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  • Ryan Truex muscles to second Xfinity victory of 2024 at Daytona

    Ryan Truex muscles to second Xfinity victory of 2024 at Daytona

    In his eighth NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the 2024 season, Ryan Truex struck gold for a second time by surviving an overtime attempt and fending off the competition amid the draft to win the Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, August 23.

    The 32-year-old Truex from Mayetta, New Jersey, led six times for 28 of 102 over-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified in sixth place and ran upfront from start to finish. Mingling within the field through the draft and close-quarters competition, Truex, who recorded a total of 13 stage points between the event’s first two stages, led for the first time on Lap 52 and he would spend the remainder of the event both working and fending off his fellow competitors and Toyota teammates amid the draft through every corner and straightaway.

    Then during the event’s lone overtime attempt, Truex, who received a shove from Riley Herbst on the inside lane to move ahead of the field, fended off a late attempt charge from AJ Allmendinger and Parker Kligerman before the latter sent the former for a spin on the final lap. With the event concluding under caution, Truex was able to retain the lead from teammate Chandler Smith and Kligerman, which resulted in the part-time Xfinity Series competitor racing for Joe Gibbs Racing to cautiously cruise to his second Xfinity victory of the 2024 season and first at Daytona.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Chandler Smith notched his first Xfinity pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 181.189 mph in 49.672 seconds. Smith was awarded the pole position following the first qualifying round after the second and final qualifying round was canceled due to lightning strikes within an eight-mile radius of the speedway. Qualifying in second place was Austin Hill, who posted his best qualifying lap at 181.123 mph in 49.690 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Sam Mayer dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change. Not long after, Hill was also sent to the rear of the field due to an unapproved adjustment. With Hill starting at the rear of the field, Joe Graf Jr. moved up and started alongside teammate/pole-sitter Chandler Smith on the front row.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Chandler Smith and Joe Graf Jr. led the field that was stacked amid two tight-packed lanes through the frontstretch, the first two turns and the backstretch. Then exiting the backstretch, the event’s first caution flew when Jeffrey Earnhardt bumped and got Jeremy Clements sideways as Clements spun his No. 51 One Stop/All South Electric Chevrolet Camaro below the apron before he almost made his way back across the track and slid across the apron again entering Turn 3. Clements’ spin ignited a chain reaction wreck as Austin Hill, Ryan Ellis Akinori Ogata and newcomer Gus Dean all damaged their respective entries. The incident spoiled Hill’s attempt to sweep both Xfinity Daytona events of the 2024 season as he lost multiple laps while his No. 21 pit crew proceeded to repair the car.

    During the event’s first caution period, some including Sammy Smith, Ryan Sieg, Brennan Poole and Tim Viens pitted their respective entries, with Sieg sliding through his pit stall, while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.

    Following an extensive caution period to clear the fluid on the track, the event restarted under green on the ninth lap. At the start, teammates Chandler Smith and Graf Jr. dueled for the lead entering the first two turns until Graf moved ahead from the outside lane as he had teammate Ryan Truex drafting him. With Graf then being disconnected from Truex exiting the backstretch, Chandler Smith gained the momentum from the inside lane entering Turns 3 and 4 and with drafting help from AJ Allmendinger powered ahead in his No. 81 QuickTie Toyota Supra and led the Lap 10 mark.

    On the following lap, the field fanned out to multiple lanes as Truex was getting shuffled out of the draft. With Truex slipping out of the top-10 mark, Allmendinger assumed the lead as Chandler Smith and Riley Herbst dueled for second place amid the draft. Herbst would then challenge Allmendinger for the lead, but the latter would retain the top spot as the field behind continued to fan out and jostle amid the draft for early spots. By Lap 15, however, Chandler Smith drafted his way back to the lead by a narrow margin over Graf with Allmendinger, Truex, Josh Williams and Parker Kligerman following suit in the top six.

    Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Allmendinger was leading ahead of Kligerman, Justin Allgaier, Chandler Smith and Ryan Sieg while Cole Custer, Graf, Jesse Love, Truex and Anthony Alfredo were scored in the top 10 ahead of Sheldon Creed, Jeb Burton, Sammy Smith, Jeremy Clements, Josh Williams, Brandon Jones, Kyle Weatherman, Sam Mayer, Jordan Anderson and Jeffrey Earnhardt, all of whom were separated within one second amid the draft. By then, 33 of 38 lead-lap competitors were separated by five seconds.

    Five laps later, Allgaier, who led for the first time two laps earlier, was still leading amid the draft by a narrow margin over Allmendinger as Ryan Sieg, Kligerman and Love were scored in the top five ahead of Alfredo, Chandler Smith, Custer, Sammy Smith and Jeb Burton. Another lap later, Love was pinned in the middle lane and shuffled out of the draft as he slipped out of the top-10 mark. By then, Allgaier remained in the lead as he had Allmendinger and a bevy of competitors drafting him on the outside lane while Ryan Sieg was trying to ignite a drafting charge from the inside lane.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Allgaier blocked and fended off both Chandler Smith and Allmendinger through two lanes from the backstretch to the frontstretch to claim his 12th Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Chandler Smith settled in second ahead of Allmendinger, Sheldon Creed and Kligerman while Truex, Alfredo, Graf, Sammy Smith and Clements were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Allgaier pitted while the rest including Leland Honeyman, Matt DiBenedetto, Joey Gase, Kyle Sieg, Caesar Bacarella and CJ McLaughlin remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Sam Mayer exited pit road first. Prior to the pit road’s entrance, where the field led by Allgaier had pitted, Jeb Burton pitted to address a cut tire along with rookie Shane van Gisbergen, who was dealing with an ill-handling car.

    During the pit stops, Sammy Smith came to a stop upon exiting pit road and reversed his No. 8 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet Camaro back into his pit stall to have his left front tire tightened. In addition, Jesse Love spun and pitted while facing the field backward, Graf overshot his pit box and Riley Herbst was penalized for not remaining in single file upon entering pit road. Soon after, Cole Custer made a second pit stop for repairs after he made contact with teammate Herbst while trying to exit his pit stall on pit road while Patrick Emerling was penalized for a safety violation.

    The second stage period started on Lap 36 as Mayer and Creed occupied the front row. At the start, Mayer and Creed dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch until Creed moved ahead from the outside lane entering Turns 3 and 4. Mayer, however, would fight back on the inside lane and lead the following lap before he drove ahead of Creed through the first two turns. He then went on defense in blocking Creed on the outside lane and teammate Allgaier on the inside through the backstretch as he led the next lap period. Kligerman and Allmendinger would then come to assist Mayer and Allgaier amid the draft from the inside lane as the field behind fanned out to as wide as three lanes.

    Just past the Lap 40 mark, Allmendinger, who made a bold three-wide move to overtake both Allgaier and Kligerman for the runner-up spot exiting the backstretch, assumed the lead from Mayer as he had the momentum and the draft from the outside lane. Allmendinger would then receive drafting help from Kligerman, Creed and Truex from the outside lane while Mayer was the lead competitor from the inside lane.

    Through the first 45 scheduled laps and with a majority of the field running in a long single-file lane towards the outside wall, Allmendinger was leading ahead of Kligerman, Truex, Creed and Chandler Smith while Brandon Jones, Alfredo, Love, Mayer and Sammy Smith followed suit in the top 10. Behind, Jeb Burton occupied 11th place ahead of Blaine Perkins, Herbst, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Graf as Kyle Weatherman, Clements, Josh Williams, Allgaier and Anderson followed suit in the top 20 ahead of van Gisbergen, Parker Retzlaff, Josh Bilicki, Patrick Emerling and Brennan Poole. Meanwhile, Ryan Sieg was mired back in 28th place.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 50, Allmendinger continued to lead a long line of competitors opting to run in a long single-file line towards the outside wall, with Kligerman, Truex, Creed and Chandler Smith following suit in the top five. Behind, Jones, Alfredo, Love, Mayer and Sammy Smith also continued to run in the top 10.

    Five laps later and with the field beginning to fan out to two drafting lanes, Truex, who drafted his way into the lead three laps earlier, retained the lead ahead of a hard-charging Allgaier, who would then navigate his way back into the lead for the following lap. As Allgaier then moved up the track to block Truex through the first two turns, Allmendinger, Herbst, Jeb Burton and Kligerman followed suit amid the draft. As the front-runners continued to fan out and jostle for spots during the proceeding laps, Allgaier weaved his car back and forth amid the lanes to retain the lead.

    Then on the final lap of the second stage period, the caution flew when Alfredo smacked the outside wall after he received contact from Alfredo in Turn 4 while Mayer, who was running right behind both, reacted by spinning his No. 1 Carolina Carports Chevrolet Camaro on the apron and towards the pit road entrance. The incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 60 to officially conclude under caution as Allgaier claimed his second Xfinity stage victory of the event and the 13th of the 2024 season. Herbst settled in second ahead of Truex, Allmendinger and Jeb Burton while Kligerman, Creed, Chandler Smith, Brandon Jones and Josh Williams were scored in the top 10. Amid the incident, both Alfredo and Mayer managed to continue.

    During the stage break, select names including Poole, Matt DiBenedetto, CJ McLaughlin, Leland Honeyman and Caesar Bacarella remained on the track while the rest led by Allgaier pitted. With Truex being the first competitor to exit pit road, the remaining names who initially remained on the track eventually pitted.

    With 35 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Truex and Herbst occupied the front row. At the start, Truex and Herbst dueled for the lead entering the first two turns until Truex received a push from teammate Creed to boost ahead from the inside lane through the backstretch. Kligerman and Chandler Smith would follow suit and gain the draft with Truex and Herbst on the inside lane while Herbst was trying to maintain pace on the outside lane.

    Over the next three laps, Chandler Smith would weave his way into the lead, where he led a single lap, before Truex reassumed the top spot not long after. Then with 32 laps remaining, the caution returned when Brandon Jones was bumped by Love and sent for a long slide below the backstretch, though Jones was able to straighten his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro through the backstretch’s asphalt and continue.

    During the caution period, some including Custer, Creed, van Gisbergen, Clements, Caesar Bacarella, Retzlaff, Leland Honeyman, Poole, Patrick Emerling, Jordan Anderson and Jones pitted while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.

    The start of the next restart period with 27 laps remaining featured Truex and Allmendinger dueling for the lead until Truex nearly got loose off the front nose of teammate Chandler Smith entering Turn 1. This allowed Allmendinger to gain an advantage from the outside lane as he had drafting help from Kligerman. Allmendinger would then fend off Kligerman for the following lap as the field battled in close-quarters racing amid two drafting lanes.

    With 24 laps remaining and with Allmendinger leading by a hair over Truex, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck that erupted just past the frontstretch’s tri-oval and involving Love, Custer, Jeb Burton, Retzlaff, Sammy Smith, Jones, Matt DiBenedetto, Kyle Sieg and Bacarella. During the extensive caution period, some including van Gisbergen, Emerling, Jordan Anderson, Joey Gase and CJ McLaughlin pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.

    At the start of the next restart period with 18 laps remaining, Allmendinger had the advantage from the inside lane and he boosted into the lead with drafting help from Kligerman. Allmendinger would then transition from the top to the bottom of the track to keep Kligerman’s No. 48 Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet Camaro drafting him as he led the following lap. With Truex trying to fight back on the inside lane, he then dueled with Allmendinger through the backstretch before Allmendinger powered ahead with Kligerman and Herbst following suit. By then, Truex had Ryan Sieg drafting him with 16 laps remaining.

    With 15 laps remaining, the front-runners slowly began to fan out to three lanes as Alfredo carved his No. 5 Dude Wipes Cameo Chevrolet Camaro towards the top-three mark with drafting help from Allgaier’s No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro while Truex and Allmendinger dueled for the lead. With Kligerman continuing to draft Allmendinger’s No. 16 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet Camaro on the outside lane, Truex had Alfredo and Allgaier drafting his No. 20 Certified Collision Center Toyota Supra on the inside lane for the proceeding laps. Truex then received a strong push from Alfredo to boost ahead with 13 laps remaining, where he would remain ahead of Alfredo, Allmendinger, Kligerman and Allgaier. By then, the front-runners were racing in close-quarters competition in two tight-packed lanes and nearly getting sideways in the process.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Allmendinger and Kligerman drafted their way back into the top two spots, with Truex, Herbst and Allgaier following suit ahead of Chandler Smith, Alfredo, Creed, Kyle Weatherman and Blaine Perkins. By then, the top 22 competitors were separated by a second as Allmendinger maintained the top spot and the lead competitor on the outside lane while Truex led the charge from the inside lane.

    Then with six laps remaining and the intensity towards the front intensifying, the caution flew when the slightest contact between Bacarella and Kyle Sieg got Sieg loose and he then darted back up the track and clipped Alfredo, who was beginning to fall off the pace, as Alfredo spun backward into the outside wall into the path of Sieg, with Clements, Bacarella, Josh Bilicki, Jeffrey Earnhardt and van Gisbergen all wrecking in between Turns 3 and 4. The incident was enough to send the event into overtime as Truex emerged with the lead amid a late, frantic battle with Allmendinger as Herbst, Kligerman, Chandler Smith, Allgaier, Creed and Ryan Sieg suit. Not long after, the event was placed in a red flag period for more than 12 minutes to have the on-track carnage cleared.

    When the red flag lifted and the race resumed under a cautious pace, select names including Poole, Joey Gase, Jones, Jeb Burton and Sammy Smith pitted while the rest led by Truex and Allmendinger remained on the track.

    The start of the first overtime attempt featured Truex receiving a strong draft into the lead ahead of Herbst and Allgaier from the inside lane while Allmendinger tried to fight back on the outside lane as he remained in front of his drafting partner Kligerman. While Allmendinger and Kligerman emerged as the strong duo towards the front of the field, Truex, who moved up to the outside lane and in front of the former two, retained the top spot for a full lap.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Truex remained as the leader ahead of Allmendinger and Kligerman, both of whom were drafting together and starting to gain a run through the tri-oval. Then entering the first turn, the caution flew and the event was deemed official after contact from Kligerman sent Allmendinger spinning below the apron entering Turn 1, where he slid back up the track and hit the outside wall despite being dodged by oncoming traffic. With the event concluding under caution, Truex was ruled the leader at the moment of caution and was declared the winner.

    With the victory, Truex, who last won at Dover Motor Speedway in late April, recorded his third NASCAR Xfinity Series career win in his 98th series start and his first ever at Daytona International Speedway as he achieved his first multi-win season in the Xfinity circuit.

    Truex’s Daytona victory was the eighth for both Joe Gibbs Racing and the Toyota nameplate through 22 scheduled events of the 2024 season, with both the team and manufacturer winning at Daytona in the Xfinity Series for the first time since Matt Kenseth piloted a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota entry to Victory Lane in July 2013. The victory was also the sixth of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota team led by rookie crew chief Tyler Allen.

    “Oh my gosh, man,” Truex, who strongly credited the Joe Gibbs Racing simulator group as part of his weekly simulator training, said on the frontstretch on USA Network. “Thanks to these fans. It’s so amazing to race here. Just thanks to these [No. 20] guys, man. I don’t get to race that often. I don’t know what I’m going to do next year. It’s all working progress, but just a great car. We’ve worked hard on our superspeedway stuff. Daytona, Atlanta, I feel like we were behind the eight-ball and we came here, all qualified well, all raced well. Shoutout to [spotter] Tyler [Green] up on the roof. What an amazing spotter. He drove this car, I just turned the steering wheel. I can’t believe this. I felt good this week coming in and I knew we’d have a shot. I feel like every time I’m here, I just end up making the dumb mistake or getting caught up in a wreck. I’m just glad we finished one out.”

    Teammate Chandler Smith, who led 15 laps from pole position, charged his way to a second-place finish, thus recording a 1-2 finish for Joe Gibbs Racing, while Parker Kligerman settled in third place. While Chandler Smith was left pleased with his runner-up result, which marked his first top-two result coming off four consecutive finishes of 15th or worse, the third-place result did little to satisfy Kligerman’s strong race and result despite being scored 44 points above the top-12 cutline in his efforts to make the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs.

    “Just extremely, extremely happy for everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing,” Smith said. “I say this in a very nice way. We have not been good on superspeedways for a very, very, very long time on the Xfinity program. We came here today and sat on the pole. That’s huge for us. Just couldn’t time my run good enough and just wasn’t meant in the cards for today.”

    “I just feel like I’ve put myself in position time after time [to win] and this race team has helped me do that,” Kligerman said. “[Me and AJ Allmendinger] were awesome. We were the best two [competitors] that weren’t Toyotas all day. I just had a run and I had to go. I felt like it was a run I had to take to try and put myself on the bottom [lane] to win this race. I felt like the bottom was gonna win it in [Turn] 4. I hate it. I love [Allmendinger] like a brother. He and I have been in this for a long time together. I don’t want to turn someone like that, but I would’ve liked to been able to finish under green [flag conditions] as well. We did everything right. We never led a lap, but I got to think we were probably the most in the top three, so we had a really strong car, strong night and overall, but god, I just want to win one of these damn things so bad.”

    Riley Herbst came home in fourth place while Ryan Sieg battled his way to finish fifth, with the latter moving back into the top-12 cutline after notching his fifth top-10 result of the 2024 season.

    “We’ve just been chasing points,” Sieg said. “It’s been great. We’ve been doing what we need to do and then, come out of here with the top five, where we should be running, but finally, we got some momentum. Hopefully, we can continue it. We’ve been running really well. Just got to keep executing and keep it there at the stage three and try to, I guess, point our way in and all we can do and try to win one of these races out of here before we start the Playoffs.”

    Jordan Anderson, Justin Allgaier, Sheldon Creed, Leland Honeyman and Kyle Weatherman finished in the top 10.

    Meanwhile, AJ Allmendinger, who led a race-high 35 laps, ended up in 24th place, the final competitor scored on the lead lap.

    There were 19 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 34 laps. In addition, 24 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Following the 22nd event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Justin Allgaier leads the regular-season standings by 33 points over Cole Custer, 75 over Chandler Smith and 102 over Austin Hill.

    Results.

    1. Ryan Truex, 28 laps led

    2. Chandler Smith, 15 laps led

    3. Parker Kligerman

    4. Riley Herbst, one lap led

    5. Ryan Sieg

    6. Jordan Anderson

    7. Justin Allgaier, 16 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner

    8. Sheldon Creed

    9. Leland Honeyman

    10. Kyle Weatherman

    11. Josh Williams

    12. Joe Graf Jr.

    13. Sam Mayer, seven laps led

    14. Blaine Perkins

    15. Kyle Sieg

    16. Brennan Poole

    17. Jeb Burton

    18. Patrick Emerling

    19. CJ McLaughlin

    20. Joey Gase

    21. Jesse Love

    22. Brandon Jones

    23. Sammy Smith

    24. AJ Allmendinger, 35 laps led

    25. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down

    26. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down

    27. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

    28. Jeffrey Earnhardt, three laps down

    29. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident

    30. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

    31. Austin Hill, 23 laps down

    32. Cole Custer – OUT, DVP

    33. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, Accident

    34. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident

    35. Tim Viens – OUT, Engine

    36. Gus Dean – OUT, Accident

    37. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident

    38. Akinori Ogata – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200. The event is scheduled for next Saturday, August 31, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Joe Gibbs Racing reveals driver-crew chief lineup for 2024 Xfinity Series season

    Joe Gibbs Racing reveals driver-crew chief lineup for 2024 Xfinity Series season

    Joe Gibbs Racing revealed its highly anticipated driver lineup for the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season that will feature two new full-time additions, a notable veteran and a combination of new and familiar part-time faces that will result into a four-car expansion for the organization.

    The organization’s first new addition features Sheldon Creed, who will be piloting the No. 18 Toyota GR Supra on a full-time basis. The 26-year-old Creed from Alpine, California, joins JGR following a two-year campaign at Richard Childress Racing, where he recorded seven runner-up results, 11 top-five finishes and 28 top-10 results during the stint. He also made the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs before settling in a career-best seventh place in the final standings.

    The 2024 season is set to mark Creed’s first campaign driving a Toyota within NASCAR’s top three national touring series as he spent his entire career piloting a Chevrolet (2016-23). Having previously won the 2018 ARCA Menards Series and the 2020 Craftsman Truck Series championships, Creed approaches the 2024 season with aims of both achieving his first victory in the Xfinity circuit and returning to the Playoffs.

    Another new full-time addition to JGR’s lineup for next season is Chandler Smith, who will be assuming the reigns of the No. 81 GR Supra. Smith’s move to JGR comes as the 21-year-old native from Talking Rock, Georgia, is coming off his first full-time campaign in the Xfinity circuit with Kaulig Racing, where he notched his first career victory at Richmond Raceway in April. He also claimed three poles, eight top-five results, 13 top-10 results, an average-finishing result of 15.6 and a spot in the 2023 Xfinity Playoffs, where he ended up in ninth place in the final standings. Despite being initially locked into a three-year deal with Kaulig, Smith ended up paying a buyout of his contract to depart the organization early, with the official announcement of his departure from Kaulig being made last October.

    Smith’s move to Joe Gibbs Racing also marks his return to the Toyota Racing family following a one-year absence. He previously achieved 10 ARCA Menards Series victories with Venturini Motorsports (2018-20 & 2022) and five Craftsman Truck Series victories with Kyle Busch Motorsports (2021-22), all while piloting Toyota entries. With the 2024 season within the horizon, Smith, who ended up in the runner-up spot in the 2023 rookie standings, strives to return to the Playoffs and contend for both additional victories and the title in the Xfinity circuit.

    With Creed and Smith locked in as full-time competitors, Joe Gibbs Racing will also be fielding two additional entries that will each be piloted by multiple competitors throughout the 2024 season.

    The first All-Star entry features the No. 20 Toyota GR Supra that will be primarily split between Aric Almirola and John Hunter Nemechek.

    The 39-year-old Almirola from Tampa, Florida, is coming off his 12th full-time campaign in the NASCAR Cup Series and sixth driving for Stewart-Haas Racing, where he settled in 22nd place in the 2023 final driver’s standings on the strength of two poles, two top-five results and five top-10 results. Despite announcing his retirement from full-time NASCAR competition following the 2023 season in late October, Almirola remained interested in pursuing a part-time campaign within the Xfinity circuit for the 2024 season.

    Almirola’s upcoming part-time campaign with JGR reunites both parties as the Floridian commenced his NASCAR career with the organization between 2005 and 2007. Having achieved three victories in 460 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, Almirola has also made 104 career starts in the Xfinity circuit. During the span, he recorded a total of four victories, with his latest occurring at Sonoma Raceway in June as he delivered the first victory for RSS Racing. The move to JGR will mark his first campaign in a Toyota since the 2010-11 Truck Series seasons.

    Meanwhile, Nemechek returns for his third Xfinity campaign with at least one start in the series for JGR. He will commence the 2024 campaign by competing in the series’ first two-scheduled events at Daytona International Speedway and at Atlanta Motor Speedway, both in mid-February, before returning to compete at Nashville Superspeedway in late June, all while sponsored by Pye-Barker Fire & Safety. The events at Daytona, Atlanta and Nashville are just three of 10-scheduled starts planned for Nemechek, with the remaining seven venues yet to be revealed. The 26-year-old Nemechek from Mooresville, North Carolina, is coming off a full-time campaign with JGR in the Xfinity Series, where he drove the No. 20 entry to a season-high seven victories, two poles, 17 top-five results, 24 top-10 results, 1,083 laps led and an average-finishing result of 9.5. He would also make the Playoffs and claim a Championship 4 berth, where he would settle in fourth place in the final driver’s standings. In addition to his part-time Xfinity campaign, Nemechek is set to compete in the Cup Series on a full-time basis for Legacy Motor Club.

    For JGR’s second All-Star entry, the following names that include Joe Graf Jr., Taylor Gray, William Sawalich and Ryan Truex will be splitting driving responsibilities of the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra.

    For Truex, the 31-year-old native from Mayetta, New Jersey, is coming off his second consecutive part-time campaign with JGR, where he achieved his first career victory both in the Xfinity circuit and within NASCAR’s top three national touring series at Dover Motor Speedway in April. He also recorded two additional top-five results in six total starts, all occurring in JGR’s No. 19 entry.

    The 2024 season will mark Truex’s fifth part-time Xfinity campaign with JGR (2011-12, 2022-23). In 24 Xfinity starts with JGR, Truex has achieved one victory, six top-five results and 14 top-10 results. In total, he has made 90 career starts in the Xfinity Series, where he has accumulated eight top-five results and 30 top-10 results.

    For Graf, the 25-year-old native from Mahwah, New Jersey, returns for a second part-time campaign with JGR after making his first six starts with the organization this past season. During the stint, he recorded two top-10 results while making the rest of his 27 series starts at RSS Racing as he ended up in 23rd place in the final standings. Currently, he has made 126 career starts in the Xfinity Series and has accumulated a total of five top-10 results.

    For Gray, the 18-year-old native from Artesia, New Mexico, joins both JGR and the Xfinity Series as a newcomer, though his first part-time schedule with the organization has yet to be announced. In addition to the Xfinity Series, Gray is set to compete on a full-time basis in this year’s Craftsman Truck Series season with TRICON Garage after competing in nearly the entire schedule this past season, where he recorded six top-10 results and settled in 15th place in the final standings. He previously recorded nine victories across the ARCA Racing Series divisions, including three in the ARCA Menards Series.

    Lastly, Sawalich, another newcomer to the Xfinity Series, will compete in the closing stretches of the upcoming Xfinity schedule once he turns 18 years of age on October 3. His schedule will involve the final three events at Homestead-Miami Speedway in mid-October followed by Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix Raceway, respectively, in early November.

    The 17-year-old Sawalich from Eden Prairie, Minnestoa, is coming off a 25-race schedule across the ARCA Racing Series for JGR. Throughout his stint, Sawalich secured the 2023 ARCA Menards Series East championship on the strength of four victories and finishing no lower than fourth place throughout the eight-race schedule. He would also record four victories in the ARCA Menards Series and a single victory in the ARCA West finale at Phoenix Raceway in November.

    In addition to his part-time Xfinity schedule, Sawalich will pilot JGR’s No. 18 entry for a majority of the 2024 ARCA Menards Series schedule as he will share the ride with Tanner Gray, who competes in the Truck Series for TRICON Garage.

    The amount of races that will occur between Almirola, Graf, Gray, Nemechek and Truex between the Nos. 19 and 20 entries remain to be determined.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Over the last couple of months, we’ve been working diligently to put together our 2024 Xfinity program which will include the addition of a fourth team,” Steve DeSouza, EVP NASCAR Xfinity Series/Development at JGR, said. “Our 2024 roster has a great balance of experience, youth, wisdom, and talent. We believe the veteran drivers will continually benchmark our program, compliment, and challenge each other, as well as assist our younger drivers to further develop their skill set. We are also excited about our crew chiefs and the teams they have assembled. We take a lot of pride in not only our program’s on-track success, but also in the opportunity to develop and promote our team members.”

    The crew chief lineup for JGR’s four-car entry will feature a bevy of first-timers alongside a notable name. Veteran Jeff Meendering returns for his sixth season with JGR as he will be paired with Chandler Smith and the No. 81 entry. Meanwhile, Tyler Allen, a former Xfinity and Cup engineer for JGR, will graduate to the role of crew chief for the No. 20 entry that will be split between Almirola and Nemechek while Seth Chavka, a former lead race engineer for JGR, will campaign in his first full-time season as a crew chief for the No. 19 entry that will be split between Graf, Gray, Sawalich and Truex. Lastly, Sam McAulay, who previously served as a lead race engineer for veteran Denny Hamlin in the Cup Series, will assume the role as crew chief for JGR’s No. 18 entry that will be piloted by Creed.

    With the driver and crew chief lineup set, Joe Gibbs Racing’s campaign in the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is scheduled to commence at Daytona International Speedway for the United Rentals 300. The event’s broadcast time is scheduled to occur on February 17, 2024, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • John Hunter Nemechek caps off dominant run with overtime Xfinity victory at New Hampshire

    John Hunter Nemechek caps off dominant run with overtime Xfinity victory at New Hampshire

    A week after capturing a thrilling overtime victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway, John Hunter Nemechek doubled down with a second consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series win in overtime after marching away from the field and winning the Ambetter Health 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 15.

    Compared to a week ago where he led the final three laps en route to victory, the 26-year-old Nemechek from Mooresville, North Carolina, led four times for a race-high 137 of 206 over-scheduled laps at the Magic Mile. After assuming the lead for the first time on the ninth lap before spending the majority of the event as the leader, Nemechek assumed the lead for good with 36 laps remaining during a late caution period.

    Amid two late restarts and two caution periods due to on-track incidents, the latter of which sent the event into overtime, Nemechek capitalized in overtime by muscling away from rookie Chandler Smith and Cole Custer and started the final lap under green flag conditions just before a two-car wreck on the final lap involving Custer and Sheldon Creed concluded the event under caution and handed Nemechek his fourth Xfinity victory of the 2023 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, July 14, rookie Chandler Smith scored his second consecutive Xfinity pole and third of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 126.291 mph in 30.159 seconds. Joining him on the front row was John Hunter Nemechek, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 126.123 mph in 30.199 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included rookie Sammy Smith, Jeb Burton, Patrick Emerling, Ryan Sieg and Greg Val Alst dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Rajah Caruth also dropped to the rear of the field due to a tire change along with Kaz Grala, who started the event in a backup car after being involved in a two-car wreck with Ryan Sieg during Friday’s practice session.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Chandler Smith rocketed ahead with the lead on the outside lane while Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry attempted to go three wide on John Hunter Nemechek for the runner-up spot entering the first two turns. As the field fanned out and jostled early for positions through the backstretch and entering Turns 3 and 4, Smith fended off Allgaier to lead the first lap.

    During the second lap and amid a series of on-track battles, Allgaier made his move beneath Chandler Smith through the backstretch and claimed the lead entering Turn 3. Nemechek would then move into the runner-up spot two laps later while Berry and Cole Custer battled for fourth behind Chandler Smith. As Brandon Jones and Daniel Hemric tried to close in on the top-five runners, Allgaier was leading by two-tenths of a second over Nemechek during the fifth lap mark.

    A lap later, however, an early battle for the lead ignited between Allgaier and Nemechek as both dueled and rubbed for the top spot while the former fended off the latter for the top spot. Despite Allgaier’s efforts in retaining the lead while running the second lane and to Nemechek’s outside during the proceeding laps, Nemechek was able to assume the lead for himself by the ninth lap after Allgaier got loose in Turn 2. All in the process, Custer kept the two leaders in front of him followed by Chandler Smith and Berry while Jones and Hemric battled for sixth.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Nemechek was leading by half a second over Allgaier followed by Cole Custer, Chandler Smith and Berry while Jones, Hemric, Austin Hill, Austin Dillon and Sam Mayer were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Parker Kligerman was in 11th ahead of Sheldon Creed, rookie Parker Retzlaff, Riley Herbst and Brett Moffitt while Jeremy Clements, Anthony Alfredo, Josh Williams, Sammy Smith and Joe Graf Jr. were in the top 20.

    Ten laps later, Nemechek stabilized his advantage to four-tenths of a second over Allgaier, who started to regain ground on the former for the lead, while Custer, Chandler Smith and Berry remained in the top five. In addition, Jones, Hemric, Hill, Austin Dillon and Mayer continued to run sixth through 10th, respectively.

    Another 10 laps later, Allgaier, who reassumed the lead from Nemechek on Lap 27 amid another on-track battle and contact while navigating through lapped traffic, was leading by three-tenths of a second over Nemechek. Meanwhile, third-place Custer trailed by half a second as he tried to join the battle while Chandler Smith and Berry were in the top five. Allgaier would then slowly stretch his advantage to eight-tenths of a second by Lap 35 and to more than a second by Lap 40 while Nemechek retained second.

    On Lap 41, the first caution of the event flew when Chris Hacker spun on the backstretch. Not long after, Rajah Caruth ran into early issues after his car emerged with heavy smoke and was leaking fuel. Hacker’s incident was enough for the first stage period set to conclude on Lap 45 to conclude under caution as Allgaier claimed his fifth stage victory of the 2023 season. Nemechek ended up second while Custer, Chandler Smith, Berry, Brandon Jones, Austin Dillon, Mayer, Hemric and Hill were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Allgaier pitted. Following the pit stops, Chandler Smith exited first followed by Allgaier, Nemechek, Hill, Jones and Berry. Amid the pit stops, Sammy Smith and Joe Graf Jr. were penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Allgaier, who opted for two fresh tires after sliding through his pit box and reversing his car followed by the audible two-tire service, would then be penalized for pitting outside his pit box while having a right-rear lug nut removed when the car was over the pit line.

    The second stage started on Lap 54 as Chandler Smith and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Chandler Smith received a push from Hill from the outside lane to briefly retain the lead over Nemechek through the first two turns before Nemechek made his move beneath Smith and reassumed the lead through Turns 3 and 4. With Nemechek leading Chandler Smith, the following competitors that included Hill, Brandon Jones, Berry and Custer battled for top-six spots in front of Herbst while Hemric, Austin Dillon and Mayer started to fan out and battle for eighth.

    Just past the Lap 60 mark, Nemechek was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith while third-place Hill trailed by more than a second. Behind, Custer and Berry were running in the top five while Brandon Jones, Herbst, Mayer, Hemric and Dillon were in the top 10.

    Five laps later and as Nemechek continued to lead ahead over Chandler Smith, Custer, Berry, Hill and Herbst, the event’s second caution flew when Chad Finchum stalled in the middle of pit road.

    Then as the field attempted to restart under green on Lap 70, the caution quickly returned when the front-runners did not launch early and stacked the field behind as Parker Kligerman sustained heavy front nose damage after running into the rear of Hemric. A multi-car wreck would then ensue on the frontstretch amid the stack up and within the middle of the pack after Allgaier rear-ended Ryan Sieg and Jeremy Clements while Anthony Alfredo collided into Allgaier as more including Blaine Perkins, Mason Massey, Parker Retzlaff, Chris Hacker, Patrick Emerling, Ryan Ellis and Alex Labbe wrecked.

    During the caution period, some including Brandon Jones, Joe Graf Jr., Creed, Sammy Smith and Dillon pitted while the rest led by Nemechek remained on the track.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 81, Nemechek rocketed ahead with the lead from the outside lane as he retained the top spot through the first two turns while Berry battled and overtook Chandler Smith for second. In addition, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Custer and Herbst started to close in on Chandler Smith for third while Mayer and Hill battled for sixth in front of Jeb Burton and Hemric. In the process, Nemechek stretched his advantage to more than a second over Berry. The caution, however, would return on Lap 84 when Connor Mosack slipped sideways and slapped the outside wall between Turns 1 and 2.

    During the caution period, some led by Nemechek pitted while others led by Retzlaff remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Nemechek exited first followed by Berry, Chandler Smith, Herbst, Custer, Hemric and Hill.

    As the event restarted with two laps remaining in the second stage, Retzlaff and Sammy Smith dueled for the lead followed by Creed, Josh Williams and Brandon Jones while Allgaier and Joe Graf Jr. battled for sixth. Then prior to the final lap of the second stage, Sammy Smith muscled his No. 18 TMC Toyota Supra into the lead while Retzlaff battled Creed for second.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Sammy Smith claimed his first stage victory of the 2023 season. Retzlaff settled in second followed by Creed while Brandon Jones, Williams, Allgaier, Graf, Nemechek, Dillon and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10.

    During the stage break, some led by Retzlaff and including Josh Williams, Kyle Weatherman, Clements, Blaine Perkins and Ryan Ellis pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track.

    With 103 laps remaining, the final stage started as Sammy Smith and Creed occupied the front row. At the start, Smith and Creed briefly dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Smith gained the advantage from the outside lane and retained the lead. With Sammy Smith out in front, Nemechek battled Brandon Jones for third, and he succeeded in gaining the spot during the following lap as Nemechek battled Creed for second. Behind, Allgaier was in fifth ahead of a multi-car battle ensuing behind that involved Graf, Berry, Chandler Smith, Custer, Herbst and Dillon.

    Then with 99 laps remaining, the caution flew when Herbst, who was battling Dillon for a top-10 spot, drove across the front left-front fender of Dillon’s No. 10 LA Golf Chevrolet Camaro entering the frontstretch as Herbst squeezed and forced Dillon into the outside wall. Dillon then proceeded to turn and send Herbst spinning sideways and into the wall with Herbst sustaining damage to his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang.

    When the event restarted with 93 laps remaining, Nemechek fended off teammate Sammy Smith, who briefly got loose after receiving a push from Creed, to assume the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch. As Nemechek stabilized his advantage over teammate Sammy Smith, Creed was in third followed by a four-car battle that included Graf, Berry, Allgaier and Custer. Behind more battles ensued as Hemric was fighting to remain in 10th ahead of Mayer, Hill, Grala, Moffitt, Retzlaff, Williams and Jeb Burton.

    With 85 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Sammy Smith as Creed, Brandon Jones and Graf were in the top five. Nemechek would proceed to stretch his advantage to more than a second over Smith with 80 laps remaining and to nine-tenths of a second with 75 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 60 laps of the event, Nemechek extended his advantage to more than three seconds over teammate Sammy Smith while third-place Jones trailed by more than six seconds. By then, Creed also trailed by more than six seconds in fourth while Custer and Chandler Smith were in fifth and sixth.

    Six laps later, green flag pit stops started to ensue as Creed pitted along with Kyle Weatherman, Connor Mosack and Sammy Smith pitted. Berry would also pit not long after along with teammate Jones and Custer. Then with 50 laps remaining, the race leader Nemechek pitted along with Hill, Kaz Grala and Mayer. Following his pit stop, Nemechek managed to exit pit road and blend back on the track ahead of teammate Sammy Smith while the green flag pit stops ensued.

    Then with 41 laps remaining, the caution flew when Kyle Sieg spun in front of Berry through Turns 3 and 4. By then, Austin Dillon, who had yet to pit, was leading ahead of Graf, Allgaier and Josh Williams, all of whom had yet to pit, while Nemechek, the first competitor who pitted, was in fifth followed by teammate Sammy Smith. During the caution period, however, some including Graf and Dillon pitted while the rest led by Nemechek remained on the track as Nemechek cycled his way back to the lead.

    During the proceeding restart with 33 laps remaining, Nemechek rocketed ahead with the lead as the field fanned out entering the first two turns. Behind, smoke emerged out of the left-front fender of Berry’s No. 8 Jarrett Logistics Systems Chevrolet Camaro amid contact from Creed and Jones after Jones nearly got turned by Chandler Smith in Turn 1. With the race remaining under green flag conditions and the field fanning out while jostling for late positions, Nemechek retained the lead over Custer followed by Sammy Smith, Mayer and Chandler Smith.

    With 25 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by more than a second over Custer while Sammy Smith, Chandler Smith and Mayer continued to run in the top five. Nemechek would retain the lead by nearly a second and a half over Custer while third-place Sammy Smith trailed by more than two seconds with 20 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Nemechek continued to lead by a second and a half over Custer while Chandler Smith trailed in third by more than two seconds in his No. 16 Quick Tie Products Inc. Chevrolet Camaro. Behind, Sammy Smith trailed in fourth by more than seven seconds while fifth-place Mayer trailed by more than 10 seconds. A lap later, however, the caution flew when Retzlaff spun and smacked the outside wall in Turn 1 after losing a right-rear tire.

    As the event attempted to restart under green with four laps remaining, the caution quickly returned when Mayer was tapped in the rear end by Sammy Smith as he spun before getting hit by Dillon and Graf, whose car caught on fire amid heavy front nose damage to his No. 19 Rocky’s ACE Hardware Toyota Supra. The incident, which also collected Brandon Jones and Connor Mosack, was enough to send the event into overtime as Nemechek had retained the lead over Chandler Smith, Custer, Creed and Hill.

    At the start of the first overtime attempt, Nemechek received a huge push from Chandler Smith, who elected to restart on the outside lane behind Nemechek instead of next to Nemechek on the front row. Smith’s push enabled Nemechek to drive away in his No. 20 Persil Toyota Supra from the field while Chandler Smith was left to battle Creed, Custer and Hill for second as the field fanned out.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Nemechek remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith. Shortly after, Custer turned Creed across the frontstretch and into the outside wall as Custer was also sent spinning in the middle of the frontstretch, which caused the field to scatter to avoid both competitors. The incident was enough to conclude the event under caution as Nemechek cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed his fourth checkered flag of the 2023 season.

    With the victory, Nemechek became the first four-time winner of this year’s Xfinity season. He also recorded his sixth career victory in the Xfinity circuit, his first at New Hampshire, the sixth of the season for Toyota and the 199th Xfinity career win for Joe Gibbs Racing. This also marked the first time in his Xfinity career that he achieved back-to-back victories.

    “Man, I am so proud of this No. 20 team and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing,” Nemechek said on USA Network. “Man, [sponsor] Persil ProClean, this [car] looked clean on the racetrack today. [I] Had, I think, our first clean race all year. I was a little worried there on the last restarts. We kept getting really good launch and we were able to clear [the field], but I didn’t know who was saving what. I was trying to save in front of Cole [Custer] until he started pushing there. He definitely was gonna give us a run our the money, but hats off to all the men and women at Joe Gibbs Racing, everyone at Toyota, [Toyota Racing Development]. Just blessed to have this opportunity. I’m the lucky guy that gets to sit behind the wheel of this No. 20 car every weekend.”

    With Nemechek winning the event, Chandler Smith, who led 10 laps from pole position, ended up in the runner-up spot for the first time in his career while Austin Hill, Hemric and Sammy Smith finished in the top five.

    Allgaier, who rallied from his early pit road penalty and wreck, nursed his damaged No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro in sixth while Jeb Burton, Josh Williams, Moffitt and Mason Massey finished in the top 10. Notably, Austin Dillon ended up 16th in his second Xfinity start of the season while Creed and Custer ended up 21st and 22nd, respectively, following their last lap wreck.

    There were 13 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 60 laps. In addition, 20 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With eight Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, John Hunter Nemechek continues to lead the regular-season standings 33 points over Austin Hill, 60 over Justin Allgaier and 74 over Cole Custer.

    Results.

    1. John Hunter Nemechek, 137 laps led

    2. Chandler Smith, 10 laps led

    3. Austin Hill

    4. Daniel Hemric

    5. Sammy Smith, 18 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    6. Justin Allgaier, 27 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    7. Jeb Burton

    8. Josh Williams

    9. Brett Moffitt

    10. Mason Massey

    11. Brandon Jones

    12. Alex Labbe

    13. Kaz Grala

    14. Patrick Emerling

    15. Jeremy Clements

    16. Austin Dillon, four laps led

    17. Josh Berry

    18. Sam Mayer

    19. Ryan Ellis

    20. Riley Herbst

    21. Sheldon Creed

    22. Cole Custer

    23. Kyle Sieg, one lap down

    24. Brennan Poole, two laps down

    25. Blaine Perkins, three laps down

    26. Connor Mosack, three laps down

    27. Kyle Weatherman, four laps down

    28. CJ McLaughlin, five laps down

    29. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Accident, eight laps led

    30. Chris Hacker, 11 laps down

    31. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident, two laps led

    32. Parker Kligerman – OUT, Accident

    33. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Accident

    34. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

    35. Chad Finchum – OUT, Suspension

    36. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Suspension

    37. Rajah Caruth – OUT, Oil line

    38. Greg Van Alst – OUT, Brakes

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of the season to Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, July 22, at 5:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Chandler Smith notches first Xfinity Series career victory at Richmond

    Chandler Smith notches first Xfinity Series career victory at Richmond

    Nearly a month after having a victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway within his grasp slip out of reach in the final laps, rookie Chandler Smith redeemed himself through a late shootout to claim his first NASCAR Xfinity Series career win in the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, April 1.

    The 20-year-old Smith from Talking Rock, Georgia, led three times for a race-high 83 of 250-scheduled laps as he spent a majority of the event running towards the front. After claiming the lead from John Hunter Nemechek during a restart with 12 laps remaining prior to a late caution, Smith then used the outside lane during the final restart with six laps remaining to duel and fend off Nemechek before pulling away and retaining the top spot to claim his first checkered flag in the series.

    With on-track qualifying that was scheduled to occur on Saturday canceled due to inclement weather, the starting lineup for the main event was determined through a qualifying metric system from NASCAR’s rulebook qualifying procedure. Based on the metric system, Justin Allgaier was awarded the pole position and was joined on the front row by rookie Sammy Smith.

    Prior to the event, Parker Kligerman dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 48 Big Machine Racing entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a delay spanning more than half an hour due to inclement weather, Allgaier jumped ahead with the lead on the inside lane as he managed to clear Sammy Smith and proceed to lead the first lap. Behind, teammate Sam Mayer launched an early challenge on Smith for second ahead of Riley Herbst, Daniel Hemric and Sheldon Creed while the field behind jostled for positions.

    Two laps later, Sammy Smith overtook Allgaier with a strong launch entering Turn 3. A lap later, Mayer would overtake teammate Allgaier on the outside lane through the frontstretch to claim second place as Hemric and Herbst closed in on the battle.

    During the fifth lap, early troubles ignited for Joe Graf Jr., who went dead straight into the Turn 2 outside wall due to a left-front tire while running inside the top 20. He was, however, able to make a pit stop without drawing a caution.

    With the event surpassing the first 10-scheduled laps, Sammy Smith was leading by a second over Hemric followed by Mayer, John Hunter Nemechek, and Allgaier while rookie Chandler Smith, Herbst, Josh Berry, Sheldon Creed and newcomer Derek Kraus were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Anthony Alfredo was in 11th ahead of Brandon Jones, Cole Custer, Jeremy Clements and Ryan Sieg while Jeb Burton, Austin Hill, Kaz Grala, Josh Williams and Brett Moffitt were running in the top 20.

    Through the first 20 laps, Sammy Smith continued to lead by more than a second over Hemric while Chandler Smith moved up to third ahead of Nemechek as Mayer fell back to fifth. Behind, Allgaier was back in sixth ahead of Herbst and Berry while Creed and Kraus occupied the top 10.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 35, Sammy Smith retained the lead over Hemric, Chandler Smith and the rest of the field with 36 of 38 starters scored on the lead lap. During the competition caution, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Hemric pitted while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sammy Smith and John Hunter Nemechek remained on the track. During the pit stops, Hill was penalized for speeding on pit road. Brennan Poole was also penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation after a tire rolled out of his pit box during his pit stop.

    Once the event restarted under green on Lap 42, Sammy Smith jumped ahead with a brief advantage while Chandler Smith, Hemric and Herbst took Nemechek through a four-wide battle entering the first turn as Nemechek struggled to launch on old tires. With Nemechek getting swallowed up by the field and competitors running on fresher tires, Sammy Smith was then quickly challenged for the lead through the backstretch as Herbst muscled his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang to the lead on the outside lane. Kaulig Racing’s Hemric and Chandler Smith would quickly follow suit for podium spots against Sammy Smith, who was then overtaken by Brandon Jones, Creed and Custer as he returned to the frontstretch and continued to lose spots. As the field behind continued to scramble for positions during the following lap, Herbst was overtaken by Chandler Smith during the following lap with the latter clearing the field and slowly pulling away.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Chandler Smith was leading by six-tenths of a second over Herbst followed by Hemric, Brandon Jones and Creed while Berry and Cole Custer duked for sixth. Allgaier was in eighth ahead of teammate Mayer, Kaz Grala, Kligerman and Ryan Sieg while Sammy Smith and Nemechek plummeted all the way back to 30th and 32nd while running on older tires compared to the field.

    Fifteen laps later, Chandler Smith continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Herbst while Jones, Berry and Hemric occupied the top five. By then, teammates Nemechek and Sammy Smith were mired in 32nd and 34th, respectively, towards the rear end of the lead lap field as the leaders started to close in to lap them.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 75, Chandler Smith claimed his first stage victory of the 2023 Xfinity season. Herbst settled in a close second followed by Brandon Jones while Berry, Custer, Hemric, Allgaier, Creed, Ryan Sieg and Mayer were scored in the top 10. By then, Nemechek and Sammy Smith were lapped by the leaders. By being scored the first competitor a lap down, however, Nemechek was the recipient of the free pass while Smith remained pinned a lap down.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Chandler Smith returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Herbst exited first followed by Jones, Chandler Smith, Custer and Hemric. During the pit stops, Mayer endured a long pit stop and lost a lap after running in the top 10 while Ryan Sieg was penalized for having too many men over the pit wall.

    The second stage started on Lap 84 as Herbst and Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Herbst launched ahead to retain the lead while Chandler Smith battled Jones for second as the field behind jostled for positions. With Herbst keeping his No. 98 entry in front of a side-by-side battle between Chandler Smith’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing entry and Jones’ No. 9 JR Motorsports entry, Custer followed suit in fourth while Berry was up in fifth.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Herbst was leading by two-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith followed by Jones, Custer and Berry while Allgaier, Parker Kligerman, Creed, Kraus and Hemric were running in the top 10. Behind, Hill was in 11th ahead of Kaz Grala, Clements, Nemechek and Jeffrey Earnhardt while Ryan Ellis, Brett Moffitt, Alex Labe, Chris Hacker and Jeb Burton occupied the top 20.

    Five laps later, Chandler Smith reassumed the lead over Herbst, who had to check up as Joe Graf Jr. endured more on-track issues by slipping sideways on the backstretch. Jones would eventually make his way into second place over Herbst while Custer was locked in a battle with Berry for fourth.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 125, Chandler Smith was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Jones followed by Herbst, Berry and Custer while Kligerman, Allgaier, Kraus, Nemechek and Hill were in the top 10. By then, 27 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap, none of which included Sammy Smith and Mayer.

    Fifteen laps later, Chandler Smith continued to lead ahead of Berry as Jones and Herbst fell back to third and fourth. Custer occupied fifth while Allgaier was the highest-running Dash 4 Cash competitor in eighth. By then, Hemric was lapped by the field.

    Another lap later, Berry navigated his No. 8 Jarrett Companies Chevrolet Camaro into the lead with the leaders lapping the benchmarkers. Teammate Jones followed suit in second as Chandler Smith fell back to third. By then, Anthony Alfredo had scrubbed the Turn 2 outside wall with a flat right-front tire, but the event remained under green flag conditions.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 150, Berry claimed his first stage victory of the 2023 Xfinity season. Teammate Jones settled in second followed by Herbst, Chandler Smith and Custer while Grala, Nemechek, Kligerman, Allgaier and Creed were scored in the top 10. By then, 18 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Berry pitted and Berry retained the lead after exiting first followed by teammate Jones, Herbst, Chandler Smith, Custer and Nemechek.

    With 89 laps remaining, the final stage started as teammates Berry and Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Berry retained the lead in front of Jones and Herbst while Chandler Smith launched his bid for the lead while running in fourth. During the following lap, Jones muscled his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro into the lead while Chandler Smith battled Berry for second. Behind, Nemechek and Herbst battled for fourth in front of Custer and Allgaier as the field jostled for late positions.

    Fourteen laps later and with 75 laps remaining, Jones was leading by two-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith followed by Berry, Nemchek and Allgaier while Custer, Herbst, Grala, Creed and Hill battled within the top 10. By then, 19 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while names like Sammy Smith, Ryan Sieg, Moffitt, Hemric, Mayer and Connor Mosack were off the lead lap category.

    Another nine laps later, Berry battled and overtook teammate Jones to reassume the lead lap. With Berry slowly pulling away, Nemechek, who rallied from losing a lap during the first stage, started to challenge Jones for second while Chandler Smith fell back to fourth in front of Allgaier and Herbst.

    With 50 laps remaining, Berry was leading by six-tenths of a second over Nemechek while third-place Jones trailed by more than two seconds. Chandler Smith and Custer remained in the top five while Herbst, Allgaier, Hill, Grala and Creed were back in the top 10.

    Nearly 10 laps later, Allgaier, who was running inside the top 10, pitted under green for four fresh tires as Berry maintained his advantage over Nemechek. With 30 laps remaining, however, the caution flew due to Clements coming to a stop on pit road. By then, 13 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while a multitude of names, among which included all four Dash 4 Cash competitors Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Mayer and Hemric were pinned at least a lap behind. In addition, Berry retained the lead in front of Nemechek, Jones, Chandler Smith and Herbst.

    During the caution period, the field led by Berry pitted and Berry retained the lead after exiting with the lead followed by Nemechek, Jones, Chandler Smith and Herbst.

    Down to the final 22 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Berry and Nemechek battled for the lead as Nemechek managed to muscle ahead on the outside lane and retain the lead through the frontstretch. With 20 laps remaining, however, the caution returned when Jones made contact with Herbst as Herbst backed his car into the outside wall as Jones slipped sideways and spun backward while getting hit by Custer’s No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang and barely by Connor Mosack’s No. 24 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota Supra. At the moment of caution, Chandler Smith cycled into second over Berry while Mayer was the recipient of the free pass after being scored the first competitor a lap down in front of Hemric and Sammy Smith.

    During the following restart with 12 laps remaining, Nemechek retained the lead amid a side-by-side battle with Chandler Smith before the latter managed to move back into the lead. The caution returned shortly after, however, when Moffitt spun in Turn 3 as Leland Honeyman and Graf also spun to avoid hitting Moffitt. At the moment of caution, Sammy Smith received the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap.

    With six laps remaining, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Chandler Smith and Nemechek dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch until Smith managed to move into the lead through Turns 3 and 4. During the following lap, Nemechek drew himself back alongside Smith’s No. 16 entry for the lead as both continued to battle through two tight lanes. Smith, however, would pull away through Turns 3 and 4 while Nemechek settled in second in front of Berry. Then with four laps remaining, Nemechek launched a final bid beneath Chandler Smith, but the latter pulled away with a clear racetrack in front of him and behind him. As the laps continued to dwindle, Chandler Smith retained a narrow advantage ahead of Nemechek and Berry.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Chandler Smith remained as the leader ahead of Nemechek and Berry. With Nemechek unable to close the gap despite launching a final overtake bid on the outside lane entering Turn 3, Smith was able to navigate his way around the short track circuit for a final time and claim the checkered flag by more than two-tenths of a second for his first series career victory.

    With the victory, Chandler Smith became the 173rd different competitor to win in the Xfinity circuit and the fifth overall to win for Kaulig Racing. He also became the second first-time winner of the 2023 Xfinity circuit and the fifth different competitor to win through the first seven events on the 2023 Xfinity schedule.

    Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images.

    “[The win] Feels great,” Smith said on FS1. “This goes to testimony just to Vegas. Dominated that race, didn’t win. I said it was all in God’s timing. He’s in something creating way bigger better something than I know to do it. Here we are at Richmond, my favorite racetrack and we’re sitting in Victory Lane. All glory goes to God. Thank you, [owner] Chris Rice, [team president] Matt Kaulig, Quick Tie Products, everybody at Kaulig Racing, [crew chief] Bruce [Schlicker]. This is unbelievable.”

    Nemechek rallied from nearly losing a lap during the first stage to settle in second place for his third top-five result of the season and at Richmond for a second consecutive season while Berry ended up third after leading 63 laps.

    “We weren’t very good on the short run,” Nemechek said. “We had a long-run speed car. [I] Came from the back up there to battle for the win, put ourselves in position. Disappointed to run runner-up again. That’s the last three races here I’ve run second, so frustrating, but we’ll go back to work. We just got to figure out how to execute a little bit better. Just one of those days, but good run.”

    Grala and Custer claimed top-five finishes in fourth and fifth while Creed, Ryan Sieg, Kligerman, Hill and newcomer Derek Kraus finished in the top 10.

    Meanwhile, Allgaier was the winner of the first Dash 4 Cash initiative despite finishing in 13th place, which was enough for him to claim the bonus ahead of his opponents Mayer, Sammy Smith and Hemric, all of whom finished 17th, 19th and 24th, respectively. The accomplishment marked Allgaier’s first Dash 4 Cash bonus since 2018 and his fourth since 2016. Allgaier along with race winner Chandler Smith, runner-up John Hunter Nemechek and third-place finisher Josh Berry will contend for the second Dash 4 Cash bonus that will occur two weeks from now at Martinsville Speedway.

    “Weird day today,” Allgaier said. “We didn’t fire off quite as good as we’d hoped, but [the team] kept working. Great pit stops all day. We pitted under green there to go for the win and ultimately, it bit us. Then it was just hanging on. We weren’t really sure what was gonna happen, but luckily, we were able to hold everybody off. It’s weird finishing 13th and still be standing here holding this [Dash 4 Cash] check.”

    There were 10 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 43 laps.

    Following the seventh event of the 2023 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by 12 points over Riley Herbst, 18 over John Hunter Nemechek, 24 over Chandler Smith, 43 over Josh Berry and 46 over Justin Allgaier.

    Results.

    1. Chandler Smith, 83 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. John Hunter Nemechek, 11 laps led

    3. Josh Berry, 63 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    4. Kaz Grala

    5. Cole Custer

    6. Sheldon Creed

    7. Ryan Sieg

    8. Parker Kligerman

    9. Austin Hill

    10. Derek Kraus

    11. Alex Labbe

    12. Jeb Burton

    13. Justin Allgaier, two laps led

    14. Chris Hacker

    15. Ryan Ellis

    16. Parker Retzlaff

    17. Sam Mayer

    18. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    19. Sammy Smith, 40 laps led

    20. Kyle Sieg

    21. Brandon Jones, 24 laps led

    22. Brett Moffitt

    23. Riley Herbst, 27 laps led

    24. Daniel Hemric, one lap down

    25. Leland Honeyman, one lap down

    26. Blaine Perkins, two laps down

    27. Joey Gase, two laps down

    28. Connor Mosack, two laps down

    29. Patrick Emerling, two laps down

    30. Garrett Smithley, two laps down

    31. Mason Maggio, three laps down

    32. Stefan Parsons, three laps down

    33. Josh Williams, three laps down

    34. Brennan Poole, three laps down

    35. Gray Gaulding, five laps down

    36. Jeremy Clements, seven laps down

    37. Joe Graf Jr., 14 laps down

    38. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is another Virginia event as the series travels southwest from Richmond to Martinsville for its first of two visits to Martinsville Speedway, which will also serve as the site of the second Dash 4 Cash event. The event is scheduled to occur on April 15 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Joe Gibbs Racing adds Joe Graf Jr. to 2023 Xfinity Series schedule

    Joe Gibbs Racing adds Joe Graf Jr. to 2023 Xfinity Series schedule

    Joe Graf Jr. became the latest addition to Joe Gibbs Racing’s driver lineup for the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. 

    The 24-year-old Graf from Mahwah, New Jersey, will be piloting JGR’s No. 19 “all-star” Toyota Supra entry for five Xfinity events this upcoming season, beginning at Auto Club Speedway on February 25. He will then pilot the No. 19 entry at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 4, Richmond Raceway on April 1, New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 15 and at Kansas Speedway on September 9. CoverSeal® and G-Coin® will be supporting Graf’s efforts at JGR.

    The news comes after Graf Jr. will also be driving for RSS Racing for 28 Xfinity events this season, which will commence at Daytona International Speedway in February and make him a full-time competitor in the series. It also comes after the New Jersey native spent the previous season competing in all but five of 33-race Xfinity schedule between SS-Green Light Racing, RSS Racing and BJ McLeod Motorsports.

    “Running five races with JGR is a fantastic opportunity for myself and for my marketing partners,” Graf Jr. said. “I think I can learn a lot from JGR and showcase my skills I’ve been growing in the series in the past three years. 2023 is shaping up to be a great year and I’m pumped to get started with the No. 19 group.”

    Graf Jr. made his inaugural presence in the Xfinity Series at Richmond Raceway in June 2019, where he piloted the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing as a development driver and finished 19th after starting 21st. Since then, he has recorded a total of two top-10 results and 23 top-20 results in 93 career starts. His highest-finishing result to date is an eighth-place run at Talladega Superspeedway in April 2022.

    Prior to the Xfinity Series, Graf Jr. competed in two ARCA Menards Series season in 2018 and 2019. He claimed his first career victory at Berlin Raceway in August 2018.

    “Joe [Graf Jr.] is committed to success, which is something we are looking for in all of our drivers,” Steve DeSouza, Executive Vice President of NXS and Development, added. “We are anticipating a solid season from the No. 19 team and Joe’s addition to the driver lineup will help that team be competitive for the owner’s championship this season.”

    With Graf Jr.’s addition to JGR, he becomes the second competitor scheduled to pilot the No. 19 entry that will be led by veteran crew chief Jason Ratcliff. Ryan Truex is scheduled to pilot the car in a total of six events, though his schedule has not been determined. The remainder of the No. 19 team’s drivers and schedules have yet to be determined.

    With his schedule set, Graf Jr.’s 2023 Xfinity Series season will commence at Daytona International Speedway on February 18 at 5 p.m. ET on FS1. His part-time tenure at Joe Gibbs Racing will then begin at Auto Club Speedway on February 25 at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Ford Performance NASCAR: Three Ford’s Post Top 10 Xfinity Runs at Richmond 

    Ford Performance NASCAR: Three Ford’s Post Top 10 Xfinity Runs at Richmond 

    Ford Performance Notes and Quotes

    NASCAR Xfinity Series

    ToyotaCare 250

    Saturday, April 2, 2022

    Ford Finishing Results:

    5th – Riley Herbst

    9th – Ryan Sieg

    10th – Parker Retzlaff

    16th – Ryan Preece

    29th- Joe Graf Jr.

    32nd – JJ Yeley

    34th – Joey Gase

    37th – Kyle Sieg

    RILEY HERBST, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang — “That was good from qualifying dead last to finish fifth.  It’s just frustrating.  I feel like we need to fire off better on runs and then start up front and we can win races.  I feel like we’ve just been coming from behind the whole year.  It’s frustrating, but, all in all, fifth is better than a DNF.”

    DO YOU FEEL YOUR RACE STRATEGY IS GOOD, YOU JUST NEED TO FOCUS ON PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING?  “I think so.  It’s just a fight to get our balance and then once we do get our balance we’re fast.  I think qualifying if huge and we’ve got to get it.”

    WAS STAGE 3 THE BEST THE CAR HAD BEEN ALL DAY?  YOU RAN FROM 12TH TO 5TH IN THAT STAGE.  “We didn’t have any setup changes all day through the stages.  It’s just track position.  We saved a little bit better than other people, but it’s just frustrating.”

    RYAN SIEG, No. 39 A-Game Ford Mustang – “The right-front tire is corded.  We struggled all day with that with the 75-lap runs and then we had a 100-lap run, so it just fell apart at the end.  All in all, it was a good day.  We knew it was like that, but we tried to manage with air pressure.  We made it better in the middle run and then this last run we tried to adjust and we got it turning too good, but we knew that we had to get camber out of that right-front for the air-pressure, but, all in all, it was a good day for our A-Game Ford.  We were so good the first two stages that I wanted to finish it off, but that long run fell apart on us.”

    DO YOU FEEL THIS TEAM IS COMING TOGETHER?  “Yeah, definitely.  We’re getting better and better each week.  We’re gaining on it.  Each week we’re closer to the top five, which is a big gain for us.  We just have to keep at it and luckily we go to another short track, so hopefully, this will carry over and we’ll pick up where we left off at the beginning of this race.”

    PARKER RETZLAFF, No. 38 Ponsse Ford Mustang – HOW ARE YOU MAKING THIS LOOK SO EASY IN JUST YOUR SECOND START?  “I passed a lot of cars and then we got a penalty on pit road, so I had to go back to last.  I just followed Noah and Josh up through the field and it ended up just working out for me.  It was just such a good car from everyone at RSS.  I don’t know.  I’m speechless.”

    HOW DID REALITY COMPARE TO VIRTUAL AND THE IRACING WORLD?  “It’s really a lot cooler just being on TV and everything and me being able to compete this good.  Hopefully, we can take this momentum to next week.”

  • Haley notches a thrilling win at Daytona

    Haley notches a thrilling win at Daytona

    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.

    Results.

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

    2. Gray Gaulding, two laps led

    3. Chase Briscoe, 22 laps led

    4. Riley Herbst, four laps led

    5. Harrison Burton

    6. Ross Chastain, one lap led

    7. Michael Annett

    8. Austin Cindric

    9. Josh Williams

    10. Jesse Little

    11. Vinnie Miller

    12. Colby Howard

    13. Brandon Jones

    14. Tommy Joe Martins

    15. A.J. Allmendinger – OUT, Accident, 58 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    16. Matt Mills, one lap down

    17. Mike Harmon, one lap down

    18. Tim Viens, one lap down

    19. Myatt Snider, one lap down

    20. Jeremy Clements, two laps down

    21. Anthony Alfredo, two laps down

    22. Timmy Hill, three laps down, four laps led

    23. Ryan Sieg, four laps down

    24. Daniel Hemric, eight laps down

    25. Chad Finchum – OUT, Engine

    26. Brandon Brown – OUT, Dvp

    27. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Accident

    28. Joey Gase – OUT, Dvp

    29. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

    30. Alex Labbe – OUT, Accident

    31. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

    32. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Accident

    33. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

    34. Kody Vanderwal – OUT, Accident

    35. John Jackson – OUT, Handling

    36. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident

    37. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Accident.

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series will run its next scheduled race at Darlington Raceway on September 5 at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC. 

  • ARCA Menards Racing Series Preview- Michigan

    ARCA Menards Racing Series Preview- Michigan

    The 2019 ARCA Menards Series season heads to Michigan International Speedway this week for race number nine, almost reaching the halfway point of the season.

    And what a season we have seen so far in the ARCA Menards Series. When the season opened up at Daytona, we saw upcoming superstar Harrison Burton take the checkered flag with the powerhouse team of Venturini Motorsports. The Venturini’s continued their dominance by winning back-to-back with Michael Self at Five Flags in Pensacola and Salem.

    From there, it looked liked Self and the No. 25 Venturini team would run away with the championship. However, troubles were ahead after having early season success. They still had a decent run at Talladega finishing fifth, but frustrations started to grow at Nashville, Toledo and Charlotte.

    At Nashville, the No. 25 of Self was caught up in an accident which took him out of contention and he wound up 15th in that race. Toledo had a better showing for the team, as they finished fourth after starting on the pole and leading 12 laps. Although, Self and company still felt like it was a race they had given away. His teammate, Chandler Smith would go on to win the Toledo race. Then Charlotte came and it looked like the 25 team was back on track to dig themselves out of a hole.

    Self started on the pole once more and led a whopping 91 laps of the scheduled 100. But issues arose late in the going when oil and smoke came out of the back of the car. It would eventually go away on restarts, but then on lap 87 of 100, Self spun out when leading the race. The team never could rebound which led to a frustrating fifth place finish in a race they should have won.

    Last week at Pocono, Self finished 11th but is starting to grow tired of not winning, even though they feel like they have a car capable of winning every race.

    And now ARCA heads to Michigan International Speedway, not too far from the racing capital of the world. Manufacturers like Chevrolet and Ford, among others, are located there and it gives drivers like Self extra motivation to go out and win.

    For Self and the No. 25 Venturini team, they only have one start together which came in last year’s race. The Park City, Utah native has one top-five finish in his only outing finishing third after starting third and leading 23 laps. Despite finishing third there last year, Self and the No. 25 team are hoping to finish the race this weekend after having some frustrating finishes of as late.

    “After the last few weeks, I think I’m just really hoping for a completely smooth day at Michigan from the first lap of practice to the checkered flag at the end of the race.” Self said. “We’ve been off-kilter a bit, between mistakes by me and mechanical issues, I just want to focus on getting that cleared up. Once we do, we’ll be rock solid. The Venturini Motorsports guys bring the fastest cars to the racetrack every weekend, but we’ve beat ourselves the last two races on track where I feel like we should’ve excelled. I really like Michigan and think it’s a ton of fun to race there, and hope this is the place we can piece everything back together and have a shot at another win.”

    Despite Self’s issues, another driver is starting to heat up their on-track performance and that’s Chad Bryant Racing driver Ty Majeski. He won his second consecutive race last week at Pocono after a late race charge to the lead passing Riley Herbst for the win.

    At Michigan, Majeski has just one start that came two years ago finishing sixth. Majeski drove the Cunningham Motorsports car that is now owned by Chad Bryant.

    Even with only one start at the track, Majeski and the No. 22 team are looking to continue their winning ways this week at Michigan after having much success as of late in a part-time schedule.

    “It’s been a great few weeks,” said Majeski. “I can’t thank Chad (Bryant), Paul (Andrews) and the rest of the No. 22 Crestliner guys for their hard work and belief in me. We worked hard at Charlotte and Pocono to come away with the win and we’re going to take the same approach that we did the last two races and apply it to Michigan and hope for the same result.”  

    With only one ARCA start at Michigan, the No. 22 Chad Bryant Racing driver hopes to build upon that sixth place finish two years ago.

    “Michigan International Speedway is a beast, but it’s a blast of a place to race,” added Majeski. “It’s a very wide race track with a lot of room to race with incredibly fast speeds. I’m hoping I can apply some of what I learned a couple of years ago to our No. 22 Crestliner Ford Fusion during practice and qualifying on Friday.”

    While Majeski and Self both have one start to their track record, the No. 15 Venturini Motorsports driver Christian Eckes will be making his first ARCA start or stock car start of any kind this weekend at Michigan.

    With no experience, Eckes is excited to get to the 2-mile racetrack that is Michigan International Speedway.

    “I’ve done a lot to prepare for Michigan this week,” said Eckes. “I’m excited to make my first laps on track. I’ve spent time on the sim at TRD and just basic stuff like film and notes. I feel extremely prepared to go have another great run this weekend.”

    Another possible future superstar will have added track time experience this weekend. Joe Graf Jr. will be running the ARCA race and also making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut for Richard Childress Racing at Michigan.

    Graf Jr. has one start at Michigan that came last year, where he finished fifth after starting deep in the field. Even though he has only had one start at Michigan, he is ready for the additional track time and believes it will be his best finish yet.

    “I’m very excited about Michigan this weekend,” said Graf Jr. “It’s been an incredibly busy week with preparation, testing and then getting to Michigan. I’m incredibly focused and look forward to the chance to have my strongest results of the year.”

    Myatt Snider, a former NASCAR Truck Series regular and now a part-time driver for ThorSport Racing makes his return to the ARCA Menards Series this weekend. He had one win, three top fives and six top-10 finishes in just 10 races in his short ARCA career before making the move to trucks.

    After completing a limited schedule, Snider made the jump to the Truck Series to drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports in his rookie season and then to the dominant ThorSport Racing team in 2018. Snider’s best finish in the Truck Series was second at Talladega last fall.

    At Michigan, he has one start in the Truck Series finishing 18th after starting eighth. In the ARCA Series, Snider started on the pole in his only race three years ago but finished a disappointing 23rd after crashing on Lap 38.

    This time around, the 24-year old returns in a Venturini Motorsports No. 20 prepared Toyota.

    “Glad we could put this deal (together) late in the game so I could make a return to the 2-mile superspeedway,” said Snider. “Michigan is one of the toughest tracks on the ARCA circuit. But that’s what makes it so fun. Really excited for the weekend.”

    The ARCA Menards Series will see an 18 car field in Friday’s race at Michigan International Speedway. Other drivers include Dick Doheny, Morgen Baird, Tanner Gray, C.J. McLaughlin, Tommy Vigh Jr, Riley Herbst, Bret Holmes, Travis Braden, Brandon McReynolds, Thad Moffitt, Brad Smith, Scott Melton and Tim Richmond, who will all look to tame the 2-mile superspeedway located outside Brooklyn, Michigan.

    Since 1980, Michigan International Speedway has seen 38 ARCA races and the winners are a list of whos-who.

    The list of winners include Joe Rutmann, Tracy Leslie, Dave Mader III, Stanley Smith, Bob Keselowski, Jeff Purvis (who won three in a row), Ron Barfield Jr, Tim Steele, Mark Thompson, Frank Kimmel, David Keith, Kerry Earnhardt, Blaise Alexander, Chad Blount, Casey Mears, Reed Sorenson, Steve Wallace, David Stremme, Brent Sherman, Erik Darnell, Justin Lofton, Parker Kligerman, Mikey Kile, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher, Brennan Poole, Austin Theriault, Ross Kenseth, Brandon Jones and Sheldon Creed.

    The ARCA Menards Series will see another different winner this weekend.

    Qualifying is very important at Michigan where the winner has come from the pole position six times, occurring in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 and the last in 2017. The lowest a race winner has come from to win was 28th in 1997 set by Tim Steele. Since then, the lowest a driver has ever started to win was ninth (twice, which occurred in 2001 by Kerry Earnhardt and 2012 by now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series star Chris Buescher).

    The race winner has also come from the second starting spot, 10 times which occurred in 1994, 1996, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018.

    The ARCA Menards Series teams will get on track early Friday morning with the only practice session taking place at 8:30 a.m. ET lasting until 10 a.m. ET, live on ArcaRacing.com.

    Qualifying takes at noon ET and will also be live on Arcaracing.com.

    The VizCom 200 green flag is scheduled to fly at 6:15 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1. There will be 100 laps to make up the 200 miles.