Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: Brandon Jones

Brandon Brown achieves first NASCAR Xfinity career win at Talladega
An ultimate underdog story was made on a dark afternoon in Talladega, Alabama, after Brandon Brown dodged two late multi-car wrecks and emerged out in front of the field to win the weather-shortened Sparks 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, October 2, and score his first NASCAR Xfinity Series career win.

Brown, who achieved his first Xfinity win in his 114th career start, had managed to remain as the leader ahead of Playoff contenders Brandon Jones and Justin Allgaier when the caution flew for a late multi-car wreck involving Harrison Burton. During the cleanup session, the track was beginning to darken and NASCAR eventually made the call for the race to be deemed official six laps shy of the scheduled distance and under caution, thus handing a first career win for the Woodbridge, Virginia, native and his family operated team.

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 Justin Allgaier started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Austin Cindric.

Prior to the event, Justin Haley, winner of both Xfinity events at Talladega in 2020, started at the rear of the field due to illegally applied decals that were found on the rear roof of his car during pre-race inspection. In addition, he was forced to serve a pass-through penalty at the start of the race.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Allgaier jumped ahead with an early advantage through the first turn until Cindric fought back on the inside lane entering the backstretch.

With the field fanning out to double lanes and running in a tight pack for a full turn, Cindric, who moved in front of Allgaier through the backstretch, led the first lap by a nose over Allgaier. Cindric was the lead car on the inside lane followed by Josh Berry while Allgaier led the outside lane, where he received drafting help from teammate Noah Gragson.

Two laps later, Berry, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Las Vegas, gained a draft on Cindric through the frontstretch and pulled a slingshot move to lead a lap for himself.

Through the first six laps of the event, Cindric, who reassumed the lead two laps earlier, was leading followed by Berry, Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger and Gragson while Brandon Jones, Daniel Hemric, Harrison Burton, Myatt Snider and John Hunter Nemechek were in the top 10 as Jeb Burton, winner of the spring Talladega event, was in 11th.

By Lap 10, Allmendinger was leading ahead of Brandon Jones, Cindric and a steaming pack of cars competing in close quarters and double lanes. By then, three different competitors (Allmendinger, Cindric and Berry) had led a lap, comprising of six lead changes.

Five laps later and as the field fanned out to three and four lanes, Brandon Jones, who took over the lead on Lap 13, was leading followed by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Harrison Burton, Nemechek and Hemric while Allmendinger settled in fifth ahead of teammate Jeb Burton and Myatt Snider.

A lap later, Harrison Burton took the lead after Jones got stalled by Justin Haley in Turn 1, who was trying to remain on the lead lap following his opening lap penalty. Behind, Allgaier and Jeb Burton made contact and nearly wrecked in the middle of the field.

The following lap, Jones shoved Haley out of the draft with the pack, placing him a lap behind the leaders as Harrison Burton continued to lead ahead of the field.

Then through the frontstretch, Harrison Burton was placed in a three-wide battle with teammates Jones and Nemechek before he got shuffled out, which allowed Nemechek to take the lead on Lap 20. By then, the field started to get dicey with multiple competitors fanning out as high as four lanes and trying to formulate a run to the front.

Then on the final lap of the first stage, the caution flew when rookie Sam Mayer got turned out of a four-wide battle with Allmendinger, Brandon Brown and Brett Moffitt before he made hard contact into the outside wall in Turn 3, collecting Allmendinger as both competitors were taken out with demolished race cars.

“I just got hung up there and once you get back [to the field] with the people that you’re racing, there’s a chance of [a wreck] happening,” Allmendinger, who was released from the infield care center, said. “At the end of the day, it’s disappointing, but that’s why you work hard in the regular season, to gain all those bonus points. [It] Doesn’t completely put you in a hole. We’re going to a pretty good race track for us [next weekend]…It is what it is.”

The wreck involving Allmendinger and Mayer ended the first stage scheduled on Lap 25 under caution as Nemechek, who zigged and zagged through the inside and outside lanes to maintain the lead, claimed the stage victory. Jeb Burton settled in second followed by Riley Herbst, Cindric, Harrison Burton, Snider, Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Blaine Perkins and Daniel Hemric. By then, six different competitors led at least one lap.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Herbst, who opted for a two-tire service, left his pit stall with the lead followed by Nemechek, Snider, Cindric and Harrison Burton. Jeb Burton, who was second, got boxed behind Tommy Joe Martins while exiting his stall and came out in 10th.

Not long after, the race was red-flagged for five minutes due to repairs being made on the SAFER barriers in Turn 3 where Mayer and Allmendinger wrecked.

When the red flag lifted and the second stage started on Lap 30, Herbst gained a brief advantage through the first turn until Nemechek fought back on the inside lane. With the field running in close quarters and double lanes through the backstretch and entering the frontstretch, Herbst managed to maintain a brief advantage ahead of Nemechek and Cindric.

By Lap 35, Herbst was leading ahead of Cindric, Hemric, Blaine Perkins and Gragson while Nemechek, Brandon Brown, Brett Moffitt, Jeb Burton and Snider were in the top 10. By then, Haley, who received the free pass under the first stage, was up in 12th behind Allgaier.

Five laps later and with the field running in a long, single file line, Herbst continued to lead followed by Cindric, Hemric, Perkins, Brown and Jeb Burton.

In the closing laps of the second stage, the field started to fan out to multiple lanes and charge to the front as Herbst continued to lead by a narrow margin.

Then on the final lap of the second stage, Blaine Perkins challenged Herbst for the top spot through the backstretch. Despite the field gaining a run on him through the frontstretch, Perkins managed to claim the stage 2 victory on Lap 50. Moffitt settled in second followed by Nemechek, Herbst, Allgaier, Jeb Burton, Harrison Burton, Haley, Cindric and Gragson. By then, the race featured nine different leaders for 14 lead changes.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Herbst reassumed the lead followed by Haley. During the pit stops, names like Joe Graf Jr., Bayley Currey, Ryan Vargas and Mason Massey remained on the track, though all pitted prior to the restart.

With 59 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Herbst and Haley started on the front row. At the start, Herbst jumped ahead of Haley followed by Allgaier before Allgaier moved to the lead the following lap. With Allgaier leading, he was followed by Cindric and Harrison Burton.

The following lap, Cindric moved to the front followed by Herbst, Allgaier, Harrison Burton and the field.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Allgaier was leading ahead of Moffitt, Gragson, Jeb Burton and Berry while Hemric, Haley, Perkins, Cindric and Herbst were in the top 10. Harrison Burton was in 11th while teammate John Hunter Nemechek was in 13th.

A lap later, Moffitt moved into the lead. Another two laps later, Jeb Burton led a lap for himself before Cindric re-took the top spot.

Shortly after, Moffitt joined Berry, Allgaier and Gragson in pitting under green. A few laps later, names like Cindric, Harrison Burton, Herbst, Hemric and Nemechek pitted under green. While most of the Toyota competitors pitted, Brandon Jones failed to dive on to pit road with his teammates.

Soon after, names like Jeb Burton, Haley, Jones, Jade Buford, Snider, Jordan Anderson and others pitted under green.

With 40 laps remaining, names like Mason Massey, Kyle Weatherman, CJ McLaughlin and Jason White had yet to pit while the first 10 competitors, running in a single file line on fresh tires and full fuel led by Herbst, were trailing by 20 seconds.

Just then, the caution flew when Bayley Currey stalled his car on pit road. Under caution, names like Massey, Weatherman, McLaughlin, White and Moffitt pitted while the rest led by Herbst and Cindric remained on the track. Playoff contender Jeremy Clements also pitted due to experiencing cylinder issues in his car.

With 34 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Herbst received a push from Allgaier to jump ahead with the lead and in front of Cindric. Then through the backstretch, Herbst and Cindric moved up to the outside lane as Gragson challenged for the lead on the inside lane.

As Gragson took the lead, Herbst challenged on the outside lane followed by Cindric and Allgaier while Josh Berry closed in on teammate Gragson’s rear bumper.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event and with the field fanning out to multiple lanes in a pack, Gragson was leading ahead of teammate Berry, Moffitt, Jeb Burton, Snider, Brandon Jones, Cindric, Jordan Anderson, Haley and Herbst. Allgaier was in 12th, Henric was in 14th and Harrison Burton was in 17th in front of teammate John Hunter Nemechek.

Five laps later, Moffitt and Gragson challenged in a side-by-side battle for the lead. Then, the caution flew for a vicious crash that started when Jeb Burton and Moffitt made contact in Turn 3, which sent Moffitt turning into Gragson as Gragson pounded into the outside wall and was hit by Myatt Snider. As more cars wrecked behind, Gragson received another vicious hit by McLaughlin and Caesar Bacarella before his battered No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro came to a rest below the apron. Among those involved included Jeb Burton, Moffitt, Berry, Brandon Jones, Bacarella, Vargas, Garrett Smithley, McLaughlin, Santino Ferrucci, Ryan Sieg and Mason Massey. The wreck was enough to pause the race for more than 15 minutes as all competitors, including Gragson, were okay.

Following an extensive cleanup period and with the skies darkening as rain was being reported near the superspeedway, the race restarted with 20 laps remaining as Jeb Burton and Brandon Jones occupied the front row.

At the start, Brandon Jones jumped to the lead followed by Allgaier, Hemric and Haley while Jeb Burton was falling behind on the outside lane.

The following lap, Jeffrey Earnhardt made contact with the outside wall near the pit entrance and spun, but he was able to nurse his car to pit road as the race remained running in green.

Back on the track, Jones continued to lead followed by Allgaier, Hemric, Haley, Brown, Jade Buford, Jeb Burton, Harrison Burton, Jordan Anderson and Austin Cindric.

With 15 laps remaining, Brandon Jones was leading a long single-file line ahead of Allgaier, Hemric, Haley and Brown as Jeb Burton led a charge on the outside lane. Burton’s momentum, though, stalled was the leaders moved up the outside lane.

A few laps later, the field fanned out to multiple lanes and in a tight pack as Brandon Brown and Jordan Anderson challenged for the lead alongside Brandon Jones.

Then with 11 laps remaining, the caution returned when Harrison Burton got sideways entering Turn 3 and turned back across the track and into the Turn 3 outside wall, where he collected Nemechek, Moffitt, Herbst, Josh Williams, Alex Labbe, Jason White and Jeb Burton, who bumper cover got clipped off. At the time of caution, NASCAR ruled that Brown was the leader ahead of Brandon Jones and Allgaier.

Following the cleanup, the field continued to run behind the pace car and under caution as darkness began to overshadow the track. With darkness looming and beginning to cover the superspeedway, NASCAR then decided to declare the race official six laps shy of the finish. The decision handed the victory to Brandon Brown, who crossed the finish line under cautious pace with the lead.

With his victory, Brown became the 169th different competitor to win in the Xfinity Series. He also became the fifth first-time Xfinity winner of 2021 and the sixth to do so at Talladega.

While celebrating on the frontstretch amid a chorus of cheers from the crowd, Brown dedicated the win to his family operated organization, Brandonbilt Motorsports.

“Oh my God!” Brown, who celebrated on the frontstretch, exclaimed. “This is a dream come true! Wow, Talladega, winner in NASCAR! Oh my God! Dad, we did it! Let’s go! This is everything we hoped and dreamed for. Everything I’ve wanted to do was to take the trophy home for mom and dad. Oh my God. Thank you so much. Thank you to all our partners. It’s just such an unbelievable moment. We saw our moment and we seized it. I’m just so proud of Brandonbilt Motorsports, so proud of everybody on our team, here and at home. Everybody that’s worked on our team since the beginning. We did it, we did it, we did it.”

Brandon Jones was the highest-finishing Playoff competitor in second place while Justin Allgaier ended up in third place.

“First off, let me just say how grateful I am to have Menards on our Supra,” Jones said. “It’s a big day for us. You look at the whole day and all the scenarios that happened. I think that’s probably the best option without us winning, to have [Brown] win. Good for him. Also, I think that it obviously doesn’t affect the point too bad for us. [I] Had some solid moments there. Don’t know how we missed the Big One there in [Turns] 3 and 4 early on in the day. Lot of positives, but we’re close. It’s tough to swallow.”

“It’s disappointing to get that close and not being able to race for [the win],” Allgaier said. “Congrats to Brandon. Those guys worked really, really hard. It’s cool to see a first-time winner. Obviously, they did what they needed to do there at the end. Really proud of my team. The BRANDT Professional Agricultural Camaro was really good. We did what we needed to do. We come out of here with a good points gap. We didn’t lock our way into the next round, but we can go to the [Charlotte] Roval next week, have some fun and hopefully, go for it. “

Daniel Hemric ended up in fourth for his 11th top-five result of the season while Jordan Anderson emerged with his first top-five result in the Xfinity Series by finishing fifth.

Haley, teammate Jeb Burton, Cindric, Berry and Joe Graf Jr. completed the top 10 on the track.

Cindric’s eighth-place result was enough for him to clinch his spot in the Playoff’s Round of 8 based on points as he continues his pursuit to defend his series title. Meanwhile, names like Jeb Burton, Myatt Snider, Riley Herbst and Jeremy Clements are below the top-eight cutline entering next weekend’s Playoff elimination event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.

There were 33 lead changes for 17 different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 21 laps.

Results.

1. Brandon Brown, eight laps led

2. Brandon Jones, 12 laps led

3. Justin Allgaier, seven laps led

4. Daniel Hemric

5. Jordan Anderson

6. Justin Haley

7. Jeb Burton, seven laps led

8. Austin Cindric, 10 laps led

9. Josh Berry, three laps led

10. Joe Graf Jr., one lap led

11. Ryan Sieg

12. Jade Buford

13. Blaine Perkins, two laps led, Stage 2 winner

14. Josh Williams

15. Joey Gase

16. JJ Yeley

17. Santino Ferrucci

18. Tommy Joe Martins

19. Garrett Smithley

20. Kyle Weatherman

21. Alex Labbe

22. John Hunter Nemechek, eight laps led, Stage 1 winner

23. Matt Mills, one lap down

24. Jeremy Clements, three laps down

25. Harrison Burton -OUT, Accident, two laps led

26. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Accident, three laps led

27. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident, 26 laps led

28. Jason White – OUT, Accident

29. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

30. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident, eight laps led

31. Myatt Snider – OUT, Accident

32. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident

33. Ryan Vargas – OUT, Accident

34. CJ McLaaughlin – OUT, Accident

35. Mason Massey – OUT, Accident, four laps led

36. Bayley Currey – OUT, Drifeshaft, two laps led

37. Landon Cassill – OUT, Engine

38. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

39. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident, three laps led

40. David Starr – OUT, Engine

Bold indicates Playoff contenders.

Playoff standings.
1. Austin Cindric – Advanced
2. Justin Allgaier, +55
3. Daniel Hemric, +41
4. AJ Allmendinger, +33
5. Justin Haley, +24
6. Brandon Jones, +21
7. Noah Gragson, +18
8. Harrison Burton, +8
9. Jeb Burton, -8
10. Myatt Snider, -24
11. Riley Herbst, -32
12. Jeremy Clements, -48
The 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs will continue next weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course venue, where the Round of 8 field will also be determined. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, October 9, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
October 2, 2021
Haley wins a thrilling three-wide photo finish at Daytona

Saving their absolute best for the last, Kaulig Racing utilized teamwork to storm to another victory at Daytona International Speedway. On this occasion, Justin Haley edged teammate AJ Allmendinger by a nose and in a three-wide photo finish including their other teammate, Jeb Burton, to win the rain-postponed Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 28.

The victory was Haley’s first of the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

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 Xfinity event at Michigan International Speedway, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Noah Gragson.

The race started on Friday evening, August 27, and Allmendinger received a push from Justin Allgaier on the outside lane to jump to an early lead and lead the first lap ahead of Noah Gragson and a steaming pack of cars. He went on to lead the following two laps before Gragson peaked ahead during the fourth lap. Allmendinger, however, quickly snatched the lead back the following lap.

By the ninth lap, Brandon Jones, who was the lead car on the inside lane, encountered early issues when he made an unscheduled pit stop under green due to overheating issues as a result of a piece of debris.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 15, Gragson, who reassumed the lead on Lap 14, was scored the leader ahead of Allmendinger and the field. Under the competition caution, some led by Gragson pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track. By then, Jones retired due to his mechanical issue.

Just as the field was set to restart, rain fell on the track and the field was brought to pit road as the race was red-flagged for a weather delay on Lap 19. Over an hour later, NASCAR declared that the race would be postponed to Saturday afternoon and run prior to the Cup event due to inclement weather continuing throughout Friday evening. At the time of, Allmendinger was leading ahead of Christopher Bell, Myatt Snider, Austin Cindric, Brett Moffitt, Justin Haley, Jeb Burton, Daniel Hemric, Jeremy Clements and Caesar Bacarella.

When the race resumed under green on Lap 21 and on Saturday afternoon, Allmendinger jumped ahead with another strong start on the outside lane followed by Cindric, Haley and Bell while Snider mounted a charge on the inside lane.

By Lap 25, Allmendinger continued to lead followed by teammate Haley while Cindric challenged as the lead car on the outside lane. Snider and Jeb Burton were in the top five followed by Bell, Michael Annett, Hemric, Allgaier and Moffitt.

A lap later, the caution flew when a bump from Snider sent Cindric making hard contact into the outside wall in the frontstretch. The incident ignited a chain reaction wreck that involved Snider, rookie Sam Mayer, Hemric and Annett. The wreck was enough to knock Cindric, who won the Xfinity opener at Daytona in February, out of contention.

With the caution period and cleanup surpassing the first stage’s conclusion on Lap 30, the first stage concluded under caution as Haley, who overtook teammate Allmendinger at the moment of caution, claimed his fifth stage victory of the season. Teammates Allmendinger and Jeb Burton settled in second and third followed by Bell and Allgaier. Scored in the top 10 were Moffitt, Gragson, Bacarella, Brandon Brown and Harrison Burton.

Under the stage break, everyone pitted except for Brandon Brown, Herbst, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Sieg and Jason White.

The second stage started on Lap 33 and Herbst jumped ahead with the lead on the outside lane followed by Briscoe as the field fanned out to three lanes through the backstraightaway.

When the field returned to the start/finish line, Brown mounted a challenge on the inside lane against Herbst for the lead. As the field continued to battle through Turns 2 and 3, the caution returned due to debris from Michael Annett’s car coming out in Turn 2.

When the race restarted on Lap 39, Herbst jumped ahead with the lead on the inside lane before he moved up to the outside lane in front of Briscoe and a bevy of cars.

Two laps later, the inside lane led by Brown mounted a charge for the lead through the tri-oval and entering the first turn. Herbst, however, was able to fight back through the backstraightaway and when the field returned to the start/finish line.

By Lap 45, Brown took the lead followed by Allmendinger, Allgaier, Gragson, Jeb Burton and Sam Mayer while Herbst fell back to eighth alongside Harrison Burton. A lap later, though, Allmendinger muscled his way back into the lead followed by Allgaier, Gragson and Mayer while Brown got shuffled back to fifth.

Three laps later, the caution returned due to debris coming off of Caesar Bacarella’s car in the frontstretch following contact from Blaine Perkins. Under caution, some including Allmendinger, Allgaier, Gragson, Mayer, Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton, Haley, Sieg and Bell pitted while the rest led by Brown and Herbst remained on the track.

With eight laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted. At the start, Brown rocketed with the lead followed by Herbst. Through the backstraightaway, though, the field fanned out to multiple lanes and caught Brown through Turns 3 and 4 as Sam Mayer made his way into the lead with drafting help from teammate Gragson.

By Lap 54, all three Kaulig Racing competitors lined up on the inside lane resulted with Jeb Burton taking the lead ahead of teammates Allmendinger and Haley. They were then quickly pursued by three JR Motorsports competitors featuring Mayer, Gragson and Allgaier, respectively.

In the closing laps of the second stage, the battle for the lead intensified as Jeb Burton continued to lead by a narrow margin over his Kaulig Racing teammates, a trio of JR Motorsports competitors and the field. By then, Brown pitted as the hood of his car went up.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 60, Jeb Burton, who was blocking all comers through both lanes, managed to claim his first stage victory of the season. Teammates Allmendinger and Haley settled in second and third followed by Herbst and Bell. Gragson, Hemric, Allgaier, Briscoe and Mayer settled in the top 10.

Under the stage break, some led by Jeb Burton pitted while the rest led by Bell and Gragson remained on the track.

With 36 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Bell and Gragson battled dead even for the lead as the field fanned out to double lanes and in a pack behind the two leaders.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event, the field settled in a long single-file lane as Gragson was leading followed by Bell, Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton, Snider, Allgaier, Mayer, Herbst, Briscoe and Moffitt while Allmendinger and Haley were in 11th and 15th. By then, Hemric was back in 14th.

Shortly after, the caution flew when Colin Garrett spun and wrecked in Turn 4 as he ended up getting his car stuck in the tri-oval muddy grass. Colby Howard also spun to avoid Garrett.

With 23 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Bell and Gragson battled dead even for the lead through the backstraightaway as the field fanned out to three lanes.

Back to the start/finish line, Bell was leading followed by Jeb Burton while Gragson fell back to fourth while battling Snider.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, the majority of the field settled in a single-file line as Bell was leading followed by Jeb Burton, Gragson, Allgaier, Herbst, Allmendinger, Snider, Harrison Burton, Hemric, Haley and Mayer while Chase Briscoe was in 13th.

A few laps later, the caution flew when Caesar Bacarella made contact with Jordan Anderson and hit the outside wall in the backstretch. While trying to straighten his car, Jade Buford and Matt Mills also wrecked to avoid Bacarella.

Under caution, some including Briscoe pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.

With 14 laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start, Jeb Burton had drafting help from Gragson to take a narrow lead before Bell fought back on the outside lane.

The following lap, Bell cleared the field with the lead followed by Allgaier and Allmendinger while the Burton cousins battled for fourth.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Bell continued to lead followed by Allgaier, Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton, Haley, Hemric, Snider, JJ Yeley, Jason White and the field, all running in a single-file line. By then, Joe Graf Jr.’s car was smoking through the frontstretch, but the field continued to run under green as Graf took his car below the apron and out of the racing groove.

With five laps remaining, Bell continued to lead, but a bevy of cars behind started to fan out to multiple lanes while challenging Bell for the lead. A lap later, Allmendinger stormed to the lead followed by teammates Jeb Burton and Haley while Allgaier also moved up, dropping Bell to fifth.

A few laps later, all three Kaulig Racing competitors led by Jeb Burton were at the front followed by Bell, Harrison Burton, Allgaier and the field.

When the final lap started, Allmendinger was leading by a narrow margin over teammate Jeb Burton, Bell and the field. Through the backstretch, Jeb Burton peeked to the inside of teammate Allmendinger, who tried to block Burton, for the lead while Bell got shuffled out on the inside lane with no drafting help. In addition, Haley made his move to the outside of Allmendinger, thus placing all three Kaulig Racing competitors in a dead three-wide heat for the win in Turns 3 and 4.

Entering the tri-oval and with the field fanning out to three lanes, Allmendinger peaked ahead with a push from Allgaier, but Haley started to gain a run on the outside lane as he had Hemric behind him. At the finish line, Haley managed to edge teammate Allmendinger by 0.023 seconds to grab the checkered flag and the win.

Photo by Andrew Boyd for SpeedwayMedia.com.

The victory guaranteed Haley a spot in the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs as he also captured his fourth career victory in the series. All four of Haley’s Xfinity victory have occurred on superspeedway venues (Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway). In addition, Kaulig Racing captured its third win at Daytona.

“It’s just not been the best season,” Haley said on NBCSN. “It’s been really, really hard on this No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection team all year. We’ve had a lot of bad luck. I was trying to formulate the plan there and obviously, team orders, saw it out of there, they were so good. Hats off to Kaulig Racing. I think we got the teammate thing down. It’s just so special to win here at Daytona. It’s absolutely incredible. That was a close one and getting it to just beat out AJ. It always means a lot, too.”

Allmendinger settled in second place while Allgaier, Jeb Burton and Hemric finished in the top five.

“I mean, that was like the perfect photo shoot right there coming across the [finish] line for all the Kaulig Racing Chevys,” Allmendinger said. “Proud of my son, Justin Haley. He might be one of the best we’ve ever seen on superspeedway. Jeb [Burton] did a fantastic job. I was hanging on in the middle [lane] there. I thought we might get it, but proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing, all the men and women. The Hyper Ice Chevy was good. I think we led the most laps as well. Finished second, all day, it seemed like, but just proud. It was fantastic.”

“We led some [laps] today and going down the back, I think I led for a second,” Jeb Burton said. “AJ kind of slid up in front of me. I checked up and gave him a shot and then, I had to take the run. I looked and we were one, two and three, and I was thinking we were gonna come across the line like that, but [Allgaier] got me at the line. Really proud of Kaulig Racing. Thanks to Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen for coming on board. We needed this and the Playoffs are coming, so we needed the momentum.”

Bell settled in sixth followed by Gragson, Snider, Harrison Burton and Herbst.

With their top-10 results, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Daniel Hemric and Harrison Burton have locked themselves into the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoffs based on points. Including six other competitors that are in based on winning throughout the regular-season stretch (Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, Justin Haley, Jeb Burton and Myatt Snider), there are four spots left vacant to the Playoffs with three regular-season races remaining to the schedule.

There were 17 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 29 laps.

With his runner-up result, AJ Allmendinger leads the regular-season standings by 17 points over Austin Cindric.

Results.

1. Justin Haley, five laps led, Stage 1 winner

2. AJ Allmendinger, 30 laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Justin Allgaier

4. Jeb Burton, eight laps led

5. Daniel Hemric

6. Christopher Bell, 23 laps led

7. Noah Gragson, 16 laps led

8. Myatt Snider

9. Harrison Burton

10. Riley Herbst, nine laps led

11. Brett Moffitt

12. Sam Mayer, one lap led

13. JJ Yeley

14. David Starr

15. Jason White

16. Ryan Sieg

17. Josh Williams

18. Tommy Joe Martins

19. Chase Briscoe

20. Jeffrey Earnhardt

21. Landon Cassill

22. Jordan Anderson

23. Blaine Perkins

24. Jeremy Clements

25. Mason Massey

26. Colby Howard

27. Ryan Vargas

28. Jade Buford

29. Tim Viens

30. Michael Annett

31. Alex Labbe

32. Kyle Weatherman, two laps down

33. Matt Mills, two laps down

34. Brandon Brown, three laps down, nine laps led

35. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Accident

36. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident

37. Colin Garrett – OUT, Accident

38. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Engine

39. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident

40. Brandon Jones – OUT, Engine

With the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season stretch nearing its conclusion, the series will next travel to Darlington, South Carolina, and compete at Darlington Raceway on Saturday, September 4, during Labor Day weekend. The event will occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

August 28, 2021
Allmendinger survives three overtime attempts to win at Michigan

Coming off a thrilling Cup victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, AJ Allmendinger extended his momentum in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The veteran competitor from Los Gatos, California, survived three overtime restarts and a late charge from Brandon Jones to win the New Holland 250 at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, August 21.

The victory was Allmendinger’s third of this year’s Xfinity season as he continues his pursuit for his first NASCAR championship.

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, winner of the previous Xfinity event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with AJ Allmendinger.

Prior to the event, Josh Berry started at the rear of the field due to replacing Michael Annett in the event, with Annett being absent for the fourth time this season as he continues to recover from a leg surgery.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Cindric and Allmendinger battled dead even for the lead until Cindric got dead sideways in the first turn. As Allmendinger pulled ahead with the lead, Cindric got stuck in the middle lane with no cars behind him as a bevy of competitors went by him.

Following the completion of the first lap, Allmendinger was leading ahead of teammate Justin Haley, Noah Gragson, Cindric, Justin Allgaier, Harrison Burton and the field. The following lap, Allmendinger’s advantage over Gibbs stretched out to nearly two seconds.

Through the first five laps of the event, Allmendinger was leading by nearly two seconds over Gibbs, with Cindric, Justin Haley and Noah Gragson settling in the top five. Harrison Burton was in sixth followed by Justin Allgaier, Myatt Snider, Brett Moffitt and Daniel Hemric.

By Lap 10, Allmendinger continued to lead by more than a second over Gibbs. While Cindric and Haley remained in the top five, Harrison Burton made his way into fifth place ahead of Gragson and Allgaier. Behind, Josh Berry was up in 21st behind Alex Labbe.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 15, Allmendinger remained as the leader over Gibbs and the field. Under the competition caution, some led by Tyler Reddick pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track. During the pit stops, Reddick missed his pit box and returned the following lap.

The race restarted on Lap 20 and Allmendinger, the leader, had issues launching at the start, which forced Gibbs and Cindric to place Allmendinger in a four-wide battle for the top spot along with Haley. By the second turn, Cindric made his way into the lead followed by Gibbs while Allmendinger was back in third. Harrison Burton was in fourth ahead of teammate Hemric, Haley, Snider, Gragson and Allgaier.

A lap later, the caution returned due to Caesar Bacarella wrecking in Turn 4. Under caution, names like Allgaier, Jeb Burton, Tommy Joe Maartins, Bubba Wallace, Brandon Brown and Ryan Sieg pitted while the rest led by Cindric remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Allgaier was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation while Wallace was penalized for an over-the-wall-too-soon violation.

When the race restarted with four laps remaining in the first stage, Cindric muscle ahead of the top spot to retain the lead through the first two turns while Gibbs challenged Snider for the runner-up spot. A lap later, both Gibbs and Allmendinger overtook Snider for second and third.

While the field behind jostled for final opportunities of positions, Cindric cruised ahead to claim the first stage victory on Lap 30, which marked his ninth stage victory of the season. Gibbs settled in second followed by Allmendinger, Snider, Gragson, Hemric, Harrison Burton, Brandon Jones, Berry and Haley.

Under the stage break, a majority led by Cindric pitted while the rest led by Jeb Burton remained on the track. During the pit stops, rookie Sam Mayer took his No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to the garage due to transmission issues.

The second stage started on Lap 35 and Jeb Burton rocketed with the lead followed by Tyler Reddick and the field through the first two turns. Just then, the caution flew for a heavy multi-car wreck in Turn 2 that started when Snider slid up the track in Turn 2, made slight contact with Cindric and ran into Brandon Brown before spinning. In the ensuing chaos, Cindric, who was trying to dodge Snider, ran into Hemric and both spun into the outside wall, collecting Bubba Wallace and Brown. Haley and Joe Graf Jr. were also collected in the wreck.

Under caution, Snider was held two laps in his pit stall for improper fueling. By then, Hemric and Cindric, who was strong at the start of the race and was trying to continue, retired.

Following an extensive caution period, the race restarted on Lap 45. At the start, Jeb Burton retained the lead while Allgaier and Allmendinger overtook Tyler Reddick for spots in the top three.

By Lap 54, Allmendinger returned to the lead after he overtook teammate Jeb Burton for the top spot.

Down to the final five laps of the second stage, Allmendinger was out in front by nearly a second over Gibbs with Allgaier in third while Jeb Burton was back in fourth ahead of his cousin, Harrison.

When the final lap of the second stage struck, Allmendinger continued to lead by nearly a second over Gibbs. With no comers closing in behind, Allmendinger came back around and claimed the second stage victory on Lap 60, thus achieving his eighth stage victory of the season. Gibbs settled in second followed by Harrison Burton, Allgaier, Jeb Burton, Gragson, Brandon Jones, Josh Berry, Brett Moffitt and Riley Herbst.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Allmendinger retained the lead after exiting pit road in first place ahead of Harrison Burton, Allgaier, Jeb Burton and Gragson. During the pit stops, Gibbs got blocked by Josh Williams in his pit box and fell from second to 10th.

With 59 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Allmendinger launched ahead with the top spot on the outside lane through Turn 1 while Allgaier muscled his way into the runner-up spot ahead of cousins Jeb and Harrison Burton.

While Allmendinger and Allgaier were running first and second, the Burton cousins occupied third and fourth while Josh Berry, who started at the rear of the field, made his way into the top five ahead of Brandon Jones, Gragson, Gibbs and Herbst. A few laps later, Berry muscled into fourth place ahead of Jeb Burton, who was also being intimidated by Brandon Jones for more.

With 52 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead by nearly four-tenths of a second over Allgaier. By then, Harrison Burton made an unscheduled two-tire pit stop under green due to vibration concerns while Josh Berry moved up to third place.

With 40 laps remaining of the event, Allmendinger was leading by a tenth of a second over Allgaier and four-tenths of a second over Berry, with the two JR Motorsports competitors closing and issuing a challenging on Kaulig Racing’s Allmendinger for the top spot.

Two laps later, Allgaier peaked ahead of Allmendinger through Turn 4 to lead for a lap before Allmendinger fought back through Turn 1. Then, when Allmendinger and Allgaier got stalled behind two lapped cars entering Turn 2, Berry zipped by both on the outside lane to take the lead.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Berry was leading by more than a second over teammate Allgaier.

Nearing the final 20 laps of the event, pit stops under green occurred as Gragson, who was running in the top 10, pitted. Soon after, Brett Moffitt pitted along with Gibbs, who was then penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation. Then, Berry and Allmendinger pitted while Allgaier remained on the track for three laps before pitting.

With approximately 15 laps remaining, Jeb Burton, who had yet to pit, was leading followed by Riley Herbst. A few laps later, however, Burton ran out of fuel as his car was coasting below the banking in Turn 1. Soon after, Herbst also ran out of fuel, but he was able to nurse his car back to pit road and his pit stall while Allgaier reassumed the top spot followed by his hard-charging teammate, Berry.

With 10 laps remaining, the caution flew when Jeb Burton stalled his car near the pit road entrance after he was unable to nurse his car back to his pit stall. At the time of caution, Allgaier, who was locked into a fierce battle with Berry, managed to retain the lead ahead of his teammate.

Under caution, Allgaier surrendered the lead to pit while the rest led by Berry remained on the track. Along with Allgaier, Harrison Burton, Herbst, Jeremy Clements and Gibbs pitted.

Down to the final four laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Allmendinger muscled into the lead ahead of Brandon Jones and Berry. Then, the caution flew due to a two-car accident on the backstretch involving Bayley Currey and Jesse Little.

With the race sent into overtime, the race restarted as Allmendinger and Berry filled in the front row. At the start, Allmendinger retained the lead. The race, however, was sent into another caution period and another overtime attempt when Mason Massey and Colby Howard wrecked.

In the second overtime attempt, Allmendinger and Berry dueled for the lead as the field fanned out to multiple lanes entering the first turn. Then through Turns 1 and 2, while Berry slowly slid up the track, Gibbs got loose and hit the outside wall. While trying to straighten his car, Gibbs ended up spinning in the straightaway before making contact with the wall again, though he was dodged by the oncoming field. Gibbs’ spin was enough for NASCAR to draw the caution as the race was still not deemed official. At the time of caution, Allmendinger remained as the leader ahead of Brandon Jones, Berry, Gragson and Herbst.

In the third overtime attempt, Allmendinger received a push from Jones to pull ahead with the lead ahead of Gragson. While the field fanned out through the backstretch, Allmendinger slowly started to place a gap between himself and Jones.

When the final lap started, Allmendinger was leading by two-tenths of a second over Jones, with Gragson trailing by half a second. Despite a valiant final lap effort from Jones, Allmendinger was able to come back around, retain the top spot and streak across the finis line in first place to claim his third checkered flag of the season.

The victory at the Irish Hills was Allmendinger’s third of this year’s Xfinity Series season and the eighth of his career, with the Xfinity Series making its return to Michigan International Speedway following a one-year absence. The race was also the 11th Xfinity career victory for Kaulig Racing, which achieved its first Cup career win last weekend at Indianapolis with Allmendinger.

“Wow, what a hell of a six days. Oh my goodness,” Allmendinger, who led a race-high 70 laps, said on NBCSN. “This is what’s awesome, though, to have all the fans back. Indy, last weekend, was spectacular. Michigan, thank you. You, guys, make it fun. I’m more tired from the celebrations than I am from driving. When you’re restarting on the front row, the outside [lane] was the place to be. The problem is, you just got to hope you got pushed. Brandon Jones, thank you so much because he pushed me every time. Man, I can’t thank all the men and women at Kaulig Racing enough. I don’t wanna wake up from this dream.”

Brandon Jones finished in the runner-up spot for his eighth top-five result of the season and following three DNFs in the previous four Xfinity races while Noah Gragson settled in third place for his eighth top-five result of the season.

Berry, who led 24 laps, notched a strong fourth-place result as an interim competitor for Michael Annett while Harrison Burton finished in the top five for the eighth time this season.

Allgaier, Herbst, Moffitt, Jade Buford and Bubba Wallace finished in the top 10. Ty Gibbs, who was in position for a strong result following his late incident, came home in 13th.

There were 13 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 43 laps.

Despite his early accident and retirement, Austin Cindric continues to lead the regular-season standings by 35 points over AJ Allmendinger as the 2021 Xfinity Series regular-season stretch is four races away from being complete.

Results.

1. AJ Allmendinger, 70 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Brandon Jones

3. Noah Gragson

4. Josh Berry, 24 laps led

5. Harrison Burton

6. Justin Allgaier, nine laps led

7. Riley Herbst

8. Brett Moffitt

9. Jade Buford

10. Bubba Wallace

11. Jeremy Clements

12. Ryan Sieg

13. Ty Gibbs, one lap led

14. Matt Mills

15. Jordan Anderson, one lap down

16. Tyler Reddick, one lap down

17. Justin Haley, one lap down

18. Josh Williams, one lap down

19. Tommy Joe Martins, one lap down

20. Colin Garrett, one lap down

21. Ryan Vargas, one lap down

22. David Starr, two laps down

23. Jeffrey Earnhardt, two laps down

24. Kyle Weatherman, two laps down

25. Colby Howard, two laps down

26. Landon Cassill, two laps down

27. Gray Gaulding, two laps down

28. Carson Ware, three laps down

29. Jeb Burton, four laps down, 23 laps led

30. Mason Massey – OUT, Accident

31. Alex Labbe, 16 laps down

32. Jesse Little – OUT, Accident

33. Sam Mayer, 25 laps down

34. Bayley Currey – OUT, Accident

35. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Dvp

36. Myatt Snider – OUT, Dvp

37. Austin Cindric – OUT, Dvp, 12 laps led, Stage 1 winner

38. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Dvp

39. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

40. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ second event of the season at Daytona International Speedway. The event will occur on Friday, August 27, at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

August 21, 2021
Bell makes it an Xfinity three-peat at New Hampshire

Christopher Bell made the most of his one-race return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series by remaining undefeated at New Hampshire Motor Speedway following a dominating victory in the Ambetter Get Vaccinated 200 on Saturday, July 17. The Norman, Oklahoma, native quickly worked his way from starting 14th to sweep both stages and lead a race-high 151 of 200 laps before recording the win by more than six seconds over Justin Allgaier and Daniel Hemric.

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, Jeb Burton started on pole position and was joined on the front row with teammate Justin Haley.

Prior to the event, Landon Cassill and Matt Mills dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective machines. Dawson Cram also started at the rear of the field due to a driver change.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Jeb Burton prevailed on the outside lane through the first two turns to take an early lead over teammate Haley, Austin Cindric and the field.

With the field fanned out to nearly four lanes through the backstretch, Jeb Burton was able to lead the first lap. Behind, Cindric moved up to second followed by AJ Allmendinger, Haley, Jeremy Clements, Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier, Harrison Burton, Brett Moffitt and Riley Herbst.

By the fifth lap, Jeb Burton was leading by more than a second over Cindric, who had Allmendinger challenging him for the spot. Haley remained in fourth followed by Clements, Harrison Burton and Allgaier.

Twelve laps later, Allmendinger overtook teammate Jeb Burton for the lead. Allmendinger then went on to retain the lead through Lap 20 before the competition caution flew.

The race restarted on Lap 26 with Allmendinger and Cindric starting on the front row. Just as the field was approaching the start/finish line to restart under green, the caution returned for a restart pileup involving Riley Herbst, Brandon Jones, Brett Moffitt and Sam Mayer, an incident that sent the back end of the field scattering to avoid the calamity.

Following the incident, the race restarted on Lap 30. Through the following 13 laps, Allmendinger remained out in front until he had Bell and teammate Harrison Burton challenging him with the first stage reaching its conclusion.

With two laps remaining in the first stage, Bell, following a lengthy battle with Allmendinger and Harrison Burton, moved his No. 54 DeWalt Toyota Supra into the lead. Just as Allmendinger had a final lap effort established for Bell, the caution flew due to a wreck in Turn 1 involving Kyle Weatherman and Tommy Joe Martins. The incident ended the first stage under caution on Lap 45 with Bell in front of Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Cindric, Daniel Hemric, Allgaier, Haley, Jeb Burton, Josh Berry and Clements.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field, except for Brandon Brown and Joe Graf Jr., pitted, and Bell was the first competitor to exit pit road.

The second stage started on Lap 53 and Brown retained the lead through the first two turns until he was overtaken by Allmendinger. With Allmendinger back in the lead, Bell also made his way into the runner-up spot on the track.

By Lap 56, Bell returned to the lead after he overtook Allmendinger for the top spot. Behind, Cindric was in third place ahead of Haley, Allgaier, Hemric, Jeb Burton, Noah Gragson, Brandon Brown, Myatt Snider and Josh Berry.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Bell, who continued to dominate, was out in front. Cindric was scored in second followed by Hemric, Allmendinger, Allgaier, Haley, Berry, Harrison Burton, Gragson and Jeb Burton.

Under the stage break, the entire field pitted and Bell retained the lead following his exit from pit road.

With 102 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start and with the field battling for positions, Bell remained as the leader by a clear advantage over Allgaier, Hemric and the field.

With 52 laps remaining, the caution returned when Patrick Emerling lost a right-front tire and smacked the outside wall approaching Turn 4. Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Bell retained the lead after exiting pit road with the lead.

Down to the final 45 laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bell and Hemric filled the front row. At the start, Bell pulled ahead with the lead followed by Allgaier while Hemric fell back to third ahead of Cindric.

A lap later, Gragson hit the outside wall in Turn 3 following contact with Allmendinger, but the race remained under green.

Meanwhile, the battle for the lead ignited between Bell and Allgaier, with the latter pressuring the former. Despite Allgaier’s repeated challenges through the turns and the straightaways under the final 40 laps, Bell continued to lead.

With 20 laps remaining, Bell continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Allgaier and Hemric.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Bell extended his advantage to nearly five seconds over Allgaier and Hemric. Cindric was back in fourth followed by Harrison Burton and Haley, who was more than 10 second behind.

Despite being surrounded by lapped traffic through the final laps, Bell utilized his huge advantage to pull away and cruise to the finish line, where he claimed his third consecutive checkered flag at the Magic Mile.

Along with his third consecutive Xfinity victory at New Hampshire, Bell achieved his 17th NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory in his 75th series start and the eighth victory of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 Toyota Supra team.

“What I’ve got figured out is that I’ve got really, really fast race cars to drive,” Bell said on NBCSN. “I just love being here with Joe Gibbs Racing. All these Supras that I’ve had the last three times I’ve been here have been amazing. Hopefully my Camry is just as good tomorrow, but if feels good to win, finally got DeWalt in victory lane. I know it’s been a long time coming…Just really proud to be at Joe Gibbs Racing. Everyone here does an amazing job.”

Allgaier held off Hemric to finish in the runner-up spot while Cindric and Harrison Burton completed the top five on the track.

Haley, Snider, Josh Berry, Moffitt and Riley Herbst finished in the top 10.

Teammates Jeb Burton and Allmendinger finished 11th and 12th while Gragson settled in 14th in front of Jeremy Clements.

There were five lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 28 laps.

With his top-five run, Austin Cindric continues to lead the regular-season standings by 82 over AJ Allmendinger and 113 over Daniel Hemric.

Results.

1. Christopher Bell, 151 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

2. Justin Allgaier

3. Daniel Hemric

4. Austin Cindric

5. Harrison Burton

6. Justin Haley

7. Myatt Snider

8. Josh Berry

9. Brett Moffitt

10. Riley Herbst

11. Jeb Burton, 16 laps led

12. AJ Allmendinger, 29 laps led

13. Ryan Sieg

14. Noah Gragson

15. Jeremy Clements

16. Brandon Gdovic

17. Brandon Brown, four laps led

18. Jade Buford, two laps down

19. Kyle Weatherman, two laps down

20. David Starr, two laps down

21. Tommy Joe Martins, three laps down

22. Josh Williams, three laps down

23. JJ Yeley, three laps down

24. Joe Graf Jr., three laps down

25. Landon Cassill, two laps down

26. Jeffrey Earnhardt, three laps down

27. Dexter Bean, three laps down

28. Jesse Little three laps down

29. Ryan Vargas, four laps down

30. Colby Howard, four laps down

31. Patrick Emerling, four laps down

32. Matt Mills, five laps down

33. Spencer Boyd, six laps down

34. Jordan Anderson, six laps down

35. Dawson Cram, 16 laps down

36. Alex Labbe, 26 laps down

37. CJ McLaughlin – OUT, Electrical

38. Brandon Jones – OUT, Electrical

39. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

40. Mason Massey – OUT, Accident

The 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season will enter a two-week break period before returning on Saturday, August 7, at Watkins Glen International. The event is slated to start at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

July 17, 2021
Kyle Busch caps off potential Xfinity Series career with a dominant victory at Atlanta

In what could be his final NASCAR Xfinity Series start of his illustrious racing career, Kyle Busch walked off as a winner after dominating and fending off the field in overtime to claim the inaugural Credit Karma Money 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 10. The victory made Busch five-for-five ini this year’s Xfinity season as he also claimed his 102nd career win in his 362nd series start.

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, Kyle Busch, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Road America, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with teammate Daniel Hemric.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Kyle Busch rocketed away with the lead from the inside lane, where he led the first lap followed by AJ Allmendinger, Harrison Burton and Justin Haley while Hemric, who started on the outside lane, slipped out of the top five through the first two turns.

Following the first five laps of the event, Kyle Busch was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Allmendinger, with Haley, Harrison Burton and Noah Gragson running in the top five. Jeremy Clements was in sixth followed by Hemric, Austin Cindric and Jeb Burton while Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones were battling for 10th.

Five laps later, Kyle Busch’s advantage grew to nearly two seconds over Allmendinger wile Haley, Harrison Burton and Gragson continued to run in the top five. By then, Austin Dillon, who filled in the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro in place of Michael Annett with Annett absent due to a leg injury, was battling for a top-25 spot after starting at the rear of the field.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 20, Kyle Busch was out in front by nearly seven-tenths of a second over Allmendinger. Meanwhile, Harrison Burton was up in third followed by Gragson, Haley and Hemric.

Under the competition caution, some led by Austin Cindric pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track.

On Lap 24, the race restarted and Kyle Busch received another strong start to retain the lead while the field behind fanned out to three lanes. While Haley and Hemric struggled to launch on the outside lane, Allmendinger moved up to second followed by Harrison Burton and Gragson.

By Lap 30, the No. 54 Extra Gum Toyota Supra driven by Kyle Busch was leading by six-tenths of a second over the No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Allmendinger. Harrison Burton, racing in the No. 20 Offerpad Toyota Supra, was in third followed by teammate Hemric, Gragson, Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier, Brett Moffitt, Haley and Alex Labbe.

With a clear, early advantage, Kyle Busch was able to cruise to the first stage victory on Lap 40. Allmendinger settled in second followed by Harrison Burton, Hemric, Gragson, Moffitt, Labbe, Haley, Brandon Jones and Austin Dillon.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Harrison Burton emerged with the lead followed by Hemric, Allmendinger, Gragson and Kyle Busch, who lost the lead following his service.

The second stage started on Lap 46 with Harrison Burton and Gragson starting on the front row. At the start, Gragson and Harrison Burton battled for the lead through the backstretch before Gragson pulled out ahead. Behind, Kyle Busch marched his way to third place behind teammate Harrison Burton before taking over the runner-up spot.

By Lap 49, Kyle Busch returned to the lead after overtaking Gragson on the outside lane in Turn 3. Shortly after, the caution flew due to an incident on the frontstretch involving Matt Mills and veteran David Starr.

When the race restarted on Lap 55, Kyle Busch launched ahead with the lead followed by Gragson while Harrison Burton, Allmendinger and Hemric engaged in a three-wide battle for third in Turn 1. Through the backstretch, Hemric was able to prevail ahead over teammate Harrison Burton with Allgaier moving up to fifth over Allmendinger.

By Lap 60, Kyle Busch continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Gragson. Behind, Harrison Burton moved back into third place followed by Allmendinger and Hemric, who was being pressured by Allgaier and Moffitt for more.

Nearly three laps later, the caution returned when Josh Berry spun off of Turn 4, though he was dodged by the incoming traffic.

On Lap 66, the race restarted and Kyle Busch was able to clear AJ Allmendinger entering Turn 2 to retain the lead while the field behind battled through multiple lanes for positioning.

Through the first 70 laps of the event, Kyle Busch remained out in front by more than a second over Allmendinger, with Gragson, Allgaier and Hemric in the top five. Harrison Burton was back in sixth followed by Moffitt, Brandon Jones, Ty Dillon and Austin Dillon.

Like he did in the first stage, Kyle Busch was able to muscle away from the field with a comfortable advantage and claim the second stage victory on Lap 80 by eight-tenths of a second over Allmendinger. Gragson, Allgaier, Hemric, Harrison Burton, Moffitt, Ty Dillon, Haley and Austin Dillon settled in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and this time, Kyle Busch exited pit road with the lead over Allmendinger, Gragson, Hemric and the field. Following the pit stops, Allmendinger was assessed a pit road speeding penalty. In addition, Harrison Burton pitted for a second time to have the lug nuts on his car tightened.

With 77 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Hemric started on the front row. At the start, Kyle Busch received another start on the inside lane to retain the lead followed by Gragson while Hemric slipped back to third.

Seven laps later, Kyle Busch stretched his advantage to more than a second over Gragson, with Moffitt running in third place ahead of Hemric and Allgaier. Running in the top 10 were Haley, rookie Sam Mayer, Austin Dillon, Cindric and Ty Dillon. Allmendinger, meanwhile, was in 16th behind teammate Jeb Burton while Harrison Burton was in 19th in front of Gray Gaulding.

Not long after, the caution returned for an incident involving Gray Gaulding, who spun and hit the backstretch wall. Under caution, some led by teammates Gragson and Allgaier remained on the track while the rest led by Kyle Busch pitted.

With 62 laps remaining, the race restarted. By then, Gragson surrendered his spot near the front to pit and have a flat tire addressed. At the start, Allgaier retained the lead over Haley while the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes between competitors on fresh tires over those with none.

A few laps later, Allgaier was leading by nearly six-tenths of a second over Hemric, with Haley, Jeb Burton and Ty Dillon in the top five. By then, Kyle Busch was in ninth in between Cindric and Allmendinger while Harrison Burton was in 11th ahead of Moffitt.

With 58 laps remaining, Hemric muscled his No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra into the lead over Allgaier. By then, Kyle Busch worked his way back into the top five. Another few laps later, Busch was up into second place and trailing teammate Hemric by more than a second.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Hemric was still leading, but his advantage decreased to a second over his hard-charging teammate Kyle Busch. Allmendinger, meanwhile, trailed by more than two seconds while the Dillon brothers rounded out the top five ahead of Moffitt, Allgaier, Harrison Burton, Cindric and Haley.

Five laps later, the caution returned for an incident involving Brandon Jones and Ryan Sieg in the backstretch, with Jones making hard contact against the outside wall. Under caution, names like Ty Dillon, Myatt Snider, Tommy Joe Martins and Gragson remained on the track while the rest led by Hemric and Kyle Busch pitted. Prior to the restart, Allgaier was sent to the rear of the field due to a commitment line violation,

With 39 laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start, the front-runners fanned out to three lanes before Hemric muscled to the lead followed by Kyle Busch on the outside lane. With Busch close behind, Hemric was leading while seeking his elusive first victory in NASCAR.

With 30 laps remaining, Hemric continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch. Behind, Allmendinger and Moffitt battled for third followed by Harrison Burton, Austin Dillon, Haley, Cindric, Sieg and Clements. Allgaier, following his commitment line penalty, was in 12th while teammate Gragson was in 14th.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event and with the leaders catching lapped traffic, Hemric stabilized his advantage to nearly six-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch, who was unable to close in for the lead despite keeping his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate within sight.

Three laps later, the caution flew when Carson Ware spun on the backstretch. By then, Hemric stretched his advantage to nearly a second over Busch.

Under caution, nearly all of the leaders pitted and Hemric exited pit road ahead of teammate Kyle Busch by a nose. Back on the track, Kyle Weatherman did not pit and assumed the lead.

With 11 laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start, Hemric moved himself quickly back to the front followed by Kyle Busch and the competitors on the inside lane. For Weatherman, however, his time at the front did not last long after a transmission issue while restarting resulted with him getting hit by Brandon Brown and Harrison Burton before spinning, thus bringing back the caution flag.

Under caution, few like Harrison Burton, Myatt Snider and Tommy Joe Martins pitted while the rest led by Hemric remained on the track.

With six laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Hemric and Allmendinger started on the front row in front of Kyle Busch and Allgaier. At the start, Allmendinger issued a challenge for the lead on Hemric, who had teammate Kyle Busch trying to push him out in front. While trying to maintain the lead, Hemric was then bumped by teammate Busch, who then was turned into Allmendinger and sent sideways while making hard contact with the outside wall in Turn 1. The incident all but spoiled another opportunity for Hemric to achieve his first NASCAR national touring series win.

With Hemric out of contention, Kyle Busch was back out in front followed by Moffitt, Jeb Burton, Haley and Allmendinger.

Down to a two-lap shootout, the race restarted with Kyle Busch and Jeb Burton starting on the front row. At the start, Busch managed to clear Burton through the backstretch to retain the lead. While Burton kept Busch within his sights, the latter started to pull away and maintain a decent advantage when he started the final lap.

For one final lap, Busch was able to keep Jeb Burton and Gragson at bay as he came back around and claimed the checkered flag for the win.

In addition to winning for the 102nd time in the Xfinity circuit and winning in all five of his scheduled Xfinity starts, Busch also recorded his third series victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway and his 222nd NASCAR national touring series career victory.

While celebrating on the frontstretch in front of the grandstands, Busch took a moment to address his late restart incident involving his teammate Daniel Hemric.

“Yeah, I meant to push [Hemric], and I wanted to hit him, I just wanted to ht him forward and straight but turned him sideways a little bit, and I think he got more help on his right side,” Busch saaid on NBCSN. “Just trying to help a teammate there, and that’s why I restarted behind him. Overall, great day for our 54 car, but [Hemric] was better and deserved this win. So, I’m sorry to Daniel and all those guys. I hate it that all that transpired. That’s why this win is a little more somber than others have been. You don’t take solace in a win like that. But a win’s a win.”

“Yeah, as far as I know, as far as what’s gonna happen right now, it’s never say never,” Busch, when addressing the potential end of his Xfinity Series career, added. “This is it.”

Behind Busch, Jeb Burton claimed his second-best result in the series after finishing in the runner-up spot followed by Gragson. Haley came home in fourth place followed by Ty Dillon.

Moffitt, Allgaier, Clements, Sam Mayer and Cindric finished in the top 10.

Austin Dillon finished 11th wile filling in for Michael Annett. Allmendinger finished 13th, Riley Herbst came home in 19th, Myatt Snider fell back to 21st, Harrison Burton ended up in 24th and Hemric settled in 30th.

“What could’ve been, right?” Hemric said. “That’s all you think about. On the flip side of it, you can’t change it. Obviously, I know it wasn’t intentional by no means…Our day will come.”

There were 16 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 43 laps.

Austin Cindric continues to lead the regular-season standings by 74 points over AJ Allmendinger and 112 over Daniel Hemric.

Results.

1. Kyle Busch, 97 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

2. Jeb Burton, one lap led

3. Noah Gragson, five laps led

4. Justin Haley

5. Ty Dillon, four laps led

6. Brett Moffitt

7. Justin Allgaier, four laps led

8. Jeremy Clements

9. Sam Mayer

10. Austin Cindric

11. Austin Dillon

12. Ryan Sieg

13. AJ Allmendinger, two laps led

14. Ryan Vargas

15. Alex Labbe

16. Tommy Joe Martins

17. Jade Buford

18. Josh Williams

19. Riley Herbst

20. Colby Howard

21. Myatt Snider

22. Jeffrey Earnhardt

23. Josh Berry

24. Harrison Burton, three laps led

25. Joe Graf Jr.

26. Matt Mills

27. Ronnie Bassett Jr.

28. Jesse Little

29. Mason Massey

30. Daniel Hemric, 45 laps led

31. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident

32. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident, three laps led

33. Santino Ferrucci, two laps down

34. Bayley Currey, two laps down

35. Gray Gaulding, four laps down

36. Carson Ware – OUT, Accident

37. CJ McLaughlin, 25 laps down

38. Landon Cassill, 36 laps down

39. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident

40. David Starr – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ return to New Hampshire Motor Speedway following a one-year absence. The event is scheduled to occur at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

July 10, 2021
Kyle Busch conquers Road America for 101st Xfinity Series win

The streak of different winners at Road America in the NASCAR Xfinity Series was extended to a 12th season as Kyle Busch rallied from an early spin to win the Henry 180 on Saturday, July 3, after leading the final five laps of the event. The victory also extended Busch’s winning streak in this year’s Xfinity Series season to four wins in four starts along with achieving his 101st series victory.

Qualifying occurred on Saturday, July 3, with rookie Ty Gibbs recording his first Xfinity career pole after logging a pole-winning lap at 107.532 mph. Joining him on the front row was Austin Cindric, winner of last weekend’s event at Pocono Raceway and the reigning Xfinity winner at Road America.

Prior to the event, Noah Gragson (engine change) and Riley Herbst (backup car) dropped to the rear of the field along with Brett Moffit, Natalie Decker and Ryan Ellis (unapproved adjustments).

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, the entire field battled dead even entering the first turn until at the front, Gibbs was able to squeak ahead of Cindric and AJ Allmendinger through the Turn 2 straightaway and past the third right-hand turn.

Through Turn 3, the Turn 4 straightaway and the fifth left-hand turn, Gibbs retained the lead while Allmendinger bolted his way into the runner-up spot over Cindric, who was in front of Daniel Hemric, Kyle Busch, Justin Allgaier and Jeb Burton. Behind, Kaz Grala went wide in Turn 5 after locking up his brakes.

From the left-hand Turn 5 through the right-hand Turn 14, the field settled in a competitive, single-file line with Gibbs still leading Allmendinger and Cindric.

When the entire field returned to the start/finish line following 14 turns, Gibbs led the first lap followed by Allmendinger, Cindric, Busch and Hemric.

After leading the first two laps, Gibbs was overtaken by Allmendinger, a former winner at Road America.

On the fifth lap, the first caution of the event was displayed when Spencer Pumpelly, driving the No. 6 Chevrolet Camaro for JD Motorsports, spun in Turn 14 following a bump from Brandon Brown and got stuck in the gravel trap.

Under caution, multiple names like Kyle Busch, Gibbs, Hemric, Justin Allgaier, Andy Lally, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton, Ryan Sieg, Preston Pardus, Brett Moffitt, Myatt Snider, Josh Williams and Alex Labbe pitted for four fresh tires.

The race restarted on the eighth lap as Allmendinger retained the lead over Cindric, Jeb Burton, Haley, Gragson, Annett and the field through the first three turns. Then in Turn 3, Kyle Busch spun into the grass following contact from Allgaier, though he was able to continue without any serious damage. Not long after, Gibbs was assessed a penalty for changing lanes during the restart.

With the field continuing to battle for positioning around every turn, Allmendinger cruised to the first stage victory on Lap 10 as he claimed his fourth stage victory of the season. Cindric settled in second followed by Jeb Burton, Haley and Gragson. Gibbs crossed the start/finish line in sixth, but he was discredited from earning any stage points as a result of his restart violation. The move promoted Hemric to sixth followed by Allgaier, Annett, Josh Bilicki and Riley Herbst.

Under the stage break, most of the leaders led by Allmendinger pitted while others led by Cindric and Gragson remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 12 with Cindric and Gragson restarting on the front row. At the start, Cindric peaked ahead briefly, but Hemric made a move to the outside of Cindric’s No. 22 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang to take the lead through the first turn. Through the first three corners, the Turn 4 straightaway and the left-hand Turn 5, Hemric and his No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra remained out in front while the field jumbled up while battling for positioning.

Shortly after, the caution returned for a hard accident involving Sam Mayer and Preston Pardus.

When the race restarted on Lap 15, Allgaier took over the top spot over Hemric, where he led the following two laps. Then, Allmendinger moved back to the front of the field.

With a series of battles occurring around the road course, Allmendinger, like he did in the first stage, was able to pull away and win the second stage on Lap 20, thus claiming his fifth stage victory of the season. Allgaier settled in second followed by Hemric, Haley, Busch, Jones, Gibbs, Cindric, Harrison Burton and Herbst. Moments before he crossed the start/finish line, Busch went off the track through the straightaway between Turns 11 and 12 as he kicked up dirt before continuing without serious damage.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted as Allgaier inherited the lead. Following the pit stops, Allmendinger was penalized due to his crew members jumping over the pit wall early, thus sending Allmendinger to the rear of the field.

With 23 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Allgaier and Kyle Busch restarted on the front row. At the start, Allgaier was able to prevail over Busch to remain as the leader. With the field fanning out through the first two turns, Allgaier led Busch through the first three turns, the Turn 4 straightaway, the left-hand turns in 5 and 6, a brief straightaway in Turns 7 and 8, a long right-hand turn in 9 and 10, a long straightaway from Turn 10 to 12 and a pair of turns in 13 and 14 before returning to the start/finish line.

The following lap, Allgaier continued to lead, but he had Cindric closing in for the lead entering the first turn after Cindric overtook Kyle Busch for the runner-up spot. Then, through the second turn, Cindric made a move to the right of Allgaier’s No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro. Following a side-by-side battle through the straightaway and under the Sargento bridge, Cindric returned to the lead.

With 20 laps remaining, Cindric was leading by more than four seconds over Gragson, with Allgaier being pressed by Busch and Gibbs for more. Haley was in sixth followed by Herbst, Hemric, Jones and Jeb Burton.

A lap later, the caution returned for a harrowing accident involving Spencer Pumpelly, who lost his brakes entering the first turn, spun through the gravel trap and plowed into the tire barriers, where the rear end of his No. 6 Chevrolet Camaro ended up on top of the barriers.

Under caution, nearly the entire field pitted while names like Brandon Jones, teammate Harrison Burton, Harvick, Josh Bilicki and Cody Ware remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hemric was penalized due to a crew member jumping over the pit wall too soon.

With 16 laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start, Jones retained the lead over teammate Harrison Burton, Harvick and the field through the first three turns, the Turn 3 and 4 straightaway and through the left-hand fifth turn.

The following lap and after navigating his way through the 14-turn circuit, Jones continued to lead followed by Harrison Burton and Cindric, who started to close in on Burton for more. After leading through the first four turns,, Jones locked up the brakes entering Turn 5 in front of Cindric, forcing Cindric to crossover to the left of Harrison Burton and Jones through the fifth turn. After going three wide with Burton and Jones, Cindric reassumed the lead entering the sixth turn.

With Cindric out in front, Harrison Burton remained in second place. A lap later, Allgaier and Gibbs moved up the leaderboard followed by Gragson while Jones slipped back to sixth. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was in eighth in front of Allmendinger.

Then, through Turns 12 and 13, Gibbs moved up into second place followed by Allgaier and Gragson while Harrison Burton fell back to fifth. Behind, Kyle Busch and Allmendinger moved up to sixth and seventh.

A few laps later, Jeb Burton and Brandon Jones spun in Turn 14, but the race remained under green as both plummeted on the leaderboard.

With 11 laps remaining, Harrison Burton brought his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra to pit road for service. Shortly after, the caution returned when Gibbs, who was running in the runner-up spot, came to a stop under the Corvette bridge in Turn 6 following a transmission failure to his No. 81 Monster Energy Toyota Supra, an issue that eliminated him from race-winning contention.

Under caution, some led by Cindric pitted while the rest led by Gragson remained on the track.

Down to the final eight laps, the race restarted under green as Gragson and Allmendinger started on the front row. At the start, Gragson jumped ahead with the lead followed by Kaulig Racing’s Haley and Allmendinger through the first turn.

Then, the caution returned when Snider made contact with Harrison Burton, spun and made light contact with the wall through the Turn 2 straightaway. Snider’s incident resulted in ensuing chaos behind as Cody Ware, Kris Wright and Natalie Decker wrecked and knocked down a number of advertising billboards through the Turn 2 straight In the midst of the incident, Cindric and Allgaier sustained damage to their respective machines, forcing both to pit under caution.

With six laps remaining, the race restarted as Gragson and Haley started on the front row. At the start, Gragson received a bump from Allmendinger to retain the lead over Haley through the first three turns and through Turn 5. With Gragson’s No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro leading, Kyle Busch bolted his No. 54 M&M’s Ice Cream Toyota Supra into third place entering Turn 3 as he then challenged Allmendinger for the runner-up spot through Turns 5 and 6.

Then in Turn 8, Allmendinger made his move beneath Gragson and made contact with Gragson before he moved his No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet Camaro back into the lead followed by Busch. Gragson, meanwhile, fell back to third in front of Haley, Harrison Burton and the field.

The following lap and with five laps remaining, Busch made his move beneath Allmendinger entering the first turn and made contact with Allmendinger, which gave Busch the advantage through the Turn 2 straightaway and Turn 3 to take the lead. From there, Busch started to pull away from the field.

When the field returned to the start/finish line, Busch was leading by nearly a second over Allmendinger, with Gragson, Michael Annett and Haley in the top five. Jones and Harrison Burton followed in pursuit along with Harvick, Hemric and Herbst. Way behind the leaders, a multi-car wreck occurred in Turn 12, involving Ryan Sieg, Josh Bilicki, Ryan Ellis and Brett Moffitt. Despite the incident and the damage, the race proceeded under green.

The following lap, Jones went off the track in Turn 1, but the race remained under green. By then, Busch extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Allmendinger.

Down to the final two laps of the event, Busch remained out in front by more than two seconds over Allmendinger, who had Annett and Hemric closing in for the runner-up spot. Behind, Harrison Burton challenged Gragson for fifth place while Harvick was in seventh.

When the final lap of the event started, Busch was the leader by more than three seconds. Behind, Annett and Hemric were in second and third after both passed Allmendinger, who was struggling with grip, through Turns 13 and 14. Not long after, Hemric moved into the runner-up spot in Turn 3.

Back out in front, Busch continued to set sail with a comfortable advantage. With no pressure occurring in front of him and behind, Busch was able to navigate his way through the 14-turn circuit and climb up the road hill from Turn 14 to streak across the finish line and take the checkered flag for the win.

With his victory, Busch is four-for-four in this year’s Xfinity Series season as he claimed his first triumph at Road America and extended his all-time lead in Xfinity Series victories to 101. He also recorded the first Xfinity win for crew chief Mark McFarland, with McFarland and Joe Gibbs Racing’s ARCA team assisting Busch’s efforts to the Xfinity win.

With his Xfinity Series plans for the future uncertain now that he has achieved 100+ victories, Busch is scheduled to run his fifth and final series event of the season next weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“Obviously, tires, that was the saving grace for us,” Busch said on NBC. “We had tires left over. [Allmendinger] didn’t. When we came in to put them tires on, I wasn’t sure we were gonna be able to get through that many cars, but man, I don’t know what happened the last couple restarts. Just melee at the start going down the straight. I couldn’t see what was happening. Then, there was a wreck between [Turns] 2 and 3, and was just fortunate to be on the right side in order to get by that stuff and get through that stuff without too much damage to our race car. Obviously, it was neat to have the opportunity to run this race today, get ready for tomorrow. Hopefully, tomorrow will look a lot like this day.”

Hemric settled in the runner-up spot for the ninth time in his Xfinity Series career while Annett picked up his first top-five result of the season with a strong third-place effort.

Allmendinger, who was aiming to become the first repeat winner in the Xfinity Series event at Road America, settled in fourth place while Harrison Burton finished in the top five.

Harvick, Herbst, Cindric, Gragson and Haley finished in the top 10.

Allgaier finished 12th, Jeb Burton came home in 14th, Kaz Grala settled in 18th in front of Brandon Jones and Snider ended up in 23rd behind Ryan Sieg. Ty Gibbs, following his late transmission issue, ended up 33rd.

There were 12 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 11 laps.

With an eighth-place run, Austin Cindric continues to lead the regular-season standings by 89 points over AJ Allmendinger as third-place Daniel Hemric trails by 105 points.

Results.

1. Kyle Busch, five laps led

2. Daniel Hemric, three laps led

3. Michael Annett

4. AJ Allmendinger, 12 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

5. Harrison Burton

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Riley Herbst

8. Austin Cindric, 10 laps led

9. Noah Gragson, four laps led

10. Justin Haley

11. Brandon Brown

12. Justin Allgaier, five laps led

13. Andy Lally

14. Jeb Burton

15. Tommy Joe Martins

16. Preston Pardus

17. Josh Williams

18. Kaz Grala

19. Brandon Jones, four laps led

20. Timmy Hill

21. Alex Labbe

22. Ryan Sieg

23. Myatt Snider

24. Cody Ware

25. Kris Wright

26. Stephen Leicht

27. Landon Cassill

28. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

29. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

30. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident

31. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Accident

32. Natalie Decker – OUT, Accident

33. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Transmission, two laps led

34. Jade Buford – OUT, Suspension

35. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

36. Spencer Pumpelly – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Atlanta Motor Speedway. The event will occur on Saturday, July 10, at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

July 3, 2021
Cindric emerges triumphant over Gibbs at Pocono

Executing the race when it mattered most, Austin Cindric cycled to the lead under the final 15 laps and held off rookie Ty Gibbs amid the lapped traffic to win the Pocono Green 225 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, June 27, as he claimed his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season in his bid to defend his series title.

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, Harrison Burton started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Justin Allgaier.

Prior to the event, Riley Herbst dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. Jesse Iwuji also started at the rear of the field for a driver change.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Harrison Burton launched ahead with the lead on the outside lane, where he was pursued by Allgaier and the field fanning out to two lanes through the three tricky lanes.

After leading the first lap, Harrison Burton was out in front by half a second over Allgaier, with AJ Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric and Jeb Burton in the top five. Noah Gragson was in sixth followed by Brandon Jones, rookie Ty Gibbs, Austin Cindric and Justin Haley.

Following the first five laps of the evert, Harrison Burton continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Allgaier with Hemric in pursuit. Teammates Allmendinger and Jeb Burton continued to run in the top five while Gragson, Cindric, Gibbs, Haley and Brandon Jones were in the top 10. By then, newcomer Sam Mayer, piloting the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, was in 11th, Myatt Snider was in 19th in between Brandon Brown and rookie Josh Berry and Riley Herbst was in 24th.

Five laps later, Harrison Burton remained in front of teammate Hemric by four-tenths of a second, with Allgaier trailing by less than a second. Behind, Cindric was in the top five behind Allmendinger while Mayer moved into the top 10 behind Gragson, Jeb Burton, Gibbs and Haley.

Just then, the first caution of the event flew when Josh Williams spun and wrecked in Turn 1 following contact from Santino Ferrucci. Under caution, some like Mayer, Brandon Jones, Josh Berry, Michael Annett, Myatt Snider, Ryan Sieg and others pitted while the rest led by Harrison Burton remained on the track.

When the race restarted on Lap 17, the field battled dead even until Harrison Burton was able to clear and retain the lead over Allgaier and Hemric.

With Harrison Burton out in front, a three-car battle ensued between Cindric, Allmendinger and Gibbs for fourth place. Behind, Haley got loose in Turn 2 and nearly clipped Gragson in Turn 2, but both managed to continue inside the top 10 without an incident.

On the final lap of the first stage, Hemric mounted a charge on teammate Harrison Burton for the lead, but Burton managed to keep his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra out in front. In the end, he claimed the first stage victory on Lap 20 and his second stage victory of the season. Hemric settled in the runner-up spot followed by Allgaier, Cindric and Allmendinger while Gibbs, Gragson, Jeb Burton, Haley and Berry were in the top 10.

Under the stage break, some led by Allgaier pitted while the rest led by Harrison Burton pitted.

The second stage started on Lap 24 with Allgaier and Snider starting on the front row. At the start, Allgaier managed to clear Snider on the outside lane to retain the lead entering the first turn while a three-wide battle occurred behind between Haley, Hemric and Mayer for third place.

Shortly after, the caution flag returned for a big accident involving Haley, who made contact with Mayer into the outside wall and was turned as he made pounded the inside wall in Turn 1 before coming back across the track. His No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro was then hit by the No. 6 JD Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Ryan Vargas before coming to a rest near the outside wall. Following the incident, Haley exited his battered car and laid down on the ground before being attended to by the medical personnel. After getting back up, Haley made the trip to the medical center, where he was evaluated and released.

The wreck placed the event in a red-flag period for over five minutes. When the red flag was lifted and the field proceeded in a cautious pace, few like Landon Cassill, Loris Hezemans and Ryan Sieg pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 28, Allgaier boosted ahead from the field on the outside lane followed by Hemric and Harrison Burton while Snider fell back on the inside lane through the first turn.

Returning back to the start/finish line, Hemric started to pursue Allgaier for the lead while Cindric challenged Snider for fourth place.

By Lap 30, Allgaier was leading by two-tenths of a second over Hemric while Harrison Burton trailed by four-tenths of a second. Cindric and Snider remained in the top five.

The following lap, Hemric gained a run entering the frontstretch and drag-raced with Allgaier to the start/finish line before clearing Allgaier’s No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro entering the first turn and taking the lead.

On Lap 34, the caution returned when Harrison Burton got loose underneath Allgaier in Turn 1, spun and made left-side contact with the outside wall. The incident occurred as Burton was attempting to take over the runner-up spot over Allgaier. Despite returning to pit road, Harrison Burton’s race came to an end.

Under caution, some led by Hemric pitted while the rest led by Ty Gibbs remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hemric was assessed a pit road speeding penalty and sent to the rear of the field.

With two laps remaining in the second stage, Gibbs and Noah Gragson battled dead even for the lead through the first turn before Gibbs managed to clear Gragson on the outside lane.

Through the final lap and with the field behind battling for positioning, Gibbs managed to retain the top spot and claim the second stage victory on Lap 40, thus recording his second stage victory in his debut Xfinity Series season. Gragson settled in second followed by Brandon Jones, Snider and Herbst while Cindric, Jeb Burton, Allmendinger, Berry and Allgaier were in the top 10.

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

With 46 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Gibbs and Cindric started on the front row. At the start, Gibbs received a push from Gragson to retain the lead over Cindric entering the first turn.

At the halfway point on Lap 45, Gibbs was still leading by a narrow margin over Cindric and Gragson. Then, Gibbs got loose entering Turn 1, which allowed Cindric to assume the lead while Gragson challenged Gibbs for the runner-up spot. Just then, the caution returned when Riley Herbst wrecked his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang in Turn 2.

When the race restarted with 41 laps remaining, Cindric retained the top spot on the outside lane while Gibbs challenged Gragson for the runner-up spot. Behind, Snider was in fourth followed by Brandon Brown, who had Allgaier, Jeb Burton and Allmendinger battling behind.

At the front, Cindric continued to lead by a narrow margin over Gibbs with third-place Gragson trailing by half a second.

With Cindric leading under the final 40 laps, Allgaier and Snider battled for fourth while Hemric and Allmendinger battled for seventh behind Jeb Burton. In addition, Mayer was battling ninth ahead of Brandon Jones.

Down to the final 35 laps of the event, Cindric extended his advantage to nearly a second over Gibbs while Gragson trailed by more than two seconds. By then, Allgaier, who was in fourth place, pitted under green.

A lap later, Snider, who took over fourth place, peeled his No. 2 Crosley Furniture Chevrolet Camaro into pit road for his service. The next lap, Gragson pitted along with Jeb Burton, Allmendinger, Josh Berry and Cindric, giving the lead back to Gibbs. The following lap, Gibbs pitted, which allowed Hemric to take the lead.

With Hemric still leading, teammate Brandon Jones pitted for fuel the following lap. Mayer also pitted, but slid through his pit box during his service, which cost him the lead lap when he returned to the track.

Under the final 30 laps, Hemric, who has yet to pit, continued to lead followed by Brett Moffitt, Jeremy Clements, Brandon Brown, Alex Labbe, Austin Hill, Tommy Joe Martins, Kyle Weatherman, Blaine Perkins and Landon Cassill. Far behind, Cindric was in 20th followed by Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Allgaier, Gibbs, Gragson, Jeb Burton and Snider.

With 20 laps remaining, Hemric continued to lead by mover 20 seconds over Clements, with Brown, Labbe and Martins in the top five. Cindric, meanwhile, worked his way up to seventh while Gibbs was in 10th. Allgaier was in 12th while Gragson was in 15th in front of Allmendinger.

The following lap, Hemric pitted for four tires and fuel for his No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra. Then, disaster struck for Hemric, who was busted for speeding on pit road for a second time and was forced to serve a drive-through penalty through pit road.

With Hemric out of contention, Clements was leading by more than six seconds over Labbe while third-place Cindric was in third place. Gibbs moved up into fourth followed by Allgaier.

Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Cindric was back out in front of the field as Clements and Labbe pitted. Gibbs moved back up into the runner-up spot followed by Allgaier, Ryan Sieg, Gragson and Allmendinger.

With 10 laps remaining, Cindric was leading by more than three seconds over Gibbs while Allgaier, Gragson, Sieg and Allmendinger continued to run in the top six.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Cindric, who was approaching lapped traffic, continued to lead by three seconds over Gibbs. Behind, Allgaier remained in third place ahead of teammate Gragson and Allmendinger. Hemric, meanwhile, was mired back in seventh behind teammate Brandon Jones.

With three laps remaining, Cindric nearly tangled with the lapped car of David Starr, which allowed the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra driven by Gibbs to cut the deficit within a second.

When the final lap started, Cindric was leading by less than half a second over a hard-charging Gibbs. Through the first two turns, Cindric continued to lead over Gibbs. Then on the final turn, Gibbs attempted to draw himself to Cindric’s rear bumper, but he did not have enough momentum to complete the run, which allowed Cindric and his No. 22 Car Shop Ford Mustang to remain out in front and fend off Gibbs to take the checkered flag for the fourth time of this season.

In addition to claiming his fourth victory of the season, Cindric collected his 12th NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory as he became the sixth different winner in six Xfinity events at Pocono Raceway, a streak that started since 2016.

“Well, I didn’t know what happened to [David Starr] there,” Cindric said on NBCSN. “I went from a three-second lead to a half a second lead, so these thing’s never easy. I had to avoid two wrecks today, but it’s awesome to, obviously, be in front of all you great people. I’m so excited to see people back in the race track, get the Car Shop Ford Mustang to Victory Lane. I’m over the moon. We’ll keep putting our heads down. We gotta keep getting better. We got strong competition and lot of racing left.”

The runner-up result was Gibbs’ second of the season in his eighth series career start. In his eight career Xfinity starts, Gibbs has finished in the top five in all but one, with his average result being 4.25.

“The lapped cars, definitely, helped me, to my advantage,” Gibbs said. “There were just in the way and messed up. Cindric got stuck up behind them and I was luckily closing. Just put myself in a weird spot where I tried to go under him and maybe, give him a little tap, but I think I could’ve gotten wider and crossed him back over because he went low and I was stuck behind him in the air. Just learning. I’m very thankful to be here…I can’t thank everybody enough. This is a blast and a dream come true running the Xfinity Series.”

Allgaier came home in third place followed by teammate Gragson and Allmendinger.

Hemric, following his late speeding penalty, finished in sixth place followed by teammate Brandon Jones, Jeb Burton, Berry and Snider.

Sam Mayer settled in a disappointing 18th place, a lap down, in his Xfinity debut while Sieg, who was running short on fuel, fell all the way back to 17th.

There were 11 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 21 laps.

Austin Cindric continues to lead the regular-season standings by 101 points over AJ Allmendinger and 112 over Daniel Hemric.

Results.

1. Austin Cindric, 26 laps led

2. Ty Gibbs, 11 laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Justin Allgaier, 10 laps led

4. Noah Gragson, one lap led

5. AJ Allmendinger

6. Daniel Hemric, 18 laps led

7. Brandon Jones

8. Jeb Burton

9. Josh Berry

10. Myatt Snider

11. Brett Moffitt

12. Michael Annett

13. Jeremy Clements, two laps led

14. Santino Ferrucci

15. Brandon Brown

16. Alex Labbe, one lap led

17. Ryan Sieg

18. Sam Mayer, one lap down

19. Jade Buford, one lap down

20. Tommy Joe Martins, one lap down

21. Landon Cassill, one lap down

22. Jeffrey Earnhardt, one lap down

23. Matt Mills, one lap down

24. Colby Howard, one lap down

25. Austin Hill, one lap down

26. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down

27. Loris Hezemans, one lap down

28. Carson Ware, two laps down

29. Jesse Little, two laps down

30. Mason Massey, two laps down

31. Jesse Iwuji, two laps down

32. Joe Graf Jr., two laps down

33. David Starr, three laps down

34. Blaine Perrkins – OUT, Suspension

35. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

36. Joey Gase – OUT, Clutch

37. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident, 21 laps led, Stage 1 winner

38. Justin Haley – OUT, Accident

39. Ryan Vargas – OUT, Accident

40. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is a trip to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, which will occur on Saturday, July 3, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

June 27, 2021
Allmendinger rallies from late penalty to win at Mid-Ohio

From a late penalty to victory, AJ Allmendinger became the first repeat winner at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course after the Los Gatos, California, native fended off teammate Justin Haley, Ty Gibbs and the field in overtime to win the B&L Transport 170 at Mid-Ohio on Saturday, June 5, as he also claimed his second victory of this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

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 regular-season points leader, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Ty Gibbs, winner of Friday’s ARCA Menards Series event at Mid-Ohio and last weekend’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Prior to the event, Kris Wright and Ryan Ellis dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Cindric and Gibbs battled for the lead through the first two turns.

It did not take long, however, for the first caution of the event to fly when Noah Gragson drove off the track and through the grass, where he destroyed the front nose from his car that was also leaking fluid and smoke. Behind, Cody Ware spun in Turn 2. While Ware continued, Gragson parked his battered car between Turns 2 and 3 as his race came to an early end.

Following the incident, the race restarted on the fifth lap. At the start, Cindric maintained the lead followed by Gibbs, Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton, Justin Allgaier and the field.

Three laps later, the caution returned when Tommy Joe Martins due to fluid on the course when the engine from Tommy Joe Martins’ machine expired.

Another four laps later, the race restarted, with Cindric and Gibbs retaining the front row. At the start, Gibbs made his move beneath Cindric’s No. 22 PPG Ford Mustang to take the lead. Cindric, though, was quick to reassume the advantage in Turn 4, where he continued to fend off Gibbs and lead when the field returned to the start/finish line.

On Lap 15, AJ Allmendinger muscled his No. 16 Ramco Specialties Chevrolet Camaro into the lead over Cindric.

Three laps later and with Allmendinger still leading, Harrison Burton damaged the front nose and splitter from his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra after going off-course in Turn 1. Despite the incident, the race continued to run under green.

In the final laps of the first stage, names like Ty Gibbs, Daniel Hemric, Andy Lally and Myatt Snider pitted for fuel. Back on the track, Allmendinger continued to lead by more than three seconds over Cindric.

In Turn 9, Miguel Paludo spun in the gravel trap, but the race continued to run under green. With a healthy advantage over the field, Allmendinger was able to navigate his way back to the start/finish line and win the first stage on Lap 25. Cindric was scored in second place followed by Haley, Jeb Burton, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, Alex Labbe, Michael Annett and Jeremy Clements.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Allmendinger pitted while Gibbs, Snider, Hemric, Ryan Sieg and Lally remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 30 with Gibbs and Hemric on the front row. At the start, Gibbs maintained the lead over Hemric, Snider and the field. Cindric, meanwhile, was back in seventh while Allmendinger was in fifth behind Andy Lally. By then, Justin Allgaier took his car to the garage due to a mechanical issue.

Just past the Lap 40 mark and with Gibbs still leading, the caution flew due to Jeremy Clements stalling his car in the Acura Bridge.

Four laps later, the race restarted. At the start, Allmendinger, who restarted alongside Gibbs, made his move to take the lead in Turn 2. By Turn 5, teammate Justin Haley moved into the runner-up spot while Gibbs was shuffled back in third in front of Brandon Jones, Hemric and Jeb Burton.

On Lap 46, trouble ignited for Daniel Hemric, who limped back to pit road after he blew a left-rear tire, which damaged the left-rear side of Hemric’s No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra. He was able to limp back to pit road and keep the race running under green.

Not long after, Allmendinger pitted along with Gibbs, Lally, Brett Moffitt, Josh Williams and Miguel Paludo. During the pit stops, however, Allmendinger was penalized for failing to meet minimum pit stop time and was required to start at the rear of the field for the final stage.

Back on the track, Haley assumed the lead in his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro. With the clean air, Haley was able to claim the second stage victory on Lap 50 by nearly two seconds over Brandon Jones. Jones settled in second followed by Jeb Burton, Herbst, Cindric, Labbe, Snider, Brandon Brown, Annett and Ryan Ellis.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted for tires with some opting to pit again for fuel. During the stops, Andy Lally was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

With 20 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Ryan Sieg and Cindric started on the front row. At the start, Cindric muscled to the lead on the outside lane in Turn 1 while the field behind scrambled for positions.

Down to the final eight laps of the event, Cindric was leading by nearly 11 seconds over Gibbs while Allmendinger, following his penalty, was in third place, trailing by 13 seconds. Moffitt was in fourth followed by Michael Annett and Haley.

Then, the caution flew when Jeb Burton spun in Turn 4 and was stuck in the gravel trap. Under caution, the leaders remained on the track.

With five laps remaining, the race restarted. At the start, Allmendinger quickly made his move beneath Gibbs and Cindric entering Turn 1. With all three competitors making contact against one another in a three-wide battle, Allmendinger returned to the lead past the first turn. As Brett Moffitt moved into the runner-up spot, contact from Gibbs Annett and Haley resulted with Cindric getting hit and spinning in the grass, which ended Cindric’s hopes of winning.

Despite the incident, the race continued to run under green as Allmendinger retained the lead. Not long after, however, the caution flew due to a multi-car incident in Turn 6 that involved Kris Wright, Alex Labbe and Kyle Weatherman with everyone else scattering around the circuit to avoid the incident.

Under caution, Moffitt, who was running in the runner-up spot, lost power as a result of a fuel pump issue and stalled on the track, effectively ending his hopes of battling for the win.

With the race sent into overtime, Allmendinger received a strong start through the first turn to maintain the lead over teammate Haley and Gibbs while everyone else scattered and scrambled for positions through the first two turns.

When the final lap started, Allmendinger maintained a decent advantage over Haley and Gibbs. With the leaders clearly out in front, chaos ensued behind, starting with Riley Herbst getting into Miguel Paludo in Turn 1 as Paludo spun. Shortly after, Andy Lally bumped into Herbst and sent Herbst’s No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang spinning in Turn 2.

Back to the front, Allmendinger continued to lead Haley and Gibbs through Turns 4 and 5. Having the lead in his sole possession, Allmendinger was able to navigate his way through the 13-turn circuit for a final time to claim the checkered flag and win.

With his second victory of the season, Allmendinger became the first multi-winner of the Xfinity Series event at Mid-Ohio since its inception in 2013. He also claimed his seventh Xfinity career victory, his fifth on a road course and the 10th career win for Kaulig Racing.

“I mean, I’m not gonna lie, I was a little upset,” Allmendinger said on FS1 when mentioning about the penalty. “But we win and lose as a team so I was gonna fight until the checkered flag flew. I knew we had the best car…This Ramco Specialties Chevrolet had some massive rear grip. I lost the restart, [Gibbs] opened up a gap and I know these guys will do it to me, so I barreled in there when I saw a gap and I was gonna come out on the other side clean. That’s all I got there.”

Haley settled in second place for his first top-five result of the season while Ty Gibbs came home in third place and notched his sixth top-five result in seven Xfinity starts this season.

“First of all, congrats to AJ,” Haley said. “That’s amazing. This is LeafFilter’s home, this is [team owner] Matt Kaulig’s home. To finish one-two here is really special. Obviously, you want the LeafFilter car to go to Victory Lane, but I thought we were a little better than AJ there at the end, but I had so much damage. I was just on the splitter so hard…Really, really special day here.”

Brandon Jones finished in fourth place followed by Andy Lally. Brandon Brown finished in sixth place followed by Annett, Josh Berry, Ryan Sieg and Josh Williams.

Hemric settled in 12th while Cindric ended his race in 14th after leading a race-high 30 laps. Riley Herbst and Paludo finished 21st and 27th following their spins on the final lap.

There were seven lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 23 laps.

Cindric continues to lead the regular-season standings by 96 points over Allmendinger.

Results.

1. AJ Allmendinger, 23 laps led, Stage 1 winner

2. Justin Haley, seven laps led, Stage 2 winner

3. Ty Gibbs, 16 laps led

4. Brandon Jones

5. Andy Lally

6. Brandon Brown

7. Michael Annett

8. Josh Berry

9. Ryan Sieg, two laps led

10. Josh Williams

11. Alex Labbe

12. Daniel Hemric

13. Jade Buford

14. Austin Cindric, 30 laps led

15. Cody Ware

16. Jeb Burton

17. Gray Gaulding

18. Ryan Vargas

19. Matt Jaskol

20. Landon Cassill

21. Riley Herbst

22. Colby Howard

23. Matt Mills

24. Jesse Little

25. Preston Pardus

26. Kyle Weatherman

27. Miguel Paludo

28. Ryan Ellis

29. Myatt Snider

30. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

31. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Fuel pump

32. Kris Wright – OUT, Accident

33. Jeremy Clements, 10 laps down

34. Jeffrey Earnhardt, 10 laps down

35. Justin Allgaier, 11 laps down

36. David Starr, 12 laps down

37. Bayley Currey – OUT, Electrical

38. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

39. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Engine

40. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is a trip to the Lone Star state for a 250-mile event at Texas Motor Speedway, which will occur on Saturday, June 12, at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

June 5, 2021
Joe Gibbs Racing announces 2021 crew chief lineup

Joe Gibbs Racing revealed its crew chief lineup for the 2021 NASCAR season, featuring a handful of changes to the organization’s powerhouse stable between the Cup and Xfinity Series.

Adam Stevens, two-time Cup Series championship crew chief, will move to JGR’s No. 20 Toyota Camry team and serve as crew chief for Christopher Bell, who is to embark on his first full-time season with JGR in NASCAR’s premier series. Ben Beshore, a former engineer for JGR’s No. 18 team, will become a full-time Cup Series crew chief for the No. 18 Toyota team and be paired with two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch.

Stevens is coming off his sixth full-time season as crew chief for the No. 18 Toyota team in the Cup circuit, having won two championships and 28 races with Kyle Busch. Beshore is coming off his second full-time season in the Xfinity Series as a crew chief, where he led Harrison Burton to four victories and the 2020 Xfinity Series Rookie-of-the-Year title. He won four Xfinity races with Kyle Busch in 2019.

Chris Gabehart, reigning two-time Daytona 500 winning crew chief, will remain atop the pit box of the No. 11 Toyota Camry team driven by reigning three-time Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin while James Small, coming off his first full-time season as a Cup crew chief, will also return as crew chief for the No. 19 Toyota Camry team driven by former Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. for the 2021 Cup season.

In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, veteran Jason Ratcliff will return to JGR and serve as crew chief for Harrison Burton and the No. 20 Toyota Supra team. Ratcliff is coming off a full-time Cup Series season as crew chief for Christopher Bell and Leavine Family Racing, which ceased operations following the 2020 season.

Jeff Meendering will remain as crew chief for Brandon Jones and the No. 19 Toyota Supra team while veteran Dave Rogers will also return as crew chief for the No. 18 Toyota Supra team set to be driven by Daniel Hemric, JGR’s newest competitor, in 2021.

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images.

“We go through a process at the conclusion of every season that includes evaluating each of our teams,” Joe Gibbs, Owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, said. “We believe our crew chief lineup for 2021 will best position each team and driver for success across both series.”

JGR also announced plans to field a fourth entry, the No. 54 Toyota Supra, for the 2021 Xfinity Series season led by crew chief Chris Gayle. Gayle is coming off his fourth full-time season as a Cup crew chief, where he worked with Erik Jones, who transitioned to Richard Petty Motorsports for the 2021 season. The driver lineup and schedule of the No. 54 operation will be announced at a later date.

“We take a lot of pride in our depth of talent across our entire organization,” Gibbs added. “All of our crew chiefs are proven winners. We are also looking forward to bringing the No. 54 Toyota Supra back to the track in 2021 with an exciting team of drivers.”

Joe Gibbs Racing’s new driver-crew chief pairings will debut at Daytona International Speedway in February 2021.

November 17, 2020
Cindric wins 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship in overtime

For a second consecutive night in the desert, a late caution changed the complexity and initial outcome of a race. Like last night’s NASCAR Truck Series finale, pitting for fresh tires was the key element that determined the overall victor. On this occasion, Austin Cindric used four fresh tires to his advantage to overtake Justin Allgaier and Noah Gragson in overtime to win the season-finale Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200 at Phoenix Raceway and clinch the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.

In the final laps of the finale, Cindric had an advantage of nearly a second over title contender Justin Allgaier evaporated when Chase Briscoe, another title contender, spun and drew a caution. The deciding factor was under caution when Cindric opted to pit for four fresh tires while Allgaier, who pitted earlier, remained on the track. In overtime, Cindric was able to overtake Allgaier and Noah Gragson in a two-lap dash to claim his sixth checkered flag of the season. Above all, he was able to come back around and celebrate on the frontstretch as NASCAR’s 30th Xfinity champion.

The starting lineup was based on four stats: current owner’s standings, driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity race and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, the four championship finale contenders started first through fourth, led by pole-sitter Justin Allgaier and followed by Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric and Justin Haley.

For the finale, Haley received a new pit crew, the group that pits Bubba Wallace’s car for Richard Petty Motorsports, due to a crew member of his original team being tested positive for COVID-19.

When the final race of the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season commenced under green, Allgaier rocketed away with the lead. Behind, Cindric and Briscoe battled for the runner-up spot with most of the leaders diving down the dogleg turn and entering Turns 1 and 2. When the field cycled back to the start/finish line, Allgaier was able to lead the first lap as he retained the lead over Cindric and Briscoe while Haley was in fifth behind Noah Gragson.

The first caution of the race flew the following lap when Jeffrey Earnhardt wrecked on the backstretch and sustained damage to the rear end of his No. 0 Chevrolet Camaro.

The race restarted under green on the sixth lap. At the start, Cindric made a low dive three-wide move on the dogleg turn beneath Allgaier and Briscoe. In Turns 1 and 2, however, Allgaier made a crossover move on Cindric, but Briscoe came out on top on the outside lane entering the backstretch to take over the lead. Cindric moved into the runner-up spot while Allgaier, who led the first seven laps, was shuffled back to third.

By Lap 10, Briscoe maintained an advantage less than two-tenths of a second over Cindric with Allgaier in third and Haley in seventh. Gragson was in fourth followed by Ross Chastain and Harrison Burton while Michael Annett, Riley Herbst and Brandon Jones were in the top 10.

Nearly five laps later, Cindric mounted a challenge for the lead on Briscoe. Despite Cindric making several challenges for the lead and Briscoe making contact with the Turn 3 outside wall on Lap 17, Briscoe maintained his narrow advantage over Cindric’s No. 22 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 20, Briscoe was still at the front of the pack and the championship battle over Cindric and Allgaier with Haley mired back in seventh. Gragson, Chastain, Harrison Burton, Annett, Herbst and Brandon Jones were still running in the top 10. At the time of caution, Daniel Hemric made an unscheduled pit stop to diagnose a mechanical issue to his No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet Camaro. Hemric’s crew eventually pushed the car back to the garage due to a carburetor issue.

Under the competition caution, few pitted while the rest, including the final four title contenders, remained on the track.

When the race resumed under green on Lap 26, Allgaier made a low dive through the dogleg turn in an effort for the lead, but Briscoe prevailed entering the backstretch. While Briscoe continued to lead, Cindric battled Allgaier for second while Chastain, Gragson and Haley battled for spots in the top five.

A lap later, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck in Turn 2 that involved C.J. McLaughlin, Donald Theetge, J.J. Yeley and Matt Mills.

The race restarted under green on Lap 34 with Briscoe and Allgaier on the front row followed by Cindric and Gragson. At the start, Briscoe and Allgaier battled dead even while diving low on the dogleg before Briscoe prevailed on the backstretch.

When the field returned back to the start/finish line, Briscoe continued to lead followed by Allgaier and Cindric, both of whom were closing in for the lead. Gragson retained fourth place over Kaulig Racing’s Chastain and Haley while Annett, Harrison Burton, Herbst and Brandon Jones were in the top 10.

At the front, the battle for the lead continued to ignite between Briscoe and Allgaier with Cindric lurking behind. Though Allgaier had a run beneath Briscoe for the lead, Briscoe mounted a run on the outside lane through Turns 1 and 2 and entering the backstretch to maintain his narrow advantage.

With less than five laps remaining in the first stage, Cindric moved into second place over Allgaier. He went on to challenge Briscoe for the lead.

On the final lap of the first stage, Cindric, who continued to close in on Briscoe’s No. 98 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang, gained a run beneath Briscoe through the backstretch. They split the lapped car of Jesse Iwuji entering Turn 3 before Briscoe gained a run on the outside lane in Turn 4 and edged Cindric to claim the first stage on Lap 45 and for his 13th stage victory of the season, the most recorded by an Xfinity competitor this season. Allgaier settled in third followed by Gragson, Chastain, Annett, Haley, Harrison Burton, Herbst and Brandon Jones.

Under the stage break, nearly all of the leaders pitted and Allgaier emerged with the lead following a four-tire pit stop and exiting in first place over Gragson, Briscoe, Cindric and Chastain. Following the pit stops, Herbst was sent to the rear of the field due to improper fueling. At the front, however, Tommy Joe Martins emerged with the lead after remaining on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 53 with Martins and Allgaier on the front row. At the start, Briscoe made a low dive to the dogleg and Allgaier charged ahead on the outside lane while Martins was shuffled back. Allgaier led the following lap by a nose over Briscoe, who challenged Allgaier for the lead with the latter prevailing. Behind, Gragson moved into third place over Cindric while Annett was in fifth. Haley was in sixth ahead of teammate Chastain, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton and Ryan Sieg.

By Lap 60, Allgaier continued to lead the race and the title standings by more than a second over teammate Gragson. Cindric, the second-highest title contender on the track, was in third place followed by Briscoe, who slipped back and had Annett closing in for position. Haley, racing in his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro, was still mired in sixth place in front of Harrison Burton.

Five laps later, Allgaier stabilized his advantage by more than a second over Cindric, who overtook Gragson for the runner-up spot. Briscoe remained in fourth place, trailing the lead by more than two seconds, while Annett was in fifth. Haley fell back to seventh behind Harrison Burton while Brandon Jones, Sieg and Jeremy Clements were in the top 10.

By Lap 70, Allgaier’s advantage decreased to less than two-tenths of a second over Cindric while Briscoe moved back into third place following a dive-bomb move on Gragson entering Turn 2 for position that nearly resulted with Briscoe making contact with the outside wall. Earlier, Chastain made an unscheduled pit stop under green.

Five laps later and while Cindric and Allgaier were engaged in a tight battle for the lead, the caution returned due to smoke and possible fluid coming out of Tommy Joe Martins’ car.

Another five laps later, the race restarted under green with JR Motorsports’ teammates Allgaier and Gragson on the front row. At the start, Allgaier pulled away and retained the lead. Entering Turn 2, Cindric moved into second and Briscoe advanced into third followed by Jones while Gragson slipped back to fifth.

On Lap 83, Cindric prevailed and led for the first time after emerging out in front of Allgaier with Briscoe lurking behind. By then, Sieg made contact with the outside wall in Turns 1 and 2.

With the laps in the second stage winding down, Cindric stabilized his advantage by half a second over Allgaier with Briscoe, Jones and Gragson in the top five. Annett and Harrison Burton were in sixth and seventh while Haley was mired back in eighth. Clements and Myatt Snider rounded out the top 10.

At the start of the final lap of the second stage, Cindric increased his advantage to less than a second over Allgaier with Briscoe closing in for more.

With a number of battles occurring behind, Cindric was able to come back to the start/finish line and win the second stage on Lap 90 for his 11th stage victory of the season. Allgaier held off Briscoe and Brandon Jones for second with teammate Gragson in fifth. Annett, Haley, Harrison Burton, Clements and Snider settled in the top 10. By then, Chastain, who was scored in 24th place and a lap behind, received the free pass to return to the lead lap.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Brandon Jones emerged with the lead following the pit stops. Briscoe exited ahead of Cindric, Allgaier and Gragson with Haley in sixth.

With 102 laps remaining, the final stage started with Jones and Allgaier on the front row followed by Gragson, Briscoe, Mason Diaz and Cindric. At the start, Allgaier and Jones made a low dive down the dogleg before Allgaier prevailed through Turns 1 and 2 and entering the backstretch.

The following lap, Briscoe passed Gragson for third with Cindric and Haley joining the party. At the front, Allgaier was ahead by less than half a second over Jones. Shortly after, Cindric overtook Briscoe for position with Haley mired between the two competitors.

With 95 laps remaining, the final four title contenders were battling in the top six with Allgaier leading by more than a second over Brandon Jones, who started to have Cindric close in for position. Briscoe was in fourth followed by Gragson while Haley was in sixth ahead of Annett, Harrison Burton, Snider and Chastain.

Five laps later, with 90 laps remaining, Allgaier continued to lead by more than a second, but Cindric started to close in as he moved into the runner-up spot. Briscoe remained in fourth place behind Jones while Haley continued to battle Gragson for fifth.

Another five laps later, with 85 laps remaining, Allgaier’s advantage decreased to less than half a second with his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro dealing with loose conditions. That all but gave Cindric the time needed to close in back for the lead in the overall race and the championship.

With 80 laps remaining and with the leaders surrounded by lapped traffic, Cindric narrowed the deficit to three-tenths of a second to Allgaier, who continued to lead with a title in sight. Behind, Briscoe went wide entering Turn 4, which allowed Gragson, Haley and Harrison Burton to close in on him for fourth place.

Ten laps later, with 70 laps remaining, Cindric reassumed the lead in the race and the championship battle over Allgaier as Brandon Jones started to close in the battle for the win in the finale.

Another 10 laps later, with 60 laps remaining, Cindric stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Brandon Jones with Allgaier back in third place. Briscoe and Haley were in fourth and fifth while Harrison Burton, Chastain, Gragson, Annett and Snider were in the top 10. Herbst, who was a lap behind the field earlier, rallied back in 11th ahead of Clements, Brett Moffitt, Josh Williams and Bayley Currey.

Down to the final 50 laps of the race, Cindric continued to lead, but he had Jones, who won at Phoenix in March and racing in his No. 19 Toyota Service Centers Toyota Supra, close in and with the leaders mired in lapped traffic. Behind, Allgaier, who was in third place, radioed concerns about a right-front tire going down, but he continued to run on the track and ahead of Briscoe. Haley, meanwhile, was in sixth in between Harrison Burton and Chastain.

With 45 laps remaining, Briscoe overtook Allgaier for third place while Cindric continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Brandon Jones. Haley was still in sixth.

With approximately 40 laps remaining, pit stops under green commenced as Allgaier made the turn to pit road followed by Harrison Burton and teammate Riley Herbst. Not long after, Haley pitted along with leader Cindric, Briscoe, Jones and Snider, who was then penalized for speeding on pit road.

With less than 35 laps remaining, Chastain, who still needed to pit and who was making his final full-time start with Kaulig Racing, was the leader followed by Gragson, Annett and Josh Williams while Cindric was in fifth place. Allgaier was back in eighth, a lap behind, while Briscoe and Haley were in 10th and 13th.

Five laps later, the caution returned when Joe Graf Jr. made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3. The incident occurred in front of Allgaier, who was battling Jones for position. At the time of caution, Chastain was still leading and among a handful of competitors who had yet to pit. Cindric and Allgaier were on the lead lap while Briscoe was awarded the free pass to return on the lead lap after being scored a lap behind. Haley, meanwhile, was a lap behind the leaders.

Under caution, Allgaier pitted along with teammate Annett and Chastain while Cindric and Jones remained on the track. Briscoe also pitted for adjustment, not for tires. In addition, Haley was among a number of competitors who took the wave around and returned on the lead lap in eighth place with Briscoe in sixth, Allgaier in fifth on fresh tires and Cindric the leader over Brandon Jones and Chastain.

With 23 laps remaining and 10 competitors on the lead lap, the race restarted under green with Cindric and Chastain on the front row followed by Jones and Allgaier. At the start, Chastain received a boost from Allgaier inside the dogleg turn to take the lead. Entering the backstretch, however, Cindric reassumed the lead with Allgaier following behind.

Shortly after, Allgaier mounted a challenge for the lead on fresh tires, but Cindric continued to maintain his position at the front with Chastain shuffled back to third.

With 20 laps remaining, Cindric was out in front by two-tenths of a second over Allgaier, with the battle for the win and the championship coming down to a two man show. Briscoe was back in sixth while Haley was mired back in eighth.

Five laps later, with 15 laps remaining, Cindric, racing on old tires, continued to lead the battle for the win and the title by half a second over Allgaier, racing on fresh tires. Chastain, Annett and Brandon Jones were in the top five with Briscoe in sixth and Haley in ninth.

Down to the final 10 laps of the finale and the 2020 season, Cindric stabilized his advantage for the win and the championship by more than a second over Allgaier, who started to see Cindric pull away on his front windshield. By then, Briscoe moved up to fifth place while Haley was back in ninth place as both competitors were seeing their title hopes coming to an end.

With five laps remaining and the leaders started to catch lapped traffic, Cindric remained at the front with the lead by more than a second over Allgaier with Chastain, Annett and Briscoe in the top five. Haley was back in ninth.

With approximately two laps remaining, the caution returned when Briscoe spun his No. 98 Ford in Turn 4 and made slight contact with the outside wall. The caution all but evaporated Cindric’s on-track advantage over Allgaier, who received an opportunity to pounce and win his first title.

Under caution, however, most of the lead lap competitors led by Cindric pitted while Allgaier remained on the track and emerged with the lead. Chastain also remained on the track in second place.

In overtime, the race restarted under green. At the start, Allgaier took the lead from Chastain entering Turns 1 and 2. Entering the backstretch, however, teammate Gragson and Cindric cleared Chastain and closed in on Allgaier for the lead. Though Allgaier got Cindric boxed in exiting the backstretch, Cindric found his opportunity to win it all entering Turns 3 and 4.

Coming back to the start/finish line for the start of the final lap, Cindric made a three-wide move in between Gragson and Allgaier, who made contact with Cindric at the line as Gragson moved his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/True Timber Camo Chevrolet Camaro into the lead. Following the contact and through the dogleg turn, Gragson emerged with a slight advantage alongside Cindric, who cleared Allgaier and was leading the battle for the title.

In the backstretch, Allgaier lost his momentum and was overtaken by Brandon Jones and Annett while Cindric challenged Gragson for the lead. With fresh tires, Cindric took the lead entering Turns 3 and 4 over Gragson, and it was enough for him to prevail out in front and storm to the checkered flag with the win and the overall championship.

At age 22, Cindric became the fifth-youngest champion in series history as he delivered the second Xfinity Drivers’ championship for team owner Roger Penske. He also became the sixth different Xfinity competitor to win in career start No. 100 as he collected his eighth career victory along with the series title. This marked the 10th consecutive season where the Xfinity champion was 25 years old or younger.

“Well, I watched [2020 Truck Series champion] Sheldon Creed do it last night, so why couldn’t we?” Cindric said. “Amazing effort by this No. 22 team. [Crew chief] Brian Wilson and all the guys. Everybody back at the shop. There was a lot of work put into this race car. Roger Penske. Everyone from Penske Racing. The Menards family, John, Paul, Jim, Jeff — all those guys that put so much support into racing itself. It’s awesome to get them a championship in NASCAR, to be a champion in NASCAR, and do it in front of all these great people cheering us on at championship weekend. Ford Performance, Doug Yates, everybody at Roush Yates Engines. I’m speechless. I can’t believe it. I’m pretty humbled by the effort for sure.”

“I’ve certainly learned how to race a little better,” Cindric added. “The people that have put the support in me and been dedicated — my spotter Coleman Pressley. All the folks that have supported me throughout my career, not just here but the road racing, driving Rallycross cars. My mom and my dad. I can’t forget them. They’re my parents and they’ve put more support behind me than anyone else. My mom has been my rock for my entire racing career. I told you guys that early in the week and I’m so glad she was here to watch.”

In addition to pitting for fresh tires towards the end, Cindric credited his team for the performance of his race car throughout the race that kept him in contention and allowed him to win the championship battle.

“This [car] came to life Lap 1,” Cindric said. “Talk about a relationship between driver and crew chief…we were terrible here in the spring race when I moved up. I asked [Wilson], I told him exactly what I needed and he gave it to me and look where we are. It’s amazing.”

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.

Gragson finished in second place behind Cindric followed by Brandon Jones and Annett. Behind, Justin Allgaier finished in fifth place in the finale and in a career-best second place in the overall standings. While Allgaier was disappointed in falling short in winning his first Xfinity title in his 10th full-time season in the series, he remained humble over the defeat and the opportunity of his late surge to compete for the title.

“So close, but so far away,” Allgaier said. “First of all, hats off to Austin [Cindric], the entire Team Penske group. They’ve been strong competitors all year and to have the race they did tonight, they, obviously, were the best car and they deserve to win. Proud of our guys, proud of everybody at JR Motorsports. We had a shot at it at the end and when it’s all said and done, that’s all you can really ask for…We’ll be back next year. Hopefully, one spot better.”

“I knew that [Cindric and his team] were gonna be good on tires,” Allgaier added. “I was hoping that there would be a few more cars in our rearview mirror when we took the green…Just didn’t have the speed at the end. We were off a little bit all night. The hard part is our balance is so good. That’s the frustrating part. We brought a fantastic race car and the balance was so good. It’s disappointing to be in the situation that we’re in, but again, hats off to these guys, everybody back at the shop. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish.”

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.

Justin Haley finished in eighth place on the track behind Harrison Burton and teammate Chastain, with the Winamac, Indiana, native notching a career-best third place in the final standings.

“We were not too good there at the start,” Haley said. “We actually took a little time on one of the pit stops. We started running in the top five. It’s super hard to pass. Just super fast race track. This is an awesome P3. It’s the farthest that Kaulig Racing’s ever gone. Still really proud of all of my guys. It’s not exactly what we wanted, but I think if we wouldn’t gotten trapped a lap there, that strategy’s really what played in to it at the end,…just too far back to make anything happen on that green-white-checkered…Super excited, super blessed to have another year, another shot at [the title].”

Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images.

Following his late incident that evaporated his championship hopes, Chase Briscoe salvaged a ninth-place result in the finale as he concluded his final full-time season in the Xfinity circuit in fourth place in the final standings and in a season where he won a season-high nine races.

“It was just a frustrating day,” Briscoe said. “This is by far not my best racetrack. We started the race and, for me, just leading laps here I was like, ‘Wow, this is different.’ I was just so loose at the beginning of the race and as the night came, I was just getting freer and freer. I don’t know how many times I about wrecked into [Turn] 1 and would end up hitting the wall. I’ve got to do a lot better job coming here. There’s something about this place that I just really struggle at, so I’ve got a lot of homework to do. It’s definitely frustrating to finish fourth in the championship after the year we had, but, overall, to win nine races it’s been a phenomenal year. I’m happy that we were able to just make the final four with our HighPoint.com Mustang. I’m just thankful to be driving in NASCAR honestly. I’m obviously looking forward to next year, but this one obviously hurts. Anytime you can win nine races and finish fourth in the championship isn’t what you wanted, but we’ll keep our heads high and, like I said, just proud of the whole team. To be able to work with me these last two and a half years from where we started to where we are now has been a huge difference, so just thankful to be driving for Stewart-Haas Racing and come back next year.”

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.

While Cindric became the fifth Ford competitor to win the Xfinity title, Chevrolet clinched the Bill France Performance Cup, the Manufacturers’ title, for the 22nd time. In addition, Roger Penske won his fifth Owners’ championship in eight years.

In a season where he achieved his first four career victories, 15 top-five results, 22 top-10 results, an average result of 10th place and a final points result of eighth place, Harrison Burton claimed the 2020 Xfinity Rookie-of-the-Year title.

There were 16 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 47 laps.

Results.

1. Austin Cindric, Stage 2 winner, 72 laps led

2. Noah Gragson, one lap led

3. Brandon Jones, three laps led

4. Michael Annett

5. Justin Allgaier, 76 laps led

6. Harrison Burton

7. Ross Chastain, 10 laps led

8. Justin Haley

9. Chase Briscoe, Stage 1 winner, 41 laps led

10. Jeremy Clements

11. Riley Herbst

12. Brandon Brown, one lap down

13. Josh Williams, one lap down

14. B.J. McLeod, one lap down

15. Bayley Currey, one lap down

16. David Starr, one lap down

17. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down

18. Myatt Snider, two laps down

19. Brett Moffitt, two laps down

20. Colby Howard, two laps down

21. Alex Labbe, three laps down

22. Kody Vanderwal, three laps down

23. Timmy Hill, three laps down

24. Mason Diaz, four laps down

25. Daniel Hemric, five laps down

26. J.J. Yeley, six laps down

27. Joe Graf Jr., seven laps down

28. Stan Mullis, eight laps down

29. Jesse Little, eight laps down

30. Jesse Iwuji, nine laps down

31. Ryan Sieg, 10 laps down

32. Jeffrey Earnhardt, 21 laps down

33. Ryan Vargas, 82 laps down

34. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Engine, three laps led

35. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

36. Donald Theetge – OUT, Accident

37. C.J. McLaughlin – OUT, Accident

Final standings.

1. Austin Cindric

2. Justin Allgaier

3. Justin Haley

4. Chase Briscoe

5. Noah Gragson

6. Brandon Jones

7. Ross Chastain

8. Harrison Burton

9. Michael Annett

10. Ryan Sieg

11. Brandon Brown

12. Riley Herbst

Bold indicates Championship finale contenders

The NASCAR Xfinity Series enters its off-season period before returning for the 2021 season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway scheduled on Saturday, February 13.

November 7, 2020