Connor Mosack has been named a full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing (MHR) for the 2025 season.
Mosack, a 25-year-old native from Charlotte, North Carolina, will be driving the No. 81 MHR Chevrolet Silverado RST and will be paired with crew chief Blake Bainbridge for his first full-time campaign in the series, where he will contend for the Rookie-of-the-Year title. In addition, Old World Industries and NAPA Nightvision will be sponsoring him for five Truck races, beginning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.
The news comes as Mosack is coming off an 11-race stint between the NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series divisions, where he competed for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity circuit and between Niece Motorsports and Spire Motorsports in the Truck division. He also made five starts in the ARCA Menards Series between Pinnacle Racing Group and Sigma Performance Services, where he notched a victory at Kansas Speedway in May while driving for the former organization.
“I’m ecstatic to start 2025 with everybody at MHR and want to continue this team’s success in the playoffs,” Mosack said. “All four MHR teams had great performances this past year, so this is a big opportunity to race with a winning organization. It’s great to continue being part of Team Chevy and appreciate NAPA Nightvison and everyone at MHR for making this a reality. I’m looking forward to working with Blake and we want to become one of the weekly contenders, compete for wins, and lock ourselves in the playoffs.”
Mosack, who commenced his racing career competing in Legends cars and worked his way up to compete in CARS Tour and Late Models, made his Truck Series debut at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in July 2022, where he finished 34th while driving for Bret Holmes Racing. He made an additional Truck start at Bristol Motor Speedway two months later before he returned this past season for nine events. During the nine-race stint, he logged in his first four top-10 career results and notched a career-best third-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October.
To go along with 11 Truck starts to date, Mosack has also made a total of 28 starts in the Xfinity Series, where he notched three top-eight results and a career-best fifth-place run at Watkins Glen International in August 2023. The Charlotte native has also made 22 career starts in the ARCA Menards Series, four in the ARCA East division and two in the ARCA West division. Within the ARCA division, he claimed his first career victory at Kansas Speedway in September 2023 while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing and would double down both at Kansas and in the series this past May. He also recorded two ARCA poles, including the 2023 season opener at Daytona International Speedway.
Mosack’s addition to MHR adds another missing element to the organization’s 2025 Truck Series lineup as the driver will compete alongside teammates Tyler Ankrum and Daniel Hemric.
“I was impressed with the job Connor did last season and wanted him to be part of our lineup in 2025,” Bill McAnally, team owner of McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, added. “He showed he has the talent and commitment to compete and win at this level and we’re excited about the potential that he has joining our group. He and Blake will make a great pair and create opportunities for us to win races.”
With his plans for the 2025 season set, Connor Mosack’s first full-time campaign in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division is set to commence at Daytona International Speedway on February 14 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
Ty Majeski stormed to his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship by securing a dominant victory in the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Friday, November 8.
After starting on the pole, the 30-year-old Majeski from Seymour, Wisconsin, led a race-high 132 of 150-scheduled laps in the season-finale event. He led the first 38 laps before he was overtaken by Championship 4 contender Corey Heim. Majeski finished the first stage in second place at the conclusion of the first stage. He regained the lead during the first stage’s pit stop period and before the start of the second stage, Majeski prevailed after a mid-stage battle with Heim on the track to claim the second stage victory.
Majeski would then lead the field to the start of the final stage period with 52 laps remaining. During three caution periods due to on-track carnages and three restart periods throughout the final stage, Majeski retained the lead through every restart period. He executed the final one with 27 laps remaining to his advantage as he motored away from Heim along with Championship 4 finalists Christian Eckes and Grant Enfinger. Majeski capped off the 2024 season with his third Craftsman Truck Series victory this year and his first championship in his third full-time series campaign.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Championship 4 finalist Ty Majeski claimed the final pole position of the 2024 season and the sixth of the season with a pole-winning lap at 138.180 mph in 26.053 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Championship 4 finalist Corey Heim, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 138.021 mph in 26.083 seconds. Christian Eckes and Grant Enfinger, the remaining two Championship 4 finalists, lined up in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Before the event, Lawless Alan dropped to the rear of the field in a backup after he wrecked his primary truck during the finale’s qualifying session.
When the green flag waved and the finale commenced, the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg as Ty Majeski led the way through the first two turns. Majeski pulled away through the backstretch and led the first lap. His Championship 4 rivals Corey Heim and Christian Eckes followed suit in second and third, respectively.
Over the next four laps, Majeski stretched his early advantage to more than a second over Heim and Eckes while Nick Sanchez and Stewart Friesen followed suit in the top five. Behind, Dean Thompson retained sixth place ahead of Connor Mosack, Championship 4 finalist Grant Enfinger, Kaden Honeycutt and rookie Layne Riggs. Conner Jones, Chase Purdy, Rajah Caruth, Tyler Ankrum and the Gray brothers of Tanner and Taylor were racing in the top 16.
Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Majeski continued to lead by two seconds over Heim while third-place Eckes trailed by three-and-a-half seconds. Behind, Sanchez and Friesen remained in the top five. Enfinger, who lost three spots despite starting in fifth place, was up to seventh place behind Thompson. Majeski stabilized his lead to more than two seconds over Heim and by nearly six seconds over Eckes 10 laps later as Enfinger drove his way back to fifth place behind Sanchez.
At the Lap 30 mark, Majeski’s lead decreased to six-tenths of a second over Heim as the latter started to close in on the former for the top spot. Majeski slightly increased his lead to nine-tenths of a second over Heim at the Lap 35 mark before Heim assumed the lead from Majeski entering the backstretch on Lap 39. By then, Eckes retained third place and trailed the lead by more than four seconds. Enfinger retained fifth place behind Sanchez but trailed the lead by more than 10 seconds.
On Lap 41, the finale’s first caution period flew when Frankie Muniz got bumped by William Sawalich as he slid sideways in Turn 3 as Heim barely avoided McGee’s sideways truck. Muniz’s incident was enough for the first stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 45, to officially conclude under caution as Heim claimed his 10th Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Majeski, Eckes, Sanchez and Enfinger followed suit in the top five while Thompson, Mosack, Riggs, Conner Jones and Friesen were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, they pitted for the first round of pit service. Following the pit stops, Majeski reassumed the lead as he exited pit road first. He was followed by Eckes, Heim, Sanchez and Enfinger. Amid the pit stops, Heim endured slow pit service after he was forced to reverse his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into his pit stall to ensure his pit crew could change the left-side tires. Enfinger barely clipped his rear tire changer while entering his pit stall.
The second stage period started on Lap 54 as Majeski and Eckes occupied the front row. The field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg as Majeski and Eckes dueled for the lead. Majeski would then use the outside lane to muscle his No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 ahead and gain the lead through the first two turns as Heim muscled through into second place ahead of Eckes and Sanchez. As the field continued to fan out through the backstretch, Majeski led the next lap over Heim while Eckes, Sanchez, Thompson and Enfinger followed suit in the top six.
On Lap 58, the caution returned when Jack Wood, who was racing outside the top 25, got sideways after making contact with Bayley Currey who was racing in a three-wide battle with Matt Crafton. It resulted in Wood spinning and backing his No. 91 Mongoose Chevrolet Silverado RST into the outside wall in Turn 2. The incident and damage to the rear end of Wood’s truck were enough to make Wood the first retiree of the finale. During the caution period, Crafton and Daniel Dye pitted while the rest of the field, led by Majeski, remained on the track.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 64, a four-wide battle for the lead ensued between Majeski, Heim, Sanchez and Thompson through the frontstretch’s dogleg. Heim muscled ahead from the inside lane entering the first two turns and Majeski closed to Heim’s rear bumper entering the backstretch. Majeski tried to make a move beneath him, but Heim transitioned to the outside lane and fended off Majeski to retain the lead. With Heim leading the race, Majeski retained second ahead of Sanchez and Eckes while Riggs moved up into the top five. Riggs then challenged Eckes for fourth place while Mosack, Enfinger and Thompson closed in from sixth to eighth, respectively. By then, Thompson was penalized for a restart violation.
At the halfway mark on Lap 75, Majeski, who overtook Heim for the lead five laps earlier despite making contact with the latter, extended his advantage to more than a second over Heim. Sanchez, in third place, trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Riggs and Eckes trailed in the top five ahead of Mosack, Friesen, Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Purdy. Ben Rhodes, Rajah Caruth, Tanner Gray, Conner Jones, Kaden Honeycutt, Daniel Dye, William Sawalich, Tyler Ankrum, Matt Crafton and Stefan Parsons followed suit in the top 20.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Majeski had stretched his advantage to more than three seconds and captured his seventh Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Heim followed suit in second while Riggs, Sanchez, Eckes, Mosack, Enfinger, Taylor Gray, Friesen and Rhodes were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski returned to pit road for service. After the pit stops, Majeski retained the lead after he exited pit road first while Sanchez, Eckes, Riggs, Heim, Mosack, Taylor Gray, Enfinger, Caruth and Tanner Gray followed suit in the top 10. Amid the pit stops, Crafton was penalized for improper fueling to his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150.
With 52 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Majeski and Sanchez occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg as both Sanchez and Majeski dueled in front of the field entering the first two turns. Majeski and Sanchez would continue to duel for the lead entering the backstretch in front of Heim and Riggs before Mosack, who was racing in the top six behind Eckes, ran up the track and hit the outside wall.
As the field scattered to avoid hitting Mosack, Tyler Ankrum then got bumped by Sawalich as he spun his No. 18 LiUNA! Chevrolet Silverado RST back across the middle of the backstretch, which triggered a multi-truck wreck that involved Sawalich, Andres Perez de Lara, Stefan Parsons, Friesen, Frankie Muniz, Spencer Boyd and rookie Thad Moffitt. The carnage was enough to place the finale in a red flag period for more than six minutes. By then, Heim, who restarted in fifth place and had moved up to third place before the caution, was penalized for a restart violation, after he steered his No. 11 Safelite Toyota to the left and below the frontstretch’s apron before reaching the start/finish line.
Once the red flag lifted and the field proceeded under a cautious pace, some of the drivers, including Mosack, Friesen and Currey, pitted while the rest of the field, led by Majeski, remained on the track.
The next restart period began with 43 laps remaining and featured Majeski as he fended off Sanchez, Eckes and Riggs through the frontstretch’s dogleg and the first two turns. Majeski proceeded to lead Riggs through the backstretch while Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Enfinger, Caruth and Eckes all followed suit. Meanwhile, Heim, who restarted 19th after serving his penalty, was up to 16th place. As Heim proceeded to climb his way into the top 14, Majeski held a narrow lead over Riggs with 40 laps remaining as Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Enfinger and Eckes followed suit in the top six.
Shortly after, the caution returned when Conner Jones, who was racing in 11th place, spun in Turn 2 after he made contact with teammate Jake Garcia amid close-quarters racing and was nearly hit by teammate Ben Rhodes while sliding towards the outside wall. The incident occurred in front of Heim, who made his way into 11th place. During the caution period, some of the drivers, including Enfinger and Eckes, pitted while the rest, led by Majeski, remained on the track.
During the next restart period with 33 laps remaining, Majeski and Riggs led the field to the start as Majeski muscled ahead from the outside lane through the frontstretch’s dogleg. Heim went to the apron to gain spots towards the top-five mark entering the first two turns, as Majeski muscled away from the field entering the backstretch. But the caution quickly returned as Riggs made contact with Sanchez in a battle for the runner-up spot and spun his No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford F-150 in Turn 2. Nathan Byrd also spun as he jammed on the brakes to avoid Riggs.
The following restart period with 27 laps remaining featured Majeski muscling ahead of a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot. Heim, Sanchez and Daniel Dye battled through the frontstretch’s dogleg and the first two turns before Heim muscled his way into the runner-up spot entering the backstretch. As the field fanned out, Majeski led the following lap ahead of a hard-charging Heim while Sanchez, Eckes and Dye were in the top five.
Meanwhile, Enfinger was mired in ninth place as Majeski stretched his advantage to a second over Heim. Eckes would then charge his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST into third place on the track. With his fresh tires and only 24 laps remaining, it placed three Championship 4 finalists in the top three on the track while Dye was assessed a restart violation penalty.
Down to the final 20 laps of the finale, Majeski was leading both the race and the championship battle by more than a second over Heim while third-place Eckes trailed by more than two seconds. Meanwhile, Enfinger was in sixth place behind Sanchez and Taylor Gray while Honeycutt, Mosack, Tanner Gray and Rhodes were in the top 10.
Five laps later, Majeski added another second to his advantage as he led by more than two seconds over Heim while Eckes trailed in third place by three-and-a-half seconds. By then, Enfinger moved his No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST up to fifth place despite trailing the lead by more than seven seconds. Majeski, who was posting the fastest lap times on the track, continued to extend his advantage to more than three seconds over Heim with 10 laps remaining.
With five laps remaining, Majeski stabilized his advantage to more than four seconds over Heim while Eckes continued to trail in third place by five seconds. Meanwhile, Enfinger trailed in fifth place on the track by nine seconds while Sanchez was mired in fourth place.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski remained in the lead both in the race and the championship battle by more than four seconds over Heim. Heim was unable to narrow the gap between himself and Majeski for a final lap charge. Majeski smoothly navigated his No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 around the Phoenix circuit for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch to claim the checkered flag and win both the race and his first Truck Series championship.
With his first title, Majeski also claimed his sixth career race victory and became the 21st competitor overall to win a championship in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division. He was also the third consecutive Ford competitor to win a Truck championship in recent seasons and the seventh to achieve a first title under the series’ current inception of the Playoff-elimination format.
Majeski also delivered both the sixth Truck driver’s championship and the third owner’s championship for ThorSport Racing while veteran crew chief Joe Shear Jr. notched his second title in the series.
The 2024 season marks the fourth time over the previous seven seasons that the championship-winning competitor won the season-finale event on a schedule and the third time over the last five seasons that it occurred at Phoenix Raceway. Majeski’s 2024 championship comes in his third full-time Truck season driving for ThorSport Racing, a team whom Majeski drove for in select events in 2021 before he was elevated to a full-time ride in 2022.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“God, I can’t believe it,” Majeski said on the frontstretch on FS1. “Just huge thank you to [team owners] Duke and Rhonda Thorson. Joe Shear Jr., he’s one bad dude. This is so much fun racing with this group. So proud to have the opportunity to drive these great race trucks. There’s a lot of time in my career where this [championship] looks like a far dream and Duke and Ronda really gave me my third opportunity after I had two opportunities that failed. Man, I can’t thank them enough. We have had a lot of ups and downs and just so proud of these guys.”
During his championship interview, Majeski, a five-time ARCA Midwest Tour champion who grew up competing in late models and short-track events, evoked an inspiring message to short-track racers striving to emerge as a future NASCAR champion.
“[Winning]’s possible,” Majeski said. “You just need to find a way to set yourself apart from everybody else. I did that by working in the shop. [I] Started as an engineer at ThorSport [Racing] in 2021 with three or four races, didn’t know what it was going to turn into and now, we’re champions. Man, this is special. We’re going to celebrate this one.”
As Majeski celebrated both the race victory and his first championship on the stage with his team, the remaining three Championship 4 finalists including Corey Heim, Christian Eckes and Grant Enfinger were left disappointed on pit road as the trio fell short of winning their first title in the series.
Heim, the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota entry, ended up in the runner-up spot both on the track and in the final standings and was left surprised by the late restart violation penalty. He admitted though that he could not keep pace with Majeski to battle for the title amid his late-race rally. Heim, who capped off the season with a series-leading six victories, will return to the Truck Series with TRICON Garage for the 2025 season as he strives to make another run for his first championship.
“It’s hard to even be upset,” Heim said. “I did almost everything right except for that restart violation, but we were able to get our track position back pretty quick and make the most of it. I just had nothing for [Majeski] all day. He was so fast. I’m just proud of myself for not driving through the fastest truck like I drove through last year by [Carson] Hocevar and we’re going to go with our heads up high. A six-win season, career highs for myself, my team, organization, everybody. Just one sport short of the championship.”
Meanwhile, the late pit stops for both Eckes and Enfinger did not pay dividends for either driver as Eckes settled in third place on the track and in the final standings while Enfinger came home in fifth place on the track and fourth place in the final standings.
“[I] Just didn’t have enough today,” Eckes, who achieved four race victories, a season-high 11 stage victories and is set to graduate to the Xfinity Series with Kaulig Racing in 2025, said. “[Majeski] and [Heim] were just stronger than us. We threw a Hail Mary with the tires and I thought for a second I would be able to catch them and just didn’t have enough. I wish we could have finished [the season] off with a championship, but just came up a little short. So proud of my guys and we’ll move on to 2025.”
“Honestly, [I needed] just more speed,” said Enfinger, who notched back-to-back victories during the Round of 8 and will be remaining with CR7 Motorsports for the 2025 Truck Series season.
“Really proud of the CR7 Motorsports group. All we’ve overcome all year. I feel like we came here with the right mindset, the right game plan and honestly, pretty much the right execution for the stuff in our control. We just flat out didn’t have the speed tonight…It is a special year. Definitely disappointing performance for us tonight, but overall, proud of everything we did. We just flat out didn’t have the short-run speed. I think after 15 laps, we were respectable, but just couldn’t go on the short run.”
Nick Sanchez finished in fourth place, which was enough to settle in fifth place in the final standings and his final campaign in the Truck Series with Rev Racing as he is set to move up to the Xfinity Series with Big Machine Racing in 2025. Taylor Gray, Kaden Honeycutt, Connor Mosack, Ben Rhodes and Layne Riggs, the latter of whom claimed the 2024 Truck Series Rookie-of-the-Year title, completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were seven lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 43 laps. In addition, 22 of 35 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Ty Majeski, 132 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Corey Heim, 16 laps led, Stage 1 winner
3. Christian Eckes
4. Nick Sanchez
5. Grant Enfinger, two laps led
6. Taylor Gray
7. Kaden Honeycutt
8. Connor Mosack
9. Ben Rhodes
10. Layne Riggs
11. Tanner Gray
12. Chase Purdy
13. Rajah Caruth
14. Jake Garcia
15. Dean Thompson
16. Brett Moffitt
17. Conner Jones
18. Stewart Friesen
19. Matt Crafton
20. Dawson Sutton
21. Bayley Currey
22. Timmy Hill
23. Stefan Parson, one lap down
24. Daniel Dye, one lap down
25. Matt Mills, two laps down
26. Nathan Byrd, three laps down
27. Thad Moffitt, three laps down
28. Spencer Boyd, four laps down
29. Keith McGee, four laps down
30. Lawless Alan, four laps down
31. Andres Perez de Lara – OUT, Accident
32. William Sawalich – OUT, Accident
33. Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Accident
34. Frankie Muniz – OUT, Accident
35. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident
*Bold indicates championship finalists
Final standings
1. Ty Majeski
2. Corey Heim
3. Christian Eckes
4. Grant Enfinger
5. Nick Sanchez
6. Taylor Gray
7. Rajah Caruth
8. Tyler Ankrum
9. Ben Rhodes
10. Daniel Dye
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, on February 14, 2025, for a new season of competition.
Three weeks after securing a Championship 4 berth by winning the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener at Talladega Superspeedway, Grant Enfinger doubled down in his bid to be known as a legitimate championship contender for this season’s finale by winning the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 26, following a fuel-mileage battle to the victory.
The 39-year-old Enfinger from Fairhope, Alabama, led twice for 32 of 134-scheduled laps in an event where he started ninth and cruised to a sixth-place result during the event’s first stage period. Then in the closing laps of the second stage period, he charged up the leaderboard and overtook pole-sitter Corey Heim to assume the lead and race his way to the second stage victory. Despite getting entangled with an on-track incident with Playoff contender Christian Eckes at the start of the final stage period that forced Enfinger to eventually pit and lose a lap amid a tire rub, the Alabama veteran seized an opportunity to rally back through the field that started when Conner Jones intentionally wrecked Matt Mills with 60 laps remaining. During the caution period, he received the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap and pitted for fuel that would enable him to reach the event’s scheduled distance.
Then starting with the final restart period with 52 laps remaining, Enfinger began his fuel economy run to the finish while also carving his way back up the leaderboard. While most of his fellow Playoff contenders pitted for fuel midway into the final stage period, Enfinger remained on the track and returned to the lead with 21 laps remaining. Despite reducing his pace for the remainder of the event, Enfinger had built a reasonable gap from his closest competition and had enough fuel saved in his tank to reach the event’s scheduled distance and claim the checkered flag for his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2024 season and in recent weeks.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, October 25, Playoff contender Corey Heim notched his first Truck pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 165.062 mph in 32.715 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender and teammate Taylor Gray, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 164.689 mph in 32.789 seconds.
Prior to the event, the following names that include Tanner Gray, Matt Mills and rookie Layne Riggs dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks.
When the green flag waved and the race started, the field quickly fanned out through the frontstretch as teammates Corey Heim and Taylor Gray dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field continued to fan out through the backstretch, Heim managed to muscle his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead from the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4 and he would proceed to lead the first lap.
Over the next four laps and amid a series of early on-track action within the field, Heim proceeded to extend his advantage to as high as seven-tenths of a second over teammate Taylor Gray while Playoff contender Christian Eckes followed suit in third place. Behind, Kaden Honeycutt and Connor Mosack trailed in the top five ahead of Playoff contenders Rajah Caruth and Stewart Friesen while Playoff contenders Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger and Nick Sanchez followed suit in the top 10.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Heim stabilized his advantage to four-tenths of a second over teammate Taylor Gray while third-place Eckes trailed by eight-tenths of a second. Behind, Honeycutt and Mosack remained in the top five ahead of Majeski, Caruth, Friesen, Enfinger and Sanchez while Daniel Dye, Dean Thompson, Matt Crafton, Connor Zilisch and Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum were racing in the top 15.
Five laps later, Heim stretched his early advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Honeycutt, who overtook Taylor Gray for the runner-up spot a few laps earlier, while Eckes followed suit in fourth place as he trailed Gray by a second. Not long after, Majeski would move into the top five in fifth place as a trio of Playoff contenders that include Caruth, Enfinger and Sanchez were racing from seventh to ninth, respectively, while Heim retained the lead by half a second over Honeycutt at the Lap 20 mark.
By Lap 25, Honeycutt used the outside lane to gain a big draft on Heim through the backstretch, but Heim moved in front of Honeycutt’s No. 45 Moore’s Venture Foods Chevrolet Silverado RST to stall his momentum. Honeycutt, who was running faster lap times than Heim, would proceed to use the outside lane to continue to gain more ground towards Heim’s rear bumper through every corner and straightaway during the proceeding laps as Heim was navigating his way through lapped traffic.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Heim, who came into Homestead 30 points above the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings, fended off Honeycutt to notch his ninth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Honeycutt settled in second ahead of Majeski, Taylor Gray and Eckes while Enfinger, Mosack, Sanchez, Caruth and Dean Thompson were scored in the top 10. With all but one of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of stage points by finishing in the top 10, the remaining Playoff contender, Tyler Ankrum, settled in 16th place behind teammate Daniel Dye.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Heim pitted for a first round of pit service that included a change of four fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Heim retained the lead as he exited pit road first ahead of teammate Taylor Gray, Honeycutt, Eckes and Enfinger while Majeski, who lost three spots following his pit service, exited in sixth place ahead of Sanchez, Thompson, Mosack and Matt Crafton. Shortly after, Sanchez was sent to the rear of the field due to speeding while exiting pit road.
The second stage period started under green on Lap 38 as teammates Heim and Taylor Gray occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out through both the frontstretch and the backstretch as Gray received a draft from Eckes to muscle ahead of Heim through the backstretch. As Enfinger muscled into fourth place ahead of Majeski and a steaming pack of trucks through Turns 3 and 4, Eckes challenged Gray for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch during the following lap while Heim followed in close pursuit.
Taylor Gray would then slide his No. 17 Place of Hope Toyota Tundra TRD Pro in front of Eckes’ No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST entering the frontstretch and lead the next lap before Eckes pulled a crossover move to the inside lane and assumed the lead through Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 40. Shortly after, Heim overtook teammate Gray for the runner-up spot as Eckes led the following lap. Heim then overtook Eckes to reassume the lead entering the frontstretch on Lap 42 and he would proceed to slowly muscle away with the top spot. By Lap 45, Heim stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Eckes while Taylor Gray, Enfinger and Majeski followed suit in the top five. Behind, Mosack occupied sixth place as Caruth, Honeycutt, Crafton and Dye were in the top 10.
At the Lap 50 mark, Heim extended his advantage to a second over Eckes while Enfinger muscled his way up to third place as he trailed the lead by two seconds. Meanwhile, Taylor Gray fell back to fourth place ahead of Majeski while Mosack, Caruth, Honeycutt, Dye and Crafton were in the top 10. Towards the middle of the field, Playoff contenders Ankrum and Sanchez were mired in 17th and 19th, respectively, as Heim proceeded to lead by seventh-tenths of a second over Eckes by Lap 55.
Then on Lap 57, Enfinger, who overtook Eckes for the runner-up spot a lap earlier and had been gaining ground on the leaders, steered his No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST into the lead from Heim through Turns 3 and 4 while he also almost got sideways entering the frontstretch. He then fended off Heim entering Turns 1 and 2 to retain the top spot.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Enfinger, who is already guaranteed a spot into this year’s Championship 4 field by winning the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener at Talladega Superspeedway earlier in October, notched his third Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Heim settled in second ahead of Eckes, Majeski and Honeycutt while Taylor Gray, Dye, Mosack, Caruth and Crafton were scored in the top 10. With six of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s second round of Playoff points, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Ankrum and Sanchez were mired in 16th and 17th, respectively.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Enfinger returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Enfinger exited pit road first as he was followed by Taylor Gray, Heim, Connor Zilisch, Eckes, Honeycutt, Majeski, Caruth, Mosack and Thompson. Shortly after, Zilisch returned to pit road for service due to the Charlotte rookie missing his pit stall during the first cycle with the field.
With 67 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Enfinger and Taylor Gray occupied the front row. At the start, Taylor Gray muscled ahead into the lead from the inside lane while Eckes and Enfinger collided against one another entering the first turn. As the field fanned out through the first two turns, Eckes fended off Majeski for the runner-up spot while Enfinger, who quickly reassumed third place through the backstretch, had a left-rear tire rub and smoke puffing out of his truck. During the following lap, Enfinger continued to nurse his damaged truck on the track despite dropping out of the top five mark and losing more spots as Taylor Gray retained the lead.
With 64 laps remaining, however, Eckes and Taylor Gray dueled for the lead as Heim and Majeski followed suit in close pursuit. As Enfinger pitted under green to have his damaged truck assessed prior to the following lap, Eckes was out in front of a tight four-truck battle for the lead that involved Heim, Gray and Majeski. Heim then rocketed back into the lead with 62 laps remaining while Eckes followed suit in second. As Gray and Majeski battled for third place, Layne Riggs carved his way up to fifth place while Caruth, Honeycutt, Sanchez, Mosack and Thompson were in the top 10.
Then with 60 laps remaining, the caution flew due to Matt Mills, who was racing in the top 20, getting loose after he received a bump from Conner Jones’ No. 66 TSPORT Ford F-150 and smacked the outside wall in Turn 4 as flames erupted out of his No. 42 Utilitra/J.F. Electric Chevrolet Silverado RST. Following the incident, Mills managed to climb out of his damaged truck under his own power while Jones, who vocally expressed his displeasure with Mills over an earlier on-track battle, was assessed a two-lap penalty for reckless driving. Mills would eventually be taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.
During the caution period, some led by Riggs and including Sanchez and Ankrum pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track. Enfinger, who received the free pass during the caution period, also pitted.
The start of the next restart period with 52 laps remaining featured Heim receiving a draft from Majeski to muscle ahead of Eckes to retain the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. Then exiting the backstretch, Majeski, who was in third place, shot his No. 98 Poppi/Road Ranger Ford F-150 below the track entering Turns 3 and 4 as he tried to bolt into the lead. Heim, however, used the outside lane and a draft from Eckes to muscle back ahead and retain the lead for the following lap. By then, Majeski managed to claim the runner-up spot as Caruth intimidated Eckes for third place.
Then as Caruth tried to go below Eckes for third place in Turns 3, he got loose, which allowed Riggs and Dye to overtake him as Caruth was left to battle Sanchez and Taylor Gray for seventh place. Shortly after, Riggs overtook Eckes and Majeski on his four fresh tires before he assumed the lead from Heim with 49 laps remaining.
With less than 45 laps remaining, Riggs extended his advantage to more than a second over Sanchez, who also bolted his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST to the front on four fresh tires. With Heim dropping to third place, Mosack followed suit in fourth place ahead of Enfinger, Majeski, Ankrum, Dye, Friesen and Ben Rhodes while Eckes, Caruth and Taylor Gray dropped to 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively. As Heim was overtaken by both Mosack and Enfinger, Riggs retained the lead by a second with 40 laps remaining.
With 36 laps remaining, mixed strategies within the field ensued as Caruth pitted his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST for four fresh tires and fuel under green. Eckes would then pit for the following lap before more names including Crafton, Honeycutt and Majeski pitted during the next lap. Teammates Heim and Taylor Gray would then pit their respective Toyotas under green with 33 laps remaining as Riggs, who was approaching lapped traffic, stabilized his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Sanchez.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Riggs, who was among several competitors who continued to race on the track and aiming to stretch their fuel tank to the scheduled distance, continued to lead by a second over Sanchez while third-place Enfinger also trailed by a second. As Mosack, Ankrum, Friesen, Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Chase Purdy and Dawson Sutton followed suit in the top 10, Heim, the first competitor who recently pitted under green, trailed the lead by 31 seconds in 11th place as Majeski, Timmy Hill, Eckes and Caruth were mired in the top 15, with Taylor Gray trailing in 17th place.
Three laps later, Enfinger challenged Riggs for the lead and he would overtake him to lead the following lap. Enfinger, who was also racing on fumes to stretch his fuel tank to the scheduled distance, would proceed to lead by half a second over Riggs while Sanchez trailed in third place by nine-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Heim trailed the lead by 26 seconds in 10th place as he remained ahead of Majeski, Eckes and Caruth.
With 15 laps remaining, Enfinger, who was slowly reducing his speed while remaining on the track to stretch his fuel tank, continued to lead by more than a second over Riggs while third-place Sanchez trailed by more than two seconds. With Mosack and Friesen in the top five ahead of Ankrum, Heim carved his way up to eighth place and trailed the lead by 24 seconds.
Five laps later, Enfinger retained the lead by more than two seconds over runner-up Riggs and by more than three seconds over Sanchez while Heim, who was still in eighth place, trailed by 21 seconds. By then, Caruth and Taylor Gray, both of whom were strapped in 13th and 14th, respectively, un-lapped themselves while Majeski and Eckes were racing in ninth and 11th, respectively.
Down to the final five laps of the event, Enfinger stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Riggs, who was slowly gaining ground on the former, as Sanchez continued to trail in third place by nearly seven seconds. A lap later, Heim cycled to seventh place but still trailed the leader Enfinger by 18 seconds. Another two laps later, Riggs ran out of fuel as he coasted his No. 38 Love’s RV Stops Ford F-150 below the apron through the first two turns and past Purdy, who also ran out of fuel.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Enfinger remained in the lead by more than 10 seconds over Sanchez. As Sanchez ran out of fuel and dropped off the pace through the backstretch, Enfinger managed to have enough fuel in his dry tank to coast his No. 9 Chevrolet around the Homestead circuit smoothly for a final time and return to the frontstretch victorious for his second consecutive checkered flag of the 2024 Truck Series season.
With the victory, Enfinger notched his 12th career win in the Craftsman Truck Series division and his first at Homestead as this marks the first time ever where the Alabama veteran has notched back-to-back Truck victories in recent weeks. The Homestead victory was also the second ever for CR7 Motorsports and the 10th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate as Enfinger eyes additional momentum before his bid and the primary focus for the championship battle in the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway two weeks from now.
“I think the truck we had here was equally as good [as the one from Darlington Raceway] and I feel like we were able to take a disadvantage with whatever happened on that restart [with 67 laps remaining],” Enfinger said on the frontstretch on FS1. “I didn’t think I did anything wrong and my buddy Christian [Eckes] was, I guess, trying to split the middle and just cut our tire a little bit, but just racing. At the end of the day, [crew chief] Jeff Stankiewicz just had the best truck out here. This Champion Power Equipment Chevy was really fast after about five laps yesterday and it was the same way today. [Spotter] Tim [Fedewa] did a good job of managing me with the tires and then Jeff did a good job managing me with the fuel. I felt like I saved at least 20% more than I did in the first run, but Jeff was on me pretty hard. Hard to beat these two weeks.”
“We’ve had potential all year,” Enfinger added. “There’s been some times I haven’t executed. There’s been some times we just had bad luck, but maybe this is the time we get our momentum and like I told the guys, we’ll just not get too worked up over this one. Just focus on Phoenix, but it’s hard not to have momentum. Just overall, proud of the execution of these guys. More than anything, just proud of the speed. We had the fastest truck all day and when you do that, you can even have some slip-ups or mistakes and overcome them.”
With Enfinger winning the race, Ty Majeski came home in second place and Connor Mosack settled in third place while Corey Heim could carve his way back up to as high as fourth place ahead of Tyler Ankrum.
Stewart Friesen, Daniel Dye, Rajah Caruth, Christian Eckes and Taylor Gray finished in the top 10. Meanwhile, Sanchez, who ran out of fuel on the final lap, ended up in 13th place, the final competitor scored on the lead lap, while Riggs fell back to 22nd place, a lap down.
As a result, Heim, Eckes and Majeski enter next weekend’s Round of 8 finale above the top-four cutline to the Championship 4 field while Caruth, Taylor Gray, Ankrum and Sanchez trail the cutline.
There were nine lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 19 laps. In addition, 13 of 34 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Grant Enfinger, 32 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Ty Majeski
3. Connor Mosack
4. Corey Heim, 68 laps led, Stage 1 winner
5. Tyler Ankrum
6. Stewart Friesen
7. Daniel Dye
8. Rajah Caruth
9. Christian Eckes, three laps led
10. Taylor Gray, four laps led
11. Matt Crafton
12. Ben Rhodes
13. Nick Sanchez
14. Kaden Honeycutt, one lap down
15. Dean Thompson, one lap down
16. Corey Day, one lap down
17. William Sawalich, one lap down
18. Connor Zilisch, one lap down
19. Dawson Sutton, one lap down
20. Tanner Gray, one lap down
21. Lawless Alan, one lap down
22. Layne Riggs, one lap down, 27 laps led
23. Timmy Hill, two laps down
24. Jake Garcia, two laps down
25. Conner Jones, two laps down
26. Chase Purdy, three laps down
27. Spencer Boyd, three laps down
28. Conor Daly, three laps down
29. Nathan Byrd, four laps down
30. Marco Andretti, seven laps down
31. Bayley Currey, nine laps down
32. Justin Mondeik, 20 laps down
33. Frankie Muniz, 29 laps down
34. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident
*Bold indicates Playoff competitors
Playoff standings
1. Grant Enfinger – Advanced
2. Corey Heim +49
3. Christian Eckes +38
4. Ty Majeski +22
5. Rajah Caruth -22
6. Taylor Gray -24
7. Tyler Ankrum -41
8. Nick Sanchez -43
The Round of 8 in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to conclude at Martinsville Speedway for the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200, which will determine this year’s Championship 4 field. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, November 1, and air at 6 p.m. ET on FS1.
For a second consecutive season, Sam Mayer went from being scored below the cutline in the Playoff’s Round of 12 finale to leapfrogging his way into the Round of 8 by winning the Drive for the Cure 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (Roval) on Saturday, October 12, amid an overtime shootout.
The 21-year-old Mayer from Franklin, Wisconsin, led three times for 13 of 72 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row alongside Playoff contender Shane van Gisbergen but was penalized for launching ahead of the latter prior to the start/finish line while not the control competitor. Despite serving a pass-through penalty through pit road during the second lap, Mayer blended back on the track inside the top-15 mark, carved his way back into the top 10 after pitting before the first stage’s conclusion, and settled in 11th place. Despite falling one spot short of accumulating crucial stage points following the first stage period, Mayer racked up eight points by settling in third place at the conclusion of the second stage period.
After restarting on the front row for the start of the final stage period with 24 laps remaining, Mayer assumed the lead during the following lap. Despite pitting for fresh tires during a late caution period that started with 15 laps remaining, the Wisconsin native would use the tires to carve his way back up the leaderboard and up to second place as he tried to challenge Playoff contender Parker Kligerman for the victory in the closing laps.
Initially poised to finish in second place behind Kligerman, which would have eliminated him from the Playoffs, Mayer was gifted an opportunity to reclaim the lead after Leland Honeyman wrecked in Turn 3. The caution occurred inches before Kligerman could start the final lap of the event and make the event official, and instead sent the field into overtime. During the overtime shootout, Mayer overtook Kligerman through the Roval’s newly configured Turn 7 and muscled away from the field for two laps to win and maintain his 2024 championship hopes for another three weeks.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Playoff rookie Shane van Gisbergen notched his third Xfinity Series pole position of the season and his career with a pole-winning lap at 97.110 mph in 84.523 seconds. Playoff contender Sam Mayer joined him on the front row was Playoff contender Sam Mayer, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 96.871 mph in 84.731 seconds.
Prior to the event, Ed Jones and Thomas Annunziata dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Sam Mayer rocketed his No. 1 QPS Employment Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Shane van Gisbergen and AJ Allmendinger from the inside lane through the frontstretch as he proceeded to lead through the first turn before he navigated his way through the infield turns, starting in Turn 2. The field, led by Mayer, would then navigate through a pair of right-hand turns in Turns 3 and 4 before entering a brief straightaway to another right-hand turn in Turn 5. Mayer retained the lead through the Roval’s new design turns from Turns 6 and 7 before making a sharp left-hand turn to return back to the main Charlotte oval course.
As the field continued to jostle for early spots, Mayer proceeded to lead through the backstretch’s chicane before he was penalized by NASCAR for jumping the start while not the leader of the race. Amid the penalty, Mayer navigated his way through the final pair of turns before he returned to the frontstretch, drove through the chicane and led the first lap while being black-flagged by NASCAR.
During the second lap, Mayer served a drive-through penalty through pit road, which allowed van Gisbergen to assume the lead as he was followed by teammate AJ Allmendinger, Sheldon Creed, Josh Bilicki and Austin Hill. Despite being pressured by his Kaulig Racing teammate of Allmendinger, van Gisbergen would navigate his way through the 17-turn course and lead the following lap. By the fourth lap, however, Allmendinger navigated his way past van Gisbergen through the frontstretch’s chicane. With Allmendinger leading, van Gisbergen would fend off Creed for the runner-up spot as Bilicki and Hill followed suit.
Through the first five-scheduled laps, Allmendinger was leading by over teammate van Gisbergen as Creed, Bilicki and Austin Hill continued to trail in the top five ahead of rookie Jesse Love, Chandler Smith, Justin Allgaier, Connor Mosack and Riley Herbst. Behind, Aric Almirola trailed in 11th place ahead of Cole Custer, Parker Kligerman and Anthony Alfredo while Sam Mayer was mired in 15th place ahead of teammate Sammy Smith.
Two laps later, van Gisbergen missed the backstretch’s chicane, where he locked up the front tires and drove off the course while running in second place. The on-track misfortune dropped the New Zealander to sixth place, where he had to come to a full stop before proceeding back on the racing surface, as Bilicki, Creed, Hill and Jesse Love all moved up the leaderboard. By then, Allmendinger was leading by more than three seconds.
At the Lap 10 mark, eight of 12 Playoff contenders were racing inside the top 10 as Allmendinger continued to lead by more than two seconds over Bilicki. Behind, Creed, Hill and Love followed suit ahead of van Gisbergen, Allgaier, Chandler Smith and Almirola while Mayer carved his way back into the top 10. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Kligerman, Herbst, Custer and Sammy Smith were racing inside the top 15 mark as Connor Mosack occupied 14th place.
By Lap 15, Allmendinger stabilized his advantage to nearly four seconds over Bilicki while third-place van Gisbergen carved his way back up to third place in front of Creed, Hill and Love. Behind, Allgaier, Chandler Smith, Almirola and Mayer remained in the top 10 ahead of Kligerman and Herbst while Custer and Sammy Smith dropped to 16th and 17th, respectively.
Not long after, Creed, who was racing in fourth place, spun in the Roval’s newly configured Turn 7 after he got hit by Love, who was trying to make a move beneath teammate Hill for a top-five spot. The incident dropped Creed out of the top-10 mark on the track as the event remained under green flag conditions.
By Lap 17, select names led by Bilicki and including Chandler Smith, Almirola, Mayer, Kligerman, Austin Green, Brandon Jones, Custer, Anthony Alfredo, Sammy Smith, Josh Williams, Ed Jones, Alex Labbe and Ryan Sieg pitted under green. Parker Retzlaff had pitted a lap earlier as Allmendinger retained the lead by more than six seconds over teammate van Gisbergen.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Allmendinger cruised to his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate van Gisbergen followed suit in second ahead of Allgaier, Hill and Love while Creed, Mosack, Herbst, Bilicki and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10. With eight of 12 Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders including Mayer, Kligerman, Custer and Sammy Smith were mired in 11th, 21st, 23rd and 26th, respectively.
Under the stage break, some led by Allmendinger and including Playoff contenders van Gisbergen, Creed, Herbst, Allgaier, Hill and Love pitted while the rest led by Bilicki and Chandler Smith remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Love exited pit road first, ahead of Allmendinger, Creed, Hill, Herbst, Allgaier, van Gisbergen, Jeb Burton, Mosack and Sage Karam.
The second stage period started on Lap 24 as teammates Bilicki and Chandler Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Bilicki and Chandler Smith both dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Bilicki muscled his No. 19 Insurance King Toyota Supra ahead through the infield turns. As the field behind jostled for spots, Bilicki retained the lead through the infield turns, including the tight, left-hand Turn 7, before returning to the main oval course. In the midst of the battles, van Gisbergen, who restarted outside the top 20, made contact with Creed in Turn 7 in his charge back to the front before Alex Labbe spun through the backstretch’s chicane amid contact with Ed Jones. Amid the on-track chaos, the race remained under green flag conditions as Bilicki led the following lap ahead of teammate Chandler Smith while Aric Almirola was up to third place.
During an ensuing caution period that started on Lap 26 due to debris spotted in Turn 2, select names led by Creed and including Thomas Annunziata, Leland Honeyman and Blaine Perkins pitted while the rest of the field led by Bilicki remained on the track. Creed’s pit service was due to the driver reporting a shifter issue to his No. 18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota Supra.
With the field restarting under green on Lap 29, Bilicki fended off teammate Chandler Smith through the first two turns to retain the lead. Bilicki retained a steady advantage over Smith, Mayer, Almirola and Kligerman through the infield turns from Turns 3 to 7 as the field fanned out while navigating back onto Charlotte’s oval course. Then as the field navigated through the backstretch’s chicane before returning to the frontstretch, the caution returned due to Matt DiBenedetto crashing into the tire barriers just past Turn 6 and struggling to restart from his carnage scene.
The start of the next restart period on Lap 32 featured Bilicki and Mayer occupying the front row, where both dueled for the lead through the first three turns before Mayer muscled ahead entering Turn 4. As the field behind fanned out, Mayer fended off Bilicki through the following three sets of infield turns before he returned to the oval course and continued to lead through the backstretch chicane. With Chandler Smith, Kligerman and Allmendinger trailing in the top five, Mayer led the following lap.
Shortly after, the caution returned when Herbst, who was battling Alfredo amid close-quarters racing for 15th place, made contact with Alfredo through the frontstretch chicane that resulted in Herbst getting turned sideways off the front nose of Alfredo as both went straight into the outside wall and igniting a pileup that involved Josh Williams, Mosack, Ed Jones, Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg, Dylan Lupton, Preston Pardus, Blaine Perkins, Brad Perez, Jeremy Clements, Brennan Poole and Creed. Despite sustaining damage to their respective cars, Herbst and Creed continued and remained on the lead lap.
During the caution period and extensive cleanup period, a majority of the field led by Mayer pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.
With the race restarting under green with three laps remaining in the second stage period, Allgaier and Sage Karam led the field to the restart zone, where Allgaier rocketed away from Karam and the field to lead through the infield turns as Leland Honeyman overtook Karam for second place. With Allgaier retaining the lead, the field fanned out while navigating through the infield turns, the oval turns and the backstretch’s chicane. As Allgaier proceeded to lead the following lap, more trouble struck for Creed, who was off the pace and limping his damaged car below the Charlotte oval’s apron. Creed would lose a lap as the field lapped him entering the backstretch.
As Herbst was also falling off the pace in his damaged No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang and with a broken trackbar, the caution would then fly on the final lap of the second stage period due to Creed coming to a halt in the backstretch. The caution would officially conclude the second stage period scheduled for Lap 40 as Allgaier claimed his 15th Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammates Mosack and Mayer would follow suit in second and third, respectively, while Almirola, Honeyman, Allmendinger, van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith, Karam and Bilicki were scored in the top 10. With five of 12 Playoff contenders racking up a second round of stage points and both Herbst and Creed out of contention, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Kligerman, Love, Hill, Sammy Smith and Custer were mired inside the top 20.
During the stage break, select names including Allgaier, Karam, Clements, Retzlaff and Honeyman pitted while the rest led by Mosack remained on the track.
With 24 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as teammates Mosack and Mayer occupied the front row. At the start, Mosack muscled ahead and cleared teammate Mayer through the first turn. As Mosack proceeded to lead in his No. 88 Apollo Pex Chevrolet Camaro through the ensuing infield turns, Mayer fended off Allmendinger to retain second while Almirola, van Gisbergen and Chandler Smith followed suit in the top six. With van Gisbergen diving his way up to fourth place through Turn 7, Mosack fended off teammate Mayer through both the backstretch and frontstretch chicanes to lead the following lap while teammates Hill and Love battled for ninth place.
Then, as Almirola and Clements spun in Turn 7, Mayer overtook teammate Mosack through Turns 8 and 9 to assume the lead. Mayer would retain the lead for the following lap as teammate Mosack, Allmendinger, van Gisbergen and Chandler Smith followed suit in the top five.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Mayer was leading by more than a second over teammate Mosack as Playoff contenders Allmendinger, van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith, Kligerman and Hill followed suit in the top seven ahead of Bilicki, Austin Green and Love. Behind, Sammy Smith, Custer and Allgaier were scored in the top 15 along with Brandon Jones and DiBenedetto as 31 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Five laps later, Mayer continued to lead by more than a second over Allmendinger as van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith and Mosack followed suit in the top five. With Mayer, who came into the event scored below the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings, leading, van Gisbergen currently occupied the eighth and final transfer spot to the top-eight cutline by two points over Allgaier, who overtook Custer for 12th place.
Shortly after, the caution flew due to Thomas Annunziata driving his No. 35 NFPA Toyota entry head-on into the barriers entering Turn 1 due to a brake failure. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Mayer and including Playoff contenders Allmendinger, Hill, Kligerman, Allgaier, Custer and Sammy Smith pitted while the rest led by van Gisbergen remained on the track. In addition to van Gisbergen, Austin Green, Love, Preston Pardus and Nathan Byrd remained on the track.
The start of the ensuing restart period with 11 laps remaining featured van Gisbergen rocketing his No. 97 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro away with the lead as the field fanned out entering the first turn. With van Gisbergen leading Love, Green, Mayer and Kligerman through the infield turns and back on the oval turns, the New Zealander retained the lead by a steady margin through the backstretch chicane as Kligerman battled and overtook Love for the runner-up spot.
With 10 laps remaining, several competitors including Mosack and Alfredo spun through the frontstretch chicane while more including Sammy Smith served an on-track stop-and-go penalty in the frontstretch. At the front, van Gisbergen retained the lead over a hard-charging Kligerman while Mayer carved his way up to third place. Kligerman would cut van Gisbergen’s deficit through the infield turns before the former retained the advantage for the remaining turns.
The following lap, Kligerman, who pitted for fresh tires during the previous caution period and is placed in a “must-win” situation to advance into the Playoff’s Round of 8, closed in to van Gisbergen’s rear bumper through the infield turns. Kligerman then made his move beneath van Gisbergen in Turn 7 to move his No. 48 Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet Camaro into the lead and he would retain the top spot through the oval turns and the following set of chicanes as Mayer overtook van Gisbergen for the runner-up spot. Van Gisbergen, whose tires were beginning to wear out, would then yield third place to teammate Allmendinger through the infield turns during the following lap as Kligerman retained the lead over Mayer.
Down to the final five laps of the event, Kligerman kept his lead to three-tenths of a second over Mayer, with the latter keeping pace and remaining within a striking zone of the former while Allmendinger tried to close in on the two leaders. Behind, van Gisbergen trailed by more than two seconds in fourth place ahead of Hill while Chandler Smith, Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Bilicki and Love were racing in the top 10.
Then with four laps remaining, Mayer seized an opportunity and made his move beneath Kligerman entering the frontstretch chicane to assume the lead. With Mayer lightly bumping into Kligerman and retaining the lead through the chicane, Kligerman then executed a crossover move of his own as he made his move beneath Mayer and reassumed the lead through the frontstretch. With Kligerman fending off Mayer through the first three turns, Allmendinger joined the battle and van Gisbergen also tried to close in from fourth place. During the following lap, Mayer briefly lost his momentum through the oval’s backstretch, which allowed Allmendinger and van Gisbergen to challenge him for the runner-up spot. Mayer, however, defended his spot as Kligerman muscled away with the lead through every turn and straightaway.
For the following lap, Kligerman’s steady advantage grew to nine-tenths of a second over Mayer as Allmendinger and van Gisbergen followed suit by less than two seconds. Despite Mayer trimming the gap to half a second towards the frontstretch, Kligerman remained in the lead.
Then as Kligerman was inches away from crossing the start/finish line to take the white flag and start the final lap of the event, the caution flew and the event was sent into overtime due to Leland Honeyman wrecking and getting buried beneath the tire barriers in Turn 3. During the caution period, some including Love pitted while the rest led by Kligerman remained on the track
The start of the first overtime attempt featured Kligerman and Mayer dueling for the lead through the first four turns before the former rubbed and fended his way back to the front to retain the lead. Kligerman would retain the lead for the following infield turns before Mayer pulled a crossover move beneath Kligerman in Turn 7 and assumed the lead entering the oval turns. Mayer would proceed to lead through the backstretch chicane while Kligerman was trying to fend off Allmendinger and van Gisbergen for the runner-up spot.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Mayer remained as the leader by a second over Allmendinger and van Gisbergen, who overtook Kligerman for second and third. By then, van Gisbergen was tied with Love for the final transfer spot to the Round of 8. As Love was trying to gain a spot within the middle of the pack, Mayer retained the lead from the infield turns to the backstretch. With both Allmendinger and van Gisbergen unable to close in from behind, Mayer would cycle back to the frontstretch and weave his way through the chicane before crossing the finish line in first place and notching his third Xfinity checkered flag of the 2024 season.
With the victory, Mayer, who came into the Charlotte Roval event 13 points below the cutline after being disqualified due to his car failing to meet the height requirements during the post-race inspection process last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, notched his seventh career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series division, his third of the season and his first since winning at Iowa Speedway in June. The victory was also the 16th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate, with the manufacturer racking its sixth consecutive win at the Charlotte Roval, and the 88th overall for JR Motorsports.
The second consecutive victory at the Charlotte Roval allowed Mayer and the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet team to automatically advance into the Round of 8, where the Wisconsin native continues his pursuit for his first Xfinity Series championship.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Man, it’s all thanks to the good Lord above,” Mayer said on the CW Network. “He’s blessed me with a lot of issues this year, learning moments. To come out here to the Charlotte Motor Speedway [Rova], go back to back [in wins] with a fast, fast car. To do it at home is something special. This No. 1 car was fast today. We certainly had to work for [the win] there. I knew that [passing in Turn 7] was my only shot if I got a good angle into that corner. [Kligerman] blocked the bottom [lane], which was good for me. It gave me a better angle up off the corner and this QPS Employment Chevrolet hooked up and we were gone from there. [It] Was something super special and now, I get to celebrate.”
As Mayer celebrated the race victory that enabled him to advance into the Round of 8, Jesse Love was also left smiling after he finished in 19th place, which was enough for him to claim the eighth and final spot to advance into the next round of the Playoffs by two points over rookie rival van Gisbergen, who ended up in third place. The result marks the second time where a driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet entry claimed the final berth into the Round of 8 while van Gisbergen’s championship run in his first full-time NASCAR campaign came to a bittersweet end.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“[The ending was] Just stressful,” Love said. “[My team] were telling me I needed one more [spot] and then one more. I was like, ‘When is [the race] gonna end?’ At the end of the day, I got to be loyal to my guys and they busted their ass really hard, so I got to put a sack over my shoulder and man up and drive forward. Just proud of my whole Whelen No. 2 team. We’re good enough to go race for a championship and we just got to go show it in the next three weeks.”
“It is what it is,” van Gisbergen said. “It probably comes down to last week [at Talladega] having the dramas we had and the DNF there, so that’s probably it. I’m proud of the Kaulig Racing guys. We’ve had an amazing year, my first year in NASCAR. I’ve loved it. I’m happy, but I’m also not. I’d love to keep going [in the Playoffs]. [I] Did what I could.”
Compared to van Gisbergen, teammate AJ Allmendinger advanced into the Round of 8 by finishing in second place. Playoff contenders Austin Hill, Chandler Smith and Justin Allgaier all advanced by finishing fourth, fifth and seventh, respectively, on the track as they joined Sammy Smith, who advanced by winning last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, for the Round of 8 battle.
Meanwhile, Kligerman did not transfer despite capping off his strong run in sixth place. Kligerman’s sixth-place result left the Connecticut native with mixed emotions and fighting off tears as he was initially within inches of both achieving his first elusive Xfinity victory and advancing into the Round of 8 during the event’s regulation period. Nonetheless, Kligerman remained humble and remained optimistic in pursuing his victory before he retires from NASCAR competition at this season’s conclusion.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I might have teared up when I thought we got it there with the white flag and the caution comes out and then had to refocus,” Kligerman said. “I thought I’d cut off Turn 7 enough, but [Mayer] somehow got below me and then, it was on from there. I said I want to cry. I’m not gonna cry, but I really love this game. I just really, really wanted that. It would have meant the world, but you know what? It meant the world to be in that position. Thank you to [owner] Scott Borchetta and everyone at Spiked Coolers. Everyone who made this possible. Big Machine Racing. I don’t know how to process this. It’s going to take a while, but just really thankful to have the opportunity. God, I love this game. I want to get a trophy.”
Ultimately, Kligerman and van Gisbergen join Riley Herbst and Sheldon Creed as the bottom four competitors in the Playoff standings to not advance into the Round of 8.
There were 12 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 20 laps. In addition, 26 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Sam Mayer, 13 laps led
2. AJ Allmendinger, 18 laps led, Stage 1 winner
3. Shane van Gisbergen, seven laps led
4. Austin Hill
5. Chandler Smith, one lap led
6. Parker Kligerman, 12 laps led
7. Justin Allgaier, six laps led, Stage 2 winner
8. Josh Bilicki, 10 laps led
9. Aric Almirola
10. Sammy Smith
11. Brandon Jones
12. Parker Retzlaff
13. Cole Custer
14. Alex Labbe
15. Jeb Burton
16. Anthony Alfredo
17. Ryan Sieg
18. Connor Mosack, five laps led
19. Jesse Love
20. Jeremy Clements
21. Preston Pardus
22. Matt DiBenedetto
23. Kyle Sieg
24. Dawson Cram
25. Nathan Byrd
26. Brad Perez
27. Dylan Lupton, one lap down
28. Leland Honeyman – OUT, Accident
29. Sage Karam – OUT, Brakes
30. Austin Green – OUT, Engine
31. Ryan Ellis, 14 laps down
32. Riley Herbst – OUT, Driveshaft
33. Blaine Perkins, 16 laps down
34. Thomas Annunziata – OUT, Accident
35. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident
36. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident
37. Ed Jones – OUT, Accident
38. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident
*Bold indicates Playoff competitors
Playoff standings
1. Sam Mayer – Advanced
2. Sammy Smith – Advanced
3. Chandler Smith – Advanced
4. Austin Hill – Advanced
5. Cole Custer – Advanced
6. AJ Allmendinger – Advanced
7. Justin Allgaier – Advanced
8. Jesse Love – Advanced
9. Shane van Gisbergen – Eliminated
10. Sheldon Creed – Eliminated
11. Riley Herbst – Eliminated
12. Parker Kligerman – Eliminated
The Round of 8 in the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to commence at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the Ambetter Health 302. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, October 19, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network.
Rookie Shane van Gisbergen left very little room to doubt his road-course expertise Saturday afternoon as he repeated the success that launched him to NASCAR stardom on the streets of Downtown Chicago a year ago, after winning the second annual The Loop 110 at the Chicago Street Course on Saturday, July 6. It was his third NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season and his career.
The three-time Supercars champion from Auckland, New Zealand, led a race-high 14 of 50 scheduled laps after starting on the pole position and withstanding a series of on-track challenges from Kyle Larson to claim the first stage victory.
Despite losing the lead to Larson at the start of the second stage period before getting shuffled before the following restart period on Lap 25 amid pit strategy, van Gisbergen methodically carved his way back to the front. He then capitalized during a three-lap shootout to overtake rookie Jesse Love and return atop the leaderboard. Once in the lead, he muscled away from runner-up Ty Gibbs to score the third Xfinity career victory in his rookie campaign.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup, rookie van Gisbergen scored his second career Xfinity pole position after posting a pole-winning lap of 88.543 mph in 89.448 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Kyle Larson, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 88.530 mph in 89.461 seconds.
Before the event, Justin Allgaier and Sage Karam dropped to the rear of the field in backup cars. The following drivers, including Sheldon Creed, John Hunter Nemechek, Kyle Sieg and Parker Kligerman also dropped to the rear of the field due to engine changes made to their entries. Daniel Suarez and Ryan Sieg also started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the race started, van Gisbergen rocketed ahead of Kyle Larson through the frontstretch and entering the first turn to lead. Larson then tried to make a move beneath van Gisbergen entering Turn 2 and he managed to pull even with van Gisbergen through Turns 3 to 5, just past DuSable Lake Shore Drive, before he muscled ahead with the top spot entering South Columbus Drive.
After trailing Larson through the drive, van Gisbergen pulled his No. 97 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro back even and reassumed the lead from Larson in Turn 6 while Ty Gibbs tried to challenge Larson for the runner-up spot. With Larson fending off Gibbs and Connor Mosack through the following six turns, van Gisbergen managed to pull away and lead the first lap.
After van Gisbergen led the second lap, Larson made an aggressive move beneath the former while almost forcing him towards the wall entering the first turn to snatch the lead. Van Gisbergen fought back through the following five turns amid a side-by-side battle, but Larson withstood the advantageous lane and retained the lead through South Columbus Drive. Despite van Gisbergen intimidating him through a series of tight turns between South Michigan Avenue and the East Congress Plaza Drive, Larson led the third lap and would continue to fend off van Gisbergen through the fifth lap mark.
Just past the fifth lap mark, van Gisbergen returned the favor as he overtook Larson entering the first turn before fending him off to retain the top spot prior to Turn 2. With van Gisbergen leading and stretching his advantage by more than a second over Larson by the seventh lap, Matt DiBenedetto was trying to rally from spinning in Turn 4 while Chandler Smith retired due to an engine issue in his No. 81 Smith General Contracting Toyota Supra.
With the event’s first caution period flying on the seventh lap due to debris spotted on the course, some of the drivers, including Josh Williams, Daniel Suarez, Jeremy Clements and Andre Castro pitted, while the rest, led by van Gisbergen remained on the track.
The start of the restart period on Lap 10 featured a tight side-by-side battle for the lead between Larson and van Gisbergen as Larson tried to make a move beneath van Gisbergen entering the first turn. Van Gisbergen, however, fended off Larson entering Turn 2 to retain the top spot momentarily before they both dueled for the lead through the following three turns and South Columbus Drive. Larson muscled ahead in Turn 6 as Gibbs, Mosack and Cole Custer trailed in the top five. With the race remaining under green flag conditions despite Josh Bilicki spinning in Turn 11 and Clements nursing a damaged No. 51 Impel Union Chevrolet Camaro to his pit stall, Larson continued to lead ahead of van Gisbergen and Gibbs.
Shortly after, notables, including Justin Allgaier, Riley Herbst and Sheldon Creed ran into issues, with Allgaier pitting under green and spinning while trying to enter pit road amid contact with Ryan Sieg while Herbst ran Creed into the Turn 2 wall as both made contact before Herbst spun his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang in the following turn. Amid the on-track chaos, Larson was leading by a slim margin over a hard-charging van Gisbergen.
Then on the final lap of the first stage period, van Gisbergen, who spent the previous five laps trailing Larson through every turn, pulled even with Larson through South Columbus Drive and through Turn 6 before he muscled ahead through Turns 7 and 8. With the clean air to his advantage for four final turns, van Gisbergen proceeded to claim his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season on Lap 15. Larson settled in second as they were followed by Gibbs, Mosack, Custer, AJ Allmendinger, rookie Jesse Love, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer and Parker Kligerman.
Under the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Gibbs, pitted while the rest, led by van Gisbergen and Larson, remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Custer was penalized for passing and bumping Gibbs’ No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra on pit road and before entering his pit stall
The second stage period started on Lap 18 as van Gisbergen and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, van Gisbergen and Larson dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Larson muscled his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro clear with the lead entering Turn 2. As the field behind jostled for spots, Larson also stretched his advantage over van Gisbergen and Allmendinger through the next 10 series of turns as he would lead the ensuing lap.
Then on Lap 20, van Gisbergen launched another side-by-side attack on Larson for the lead through the frontstretch and just past the first turn, but Larson would fend him off in Turn 2. With van Gisbergen attempting another side-by-side battle through South Columbus Drive, Allmendinger tried to close in from third place while Mosack and Austin Green trailed in the top five. Despite van Gisbergen’s challenges through every turn and straightaway within Chicago’s avenues, Larson was not to be denied as he continued to lead.
Then on Lap 22, the caution returned when Allmendinger, who was running in third place, wheel-hopped entering Turn 6 just exiting S. Columbus Drive, slid sideways and pounded the tire barriers, which damaged the rear and right side of the No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro as Allmendinger limped his car to his pit stall. At the time of caution, Larson had fended off van Gisbergen to retain the lead while Mosack, Sammy Smith and Hill trailed in the top five.
During the caution period, which surpassed the event’s halfway mark, some led by Larson, van Gisbergen and Mosack pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track.
With the race restarting with five laps remaining in the second stage period, Hill overtook Sammy Smith through the frontstretch to assume the lead in his No. 21 Dow Coatings Chevrolet Camaro entering the first turn. He proceeded to lead during the following four turns while Sammy Smith, Love, Allgaier and Mayer followed suit in the top five.
With Larson and van Gisbergen mired outside the top 15 due to the mixed pit strategies, Hill retained the lead for the following lap. Larson would then return to the top-10 mark by the following lap while van Gisbergen was mired in 12th behind Joey Logano while Hill maintained the advantage by a second over Sammy Smith and teammate Love.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 30, Hill captured his third Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Sammy Smith followed suit in second along with Love, Allgaier and Creed while Gibbs, Kligerman, Mayer, Nemechek and van Gisbergen scored in the top 10 as Larson ended up in 11th place. During the stage’s conclusion, Custer, who was running in 14th place, spun his No. 00 Andy’s Frozen Custard Ford Mustang in Turn 12 and plummeted to 26th place.
During the stage break, select drivers, including Sammy Smith, Allgaier, Parker Retzlaff, Jeb Burton, Josh Bilicki, Andre Castro, Custer and DiBenedetto pitted while the rest, led by Hill, remained on the track.
With 16 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as teammates Hill and Love occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out entering Turn 1 as Love assumed the lead in his No. 2 WAT Chevrolet Camaro. He would fend off teammate Hill and Gibbs entering Turn 2 and navigating through Turns 3 to 5 before he made his way onto South Columbus Drive. Behind, Gibbs moved up to second over Hill while Creed and Mayer were in the top five ahead of van Gisbergen and Kligerman. Meanwhile, Larson was mired in ninth behind Mosack while Nemechek, Logano, Herbst, Brandon Jones, Green and Brennan Poole were in the top 15.
Another lap later, the caution quickly returned due to on-track calamity that struck in Turn 12 when Sage Karam ran into the rear of Josh Bilicki, who also made contact with Kyle Sieg as Andre Castro and Parker Retzlaff, whose hood came flying up, were all involved.
The start of the next restart period with 11 laps remaining did not last long due to Preston Pardus stalling his car in the middle of Turn 11. Prior to the caution period, Brandon Jones spun in Turn 2 after Allmendinger collided with Leland Honeyman, who then collided and sent Jones’ No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro spinning in a cloud of smoke. Amid the chaos, Love had retained the lead over Gibbs and teammate, Hill. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen was up to fifth place behind Creed while Larson was still mired in ninth place behind Mosack.
Down to the final eight laps of the event, the event restarted under green. At the start, Love mirrored his start from the previous restart period to retain the lead while Gibbs navigated his way to second place. Creed and van Gisbergen would all overtake Hill through South Columbus Drive and prior to entering Turn 6 before van Gisbergen made a bold move beneath Creed to claim third place in Turn 11.
With van Gisbergen trying to fend off Mayer and Creed through the frontstretch, Gibbs then started to challenge Love for the lead during the following lap. He tried to bump and move Love out of the way in Turn 5, but Love maintained the lead through South Columbus Drive. The battle between Love and Gibbs, however, allowed van Gisbergen to close in on both entering Turn 6 as the top-five competitors on the track trailed the lead by under a second for the next six turns.
Amid the late battles, the caution returned due to Leland Honeyman locking up his front tires and slamming his No. 42 Klean Freak Chevrolet Camaro head-on into the tire barriers in Turn 1. Before Honeyman’s wreck, van Gisbergen made a bold save entering the frontstretch sliding sideways and making light contact with the wall in front of Mayer and Creed.
With the event restarting with three laps remaining, Creed muscled ahead to retain the lead while van Gisbergen bolted his way past Gibbs to move into second place. With Mayer spinning in Turn 1, the race remained under green flag conditions as van Gisbergen quickly closed in on Love’s rear bumper for the following four turns and through South Columbus Drive. Van Gisbergen then forced his way beneath Love to cycle back into the lead in Turn 7 as Gibbs capitalized on the battle to move into second entering Turn 8.
During the proceeding lap and with Creed spinning in Turn 12 amid contact with Kligerman while running in the top five, Larson navigated his way past Love and into third place through Turn 5. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen stretched his advantage to a comfortable advantage over Gibbs through South Columbus Drive and he would continue to do so entering Turn 6 and through East Balbo Drive, East Congress Plaza Drive, South Michigan Avenue and East Jackson Drive.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, van Gisbergen remained as the leader by a second over Gibbs while Larson, Kligerman and Love trailed in the top five by under five seconds. With Gibbs unable to close the deficit for a final lap and through 12 sets of turns, van Gisbergen smoothly navigated his No. 97 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro through each turn before he made a hard right-hand turn to the frontstretch victorious for the third time of his career and of the 2024 season.
With the victory, van Gisbergen joined Terry Labonte and AJ Allmendinger as the only competitors to notch their first three career Xfinity Series victories on road-course events, with the New Zealander winning for the first time since Sonoma Raceway in June.
Van Gisbergen’s victory at Chicago also made him the first three-time Xfinity race winner of the 2024 season and the first competitor to win two NASCAR national touring series events on the streets of Chicago as he will attempt to sweep the weekend with Sunday’s Cup Series action at Chicago. Van Gisbergen won the inaugural Cup Series’ Chicago Street Race event in his premier series debut while driving for Trackhouse Racing.
While van Gisbergen’s victory marks the third win of the season for Kaulig Racing and the team’s No. 97 Chevrolet entry led by crew chief Bruce Schlicker, the win was the 11th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate.
“That’s awesome! What a great race. It was pretty wild there at the end,” van Gisbergen, who kicked another rugby football into the frontstretch’s crowd, said on NBC. “I can’t thank [the] Kaulig Racing guys enough. [The] WeatherTech Camaro was amazing. Great race at the start with Kyle [Larson]. He was really good on the restarts and we made our car better for the second set of tires. That was fun at the end, passing all those guys. I had some great racing with everyone. [It was] Really cool. [I] Learnt a lot. [Larson] probably learned a lot off me, but hope to race him again for the win tomorrow [for the Cup Series event.
“It’s a privilege to race here [at Chicago],” van Gisbergen added. “This event is amazing. What NASCAR’s done here, what a show. Pretty cool feelings. Hopefully, we can repeat tomorrow.”
Ty Gibbs settled in second place for his first top-two result of the 2024 season, which occurred in his fifth start of the season, while Kyle Larson, who led 12 laps, ended up in third place for his second top-three result of the season and his first since winning at Circuit of the Americas in March.
Despite setting in third place in his second and final Xfinity Series start of the 2024 season, Larson noted the on-track benefits he gained amid his battles with van Gisbergen that would place him in an advantage to be competitive for Sunday’s Cup Series event at Chicago.
“[van Gisbergen] was obviously way faster than me and I think he was having fun, just playing with me,” Larson said. “I wanted to use this race to learn…That was big on my agenda and I felt like I learned quite a bit battling [van Gisbergen] and create different angles and all that. I think today was a success. Obviously, [I] would like to win, but our car just wasn’t quite as good as his.”
Parker Kligerman came home in fourth place while Jesse Love, who also led a race-high 14 laps with van Gisbergen, settled in fifth place for his fifth top-five result in his Xfinity rookie campaign.
Connor Mosack, Austin Hill, Joey Logano, Justin Allgaier and Austin Green completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were nine lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 16 laps. In addition, 27 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 18th event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Cole Custer leads the regular-season standings by 38 points over Justin Allgaier, 39 over Chandler Smith, 60 over Austin Hill and 109 over rookie Jesse Love.
Results.
1. Shane van Gisbergen, 14 laps led, Stage 1 winner
2. Ty Gibbs
3. Kyle Larson, 12 laps led
4. Parker Kligerman
5. Jesse Love, 14 laps led
6. Connor Mosack
7. Austin Hill, eight laps led, Stage 2 winner
8. Joey Logano
9. Justin Allgaier
10. Austin Green
11. AJ Allmendinger
12. Josh Williams
13. Sammy Smith, two laps led
14. Kyle Weatherman
15. Jeb Burton
16. Ryan Sieg
17. Brandon Jones
18. Cole Custer
19. Sam Mayer
20. Brennan Poole
21. Ryan Ellis
22. Kyle Sieg
23. Matt DiBenedetto
24. Blaine Perkins
25. John Hunter Nemechek
26. Sheldon Creed
27. Daniel Suarez
28. Riley Herbst – OUT, Overheating
29. Alex Labbe, five laps down
30. Anthony Alfredo, five laps down
31. Leland Honeyman – OUT, Accident
32. Preston Pardus – OUT, Electrical
33. Sage Karam – OUT, Accident
34. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident
35. Andre Castro – OUT, Accident
36. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident
37. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Accident
38. Chandler Smith – OUT, Engine
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, for the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, July 13, and air at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Niece Motorsports took to social media to reveal the team’s crew chief lineup for the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season that is set to commence this upcoming Friday, February 16, at Daytona International Speedway.
Veteran Mike Hillman Jr. will return to Niece for a second consecutive season as he will call the shots atop the No. 41 Chevrolet Silverado RST pit box that is set to be piloted by Bayley Currey, who will campaign in the series on a full-time basis for the first time.
Hillman Jr., a native of Lockport, New York, enters the 2024 Truck Series season with 391 series events called as a crew chief, where he has accumulated 23 victories while working with 34 competitors during his tenure. He also achieved two Truck Series championships with Todd Bodine (2006 & 2010).
This past season, Hillman Jr., who teamed up with Niece Motorsports for the first time, was a crew chief for the team’s No. 41 entry that served as the team’s “all-star” entry and was piloted between seven competitors: Tyler Carpenter, Ross Chastain, Bayley Currey, Conor Daly, Shane van Gisbergen and Travis Pastrana. With a total of one pole, five top-five results and seven top-10 results, the No. 41 entry ended up in 17th place in the 2023 Truck Series’ owner’s standings.
With his latest Truck victory occurring at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2020 with Raphael Lessard and Kyle Busch Motorsports, Hillman Jr. aims to return to Victory Lane this season. In addition, his driver, Bayley Currey, also aims to win for the first time in the series after notching his first three top-five results in 11 starts in 2023.
Next, Jon Leonard joins Niece Motorsports for the first time to serve as a full-time crew chief for Matt Mills and the No. 42 Chevrolet Silverado RST team.
Leonard, a native of Vinton, Iowa, who was a crew chief in the Cup Series for Leavine Family Racing for 26 races between 2017 and 2018, returns as a full-time crew chief in the Truck Series for the first time since 2022, where he navigated Stewart Friesen to a thrilling last-lap victory at Texas Motor Speedway, a total of 13 top-10 results and into the Playoffs, where they ended up in sixth place in the final standings.
Leonard, who previously worked with Friesen and Todd Gilliland between 2019 and 2021, spent this past season serving as Friesen’s crew chief for the first two events before being replaced by Blake Bainbridge. He would return for eight additional Truck events for the remainder of the 2023 season with Hattori Racing Enterprises, where he worked with Christopher Bell, Jake Drew and Sean Hingorani.
For the 2024 season, Leonard teams up with Matt Mills, who will campaign in the Truck Series on a full-time basis for the first time after spending this past season competing in eight events between Young’s Motorsports and Kyle Busch Motorsports. During the eight-race stint, Mills registered a career-best fifth-place run with KBM at Richmond Raceway in late July as he strives to both win and make the Playoffs for the first time in his career.
Lastly, Phil Gould will remain as the crew chief for Niece’s No. 45 Chevrolet Silverado RST entry that will contend for this year’s Truck Series owner’s championship and will be piloted between Johnny Sauter, Ross Chastain, Kaden Honeycutt and Connor Mosack.
Gould, a native of Lexington, North Carolina, returns to Niece for a sixth consecutive season of being a Truck Series crew chief. He is coming off a strong season with Carson Hocevar, who achieved his first four career victories in the season, a total of 13 top-10 results, qualified for the Playoffs and transferred to the Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway before ending up in third place in the final driver’s standings. With Hocevar graduating to the Cup Series to drive for Spire Motorsports, Gould will serve as Niece’s “all-star” crew chief for the first time since the 2021 season.
Previously, Gould navigated Ross Chastain to three victories, one pole, a total of 18 top-10 results and a spot into the 2019 Truck Series Playoffs, where the duo transferred all the way into the Championship 4 round before settling in a career-best runner-up result in the final standings.
Speaking of Chastain, the veteran racer from Alva, Florida, will pilot Niece’s No. 45 entry at Circuit of the Americas, Darlington Raceway, North Wilkesboro Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, respectively, this season. Sauter will pilot the No. 45 entry for this upcoming weekend’s season opener at Daytona while the racing schedules for Honeycutt and Mosack, both of whom are contending for their first series victory, remain to be determined.
Through 114 appearances as a Truck Series crew chief, Gould has achieved seven victories, two poles and 57 top-10 results while working with eight different competitors. He also worked as a crew chief in the Xfinity Series for Roush Fenway Racing and Richard Childress Racing between 2013 to 2018, where he notched his first and only Xfinity victory to date with Ryan Reed at Daytona in February 2017.
The 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is set to commence this Friday, February 16, at Daytona International Speedway for the Fresh from Florida 250. The event’s opener is slated to broadcast at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
From conserving the low fuel needed to finish to spinning dominant Ty Gibbs out of the lead during an overtime shootout, Sam Mayer raced his way to an overwhelming victory in the Shriners Children’s 200 at The Glen on Saturday, August 19.
The 20-year-old Mayer from Franklin, Wisconsin, led twice for eight of 86 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started fifth and assumed the lead for the first time with 10 laps remaining amid a late gamble to stretch his low fuel tank to the distance ahead of teammate Justin Allgaier and pole-sitter Ty Gibbs. During a late caution period with seven laps remaining, where Mayer elected to remain on the track with the lead ahead of Allgaier and Gibbs, Mayer was quickly overtaken by Gibbs while trying to block him through the frontstretch. Despite falling back to third, Mayer received another opportunity to win amid another caution period for a wreck that involved Allgaier and sent the event into overtime.
Then, at the start of overtime, Mayer bumped and ran into the rear of Gibbs which sent Gibbs spinning. With Gibbs out of contention, Mayer, who despite sustained minor fender damage to his car while running on fumes with his low fuel tank, moved up to second as Sheldon Creed assumed the lead. Then after Creed missed the final turn approaching the start of the final lap, Mayer capitalized on Creed’s misfortune to assume the lead for good as he methodically navigated his way around the circuit for a final time before zipping back to the frontstretch and claiming the second checkered flag of this season and of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Ty Gibbs, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, notched his first pole position of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 125.019 mph in 70.549 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Alex Bowman, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 124.721 mph in 70.718 seconds.
Prior to the event, however, Bowman joined Cole Custer, Brett Moffitt and rookie Parker Retzlaff as competitors who dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments and mechanical repairs to their respective entries. Bowman’s move enabled Daniel Hemric to move up and start alongside Ty Gibbs on the front row.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Ty Gibbs jumped ahead with an early advantage as the field fanned out entering the first turn. As Gibbs led through the first four turns before entering a brief backstretch approaching the Inner Loop, Justin Allgaier made his way into the runner-up spot while Hemric retained third in front of teammate Kyle Busch, Sam Mayer and Josh Berry. With the field navigating through the Inner and Outer Loop turns before entering the final set of turns to Turn 7 and back to the frontstretch at The Glen, Gibbs proceeded to lead the first lap.
Through the second lap, Gibbs retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Allgaier. By then, Busch and Mayer moved up to third and fourth while Hemric fell back to fifth as the field jostled and bumped for early positions around the circuit.
Through the first five scheduled laps, Ty Gibbs was leading by more than two seconds over Allgaier followed by Mayer, Kyle Busch and Berry while Hemric, rookie Sammy Smith, Riley Herbst, Austin Hill and John Hunter Nemechek were in the top 10. Behind, Sheldon Creed was in 11th ahead of Parker Kligerman, Kaz Grala, Jeremy Clements and rookie Chandler Smith while Ross Chastain, Brandon Jones, Alex Labbe, Jeb Burton and Sage Karam occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Custer was back in 21st and Bowman was mired in 25th behind Ryan Sieg. In addition, Brennan Poole plummeted to 37th after spinning through the Inner Loop Bus Stop corner amid contact with Max McLaughlin a lap prior.
At the Lap 10 mark, Ty Gibbs continued to lead by more than three seconds over Allgaier while Mayer retained third. By then, Berry moved up to fourth while Busch fell back to fifth in front of Austin Hill, Nemechek, Sammy Smith, Herbst and Creed. In the midst of the early racing, the event remained under green flag conditions amid an on-track condition in the Bus Stop corner when Jeremy Clements blew a right-front tire and clipped Chandler Smith as both went off the course with Smith spinning backward. A few laps earlier, Connor Mosack encountered on-track issues of his own after spinning in the Bus Stop corner.
Not long after, Kyle Busch pitted his No. 10 LA Golf Chevrolet Camaro under green to address debris on his front grille that affected his brakes. With Busch losing spots amid his pit stops, Ty Gibbs extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Allgaier. Gibbs would stabilize his advantage to nearly four seconds over Allgaier just past the Lap 15 mark. By then, Herbst, who was running seventh, was reporting the transmission popping out of gear in his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang, though he continued to run under full pace around the circuit.
At the conclusion of the first stage period on Lap 20, Ty Gibbs claimed his fourth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season after retaining the lead from the drop of the green flag. Allgaier settled in second followed by teammates Mayer and Berry while Austin Hill, Nemechek, Creed, Herbst, Custer and Kligerman were scored in the top 10.
With the event proceeding under green just past the Lap 20 mark to start the second stage, the event’s first caution period shortly flew when Ryan Ellis came to a stop on the course. By then, select names that included Bowman and Chandler Smith pitted for service. Smith, however, would be penalized for driving his No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro through too many pit boxes while exiting his upon his completed service.
During the first caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Ty Gibbs pitted while Bowman remained on the track to inherit the race lead. Following the pit stops, Gibbs exited first followed by Allgaier, Hill, Berry, Creed and Nemechek.
Just as the event was set to restart under green on Lap 24, the caution period continued to stand when Josh Williams sustained heavy front nose damage to his No. 92 Nordic Logistics Chevrolet Camaro. At the same time, Moffitt took his car to the garage due to a rear-end issue while the on-track safety crew proceeded to address any debris or fluid leaking on the course near the carnage scene.
Following a lengthy caution period, the race restarted under green on Lap 26 as Bowman and Ty Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Bowman and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Gibbs used the outside lane to his advantage as he muscled ahead of Bowman prior to entering Turns 2 to 4 to reassume the lead. With Gibbs leading Bowman and Allgaier through the Inner Loop Bus Stop corner, Hill was in fourth ahead of Berry, Creed and Custer while Nemechek was in eighth ahead of Herbst and Kligerman. As the field continued to jostle and scramble for positions for a full lap around the circuit, with even mechanical debris flying around the circuit, Gibbs stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Bowman while third-place Allgaier trailed by more than a second.
During the following lap, Grala and Sammy Smith rubbed fenders through the Bus Stop corner as Grala moved up to 12th over Smith followed by Hemric. In the process, Ty Gibbs extended his advantage to a second over Bowman while Allgaier, Austin Hill and Berry remained in the top five. By then, Custer moved his No. 00 HighPoint Ford Mustang up to sixth in front of Creed, Mayer, Herbst and Kligerman while Gibbs continued to lead at the Lap 30 mark.
On Lap 31, the event’s second caution period flew when Grala, who was running 12th, was bumped by Sammy Smith entering the Bus Stop corner as he went off the course and plowed his No. 26 Island Coastal Lager Toyota Supra through the course’s grass and Go Bowling sign before returning back onto the racing surface while sending debris on the track. During the caution period, Grala, who ended with a clogged front grille full of grass, ran into the rear of Smith’s No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra, which sustained front nose damage, to express his displeasure over the contact.
During the caution period, select names that included Sammy Smith, Grala, Retzlaff, Joe Graf Jr., Chandler Smith and Kyle Sieg pitted while the rest led by Ty Gibbs remained on the track.
During the event’s restart on Lap 33, Gibbs retained the lead after a strong restart while Allgaier and Bowman battled and bumped for the runner-up spot as Allgaier claimed the spot through Turns 2 to 4. In the process, Austin Hill closed in on Allgaier and Bowman from fourth place while Custer and Berry battled for fifth. With the field battling, jostling and kicking up dust through the Bus Stop corner, Ty Gibbs stretched his advantage to more than a second over Allgaier.
A lap later, Bowman reclaimed the runner-up spot over Allgaier, who went wide and off the course through Turn 1 after barely scrubbing the wall through the frontstretch, while Hill moved his No. 21 Bennett Transporation Chevrolet Camaro up to third. Custer and Mayer would pursue Allgaier within close quarters amid the racing while Ty Gibbs continued to lead by more than a second at the Lap 35 mark.
Then with three laps remaining in the second stage period, Herbst, who was in ninth, pitted under green due to a track bar issue to his car. With the track bar broken on his car, Herbst, who returned on the course only to have a trail of smoke billowing out of his car due to his mechanical issue, took his car to the garage and eventually retired as Ty Gibbs retained the lead ahead of Bowman and Austin Hill.
At the conclusion of the second stage period on Lap 40, Ty Gibbs claimed his second consecutive stage victory of the day. Bowman trailed in second along with Hill, Allgaier and Custer while Mayer, Berry, Nemechek, Creed and Kligerman were scored in the top 10. By then, Mosack was down in 26th after running his No. 24 Toyota Genuine Parts Supra off the course in Turn 10 while battling Stanton Barrett for position.
With the event commencing under a continuous green flag period with 42 laps remaining, Ty Gibbs was leading by more than two seconds over Bowman while Hill, Allgaier and Custer remained in the top five. A few laps later, Hill and Custer moved up to third and fourth while Allgaier settled in fifth in front of teammate Mayer. By then, Ty Gibbs extended his advantage to more than four seconds over Bowman.
Then with 37 laps remaining, the caution flew when Max McLaughlin slipped and collided into the outside wall in Turn 7 as he emerged with significant rear-end damage to his No. 96 Randco Chevrolet Camaro. During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Ty Gibbs pitted for service while Kyle Weatherman remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hill exited first over Gibbs while Bowman, Custer, Creed, Nemechek and Mayer followed in pursuit.
With 32 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs launched a bold three-wide move on both Weatherman and Hill to assume the lead entering the first turn as the field fanned out. With Gibbs retaining the lead from Turns 2 to 4, Hill pursued in second while Bowman followed suit in third along with Custer, Creed and Allgaier as Weatherman started to go backward.
During the following lap and as the field continued to jostle for late positions with nearly 30 laps remaining, Ty Gibbs stretched his advantage to more than a second over Austin Hill while third-place Bowman also trailed by more than a second, though Bowman started to close in on Hill for second along with Custer and Allgaier. By then, Weatherman fell out of the top 10 while Sammy Smith and Grala, amid their on-track contact, were in ninth and 10th ahead of Kyle Busch and Hemric.
With 28 laps remaining, Nemechek, who was running ninth, pitted his No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra to ensure that he would have enough fuel to the scheduled distance. Teammate Sammy Smith would also pit for fuel during the following lap while the rest of the field led by Ty Gibbs remained on the track, with a majority uncertain if they would have enough to finish the race.
Three laps later, Ty Gibbs extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Austin Hill while third-place Bowman trailed by nearly four seconds. Custer and Allgaier remained in the top five while Mayer, Creed, Grala, Kyle Busch and Hemric trailed in the top 10. By then, Kligerman, Berry, Sage Karam, Brandon Jones and Ryan Sieg were in the top 15 while teammates Nemechek and Sammy Smith were in 25th and 26th.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Ty Gibbs stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over Austin Hill while Bowman, Custer and Allgaier remained in the top five. Behind, Mayer, Creed, Grala, Kyle Busch and Hemric continued to run in the top 10 amid continuous concerns of fuel shortages for the front-runners.
A lap later, trouble struck for third- and fourth-place runners Bowman and Custer after Custer, who tried to make a move beneath Bowman, bumped the curb and made contact with Bowman in Turn 1 as both spun together in the turn. Both continued to run without drawing a caution as Mayer and Allgaier moved up the leaderboard. Bowman managed to fall back to fifth in his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro while Custer was back in eighth. A lap later, Custer’s event that went from good to bad became worse when he got loose and spun off the course and up the hill in Turn 3 as he continued to plummet below the leaderboard.
With 15 laps remaining, Ty Gibbs retained the lead by more than three seconds over Austin Hill while Mayer, Allgaier and Bowman remained in the top five ahead of Creed, Grala, Hemric, Kligerman and Kyle Busch.
Three laps later, Austin Hill surrendered the runner-up spot to pit for four fresh tires and fuel. Ryan Sieg would also pit not long after while Ty Gibbs continued to lead over runner-up Mayer and Allgaier. Another two laps later, however, Ty Gibbs pitted his No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra from the lead for fuel as Mayer assumed the lead. Upon exiting pit road, Gibbs blended back onto the racetrack in sixth place behind Creed while Grala and Hemric would pit with eight laps remaining while Mayer and Allgaier continued to run first and second on the track.
Then with seven laps remaining, the caution flew when Parker Retzlaff went off the course and spun sideways before he got his No. 31 Funkaway Chevrolet Camaro stuck in the gravel trap in Turn 6. By then, Hemric, who endured a slow pit stop, took his car to the garage due to a mechanical issue to his car. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Bowman pitted while the rest led by Mayer, Allgaier and Ty Gibbs remained on the track amid mixed strategies.
Down to the final four laps of the event, the race restarted under green as teammates Mayer and Allgaier occupied the front row in front of Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch. At the start, the field fanned out as Mayer tried to block Ty Gibbs through the frontstretch. Gibbs, though, managed to rocket ahead and overtake Mayer before overtaking Allgaier through the first turn when Allgaier went wide. With the entire field also going wide and off the course through the first turn while Kyle Busch fell off the pace, Gibbs and Mayer dueled for the lead through Turns 2 to 4 until Gibbs rocketed away. Mayer was then left to fend off teammate Allgaier and Hill for the runner-up spot until Hill bumped and overtook the spot from Mayer through the Bus Stop Corner.
Then exiting the Bus Stop Corner, trouble struck when Allgaier made contact with Custer and was sent spinning. In the ensuing chaos, Sammy Smith bumped and turned Bowman into the path of Connor Mosack while Brandon Jones and Grala collided into Allgaier, causing a caution as debris was left scattered across the Outer Loop Corner. The on-track carnage was enough to send the event into overtime.
During the first overtime attempt, where Ty Gibbs and Austin Hill occupied the front row, Gibbs muscled ahead of the field that was stacked in two lanes entering the first turn. Then in Turn 1, Mayer collided with Gibbs and sent Gibbs for a spin. In the ensuing chaos, Hill got hit by Custer as he spun while the rest of the field muscled away exiting Turn 1. With the field navigating through Turns 2 to 4, Sheldon Creed emerged with the lead followed by Mayer and Berry. Creed would continue to lead through the Inner and Outer Loop corners while Mayer trailed in second. Then exiting the Outer Loop, Berry got loose and spun his No. 8 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro from third place as he fell out of contention while the event remained under green. Not long after, Creed, who nearly got loose while trying to fend off Mayer in Turn 6, slipped again in Turn 7 and missed the turn, which allowed Mayer to assume the lead in his No. 1 Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet Camaro.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Mayer remained as the leader by six-tenths of a second over Creed while Sammy Smith spun behind in the middle of the field. With the event remaining under green flag, Mayer, who continued to run under full pace amid concerns of running low on fuel, managed to cycle his way around the circuit for a final time and beat Creed by nine-tenths of a second to grab his second checkered flag in four weeks at Watkins Glen.
With the victory, Mayer notched his second NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory in his 74th series start, all occurring on road course events, and he became the fourth Xfinity regular to notch multiple victories in this year’s Xfinity season. In addition to becoming the first full-time Xfinity competitor to win at Watkins Glen since Austin Cindric made the last accomplishment in 2019, Mayer notched the third victory of the season for JR Motorsports and the 12th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate.
“The first [restart], I got used up,” Mayer said on USA Network. “I thought I had a good [restart] there, but all glory to God for this one because we had to work our tails off for it. [Crew chief] Mardy [Lindley] on top of the [pit] box, everyone on pit road. We earned this one, for sure. It feels good to have a car as fast as Xfinity 10G, no matter where you go and no matter what the situation is. It feels really, really good. I wheel-hopped [the car]. That’s unfortunate. I feel bad for [spinning Gibbs]. Obviously, you don’t want to take out a [Joe] Gibbs car like that or any car like that. Just trying to get another win in the Xfinity Series. I got a lot of catching up to do. I was in there. I put my nose in there and that’s part of it. Fenders are fenders. That’s an accident, but I think everyone can agree that it’s OK for an Xfinity Series regular to win this race.”
While Mayer celebrated the victory in front of the stands, Gibbs was left disappointed on pit road after leading a race-high 70 laps and ended up 17th in the final running order.
“It just really sucks,” Gibbs said. “Definitely sucks to get cleaned out there. I had a good time running these things this year. I think it’s just a part of life and it’s part of racing. You just get over it. When stuff like that happens and desperate moves like that happen, it’s just part of it and you just got to keep going. I don’t really know how much of a conversation you can really have with [Mayer] in that situation. We, kind of, grew up around racing each other. He has more starts than I do and this is his second win. So, congratulations to him on his second win. Definitely wished I could’ve gotten my 13th [win] there.”
Creed, who was a lap away from claiming his first Xfinity victory, settled in the runner-up spot for the fourth time of his career while Parker Kligerman finished third for his fifth top-five result of the season as he is only three points below the top-12 cutline to make the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs.
Ross Chastain and Connor Mosack finished in the top five while Nemechek, Custer, Chandler Smith, Bowman and Jeb Burton completed the top 10 on the track. Notably, Austin Hill ended up 14th, Allgaier settled in 16th in front of Ty Gibbs and Sammy Smith, Berry fell back to 20th upon his late spin and Hemric ended up 23rd. In addition, Kyle Busch ended up 27th after retiring due to a late transmission issue.
There were nine lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 18 laps. In addition, 21 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
With three Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by nine points over John Hunter Nemechek and 34 over Justin Allgaier.
Results.
1. Sam Mayer, eight laps led
2. Sheldon Creed
3. Parker Kligerman
4. Ross Chastain
5. Connor Mosack
6. John Hunter Nemechek
7. Cole Custer, one lap led
8. Chandler Smith
9. Alex Bowman, four laps led
10. Jeb Burton
11. Brandon Jones
12. Brennan Poole
13. Kyle Weatherman, two laps led
14. Austin Hill
15. Sage Karam
16. Justin Allgaier, one lap led
17. Ty Gibbs, 70 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
18. Sammy Smith
19. Kyle Sieg
20. Josh Berry
21. Ryan Sieg
22. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down
23. Daniel Hemric, two laps down
24. Alex Labbe, three laps down
25. Josh Bilicki, three laps down
26. Parker Retzlaff, four laps down
27. Kyle Busch – OUT, Transmission
28. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident
29. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Suspension
30. Ryan Ellis, 21 laps down
31. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Axle
32. Stanton Barrett – OUT, Suspension
33. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Brakes
34. Max McMaughlin – OUT, Accident
35. Riley Herbst – OUT, Suspension
36. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident
37. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Suspension
38. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Transmission
Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’s second and final visit of the season to Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, August 25, at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
In an event dominated by JR Motorsports’ Josh Berry, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill stole the spotlight after outdueling Berry during an overtime attempt to win the eighth annual running of the Explore The Pocono Mountains 225 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 22.
The 29-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led the final two of 92 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started 11th and nabbed a single point at the conclusion of the first stage. After being penalized with a speeding penalty prior to the final stage, Hill and his No. 21 RCR Chevrolet Camaro team led by crew chief Andy Street rolled the dice by pitting for fuel during a caution period with less than 45 laps remaining amid a two-car wreck that collected fellow competitors John Hunter Nemechek and Cole Custer.
From a restart with 40 laps remaining through a late caution period with 11 laps remaining and prior to a six-lap dash to the finish, Hill elected to remain on the track amid concerns of running low of fuel. Despite losing a brief lead to Berry at the start of the six-lap dash, an opportunity presented itself for Hill as another late-race incident sent the event into overtime. During the event’s lone overtime attempt, the Georgian capitalized on a late mistake made by Berry slipping up the track in Turn 1 that enabled Hill to muscle into the lead. Despite being placed in a duel against Berry on the final lap, Hill managed to rocket away from Berry with a push from Berry’s teammate Sam Mayer and retain the lead just as a final lap incident involving Berry concluded the event under caution and handed Hill his fourth Xfinity victory of the 2023 season.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, July 21, Josh Berry notched his first Xfinity Series pole of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 167.951 mph in 53.587 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Daniel Hemric, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 167.128 mph in 53.851 seconds.
Prior to the event, the following names that included Garrett Smithley, Chad Chastain and Blaine Perkins dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Berry fended off a brief duel with Hemric through the frontstretch to launch ahead with the lead through the first turn. As the field battled two by two through Long Pond Straight, the Tunnel Curve and Turns 2 and 3, Berry managed to rocket ahead in his No. 8 Tire Pros Chevrolet Camaro and lead the first lap followed by Hemric while Sheldon Creed, Connor Mosack, John Hunter Nemechek and rookie Sammy Smith pursued within the top six.
Through the second lap, more battles ensued within and outside the top 10 as Cole Custer was trying to protect ninth place ahead of Austin Hill, rookie Chandler Smith, Justin Allgaier, Corey Heim, Jeb Burton and others while Brandon Jones and Sam Mayer tried to close in on the top-six competitors. Meanwhile, the leader Berry proceeded with a reasonable advantage ahead of Hemric.
Through the first five scheduled laps, Berry was leading by more than a second over Hemric followed by Creed, Mosack and Sammy Smith while Nemechek, Brandon Jones, Mayer, Custer and Austin Hill were in the top 10. Behind, Allgaier occupied 11th in front of Chandler Smith, Corey Heim, Ryan Sieg and Jeb Burton while Chase Elliott, Brett Moffitt, Daniel Suarez, Kaz Grala and Jeremy Clements occupied the top 20. By then, Ty Dillon was mired in 21st in front of Riley Herbst, Parker Kligerman, rookie Parker Retzlaff and Anthony Alfredo.
At the Lap 10 mark, Berry stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Hemric while Creed retained third place in his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro. Behind, Sammy Smith moved up to fourth followed by teammate Nemechek and Brandon Jones while Mosack fell back to seventh. In addition, Custer and Mayer battled for eighth, Allgaier cracked the top 10 as he was running in 10th, Hill fell back to 12th and Elliott was up to 14th.
Five laps later, Berry extended his advantage to nearly two seconds over Hemric while third-place Creed trailed by nearly three seconds. By then, teammates Sammy Smith and Nemechek retained fourth and fifth while Mosack had fallen back to 10th as Mayer, Allgaier and Custer moved up the leaderboard in the top 10.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 20, Berry, who has led since the drop of the green flag, captured his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Hemric settled in second, trailing by more than a second, while Nemechek, Sammy Smith, Creed, Jones, Mayer, Allgaier, Mosack and Austin Hill were scored in the top 10. By then, Custer, who pitted for service under green on Lap 17 and just as pit road closed to signify the conclusion of a stage period, was mired back in 37th place, the next-to-last spot.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Berry pitted while select names that included Custer, who pitted prior to the stage’s conclusion, along with Alex Labbe, Brennan Poole and Garrett Smithley remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Berry exited first ahead of Hemric, Smith, Jones and Nemechek. Amid the pit stops, Josh Williams was penalized for equipment interference.
The second stage started on Lap 25 as Custer and Berry occupied the front row. At the start and amid a stacked two-by-two restart, Custer received a push from Hemric while running on the outside lane to battle Berry for the lead until the latter reassumed the top spot through Long Pond Straight. Behind, Hemric slipped in Turn 1 and fell back to seventh while Brandon Jones rocketed to third along with Sammy Smith, Nemechek and Allgaier. With Berry back in the lead, Jones would then move his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro into second after overtaking Custer through Turns 2 and 3 as Allgaier followed suit. Not long after, trouble struck for Jeffrey Earnhardt, who fell off the pace after cutting a left-front tire while the event remained under green flag conditions.
During the proceeding laps, Berry was leading ahead of teammates Jones and Allgaier while Custer was overtaken by Sammy Smith and Nemechek for top-five spots amid older tires compared to the field. Behind, Hemric retained seventh as Herbst and Mayer tried to close in.
By Lap 30, Berry was leading by more than a second over teammate Allgaier while teammate Jones, who was in third, trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Nemechek was in fourth while Custer was being challenged by Sammy Smith for fifth place. Meanwhile, Hemric continued to run in seventh ahead of Herbst and Mayer while Chandler Smith was in 10th ahead of Chase Elliott. In addition, Creed, who was boxed in during his previous pit stops, was in 14th behind Austin Hill and Ryan Sieg.
Five laps later, Berry’s advantage decreased to a tenth of a second over a hard-charging, teammate Allgaier while teammate Jones retained third as he trailed by less than two seconds. Shortly after, the battle for the lead between JR Motorsports’ Berry and Allgaier intensified as Allgaier started to intimidate Berry for the top spot. Behind, the battle for third place also intensified as Nemechek started to gain ground on Brandon Jones for the spot. By then, Parker Kligerman was mired in 36th after pitting under green and remaining on the lead lap. Creed, Ryan Sieg and Daniel Suarez would then pit just as pit road closed with two laps remaining in the second stage.
Then on the final lap of the second stage, Allgaier drew even on teammate Berry for the lead and for the stage victory. With Berry pulling ahead and retaining the spot from Allgaier entering the straightaways while Allgaier gained runs through the turns, Berry managed to fend off Allgaier by a tenth of a second to claim his second stage victory of the day and the third of the 2023 Xfinity season on Lap 40. Nemechek settled in third while Brandon Jones, Custer, Sammy Smith, Mayer, Herbst, Hermic and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Berry pitted while some led by Allgaier and including Garrett Smithley, Brennan Poole, Suarez, Creed, Ryan Sieg and Kligerman remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Austin Hill was penalized for speeding on pit road.
With 45 laps remaining, which marked the halfway point of the event, the final stage started as Allgaier and Suarez occupied the front row. At the start, however, the caution quickly returned amid a stacked restart when Nemechek, who restarted in the top 10 and was getting boxed in behind Kligerman after Kligerman struggled to launch, got sideways after getting bumped by teammate Sammy Smith as Nemechek then got turned before colliding into Custer’s No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang with both spinning and hitting the outside wall through the frontstretch. Amid the carnage, Suarez managed to emerge as the leader over Allgaier while Ryan Sieg, Berry and Creed were in the top five. During the caution period, names that included Mayer, Ryan Ellis, Patrick Emerling, Herbst, Nemechek, Custer and Sammy Smith pitted while the rest led by Suarez remained on the track. In addition, Chad Chastain was sent to the rear of the field for laying back during the previous restart.
During the proceeding restart with 40 laps remaining, Suarez and Allgaier dueled for the lead as the field fanned out entering the first turn. Through Turn 1, Suarez tried to muscle ahead with the lead, but Allgaier fought back entering Long Pong Straight as Berry tried to launch a three-wide move on both. With Berry backing out, Allgaier rocketed ahead to assume the lead. Behind and during the proceeding lap, Berry continued to battle Suarez for the runner-up spot as Creed battled Ryan Sieg for fourth place.
With 36 laps remaining, Allgaier retained the lead by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Berry while Suarez fell back to third and trailed the lead by less than two seconds. A lap later, Suarez surrendered third place to pit his No. 10 LeafHome Water Chevrolet Camaro under green as Creed, Elliott and Kligerman moved up the leaderboard in the top five. In addition, Berry navigated his way around teammate Allgaier for the lead. Another lap later, Chandler Smith and Corey Heim pitted under green.
Then with 33 laps remaining, Allgaier pitted his No. 7 Reese’s Ice Cream Chevrolet Camaro under green followed by Hemric and Jeb Burton, with Hemric exiting ahead of Allgaier after opting for only fuel to his No. 11 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet Camaro. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sammy Smith and Connor Mosack would pit during the proceeding lap, with Smith pitting for only fuel, as Kligerman and Kaz Grala both pitted for only fuel with 31 laps remaining.
With 30 laps remaining, Berry surrendered the lead to pit for four fresh tires and fuel under green as Elliott cycled into the lead. Creed would also pit for four fresh tires as Berry was mired outside the top 20 by the time he returned to the track.
With 25 laps remaining and with mixed strategies continuing to ensue, Elliott, who has yet to pit, was leading by more than six seconds over Brandon Jones while Ryan Sieg, Ty Dillon and Herbst were in the top five. With Mayer and Moffitt running sixth and seventh, Hill, who topped off on fuel during the previous caution period and aiming to finish the event on his current fuel tank, was running in eighth. By then, Berry, the first competitor with enough fuel to finish the event, cycled his way up to 20th with teammate Allgaier following pursuit.
Five laps later, Elliott surrendered the lead to pit his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro under green followed by Parker Retzlaff as Brandon Jones cycled into the lead. In addition, Kaz Grala ran into late issues after spinning, but he managed to proceed without drawing a caution.
Another five laps later, Brandon Jones retained the lead by more than eight seconds over Ty Dillon while Ryan Sieg occupied third place. Behind was Herbst, who was aiming to stretch his fuel tank to the distance, along with fifth-place Mayer while Moffitt and Hill were in sixth and seventh. Meanwhile, Berry cycled his way up to eighth while Anthony Alfredo and Allgaier were in the top 10. By then, Elliott, who pitted five laps earlier, was in 12th in front of Chandler Smith and Creed, Hemric was in 16th and Suarez was in 17th.
Then with 11 laps remaining, the caution flew when Allgaier hit and sent the lapped competitor of Joey Gase spinning exiting Turn 2 as Allgaier also sustained damage to the right-front fender of his car. At the moment of caution, Brandon Jones was leading by more than 12 seconds over Herbst while Mayer, Hill and Berry were in the top five. By then, Ty Dillon, Moffitt and Ryan Sieg had made pit stops under green.
During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Brandon Jones, who was set to pit prior to Gase’s incident, and including Allgaier, who sustained a flat right-rear tire amid the contact with Gase, pitted while the rest led by Herbst and including Mayer, Hill, Berry, Elliott, Creed and Ryan Sieg remained on the track.
Down to the final six laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Herbst and Hill occupied the front row ahead of Mayer and Berry. At the start, Hill muscled his way into the lead on the inside lane followed by Berry. Berry then wasted no time cycling his way back to the lead after overtaking Hill through Long Pond Straight as the field behind jostled for late spots. With Herbst and Mayer falling back to third and fourth in front of Elliott and behind Hill, Berry retained the lead as the event reached its final five-lap mark. Then amid the on-track battles, the caution returned when Connor Mosack wrecked his No. 19 IRWIN Toyota Supra in the Tunnel Curve in Turn 2. The incident was enough to send the event into overtime with Berry leading the field.
During the first overtime attempt, where teammates Berry and Mayer occupied the front row, Berry received a push from Hill while restarting on the outside lane to pull ahead of teammate Mayer. Then in Turn 1, Berry missed the turn and went wide, which allowed Hill to rocket his No. 21 Global Industrial Chevrolet Camaro into the lead while Berry was trying to straighten his car while falling back to third. Amid stacked racing through Turns 2 and 3, Berry quickly reassumed the runner-up spot as he then ignited his pursuit on Hill for the lead and win.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hill remained as the leader by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Berry. Through Turn 1, Berry lightly bumped into the rear of Hill to get Hill loose through the turn. With both then making light contact against one another entering Long Pond Straight, Berry and Hill dueled for the lead until Mayer drafted Hill clear of Berry and to the lead. In the process, Berry made contact against teammate Mayer’s No. 1 Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet Camaro as Mayer moved into second. Then entering the Tunnel Curve, Berry’s event went south after he went dead straight toward the outside wall with a flat right-front tire and wrecked against the wall. In front of him, Ryan Sieg, who was vying for a top-10 spot, spun just exiting Turn 2. The incidents forced NASCAR to draw the caution and deem the event official on the final lap as Hill navigated his way back to the frontstretch and claim his fourth checkered flag of the 2023 Xfinity season.
With the victory, Hill notched his sixth career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and fourth of the season, thus joining John Hunter Nemechek as a four-time race winner in 2023. He also became the eighth different winner in the Xfinity Series’ eight-year span at the Tricky Triangle as he also recorded the fourth Xfinity victory of the season for Richard Childress Racing and the 10th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate.
“We didn’t have the best car all day,” Hill said on USA Network. “[Crew chief] Andy [Street] and everybody back at [Richard Childress Racing] and ECR Engines worked really hard. We got the car better. I thought that we were maybe a top-five, top-seven car, but I didn’t think that we had anything for the leaders. [Berry] was so fast today. On that [overtime] restart, he drove into [Turn] 1 and he got really loose on entry. I was just trying to hit my line and I throttled up, cleared him. Then taking the white [flag], I backed it up way too much into [Turn] 1, just not wanting to do what [Berry] did and he packed air on me, ended up getting into my back bumper and then, we drag-raced down the backstretch. I thought [Mayer] was about to split us three wide. He had a big run, me and [Berry] both closed it up and he just had to push me at that point. Once I cleared him, I just knew I had to hit my marks and obviously, the caution came out.”
“Man, such a special win,” Hill added. “Obviously with fuel saving and had to save fuel there, didn’t know if we were gonna make it and that was on my mind on the last lap. Going into the Tunnel Turn, I was like, ‘Man, I gotta get back to the start/finish line’. [I] Had enough fuel for a burnout, so we saved enough.”
Mayer came home in a career-best runner-up spot for the third time in his career while Elliott, Herbst and Hemric finished in the top five.
Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones, Moffitt, Kligerman and Suarez finished in the top 10. Notably, Creed ended up 11th, Ty Dillon settled in 14th and Allgaier fell back to 23rd after wrecking on the frontstretch along with Chandler Smith that resulted in a rear bumper cover coming off of Allgaier’s car before the veteran went dead straight and wrecked against the Turn 1 outside wall.
Meanwhile, Berry, who led a race-high 51 laps and swept both stages, ended up 24th after wrecking on the final lap and having his first victory of the season slip out of his grasp as he was unable to finish the event.
“It was just a wild restart,” Berry said in the infield care center. “I think [Hill] pushed me a little bit longer and a little harder than I wanted to go into [Turn] 1, and just got loose, got up the track and [into] the marbles. [I] Was able to battle back there and race with him. I was trying to time the run. I got there quicker than I wanted in the center and that’s why I got into [Mayer] and we just lost momentum there. The deal with me and Sam [Mayer], I knew Sam was coming with a huge run and obviously, I just tried to cover it to get next to [Hill]. He moved left and I moved right. It was just a racing deal. Just hate that we didn’t get the finish we deserved today, but man, what a really, really fast Tire Pros Chevrolet. I know that if we can continue to have that kind of speed, we’ll win plenty of races. Tough way to end, but still a lot of positives from today and things that I know I could’ve done better to at the end.”
There were 11 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 72 laps. In addition, 23 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.
With seven Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, John Hunter Nemechek continues to lead the regular-season standings by 13 points over Austin Hill, 55 over Justin Allgaier and 85 over Cole Custer.
Results.
1. Austin Hill, two laps led
2. Sam Mayer
3. Chase Elliott, nine laps led
4. Riley Herbst, three laps led
5. Daniel Hemric
6. Sammy Smith
7. Brandon Jones, 12 laps led
8. Brett Moffitt
9. Parker Kligerman
10. Daniel Suarez, five laps led
11. Sheldon Creed
12. Jeb Burton
13. Anthony Alfredo
14. Ty Dillon
15. Jeremy Clements
16. Kyle Sieg
17. Joe Graf Jr.
18. Ryan Ellis
19. Jeffrey Earnhardt
20. Chandler Smith
21. Garrett Smithley
22. Ryan Sieg
23. Justin Allgaier, eight laps led
24. Josh Berry, one lap down, 51 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
25. Kaz Grala, one lap down
26. Patrick Emerling, one lap down
27. Blaine Perkins, one lap down
28. Alex Labbe, one lap down
29. Brennan Poole, one lap down
30. Chad Chastain, one lap down
31. Joey Gase, two laps down
32. John Hunter Nemechek, three laps down
33. Cole Custer, five laps down, two laps led
34. Connor Mosack – OUT, Accident
35. Parker Retzlaff, eight laps down
36. Josh Williams, 10 laps down
37. Corey Heim – OUT, Suspension
38. Sage Karam – OUT, Transmission
Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ annual return to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, July 29, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
Sam Hunt Racing will be fielding two full-time entries while also introducing Kaz Grala and Connor Mosack as the team’s key competitors for the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.
The 23-year-old Grala from Boston, Massachusetts, will be piloting the team’s No. 26 Toyota Supra on a full-time basis while the 23-year-old Mosack from Charlotte, North Carolina, will be driving the No. 24 Toyota Supra in 20 Xfinity events for the upcoming season.
The news comes as Sam Hunt Racing based in Mooresville, North Carolina, prepares to enter its fifth season with at least one start in the Xfinity circuit. The team, which debuted as DRIVE Technology in 2013 and originally competed in the ARCA Menards Series East, made its inaugural presence in the Xfinity Series during the 2019 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with Colin Garrett piloting the team’s first entry. The team returned on a part-time basis in 2020 before fielding the No. 26 entry on a full-time basis in 2021 piloted by multiple competitors.
This past season, Sam Hunt Racing fielded the No. 26 entry on a full-time basis for a second consecutive season as the car was piloted by multiple competitors. The team also introduced a second entry, the No. 24 Toyota, for select events. Throughout the 2022 season, the No. 26 team finished in the top 10 five times with their best runs being fourth at Darlington Raceway in May and fifth at Phoenix Raceway in March. The No. 24 team made a single start at Daytona International Speedway in February, where Jeffrey Earnhardt piloted the entry to a 15th-place result.
Through a combined 78 career starts in the Xfinity Series made between 17 different competitors, Sam Hunt Racing has achieved three top-five results and seven top-10 results. Their best on-track result to date remains a third-place run at Richmond Raceway in September 2021 made by John Hunter Nemechek. The 2023 season will mark the team’s first opportunity to contend for the driver’s title with Grala.
“Timing and patience have been pivotal components of our growth process at SHR. Expanding to two full-time teams in 2023 brings an excitement level only matched by the responsibility and expectation to compete at a high level every week,” Sam Hunt, owner of Sam Hunt Racing, said. “It goes without saying that having a full-time driver in the No. 26 for the first time is a blessing to our organization and an important component of our growth. Kaz is a highly talented and experienced driver and has strived for an opportunity like this for a long time. Having Connor anchor the No. 24 team is something we are also really looking forward to. He is a very talented young man and has every trait and characteristic I look for in a young driver. We’re heading into 2023 with confidence in both teams and drivers, and I’m excited to continue to build this program with each of them.”
For Grala, the 2023 season will mark his first opportunity competing in the Xfinity circuit on a full-time basis. It will also mark his second full-time campaign overall within NASCAR’s top three national touring series after competing in the Craftsman Truck Series on a full-time basis in 2017 with GMS Racing. During the season, Grala notched his lone career victory at Daytona and became the youngest NASCAR winner at Daytona at age 18 years, one month and 26 days. He went on to make the 2017 Truck Playoffs before finishing in seventh place in the final standings.
This past season, Grala competed in a combined 25 starts across NASCAR’s top three national touring series, 10 of which occurred in the Xfinity Series. His best run occurred at Watkins Glen International in August, where he finished fifth while driving for Big Machine Racing. He made his first start with Sam Hunt Racing during the 2022 Xfinity Series finale at Phoenix Raceway in November, where he finished 23rd.
Through 44 career starts in the Xfinity Series, Grala has achieved five top-five results, 10 top-10 results, 18 laps led and an average-finishing result of 18.6. His highest result in the series are a pair of fourth-place finishes at Daytona in 2018 and at Road America in 2020.
“I’ve scratched and clawed for each opportunity over the past several seasons, and while it hasn’t been easy, it’s made me appreciate this sport and its difficulty more than I ever could have if things had been easy,” Grala said. “I feel like everything has finally come together at the perfect time in my life with the right team around me to start that next chapter in my career. I couldn’t be more proud and hopeful heading into 2023 with Sam Hunt Racing with a chance to compete for a championship. I’ve worked my whole life to get to this point, and I intend to make the absolute most of it next year and beyond.”
Mosack, the 2020 CARS Tour Rookie of the Year and a Trans Am TA2 class competitor, made his NASCAR national touring series debut in June 2022 at Portland International Raceway, where he piloted Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota Supra to a 28th-place finish. He returned at Watkins Glen with Sam Hunt Racing, where he finished a season-best 15th. He also made two starts in the Truck Series and eight starts in the ARCA Menards Series, both with Bret Holmes Racing.
Mosack’s first Xfinity start in 2023 will occur at Phoenix Raceway in March with the rest of his schedule yet to be determined.
“Being able to run 20 races in the Xfinity Series next year is a really big deal to me,” Mosack said. “Two years ago, I didn’t really know where I was going or how I was going to get there. Racing in this series is a big step toward where I want to go, and I’m excited it is with a team like Sam Hunt Racing. With SHR being a growing team, I know I can develop relationships with everyone involved and continue to learn from them. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Sam and trust that his team and values will help to develop me as a driver.”
In addition to the new driver lineup, Sam Hunt Racing welcomes Kris Bowen, formally from Our Motorsports, as the crew chief of the No. 24 entry. Allen Hart is expected to remain as Grala’s crew chief for the 2023 season.
The rest of the team’s driver lineup for the No. 24 “all-star” entry, including one for the season-opening event at Daytona in February, will be announced at a later date.
With their plans for the upcoming season announced, Sam Hunt Racing’s 2023 season is set to commence at Daytona on February 18. The event is slated to occur at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
