrey Earnhardt made contact while battling Creed as he spun off of Turn 4 while being dodged by the field. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Allgaier pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Preece and Bayne were penalized for equipment interference.

    With 66 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Allmendinger and Brandon Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Allmendinger took off with the lead followed by Jones and Gragson as the field fanned out. 

    Then during the following lap, the caution flew when Jeb Burton made contact and turned Creed sideways into the outside wall in Turn 1 as Joe Graf Jr. was also involved.

    When the race restarted under green with 58 laps remaining, Allmendinger fended Brandon Jones to retain the lead as Allgaier bolted his way towards the front on four fresh tires. Meanwhile, Gragson remained in third ahead of Hemric and Gibbs while Cassill, Mayer, Ryan Sieg and Tyler Reddick were in the top 10. Shortly after, Myatt Snider spun behind the leaders, but the race proceeded under green.

    Four laps later, the battle for the lead between Brandon Jones and Allmendinger ignited as Jones made his move beneath Allmendinger’s No. 16 Chevrolet through the turns. The former, however, was able to fend off the challenges entering the straightaways as Gragson joined the battle. Meanwhile, Allgaier battled and overtook Gibbs for fourth place.

    With less than 50 laps remaining, Allmendinger stabilized his advantage to nearly half a second over Brandon Jones while third-place Gragson trailed by nearly seven-tenths of a second. Allgaier and Gibbs remained in the top five followed by Mayer while Hemric, Herbst, Bayne, Hill and Cassill battled within the top 10.

    Then with 42 laps remaining, contact ensued between rivals Gibbs and Mayer as Mayer got into the left-rear quarter panel of Gibbs’ No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra entering Turn 4 while both were battling in the top five. With Gibbs sideways, he made contact with Mayer’s No. 1 Huck’s Market Chevrolet Camaro and both competitors bumped and rubbed fenders before both managed to continue running straight as the race proceeded under green. The contact placed Mayer in fifth while Gibbs fell back to eighth behind Herbst.

    Back at the front, Allgaier reassumed the lead with 37 laps remaining after tracking and overtaking Allmendinger on four fresh tires while Brandon Jones and Gragson settled in third and fourth.

    With 30 laps remaining, the battle for the runner-up spot ensued as Gragson overtook Brandon Jones before he issued his challenge on Allmendinger. With Allgaier checking out and leading by nearly four seconds, Bayne, who rallied from his late pit road penalty, made his way into the top five as he then overtook teammate Brandon Jones for fourth place.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Allgaier continued to lead by more than three seconds over Bayne, who made his way into the runner-up spot, while Gragson, Herbst and Brandon Jones were in the top five. Shortly after, however, Gragson, who had not pitted since the conclusion of the second stage, pitted for four fresh tires and fuel. Brandon Jones would soon pit along with Allmendinger, Hemric and Cassill.

    With 10 laps remaining, Allgaier remained as the leader by more than nearly four seconds over Bayne while Herbst, Gibbs and Mayer were up in the top five. By then, Preece was in sixth followed by Hill, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ryan Sieg and Brett Moffitt.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allgaier stabilized his advantage to four seconds over Bayne. Having a clear racetrack in front of him with a dominant race car, Allgaier was able to cycle his way back to the finish line and claim his second checkered flag of the 2022 Xfinity season.

    With his second victory of the season and first at Nashville, Allgaier recorded his 18th career win in the Xfinity Series, his 15th driving for JR Motorsports, as he became the fifth multi-winner of this year’s Xfinity season.

    “What a heck of a race,” Allgaier said on USA Network. “I’ve been coming here a long time and love this racetrack, and have been trying to go to Victory Lane so bad and haven’t been able to do it. Today was for the dirt racers, though, ‘cause it was slick, it was hot. We were sliding around. Just proud of this team, everybody at JR Motorsports, the Hendrick engine shop…These black marks [burnouts], they never get old. That’s the best race car I’ve ever had. This series is just so much fun right now. Man, that was a good race. ”

    Bayne, a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, came home in the runner-up spot for his third top-five result in his fifth series start of the season while Herbst, Ty Gibbs and Mayer finished in the top five.

    “I think I’ve learned a lot of perspective in the last three years,” Bayne said. “I’m still frustrated and upset right now with second because we had a winning car. I felt like I did everything I could to do today. We drove to second three times and just kept getting ourself in pit road with [Herbst] clipping our guys. Nothing my guys can do about that, but then, we had a tire get away, went all the way to the back on that last run and drove to second. Catching Allgaier, my buddy Gator, congrats to him. Proud of him, happy for him, but I wanted that guitar really bad. The thing is I’m thankful to be here, thankful to have the opportunity to drive these cars. You can see how pink I am. That’s pushing hard those last 20 laps…It’s all we could do, man. We just got to clean it up. If you’re gonna win, you got to be perfect.”

    “Our Ford Mustang was really good,” Herbst said. “We got the pole and we wanted to lead some laps. Unfortunately, we didn’t lead any laps. We got quite a bit of stage points, which we needed. It’s just a really good day for everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing and myself included. I’m proud of all these guys on the No. 98 team. Just keep doing these runs and we’ll eventually get there. Just keep knocking on the door. Eventually, it will open.”

    Preece, winner of Friday night’s Truck Series event at Nashville, ended up in sixth place while Jeffrey Earnhardt, Hill, Ryan Sieg and Moffitt completed the top 10. 

    Notably, Gragson, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger, Hemric and Cassill finished 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th following their late pit stops.

    There were 13 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 27 laps.

    With 11 races remaining in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season stretch, AJ Allmendinger leads the regular-season standings by 25 points over Ty Gibbs, 32 over Justin Allgaier, 42 over Noah Gragson and 75 over Josh Berry.

    Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier, Josh Berry, AJ Allmendinger, Brandon Jones and rookie Austin Hill are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Xfinity Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular season stretch while Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Daniel Hemric, Landon Cassill and Ryan Sieg occupy the remaining vacant spots to the Playoffs based on points. Anthony Alfredo trails the top-12 cutline to the Playoffs by 69 points, Brett Moffitt trails by 72, Brandon Brown trails by 74, Jeb Burton trails by 93, Sheldon Creed trails by 100, Myatt Snider trails by 116, Alex Labbe trails by 141 and Jeremy Clements trails by 160.

    Results.

    1. Justin Allgaier, 134 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Trevor Bayne

    3. Riley Herbst

    4. Ty Gibbs, four laps led

    5. Sam Mayer

    6. Ryan Preece

    7. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    8. Austin Hill

    9. Ryan Sieg

    10. Brett Moffitt

    11. Brandon Brown

    12. Parker Retzlaff

    13. Noah Gragson, one lap down

    14. Brandon Jones, one lap down, one lap led

    15. Stefan Parsons, one lap won

    16. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down, 48 laps led

    17. Daniel Hemric, one lap down

    18. Landon Cassill, one lap down

    19. Ryan Vargas, one lap down

    20. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down

    21. Tyler Reddick, two laps down

    22. Jeremy Clements, two laps down

    23. Alex Labbe, two laps down

    24. Ryan Ellis, three laps down

    25. Kyle Sieg, three laps down

    26. Patrick Emerling, three laps down

    27. Myatt Snider, three laps down

    28. BJ McLeod, three laps down

    29. Josh Berry, four łaps down

    30. Dillon Bassett, six laps down

    31. Bayley Currey, seven laps down

    32. Natalie Decker, seven laps down

    33. JJ Yeley, 31 laps down

    34. Josh Williams – OUT, Electrical

    35. Jeb Burton – OUT, Accident

    36. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident

    37. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Accident

    38. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Power

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ 13th consecutive, annual visit to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, which will occur on Saturday, July 2, at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Brandon Jones capitalizes with a wild Xfinity victory at Martinsville

    Brandon Jones capitalizes with a wild Xfinity victory at Martinsville

    Brandon Jones seized an opportunity in the second of two overtime attempts to overtake teammate Ty Gibbs on the final lap and win the Call 811 Before You Dig 250 on April 8. It was a wild Friday night at Martinsville Speedway with on-track chaos, a multitude of cautions and flaring tempers ensuing throughout the event, and even between two young guns.

    The 25-year-old Jones from Atlanta, Georgia, utilized pit strategy to win the second stage in a one-lap dash while on worn tires. After pitting prior to the start of the final stage, he methodically carved his way to the front and was up in the top five under the final 10 laps. Then through a series of late carnages and with the event sent into two overtime attempts, Jones intimidated his teammate Gibbs before managing to draw dead even with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate through the backstretch on the final lap. He then managed to clear Gibbs as Gibbs got tangled with Sam Mayer, whom he confronted following the event, to muscle away and claim his first victory of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

    With on-track qualifying occurring on Thursday, Ty Gibbs, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Richmond Raceway, notched his third consecutive Xfinity pole position in recent weeks after posting a pole-winning lap at 95.985 mph in 19.728 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Justin Allgaier, who posted a fast lap at 95.496 mph in 19.829 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Noah Gragson, Derek Griffith, Kyle Weatherman and Howie Disavino III dropped to the rear due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars. Another competitor who dropped to the rear due to unapproved adjustments was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was making his lone Xfinity start of the season. 

    When the green flag waved and the race started amid a brief delay due to rain, Gibbs launched ahead of rookie Sheldon Creed, Justin Allgaier and the field with an early advantage as he went on to lead the first lap. Shortly after, the first caution of the event flew due to a blown engine and smoke billowing out of the No. 47 car piloted by Brennan Poole that started in the first turn. 

    Thirteen laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs prevailed in a full side-by-side battle against Allgaier to retain the lead while Creed battled and prevailed in a brief battle with Allgaier for the runner-up spot. In the midst of the battles, Brett Moffitt pitted after falling off the pace due to a transmission issue. 

    Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Gibbs was leading by more than a second over Allgaier followed by Ryan Truex, Landon Cassill and Creed while Daniel Hemric, Ryan Sieg, AJ Allmendinger, Riley Herbst and Josh Berry were in the top 10. By then, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in 31st. 

    On Lap 39, the caution returned due to Howie Disavino III stopping on the track in Turn 4. Under caution, some drivers including Earnhardt Jr., Noah Gragson, Jade Buford and Myatt Snider pitted while the rest, led by Gibbs, remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 45, Gibbs retained the lead while Allgaier retained second ahead of Ryan Truex. Behind, Creed and Cassill battled for fourth place while Ryan Sieg and Hemric battled for sixth. In addition, Josh Berry and Allmendinger battled for eighth place.

    By Lap 50, Gibbs was leading by nearly half a second over Allgaier followed by Truex, Cassill and Hemric while Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Berry, Sam Mayer and Creed were in the top 10. 

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Gibbs claimed his second stage victory of the season. Allgaier settled in second followed by Truex, Cassill, Hemric, Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Berry, Mayer and Creed. By then, Gragson was up in 13th place while Earnhardt Jr. was in 22nd place.

    During the stage break, a majority of the field led by Gibbs pitted, while the rest, led by Gragson remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 69 as Gragson and Myatt Snider occupied the front row. At the start, Gragson retained the lead while Snider and rookie Austin Hill battled for the runner-up spot. Behind, Gibbs was in fourth in front of Earnhardt Jr. 

    Four laps later, the caution flew when a bump from Joe Graf Jr. sent Jade Buford spinning against the outside wall between Turns 3 and 4. 

    By Lap 79, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson rocketed away with the lead entering the first turn while Gibbs fended off Austin Hill to retain the runner-up spot. Behind, Earnhardt Jr. battled with Snider for fourth place in front of Truex and Allgaier. Shortly after, Earnhardt Jr. was slowly being overtaken and was falling out of the top 10 as he was trapped on the outside lane. 

    Back at the front by Lap 90, Gibbs, who reassumed the lead over Gragson on two laps earlier, was leading by half a second over Gragson followed by Hill, Brandon Jones and Allgaier, who wheel-hopped but managed to lose one spot in the process. Behind, Snider was bumped and shuffled out of the racing groove by Creed while racing in the top 15. 

    Through the first 100 laps of the event, Gibbs continued to lead by more than a second over Gragson while Hill, Brandon Jones, Allgaier, Truex, Allmendinger, Mayer, Cassill and Hemric were in the top 10. Berry, Earnhardt Jr., Riley Herbst, Creed and Jeremy Clements were in the top 15 followed by Ryan Sieg, Jeb Burton, Brandon Brown, Derek Griffith and Alex Labbe. 

    Two laps later, the caution returned when Joe Graf Jr. sent Stefan Parsons for a spin between Turns 1 and 2.

    By Lap 107, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs continued to lead followed by teammate Brandon Jones while Gragson fell back to third place in front of Hill and Allgaier. 

    As the laps in the second stage dwindled, Gibbs remained as the leader by nearly a second over teammate Brandon Jones and Gragson while Allgaier was up in fourth place in front of Hill, Truex, Allmendinger, Mayer, Cassill and Berry.

    Then on Lap 115, the caution flew when Anthony Alfredo turned Derek Griffith in Turn 1. Under caution, a majority of the field led by Gibbs pitted while the rest led by Brandon Jones remained on the track. 

    During a one-lap dash to conclude the second stage scheduled for Lap 120, Brandon Jones was able to muscle away from Cassill and the field to claim his first stage victory of the season. Cassill retained second place followed by Ryan Sieg, Brandon Brown, David Starr, Anthony Alfredo, Stefan Parsons, Jeremy Clements, Riley Herbst and Shane Lee while Gibbs settled in 11th.

    Under the stage break, some led by Brandon Jones pitted while the rest led by Stefan Parsons remained on the track. 

    With 122 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Parsons retained the lead through the first two turns until Herbst and Gibbs made a three-wide move on Parsons through the backstretch to move into first and second. Shortly after, a Monster Energy duo occurred between Herbst and Gibbs for the top spot before the latter prevailed. 

    With 115 laps remaining, Gibbs was out in front by nearly nine-tenths of a second over Herbst, who was being pressured by Allgaier for more. Gragson, Truex, Allmendinger, Earnhardt Jr., Parsons, Berry and Hemric followed pursuit in the top 10.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Gibbs continued to lead by more than a second over Allgaier while third-place Gragson trailed by one-and-a-half seconds. Ryan Truex and Allmendinger were in the top five while Herbst, Berry, Hemric, Earnhardt Jr. and Creed were running in the top 10. 

    Six laps later, the caution flew when the runner-up competitor of Allgaier slapped the outside wall in Turn 1 after wheel-hopping, thus sustaining rear-end damage to his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro. Under caution, a majority of the field led by Gibbs pitted while others like Creed, Brandon Jones, Brandon Brown, Anthony Alfredo and Matt Mills remained on the track.

    With 88 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Creed retained the lead ahead of Jones and Mills while Gibbs muscle his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra to fourth place.

    Four laps later, the caution flew when Ryan Truex spun his No. 18 ShopUSAPickleball.com Toyota Supra between Turns 1 and 2 following contact with Alex Labbe.

    Another five laps later, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Brandon Jones continued to lead followed by teammate Gibbs and the field. Just then, the caution returned when Berry spun in Turn 3 after cutting a left-rear tire on his No. 8 Harrison’s Chevrolet Camaro, an issue that started when he made contact with his boss Earnhardt Jr. entering the backstretch. 

    With 72 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Brandon Jones retained the lead followed by Gibbs, Creed and the field through the first two turns. Then, the caution returned when Matt Mills backed his car into the outside wall in Turn 3 after receiving contact from Herbst.

    Eight laps later, the race proceeded under green. At the start, teammates Brandon Jones and Gibbs battled for the lead until he took over the lead another two laps later. Following a brief duel with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Gibbs managed to retain the top spot. Shortly after, Gragson moved into second place followed by Allmendinger while Jones was trapped on the outside lane. 

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Gibbs was leading by nearly seven-tenths of a second over Gragson while third-place Allmendinger trailed by more than two seconds. Brandon Jones and Creed were in the top five followed by Herbst, Hemric, Mayer, Cassill and Brandon Brown while Earnhardt Jr. was in 11th place in front of Alfredo, Jeb Burton, Hill, Ryan Sieg and Ryan Truex.

    Fifteen laps later and with the leaders surrounded in lapped traffic, Gibbs continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Gragson, who continued to pressure the leader for the lead and with a potential win in sight. Allmendinger, meanwhile, remained in third place followed by Jones and Mayer while Creed, Herbst, Cassill, Hemric and Earnhardt Jr. occupied the top 10.

    Then with 30 laps remaining, the caution flew when Parsons lost his brakes and got into the outside wall in Turn 2. 

    Down to the final 24 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs cleared Gragson to retain the lead while Gragson managed to fend off Allmendinger and Mayer to retain second place. Soon after, Mayer moved into third place over Allmendinger while Brandon Jones was in fifth place. 

    Just then, the caution flew when Hemric, who made contact with both Creed and Hill entering Turn 2, lost a left-rear tire and spun his No. 11 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro between Turns 3 and 4. In the midst of Hemric’s incident, Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Sieg made contact as Sieg’s rear bumper ripped off.

    With 16 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs retained the lead with a strong race car while Mayer battled and overtook teammate Gragson for second place. Behind, Brandon Jones and Allmendinger remained in the top five ahead of Herbst. 

    Two laps later, the caution flew when Jade Buford spun in Turn 1 as Derek Griffith sustained front-nose damage.

    Down to the final eight laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. Just as Gibbs and Mayer briefly dueled for the top spot, the caution quickly returned when a stack-up and a bump from Berry sent Clements into Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro, which sent Earnhardt sideways in the midst of the incoming field, though he was able to continue.

    Under caution, some like Creed and Alfredo pitted while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track.

    With the event sent into overtime, the first overtime attempt did not last long as Mayer, who spun the tires on the outside lane, was bumped as he clipped Gragson, which sent Gragson’s No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro backward into the outside wall before he was t-boned by Jeb Burton. The incident sparked a multi-car wreck on the frontstretch that involved Alex Labbe, Mason Massey, Bayley Currey, Allgaier, Parsons, Derek Griffith, Parker Retzlaff, Alfredo, Snider, Berry, Kyle Weatherman and Brown while the second half of the field was blocked off by the carnage. The wreck forced NASCAR to place the event in a red flag situation as the on-track safety crew went to work to clear the carnage.

    When the red flag was lifted and the second overtime attempt commenced under green, Gibbs briefly launched ahead of Mayer until Brandon Jones made the slightest of contact against teammate Gibbs, which got Gibbs loose entering the first turn as Jones tried to draw himself alongside Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota for the top spot through the backstretch.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gibbs continued to lead while teammate Jones launched another attack on Gibbs for the lead entering the first turn. Through the first two turns, Jones, this time, managed to draw dead even with Gibbs. Then between Turns 3 and 4, Jones muscled his No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra out in front on the bottom lane while Mayer rubbed against Gibbs, which stalled the latter’s run to the finish. This allowed Jones to pull away as he crossed the finish line to steal the win in upset fashion.

    With his first victory at Martinsville, Jones claimed his fifth Xfinity Series career victory in his 211th series start and his first since winning at Darlington Raceway in September 2020. He also became the sixth different winner, fifth series regular, through the first eight scheduled Xfinity events.

    “What a day!” Jones exclaimed on FS1. “I can’t say that we could’ve played it out any better. I loved the call we made to get stage points. [I] Drove the thing all the way from the back to the front and had older tires than all those guys at the end. This is a driver’s race track right here. I’ve won in a lot of different places now and this is one that you have to get after it. Ty [Gibbs] ran a really hard race. [I] Can’t believe he cleared me there really early in Stage 3. Fun to beat him. He’s hot right now. He’s tough to beat, so that’s a good one…Really happy with the way it ended.”

    In the midst of the on-track chaos, Landon Cassill came home in a career-best second place followed by Allmendinger, who claimed the second Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus a week after missing out on the bonus at Richmond Raceway. Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Cassill and fourth-place finisher Austin Hill will contend for the third Dash 4 Cash bonus at Talladega Superspeedway scheduled for April 23.

    Mayer completed the top five while Herbst, Ryan Truex, Gibbs, Ryan Sieg and Clements finished in the top 10. 

    Following the event, tempers flared on pit road between Gibbs and Mayer following their final lap incident. The post-race activity started with Gibbs ramming into the rear of Mayer’s car before both competitors confronted one another face-to-face as the punches and the shoves ensued, with Gibbs throwing punches across Mayer’s face and Mayer getting his left eye cut as the crew members and NASCAR officials got involved to separate both competitors. In the midst of the fight, a NASCAR official was injured and taken to the care center for evaluation. Following the chaos, both Gibbs and Mayer were summoned to the NASCAR hauler to meet with the officials.

    “I tried to talk to [Mayer] and then, he got all over my face,” Gibbs said. “At that point, you got to start fighting. We got put in a bad position. The only thing I’m mad about is [Mayer] wasn’t gonna get past [Allmendinger] there and I just got hit in the left rear. It’s just frustrating. I just got drove into the fence at the end. I was on the other side of it last week, so that’s just part of it.”

    “I had $100,000 in my sights and I was gonna do what I had to do to try and get that,” Mayer said. “I put the bumper to [Gibbs]. In my opinion, and we talked in the trailer, it was just a clean bump-and-run – and [Cassill)]kinda stuck it in there and kinda got us both crossed up and that’s kinda when it went to crap. I put the bumper to him. He came back over and he was upset and decided to throw a couple punches, but that’s fine by me. We talked about it. We’ll be good going forward, especially at Talladega. That’s a place where you don’t want to be enemies, so we’re gonna move on and be A-OK, keep our head down and go out and try to get a win next time.”

    Following his late spin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed to finish 11th in his lone Xfinity start of the season.

    There were 12 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured 16 cautions for 100 laps.

    With his top-five result and a $100,000 bonus added to his paycheck, AJ Allmendinger leads the regular-season standings by 20 points over Ty Gibbs, 42 points over Noah Gragson, 89 over Brandon Jones and 94 over Josh Berry.

    Results.

    1. Brandon Jones, 28 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Landon Cassill

    3. AJ Allmendinger

    4. Austin Hill

    5. Sam Mayer

    6. Riley Herbst, one lap led

    7. Ryan Truex

    8. Ty Gibbs, 197 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    9. Ryan Sieg

    10. Jeremy Clements

    11. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    12. Parker Retzlaff

    13. Daniel Hemric 

    14. Anthony Alfredo

    15. Alex Labbe

    16. Kyle Weatherman

    17. Bayley Currey

    18. Matt Mills

    19. Josh Berry

    20. Noah Gragson, 23 laps led

    21. Derek Griffith

    22. Jade Buford, one lap down

    23. David Starr, one lap down

    24. Myatt Snider, one lap down

    25. Ryan Vargas, one lap down

    26. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

    27. Shane Lee, one lap down

    28. Stefan Parsons, one lap down, five laps led

    29. Justin Allgaier, one lap down, one lap led

    30. Sheldon Creed, two laps down, six laps led

    31. JJ Yeley, two laps down

    32. Jeb Burton – OUT, Accident

    33. Mason Massey – OUT, Dvp

    34. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident

    35. Natalie Decker, 19 laps down

    36. Howie Disavino III – OUT, Driveshaft

    37. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Driveshaft

    38. Brennan Poole – OUT, Clutch

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ first of two visits to Talladega Superspeedway, where the third Dash 4 Cash event will occur. The event is scheduled to occur on April 23 at 4 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Ty Gibbs storms to a final lap Xfinity victory at Atlanta

    Ty Gibbs storms to a final lap Xfinity victory at Atlanta

    In the first NASCAR Xfinity Series event at the newly reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway that featured close-quarters competition from start to finish, including through two overtime attempts, Ty Gibbs used a bold crossover move on Ryan Sieg on the final lap to win the Nalley Cars 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 19.

    The 19-year-old grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs from Charlotte, North Carolina, survived a chaotic afternoon featuring nine cautions as he only led the final lap and became the first repeat winner of this year’s Xfinity Series season.

    The starting lineup for the event was determined through the Performance Metrics formula based on four statistics: drivers’ results, owners’ race and points results and the fastest lap from the previous Cup event. With that, Noah Gragson, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Phoenix Raceway, started on pole position. Joining him on the front row was teammate Josh Berry.

    The use of the Performance Metrics formula occurred after rain cancelled all on-track activities on Friday, which resulted with the Xfinity competitors receiving a single practice session on Saturday in place of on-track qualifying.

    Prior to the event, Matt Mills, Jeffery Earnhardt, Loris Hezemans, Ryan Sieg and Stefan Parsons dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustment to their respective machines. In addition, Riley Herbst pitted prior to the start due to a tire issue.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Gragson took off with an early advantage followed by teammate Josh Berry, Ty Gibbs, Brandon Jones, Trevor Bayne and Justin Allgaier.

    By the fifth lap, Gragson was leading by over Brandon Jones followed by Trevor Bayne, Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger and the field.

    Through the first 10 laps of the event, Gragson continued to lead by more than a tenth of a second over Jones while Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric and Gibbs were in the top five. Bayne was back in sixth followed by Justin Allgaier, Brandon Brown, Berry and Brett Moffitt were in the top 10.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 20, Gragson fended off Allmendinger to retain the lead and the field. Under the competition caution, some led by Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by Gragson remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hemric, who initially pitted under the completion caution, pitted again.

    On Lap 26, the race restarted under green. At the start, Brandon Jones peaked ahead before Gragson reassumed the lead on the inside lane and when the field returned to the start/finish line. 

    By Lap 30, Gragson was leading by more than a tenth of a second over Jones followed by Gibbs, Allgaier, Berry and the field. 

    Shortly after, Berry used the inside lane to his advantage as he challenged Jones for the runner-up spot before teammate Gragson moved to the inside lane to retain the lead. That, however, allowed Jones, who was the lead competitor on the outside lane, to challenge Gragson for the lead. 

    As the field continued to battle dead even towards the front, Gragson continued to lead followed by Jones and Berry as teammate Sam Mayer joined the battle for the lead.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 40, Berry managed to overtake and edge teammate Gragson to claim the stage victory, which was also his first of the season. Behind Berry and Gragson were teammates Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer while Trevor Bayne settled in the top five. Austin Hill, Jeb Burton, Brandon Brown, Brandon Jones and Brett Moffitt were scored in the top 10.

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

    The second stage started on Lap 47 as Allmendinger and teammate Landon Cassill occupied the front row. At the start, the Kaulig Racing teammates battled dead even until Allmendinger pulled ahead through the frontstretch. With Allmendinger ahead by a narrow margin, Cassill battled Jade Buford for the runner-up spot followed by rookie Austin Hill and Daniel Hemric. 

    Just past the Lap 50 mark, Gragson, who was trying to carve his way back to the front, pitted under green after making contact with the outside wall. Not long after, Riley Herbst pitted to address an overheating issue to his Ford.

    Back on the track, Allmendinger was leading ahead of teammate Hemric while Jade Buford, Tommy Joe Martins and Sage Karam were in the top five. 

    On Lap 60, Allmendinger continued to lead by more than a tenth of a second over teammate Hemric followed by Buford, Martins, Karam, Brandon Brown, Bayne, Allgaier, Jeb Burton and rookie Sheldon Creed.

    Ten laps later, Allmendinger remained in the lead ahead of teammate Hemric, Buford, Martins, Karam and the field, with the top-15 competitors separated by less than two seconds. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 80, Allmendinger retained the top spot as he claimed his first stage victory of the season. Teammate Hemric settled in second followed by Buford, Martins, Karam, Creed, Brown, Hill, Jeb Burton and Cassill.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted for adjustments as Creed emerged with the top spot.

    With 75 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Creed received a push from teammate Hill to lead ahead of Allmendinger while the field jostled for positions.

    Five laps later, Creed was leading followed by teammate Hill, Jones, Bayne and Buford while Allmendinger, Mayer, Allgaier, Myatt Snider and Gibbs were in the top 10.

    Another six laps later, Bayne stormed to the front followed by Snider and Gibbs while Creed and Hill were left battling with Gragson in the top five. Then, an intense side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between Snider and Bayne while Gibbs, Gragson, Creed and Hill were left battling in the top six. 

    Under the final 60 laps of the event, the top-15 competitors were separated by a second as Bayne was out in front followed by teammate Gibbs and Gragson. 

    Then with 57 laps remaining, the caution flew when Jade Buford spun and wrecked in the backstretch as he also collected Jeremy Clements, Jeb Burton and Anthony Alfredo. The incident spoiled Buford’s strong run towards the front as he parked his car in the garage.

    Under caution, some led by Bayne remained on the track while others led by Gragson pitted.

    With 51 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Bayne and Hill battled dead even for the lap. Just as the field returned to the start/finish line, the caution returned when Hemric, who battling Joe Graf Jr. and Brandon Brown in a three-wide battle, slid in front of Joe Graf Jr. and made hard contact against the Turn 4 outside wall.

    Following an extensive clean-up session, the race restarted under green with 41 laps remaining. At the start, Hill battled for the lead on the inside lane, but Bayne used the outside lane to fight back on the outside lane. 

    During the following lap, Bayne received a push from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Gibbs and Brandon Jones to storm clear with the lead as Brandon Brown moved into fourth place while Hill was left battling Allmendinger for fifth place.

    A few laps later, Hill slipped back to eighth place in front of teammate Sheldon Creed as the front-runners settled in a long single-file line towards the outside wall. By then, Bayne remained as the leader followed by teammates Gibbs and Jones.

    Then with 34 laps remaining, the caution flew when Sam Mayer spun across the frontstretch and near the pit road entrance. 

    Four laps later and with darkness looming over the track, the race restarted under green. At the start, Bayne rocketed with the lead followed by teammates Gibbs and Jones. Soon after, Brown moved up to fourth followed by Hill while Allmendinger launched a challenge as the lead competitor on the inside lane. Hill, however, moved to the inside lane as he then made a bid for the lead against Bayne.

    With 25 laps remaining, the caution flew when Brandon Brown spun in Turn 1 after making contact with Creed, which Brown barely clipped Berry before he spun below the apron. At the moment of caution, Hill emerged with the lead over Bayne. During the caution period, Allgaier pitted while the rest of the field pitted.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Hill and Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Bayne gave Hill a shove for the latter to lead and clear the field. 

    With 15 laps remaining, the top-nine competitors were separated under a second as Hill was leading ahead of Allmendinger, Cassill, Berry, Gibbs, Brandon Jones, Kyle Weatherman, Bayne and Ryan Sieg. 

    Then with 11 laps remaining, Bayne, who was trying to overtake Hill for the lead on the outside lane, made contact with the outside wall in Turn 1. With the field scrambling and moving to the inside lane, Bayne made contact with Berry in Turn 2, which sent Berry and teammate Gragson around as a multi-car wreck ensued. Among those involved included Allgaier, Mayer, Jeb Burton, Alex Labbe, Martins, Karam, Gibbs and Parsons.

    Following another extensive clean-up period, the race restarted with three laps remaining. Just as Hill started to peak ahead of Snider with drafting help from Ryan Sieg, the caution flew and the race was sent into overtime when Riley Herbst clipped and turned Myatt Snider in Turn 1.

    During the first overtime attempt, Sieg briefly battled against Hill for the lead when the caution flew due to a three-car wreck that involved Matt Mills, Stefan Parsons and Tommy Joe Martins. The wreck placed the competition in a red flag period before the competitors were sent into a second overtime attempt.

    At the start of the second overtime attempt, Hill and Sieg battled dead even through the first two turns and the backstretch before Sieg pulled ahead in Turn 3. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Sieg was out in front until a strong crossover move by Gibbs enabled the No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota Supra to storm to the lead entering Turn 1. Meanwhile, Sieg was being overtaken by the field as he received no drafting help to return back to the lead. As the battles continued behind him, Gibbs was gone as he returned to the finish line uncontested and claimed his second checkered flag of this season.

    In addition to claiming his second victory of the 2022 Xfinity season, Gibbs recorded his first win in his first NASCAR national touring series start at Atlanta and his sixth career victory in his 23rd series start.

    “First of all, I wanna say all glory to God!” Gibbs exclaimed on FS1. “I wanna say thank you for letting Him be able to get me in these moments. Second of all, I wanna say thank you to my team. What the heck? Oh my gosh. I did not expect this at all. That was one of those where I learned a big lesson. Just never give up. Let’s go!”

    Hill, who notched his first Xfinity career win at Daytona International Speedway in February, settled in second place followed by AJ Allmendinger while Herbst and Landon Cassill finished in the top five.

    Mason Massey, a 25-year-old native from Douglasville, Georgia, notched his first top-10 career result in sixth place while Brandon Jones, Kyle Weatherman, Creed and Sieg completed the top 10 on the track.

    There were 11 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 56 laps.

    Despite finishing 26th, Gragson retains the lead in the regular season standings by 19 points over Ty Gibbs and AJ Allmendinger with Justin Allgaier trailing by 51, Josh Berry by 59 and Brandon Jones over 70.

    Results.

    1. Ty Gibbs, one lap led

    2. Austin Hill, 27 laps led

    3. AJ Allmendinger, 41 laps led

    4. Riley Herbst

    5. Landon Cassill

    6. Mason Massey

    7. Brandon Jones, one lap led

    8. Kyle Weatherman

    9. Sheldon Creed, 15 laps led

    10. Ryan Sieg, six laps led

    11. JJ Yeley

    12. Ryan Vargas

    13. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    14. Brett Moffitt

    15. Jeb Burton

    16. Anthony Alfredo

    17. Shane Lee

    18. Brandon Brown

    19. Alex Labbe

    20. Tommy Joe Maartins

    21. Sam Mayer

    22. Josh Williams

    23. Joe Graf Jr.

    24. Kyle Sieg

    25. Stefan Parsons

    26. Noah Gragson, 38 laps led

    27. Jesse Iwuji

    28. Trevor Bayne, 38 laps led

    29. Bayley Currey

    30. Myatt Snider, one lap down, two laps led

    31. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

    32. Sage Karem – OUT, Accident

    33. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident, three laps led

    34. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

    35. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

    36. Loris Hezemans – OUT, Accident

    37. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Accident

    38. Jade Buford – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ second trip to Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, March 26, at 4:30 p.m ET on FS1.

  • Gragson shines with a dominant victory at Phoenix

    Gragson shines with a dominant victory at Phoenix

    Following three consecutive top-three results three races into the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Noah Gragson broke through the win column after scoring a dominant victory in the United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, March 12.

    The 23-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, started on the front row before leading seven times for a race-high 114 of 200 laps en route to his first Xfinity victory of the season after beating runner-up Brandon Jones by more than two seconds and becoming the fourth different winner through the first four scheduled events of the 2022 Xfinity season.

    With on-track qualifying occurring on Saturday, Trevor Bayne notched his first Xfinity pole since Iowa Speedway in August 2014 after posting a pole-winning lap at 131.839 mph. Despite enduring a kill switch issue while trying to roll his car off of pit road, Bayne’s crew was able to repair the issue as he retained the top starting spot. Joining him on the front row was Noah Gragson, who posted a fast qualifying lap at 131.565 mph.

    Prior to the event, Sam Mayer, Ryan Vargas, Justin Allgaier, Josh Berry and Stefan Parson dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective machines. In addition, Anthony Alfredo took his No. 23 Our Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to the garage due to an early mechanical issue.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, the field fanned out through the dogleg turn as Bayne retained the lead and led the first lap ahead of Gragson, Brandon Jones and Ty Gibbs.

    Through the first five laps of the event, Bayne continued to lead by half a second over Gragson followed by Jones, Gibbs and John Hunter Nemechek. Behind, Daniel Hemric was in sixth ahead of Ryan Sieg, rookie Sheldon Creed, AJ Allmendinger and Parker Retzlaff. 

    Five laps later, Bayne stabilized his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Gragson while Jones, Gibbs and Nemechek remained in the top five.

    By Lap 20, Bayne extended his advantage to more than a second over Gragson, who was fending off Jones for the runner-up spot. Gibbs and Nemechek continued to run in the top five followed by Hemric, Allmendinger, Creed, Landon Cassill and Ryan Sieg. Meanwhile, Justin Allgaier, who started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro, was up in 12th behind Jeb Burton.

    A lap later, the first caution of the event flew when Riley Herbst spun and pounded the Turn 3 outside wall after his brake pedal fell to the floor, thus destroying his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang as his event came to an early end. 

    When the field restarted on Lap 33, Gragson challenged and emerged with the advantage over Bayne as the field fanned out and battled for positions. Meanwhile, John Hunter Nemechek, who made a bold move below the dogleg during the the restart, was in third ahead of Brandon Jones.

    By Lap 40, Gragson stabilized his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Bayne while Jones, Nemechek and Gibbs were in the top five. 

    Shortly after, a side-by-side battle for the lead occurred between Bayne and Gragson as Bayne challenged to reassume the top spot while Gragson refused to relinquish the lead. As they battled, Brandon Jones started to join the battle.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Bayne edged Gragson to claim the stage victory and his second of his part-time campaign. Jones settled in third followed by Nemechek, Gibbs, Allgaier, Landon Cassill, Allmendinger, Josh Berry and Sam Mayer while Daniel Hemric fell back to 11th.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Jones emerged with the lead after exiting pit road first followed by JR Motorsports’ Gragson, Allgaier and Mayer while Bayne came out in fifth ahead of Gibbs. Following the pit stops, however, Mayer and Brandon Brown dropped to the rear of the field after both were busted for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 54 as Jones and Gragson occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Jones and Gragson battled dead even for the lead before Gragson peaked ahead. Just then, Gibbs, who was in the top five, spun after Josh Berry clipped Gibbs’ No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota Supra in Turn 2. As the field scattered to avoid hitting Gibbs, the caution returned.

    When the race restarted on Lap 61, Josh Berry engaged in a battle with teammate Allgaier for third place as Brandon Jones used the outside lane to his advantage as he assumed the lead for the first time ahead of Gragson. 

    Nine laps later, Gragson reassumed the lead after closing in and persevering in a battle with Jones while Allgaier settled in third. 

    Through the first 75 laps of the event, Gragson was leading by less than three-tenths of a second over Jones while Allgaier, Bayne and Berry were in the top five. Behind, Allmendinger was in sixth ahead of Nemechek, Ryan Sieg, Hemric and Cassill while Sheldon Creed, Jeb Burton, Brett Moffit, Mayer and rookie Austin Hill were in the top 15. Meanwhile, Gibbs was mired in 26th ahead of JJ Yeley.

    Despite encountering lapped traffic, Gragson was able to extend his advantage to more than a second and claim the second stage victory on Lap 90, thus claiming his third stage victory of the 2022 season. Behind, Allgaier overtook and fended off Jones to settle in second followed by Bayne, Berry, Nemechek, Allmendinger, Hemric, Cassill and Mayer, who rallied from speeding on pit road prior to the start of the second stage,

    Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road and Allgaier emerged with the lead followed by Jones, Gragson, Allmendinger and Mayer. Following the pit stops, Bayne and Mayer were both busted for speeding on pit road and sent to the rear of the field.

    With 101 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start and with the field fanning out, Allgaier went wide and got loose through Turns 1 and 2 as Jones moved into the lead ahead of Nemechek and Gragson. Shortly after, Jones was being challenged by John Hunter Nemechek before the latter took over with 98 laps remaining.

    With 90 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by nearly half a second over Gragson while Jones, Allgaier and Berry were in the top five. Allmendinger was in sixth ahead of Kaulig Racing’s Hemric and Cassill while Gibbs was back up in ninth ahead of Ryan Sieg.

    Three laps later, Gragson reassumed the lead over Nemechek.

    Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Gragson extended his advantage to more than a second over Jones while Nemechek fell back to third. Teammates Allgaier and Berry were in the top five followed by Allmendinger, Hemric, Gibbs, Cassill and Bayne, who was trying to work his way back to the front. 

    Fifteen laps later, Gragson stabilized his advantage to less than two seconds over Jones while Allgaier, Berry and Nemechek remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Bayne carved his way up in sixth place followed by teammate Gibbs while Allmendinger slipped back to eighth ahead of teammates Hemric and Cassill. Mayer was in 12th in between Ryan Sieg and Creed while Austin Hill was in 16th behind Jeb Burton.

    Another 10 laps later and with the teams plotting their final scheduled pit stops of the event, Gragson continued to lead by more than two seconds over Jones.

    With less than 40 laps remaining, pit stops under green commenced as Austin Hill pitted. Soon after, Allmendinger pitted along with Allgaier, Mayer, Creed, Berry, Jones, Bayne, Nemechek, race leader Gragson, Gibbs and others. During the pit stops, Mayer was busted twice for speeding on pit road on two separate occasions: once during his scheduled stop and again while serving his first penalty. In addition, Allgaier was penalized for running over an air hose on pit road.

    Back on the track and with less than 30 laps remaining, Brandon Jones cycled to the lead by more than a second over Gragson. 

    With 20 laps remaining, Jones, who encountered lapped traffic, continued to lead by half a second over Gragson, who continued to narrow the deficit behind Jones’ No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra.

    Six laps later and following a close side-by-side battle with Jones amid lapped traffic, Gragson reassumed the lead.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Gragson started to extend his advantage to more than a second over Jones while third-place Berry trailed by more than three seconds. Bayne was up in fourth followed by Nemechek. Meanwhile, Kaz Grala scrapped the outside wall in Turn 4, but the race proceeded under green.

    With five laps remaining, Gragson stabilized himself to more than a second over Jones with victory in sight.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap commenced, Gragson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Jones while Berry trailed by five seconds. Having no challengers narrow the gap between himself and victory, Gragson cycled his way back to the finish line as he claimed his first checkered flag of the season.

    With the victory, Gragson, who blew both of his rear tires during his victorious burnout before climbing the fence and saluting the fans, claimed his first win at Phoenix, the first win of the 2022 season for JR Motorsports and his sixth NASCAR Xfinity Series career triumph in his 106th series start. In addition, Gragson claimed his first win with new crew chief Luke Lambert, who joined JR Motorsports prior to the season and claimed his first Xfinity victory as a crew chief since 2012. 

    “It feels great to get the 50th anniversary Bass Pro Shops Camaro in Victory Lane,” Gragson said on FS1. “Most importantly, thank you all you race fans for coming out. You guys are awesome. You guys are loud. We love you. Thanks for coming to Phoenix. This team, the pit crew, everybody who makes this possible…The pit crew executed great. This team’s been on a roll so far this year. All top three finishes [through the] first four races. [I] Can’t thank everybody enough for all their hard work and try to keep in going.

    Jones, a former winner at Phoenix, claimed his first top-five result of the season after finishing in second place followed by Berry, who claimed his third consecutive top-five result of this season.

    “This is, first off, exactly what this No. 19 team needed,” Jones said. “To kind of turn the season around. We’ve had speed at all these race tracks so far. Just haven’t quite got finishes yet that we need. It’s really early in the season still. I thought when we came out of the pits there and came ahead of [Gragson] there that it was gonna be pretty good because aero situations were pretty tough today. It seemed like whoever was leading the race kind of was difficult to pass…Still all in all, really happy to come home second. I think this is the right momentum we need to turn this deal around.”

    Trevor Bayne recorded his second top-five result in his second start of this year’s Xfinity season in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota Supra by finishing fourth while Nemechek came home in fifth place while driving Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 26 Toyota Supra.

    Gibbs, Allmendinger, Hemric, Cassill and Allgaier completed the top 10 on the track as the top-10 competitors were the only competitors to finish on the lead lap.

    Notably, Creed and Austin Hill finished 14th and 17th while Mayer, who was busted with four pit road speeding penalties, settled in 22nd place.

    There were 16 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 33 laps.

    With his victory, Noah Gragson continues to lead the regular season standings by 39 points over Ty Gibbs, 42 over Justin Allgaier, 43 over AJ Allmendinger and 53 over Josh Berry.

    Results.

    1. Noah Gragson, 114 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Brandon Jones, 30 laps led

    3. Josh Berry

    4. Trevor Bayne, 38 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    5. John Hunter Nemechek, 11 laps led

    6. Ty Gibbs

    7. AJ Allmendinger

    8. Daniel Hemric

    9. Landon Cassill

    10. Justin Allgaier, five laps led

    11. Ryan Sieg, one lap down, two laps led

    12. Jeb Burton, one lap down

    13. Brandon Brown, one lap down

    14. Sheldon Creed, one lap down

    15. Brett Moffitt, one lap down

    16. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

    17. Austin Hill, one lap down

    18. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

    19. Alex Labbe, one lap down

    20. Bayley Currey, one lap down

    21. Stefan Parsons, two laps down

    22. Sam Mayer, two laps down

    23. Mason Massey, two laps down

    24. Myatt Snider, two laps down

    25. JJ Yeley, two laps down

    26. Nicholas Sanchez, two laps down

    27. Joe Graf Jr., three laps down

    28. Jade Buford, three laps down

    29. Ryan Vargas, three laps down

    30. Kyle Weatherman, three laps down

    31. David Starr, four laps down

    32. Kyle Sieg, four laps down

    33. Kaz Grala, four laps down

    34. Jeffrey Earnhardt, four laps down

    35. Josh Williams – OUT, Ignition

    36. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Fuel Pump

    37. Anthony Alfredo, 53 laps down

    38. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ first of two visits to the newly reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, March 19, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Custer grabs a dominant Xfinity win at Fontana

    Custer grabs a dominant Xfinity win at Fontana

    Cole Custer rallied from two slow pit stops and through three overtime restarts to score a dominant win in the Production Alliance 300 at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday, February 26.

    The 24-year-old native from Ladera Ranch, California, led five times for a race-high 80 of 165 laps to beat Noah Gragson by half a second in his first of select NASCAR Xfinity Series starts this season with SS-Green Light Racing, which achieved their first career victory in NASCAR.

    Qualifying on Saturday determined the starting lineup for the event. AJ Allmendinger, coming off his runner-up result at Daytona International Speedway, started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 179.829 mph. He was joined on the front row with Cole Custer, who qualified with a fast lap at 179.793 mph.

    Prior to the event, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Jeb Burton, Jesse Iwuji, Joey Gase, Tommy Joe Martins and Josh Williams dropped to the rear for unapproved adjustments. Kyle Sieg also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change along with Joe Graf Jr. due to a driver change after he replaced Timmy Hill.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Allmendinger and Custer battled dead even ahead of the field before the former cleared the latter through the backstretch and went on to lead the first lap. 

    During the following lap, Allmendinger continued to fend off early challenges from Custer to retain the top spot. Behind, Austin Hill, coming off his first Xfinity career victory at Daytona, made an unscheduled pit stop after sustaining right-side damage to his No. 21 Bennett Transportation and Logistics Chevrolet Camaro due to contact with Josh Berry through the backstretch. 

    By the fifth lap, Allmendinger and Custer continued to battle for the lead followed by Trevor Bayne, Noah Gragson and Brandon Jones. Ryan Sieg was in sixth ahead of Daniel Hemric, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry and Justin Allgaier. 

    A lap later, the first caution flew when flames erupted out of the No. 10 Carnomoly Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Landon Cassill, who was running in 11th place. Cassill, though, was able to park his car below the apron in Turn 1 as he exited his flaming car. 

    Following an extensive cleanup, the race restarted on Lap 13. During the following lap, Trevor Bayne, making his first of select starts in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Devotion Nutrition Toyota Supra, flexed his muscles as he moved into the lead followed by Allmendinger, Custer and the field.

    On Lap 19, the caution returned when Mason Massey cut a left-front tire and shredded debris in Turn 2.

    When the race restarted on Lap 24 and as the field fanned out, Noah Gragson peaked ahead with the lead followed by Bayne, Custer and the field. When the field returned to the frontstretch, however, Bayne retained the lead followed by Custer, Gragson, Gibbs and Allmendinger.

    By Lap 30, Bayne was leading by a tenth of a second over Custer. Gragson was in third followed by teammate Justin Allgaier and Gibbs while Allmendinger, Hemric, Berry, Sieg and Sam Mayer were in the top 10.

    In the closing laps of the first stage, Custer started to close in and challenge Bayne for the top spot while Gragson was trailing by more than two seconds. 

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 35, Bayne, making his first start in NASCAR in two years, claimed his first career stage victory. Custer settled in second while Allgaier overtook teammate Gragson in Turn 3 after Gragson scraped the wall to settle in third. Gibbs, Allmendinger, Berry, Sieg, Hemric and Mayer rounded out the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the field pitted and Hemric utilized the first pit box to his advantage to move into the lead. Gibbs followed in second along with Gragson, Berry, Allgaier and Custer while Bayne dropped to 10th following a slow pit stop. During the pit stop, Ryan Sieg missed his pit box and had to return to pit road for service.

    The second stage started on Lap 42 as Hemric and Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs challenged Hemric for the top spot through the backstretch while Gragson, Custer and Allgaier battled ahead of the field that was fanning out. Then in Turn 4, Gibbs, who battled dead even with Hemric, bumped against Hemric’s No. 11 Poppy Bank Chevrolet Camaro before he spun wildly across the frontstretch and through the infield grass, all while sustaining no significant damage to his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra.

    On Lap 48, the race restarted under green as Hemric and Gragson occupied the front row. At the start, Hemric retained the top spot until Custer stormed back to the lead during the following lap. With Hemric back in second, Gragson challenged for second ahead of Brandon Jones, Allgaier and Berry.

    By Lap 50, Custer was leading by a second ahead of Gragson while Hemric, Brandon Jones and Allgaier were in the top five. Allmendinger was in sixth ahead of Berry, rookie Sheldon Creed, Riley Herbst and Sam Mayer. Behind, Bayley Curry pitted under green after sustaining a flat right-rear tire.

    Five laps later, Custer stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Gragson while third-place Allgaier trailed by more than three seconds. 

    Another lap later, Brandon Jones, who was running in sixth place, spun his No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra in Turn 4.

    When the field restarted under green on Lap 60, the field battled through two lanes entering the first turn before fanning out to multiple lanes entering the backstretch. In the midst of the battles, Custer retained the lead and Gragson was in second ahead of teammate Allgaier, Allmendinger, Hemric, Berry and Mayer.

    Five laps later, Custer remained as the leader by a second and a half over Allgaier while Gragson, Allmendinger and Hemric were in the top five. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 70, Custer claimed his 17th career stage victory. Meanwhile, Brandon Jones, who made a late charge on fresh tires following his spin, settled in second followed by Allgaier, Gragson, Gibbs, Hemric, Allmendinger, Mayer, Berry and Riley Herbst.

    Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road and Brandon Jones exited with the lead followed by Allgaier, Gragson, Berry and Hemric while Custer, who endured a slow pit stop, dropped to eighth.

    With 74 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Jones powered ahead with a brief advantage on the outside lane as the field fanned out entering the first two turns. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Custer, who restarted eighth, used a fast race car to his advantage by barreling his way back to the lead as Gragson challenged Brandon Jones for the runner-up spot.

    With less than 70 laps remaining, Allmendinger pitted under green to address a potential loose wheel to his No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro as he lost a lap to the leaders.

    Back on the track, Custer was leading by more than a second over Gragson. Brandon Jones was in third, trailing by more than two seconds, while Allgaier was in fourth. Meanwhile, Gibbs, who rallied from his early spin, was in fifth ahead of Hemric, Trevor Bayne, Berry, Mayer and Creed.

    Ten laps later, Custer extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Gragson while Allgaier, Brandon Jones and Gibbs were in the top five. Behind was Hemric, who had Berry, Bayne, Creed and Mayer battling behind him.

    Another 10 laps later, Custer’s advantage narrowed to less than two seconds as he continued to lead ahead of Gragson while Allgaier, Jones and Hemric were in the top five. Gibbs, Berry, Bayne, Creed and Herbst were scored in the top 10.

    With 48 laps remaining, Brandon Brown spun in Turn 2 as he drew the caution. Under caution, the field pitted and Justin Allgaier exited with the top spot followed by Jones, Gragson, Berry and Herbst. Meanwhile, Custer, who endured another slow pit stop, fell back to seventh.

    With 42 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Allgaier retained the top spot through the first two turns as the field jostled for positions. Not long after, Gragson muscled to the lead while Allgaier was back in second ahead of Berry and a hard-charging Custer.

    Down to the final 35 laps of the event, JR Motorsports’ competitors occupied four of the top-five spots as Gragson was leading by more than a second over teammate Berry while teammate Allgaier trailed by more than two seconds. Custer was back in fourth while Mayer, the fourth JRM competitor, was in fifth.

    Then with 27 laps remaining, the caution flew when Jade Buford wrecked in Turn 2 after getting loose before being hit by Creed. Under caution, some led by Gragson pitted while Gibbs and Anthony Alfredo remained on the track. During the pit stops, Gragson slid through his pit box and ran over his air hose as he exited pit road out of the top 10 while Allgaier was the first competitor on fresh tires and fuel to exit pit road.

    With 22 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start and with the field fanning out to multiple lanes, Allgaier reassumed the lead through Turn 1 while Bayne moved into second along with Berry.

    During the following lap, a five-car battle for the lead ensued as Allgaier led ahead of Bayne, Gragson, Berry and Custer. Soon after, Gragson muscled his way back to the lead. Not long after, Custer moved into second. By then, Myatt Snider fell off the pace after he lost an engine to his car.

    Back on the track, Gragson continued to lead, but he had Custer narrowing the advantage to less than three-tenths of a second. 

    Then with 15 laps remaining, Custer stormed back to the lead beneath Gragson.

    Just then, the caution flew with 10 laps remaining due to debris in Turn 1 as Mason Massey lost a left-front tire. At the time of caution, Custer had extended his advantage to more than a second over Gragson, more than two seconds over Josh Berry, more than three seconds over Bayne and more than four seconds over Allgaier.

    With six laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson mounted a brief challenge on Custer before the latter cleared the field through the backstretch. Behind, Bayne challenged Gragson for the runner-up spot as Custer started to pull away.

    During the following lap, the caution returned due to an incident involving Creed and Brett Moffitt in Turn 1.

    With the field set to overtime, Custer and Gragson occupied the front row as the race resumed to green flag conditions. At the start, Custer, who spun the tires, managed to retain the lead ahead of Bayne and Gragson as the field fanned out to multiple lanes. Then in Turn 1, Hemric made contact with Brandon Jones as Jones spun across the track and dodged by the oncoming field. The incident, however, sent the race into another overtime attempt.

    At the start of the second overtime attempt, Custer received a strong start to retain the lead as the field fanned out. Then entering Turn 4, a multi-car wreck struck that involved Creed, Stefan Parsons and Brandon Jones, who spun down to the infield and collided against the sand barriers near the pit road entrance, which destroyed the barriers in a sandstorm. The incident occurred before Custer could start the final lap of the event as the race was sent into third overtime attempt.

    Prior to the overtime attempt, the red flag was displayed for 23 minutes for repairs towards the pit road entrance. When the red flag was lifted and the third overtime attempt commenced under green, Custer received another strong start to retain the lead while Gragson and Bayne moved up to second and third followed by Alfredo, who restarted on the front row. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Custer was leading by nearly four-tenths of a second over Gragson and the field. With a fast race car, Custer was able to circumnavigate his way around the circuit for a final time and cycle back to the finish line to grab the victory.

    With the victory, Custer claimed his 10th Xfinity Series career win in his 106th series start, his second at Fontana and his first since winning at Dover Motor Speedway in September 2019.

    “Man, it was just an awesome car,” Custer said on FS1. “That [car] was just a rocket ship all day. I can’t thank [owner] Bobby Dotter enough, everybody who was involved on this car. It was just unreal how fast we were. Production Alliance Group, this is awesome, it’s [Dotter’s] race. It’s the Production Alliance Group 300 and we got him to Victory Lane. It’s awesome to win at home, so [I] can’t wait for tomorrow. ”

    Gragson settled in second place while Bayne notched a strong third-place result in his first Xfinity start in six years. 

    “We had the lead there and then came down pit road, slid through the pit box and then, had a really good restart from 11th, got back up to the lead in like a lap or two,” Gragson said. “I felt like the Bass Pro Shops Camaro was really close all day. Just struggled with the cloud cover and the temperature change, being too loose or too tight. Hats off to all the guys on the No. 07 car and Cole Custer. He was really fast today. We finished third last weekend, finished second here this weekend. Hopefully, [we] got some good points. This is not one of my good tracks, so I’ll take a second-place finish…Came up short today, but hey, top threes through the start of two races this season, I’ll take it.

    Josh Berry grabbed his first top-five result of the season by finishing fourth and Anthony Alfredo made the late decision to remain on old tires work to perfection as he finished in fifth place.

    Mayer, Allmendinger, Allgaier, Herbst and Ryan Sieg finished in the top 10.

    There were 19 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 58 laps.

    After rallying for a top-10 result, Allmendinger continues to lead the regular-season standings by a single point over Gragson, three over Allgaier and 19 over Herbst, Ryan Sieg and Gibbs.

    Results.

    1. Cole Custer, 80 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Noah Gragson, 25 laps led

    3. Trevor Bayne, 24 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    4. Josh Berry

    5. Anthony Alfredo

    6. Sam Mayer

    7. AJ Allmendinger, 13 laps led

    8. Justin Allgaier, seven laps led

    9. Riley Herbst

    10. Ryan Sieg

    11. Brandon Brown

    12. Daniel Hemric, 10 laps led

    13. Ty Gibbs, three laps led

    14. Jeb Burton

    15. Joe Graf Jr.

    16. Kyle Weatherman

    17. Jeremy Clements

    18. Kyle Sieg

    19. Brett Moffitt

    20. Joey Gase

    21. Josh Williams

    22. JJ Yeley

    23. Matt Mills

    24. Alex Labbe

    25. Kaz Grala, two laps down

    26. Myatt Snider, two laps down

    27. Austin Hill, three laps down

    28. Mason Massey, three laps down

    29. Jeffrey Earnhardt, four laps down

    30. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Accident

    31. Tommy Joe Martins, seven laps down

    32. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident

    33. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident, three laps led

    34. Bayley Currey, 11 laps down

    35. Ryan Vargas – OUT, Accident

    36. Jesse Iwuji, 34 laps down

    37. Jade Buford – OUT, Accident

    38. Landon Cassill – OUT, Engine

    The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season proceeds with its second of a three-race West Coast swing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which will occur on Saturday, March 5, at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Gragson delivers at Martinsville; Xfinity Championship 4 field set

    Gragson delivers at Martinsville; Xfinity Championship 4 field set

    Given two late opportunities to keep his championship hopes alive and vowing to win entering the weekend, Noah Gragson capitalized on both opportunities through two overtime attempts after beating Austin Cindric in a photo finish to win the Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, October 30, and punch his ticket to the Championship 4 finale. 

    With the victory, Gragson, who was placed in a “must-win” situation following his wreck last weekend at Kansas Speedway, will be one of four competitors who will contend for the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship at Phoenix Raceway scheduled for next Saturday.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Austin Cindric, the reigning Xfinity Series champion, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Ty Gibbs, the 2021 ARCA Menards Series champion and winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Kansas Speedway.

    Prior to the event, Stephen Leicht and Joe Graf Jr. started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments along with Mike Harmon, who fell back due to a driver change.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Cindric managed to pull ahead and clear Gibbs entering the backstretch to come back around and lead the first lap. Behind, AJ Allmendinger, sporting an orange Halloween scheme on his No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet Camaro, was in third ahead of teammate Justin Haley, racing in a purple Halloween scheme on his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro, and Justin Allgaier, featuring Hellmann’s on his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, while Daniel Hemric muscled his way into the top six.

    Through the first five laps of the event, the battle for the lead intensified between Cindric and Gibbs, who attempted to take over the top spot over Cindric on the inside lane. Despite Gibbs’ effort, Cindric prevailed once again and cleared Gibbs’ No. 54 Smile Coin Toyota Supra to retain the lead.

    By Lap 10, the front-runners settled in a long single-file line as Cindric continued to lead ahead of Gibbs, Allmendinger, Haley, Hemric, Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson and rookie Sam Mayer. Behind, Ryan Sieg was in 11th ahead of Jeb Burton, Michael Annett, Brandon Brown, Riley Herbst and Myatt Snider.

    Five laps later, the first caution flew when Preston Pardus wheel-hopped and spun in Turn 4. At the time of caution, Allmendinger overtook Gibbs for the runner-up spot while Cindric was ahead by nearly a second. In addition, Hemric and Allgaier moved into the top five while Haley dropped to sixth. During the caution period, the competition caution that was planned on Lap 25 was pushed back to Lap 30.

    Another five laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Cindric rocketed away in his No. 22 CARQUEST Ford Mustang with the lead followed by Allmendinger. Soon after, Hemric challenged teammate Gibbs for third followed by Allgaier while Haley and Mayer battled for sixth. After battling Gibbs for a full lap on the outside lane, Hemric’s No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra prevailed entering the backstretch.

    By Lap 25, Cindric was ahead by two-tenths of a second over Allmendinger while third-place Hemric trailed by less than a second. Meanwhile, Gibbs and Allgaier battled for fourth.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 30, Cindric was still leading ahead of Allmendinger and Hemric. By then, seven of the eight remaining Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 as Haley was in 10th behind Gragson while Brandon Jones, the eighth postseason contender, was mired in 15th.

    Under the competition caution, some like Stephen Leicht, JJ Yeley, David Starr, Colin Garrett, Natalie Decker, Bayley Currey and Spencer Boyd pitted while the rest led by Cindric remained on the track.

    Five laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Cindric and Allmendinger engaged in a side-by-side battle for three corners until Cindric prevailed on the inside lane. Behind, Hemric challenged Allmendinger for a full lap behind clearing him on Lap 37 in Turn 1. Meanwhile, Haley, who was in 10th, was being shuffled back towards the top 20 in 19th.

    Through the first 40 laps of the event, Cindric was ahead by approximately seven-tenths of a second over Hemric while Allmendinger, Allgaier and Gibbs were in the top five. Mayer was in sixth ahead of Sieg, Gragson, Josh Berry and Harrison Burton. Brandon Jones was in 15th behind Jeb Burton while Haley was mired in 20th behind Snider.

    On Lap 48, the caution flew when Mayer cut a right-front tire, shredded the right-front fender of his No. 8 John 5 Sinner Chevrolet Camaro and ignited sparks after making contact with Gibbs the previous lap.

    Under caution, some like Gibbs, Harrison Burton, Brandon Jones, Gragson and Haley pitted while the rest led by Cindric remained on the track.

    With seven laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Cindric retained the lead following another strong start. In addition, Hemric muscled his way back to second followed by Allgaier, Allmendinger, Berry and Sieg as the field scrambled for positions towards the front. 

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Cindric claimed his 12th stage victory of the season. Hemric settled in second followed by Allgaier, Allmendinger, Berry, Sieg and Gragson, who charged his way towards the front on fresh tires. Annett, Yeley and Moffitt completed the top-10 stage positions while Harrison Burton, Haley and Brandon Jones finished outside of the top 15 and with no early stage points in their quest to remain in the championship battle. 

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Cindric pitted while the rest led by Gragson and Gibbs, both of whom pitted prior to the conclusion of the first stage, remained on the track.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 68, Gragson pulled his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Gibbs through the backstretch to retain the lead as Jeb Burton was in third. Behind, cousin Harrison Burton was in fifth behind Jeremy Clements as Haley moved up to sixth. 

    By Lap 75, Gragson was out in front by three-tenths of a second over Gibbs while Jeb Burton, Clements and Harrison Burton were in the top five. Meanwhile, Haley retained sixth ahead of Snider, Brandon Jones was in 10th behind Riley Herbst, Hemric was in 13th, Cindric and Allmendinger were in 15th and 16th and Allgaier was in 18th.

    Fifteen laps later, Gragson, who was mired in lapped traffic, continued to lead by a narrow margin over Gibbs as Harrison Burton started to close in for the lead. Behind, Haley started to challenged Clements for fifth while Hemric and Cindric were back in the top 10 in ninth and 10th.

    Through the first 100 laps of the event, Gragson was leading by three-tenths of a second over Harrison Burton, who moved into the runner-up spot a few laps earlier when Gibbs went up the track in Turn 3. With Gibbs back in third, Jeb Burton and Clements remained in the top five ahead of Haley, Snider, Herbst, Hemric and Cindric. Allmendinger, meanwhile, was in 11th while Brandon Jones and Allgaier were in the top 15.

    By Lap 110, Gragson and Harrison Burton, both of whom were placed in a “must-win” situation to advance to the championship finale, were running nose to tail amid lapped traffic as Burton challenged Gragson for the top spot. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 120, Gragson, who was mired behind more lapped traffic and nearly lost the top spot entering Turn 4 as Harrison Burton shoved his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra beneath Gragson, edged Harrison Burton to claim his fourth stage victory of the season. Gibbs settled in third followed by Jeb Burton, Cindric, Hemric, Allmendinger, Herbst, Clements and Snider.

    By virtue of their top-10 results in the second stage and the overall stage points accumulated, Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger secured their spots to the Championship 4 finale at Phoenix Raceway, with Cindric receiving an opportunity to defend his title and Allmendinger receiving his first opportunity to win his first NASCAR national touring series title. 

    Meanwhile, Haley, Gragson, Brandon Jones and Harrison Burton were scored outside of the top-four cutline to the finale while Hemric and Allgaier were currently scored inside the cutline.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted as Gragson retained the lead ahead of Harrison Burton, Gibbs and the field. Meanwhile, Haley came to pit road with the left-rear brake caliber and tire of his car on fire. Following several trips to pit road, where several douses from a fire extinguisher and multiple water bottles were made to his car, Haley, ultimately, took his car to the garage to have the right rear inspected. The issue, however, was enough to end his title hopes.

    With 120 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Gragson and Harrison Burton engaged in a heated battle for the lead for two laps until Gragson cleared Burton entering the frontstretch. 

    Not long after, Harrison Burton reignited his challenge for the lead beneath Gragson. Gragson, however, retained the lead as the field settled in a long single-file line.

    Nearing the final 100 laps of the event, the caution flew when Bayley Currey cut a right-front tire entering Turn 2. The incident occurred just in front of the leaders. At the time of caution, Gragson was ahead of a hard-challenging Harrison Burton while Gibbs, Jeb Burton and Cindric were in the top five. Herbst was in sixth while Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Allgiaer and Hemric were in the top 10.

    Under caution, some like Brandon Jones pitted while the rest led by Gragson remained on the track.

    With 95 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson cleared Gibbs entering the backstretch to retain the lead as Harrison Burton challenged his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate for the runner-up spot. 

    Five laps later, Gragson extended his advantage to more than half a second over Gibbs, who prevailed in a long side-by-side battle against Harrison Burton. Behind, Cindric was up in fourth in front of Jeb Burton while Hemric and Allmendinger dueled for sixth.

    Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Gragson remained as the leader by eight-tenths of a second over Gibbs, who had teammate Harrison Burton and Cindric pressuring him for the runner-up spot. Hemric was up in fifth followed by Allmendinger, Allgaier, Annett, Berry and Jeb Burton. By then, Hemric was holding sole possession of the fourth and final transfer spot to the finale ahead of Allgaier. 

    Shortly after, the caution returned when Ryan Ellis spun in Turn 2.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Gibbs emerged with the lead after exiting pit road first followed by teammate Harrison Burton, Gragson, Hemric and Brandon Jones. Following the pit stops, however, Spencer Boyd emerged as the leader after he opted to remain on the track.

    With 66 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson made a bold three-wide move to the inside lane and beneath Boyd and Harrison Burton while Gibbs took over the lead. Through the first two turns, Harrison Burton was forced wide while trying to overtake Boyd and he lost his momentum through the backstretch as he fell back into the top 10.

    With the field jostling for positions and Harrison Burton mired in the pack, Gibbs was leading ahead of Gragson, Cindric, Hemric and Allgaier. 

    A few laps later, the caution flew when Snider spun in Turn 2 after being bumped by Sieg. Under the caution laps, Harrison Burton pulled his car alongside Boyd’s to express his displeasure for losing his momentum.

    Down to the final 58 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs and Gragson dueled for the lead through the backstretch. Just then, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck in Turn 2 when Jeb Burton, who was trying to force his way through Boyd entering the backstretch, came back down and ignited calamity with Annett making hard contact into the outside wall while Herbst, Boyd and Moffitt were also involved. The incident was enough to red-flag the event for nearly 11 minutes with fluid leaking out of Annett’s destroyed car.

    When the red flag lifted and the race restarted under green with 50 laps remaining, Gibbs and Gragson dueled for the lead until Gibbs cleared the field entering the backstretch. Then in Turn 3, Gragson ran into the rear of Gibbs, which sent Gibbs sideways in front of the field. While most of the field scrambled to avoid Gibbs, Harrison Burton, unfortunately, made contact into his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, damaging the front nose of his Dex Imaging Toyota Supra. In the midst of the incident, Gragson returned to the lead ahead of Cindric, Allgaier, Hemric and Allmendinger.

    Under caution, both Harrison Burton and Gibbs pitted, with Gibbs losing a lap in the process while Burton proceeded with a patched nose.  

    With 43 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson retained the lead while Cindric spun the tires. Cindric’s misfortune allowed Allgaier to moved into second followed by Hemric. Not long after, Brandon Jones made the slightest of contact with Cindric in Turn 3, but Jones and Cindric remained in fourth and fifth while Allmendinger, who tried to move inside the top five, remained in sixth.

    Eight laps later, Gragson was leading by nearly six-tenths of a second over Hemric while Allgaier, Brandon Jones and Cindric were in the top five.

    Another three laps later, the caution returned due to debris reported in the backstretch and coming off of Harrison Burton’s No. 20 Toyota. 

    Prior to the restart, a jack coming off of Harrison Burton’s car came to rest on the backstretch, which resulted with Burton being penalized for removing equipment out of his pit box.

    Down to the final 26 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson received another strong start to retain the lead and slowly pull away through the backstretch. Meanwhile, teammate Allgaier was overtaken by Hemric as Cindric joined the battle. 

    Six laps later, Gragson was ahead by two-tenths of a second over Hemric, who started to close in on Gragson for the lead. Cindric trailed the two leaders by more than a second followed by Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger, Mayer, Berry, Herbst and Clements. 

    Two laps later, Hemric, who gained a run through the backstretch, emerged with the lead. Hemric’s move dropped Gragson, who is in a “must-win” situation, below the top-four cutline while Allgaier moved back into the cutline.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Hemric was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Gragson while Cindric, Allgaier, Mayer and Allmendinger were in the top six.

    Four laps later, the caution returned when Haley, who was 23 laps behind the leaders, spun in Turn 4, which evaporated Hemric’s stable advantage over Gragson and Cindric. Following his spin, Haley called it a night as he parked his car in the garage and retired, which officially ended his hopes of advancing to the championship finale.

    With the race sent into overtime, Hemric and Gragson occupied the front row ahead of Cindric, Allgaier, Mayer and Allmendinger. At the start, Gragson challenged Hemric for the lead on the outside lane. Through the backstretch, Gragson used the outside lane to his advantage as he fought back and cleared Hemric for the top spot entering the frontstretch. Behind, Josh Berry spun and the caution flew just before Gragson could start the final lap of the event, which sent the event into another overtime attempt. 

    With the race restarting in another overtime attempt, Gragson and Cindric occupied the front row while Hemric elected to restart behind Gragson on the inside lane. At the start, Gragson cleared Cindric entering the backstretch and continued to lead for a full lap.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gragson was still leading by a mere margin over Cindric while Hemric was being challenged by Mayer and others for third. Through the backstretch, Gragson continued to keep Cindric at bay. Then, Cindric made his move beneath Gragson in an attempt to snatch the win entering Turns 3 and 4. Despite Cindric’s late effort, Gragson fought back on the outside lane and edged Cindric’s No. 22 Ford by 0.064 seconds to win and punch his ticket to the finale.

    In addition to locking himself and his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet team into the finale to battle for the championsip, Gragson captured his fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory, third of 2021 and first at Martinsville in the series. He also clinched the manufacturer’s title for Chevrolet.

    The margin of victory between Gragson and Cindric (0.064 seconds) marked the closest finish ever at Martinsville.

    “Man, I wanna cry right now,” Gragson said on NBCSN. “It’s been a rough season. We got a couple of wins there at Darlington and Richmond [in September]. I know it wasn’t looking good after last weekend. I was pretty fired up. I told my guys that we got an opportunity and we’re still in it. I’m so thankful. It’s just such an awesome opportunity. This team’s unbelievable. Overall, just an awesome day. I was telling all the guys in the pre-race deal, I said that snow plow’s engaged. We’re gonna be digging, get out of the way. Man, I’m emotional right now. Dude, this is Martinsville, baby! We’re going to the final four, baby! Yeah!”

    Cindric, who will attempt to defend his series title next weekend, settled in second place followed by Hemric, who captured the fourth and final spot to the Championship 4 finale. This marks the third season where Hemric will contend for a NASCAR national touring series title while he continues to pursue his first race victory.

    “Yeah, there was a lot that went into it,” Cindric said. “I felt like I had a shot as the third-place car. [I] Kept it in third gear, got the momentum, got cleared for second place. I put front bias into it, drove it in as hard as I could into [Turn] 3, but I wasn’t gonna use up Noah. I intend on racing for a championship a certain way. I said it after Bristol. [Gragson] earned that win. Just needed a couple inches, maybe needed above the track a little bit more. Overall, really proud of this season. I’ve been saying it since last season and this year, I feel the same way. I’m not talking about going back to back [in championships]. It’s about making it into the Championship 4. I feel like that’s the hardest thing you can do in a national series is to make it there. What you do with a bonus, you get to go have a great day and try to make the most of the opportunity.”

    “I can tell you, I’m just pretty disappointed,” Hemric said. “I had to make a decision there. First caution comes out when you’re checked out, I felt like, first off, what a great Poppy Bank Toyota Supra. Just checked out, biding time, counting the laps down. The caution came out, I knew it wouldn’t be that easy and that’s fine. [Cindric] got into me into [Turns] 1 and 2. He’s also trying to win the race, same as I am, and he got me in a bad angle, let [Gragson] take the lead, the caution comes out again. I wanted to choose the top, race [Gragson]. It’s kind of risk versus reward, right? You start the season off with one goal and that’s to try to do what we officially have a shot to do next week and that’s run for a championship. That is the ultimate goal, but I don’t know. A win would’ve been nice. At least I’d be on the front row and have a shot. Right decision, I don’t know. Right, though, for next week? Of course.”

    Mayer rallied from his early on-track issues to finish in fourth place for his first career top-five result in the Xfinity circuit followed by teammate Justin Allgaier, who was the first Xfinity Playoff competitor to miss the top-four cutline to the finale. This marks the second time in four seasons where Allgaier will not advance to the Championship 4 finale.

    “It just wasn’t enough,” Allgaier said. “We played the safe strategy. We talked about it before the race and felt like that was the smart strategy. Just gave up too many points. Daniel [Hemric] was, obviously, a lot better that we were tonight and put himself in good position to get the points. Hats off to [Gragson]. At least we got one [JR Motorsports] car going to the Playoffs. It’s super disappointing. Everybody at JR Motorsports works so hard on this No. 7 team. A lot of averages says we’ve been in it the last so many years. At some point, you’re gonna have to have a bad year – by bad, fifth going into the final round – but still just disappointing.”

    Brandon Jones, who came into Martinsville in a “must-win” situation, ended his night in sixth place as he also failed to transfer past the Round of 8 for a second consecutive season. He will remain at Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity circuit for the 2022 season.

    “I just don’t think that we quite had the balance we did here in the spring,” Jones said. “Similar conditions, so I was expecting to be fairly fast here today. Then there at the end, just kind of fell back away from it. We got to go dissect this a little bit, figure out where we can continue to be better. We can still go to Phoenix and win that race. I truly believe we can do that. That’s still on my mind. It’s still my goal to go win one of these races before the start of next year, to get some momentum built back up here. We kept fighting. Hate that we missed [the Championship 4 round] again. We’ll keep going, man. We’re gonna keep trying to figure out how to do this.”

    Allmendinger, who will contend for his first NASCAR national touring series championship, finished seventh followed by Alex Labbe, Clements and Herbst.

    “It’s been an amazing year here at Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger said. “To win five times, win a Cup race. At the end of the day, you just want a chance at Phoenix. We know it’s gonna come down to four really strong cars. We’ve got some work to do. We definitely, I think, lost a little bit of speed over the last couple of months, taking out the Roval. We’ll go to work hard this week. We’ve been planning for this, all the men and women at Kaulig Racing. We’ve been getting our Phoenix car ready for the last five weeks, planning that we’re gonna be there…We did what we had to do. Got a seventh-place finish there. At the end of the day, we’re going for a championship.”

    AJ Allmendinger, Austin Cindric, Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric have made the Championship 4 round and will contend for the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton and Justin Haley have been eliminated from title contention.

    “That sucks, right?” Burton said. “Obviously, we put ourselves in this position and we needed to perform better throughout the year, to not be in this position. The last two weeks, I felt like [I] could’ve won the race. I don’t know. It’s a tough system to win. That’s what makes it fun for the fans, makes it fun for us. We just need to perform better. It’s that simple. We had a winning car today. Just so many things have to go right in racing to win and it makes it challenging to do it at the drop of a dime. We just had a couple things go wrong. Just a bummer deal that we didn’t get to show our speed at the end. Wish we could’ve won this thing. I felt like we were capable of it. I had times better than [Gragson] and really everybody. Just needed to show it.”

    “We weren’t very good anyway,” Haley said. “It was inevitable. The brakes just went to the floor. I was either gonna wreck or spin out. That’ll happen. We’ll move on. I’m glad that AJ’s in the final four for Phoenix and go get [team owner] Matt Kaulig that championship trophy.”

    To go along with the driver’s championship battle, the following teams will contend for the 2021 Xfinity Series owner’s title: Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 Toyota Supra piloted by John Hunter Nemechek, JR Motorsports’ No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Gragson, Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Allmendinger and Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford Mustang piloted by Cindric.

    There were 13 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 13 cautions for 75 laps.

    Results.

    1. Noah Gragson, 153 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Austin Cindric, 64 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    3. Daniel Hemric, 18 laps led

    4. Sam Mayer

    5. Justin Allgaier

    6. Brandon Jones

    7. AJ Allmendinger

    8. Alex Labbe

    9. Jeremy Clements

    10. Riley Herbst

    11. Josh Williams

    12. Landon Cassill

    13. Myatt Snider

    14. Colin Garrett

    15. Joe Graf Jr.

    16. JJ Yeley

    17. Jade Buford

    18. Preston Pardus

    19. Brett Moffitt

    20. Harrison Burton, two laps led

    21. Stephen Leicht

    22. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    23. Ryan Ellis

    24. David Starr

    25. Natalie Decker

    26. Akinori Ogata

    27. Ty Gibbs, 16 laps led

    28. Josh Berry, one lap down

    29. Matt Mills, two laps down

    30. Spencer Boyd, three laps down

    31. Ryan Sieg, four laps down

    32. Ryan Vargas, eight laps down

    33. Justin Haley – OUT, Brakes

    34. Kyle Weatherman, 36 laps down

    35. Bayley Currey, 45 laps down

    36. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident

    37. Jeb Burton – OUT, Accident

    38. Michael Annett – OUT, Accident

    39. Mike Harmon – OUT, Overheating

    40. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Rear gear 

    Bold indicates Playoff contenders.

    Playoff standings.

    1. Noah Gragson – Advanced

    2. Austin Cindric – Advanced

    3. Daniel Hemric – Advanced

    4. AJ Allmendinger – Advanced

    5. Justin Allgaier – Eliminated

    6. Justin Haley – Eliminated

    7. Brandon Jones – Eliminated

    8. Harrison Burton – Eliminated

    With the championship field set, the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series is set to conclude at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, November 6, at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, where a champion will be crowned. 

  • Brandon Jones remaining at Joe Gibbs Racing for 2022 Xfinity Series season

    Brandon Jones remaining at Joe Gibbs Racing for 2022 Xfinity Series season

    Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Brandon Jones will be returning for a fifth consecutive full-time season with the organization for the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

    The news gives the 24-year-old native from Atlanta, Georgia, continuous driving control of the No. 19 Toyota Supra for the upcoming Xfinity season.

    Since joining JGR in 2018, Jones has achieved his first four career victories in the Xfinity circuit (one in 2019 and three in 2020) along with one pole, 29 top-five results, 69 top-10 results and four consecutive appearances in the Xfinity Series Playoffs, including the 2021 season. His best result in the final Xfinity standings is sixth place, which occurred in 2020.

    To go along with his driving plans next season, Jones will be having veteran Jeff Meendering remaining as his crew chief. Meendering, a native from Grand Rapids, Michigan, has worked with Jones and Joe Gibbs Racing since 2019. Also remaining with the No. 19 JGR team will be Menards, which will sponsor Jones throughout the 33-race schedule, beginning at Daytona International Speedway in February 2022.

    “This has been a very strong season so far and I couldn’t be prouder of our 19 team,” Jones said.  “It will be great to have Jeff Meendering back as my crew chief for the third consecutive year; his leadership is exactly what this team needs. I also realize how fortunate I am to have partners like Menards and Toyota; their support means the world to me. I couldn’t be more excited to have Menards return and more importantly, their support for the full season.  It’s huge.  I am thrilled to be back at Joe Gibbs Racing next season.  Right now, I remain focused on our championship run and making it to Phoenix this year for a shot at the Xfinity Series title.”

    “Brandon provides a veteran driver presence in the Xfinity Series for us,” Joe Gibbs, owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, added. “He has advanced into the final eight of the NASCAR playoffs for the second consecutive year and now our focus is to make it into the next round with the opportunity to race for the championship in Phoenix. We’re excited to have him back next season with the opportunity to represent Menards every week.”

    “We are excited about the opportunity to be a full-time sponsor for Brandon Jones in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing,” Jeff Abbott, Menards Marketing and Promotions Manager, added.  “Brandon has gained valuable experience through the years at many levels of racing, including winning in the ARCA Menards Series, NASCAR Truck Series and Xfinity Series and most recently by qualifying twice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.  Brandon has proven himself time and again by winning races, competing for championships and being an outstanding ambassador for Menards and our valued racing partners.  We look forward to being a part of his continuing success in 2022.”

    Through the first 30 events of the 2021 Xfinity Series season, Jones has recorded a single stage victory, which occurred at Daytona in February. He has also notched three runner-up results, 11 top-five results and 17 top-10 results. He is currently competing in the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoffs and one of eight competitors vying for the 2021 Xfinity championship in the Round of 8 while ranked in eighth place in the standings and 32 points below the top-four cutline to make the Championship 4 round cut for the finale at Phoenix Raceway in early November.

    With his racing plans for 2022 set, Jones, who is coming off his 100th Xfinity career start at Texas Motor Speedway, is scheduled to continue his pursuit for the 2021 Xfinity title at Kansas Speedway, a track where Jones has won at twice, on Saturday, October 23. The event is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Nemechek dominates for second Xfinity win at Texas

    Nemechek dominates for second Xfinity win at Texas

    With a championship spot on the line for eight Playoff contenders, including runner-up Daniel Hemric, John Hunter Nemechek, a part-time Xfinity Series competitor, had other plans and stole the spotlight after rallying from a late pit road penalty to win the Andy’s Frozen Custard 335 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 16, while on two fresh tires. 

    Nemechek, who currently competes as a full-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship competitor for Kyle Busch Motorsports, led three times for a race-high 92 of 200 laps as he fended off Hemric by more than a second to deny Hemric and seven other Playoff contenders an early automatic spot to the Championship Round at Phoenix Raceway scheduled in early November.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, AJ Allmendinger, winner of last weekend’s Playoff event at the Charlotte Roval, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Austin Cindric.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Allmendinger got off to a strong start as he cleared his No. 16 Andy’s Frozen Custard Chevrolet Camaro through the field through the first turn and led the first lap ahead of Cindric and Daniel Hemric. Behind, Noah Gragson was in fourth ahead of Justin Haley and Brandon Jones. 

    The following lap, Hemric, who was running on the outside lane, slipped from second to fifth as Cindric, Gragson and Haley muscled their way to the front on the inside lane. 

    By the fifth lap, Allmendinger was leading by nearly a second over Cindric while the field continued to jostle for positions towards the front.

    Through the first 13 laps, Allmendinger continued to lead the field. Then, Cindric emerged with the top spot in his No. 22 Snap-On Ford Mustang on Lap 14. 

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 20, Cindric remained out in front. During the competition caution, the front-runners led by Cindric elected to remain on the track.

    When the race restarted on Lap 25, Cindric and Allmendinger engaged in a tight side-by-side battle through Turn 1 and ahead of the field until Cindric squeaked ahead entering the backstretch. Then, the caution returned when Landon Cassill stalled his car in Turn 4. 

    Under caution, Jeb Burton and rookie Sam Mayer, both of whom made contact on the track, pitted for repairs.

    Six laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Cindric received a strong start on the inside lane after receiving a push from Hemric, which allowed him to clear Allmendinger entering Turn 1 as Hemric also moved up to second place.

    On Lap 33, Gragson made the slightest on contact to the rear bumper of Allmendinger’s car, which sent Allmendinger up the track and down from fourth to sixth while Gragson and Brandon Jones moved up. By then, Cindric continued to lead by a decent margin over Hemric.

    In the closing laps of the first stage, the third caution of the event flew when JJ Yeley stalled in Turn 4. Under caution, some like John Hunter Nemechek, Myatt Snider, Ryan Sieg, Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones, rookie Sam Mayer, and Riley Herbst pitted while the rest led by Cindric remained on the track.

    Following a one-lap shootout to conclude the first stage on Lap 45, Cindric, who retained the lead, claimed his 10th stage victory of the season. Gragson settled in second followed by Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, Michael Annett, Haley, Harrison Burton, Jeremy Clements, Brett Moffitt and Brandon Brown.

    Under the stage break, some led by Cindric pitted while the rest led by Hemric, who pitted under the previous caution, remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 51. At the start, Hemric pulled his No. 18 Craftsman Toyota Supra away from teammate Nemechek following a strong start on the inside lane while Mayer and Brandon Jones battled for third. In addition, Riley Herbst and Austin Hill overtook Myatt Snider through three lanes to move up to fifth and sixth. 

    Three laps later, the caution returned due to debris reported on the track. In the midst of the battles occurring towards the front and around the track, Hemric was out in front by a narrow margin over Nemechek.

    When the race restarted on Lap 61, Hemric and Nemechek were locked in a heated, side-by-side lead for a full lap before Hemric cleared Nemechek entering Turn 2. By then, Nemechek slipped entering the backstretch, which allowed Sam Mayer to move into the runner-up spot.

    Shortly after, the sixth caution flew when Ryan Sieg spun his No. 39 CMR Chevrolet Camaro in Turn 2.

    When the race restarted on Lap 68, Hemric retained the lead on the inside lane while Mayer slipped after having brief issues getting going on the outside lane, which allowed Nemechek to reassume the runner-up spot.

    Four laps later, Nemechek, making his second Xfinity Series start in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 Romco Toyota Supra, peaked ahead of Hemric to lead for the first time, but Hemric fought back through the backstretch. Then in Turn 3, Hemric slipped up the track and nearly wrecked with Nemechek, but both Joe Gibbs Racing competitors kept their cars straight as they continued to battle for the lead through the frontstretch. By the time the leaders entered the backstretch, Nemechek cleared Hemric to retain the lead.

    By Lap 75, Nemechek was leading by half a second over Hemric while Mayer, Jeb Burton and Riley Herbst were in the top 10. Haley was in sixth ahead of Michael Annett, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones and Cindric. Allmendinger, meanwhile, was in 11th ahead of Gragson and Harrison Burton.

    With less than 10 laps remaining in the second stage, Nemechek extended his advantage to a full second over teammate Hemric while third-place Mayer trailed by more than six seconds. By then, Cindric slipped back to 12th behind Allmendinger while Gragson moved up to ninth. In addition, Haley overtook Herbst to move in the top five behind teammate Jeb Burton.

    Having no competition lingering or closing towards him, Nemechek, who made his way through lapped traffic, came back around to claim the second stage victory on Lap 90, which marked his second stage victory of the season. Hemric settled in second, trailing by a second, followed by Mayer, Jeb Burton, Haley, Herbst, Annett, Allgaier, Gragson and Allmendinger.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Nemechek retained the lead ahead of Hemric, Mayer, Jeb Burton and Haley. During the pit stops, Allmendinger nearly left his pit stall without a left-front tire after his jackman dropped the jack early while the crew members were changing the tires on the left side. In addition, Allmendinger’s service was slow for repairs due to hitting a tire being held by Gragson’s crew member during Gragson’s service. Both returned to pit road to have the lug nuts on their respective machines secured. Soon after, Haley dropped to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation. 

    With 103 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Nemechek jumped ahead following a strong start while Mayer issued a challenge on Hemric for the runner-up spot. Behind, Jeb Burton and Allgaier battled for fourth in front of Cindric. 

    Just shy of the halfway mark scheduled on Lap 100, the eighth caution flew for a heavy multi-car wreck involving Dylan Lupton, Tanner Berryhill and Jade Buford, who slammed into Lupton after nearly having the incident dodged.

    Down to the final 92 laps, the race restarted under green. At the start, Nemechek launched ahead following another strong start while Hemric and Mayer battled again side-by-side for second. Then through the backstretch, Allgaier made a bold three-wide move to take over the runner-up spot entering Turn 3. Hemric, however, fought back and took over second place through the frontstretch as the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes while jostling for positions.

    At the front, Nemechek extended his advantage to more than a second over Hemric and Allgaier while Mayer settled in fourth ahead of Jeb Burton and Cindric. Brandon Jones was in eighth, Harrison Burton was in 10th and Allmendinger was mired in 12th behind Herbst while ahead of Gragson and Haley. Meanwhile, Kyle Weatherman was penalized for a restart violation.

    With 80 laps remaining, Nemechek stabilized his advantage to nearly two seconds over teammate Hemric while Allgaier remained in third ahead of Cindric and Jeb Burton. Annett was in sixth ahead of Brandon Jones, Gragson, Brandon Brown and Allmendinger. By then, Mayer had fallen back to 12th behind Haley, Harrison Burton was mired in the top 15.

    Ten laps later, Nemechek remained as the leader by less than two seconds over Hemric while third-place Allgaier trailed by more than three seconds. Cindric remained in fourth ahead of Annett, Jeb Burton and Gragson, who recovered from his pit road issue following the second stage but was now under surveillance by NASCAR for possibly leaking fluid on the track. 

    Another 10 laps later, Nemechek, who was making his way through lapped traffic, continued to lead by two seconds over teammate Hemric as Allgaier, Cindric and Annett remained in the top five. Gragson also remained in sixth ahead of Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Haley and Jeb Burton. Harrison Burton, meanwhile, remained as the lowest-running Playoff contender in 12th.

    Two laps later, the ninth caution of the event flew when CJ McLaughlin spun in Turn 4. Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Nemechek exited the pits with the lead ahead of Hemric, Allgaier, Cindric, Annett and Gragson. During the pit stops, Nemechek dropped out of the lead after being penalized for having too many crew members over the wall. In addition, Brandon Brown was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    Down to the final 51 laps of the event, the race restarted as Hemric and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Cindric shoved Hemric clear of Allgaier through the first turn as he challenged Allgaier for second place. Meanwhile, Hemric was clear out in front while Annett overtook teammate Gragson for fourth. Behind, Allmendinger battled Brandon Jones for sixth.

    With 40 laps remaining, Hemric was out in front by more than a second over Allgaier while third-place Cindric trailed by more than two seconds. Gragson and Allmendinger were in fourth and fifth while Annett, Haley, Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones and Herbst were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Nemechek was in 12th before he made a bold move through the backstretch to overtake Jones, Harrison Burton and Herbst for eighth place.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Hemric stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Allgaier while third-place Gragson trailed by nearly four seconds. Allmendinger and Cindric were in the top five ahead of Annett and Nemechek, who continued to methodically make his way to the front with a fast car. Haley, Harrison Burton and Brandon Jones were in the top 10.

    Just then, the 10th caution flew when Brandon Brown, winner at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this month, wrecked in the backstretch and retired due to heavy damage on his No. 68 Brandonbilt Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.

    Under caution, the leaders pitted and Nemechek leap-frogged back to the lead following a two-tire stop ahead of Hemric, Allgaier, Gragson, Annett and Allmendinger. Meanwhile, Harrison Burton remained on the track to inherit the lead.

    Down to the final 21 laps of the event, the race restarted. At the start, teammates Harrison Burton and Nemechek battled dead even for a full lap until Burton cleared Nemechek returning to the frontstretch. 

    The following lap, however, Nemechek returned to the lead for the first time since Lap 144 as Hemric joined the battle involving his two JGR teammates. Allgaier and Gragson were in the top five ahead of Allmendinger, Cindric, Haley, Annett and Brandon Jones.

    With 15 laps remaining, Nemechek, racing on two fresh tires, was leading by less than seven-tenths of a second over teammate Hemric, who was trying to close in on four fresh tires, while third-place Harrison Burton, racing on four worn tires in his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra, trailed by a second. 

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Nemechek stabilized his advantage to more than a second over teammate Hemric while Gragson was up in third, trailing in his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro by less than three seconds. Behind, Allgaier and Allmendinger were up in fourth and fifth followed by Cindric and Harrison Burton, who continued to hold strong on worn tires. Haley, Annett and Jones were in the top 10.

    With five laps remaining, Nemechek, who started to make his way through lapped traffic, had his advantage decreased to less than a second as Hemric tried to close in for his first win and a championship finale spot. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Nemechek remained as the leader by more than a second over teammate Hemric. With a clear race track in front of him and his teammate unable to narrow the deficit, Nemechek, whose late strategy for only two fresh tires paid off, was able to come back around and claim his first checkered flag in this year’s Xfinity season. 

    With the victory, Nemechek collected his second Xfinity Series career win in his 55th series start, fourth of the season, and since winning his first at Kansas Speedway in October 2018. The victory was also the 10th of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 Toyota Supra led by crew chief Chris Gayle. Nemechek’s win also comes two days after announcing that he will be remaining with Kyle Busch Motorsports for the 2022 Truck Series season.

    This also marked the third time through the first four Playoff races where the events were won by non-Playoff Xfinity Series competitors.

    “[Spotter] Stevie Reeves and Chris Gayle kept me calm [after the pit road penalty],” Nemechek said on NBC. “I think this year, I’ve grown a lot as a driver. I’ve been put in positions like that in the Truck Series as well. Man, I can’t say enough about this whole team. The No. 54 [car] has been fast every single week. My goal coming in was to win. I had to win to prove to myself that I can do this and it’s just like taking a step back to the Truck Series. I wanted to get back to Victory Lane. Thank you to all the fans that are out here. It’s an amazing accomplishment to get this one done, beating my teammate as well. We’re racing for an owner’s championship, so I’m back in the No. 54 [car] at Phoenix. Going for double championships there when we go.”

    Behind Nemechek was Daniel Hemric, who led 54 laps but finished in second place for the 10th time in his career as he continues to pursue his first win across NASCAR’s top three national touring series. Ironically, Hemric also finished second to Nemechek during Nemechek’s first Xfinity career win in 2018.

    “[Nemechek] just made a really good call to take two [tires] there,” Hemric, who was left dejected, said. “Obviously, clean air was so big. When we had clean air with our Craftsman Toyota Supra there at one point, it was really good. We were on the tighter side all day. Even earlier when [Nemechek] was better than us, he was just a little freer. I just couldn’t quite carry the same mid-quarter exit speed. [Crew chief] Dave Rogers made good adjustments all day, getting it better. Once we got that clean air, we were pretty well checked out. The caution came out and [Nemechek] just made a good call there to take two [tires]. It’s ‘Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.’ It just didn’t work out. I was just too tight there. It never got far into the run where our tires could make a difference. With 20 laps to go, you’re not going to overcome the gap I needed to make up. Too tight. I was whipping it for all I had. [I] About pounded the fence there three or four times trying to catch [Nemechek]. Great job to those guys, congrats to those guys. Really fast JGR Supras. Just not quite good enough.”

    Gragson rallied from his early pit road issue and damage to finish in third place followed by teammate Allgaier and Cindric.

    Meanwhile, Allmendinger ended up in sixth place followed by teammate Haley, Harrison Burton, Annett and Brandon Jones, with the remaining eight Xfinity Playoff contenders finishing in the top 10.

    There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 54 laps.

    Results.

    1. John Hunter Nemechek, 92 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Daniel Hemric, 55 laps led

    3. Noah Gragson

    4. Justin Allgaier

    5. Austin Cindric, 34 laps led

    6. AJ Allmendinger, 13 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    7. Justin Haley

    8. Harrison Burton, six laps led

    9. Michael Annett

    10. Brandon Jones

    11. Jeb Burton

    12. Riley Herbst

    13. Sam Mayer

    14. Ryan Sieg

    15. Kaz Grala

    16. Brett Moffitt

    17. Bayley Currey

    18. Tommy Joe Martins

    19. Josh Williams

    20. Austin Hill, one lap down

    21. Myatt Snider, one lap down

    22. Ryan Vargas, one lap down

    23. Jeffrey Earnhardt, one lap down

    24. Alex Labbe, one lap down

    25. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down

    26. Joe Graf Jr., two laps down

    27. Mason Massey, four laps down

    28. Spencer Boyd, four laps down

    29. Jeremy Clements, four laps down

    30. Joey Gase, five laps down

    31. Jesse Little, five laps down

    32. Matt Mills, seven laps down

    33. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident

    34. David Starr – OUT, Engine

    35. CJ McLaughlin – OUT, Suspension

    36. Landon Cassill – OUT, Electrical

    37. Tanner Berryhill – OUT, Accident

    38. Dylan Lupton – OUT, Accident

    39. Jade Buford – OUT, Accident

    40. JJ Yeley – OUT, Engine

    Bold indicates Playoff contenders.

    Playoff standings.

    1. AJ Allmendinger, +30

    2. Austin Cindric, +26

    3. Justin Allgaier, +4

    4. Noah Gragson, +2

    5. Daniel Hemric, -2

    6. Justin Haley, -6

    7. Harrison Burton, -21

    8. Brandon Jones, -32

    The 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs will continue next weekend at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, October 23, with the race scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET on NBC. 

  • Brandon Jones to make 200th Xfinity career start at Texas

    Brandon Jones to make 200th Xfinity career start at Texas

    Competing in his sixth full-time season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Brandon Jones is set to achieve a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s Playoff event at Texas Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra will reach 200 career starts in the Xfinity circuit.

    A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Jones made his Xfinity Series debut at Iowa Speedway in May 2015. By then, he had achieved two victories in the ARCA Menards Series and one victory in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, all while competing for Turner Scott Motorsports. Driving the No. 33 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing on a part-time basis, Jones started fifth and finished eighth in his Xfinity debut.

    Jones returned for four additional Xfinity races in 2015, starting at Iowa in August, which was followed by the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August, Bristol Motor Speedway in August and at Kentucky Speedway in September. During this span, Jones notched a career-best fifth-place result at Kentucky.

    In 2016, Jones took over the No. 33 Chevrolet Camaro as a full-time Xfinity Series competitor. Commencing the season with a seventh-place result at Daytona International Speedway, Jones achieved a total of 12 top-10 results throughout the 33-race schedule. He also made the inaugural Xfinity Series Playoffs, where he was eliminated following the first round, and settled in 10th place in the final standings.

    While Jones achieved his first Xfinity career pole for the 2017 season-opening event at Daytona in February, he only achieved a total of three top-10 results throughout the 33-race schedule and failed to make the Playoffs before ending up in 16th place in the final standings.

    Following the 2017 season, Jones departed RCR and joined Joe Gibbs Racing to pilot the No. 19 Toyota Camry for the 2018 Xfinity season. Starting the season with a 10th-place result at Daytona in February, Jones achieved a pole, two top-five results, 17 top-10 results and a spot in the Xfinity Playoffs, where he was eliminated from title contention following the first round and went on to settle in ninth place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 Xfinity career starts.

    Finishing in third place in the 2019 Xfinity season opener at Daytona, Jones logged in four top-five results and 13 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, which were enough for him to make the Playoffs based on points. After finishing 11th, 16th and 37th in the Playoff’s first round, however, Jones was one of four competitor who were eliminated early from title contention. Jones rebounded the following weekend at Kansas Speedway in October by avoiding late calamity and fending off top Playoff contenders to score his first Xfinity Series career victory. He went on to finish in the top 10 in two of the final three races before settling in 10th place in the final standings.

    The following season, Jones achieved his second Xfinity Series career win at Phoenix Raceway in March following a late pass on teammate Kyle Busch. Following NASCAR’s return to action in May amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Jones completed a last lap pass on Austin Cindric to win for the second time in 2020 at Kansas in July. Six races later, Jones overtook teammate Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain prior to the final lap to achieve his third victory of the season and fourth of his career at Darlington Raceway in September. Returning to the Playoffs for a third consecutive season, Jones remained in title contention through the Round of 8 at Martinsville Speedway in October, but he fell short in making the Championship Round at Phoenix Raceway in November and contending for his first NASCAR title. Nonetheless, Jones and his No. 19 JGR Toyota team finished in sixth place in the final standings, which marks Jones’ best points result to date. 

    This season, Jones has recorded a stage victory, three runner-up results, 11 top-five results and 16 top-10 results through 29 scheduled Xfinity starts. After qualifying for the Xfinity Playoffs for a fifth season, Jones is coming off three consecutive top-10 results and is one of eight competitors to transfer to the Round of 8. He is currently lined up in eighth place in the Playoff standings with 3,003 points as he continues his pursuit for his first NASCAR national touring series championship.

    Through 199 previous Xfinity starts, Jones has achieved four career victories, three poles, 30 top-five results, 85 top-10 results, five Playoff appearances, nearly 600 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.5.

    Jones is set to make his 200th Xfinity Series career start at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 16, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Allmendinger three-peats at the Charlotte Roval, Playoff’s Round of 8 set

    Allmendinger three-peats at the Charlotte Roval, Playoff’s Round of 8 set

    A week after being eliminated in an early accident at Talladega Superspeedway, AJ Allmendinger raced his way into the Round of 8 in the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs after leading the final 21 laps and winning the Drive for the Cure 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course for a third consecutive season on Saturday, October 9.

    The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Playoff contender Austin Cindric started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Justin Allgaier.

    Prior to the event, Michael Annett, who returned as driver of the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro for the first time since Richmond Raceway in September, started at the rear of the field due to replacing Josh Berry, who was originally on the entry list.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Cindric and Allgaier battled dead even for the lead entering the first turn while Jeb Burton and Noah Gragson made a four-wide move on Harrison Burton and Justin Haley to move up towards the top five.

    From Turn 1, the six additional infield turns of the Roval and entering Turn 8, Cindric managed to remain with the lead ahead of Allgaier, Daniel Hemric and the field. Behind, Tommy Joe Martins spun entering Turn 8, but the race remained under green as the field scattered to avoid Martins. Shortly after, Kris Wright, who sustained a flat tire, spun entering the backstretch chicane.

    When the field returned to the start/finish line, Cindric was able to lead the first lap ahead of Allgaier, Hemric, Brandon Jones and Gragson, who was being challenged by Haley.

    As the field made their way out of the infield turns in Turn 8, the first caution flew when Sage Karam spun in Turn 6 following on-track contact. At the same time, Jade Buford, who was trying to dodge Karam, pinned his car against Brett Moffitt and the wall as the field behind was forced to scatter. 

    By the fifth lap, the race restarted on the frontstretch. At the start, Allgaier challenged Cindric side-by-side through the infield turns before Cindric prevailed entering Turn 7. While battling Hemric for the runner-up spot, Allgaier locked up his tires entering the backstretch chicane, but managed to keep his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro straight and through the chicane clean, though he lost the spot to Hemric.

    Three laps later, Allgaier slipped and made contact with the wall in Turn 2, damaging the right side of his Camaro. The incident forced Allgaier to pit under green and fall below the running order. At the same time, Cindric, who was leading, missed the backstretch chicane and served his penalty by stopping on the frontsretch chicane, thus surrendering the lead to Daniel Hemric. 

    Another three laps later, the second caution of the event flew due to Gray Gaulding stalling in the backstretch. Under caution, some like Michael Annett, Brandon Brown and Allgaier pitted while the rest led by Hemric remained on the track.

    When the race restarted on Lap 14, Hemric retained the lead over Cindric entering the infield turns as the field fanned out to multiple lanes and jostled for positions. Through the infield turns, the oval turns and the chicanes in the backstretch and frontstretch, Hemric was able to remain ahead of Cindric, Gragson, AJ Allmendinger, Brandon Jones and Justin Haley while the field battled in a single-file line.

    With five laps remaining in the first stage, Hemric was leading by nearly a second over Cindric while Allmendinger, Gragson and Haley were in the top five. Brandon Jones was in sixth ahead of Gibbs, Herbst, Harrison Burton and Jeb Burton. Meanwhile, Josh Williams spun in the backstretch chicane, but the race remained under green.

    Just as the pit road closed with two laps remaining in the second stage, Cindric peeled his No. 22 Richmond/Menards Ford Mustang to pit road for service and in preparation for the second stage. Meanwhile, Hemric continued to lead by more than three seconds over runner-up Allmendinger and nearly second seconds over third-place Gragson. By then, Gibbs overtook Haley to move into fourth place.

    On the final lap of the first stage, the third caution of the event flew due to possible fluid on the course and when No. 15 Toyota driven by Kris Wright, who was smoking through the backstretch, came to a stop in Turn 12 due to a broken track bar. The caution was enough for the first stage scheduled on Lap 20 to conclude under a cautious pace as Hemric claimed his eighth stage victory of the season. AJ Allmendinger settled in second followed by Gragson, rookie Ty Gibbs, Haley, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton and Jeremy Clements.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Hemric pitted while few led by Cindric, who pitted prior to the first stage’s conclusion, remained on the track. 

    The second stage started on Lap 22 as Cindric and rookie Sam Mayer filled the front row. At the start, Cindric retained the lead over Mayer entering the first turn while the field fanned out to three and four lanes. Behind, Hemric muscled his pink No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra to third followed by Gragson, who made a four-wide move prior to the first turn to move up into the top five.

    When the field returned to the start/finish line, Cindric was the leader of a four-car breakaway stretched out by less than a second. Meanwhile, Allmendinger was in fifth, trailing by three seconds, while Austin Hill, Haley, Preston Pardus, Brandon Jones and Gibbs were in the top 10.

    By Lap 25, Cindric continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Mayer while Hemric, Gragson and Allmendinger remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Allgaier was mired in 29th in between Loris Hezemans and Stefan Parsons.

    Three laps later, the fourth caution of the event flew when Josh Bilicki ran over the curbs through the backstretch chicane and destroyed the front spitter of his car, where the front of his car went airborne before he limped to pit road in a cloud of smoke and ended up in the garage. The debris and damage towards the backstretch was enough for the event to be red-flagged for approximately five minutes.

    When the red flag was lifted following the cleanup and repairs to the chicane, names like Herbst pitted under caution while the rest led by Cindric remained on the track.

    Down to the final laps of the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Cindric powered ahead on the inside lane while Mayer struggled to launch on the outside lane. Through the infield turns and the circuit turns while the field jostled for positions, Cindric was leading ahead of Hemric, Haley, Gibbs and Mayer.

    A lap later, Jeb Burton made contact with the wall entering Turn 2, but he proceeded under green and just outside of the top 15.

    When the field surpassed the halfway mark on Lap 35, Cindric stabilized his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Hemric. Meanwhile, Gibbs moved his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra up to third place while Haley and Mayer remained in the top five. 

    Just then, the caution returned due to debris reported on the frontstretch. Under caution, some led by Cindric pitted while the rest led by Hemric remained on the track.

    With three laps remaining in the second stage, the race resumed under green. At the start, Hemric fended off Haley to maintain the lead entering and exiting the infield turns. He also continued to stabilize his lead through the backstretch chicane, the oval turns and the frontstretch chicane.

    On the final lap of the second stage, Haley started to close in and challenge Hemric for the top spot. Despite getting close to Hemric’s rear bumper through the infield, Hemric continued to lead over Haley. Haley issued a final challenge on Hemric entering the frontstretch chicane, but the latter managed to hold him off to win the second stage on Lap 40 and record his ninth stage victory of the season. Haley settled in second followed by Myatt Snider, Gragson, Clements, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton, Gibbs, Jeb Burton and Mayer. By then, Hemric and Allgaier secured their spots for the Round of 8 in the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoffs based on points.

    Under the stage break, some led by Hemric pitted while the rest led by Gibbs and Mayer remained on the track.

    With 25 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Gibbs jumped ahead from the field following a strong start while the rest of the field jostled for positions through multiple lanes.

    The following lap, Gibbs was out in front by one-and-a-half seconds over Mayer, who had Allmendinger and Cindric challenging behind. Herbst, who was now placed in a “must win” situation to keep his title hopes alive, was in fifth ahead of Sage Karam, Allgaier, Ty Dillon, Alex Labbe and Haley while Hemric was mired in 13th. Meanwhile, cousins Harrison and Jeb Burton, both of whom were battling one another for a Playoff spot, were in 16th and 18th.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Gibbs continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Allmendinger, who was methodically closing in for the lead. Behind, Cindric moved up to third while Mayer fell back to fourth. Karam was in fifth ahead of Haley, Allgaier, Hemric, Herbst and Labbe. By then, cousins Harrison and Jeb Burton were in 15th and 16th.

    Just then, Gibbs, who was battling brake issues, missed the backstretch chicane and was forced to come to a complete stop on the backstretch before proceeding. Gibbs’ misfortune allowed Allmendinger to take the lead as Cindric and Mayer moved up to second and third, thus dropping Gibbs to fourth ahead of Karam.

    Five laps later, Allmendinger was leading by nearly four seconds over Cindric while Mayer, Haley and Hemric were in the top five. Karam was in sixth ahead of Gibbs while Allgaier and Herbst battled for eighth in front of Labbe. Harrison Burton was mired in 15th ahead of teammate Brandon Jones, Jeb Burton, Clements and Gragson while Michael Annett was in 21st.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Allmendinger stabilized his advantage to more than four seconds over Cindric and Mayer. Haley, who was in fourth, trailed by nearly nine seconds while Hemric, who was mired in fifth, trailed by more than 13 seconds. 

    Not long after, Cindric got loose approaching Turn 7, which allowed Mayer to briefly move into second before Cindric fought back through the oval turns. While both Cindric and Mayer battled, Allmendinger extended his advantage to more than six seconds. In addition, Haley started to close in on Cindric and Mayer for the runner-up spot.

    With five laps remaining, Allmendinger remained as the leader by nearly nine seconds over Cindric, who was under fire by Mayer, Haley, Hemric and Gibbs for the runner-up spot. By then, Herbst took his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang to the garage due to a rear end issue. The late misfortune ended Herbst’s hopes of advancing to the Round of 8.

    A lap later, the caution flew due to an incident involving Tommy Joe Martins in Turn 14. The caution all but evaporated Allmendinger’s advantage of nearly nine seconds.

    Under caution, names like Hemric, Labbe, Allgaier, Gragson, Snider, Michael Annett and Ryan Sieg pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.

    With two laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Allmendinger launched ahead on the inside lane while Cindric spun the tires on the outside lane. Through the infield turns and the chicanes while the field battled for late positions, Allmendinger maintained the lead ahead of Mayer while Gibbs and Cindric battled for third. 

    When the final lap started, Allmendinger continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Gibbs and Mayer, both of whom battled for second ahead of Cindric and Hemric. Then entering Turn 5, Mayer sent Gibbs in a spin, dropping Gibbs back to sixth as Cindric, Mayer, Haley and Hemric moved up the leaderboard. Soon after, Mayer missed the backstretch chicane and came to a stop before proceeding. By then, Mayer dropped out of the top 10.

    In the midst of the late spins and battles, Allmendinger was long gone as he made his way through the frontstretch chicane and cruised his No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet Camaro across the finish line for the win.

    With the victory, Allmendinger captured his sixth road course win, which was the most all-time for an Xfinity competitor. In addition, he captured his fifth victory of the season and his 10th triumph in the Xfinity circuit as he took another step closer in capturing his first NASCAR national touring series championship.

    “I knew [the final caution] was coming out,” Allmendinger said on NBC. “It wasn’t gonna go simple like that. That was a fight today. We had to be kind of on defense early, worried about the points. This place was tough to pass. The track was really slick to begin with, obviously with all the rain. [I] Can’t thank all the men and women at Kaulig Racing enough, [team owner] Matt Kaulig, [team president] Chris Rice. This Hyperice Chevy, once it got into the lead, it was stupid fast. The big picture’s the championship, but getting another win, three in a row here at the Roval, that means the world to me…What an awesome day.”

    As the cars were approaching the finish line, a multi-car melee struck that involved Gibbs, Josh Williams, Brandon Brown and Ty Dillon.

    Cindric, who secured his spot for the Playoffs based on points a week ago at Talladega Superspeedway, finished in second place after leading a race-high 22 laps while Hemric, who won both stages and led 17 laps, made his way up to third place on fresh tires.

    “Pretty solid round,” Cindric said. “I feel like today’s a bit of a missed opportunity. I feel like I was able to drive as hard as I wanted to today. I made some mistakes because of it, but learned some things. [I] Thought we were gonna be a bit better today, but it should set us up for Texas. I know we put in a fast lap early. Finishing second and good in points. I had fun today.”

    Haley, Brandon Jones and Gragson secured their spots for the Round of 8 after finishing fourth, fifth and sixth while Preston Pardus, Snider, Allgaier and Mayer ended up in the top 10 on the track.

    “I think me and AJ probably had the best cars there,” Haley said. “His points gap coming into today just allowed him to short-pit and get the lead, and I had to go through traffic through that second stage. I think we had a pretty good LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet. A second-place car. I don’t know. We never really got towards AJ, but awesome day. Locked into the Round of 8.”

    “Pretty much, all the road courses this year haven’t been too bad to us,” Jones said. “Lot of time, lot of effort into trying to make something of this. There’s been a lot of additions at road courses, so it’s a big part of our schedule now. Today paid off for us, I think, having a lot of preparation to come into this weekend and have a run like we did. [I] Did exactly what I really needed to do. I know when when we step into a race track, we wanna win. That’s our main goal, but we sat down as a team and said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna make it to the next round.’ It’s all about being smart…All that went perfect.”

    “[Today] was alright,” Gragson said. “I didn’t really feel like we had the speed we did here in the rain or the dry in the past. [I] Salvaged a fourth- or fifth-place car. To come home sixth from starting at the back there at the end, we’re just focused on points the whole time. Pretty much, just race the race at 80 percent, 85 percent. There’s a lot at risk, but there’s a lot of reward here at this race track for speed and it’s a big penalty when you go off…Came back, did our job, collected points in all three stages and came home a sixth-place finish. We’ll keep on pushing. On to the next round in the Playoffs.”

    In the midst of the late chaos and battles, Harrison Burton coasted his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra across the finish line in 15th and secured the eighth and final transfer spot to the Round of 8 over his cousin Jeb Burton, who had his title hopes come to an end.

    “Yeah, it was a boring race for us ’cause it was just pins and needles,” Harrison Burton said. “We had two decent first stages where we ran about seventh or eighth or wherever. Then we come into this race, the last stage, and it’s like, ‘OK, just stay wherever [Jeb] is.’ It wasn’t the most fun. I wasn’t able to be aggressive, be like myself, just kind of cruising, so that was boring. Glad it worked out. Now we can go and we’ll go win and get into Phoenix. That’s all that matters is getting to Phoenix with a chance. These next three races, [we] might have to win one. These are all great tracks for us, so I’m excited to go try.”

    “I made a couple of mistakes,” Jeb Burton said. “I got in the wall and I was side by side with Harrison. Luckily, it didn’t end our day, but I just need some more laps here. I hadn’t raced here before. I was getting better and better. [I] Appreciate Kaulig [Racing] and everything they’re doing for me. Congrats to AJ. He helped me a lot. Just needed a little bit more.”

    AJ Allmendinger, Austin Cindric, Daniel Hemric, Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Justin Haley, Brandon Jones and Harrison Burton have transferred into the Round of 8 in the Playoffs. Jeb Burton, Myatt Snider, Riley Herbst and Jeremy Clements have been eliminated from title contention.

    “I made a rookie mistake there,” Snider said. “I pulled out too soon on the restart, knowing there were a couple of slow cars in front of me. I was just trying to get all I could and misunderstood the rule that I follow. That’s on me. [Crew chief] Andy Street made a great call to get us tires there at the end, help us get back up there to eighth and get ourselves a fight for it, but finished eighth and we’re still 15 points out, we’re gonna need a lot more than that. Really proud of everybody on the TaxSlayer crew for slaying it. That’s what I gotta learn for next year’s ride. It’s just to not make those rookie mistakes…Something to build on.”

    “We just got in a wreck the first [Playoff] race we couldn’t avoid, broke a rocker arm at Talladega, lost a cylinder and rode around, and battled hard here today with our pink All South Electric Chevrolet,” Clements said. “We weren’t as fast as Xfinity internet this round, but we’re gonna keep digging deep and give it all we got. We got four more races to learn and try to get better for next year. I’m proud of our effort. This is how we should’ve ran the last two races, so it is what it is. We were dealt the cards we had and we were in a big whole, but just proud of our group. I’m proud we made the Playoffs and we’re gonna keep trying to get faster.”

    There were six lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 13 laps.

    Results.

    1. AJ Allmendinger, 21 laps led

    2. Austin Cindric, 22 laps led

    3. Daniel Hemric, 17 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    4. Justin Haley

    5. Brandon Jones

    6. Noah Gragson, one lap led

    7. Preston Pardus

    8. Myatt Snider

    9. Justin Allgaier

    10. Sam Mayer

    11. Josh Williams

    12. Jeremy Clements

    13. Jeb Burton

    14. Alex Labbe

    15. Harrison Burton

    16. Jade Buford

    17. Landon Cassill

    18. Austin Hill

    19. JJ Yeley

    20. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    21. Ty Gibbs, seven laps led

    22. Brandon Brown

    23. Kyle Weatherman

    24. Stefan Parsons

    25. Sage Karam

    26. Ty Dillon

    27. Michael Annett

    28. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

    29. Will Rodgers, one lap down

    30. Matt Mills, one lap down

    31. Spencer Boyd, one lap down

    32. Ryan Sieg, two laps down

    33. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Accident

    34. Riley Herbst – OUT, Suspension

    35. Loris Hezemans – OUT, Electrical

    36. Ryan Vargas – OUT, Axle

    37. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Accident

    38. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

    39. Kris Wright – OUT, Suspension

    40. Gray Gaulding – OUT, Rear gear

    Bold indicates Playoff contenders.

    Playoff standings.

    1. AJ Allmendinger – Advanced

    2. Austin Cindric – Advanced

    3. Justin Allgaier – Advanced

    4. Noah Gragson – Advanced

    5. Daniel Hemric – Advanced

    6. Justin Haley – Advanced

    7. Harrison Burton – Advanced

    8. Brandon Jones – Advanced

    9. Jeb Burton – Eliminated

    10. Myatt Snider – Eliminated

    11. Riley Herbst – Eliminated

    12. Jeremy Clements – Eliminated

    The Round of 8 in the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs will commence next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway for a 300-mile feature. The event will occur on Saturday, October 16, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.