Joe Gibbs Racing revealed its crew chief lineup for the 2021 NASCAR season, featuring a handful of changes to the organization’s powerhouse stable between the Cup and Xfinity Series.
Adam Stevens, two-time Cup Series championship crew chief, will move to JGR’s No. 20 Toyota Camry team and serve as crew chief for Christopher Bell, who is to embark on his first full-time season with JGR in NASCAR’s premier series. Ben Beshore, a former engineer for JGR’s No. 18 team, will become a full-time Cup Series crew chief for the No. 18 Toyota team and be paired with two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch.
Stevens is coming off his sixth full-time season as crew chief for the No. 18 Toyota team in the Cup circuit, having won two championships and 28 races with Kyle Busch. Beshore is coming off his second full-time season in the Xfinity Series as a crew chief, where he led Harrison Burton to four victories and the 2020 Xfinity Series Rookie-of-the-Year title. He won four Xfinity races with Kyle Busch in 2019.
Chris Gabehart, reigning two-time Daytona 500 winning crew chief, will remain atop the pit box of the No. 11 Toyota Camry team driven by reigning three-time Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin while James Small, coming off his first full-time season as a Cup crew chief, will also return as crew chief for the No. 19 Toyota Camry team driven by former Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. for the 2021 Cup season.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, veteran Jason Ratcliff will return to JGR and serve as crew chief for Harrison Burton and the No. 20 Toyota Supra team. Ratcliff is coming off a full-time Cup Series season as crew chief for Christopher Bell and Leavine Family Racing, which ceased operations following the 2020 season.
Jeff Meendering will remain as crew chief for Brandon Jones and the No. 19 Toyota Supra team while veteran Dave Rogers will also return as crew chief for the No. 18 Toyota Supra team set to be driven by Daniel Hemric, JGR’s newest competitor, in 2021.
Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images.
“We go through a process at the conclusion of every season that includes evaluating each of our teams,” Joe Gibbs, Owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, said. “We believe our crew chief lineup for 2021 will best position each team and driver for success across both series.”
JGR also announced plans to field a fourth entry, the No. 54 Toyota Supra, for the 2021 Xfinity Series season led by crew chief Chris Gayle. Gayle is coming off his fourth full-time season as a Cup crew chief, where he worked with Erik Jones, who transitioned to Richard Petty Motorsports for the 2021 season. The driver lineup and schedule of the No. 54 operation will be announced at a later date.
“We take a lot of pride in our depth of talent across our entire organization,” Gibbs added. “All of our crew chiefs are proven winners. We are also looking forward to bringing the No. 54 Toyota Supra back to the track in 2021 with an exciting team of drivers.”
Joe Gibbs Racing’s new driver-crew chief pairings will debut at Daytona International Speedway in February 2021.
Following an impressive performance in his rookie season, Harrison Burton will be returning to Joe Gibbs Racing and compete in his second full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series season in 2021.
A 20-year-old native from Huntersville, North Carolina, and the son of former NASCAR veteran Jeff Burton, Harrison is coming off a strong first full-time season in the Xfinity Series, where he drove the No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra for JGR and after spending the 2019 season as a full-time NASCAR Truck Series competitor for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Throughout the 33-race schedule, Burton achieved his first four career victories (Auto Club Speedway in February, Homestead-Miami Speedway in June, Texas Motor Speedway in October and Martinsville Speedway in November). He also led the series standings for two weeks early in the season, following his first series victory at Auto Club Speedway and a runner-up result at Phoenix Raceway the following week. In addition, Harrison Burton broke Carl Edwards’ previous rookie record of achieving top-10 results in nine races after he achieved top-10 results during the first 10 consecutive races of the season, an achievement that was made in June following the series’ doubleheader feature at Homestead.
Along with his first four victories, Burton achieved 15 top-five results, 22 top-10 results and an average result of 10.0. He also made the 2020 Xfinity Playoffs until he was eliminated from title contention in October following the first round. Despite his early exit from the Playoffs, Burton went on to win back-to-back races in the Playoffs before he concluded the season in eighth place in the final standings. When the season concluded, he achieved the 2020 Xfinity Series Rookie-of-the-Year title.
Burton’s return to JGR completes the team’s full-time lineup for the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, where he will be a teammate to veteran Brandon Jones and the team’s newcomer Daniel Hemric.
Catch the beginning of Harrison Burton’s sophomore season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway on February 14, 2021.
With the NASCAR Xfinity Series returning to Martinsville Speedway for the first time since 2006 and three spots to the Championship 4 round up for grabs at the start, rookie Harrison Burton knocked another one out of the park after holding off Justin Allgaier to win the Draft Top 250 at the Paperclip circuit. The victory was Burton’s fourth of this season and of his career as he also claimed back-to-back victories for the first time in his NASCAR national touring series career.
The starting lineup was based on four stats: current owner’s standings, driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity race and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Austin Cindric started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Noah Gragson.
Kyle Weatherman and Josh Reaume started at the rear of the field due to driver changes. In addition, Reaume’s No. 93 Chevrolet team have been docked a pit selection for next weekend’s finale event at Phoenix Raceway due to the car failing pre-race inspection twice.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Cindric jumped ahead with the lead and he was able to come back around the start/finish line to lead the first lap. Behind, Gragson retained second place ahead of Kaulig Racing teammates Justin Haley and Ross Chastain. Justin Allgaier closed in in fifth place while Jeb Burton settled in sixth ahead of Brandon Jones.
The first caution of the race flew on the fourth lap when Gray Gaulding fell off the pace and was nearly rammed by leader Cindric and the oncoming leaders when his No. 07 Panini Chevrolet Camaro continued to stall before it came to a rest in Turn 1.
The race restarted on the eighth lap with Cindric and Gragson on the front row followed by Haley, Allgaier, Chastain and Jeb Burton. At the start, Cindric retained the lead following a strong start while Haley mounted a challenge on the inside lane for second place. Behind, Allgaier and Chastain were in the top five while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Harrison Burton and Brandon Jones moved into sixth and seventh.
Shortly after, Harrison Burton moved into fifth place and teammate Jones followed suit while Chastain slipped back to seventh place while stuck on the outside lane. In addition, Michael Annett joined the party as he started to challenge Chastain for more.
By Lap 15, Cindric continued to lead by more than half a second over Haley with Gragson trailing by more than a second. Allgaier and Harrison Burton were in the top five followed by Brandon Jones, Chastain, Jeb Burton, Annett and Brett Moffitt. Meanwhile, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Sieg were in 11th and 12th while A.J. Allmendinger was in 19th place behind Riley Herbst and Jeremy Clements.
Five laps later, on Lap 20, Cindric stabilized his advantage by more than half a second over Haley while Gragson, Allgaier and Harrison Burton continued to run in the top five.
A few laps later, Bayley Currey made contact with the wall after sustaining a flat tire, but he was able to nurse his car back to pit road with a tire rub and the race continued under green.
When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Cindric was still at the front as the leader followed by Haley, Gragson, Allgaier and Harrison Burton while Brandon Jones, Chastain, Jeb Burton, Annett and Moffitt were in the top 10.
Under caution, some like Sieg, Myatt Snider, Ryan Vargas and Brandon Brown pitted while the rest led by Cindric remained on the track.
When the race restarted on Lap 31, Cindric retained the lead following another strong start while Gragson retained second place on the outside lane. Behind, Haley and Harrison Burton battled for third place while Allgaier was in fifth place ahead of Chastain. Behind, Allmendinger used the outside lane to move up to 11th place.
By Lap 35, Cindric and Gragson were at the front followed by Harrison Burton, Haley, Allgaier and Chastain. Not long after, the caution returned when Gaulding spun in Turn 1 while he was engaged in a three-wide battle with Stefan Parsons and Colby Howard.
The race restarted on Lap 42 with Cindric and Gragson on the front row. At the start, Gragson mounted a challenge for the lead on the outside lane next to Cindric. Back at the start/finish line, Gragson led a lap for himself as he and Cindric made contact in Turn 1 before battling hard through Turns 2 and 3. Entering Turn 4, Gragson cleared Cindric for the lead as Harrison Burton mounted a challenge for second place on Cindric.
By Lap 46, Harrison Burton moved into second place over Cindric while Gragson continued to lead. Shortly after, Jeb Burton wheel hopped and got loose entering Turn 3 as he slid towards the outside wall and got shuffled out of the top 10, though he was able to continue and the race remained under green.
Back towards the front, Harrison Burton started to close in on Gragson for the lead. Behind, Cindric retained third place followed by Haley and Allgaier while Chastain, Jones, Annett, Allmendinger and Moffitt were in the top 10 with Briscoe just outside of the top-10 mark on the track.
While Gragson and Harrison Burton battled for the lead, Allmendinger continued to carve his way toward the front as he overtook Allgaier for sixth place. Behind, Briscoe, a 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship contender, cracked the top 10 in 10th place.
With five laps remaining in the first stage, Gragson retained a narrow lead over Harrison Burton and Cindric while Kaulig Racing’s Haley, Chastain and Allmendinger pursued behind.
With one lap remaining in the first stage, the leaders started to approach lapped traffic. Despite encountering lapped traffic and being challenged by Harrison Burton, Gragson was able to retain the lead and win the first stage on Lap 60 for his ninth stage victory of the season. Burton settled in second place followed by Cindric, Chastain and Haley while Allmendinger, Jones, Allgaier, Annett and Briscoe were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, most of the leaders pitted and Harrison Burton exited with the lead over Gragson followed by Cindric, Allgaier and Allmendinger, who was hit by Brandon Jones as Jones was exiting his pit stall. Back on the track, J.J. Yeley, Stefan Parsons and Sieg remained on the track. Shortly after, Parsons surrendered his position towards the front by pitting.
The second stage started on Lap 68 with Yeley and Harrison Burton on the front row followed by Sieg and Gragson. At the front, Yeley retained the lead while Harrison Burton mounted a challenge behind.
On Lap 70, Harrison Burton emerged with the lead for the first time after passing Yeley. Not long after, Gragson moved into second place over Yeley while Cindric, Haley, Chastain, Sieg and Allgaier battled behind.
Three laps later, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck in Turn 3 that involved Donald Theetge, B.J. McLeod and Parsons. Not long after, the race was red-flagged for more than seven minutes due to mud and dirt on the track that was kicked on the racing surface from the incident.
When the red flag was lifted and the race resumed under green on Lap 80, the battle for the lead ignited between Harrison Burton and Gragson with Gragson prevailing the following lap. Behind, Cindric was in third place in front of Kaulig Racing’s Chastain and Haley while Allgaier and Sieg battled for sixth.
On Lap 83, Harrison Burton reassumed the lead following a lengthy battle with Gragson. A lap later, Chastain overtook Cindric for third place as teammate Haley started to mount a challenge for more along with Allgaier. Behind, Allmendinger moved into seventh place while Jones, Sieg and Herbst were in the top 10. Briscoe, meanwhile, was back in 13th place.
By Lap 90, Harrison Burton was still leading while Chastain, who moved into second place, started to close in for the lead. Gragson fell back to third place while Haley and Allgaier were in the top five. Allmendinger moved up to sixth followed by Jones, Cindric, Herbst and Sieg while Briscoe was in 12th behind Annett.
On Lap 92, Chastain muscled his way below Harrison Burton to take the lead. While Chastain settled into an advantage of half a second over Harrison Burton, Gragson retained third place followed by Haley, Allgaier, Allmendinger and Cindric.
At the Lap 100 mark, Chastain, who was approaching lapped traffic, extended his advantage by more than a second over Harrison Burton with Gragson, Haley and Allgaier pursuing behind. By then, the remaining eight Playoff contenders were running in the top 13 with Briscoe still mired back outside the top 10.
Five laps later, the caution returned when fire erupted out of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Matt Mills, who parked and exited his car on the backstretch. Under caution, some like Harrison Burton, Annett, Allmendinger, Jeb Burton, Sieg, Herbst, Snider, Briscoe, Brandon Brown, Jesse Little and others pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.
With six laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted with Chastain and Gragson on the front row. At the start, Chastain was able to clear Gragson for the lead entering Turn 1 while Gragson was able to fend off Haley for second. Allgaier and Cindric were in the top five followed by Jones, who overtook Moffitt for position.
Down to the final laps of the second stage, Chastain continued to lead with Gragson remaining in pursuit. With clean air being key, Chastain was able to hold on and win the second stage on Lap 120 and for his third stage victory of the season. Gragson settled in second followed by Haley, Allgaier and Cindric while Jones, Moffitt, Allmendinger, Harrison Burton and Timmy Hill rounded out the top 10.
Under the stage break, some of the leaders pitted with Chastain exiting pit road ahead of Gragson, Jones, Allgaier, Cindric and Haley. Back on the track, Allmendinger, who pitted prior to the conclusion of the second stage, remained on the track and assumed the lead followed by Harrison Burton, teammate Herbst, Jeb Burton, Sieg and Briscoe.
With 123 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Allmendinger retained the lead and Harrison Burton fended off teammate Herbst for second. Behind, Jeb Burton muscled his way into third place while Myatt Snider, who overtook Briscoe and Herbst for position, went to work on Sieg for fourth.
With 118 laps remaining and the pack behind the leaders bumping and battling hard for position, the caution returned when contact from Allgaier in Turn 4 and a bump from Haley entering Turn 1 sent Yeley spinning as everyone behind scattered to avoid hitting Yeley.
Under caution, the No. 61 Toyota Supra driven by Chad Finchum was towed back to the garage due to mechanical issues.
When the race restarted under green with 112 laps remaining, Allmendinger retained the lead following a strong start while cousins Harrison and Jeb Burton battled for second. Behind, Snider and Sieg battled in the top five while Herbst was in sixth ahead of Briscoe. Behind, Chastain and Jones battled for a top-10 spot while Allgaier was in 13th. Gragson, Cindric and Haley were mired back in 16th, 17th and 18th.
With 105 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Harrison Burton while Jeb Burton was in front of a bevy of competitors in third place. By then, Chastain carved his way into eighth place as he went to work on Briscoe for more.
Five laps remaining and with 100 laps remaining, Allmendinger stabilized his advantage by more than a second over Harrison Burton with Jeb Burton trailing by more than three seconds. Sieg, Snider and Herbst were in the top six while Chastain, a Playoff contender trying to fight his way into the Championship 4 finale round, moved into seventh place ahead of Briscoe.
Meanwhile, Allgaier, Gragson and Cindric were in 10th, 11th and 12th while Haley and Jones were in 14th and 15th behind Brandon Brown.
Fifteen laps later, with 85 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead followed by Harrison and Jeb Burton. Sieg, Snider and Herbst continued to run in fourth through sixth while Chastain started having JR Motorsports’ Allgaier, Annett and Gragson close in for seventh place.
Nearly five laps later, Chastain attempted to push Herbst beneath Snider for position to move forward on the track, but it did not work as Chastain lost his momentum and Allgaier was able to overtake him for position and continue to move up on fresh tires.
With 75 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead over Harrison and Jeb Burton followed by Sieg and Allgaier, who overtook Herbst for position. Behind, Chastain slipped back to 10th place while Gragson and Annett moved up to eighth and ninth.
Down to the final 70 laps of the race, the battle for the lead between Allmendinger and Harrison Burton started to heat up as they were mired in lapped traffic. A few laps later, the caution flew when Bayley Currey made hard contact into the outside wall entering Turn 2.
Under caution, the leaders pitted and Harrison Burton was able to reassume the lead after exiting pit road ahead of Allmendinger with Jeb Burton, Sieg and Allgaier exiting in the top five.
With 61 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Harrison Burton and Allmendinger on the front row. At the start, Burton and Allmendinger battled dead even for the lead and continued to do so for the next four laps before Burton made contact and got loose entering Turn 4 with Allmendinger with the latter prevailing on the outside lane.
Behind, Allgaier overtook teammate Jeb Burton for third place while Gragson passed Sieg for fifth place. Behind Sieg and Herbst was Chastain, mired in eighth place and still scored outside of the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings.
With 52 laps remaining, Harrison Burton reassumed the lead while Allmendinger fell off the pace and made a pit stop under green due to cutting a left-rear tire as a result of his on-track battle and contact with Burton for the lead.
Back on the track and down to the final 50 laps, Allgaier moved into second place behind Harrison Burton while Gragson, Jeb Burton and Herbst were in the top five. Chastain was in sixth ahead of Sieg, Cindric, Briscoe and Haley with Jones in 11th place.
With 45 laps remaining, Harrison Burton continued to lead by a narrow margin over Allgaier with Gragson, Jeb Burton and Chastain in the top five. By then, Cindric, Allgaier and Haley were above the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings and in position of transferring to the Championship 4 round with Chastain, Jones, Gragson and Sieg trailing on the outside of the cutoff mark.
Under 40 laps remaining, Harrison Burton stabilized his advantage by nearly a second over Allgaier, who continued to pressure the rookie for the lead. Gragson retained third place while Chastain overtook Jeb Burton for fourth place.
Four laps later, the caution returned when Snider spun following contact with Brandon Brown. Under caution, some like Sieg, Briscoe, Brandon Jones, Annett and others pitted while the rest led by Harrison Burton remained on the track.
With 30 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Harrison Burton and Allgaier on the front row. At the start, Burton and Allgaier battled dead even for the lead with the former prevailing the following lap. Allgaier settled in second while teammate Gragson, facing a “must-win” situation, moved into third place. Jeb Burton was in fourth while Chastain was in fifth ahead of teammate Haley, Herbst and Cindric.
Down to the final 20 laps of the race, Harrison Burton was still leading, though JRM teammates Allgaier and Gragson kept Burton within their sights. Behind, Chastain overtook Jeb Burton for fourth place while Haley, clinging onto the final transfer spot to the Championship 4 round, battled Herbst to retain sixth place. Cindric was in eighth while Jones was in 10th ahead of Briscoe.
With less than 15 laps remaining and with Harrison Burton still leading Allgaier by more than half a second, Haley was shuffled back to 12th place while teammate Chastain was in fourth place as both Kaulig Racing teammates were left in a battle with one another for a championship finale spot.
Down to the final 10 laps of the race, Harrison Burton continued to lead by nearly a second over Allgaier with teammate Gragson trailing by nearly two seconds. Chastain settled in fourth ahead of Jeb Burton while Herbst, Briscoe, Jones, Annett and Cindric were in the top 10. Haley was in 12th and holding onto the final transfer spot by four points over teammate Chastain.
With five laps remaining, leader Harrison Burton started to catch lapped traffic as he continued to lead by less than a second over Allgaier with Gragson trailing behind by more than a second and Chastain trailing by four seconds.
Despite the lapped traffic, Harrison Burton continued to stabilize his advantage over Allgaier, who continued to close in. At the final lap, Burton continued to lead by half a second. Coming back around to the checkered flag, Burton was able to hold on and win by approximately three-tenths of a second over Allgaier.
At 20 years and 22 days old, Harrison Burton became the youngest winner at Martinsville Speedway, eclipsing his father Jeff’s previous record at 23 years, two months and 24 days old.
During his cool-down lap and victory burnout, Harrison received congrats from his father Jeff, who interviewed his son during the on-track celebration.
“What’s up, dad? That was pretty awesome!” Burton exclaimed. “Great race car. I got the best team in the garage. That’s pretty fun!”
“I heard my old man get on the radio, which was pretty special,” Burton added during a post-race interview. “He’s funny on the TV. He was probably hating that because he tries to stay as non-biased as possible and avoids talking about me as much as he can. When they told him to do that, he was probably excited to talk to me but probably, he was a little bit nervous. That was awesome to have my dad talk to me. The amount of stuff that my dad and my mom have done for me, sacrificing time together, sacrificing time with my sister,…To give back to them by winning these races and, hopefully, proving that all that time spent away was worth it, racing all over the country with my mom, that means a lot.”
Allgaier finished in second place and raced his way into the Championship 4 round while teammate Gragson failed to advance to the Championship 4 round despite finishing in third place.
“I’m just proud of our team, everybody at JR Motorsports,” Allgaier said. “We had four really fast Camaros today. We came in today with the idea of just managing the stages as best we could, managing the race as best we could. At the end there, I really wanted to be able to get up there and pass Harrison, but hats off to those guys. They did a great job. I just didn’t do a good job on getting off the corner. I struggled all day to get my rhythm down. Once we finally did that, I felt like we had a really fast Camaro. Proud to get Unilever a good finish. Most importantly, proud to get all of our partners an opportunity to go for a championship next week. That’s what this is all about. Just got to get after it next week…We just got to go all week and work as hard as we can, and be there whenever it comes time.”
Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images.
“I definitely thought our Bass Pro Shops/True Timber was pretty good,” Gragson said. “I was saving my tires a little bit the run before that…We put on one hell of a stretch in the Playoffs. Overall, we can’t hang our heads over this stretch. We did the best we could do. It wasn’t meant to be. We’ll go fight hard next weekend at Phoenix. I like that track. I wish I was competing in the Final Four. Congrats to all the guys who made it happen. I’m hungry to win one. It sucks finishing second and third. I wanna go win.”
Jeb Burton recorded a strong fourth-place run while Chastain finished in fifth place and failed to advance to the Championship 4 round by four points.
“I made too many mistakes the two races leading up to this,” Chastain said. “I know that. It was a tough week coming here knowing the hole I put us in. Today though, the fight was awesome. I just wanted to win Martinsville. I knew how fast our car was, especially in clean air. Proud of the fight, proud of the effort from everybody. I’ve got great owners. Can’t wait to go to Phoenix and put all the effort after Phoenix into 2021.”
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.
Herbst, Briscoe, Annett, Jones and Cindric rounded out the top 10 on the track. Cindric and Haley, who finished 12th, secured the final two spots to the Championship 4 round, joining Allgaier and Chase Briscoe.
“Yeah, obviously, coming to a race track with a brand new set-up and a car that hasn’t been here, I’m sure [crew chief Brian Wilson] was pretty nervous but obviously, he did a great job,” Cindric said. “Our guys worked incredibly hard on this Pirtek Ford Mustang for this race. Really proud of that. I don’t think we really got to show its capability today. I took the easy way out and picked a lot of bottom lane restarts, which were a lot safer. I hate playing the points game, but we have done that the entire Playoffs. I’m happy we’re in the final four…We get to go to Phoenix and have a lot of fun. I’m excited to go fight for a championship…We got to beat everyone, that’s the thing. You can’t just be better. You have to be the best.”
“The motor’s actually blown up,” Haley said. “From about halfway through the race, the motor started letting go. Just so thankful for everyone at Kaulig Racing. When I first signed on, Chris Rice [President of Kaulig Racing] was like, ‘Hey man, this is a 12th-place car. You got to get it. We gotta work together, we got to get it in the Final Four, we gotta win races and we can do it.’ I believed him. It’s just so awesome to get this thing in the Final Four. If you told a lot of people at the start of the year that the No. 11 car out of Kaulig Racing was gonna be in the Final Four, I’m sure they’d probably say you’re wrong. So, so thankful. Sigh of relief. Matt Kaulig, have a drink for me.”
Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images.
Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier and Justin Haley will contend for this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series championship next weekend at Phoenix Raceway. In addition to the drivers’ championship, all four will battle for this year’s owners’ championship.
Ross Chastain, Brandon Jones, Noah Gragson and Ryan Sieg, who finished 11th, have been eliminated from title contention.
“I wanted to go to Phoenix and have a shot to [win the title],” Jones said. “Luckily, we announced that we’re coming back next year and we’re gonna have a shot at it again. Pretty cool to see Harrison get a couple more wins before the year’s over. I think these guys still need to watch out. We’re gonna be really good at Phoenix when we get there. I think we still could be better for next year.”
There were 11 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 63 laps.
Results.
1. Harrison Burton, 81 laps led
2. Justin Allgaier
3. Noah Gragson, 23 laps led, Stage 1 winner
4. Jeb Burton
5. Ross Chastain, 31 laps led, Stage 2 winner
6. Riley Herbst
7. Chase Briscoe
8. Michael Annett
9. Brandon Jones
10. Austin Cindric, 42 laps led
11. Ryan Sieg
12. Justin Haley
13. Brett Moffitt
14. J.J. Yeley, five laps led
15. Jeremy Clements
16. Tommy Joe Martins
17. Timmy Hill
18. Brandon Brown
19. Josh Williams
20. Mason Diaz
21. Joe Graf Jr.
22. Jesse Little, one lap down
23. Myatt Snider, one lap down
24. Stefan Parsons, one lap down
25. Colby Howard, two laps down
26. A.J. Allmendinger, two laps down, 68 laps led
27. Alex Labbe, three laps down
28. Jeffrey Earnhardt, four laps down
29. Kody Vanderwal, four laps down
30. Kyle Weatherman, four laps down
31. Donald Theetge, five laps down
32. Carl Long, six laps down
33. B.J. McLeod, 11 laps down
34. Ryan Vargas, 17 laps down
35. Gray Gaulding – OUT, Electrical
36. Bayley Currey – OUT, Accident
37. Chad Finchum – OUT, Engine
38. Matt Mills – OUT, Oil line
39. Josh Reaume – OUT, Suspension
Bold indicates Championship finale contenders
Standings
1. Chase Briscoe – Advanced
2. Austin Cindric – Advanced
3. Justin Allgaier – Advanced
4. Justin Haley – Advanced
5. Ross Chastain – Eliminated
6. Brandon Jones – Eliminated
7. Noah Gragson – Eliminated
8. Ryan Sieg – Eliminated
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will travel to Phoenix Raceway for the 2020 season finale and where a champion will be crowned. The race will occur on Saturday, November 7, at 5 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series held their race at Texas Motor Speedway today and for the third time in his career, Harrison Burton brought home the trophy. Burton, in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, made a last-lap pass to drive by Noah Gragson for the win.
“We had such a fast race car, I’ve never driven anything harder than that last corner in my life,” Burton said. “! don’t know how it stuck! I lost my voice screaming. Gosh, that was special.” He added, ” I’ve never spun out and came back to win so that was kinda cool.”
A disappointed Gragson, in his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, would come home in second place.
“I thought we had a fast car there, just a little tight all day,” he said. “I am just frustrated with myself, I don’t know. I was pretty tight there at the end and seen Alfredo holding Harrison off and thought we were getting away. Then I saw the 20 pass the 21 and ran me down in like, two laps. I knew he was coming, I just didn’t expect him to get there.”
Finishing third in his No.21 RCR Chevrolet was Anthony Alfredo.
Austin Cindric and Brandon Brown would round out the top five. Michael Annett, Justin Haley, Ryan Vargas, Josh Williams, and Tommy Joe Martins finished sixth through 10th, respectively.
Stage 1 had only one minor caution and Brandon Jones won the first stage.
Stage 2 went flag to flag without any cautions and H. Burton won that stage.
Stage 3 saw several cautions fly with the majority having only one car involved. The last caution of the race saw four top cars involved including Justin Allgaier, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, and Brandon Jones. That set up for a crazy finish as Harrison flew by Gragson coming out of turn four to take the checkered flag.
The Playoff picture shows Briscoe in with his win, then Cindric at +14 points, Allgaier +8 points, and Haley with +4 points.
Below the cut line are B. Jones -4, Ross Chastain -15, Gragson -24, and Sieg with -43.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series’ next race is Saturday, Oct. 31 at Martinsville Speedway.
Coming off his late surge and dominating win on Friday night in Richmond, Virginia, while recording a milestone win for JR Motorsports, Justin Allgaier backed it up by winning the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 250 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday afternoon, September 12, for his third NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season and in the past six races as he also claimed his second victory of the weekend. The win was Allgaier’s 14th of his Xfinity career and 11th while driving JRM’s No. 7 car as JR Motorsports recorded its 51st NASCAR Xfinity career victory.
The starting lineup was based on the results from Friday night’s race at Richmond, where the top-14 finishers were inverted. With that, Tommy Joe Martins started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Brandon Jones. Chad Finchum started at the rear of the field due to an engine change. Rookie Myatt Snider also started at the rear of the field in a backup car.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Martins and Jones battled dead even for the lead before Jones was able to prevail through Turns 3 and 4 and lead the first lap. Behind, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Sieg made a three-wide move on Martins entering Turn 1 before both moved up to second and third behind Jones. Not long after, Kaz Grala also moved up into fourth followed by Michael Annett while Martins continued to fade and lose spots on the track.
By the fifth lap, Jones was ahead by nearly three-tenths of a second over Briscoe with Sieg trailing by half a second. Five laps later, on Lap 10, Jones stabilized his advantage to nearly three-tenths of a second over Briscoe. Behind, Grala moved into third place over Sieg while Noah Gragson joined the battle. Austin Cindric was in sixth followed by Annett, Justin Haley, teammate Ross Chastain and rookie Riley Herbst. Justin Allgaier, winner of Friday night’s Xfinity race at Richmond, was in 11th ahead of cousins Harrison and Jeb Burton while Tommy Joe Martins fell back to 20th.
On Lap 17, Briscoe emerged with the lead after passing Jones on the inside lane the previous lap in Turn 1. Behind him. Grala moved into second place followed by Gragson while Jones settled in fourth place ahead of Haley and Cindric. Four laps later, Haley, who finished in second place on Friday night behind Allgaier, continued his march to the front after passing Jones for fourth place. By then, Allgaier cracked the top 10.
By Lap 25, the top-three competitors on the track led by Briscoe and followed by Grala and Gragson were ahead of fourth-place Haley by a second with Cindric trailing by more than a second and Annett by more than two seconds. Shortly after, Gragson moved into second place over Grala.
Thirty laps into the event and with the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Gragson emerged with the lead after passing Briscoe the previous lap in Turn 1. Briscoe maintained second place over Grala while Haley and Cindric stabilized themselves inside the top five. Behind, Allgaier moved up to sixth place and Ross Chastain moved up to eighth place while Jones fell back to 11th behind teammates Herbst and Harrison Burton.
While Gragson slowly extended his advantage, Grala and Briscoe battled for second place with Haley joining the party and heavy lapped traffic in front of them. On Lap 37, Haley, Briscoe and Grala went three wide for second place amid the lapped traffic for nearly a full circuit before Haley prevailed and took the spot. Behind, Allgaier rocketed his way into third place while Briscoe and Grala settled in the top five ahead of Cindric. Shortly after, Allgaier moved into second place.
With the battling for positions settling down, Gragson was able to maintain the lead just as the competition caution flew on Lap 40. Under caution, few that included Joey Gase and Tommy Joe Martins made a pit stop while the rest remained on track.
The race resumed under green on Lap 45 as teammates Gragson and Allgaier battled for the lead while Briscoe made a three-wide move to move up to third place. At the front, Allgaier emerged with the lead entering Turn 2 and after restarting on the inside lane. Behind, Haley passed Briscoe for third place while teammate Chastain overtook Annett into fifth place in pursuit of more on the track.
Fifty-five laps into the event, Allgaier was ahead by three-tenths of a second over teammate Gragson while Kaulig Racing teammates Haley and Chastain trailed behind. Annett, teammates to Allgaier and Gragson at JR Motorsports, was back in fifth place while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Herbst and Burton battled with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Briscoe for sixth and seventh. Penske’s Cindric was in ninth while RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg was in 10th. Richard Childress Racing’s Grala was back in 12th behind Sieg.
Five laps later, on Lap 60, Allgaier continued to lead by half a second over Gragson with Haley trailing by seven-tenths of a second and Chastain trailing by more than a second. Jones was back in 14th while Martins was back in 27th. In addition, Grala overtook Cindric for 10th place.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 75, Allgaier emerged at the front of the field as he claimed his 10th stage victory of the season. Gragson settled in second place behind his teammate followed by Haley, Chastain and Harrison Burton while Annett, Herbst, Jeb Burton, Sieg and Grala settled in the top 10. By then, Briscoe and his No. 98 Go Bowling Ford Mustang dropped back to 11th place ahead of Brandon Jones while Cindric and his No. 22 PPG Ford Mustang also fell back to 15th place.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Allgaier retained the lead following his pit stop ahead of teammate Gragson, Chastain, Haley, Harrison Burton and Jeb Burton. Following the pit stops, Sieg was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.
The second stage commenced on Lap 82 and Chastain made a bold three-wide move beneath Allgaier and Gragson in Turn 1 to take the lead. Eight laps later, on Lap 90, Chastain stabilized his advantage to a second over teammates Allgaier and Gragson while Jeb Burton moved up to fourth place in front of Haley and Harrison Burton. Behind, Cindric rallied from his late issues near the end of the first stage to run in seventh place followed by Herbst, Briscoe and Brett Moffitt. Annett, Jeremy Clements, Brandon Jones, Brandon Brown and Grala were running in the top 15.
Another 10 laps later, on Lap 100, Chastain stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Allgaier, whose car slowly came to life and with speed on long runs like the first stage, with Gragson trailing by more than a second. Behind, Jeb Burton continued to maintain fourth place over Haley.
By Lap 110, Allgaier cut his deficit to three-tenths of a second over Chastain as the leaders started to approach heavy lapped traffic. Both Chastain and Allgaier were ahead of third-place Gragson by more than two seconds with Haley in fourth. Behind by more than four seconds were cousins Harrison and Jeb Burton, both battling for fifth place, with Herbst joining the party. Cindric was back in eighth place ahead of Briscoe and Annett.
Ten laps later, on Lap 120, Allgaier started to pressure Chastain for the lead as they cleared the lapped traffic. He then attempted to gain a run and set up a pass on the outside lane, but Chastain was able to stabilize his narrow lead.
When the race reached its halfway point on Lap 125, Chastain was still ahead with the lead as Allgaier settled right behind the rear bumper of Chastain’s No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro. Three laps later, Allgaier and his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro moved back into the lead after fending off a challenge by Chastain, who refused to back out of the gas.
Behind, Harrison Burton made his way to third place after passing Gragson while Herbst moved up to fifth place after passing Haley. Jeb Burton settled in seventh place in front of Cindric, Jones and Briscoe. Shortly after, Herbst muscled his No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota Supra into fourth place.
With 10 laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew for an incident involving in Turn 3 involving Colby Howard. By then, Allgaier was leading by more than a second over Chastain with Harrison Burton trailing by less than four seconds. Under caution, some like Chastain, Haley, Harrison Burton, Herbst, Cindric, Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones and Briscoe pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on track. Following the pit stops, Jones was sent to the rear for speeding on pit road.
With five laps remaining, the short dash to the conclusion of the second stage started under green and with Allgaier and Grala restarting on the front row followed by teammates Gragson and Annett. At the start, Allgaier retained the lead while Chastain rocketed his way on the outside lane to move all the way up to second place in two laps and on fresh tires than Allgaier. All this occurred as the field scrambled for positions between those on fresh tires versus those on old tires.
A lap later, teammates Chastain and Haley made a three-wide move on Allgaier for the lead with Chastain reassuming the lead while Allgaier was overtaken by a handful of cars on fresh tires and dropped back to the top 10. By the time the second stage concluded on Lap 150 and with the scrambling for positions still ongoing through every turn and straightaway, Chastain emerged out in front and claimed his second stage victory of the season. Teammate Haley and his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro settled in second followed by Jeb Burton, Briscoe and Harrison Burton while Cindric, Herbst, Allgaier, Gragson and Grala settled in the top 10.
Under the stage break, some like Allgaier, Gragson, Jeb Burton, Grala, Clements and Brandon Brown pitted while the rest led by teammates Chastain and Haley remained on track.
The final stage commenced under green with 93 laps remaining and with Chastain and Haley on the front row. At the start, Chastain took off with the lead followed by Briscoe and Jeb Burton while Haley got shuffled out of the top five entering Turn 2. In one lap, Allgaier moved up to sixth place on fresh tires.
At the front, Jeb Burton made a move beneath Chastain to take the lead with 90 laps remaining. Shortly after, Allgaier rocketed into third place after passing Cindric while Briscoe settled in fifth place in front of Harrison Burton.
With 87 laps remaining, Allgaier overtook Chastain for second place as Jeb Burton continued to lead by a second. Seven laps later, with 80 laps remaining, Allgaier cut his deficit to Jeb Burton down to less than three-tenths of a second. Behind, Chastain trailed by two seconds in third place followed by Gragson and Cindric while Harrison Burton and Haley battled for sixth place.
Two laps later, Allgaier made his way back into the lead after passing teammate Jeb Burton. Another five laps later, with 73 laps remaining, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than a second over Jeb Burton’s No. 8 LS Tractor Chevrolet Camaro.
As the green-flag run progressed and with Allgaier ahead by more than two seconds, Chastain took second place over Jeb Burton with Gragson and Haley in the top five. Cindric was in sixth place followed by Harrison Burton, Annett, Grala and Herbst while Briscoe was back in 12th place in front of Jones, Clements and Brown.
With 60 laps remaining, Allgaier stabilized his lead to three seconds over Chastain. Ten laps later, with 50 laps remaining, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than five seconds over Chastain with Jeb Burton trailing by less than six seconds.
Another 10 laps later and with 40 laps remaining, Allgaier continued to extend his advantage by seven seconds over Chastain with Jeb Burton trailing by more than eight seconds. Fourth-place Haley was trailing by 10 seconds while Gragson and Harrison Burton trailed by more than 12 seconds. By then, names like Ryan Sieg, Brett Moffitt and Chase Briscoe were lapped.
Under 30 laps remaining, Allgaier’s lead expanded to eight seconds over Chastain with Jeb Burton trailing by nine seconds, Haley by less than 11 seconds and Harrison Burton by less than 15 seconds. Gragson retained sixth place ahead of teammate Annett and Grala while Cindric and Jones were scored in the top 10. Behind, Alex Labbe was in 11th place ahead of Herbst, Clements, Brandon Brown and Matt Mills. Jeffrey Earnhardt was in 16th place, a lap down, while Sieg and Briscoe were back in 17th and 19th.
With approximately 20 laps remaining, the caution flew after contact from Brandon Brown sent Herbst hard into the Turn 1 outside wall and with significant damage sustained to the rear end of Herbst’s No. 18 Toyota that knocked Herbst out of contention in the closing laps of the race. The caution erased a nearly nine-second advantage for Allgaier. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Allgaier retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of Jeb Burton and Chastain.
The race restarted under green with 13 laps remaining and with teammates Allgaier and Burton on the front row while Chastain and Harrison Burton lined up on the second row. At the start, Allgaier withstood a challenge from Jeb Burton to retain the lead,
With 10 laps remaining, Allgaier stabilized his advantage to nearly four-tenths of a second over teammate Jeb Burton with Chastain trailing behind and the pack behind jostling for late positions. Two laps later, Allgaier extended his advantage to six-tenths of a second.
With five laps remaining and Allgaier leading by more than a second, Jeb Burton continued to maintain second place ahead of Chastain and Harrison Burton with Haley in fifth place ahead of Gragson.
With the leaders encountering lapped traffic, Chastain started to challenge Jeb Burton for second place followed by Harrison Burton and his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra. Despite encountering lapped traffic in front of him, Allgaier was able to stabilize his advantage and navigate his way through one final circuit and come back around to win by two seconds and for his second checkered flag of the weekend.
Through the first 19 regular-season races of this year, Allgaier had yet to fill in the win column to his stats in 2020. Since recording his first victory at Dover International Speedway in August, Allgaier’s pair of victories this weekend at Richmond allowed him to join Cindric, Briscoe and Brandon Jones as the lone Xfinity competitors to achieve three or more victories throughout the regular-season stretch. In addition, Allgaier joined Cindric as the lone Xfinity competitors to achieve two victories in a doubleheader weekend at a track, when Cindric made his accomplishment at Kentucky Speedway in July.
“I knew how good our car was all day,” Allgaier said in Victory Lane on NBCSN. “It seems like lately, we haven’t been able to get [BRANDT] to Victory Lane. It wasn’t for lack of effort. I knew at the end there, I knew we had speed. I knew when we needed to go we could. I just didn’t know how fast. My teammate, Jeb Burton, did a fantastic job today on that last restart. I’m just so proud of these guys.”
In addition, Allgaier, who won on Friday night at Richmond, spent time afterwards working with his crew to install a new front nose on his No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro prior to Saturday afternoon’s race, where he went on to win.
“I have to thank the Man upstairs,” Allgaier added. “Tonight was definitely a push to the end, but we just had the luck we needed. I say luck, but luck is opportunities and preparation. We were prepared and the opportunities came tonight and we did a good job. I’m really proud of these guys.”
Behind, Jeb Burton settled in a career-best second place in his 40th series start followed by Chastain, who racked up his 12th top-five result of this season. Harrison Burton rallied from a 16th-place result on Friday night to finish in fourth place while Haley recorded a fifth-place run for his second top-five result in two days and for his eighth top-five finish of this season. Gragson finished in sixth place while Annett, Brandon Jones, Grala and Cindric rounded out the top 10. By finishing in 10th place, Cindric clinched this year’s regular-season championship and he will be awarded 15 bonus points for this year’s Playoffs.
By finishing 15th and 34th, Ryan Sieg and Riley Herbst clinched their spots for this year’s Xfinity Playoffs, thus joining Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones, Justin Haley, Harrison Burton, Ross Chastain and Michael Annett for this year’s championship battle.
Brandon Brown finished in 11th place and he holds sole possession of the 12th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs by 49 points over Clements, who finished 17th, and 88 over Snider, who finished 31st, as the series makes its way to the regular-season finale next Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
There were nine lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 29 laps.
Results.
1. Justin Allgaier, 135 laps led, Stage 1 winner
2. Jeb Burton, 12 laps led
3. Ross Chastain, 58 laps led, Stage 2 winner
4. Harrison Burton
5. Noah Gragson, 16 laps led
6. Justin Haley
7. Michael Annett
8. Brandon Jones, 16 laps led
9. Kaz Grala
10. Austin Cindric
11. Brandon Brown
12. Alex Labbe
13. Matt Mills
14. Jeffrey Earnhardt
15. Ryan Sieg, one lap down
16. Chase Briscoe, one lap down, 13 laps led
17. Jeremy Clements, one lap down
18. Brett Moffitt, one lap down
19. Bayley Currey, one lap down
20. Kyle Weatherman, two laps down
21. Mason Massey, two laps down
22. Stephen Leicht, three laps down
23. Joey Gase, three laps down
24. B.J. McLeod, three laps down
25. Josh Williams, three laps down
26. Tommy Joe Martins, three laps down
27. Joe Graf Jr., three laps down
28. Chad Finchum, four laps down
29. Kody Vanderwal, four laps down
30. Dexter Bean, four laps down
31. Myatt Snider, four laps down
32. Vinnie Miller, five laps down
33. Jesse Little, six laps down
34. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident
35. Colby Howard – OUT, Accident
36. Timmy Hill – OUT, Fuel pump
The NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season finale will occur at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 300, which will occur on Friday, September 18, at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
At the start of the final lap of the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway, all three Kaulig Racing competitors led by A.J. Allmendinger and followed by Ross Chastain and Justin Haley were running at the front with an opportunity to win. When the checkered flag flew, two Kaulig competitors made contact and wrecked while the third competitor, Haley, escaped the carnage on the final lap to win at Daytona.
The victory was Haley’s second of his Xfinity Series career, second of this season after winning his first Xfinity career race at Talladega Superspeedway in June and the fifth NASCAR win overall for Kaulig Racing.
The starting lineup was based on three statistical categories: current owner points standings, the results from a previous Xfinity race and the fastest lap from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Chase Briscoe, coming off his victory at Dover International Speedway in part of a doubleheader weekend, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Ross Chastain.
Rookie Riley Herbst was the only competitor to drop to the rear of the field due to an improperly mounted ballast discovered from his No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota Supra during the pre-race technical inspection, resulting in his car chief being ejected. In addition, he was assessed a pass-through penalty at the start of the race. Ryan Sieg, Josh Williams and Tim Viens retained their starting spots, but they all lost a pit stall selection for next weekend’s series race at Darlington Raceway due to multiple pre-race technical failures.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Briscoe received a push from Austin Cindric at the start to jump to an early lead. The top-eight competitors led by Briscoe ran in a single-file lane following by a bevy of competitors racing in double lanes for one lap around the superspeedway venue as Briscoe led the first lap.
The following lap, with Briscoe still leading, Cindric settled in second followed by Kaulig Racing’s Ross Chastain and Justin Haley while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones and Harrison Burton were running inside the top six. Anthony Alfredo was in seventh place ahead of Brandon Brown, Alex Labbe and Brett Moffitt while JR Motorsports’ four-car lineup led by Noah Gragson and including Justin Allgaier, Daniel Hemric and Michael Annett were running inside the top 16.
By the fifth lap, Briscoe was still leading Cindric, Chastain and a bevy of cars racing in a single-file lane followed by a scattered pack racing in two lanes. Trailing the lead pack by more than 34 seconds was Herbst following his opening lap penalty.
Shortly after, the first caution of the race flew when rookie Joe Graf Jr. spun across the tri-oval/frontstretch, made contact with the outside wall and damaged his car following contact with Jeffrey Earnhardt as Caesar Bacarella also sustained damage. Following his incident, Graf was limping his No. 08 Bucked Up Chevrolet Camaro back to pit road when the right-rear tire on his car shredded and left a multitude of debris scattered across Turn 2. The shredded right-rear tire and the damage to the right side of Graf’s car also left his car beyond repairable to continue.
Following the incident, NASCAR declared the caution involving Graf, Earnhardt and Bacarella as the competition caution originally planned on the 10th lap. Under caution, few like Moffitt, Earnhardt, A.J. Allmendinger, Chad Finchum, Ryan Sieg and Herbst pitted while the rest led by Briscoe remained on track.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 11, Briscoe jumped ahead on the outside lane and moved in front of Cindric’s No. 22 Odyssey Battery Ford Mustang on the inside lane to retain the lead through Turn 1. Entering Turn 2, however, Haley made a charge on the outside lane and started to battle with Cindric for the runner-up spot.
A lap later, just as Haley started to mount a challenge on Briscoe and Cindric for the lead, a rough start became worse for Bacarella as he wrecked on the backstretch and sustained heavy damage to the front nose of his No. 90 Alpha Prime/Maxim Chevrolet, thus brining out the second caution of the race. In addition, John Jackson was slowly limping back to pit road.
Under caution, some like teammates Gragson, Hemric, Allgaier and Annett along with Moffitt, Allmendinger and Sieg pitted while the rest led by Briscoe remained on the track.
The race restarted under green on Lap 17, and Briscoe jumped ahead and moved in front of Cindric with the lead again. In Turn 1, Burton mounted a challenge on the outside lane as he and Briscoe battled dead even for the lead. When the field returned to the tri-oval, Briscoe and his No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang were ahead by a nose over Burton and his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra with the entire pack running close behind the leaders.
Two laps later, on Lap 20, Briscoe, who has led every lap thus far, was still ahead with the lead and in front of Cindric, Haley, Chastain, Alfredo and Brown. Not long after, Gragson, fresh off a one-year contract extension with JR Motorsports, started to move into the top five on the outside lane with his three teammates (Allgaier, Hemric and Annett) tucked behind.
On Lap 23, Haley emerged with the lead followed by teammate Chastain and Alfredo while Briscoe fell back to fourth place alongside Brown.
While the battling for the lead continued to intensify, the caution returned a lap later for an accident in Turn 1 involving Earnhardt, teammate B.J. McLeod and Kody Vanderwal, who came to rest below the Turn 1 infield grass with the hood raised above his No. 52 The Swag Spot Chevrolet.
Under caution, some like Alfredo, Labbe, rookie Jesse Little, Myatt Snider, Josh Williams, Timmy Hill, Sieg and Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by teammates Haley and Chastain remained on track.
For the conclusion of the first stage, the field restarted under green for a one-lap shootout. At the start, Haley and his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro jumped ahead and moved in front of teammate Chastain on the inside lane while retaining the lead. In addition, he pulled away in Turn 1 before Cindric and Chastain came charging along with the pack through Turns 2 and 3. Despite the run, Haley was able to fend off the field to win the first stage on Lap 30 and for his third stage victory of the season. Chastain settled in second place followed by Cindric, Brown and Briscoe while Herbst, Gragson, Allgaier, Jones and Hemric were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the majority of the leaders pitted and Chastain emerged with the lead ahead of Briscoe and Haley. Following the pit stops, however, a number of competitors led by Hill, Labbe, Allmendinger, Williams, Moffitt, Sieg and Snider remained on track to occupy the top-seven positions.
The second stage started on Lap 34 with Hill leading as Allmendinger quickly made his way to second place. Back in seventh place in Turn 2 while also gaining a draft back to the front was Chastain with teammate Haley and Cindric also making their move back to the front. With the competitors running close to one another in a pack, Allmendinger made his way into the lead followed by teammates Chastain and Haley on Lap 36.
On Lap 40, with Allmendinger continuing to lead teammates Chastain and Haley followed by Cindric, the caution flew when contact from Briscoe and Jones, who was turning across the nose of Briscoe’s No. 98 Ford in Turn 3, resulted in Jones being spinning sideways as a multi-car erupted in Turn 4. The accident involved all four competitors from JR Motorsports (Gragson, Hemric, Allgaier and Annett) along with Moffitt, Labbe, Brown, Alfredo, Snider, Colby Howard and Tommy Joe Martins.
When the race restarted on Lap 45, Allmendinger retained the lead on the inside lane followed by Cindric and Chastain. Shortly after, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck in Turn 3 when Allgaier, who was trying to continue after being involved in the first multi-car wreck, spun after cutting a tire and triggered another multi-car wreck that involved Labbe, Joey Gase, Snider, Brown and Jeremy Clements. Following the wreck, the race was red-flagged for more than 11 minutes while the safety workers cleaned up the carnage area in Turn 3.
When the race resumed under cautious pace and under green near the 50th lap, Allmendinger and Cindric battled for the lead through Turns 1 and 2. By then, Brown retired in the garage. Allmendinger, nonetheless, was able to retain the lead with his teammates Chastain and Haley tucked right behind. Meanwhile, Cindric dropped out of the top five after receiving no drafting help on the outside lane.
At the halfway mark, Lap 50, Allmendinger and his No. 16 Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet Camaro were still leading teammates Chastain and Haley followed by Herbst and Burton. A few laps later, the caution returned due to debris on the backstretch. Under caution, some like Chastain, Allmendinger, Haley and Hemric pitted while others led by teammates Herbst and Burton remained on track.
With five laps remaining in the second stage, Herbst moved in front of teammate Burton to emerge with the lead. Behind, Cindric, Allmendinger and Chastain wasted no time carving their way back to the front. The following lap, Gray Gaulding and his No. 07 Walk-Ons.com Chevrolet Camaro owned by Bobby Dotter started to challenge Herbst for the lead with Allmendinger behind.
With three laps remaining in the stage, Gaulding emerged with the lead while Allmendinger started to challenge Herbst for second place on the outside lane. On the final lap of the stage, with his Kaulig Racing teammates tucked behind him, Allmendinger was able to pass Gaulding on the backstretch and hold on to win the stage for his second stage victory of the season and the fourth of his career. Teammate Chastain muscled his way to second place followed by teammate Haley, Gaulding and Annett. Herbst, Burton, Briscoe, Cindric and Sieg settled in the top 10. By then, 25 competitors were running on the lead lap. In addition, names like Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Brett Moffitt and Brandon Brown were out of the race.
Under the stage break, some like teammates Allmendinger, Chastain, Haley and Sieg remained on track while the rest led by Gaulding, Cindric and Briscoe pitted.
With less than 40 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green and Allmendinger moved in front of teammates Chastain and Haley to retain the lead. While Allmendinger and Chastain managed to clear the field, Haley was locked in a battle for third place with Sieg. Not long after, Sieg was black-flagged due to having a rear bumper cover loose on his No. 39 CMRroofing.com Chevrolet.
Remaining on track for three laps, Sieg made the turn to pit road to have the bumper cover addressed. At the same time, Hemric was also black-flagged to have a rear bumper replaced and addressed on his No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet. Following his stop, however, Hemric was assessed a drive-through penalty on pit road for having too many crew members over the wall during his service.
With 30 laps remaining and with the laps continuing to wind down, Allmendinger and his No. 16 Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet Camaro continued to lead a 10-car breakaway running in a single-file lane. Teammates Chastain and Haley were in second and third followed by Briscoe, Josh Williams and Cindric. Annett, the lone JR Motorsports competitors in the top 10, was in seventh followed by Herbst, Burton and Gaulding.
Five laps later, Allmendinger was still ahead of a 10-car breakaway followed by teammates Chastain and Haley while rookie Jesse Little, running in 11th place and leading the next wave of cars, was trailing by nine seconds. Another five laps later, with 20 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead teammates Chastain and Haley, though all three Kaulig Racing Chevrolets were in question about having enough fuel to complete the race to its distance compared to their challengers behind them.
Under 15 laps remaining, the top-10 competitors led by Allmendinger were separated by nearly four seconds while the 11th-place car led by Little was trailing by 20 seconds. Five laps later and with 10 laps remaining, the following competitors of Cindric, Briscoe, Annett and Herbst overtook Haley for position while Allmendinger and Chastain continued to lead. By then, 16 competitors were running on the lead lap and the top-nine competitors were ahead of 10th-place Williams by nearly 10 seconds.
With five laps remaining and the top-nine competitors at the front still settling in a single-file line, nose to nose and bumper to bumper, Allmendinger was leading teammate Chastain while Cindric and Briscoe were behind.
With two laps remaining, entering Turn 1, Chastain and Briscoe attempted to pull beneath Allmendinger for the lead, but Allmendinger kept his car ahead of the pack after blocking the run. Chastain and his No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro remained in second while Briscoe fell back to seventh.
When the final lap of the race started, Allmendinger was still leading and blocking Chastain, Cindric and Haley. Entering Turn 3, Chastain gained a run through Turn 2 and he attempted to make a move beneath Allmendinger for the lead and the win. Chastain ended up giving his teammate a bump in the turn that turned Allmendinger sideways as he spun with a multi-car wreck erupting that collected Chastain, Annett and Cindric.
In the midst of the wreck, Haley dodged the carnage involving his teammates and came out on top as he was able to cruise across the finish line to grab a thrilling victory at Daytona.
The victory was Haley’s second at Daytona after he won his first NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona last July in a rain-shortened race while driving for Spire Motorsports. Including his three NASCAR Truck Series career victories in 2018, Haley has won six races across NASCAR’s three major division series. In addition, Haley’s last three victories across NASCAR have occurred on superspeedway venues.
“An amazing effort by Kaulig Racing,” Haley said on the frontstretch on NBCSN. “Obviously, I hate that A.J. and Ross got together there. As you guys at home can see, [team owner] Matt Kaulig, [team president] Chris Rice, we built a team and a family. We all work as one. Extremely proud of this LeafFilter Gutter Protection crew. [I] Can’t believe it. Two superspeedway wins in a row. Gotta say something for [spotter] Kevin Hamlin on the booth, too. Just a little lucky there. We got shoved out and I was a little frustrated, but that’s why you never give up. These things are so unpredictable. An incredible effort today. We swept everything [stages and race win]. Extremely proud of everyone.”
Haley’s victory at Daytona was also redemption from the Xfinity Series race at Daytona in July 2018, where Haley, driving for GMS Racing, made a bold three-wide pass for the win on Kyle Larson and Elliott Sadler entering the tri-oval for the win. While he was able to clear both competitors and streak across the finish line in first place, he completed his pass with his left-side tires crossing beneath the double yellow line zone. As a result, Haley was disqualified and demoted back to the last car on the lead lap while Larson was awarded the win.
“[I] Parked it right here on the double yellow line [area] where I went down too low about two years ago in a Xfinity race,” Haley added. “A little humor there.”
Behind Haley, Gray Gaulding tied his career-best result of second place in his 43rd series start followed by Briscoe, Herbst and Burton. Chastain, Annett and Cindric limped across the line in sixth, seventh and eighth while Williams and Little finished in the top 10. Allmendinger, who was unable to limp his car back to the finish line, ended his race in 15th place.
Following the race, Allmendinger made the mandatory post-race trip to the infield care center. Both Kaulig Racing teammates, at the end, expressed no ill will towards one another with Chastain defending his move and attempt to win to lock himself into the Xfinity Playoffs.
“Hopefully, we get some good ratings on that one,” Chastain said on pit road on NBCSN. “Terrible to run into your teammate like that. It must be my fault, though. It’s unfortunate, we did everything right all night. Man, we just got to win. This No. 10 car, Nutrien Ag Solutions. [I] Did everything right to be the best teammate I could. I haven’t always been. Last lap, I don’t back down and I’m gonna go for it. If I wasn’t there, if I watch the replay, but he got turned, so it wasn’t completely into the bumper. I hate it, man! It’s not gonna help me moving forward. It doesn’t matter how many races each of us run. We’re supposed to go for the win. Team rules the last 10 laps, and we all stayed committed. I hated that Justin got shoved out there with 10 or five [laps] to go. Coming to the checkered, what am I supposed to do? Just finish second? Not this guy.”
“It’s the way it is,” Allmendinger added in the infield care center on NBCSN. “We’re proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing for building really fast Chevys. [I] Wanted to do everything I could to get that Ellsworth Advisors Chevy in Victory Lane. I try to take care of my teammates, but it is what it is. It’s for the win. Ross is going for the championship and going for a win there. I saw him get low and I thought he’d, maybe, take care of me a little bit, considering I was there. He’s going for the win. It is what it is. It’s just disappointing. We were gonna have another 1-2-3 Kaulig finish at Daytona. It’s part of life, it’s racing. More importantly, congrats to my little bro, Justin Haley, and at least getting a Kaulig Racing Chevy in Victory Lane. That’s the most important thing. We’re bringing more trophies home for Matt Kaulig and that’s all that matters. He’s going for the win. I get it.”
There were nine lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 28 laps.
With his top-10 result, Cindric continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 58 points over Briscoe.
From a wreck on Saturday to a win on Sunday, Chase Briscoe capped off an up-and-down weekend at Dover International Speedway by winning the second Drydene 200 event on August 23 in a backup car and following a late battle with Ross Chastain. The victory was Briscoe’s sixth of the season, first since early July at Indianapolis and the eighth of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career.
The starting lineup was based on the results from Saturday’s first Xfinity race at Dover, where only the top-15 finishers were inverted. With that, Brett Moffitt, who finished 15th on Saturday, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Brandon Brown.
Chase Briscoe started at the rear of the field after moving to a backup car along with Daniel Hemric due to a driver change. Anthony Alfredo, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Alex Labbe and Vinnie Miller also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. Noah Gragson and Myatt Snider retained their starting spots for Sunday’s event, but both lost their pit stall selection for next week due to two pre-race technical failures.
When the green flag waved and the second Xfinity Dover race commenced, Moffitt jumped to an early advantage through Turns 1 and 2. Justin Haley moved up to second place followed by rookie Riley Herbst while Brown fell back to fourth place in front of Noah Gragson.
By the third lap, Justin Allgaier, coming off his first win of this season at Dover on Saturday and who started 15th, moved up to eighth place. Ryan Sieg, on the other hand, fell back to 12th place behind rookie Harrison Burton while Austin Cindric was scored in 10th place.
Following the first 10 laps, the first caution of the race flew due to an incident involving Earnhardt and Miller in the backstretch, where they made contact with one another and towards the outside wall before Miller made more contact against the Turn 3 outside wall. By then, Moffitt was still leading over Haley, Herbst, Gragson and Allgaier. Ross Chastain was in seventh place ahead of Cindric and Michael Annett while Burton was in 10th. Brandon Jones was in 14th, Chase Briscoe was in 16th and Alfredo, who rallied from power issues that forced him to start at the rear of the field, was in 20th ahead of Daniel Hemric.
Under caution, few like Timmy Hill, Stephen Leicht, Matt Mills and Korbin Forrister pitted.
When the race restarted around the Lap 15 mark, Moffitt retained the lead following a strong start. Haley and Herbst battled for second place while behind, Brown got loose underneath Gragson in Turn 3. Brown and Gragson were able to prevent their cars from spinning despite sliding sideways as they continued running inside the top 10.
Towards the front, Chastain took over second place followed by Herbst while Haley fell back to fourth in front of teammates Allgaier and Gragson. Meanwhile, Moffitt retained the lead through Lap 20 and when the competition caution flew.
Under caution, only a few that included Brandon Jones, Hemric, Josh Williams, Stephen Leicht, Kody Vanderwal and Matt Mills pitted while the rest remained on track. Prior to the restart, Burton was sent to the rear due to a choose cone violation.
When the race restarted on Lap 24, Moffitt and Chastain battled dead before Chastain emerged with the lead the following lap. Behind, Allgaier continued to muscle his way to the front after taking over third place from Herbst. In addition, Gragson passed Haley for fifth place while Cindric and Briscoe moved up to seventh and eighth. Hemric also emerged in the top 10 as he battled Brandon Brown for more.
Following Lap 30, Chastain was ahead by nearly a second over Moffitt and more than a second over Allgaier. Behind, Jones, racing on fresh tires, was in 18th. Five laps later, Chastain extended his advantage to more than a second over Moffit and nearly two seconds over Allgaier. Gragson moved back up into the top five while Haley, Briscoe, Cindric and Hemric battled for sixth place.
Another five laps later and with the laps in the first stage dwindling, Chastain continued to extend his advantage to more than two seconds over Allgaier and Moffitt. Proving he had a fast car throughout Saturday’s Xfinity Dover race and in the early stages of Sunday’s event, Chastain raced to his first stage victory of the season on Lap 45. Allgaier settled in second followed by Moffitt, Herbst and Gragson. Briscoe, Cindric, Haley, Hemric and Brown were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Jones emerged with the lead following a two-tire pit stop. Behind, Allgaier beat Chastain to exit in second place, but the first on four fresh tires. Following the stops, however, Herbst was sent to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation.
When the second stage started past the Lap 50 mark, Allgaier muscled ahead with the lead. Behind, Chastain and Briscoe made a three-wide move on Jones to move up followed by Cindric while Jones fell back to fifth place. In addition, Gragson took over seventh place from Hemric while Burton moved up to ninth ahead of Haley. Shortly after, Alfredo joined the battle as he battled Burton for a top-10 spot.
While the batting around the track among multiple competitors continued to ensue, Allgaier was ahead by two-tenths of a second over Chastain and with Briscoe and Cindric trailing closely behind the two leaders. By Lap 60, the top-four competitors were ahead by more than a second over fifth-place Jones and more than two seconds over sixth-place Gragson.
Past the Lap 60 mark, the caution returned due to an incident in Turn 2 involving Earnhardt and Herbst. Under caution, few that included Jeremy Clements, B.J. McLeod, Kody Vanderwal and Chad Finchum pitted while the rest remained on track.
On Lap 69, the race restarted and the battle for the lead ignited between Allgaier, Chastain, Briscoe and Cindric. The following lap, Briscoe moved up to second place and he grabbed the lead the next lap. While Briscoe led his first lap of the day, Chastain and Cindric battled for third place followed by Gragson while Hemric moved up to sixth place after passing Jones.
By Lap 80, Briscoe was ahead by six-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Chastain, Cindric and Gragson continued running inside the top five. Behind, Hemric and Jones were in sixth and seventh and Moffit was in eighth ahead of Haley and Burton. Alfredo was in 11th ahead of Brown and Michael Annet, Sieg was in 14th ahead of Snider and Herbst was in 16th.
For the final 10 laps of the second stage, Briscoe was able to power away from the field and claim his fifth stage of the season on Lap 90. Allgaier settled in second followed by Chastain, Cindric and Gragson. Hemric, Jones, Moffitt, Burton and Haley were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Briscoe retained the lead after exiting pit road first following a four-tire stop followed by Cindric, Hemric, Chastain, Burton and Jones while Allgaier fell back to eighth place. The race went from bad to worse for Allgaier, who dropped to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation. Labbe also dropped to the rear of the field due to crew member interference.
With nearly 100 laps remaining, the final stage started and Briscoe retained the lead following a strong start on the outside lane. Chastain moved up to second place over Cindric while Burton moved up to fourth place over Hemric. Gragson and Jones also joined the battle involving Burton and Hemric.
Three laps later and at the halfway mark on Lap 100, Briscoe was ahead by nearly a second over Chastain, who continued to run ahead of Cindric for the runner-up spot. Another 10 laps later and with 90 laps remaining, Briscoe was still leading by more than a second over Chastain and Cindric. Hemric and Burton settled in the top five ahead of Gragson, Annett, Jones, Herbst and Moffitt. Meanwhile, following his uncontrolled tire violation penalty, Allgaier raced his way back up to 14th behind Alfredo, Haley and Sieg. Brown was in 15th, Snider was in 17th and Clements was in 19th.
With 80 laps remaining and while the laps continued to dwindle, Briscoe stabilized his advantage to nearly a second over Chastain with Cindric trailing by two seconds. Hemric trailed by less than four seconds while Burton trailed by more than four seconds. Gragson settled in sixth while Annett and Jones battled for seventh. Allgaier, meanwhile, was up to 11th.
Twenty laps later and with 60 laps remaining, Briscoe extended his advantage to two seconds over Chastain followed by Cindric, Hemric and Burton. Behind, Allgaier was back in the top 10 as he was running in 10th place.
With approximately 40 laps remaining and with only 11 cars on the lead lap, Hemric was the first of the lead-lap competitors to make a green flag pit stop for fresh tires and fuel to complete the race to its distance. Shortly after, Burton made the turn to pit road, but he was penalized for a commitment line violation after he locked up his tires, nearly slid while turning down the banking and failed to keep all four tires inside the pit road entrance line. Haley, not long after, pitted along with race leader Briscoe, Cindric, Moffitt and Chastain.
While the pit stops under green continued to cycle through, Stefan Parsons spun while entering pit road. At the same time, Chastain and Briscoe made contact with one another as Chastain blocked and attempted to retain his spot ahead of Briscoe, who approached him with full speed, bumped him and struggled to navigate his way around Chastain’s No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. Shortly after, Briscoe bumped and moved Chastain out of the way in Turn 3.
At the front, after Jones pitted, Gragson retained the lead ahead of Annett, Allgaier and Alfredo, but all needed to make a final pit stop to complete the race to its distance. Behind, Briscoe was in sixth ahead of Chastain, Cindric and Hemric.
With less than 20 laps remaining, Annett was the leader after teammate Gragson pitted. Behind, Briscoe was ahead by less than two seconds over Chastain. Shortly after, Briscoe extended his advantage over Chastain after Chastain struggled to navigate his way through three lapped cars.
With 12 laps remaining, Briscoe reassumed the lead after Annett pitted. By then, he was ahead by nearly three seconds over Chastain while Cindric started to close within Chastain for the runner-up spot.
Under 10 laps remaining, Briscoe continued to stabilize his advantage to nearly three seconds over Chastain and Cindric. For the remainder of the race and with a decent advantage, Briscoe was able to navigate his way through lapped traffic and claim his sixth checkered flag of the season.
The victory was the 17th in the Xfinity Series for Stewart-Haas Racing since joining forces with Fred Biagi as Briscoe currently leads the current Xfinity field with the most wins of this season (six). In addition, Briscoe recorded his third victory of this season with crew chief Richard Boswell and the 11th for Ford (ninth since June).
“At the beginning of the race, as soon as we took the green [flag], I knew that I was gonna be really good,” Briscoe said on MRN. “The car was way better than what it was yesterday and really what I was looking for. I think we were able to finish sixth in the first stage from the back. I knew that if we could just get clean air, I was gonna be in really good shape. That long run, I felt like I was not the greatest, but just having clean air helped. The green flag cycle, I lost the race last year because I didn’t come to pit road hard enough. I still, obviously, gave up a lot of time to Ross [Chastain]. I got to get a lot better at that. I didn’t want a caution because I had such a big lead, but I was wanting a caution so I didn’t have to do green flag pit stops. Overall, super happy to get HighPoint.com back in Victory Lane. It feels like it’s been forever and it’s only been a month and a half. Hopefully, we can carry this momentum into the Playoffs.”
While celebrating his win, Briscoe took a moment to address his on-track contact with Chastain.
“Me and Ross, I feel like, always race really hard, but we normally keep it clean,” Briscoe added. “I knew that Ross would’ve did the exact same thing in my situation, especially if I’d done what I did off of pit road. I packed air on him, I didn’t hit him. I think once I packed air on him, he slowed up so much. I was so close, I hit him eventually, but I didn’t wreck him. I think he knew I wasn’t very happy after getting ran down the apron. I just moved him out of the way. He’s trying to win his first race of the year. His job is to not let cars pass him…that’s the same as my job. I did what I did.”
Chastain finished in second place for his ninth top-five result of the season followed by Cindric, who has finished in the top five in the last nine Xfinity races. Despite the contact with Briscoe, Chastain expressed no hard feelings towards the race winner.
“I’m just proud of this whole Moose Fraternity team, this No. 10 car, this Kaulig Racing group,” Chastain said. “We’ve been working at it. We didn’t have the speed to start the year. We had high expectations. We’ve been working as a group. I’m just proud that we came here with no practice and we had a car capable of winning both days. We just needed a few more things to go our way. I think if we came back and raced again tomorrow, we probably had one. We keep getting one spot better every day. Our changes overtime were incredible. They were exactly what I needed. Once the race went on, then I needed a little more. It’s one of those things, it’s tough right now…this whole Kaulig group is getting hot and getting fast at the right time.”
“Obviously, a solid day,” Cindric added. “Not the best. We tried some things overnight. Probably the first doubleheader, we tried some things and it didn’t work. It didn’t help when we didn’t have track position. We weren’t able to work our way as forward as quickly we did yesterday on our PPG Ford Mustang. [We] Scored some solid points and move on to Daytona and try to have a little fun there.”
Jones and Hemric rounded out the top five following stellar runs. Finishing in the top 10 were Gragson, Allgaier, Annett, Herbst and Moffitt as only the top-seven competitors finished on the lead lap. Following his pair of penalties, Burton finished in 11th place ahead of Haley.
There were 12 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 24 laps.
With his pair of podium results, Cindric continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 62 points over Briscoe and 97 over Gragson.
Results.
1. Chase Briscoe, 107 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Ross Chastain, 24 laps led, Stage 1 winner
3. Austin Cindric, one lap led
4. Brandon Jones, eight laps led
5. Daniel Hemric
6. Noah Gragson, 11 laps led
7. Justin Allgaier, 19 laps led
8. Michael Annett, one lap down, five laps led
9. Riley Herbst, one lap down
10. Brett Moffitt, one lap down, 25 laps led
11. Harrison Burton, one lap down
12. Justin Haley, one lap down
13. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down
14. Ryan Sieg, one lap down
15. Tommy Joe Martins, two laps down
16. Brandon Brown, two laps down
17. Alex Labbe, two laps down
18. Myatt Snider, three laps down
19. Jeremy Clements, three laps down
20. David Starr, three laps down
21. Joe Graf Jr., three laps down
22. Josh Williams, three laps down
23. Jesse Little, three laps down
24. Chad Finchum, four laps down
25. B.J. McLeod, four laps down
26. Colby Howard, four laps down
27. Kody Vanderwal, four laps down
28. Stefan Parsons, four laps down
29. Jeffrey Earnhardt, five laps down
30. Matt Mills, six laps down
31. Stephen Leicht, eight laps down
32. Korbin Forrister – OUT, Brakes
33. Bayley Currey – OUT, Engine
34. Timmy Hill – OUT, Overheating
35. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Suspension
36. Vinner Miller – OUT, Accident
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will run its next scheduled race at Daytona International Speedway on August 28, which will air at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
In an overtime shootout, Austin Cindric scored his first elusive NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season in the Shady Rays 200 at Kentucky Speedway, the first of a series doubleheader at the Bluegrass State, after powering away from Chase Briscoe and stabilizing a half-second lead over rookie Riley Herbst at the moment of caution due to a last-lap multi-car wreck. The victory was Cindric’s third of his Xfinity Series career and his first on an oval-shaped track after collecting his first two series victories in back-to-back races in August 2019 at Watkins Glen International and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Noah Gragson drew the pole position and was joined on the front row with Ross Chastain. The No. 90 DGM Racing Chevrolet team driven by Ronnie Bassett Jr. failed pre-race inspection twice, which cost the team the pit selection for next weekend’s race, but the driver and the team retained their 22nd-starting spot for the first Kentucky race. Mason Massey and Bayley Currey, however, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.
While the field rolled off of pit road for the pace laps, rookie Anthony Alfredo remained on pit road as his crew addressed a steering issue to the No. 21 Alsco/Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro. Because it was a safety issue being addressed, Alfredo was allowed to retain his 11th-starting spot.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Gragson shot to an early lead on the bottom lane. In Turn 1, however, Jeb Burton slipped on the bottom, spun and was T-boned by Brandon Jones as the rear tires of Burton’s No. 8 Rocky Boots/JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro briefly came off the ground following the contact. The first caution of the race was immediately displayed. Burton was able to continue the race following repairs to the rear end, but multiple laps behind, while Jones retired. This marked the second time in the last three Xfinity Series races where Jones was eliminated prior to the first lap due to an accident.
When the race restarted on the eighth lap, Chastain made a brief challenge for the lead on the outside lane through Turns 1 and 2, but Gragson was able to retain it on the bottom in Turn 3. While Gragson was leading, Austin Cindric, who was in pursuit of his first win of 2020, moved into second after passing Chastain. Michael Annett, rookie Harrison Burton and Chase Briscoe would also overtake Chastain for positions in the top five. Gragson was able to retain the lead when the competition caution flew on the 15th lap.
Under the competition caution, some like Briscoe, Brandon Brown, rookie Joe Graf Jr., rookie Kody Vanderwal, Tommy Joe Martins and Matt Mills pitted for early adjustments while the rest remained on track.
The race restarted on Lap 20 and Gragson retained the lead, though he was being pressured by Cindric. Both competitors drove away with a one-second advantage over third-place Burton, who was followed by Chastain and Alfredo, who rallied from his early steering issues. While the racing progressed, Allgaier, who was running in sixth, slipped underneath Alfredo, but he was able to prevent his car from spinning, though Annett and Justin Haley each gained a position.
In the closing laps of the stage, Burton gained ground and moved into second while Cindric was left in a tight battle with Chastain and Alfredo for position. They did not have anything for Gragson as the driver of the No. 9 Switch/JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro was able to win the first stage on Lap 30, thus collecting his sixth stage win of the season. Burton settled in second followed by Cindric, Chastain and Alfredo. Annett, Haley, Allgaier, Ryan Sieg and Brett Moffitt rounded out the top 10 in the first stage.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Gragson exited first followed by Burton, Cindric, Chastain and Alfredo. Briscoe remained on track and took over the lead. Following the pit stops, however, Burton was sent to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation.
The second stage commenced on Lap 38 and Gragson was able to clear Briscoe for the lead on the bottom lane in Turn 1. By Lap 40, the top-three competitors of Gragson, Briscoe and Cindric were ahead by more than a second over Chastain while rookie Riley Herbst, who started 23rd, was in fifth after overtaking Brown. Behind, Allgaier and Haley were back in 10th and 11th while Alfredo had fallen back to 12th.
Ten laps later, the trio of Gragson, Briscoe and Cindric were still ahead by four seconds over Chastain, nearly five over Herbst and more than eight over Annett. At the front, Gragson was leading by half a second over Briscoe, who had Cindric running near his rear bumper and was reporting a vibration to his No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang. With the leaders starting to approach lapped traffic, Allgaier was in seventh while Alfredo was in 10th ahead of Haley.
On Lap 54, Cindric threaded his way between the lapped car of Kyle Weatherman and Briscoe to move into the runner-up spot. Though Cindric was starting to narrow his deficit to Gragson, he ran out of time to challenge for the lead as Gragson was able to win the second stage on Lap 60 and claim his seventh stage victory of 2020. Cindric settled in second, more than a second behind, followed by Briscoe, who was more than five seconds behind. Chastain and Herbst settled in the top five while Allgaier, Annett, Sieg, Brown and Alfredo were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Gragson retained the lead after exiting pit road first. Briscoe moved up to second followed by Herbst, Cindric, Chastain and Allgaier.
The final stage started at the halfway mark of the 134-lap race, and Gragson retained the lead following a strong start on the outside lane in Turn 1. Cindric moved his way back to second followed by Briscoe, Herbst and Allgaier while Chastain fell to sixth and in the clutches of Annett and Burton for position.
With 60 laps remaining, Gragson was ahead by a tenth of a second over Cindric and both were ahead of Briscoe, Herbst and Allgaier by more than a second. Behind, Chastain trailed by four seconds while battling a number of cars, including Burton. Ten laps later, Gragson was still ahead by around a tenth of a second over Cindric. Briscoe was in third while Allgaier was in fourth. Herbst was back in fifth and ahead of teammate Burton while Chastain, Annett, Alfredo and Sieg were in the top 10.
Four laps later, the caution returned when Brown, who came into the first Kentucky race clinging on to the 12th and final spot in the standings to the Playoffs, spun through Turns 3 and 4 and made contact with the outside wall following contact from Haley, thus sustaining heavy damage to the rear end. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Haley exited first after having two tires changed on his car. Clements exited second after also changing two tires while Gragson, the first on four fresh tires, was in third. Following the stops, Chastain was sent to the rear of the field due to speeding on pit road.
With less than 40 laps remaining, the race restarted and Haley maintained the lead on the outside lane followed by Cindric. The following lap, Cindric moved into the lead, Haley was pressured by Briscoe for second and Gragson had fallen back to eighth. Burton moved up into fourth followed by teammates Annett and Allgaier with Herbst also behind. Six laps later, Cindric was ahead by nearly two seconds over Haley, who was still pressured by Briscoe for the runner-up spot. Burton, Annett, Allgaier and Herbst followed suit while Gragson was stuck in eighth.
Under 30 laps remaining, the caution returned following a late incident involving Moffitt and Chastain. Four laps later, the race restarted and Haley, who spun his tires but received a push from Briscoe, cleared Cindric for the lead on the inside lane. In Turn 2, Cindric gained a huge run to reassume the lead and Briscoe and Burton moved up while Haley was left in fourth ahead of Allgaier.
Ten laps later, with 20 to go, Cindric was ahead by a second over Briscoe while Burton was trailing by two seconds. Behind, Allgaier moved into fourth after prevailing over a battle with Haley while Gragson was stuck in sixth. With the race dwindling to its final laps, Cindric stretched his lead by more than two seconds over Briscoe, who was struggling for grip. Burton was still in third followed by Allgaier while teammate Gragson was able to race his way back into the top five after passing Haley. Shortly after, the caution returned for a wreck involving Colby Howard in Turn 1.
When the race restarted with nine laps remaining, Cindric and Briscoe battled against one another for the lead as Gragson went three wide to move into third ahead of Burton and Allgaier. A lap later, Cindric cleared Briscoe for the lead and was slowly starting to stabilize his lead by half a second over a steaming pack of cars. With four laps remaining, however, the caution returned when Burton, who had fallen back into the top 10, slid sideways following contact with Annett in a cloud of smoke across the Turn 3 outside wall before he spun his car below the apron. He was able to continue without sustaining any damage.
Following Burton’s late spin, the race was sent into overtime. When the green flag waved, Cindric and Briscoe, again, battled dead even for the lead through Turn 1 when Briscoe got loose underneath Cindric’s No. 22 Team Penske/Snap-On Ford Mustang. Briscoe’s slip allowed Cindric to clear and set sail with the lead in Turn 2 while Herbst and Chastain moved into second and third. Behind, Gragson made contact with teammate Allgaier, which sent Allgaier’s No. 7 BRANDT/JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro slipping sideways across Turns 1 and 2 as he lost a multitude of positions.
On the final lap, with the field behind continuing to scramble for late positions, Cindric was ahead by half a second over Herbst and Chastain while Briscoe fell back to fourth and was locked in a battle with Annett, Alfredo and Haley. As Cindric entered Turn 3, the caution flew following a multi-car wreck that started when Allgaier got loose in Turn 2 and slipped into Bassett Jr., who spun and made hard contact against the inside wall as all four wheels of Bassett’s No. 90 Chevrolet came off the ground. Timmy Hill and Vanderwal were also involved in the wreck. With the race concluding under caution, Cindric was able to cruise across the finish line to win the race.
With the victory, Cindric became the sixth full-time Xfinity competitor to be guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs by virtue of a regular-season win and he became the 17th competitor to win an Xfinity race at Kentucky. He also recorded the first Xfinity victory of the season for Team Penske and the sixth for the Ford nameplate.
“I don’t care what shape the track is, if it’s dirt, oval! I don’t care!” Cindric exclaimed. “I’m just happy that this Snap-On Ford Mustang’s in Victory Lane. We’ve come so close all year. These guys have given me so many awesome race-winning cars with Snap-On celebrating their 100th anniversary with their Makers and Fixers program. It’s awesome to have them on the car. I’m pumped. This is awesome. I’d love to be able to come back and do another performance like that tomorrow night, but all the credit to my guys for getting me here. I love [Briscoe], but he’s won enough! Those restarts were a lot tougher than I was thinking they would be. Obviously, you never got out of the gas till he got loose like he should’ve, but I’m just so happy. Thank you to Roger [Penske], thank you to everyone on the team for believing in me. I believe this is a championship team and this is the start of many wins for this season. I’m so happy that it came here.”
Behind Cindric, Herbst tied his career-best finish of the series with a runner-up result while Chastain rebounded from his late incident with Moffitt to finish third. Briscoe settled in fourth while Annett settled in fifth for his second top-five result of the season. Alfredo finished sixth while Haley, Kyle Weatherman, Sieg and Moffitt concluded the race in the top 10.
Gragson, who led a race-high 87 laps, fell all the way back to 11th, Burton settled in 17th and Allgaier ended his night in 20th and on a wrecker after failing to complete the final lap. Myatt Snider finished 15th and based on the top-15 finishers from Thursday’s race being inverted for the start of Friday’s Xfinity race, second of the week, he will start on the pole and will be joined on the front row with rookie Jesse Little, who finished 14th on Thursday.
Following his last-lap accident, Allgaier was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.
There were six lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 40 laps.
With his fourth-place result, Briscoe maintained the lead in the Xfinity Series regular-season standings by 16 points over Gragson, 45 over Cindric and 48 over Chastain.
Results:
1. Austin Cindric, 41 laps led
2. Riley Herbst
3. Ross Chastain
4. Chase Briscoe, five laps led
5. Michael Annett
6. Anthony Alfredo
7. Justin Haley, three laps led
8. Kyle Weatherman
9. Ryan Sieg
10. Brett Moffitt
11. Noah Gragson, 87 laps led, Stage 1 and 2 winner
12. Jeremy Clements
13. Joe Graf Jr.
14. Jesse Little
15. Myatt Snider
16. Chad Finchum
17. Harrison Burton
18. B.J. McLeod
19. Ronnie Bassett Jr. – OUT, Accident
20. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident
21. Timmy Hill – OUT, Accident
22. Bayley Currey, one lap down
23. Vinnie Miller, two laps down
24. Alex Labbe, two laps down
25. Kody Vanderwal, two laps down
26. Josh Williams, three laps down
27. Brandon Brown, four laps down
28. Mason Massey, six laps down
29. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Suspension
30. Matt Mills, 14 laps down
31. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Brakes
32. Colby Howard – OUT, Accident
33. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Rear gear
34. Jeb Burton – OUT, Accident
35. Stephen Leicht – OUT, Electrical
36. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will return for its second race of the week at Kentucky Speedway on July 10, which will air at 8 p.m. on FS1.
In a thrilling two-lap shootout, Harrison Burton overtook Noah Gragson and Austin Cindric with a three-wide pass to win the Hooters 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It was his second NASCAR Xfinity Series win of his career and the second this season. With his second win coming in his 18th series start, Burton became the third Xfinity competitor to notch multiple victories this season as Joe Gibbs Racing claimed its fourth series win of the 2020 season. In addition, Burton became the 20th different driver to win an Xfinity event at Homestead in Miami, a list that includes his father, Jeff.
The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Burton drew the pole position for the second time in the last three Xfinity races and was joined on the front row by Gragson.
During the pace laps, a piece of ballast fell off of Chase Briscoe’s No. 98 Ford Mustang and NASCAR called Briscoe to pit road, where his crew went to work to complete the repairs needed for the fallen part along with changing a right-rear tire. Briscoe was unable to return to the track in time to take the green flag with the field. By the time he returned to the track, he was in 36th, six laps behind the leaders. To make matters worse, he was also assessed a pass-through penalty for having too many crew members over the pit wall.
When the green flag dropped, Gragson, who started on the inside lane, jumped to the lead followed by Ross Chastain as Burton was shuffled back to third. For the opening 10 laps, Gragson maintained a half-second advantage over Chastain, but on Lap 14, Chastain was able to cut the deficit to nearly a tenth of a second. Though he was able to draw himself to the rear bumper of Gragson through the corners, he was unable to navigate his way around for the lead entering the straightaways.
The competition caution flew on Lap 20 as Gragson maintained the lead by nearly two seconds over Chastain. At the time of caution, Austin Cindric and Justin Haley, who started ninth and 10th, were in third and fourth while Burton was back to fifth. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in seventh after starting 12th, Jeremy Clements was in 10th after starting 23rd and Anthony Alfredo was in 13th after starting 21st. Under caution, the majority of the front runners remained on track while Ryan Sieg led a bevy of competitors to pit road for early adjustments. Following the pit stops, Timmy Hill was assessed a pit road penalty for an uncontrolled tire violation.
When the race returned to green on Lap 25, Chastain received a bump from Cindric on the bottom lane to take the lead past the start/finish line while Cindric and Gragson battled for the runner-up position. Four laps later, Sieg, who restarted 20th on fresh tires, rocketed his way to the lead and was able to cruise away from Chastain, Cindric and Gragson. Two laps after taking the lead, Sieg was ahead by more than two seconds over Chastain. During this time, Quebec’s Alex Labbe, who pitted with Sieg under the competition caution, worked his way up to fifth and was battling Cindric for more spots while Earnhardt Jr. was in sixth. As the run to the first stage’s conclusion progressed, Kyle Weatherman and Colin Garrett, both of whom also pitted with Sieg under the competition caution, were in eighth and 10th.
The second caution of the race flew on Lap 38 when smoke billowed out of the No. 52 Chevrolet of Kody Vanderwal entering Turn 1. The caution led to the conclusion of the first stage on Lap 40, where Sieg won the stage. Chastain, Gragson, Cindric and Labbe finished in the top five followed by Weatherman, Earnhardt Jr., Haley, Jones and Joe Graf Jr.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire field pitted and Gragson exited pit road first followed by Chastain, Cindric, Earnhardt Jr. and Haley while Sieg dropped to sixth. Following the stops, Hill was penalized for another uncontrolled tire violation. During the caution, Briscoe took the wave around and gained some of his fallen laps back, leaving him three laps behind the leaders.
At the start of the second stage on Lap 45, Gragson and Chastain battled against one another through Turn 2 before Chastain slid in front of Gragson to take the lead in Turn 3. A lap later, Cindric took the lead entering Turn 1 while Chastain was locked in a heated battle with Gragson for the runner-up spot. Behind the top three, Earnhardt Jr. and Sieg battled for fourth.
The third caution flew on Lap 57 when Vinnie Miller turned right across the front nose of Brett Moffitt, sending both cars to slap the outside wall in Turn 3. At the time of caution, Cindric was ahead by less than two seconds over Earnhardt Jr., who had passed teammate Gragson and Chastain for position. Under caution, nearly the entire field remained on track, but Justin Allgaier, who was running 10th, was one of four competitors who elected to pit.
On a Lap 62 restart, Chastain muscled his way from the inside lane to reassume the lead, but Cindric pulled a crossover move to remain dead even with Chastain. Behind, Gragson battled Earnhardt Jr. for third. Three laps later, a three-car battle for the lead brewed as Chastain, Cindric and Earnhardt Jr. were separated by less than three-tenths of a second. Two laps later, the three-car battle for the lead became a four-car battle as Gragson caught the front runners and moved into second before settling behind Chastain. On Lap 72, Gragson returned to the lead as he was able to stabilize his advantage above half a second while Earnhardt Jr. was locked in a heated battled with Chastain and Cindric for second. Behind the top four, Jones and Haley started to close within the leaders.
For the final three laps of the second stage, Chastain, Earnhardt Jr. and Cindric used every lane and every groove of the track from the corners and the straightaways to battle one another for second. Their intense battle was all Gragson needed as the driver of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet drove away to win the second stage on Lap 80. Cindric held off Chastain and Earnhardt Jr. to finish second while Jones and Haley finished fifth and sixth. Burton, Alfredo, Sieg and Allgaier finished in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the field pitted and Earnhardt Jr. exited first followed by Chastain and Cindric while Gragson, who had issues exiting his pit stall, fell back to fourth. Following the stops, Riley Herbst was sent to the rear of the field due to his crew members jumping over the pit wall too early along with Sieg, who was speeding on pit road. During this time, Briscoe was able to gain another lap from the leaders, which left him one lap behind for the final stage.
When the final stage started with 80 laps remaining, Chastain jumped to the lead on the inside lane and Earnhardt Jr. was quickly overtaken by Jones and Cindric in Turn 1. By Turn 2, he settled in fourth while engaged in a battle with Burton for position. Gragson, who spun his tires at the restart and was nearly turned, was in sixth.
With 73 laps remaining, as the laps continued to dwindle, an intense battle for the lead started brewing once again between Chastain and Cindric. Cindric made a move to lead a lap, but was overtaken by Chastain. Four laps later, Earnhardt Jr. threw himself back into the picture and made it a three-car battle between the trio again.
With 67 to go, Cindric reassumed the lead and was followed by Earnhardt Jr. while Chastain fell to third. Six laps later, Gragson made his way back to second. With 59 to go, Gragson stormed back into the lead followed by Cindric and Earnhardt Jr. while Chastain slipped to fifth behind Burton and in front of Jones. Nine laps later, Gragson extended his advantage to above three seconds over Cindric and nearly six seconds over Earnhardt Jr.
While the battle for the lead settled into a stable lead for Gragson, his teammate, Allgaier, who pitted earlier after making contact with the wall, took his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet to the garage due to mechanical issues with 48 to go. Two laps later, green-flag pit stops commenced with the leaders making their final planned stop of the day. During the stops, teammates Chastain and Haley served pass-through penalties on pit road due to uncontrolled tire violations, which cost both Kaulig Racing teammates one lap. When the field cycled through the green-flag stops, Sieg was the leader. Because Sieg was initially a lap behind prior to the green-flag pit stops, he needed to pit soon, but he was wanting a caution to cycle back on the lead lap with the field. Gragson was in second followed by Briscoe, who was also on the same strategy play as Sieg. Cindric and Earnhardt Jr. followed in pursuit.
By the time the race was 31 laps away from the finish, Gragson made his way back to the lead after passing Sieg, who would surrender his track position to pit three laps later. Sieg’s moved allowed Earnhardt Jr. to move into second as he was behind Gragson by more than two seconds. Briscoe was still running in sixth.
With 20 to go, Gragson extended his advantage to five seconds over Earnhardt Jr, 10 seconds over Cindric and 11 seconds over Burton. Three laps later, Briscoe surrendered his track position to pit.
With 10 to go, Gragson, who was rim-riding toward the outside wall despite sustaining minimal damage to the right side of his car after making contact with the wall, was ahead by 11 seconds over Earnhardt Jr. Cindric has fallen to fifth and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Burton and Jones move into third and fourth. Three laps later, Gragson’s lead of nearly 13 seconds all but evaporated along with a 75-lap run under green when Sieg spun in Turn 1.
Under caution, the leaders pitted and Gragson retained the lead while Burton moved into second over Earnhardt Jr. Jones exited fourth, but was tabbed with a speeding penalty and sent to the rear of the field.
The green flag returned with two laps remaining and while Gragson received a decent restart to maintain the lead, Burton and Cindric went three-wide with Gragson for the lead in Turn 2. In Turn 3, Cindric slipped beneath Gragson while trying to clear him for the lead, which allowed Burton to race back to the bottom as he, Cindric and Gragson went three wide in Turn 4 for the start of the final lap. Burton then managed to clear Cindric for the lead on the bottom lane through Turns 1 and 2 and hold off Cindric through two final corners to win.
With the win, the 19-year-old rookie from Huntersville, North Carolina, remains the only Xfinity competitor to finish in the top 10 through the series’ first nine races of the 2020 season. He has also finished in the top 10 in his last 11 starts in the series.
“I’m so excited!” Burton exclaimed. “That’s so awesome! I gave away the lead on the first restart in the same position. I didn’t really want to do that again. I knew [Gragson] was gonna drive it real deep and slide up. [I] felt good about that. I’m proud of my guys. We worked on this thing so hard…every run and made it better and better. What a day to get this Dex Imaging Supra in victory lane. What a race. This track is so much fun. [It] Really puts it in the driver’s hands, especially in the end there. I’m just ready to go again tomorrow. I want to get two [wins].”
Cindric finished second for the second time this season followed by Gragson, who led a race-high 83 of the event’s 167-scheduled laps and fell short of another win this season.
“[Today] was tough,” Gragson said. “The PUBG Mobile Camaro was really, really good. Our No. 9 guys at JR Motorsports had really good pit stops all day. Restarts were just the biggest struggle. I was really proud of my restarts last year and just couldn’t get’em going. I thought we were be able to come home with the win today, running the top [lane]. That was so much fun. Just, overall, so thankful to be running here in the Xfinity Series.”
Alfredo notched a career-best finish in fourth and Earnhardt Jr. finished fifth in his lone Xfinity Series start of this season. Annett, Briscoe, Jones, Chastain and Herbst finished in the top 10 as 14 competitors finished on the lead lap.
There were 18 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 25 laps.
With his third-place result, Gragson leads the Xfinity Series regular-season standings by 18 points over Briscoe and 36 over Burton.
Results.
1. Harrison Burton, two laps led
2. Austin Cindric, 24 laps led
3. Noah Gragson, 83 laps led, Stage 2 winner
4. Anthony Alfredo
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr., four laps led
6. Michael Annett
7. Chase Briscoe
8. Brandon Jones, one lap led
9. Ross Chastain, 26 laps led
10. Riley Herbst
11. J.J. Yeley
12. Jeremy Clements
13. Justin Haley
14. Brandon Brown
15. Myatt Snider, one lap down
16. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down
17. Colby Howard, one lap down
18. Jesse Little, one lap down
19. Jeffrey Earnhardt, one lap down
20. Josh Williams, one lap down
21. Colin Garrett, one lap down
22. Stefan Parsons, two laps down
23. Timmy Hill, two laps down
24. Bayley Currey, two laps down
25. Alex Labbe, two laps down
26. B.J. McLeod, two laps down
27. Matt Mills, two laps down
28. Ryan Sieg, two laps down, 27 laps led, Stage 1 winner
29. Caesar Bacarella, four laps down
30. Chad Finchum – OUT, Power steering
31. Tommy Joe Martins, 19 laps down
32. Justin Allgaier, 21 laps down
33. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Transmission
34. Vinnie Miller – OUT, DVP
35. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Crash
36. Stephen Leicht – OUT, Handling
37. Kody Vanderwal – OUT, Engine
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will return for its second race of a doubleheader weekend at Homestead the following day, June 14. The race will air at noon ET on FS1.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series came to play at Phoenix International Raceway this past weekend for race No. 4 of the 2020 season. All-time win-list leader Kyle Busch was back in the field and while everyone expected him to run away and dominate the field, he didn’t as his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brandon Jones passed Busch for the lead with 20 laps to go. Jones built a sizable lead and played his cards right for the second Xfinity Series victory of his career. While Jones was the story of the day, there were some other drivers who had some great runs as well.
Here are this week’s Power Rankings following the LS Tractor 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Brandon Jones – Jones is making a leap from fifth to first this week in the rankings after scoring the victory. The Georgia native qualified eighth, finished 10th in Stage 1 and seventh in Stage 2. He didn’t lead a lot of laps but was up there at the end when it counted. By scoring the victory, Jones can now worry about focusing on the Playoffs and trying some different things as the season goes on. It won’t be surprising if the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is able to score more wins before the Playoffs begin.
Previous Week Ranking – Fifth
Harrison Burton – Burton continues his solid 2020 season by having another top-five finish. The North Carolina driver finished second to teammate Jones after passing Kyle Busch for the second position late in the going. Burton wasn’t much of a factor all day, but had a car capable of winning the race should a late-race caution had come out. He placed ninth in Stage 1 and eighth in Stage 2 before earning his fourth consecutive top-five finish. So far, Burton has not finished outside the top five throughout the first four races giving him an average finish of 2.5.
Previous Week Ranking – First
Chase Briscoe – Chase Briscoe and the No. 98 team of Stewart-Haas Racing team quietly earned a top-10 finish after a battle with Kyle Busch earlier in the day. In fact, Briscoe’s mid-race run was averaging a second-place position and he spent 92% of the day in the top-15. The Indiana native finished third in both stages, respectively, before ultimately finishing sixth. Despite the results not showing the good run, Phoenix was more than likely a disappointment for Briscoe and the No. 98 crew who ran in the top five for most of the day.
Previous Week Ranking – Third
Noah Gragson – Coming back into the Power Rankings this week is the No. 9 JR Motorsports driver of Noah Gragson. After being called into the NASCAR hauler for his recent incidents over the last couple of weeks (see Myatt Snider, Las Vegas), Gragson was able to put that behind him by earning a seventh-place finish after leading 27 laps and winning the second stage. Gragson started the day in the seventh position and consistently remained in the top-10, as he only ran as low as 11th. The JR Motorsports driver made some noise by leading laps 90-116. At the end of the day, however, it’s what could have been as Gragson earned his third top-10 finish of the 2020 season.
Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
Austin Cindric – A disappointing Phoenix outing for Austin Cindric and the No. 22 Team Penske crew, who finished eighth after qualifying second. Cindric led nine laps early on after a short-lived battle with Kyle Busch. Unfortunately, those laps would be the only laps that Cindric led of the day as he would wind up with an eighth-place finish with what could have been a race-winning car. Cindric placed fifth in Stage 1 and ninth in Stage 2.
Previous Week Ranking – Second
Fell Out
Ryan Sieg – Sieg, the Atlanta, Georgia native had somewhat a disappointing 11th place run this past weekend at Phoenix after having a string of top-five and top-10 finishes early this season. He was able to place sixth in the second stage, but that was about it. Sieg and the RSS Racing team will hope to turn it around next week at their hometown race track Atlanta Motor Speedway.
