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  • 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.

  • Allmendinger dominates for back-to-back Xfinity Series victories at COTA

    Allmendinger dominates for back-to-back Xfinity Series victories at COTA

    AJ Allmendinger was not to be denied in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season after he capped off a dominant run with a victory in the third annual running of the Pit Boss 250 at Circuit of The Americas on Saturday, March 25.

    The 41-year-old Allmendinger from Los Gatos, California, led two times for a race-high 28 of 46-scheduled laps, including the final 14, on a day where he commenced by dominating the event’s early stages. Despite falling back towards the midfield after pitting at the start of the second stage, the Californian managed to methodically navigate his way back to the front amid a series of late caution periods. Then under the final stage with 14 laps remaining, Allmendinger made contact with Sheldon Creed to reassume the lead. From there, he fended off a late attack from William Byron to defend his winning title in Austin.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, AJ Allmendinger, the reigning Xfinity winner at COTA of the Americas, secured the pole position for the main event after posting a pole-winning lap at 92.173 mph in 133.184 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Sammy Smith, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 91.827 mph in 133.686 seconds.

    Prior to the event, a host of names that included Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Sage Karam, Alex Labbe, rookie Chandler Smith, Kaz Grala, Bret Moffitt, Anthony Alfredo, Joe Graf Jr., Kyle Weatherman, Brennan Poole and Kyle Sieg dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, the field fanned out through the uphill climb to the first turn as Sammy Smith and Sheldon Creed launched ahead to Allmendinger’s outside with the lead while Ty Gibbs tried to sneak his way beneath Allmendinger’s No. 10 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro. Then entering the series of right and left turns from Turns 2 to 10, Creed cleared Sammy Smith and assumed the lead in his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro with Allmendinger and Gibbs moving back up to second and third.

    After tracking Creed for the following four turns, Allmendinger made his move beneath Creed entering Turn 15 and re-assumed the lead. From there, Allmendinger navigated his way through the final series of turns from Turns 15 to 20 as he returned to the frontstretch and led the first lap. Meanwhile, Aric Almirola plummeted in the leaderboard after spinning his No. 08 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang in Turn 12 while the field remained under green flag conditions.

    Through the second lap, Allmendinger was leading by more than two seconds over Creed followed by Gibbs, Sammy Smith and Austin Hill while John Hunter Nemechek, Parker Kligerman, William Byron, Daniel Hemric and Riley Herbst were running in the top 10. Behind, Jeb Burton was in 11th ahead of Miguel Paludo, Sam Mayer, Carson Hocevar and Connor Mosack while Jeremy Clements, Josh Bilicki, Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier and Alex Labbe occupied the top 20 in front of Josh Berry and Brandon Jones.

    By the fifth lap, Allmendinger extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Gibbs while Creed dropped back to third and trailed by more than five seconds. Sammy Smith and Hill were running in the top five in front of Kligerman and Byron while Nemechek fell back to eighth. By then, all 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. With Brad Perez spinning in Turn 8, the event remained under green flag conditions.

    Two laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Carson Hocevar, who was making his Xfinity Series debut for SS-Green Light Racing, came to a stop in Turn 1. By then, names like Ryan Sieg and Sage Karam were assessed pass-through penalties for cutting the esses. During the caution period, names like the leader Allmendinger, Kligerman, Herbst, Brandon Jones, Jeremy Clements, Chandler Smith and Kaz Grala remained on the track while the rest of the lead lap competitors pitted, with Berry pitting for repairs to the front nose after receiving damage from hitting Byron at the start of the event.

    When the event restarted under green on the ninth lap, Allmendinger jumped ahead with a strong start and pulled away from Kligerman while the field fanned out entering the first turn and the series of right and left turns. Through the series of turns, Allmendinger retained the lead in front of Kligerman as Riley Herbst maintained third in front of Jones with the field jostling for positions.

    At the Lap 10 mark and with a series of on-track battles ensuing, Allmendinger was leading by more than a second over Kligerman followed by Herbst, Creed and Jones while Chandler Smith, Clements, Gibbs, Grala and Allgaier were in the top 10, with 35 of 38 starters scored on the lead lap.

    At the conclusion of the first stage on Lap 14, Allmendinger captured the stage victory while Creed, Kligerman, Gibbs, Byron, Herbst, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Sammy Smith and Sam Mayer were scored in the top 10. Compared to the first five events on the schedule, the caution flag did not display and the competitors proceeded under green as part of NASCAR’s new rules for this season, which highlighted that no caution periods would be mandated at the conclusion of stage breaks on road course venues that hold Cup Series events.

    With the second stage proceeding, green flag pit stops ensued as Chandler Smith pitted followed by Hill. Allmendinger would then surrender the lead near the Lap 15 mark to pit as Creed cycled to the lead. By then, additional names like Herbst, Brandon Jones, Kaz Grala and Kyle Weatherman pitted along with the rest of the field.

    On Lap 16, the second caution of the event flew when Preston Pardus came to a stop in Turn 1. By then, Austin Hill, winner of three of the first five-scheduled events, took his car to the garage due to an apparent shifter issue while the front-runners remained on the track.

    During the following restart on Lap 19, Creed pulled ahead of Byron and the field to maintain the lead as the field tried to navigate through the first turn. Through Turn 1, carnage ensued as Almirola and Preston Pardus spun with Allmendinger also involved as he wedged Berry into Almirola and slammed the brakes while Almirola spun in front of him. As the event remained under green, Creed retained the lead in front of Allgaier and Byron while Sammy Smith and Cole Custer battled in front of John Hunter Nemechek and Gibbs.

    A lap later and with the battles around the track ensuing, the caution returned due to debris in Turns 13 and 14 when Brandon Jones lost and shredded a left-front tire to his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro. During the caution period, the entire field led by Creed remained on the track for a second time.

    On the ensuing restart on Lap 22, Creed battled and maintained the lead over Byron entering the first turn. As the field navigated through the first turn and the 20-turn road course, Allmendinger and Berry made contact through the esses while Herbst spun in Turn 8. Back at the front, Byron made his move to assume the lead from Creed in Turn 19, but Creed fought back with a crossover move as he reassumed the lead entering Turn 20 and back to the frontstretch. Byron, however, managed to draw himself with Creed entering the first turn and pull ahead through the fifth turn as he assumed the lead while Custer tried to close in.

    By Lap 27, the caution returned when Brett Moffitt came to a stop in Turn 1. During the caution period, names that included Kligerman, Almirola, Ryan Sieg, Jeb Burton and Berry remained on the track while the rest led by Byron pitted.

    As the field restarted under green on Lap 29, Kligerman and Almirola dueled for the lead through the uphill climb to the first turn. Then exiting the first turn, Kligerman briefly fell off the pace Ryan Sieg rocketed past Kligerman and Almirola entering the second turn to assume the lead followed by Creed. In the midst of the battles, Cole Custer spun in Turn 4 with help from Berry and got his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang stuck in the gravel trap. With the event remaining under green as the battles ensued, the caution then fell with Custer unable to pull his car out of the gravel trap. By then, Mayer spun while running in the middle of the pack in Turn 11. This concluded the second stage break scheduled on Lap 30 as Creed captured the stage victory while Ryan Sieg, Nemechek, Almirola, Berry, Allmendinger, Byron, Ty Gibbs, Sammy Smith and Jeb Burton were scored in the top 10.

    During the caution period, names like Ryan Sieg, Kligerman and Custer pitted while the rest led by Creed remained on the track.

    With 14 laps remaining, the final stage proceeded under green. At the start, the field fanned out to multiple lanes as Creed battled and fended off Nemechek to retain the lead through the first turn and entering the series of turns. Behind, however, Allmendinger carved his way back into the runner-up spot as he set his sights on Creed for the lead while Nemechek, Byron, Almirola, Berry and Sammy Smith trailed in the top seven.

    Then in Turn 15, Allmendinger ignited his charge for the lead on Creed as he tried to bump and move Creed through the following turns. Entering Turn 19, however, Creed and Allmendinger made contact as Creed slipped sideways before spinning. This allowed Allmendinger to move back into the lead followed by a hard-charging Byron and Nemechek through the frontstretch while Creed, who was in contention for his first Xfinity career victory, plummeted in the leaderboard.

    During the following lap, the battle for the lead ignited as Byron tried to navigate his way around Allmendinger for the top spot in Turn 1. The latter, however, managed to maintain his ground and keep Byron’s No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro behind through Turn 2 and the following turns while a trio of Joe Gibbs Racing competitors that included Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Ty Gibbs were running in the top five.

    Down to the final 10 laps, Allmendinger continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Byron followed by Sammy Smith, Nemechek and Gibbs while Allgaier, Berry, Almirola, Hemric and Jeb Burton were in the top 10. By then, 31 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. Not long after, however, Almirola spun while running in the top 10, but the event remained under green as Allmendinger retained the lead ahead of Byron.

    With five laps remaining, Allmendinger extended his advantage to more than a second over Byron while teammates Ty Gibbs and Sammy Smith, both of whom were trailing the lead by more than 10 seconds, battled for third. Behind, Nemechek fell back to fifth in front of a hard-charging Allgaier while Hemric, Berry, Mayer and Jeb Burton occupied the top 10. Meanwhile, Creed rallied his way back to 11th despite trailing the lead by more than 26 seconds.

    A lap later, Nemechek got punted by Hemric with four laps remaining, but the event remained under green while Allmendinger maintained a decent advantage over Byron.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allmendinger remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Byron, who kept Allmendinger within his sights and was preparing for a final launch attack on the leader for the victory. By then, Nemechek made an unscheduled pit stop to address a flat left-rear tire. Through Turn 1 and the series of turns from Turns 2 to 10, Byron tried to close, but he briefly stepped out of the gas as Allmendinger placed a reasonable gap between himself and his challenger. Following the long straightaway in between Turns 11 and 12 before entering the final series of turns from Turns 12 to 20, Allmendinger did not miss a beat and managed to keep Byron in his rearview mirror as he cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by eight-tenths of a second over Byron.

    With the victory, Allmendinger, who is scheduled to make five Xfinity starts this season to go along with his full-time Cup Series campaign with Kaulig, became the first repeat winner at Circuit of the Americas in the Xfinity Series as he notched his 16th career win in the series, 11 of which have come on road course events. The victory was also the first of the season and 20th overall in the series for Kaulig Racing as Kaulig’s No. 10 entry returned to Victory Lane since Jeb Burton piloted the car number to a victory at Talladega Superspeedway in 2021.

    “Well, William Byron might be one of the best ones in the sport right now,” Allmendinger said on FS1. “We’ve seen all the Cup races he’s winning. I knew it was gonna be tough, just trying to fight to get back up to the front there. [I] Hate we had contact with Sheldon [Creed]. I got under him. I was there, I felt like. He turned, I was trying to stay off him, so I hate that happened. So proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing. The Celsius Chevy was really hooked up. With all the damage we had, it definitely hurt the car. Man, I’m out of breath. I’m too old for this.”

    “I spent a lot of years not winning anything,” Allmendinger added. “I’m gonna celebrate every [win] like it’s my last one. You never know. As much pressure that I put on myself, I’m always gonna try to live up to it. We fought hard. This was such a team effort. Pit crew was awesome. Just so proud of everybody. I’m just so lucky to be a part of this Kaulig Racing team.”

    Byron, who made his lone Xfinity start of the season in Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 17 “all-star” entry, settled in second place for the third time in his Xfinity career while Ty Gibbs finished third in his first Xfinity start of the season in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 “all-star” entry as Cup Series regulars swept the podium spots.

    “I just messed that esses up,” Byron, who will start on pole position for Sunday’s Cup Series event in Austin, said. “I was getting one final run at [Allmendinger]. Obviously, they were really good all day. Just great at these road courses and [I] still have just a little bit to gain and minimize some mistakes. Overall, [I] just got through the esses there. I didn’t want to get off and screw up second place, so I slowed way down to keep it within the track. Thanks to HendrickCars.com, Chevrolet. It was a great effort. Just need to clean it up in these cars. Just need to do a better job there, but I had a lot of fun racing them. Couple times, I probably had a shot and just needed to do a little better job. Part of it and hopefully, we’ll get’em tomorrow.”

    Meanwhile, rookie Sammy Smith was the highest-finishing Xfinity regular notching fourth place while Allgaier finished fifth. Both along with sixth-place finisher Daniel Hemric and seventh-place finisher Sam Mayer have qualified for the first round of the Dash 4 Cash initiative that will occur next Saturday at Richmond Raceway.

    Berry settled in eighth followed by Creed, who made a miraculous comeback from his late spin, while Herbst completed the top 10 on the track. By then, 31 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

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

    Following the sixth event of the 2023 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by 15 over Riley Herbst, 29 over John Hunter Nemechek, 49 over Justin Allgaier and 53 over Chandler Smith.

    Results.

    1. AJ Allmendinger, 28 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. William Byron, one lap led

    3. Ty Gibbs

    4. Sammy Smith

    5. Justin Allgaier

    6. Daniel Hemric

    7. Sam Mayer

    8. Josh Berry

    9. Sheldon Creed, 16 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    10. Riley Herbst

    11. Brandon Jones

    12. Chandler Smith

    13. Miguel Paludo

    14. Jeremy Clements

    15. Alex Labbe

    16. Anthony Alfredo

    17. Parker Retzlaff

    18. Kaz Grala

    19. Connor Mosack

    20. Ryan Ellis

    21. Jeb Burton

    22. Kyle Weatherman

    23. Ryan Sieg

    24. Aric Almirola

    25. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    26. Kyle Sieg

    27. John Hunter Nemechek

    28. Josh Bilicki

    29. Brad Perez

    30. Joe Graf Jr.

    31. Parker Kligerman, one lap led

    32. Cole Custer, one lap down

    33. Brennan Poole – OUT, Steering

    34. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Engine

    35. Sage Karam – OUT, Engine

    36. Preston Pardus – OUT, Suspension

    37. Austin Hill – OUT, Engine

    38. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Transmission

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of this season to Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, where the first of four Dash 4 Cash events will occur. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, April 1, at 1 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Austin Hill survives wild finish for second consecutive Xfinity victory at Atlanta

    Austin Hill survives wild finish for second consecutive Xfinity victory at Atlanta

    Austin Hill flexed his superspeedway muscles and defended his home turf amid a late challenge from Parker Kligerman and the field during a two-lap shootout to win the RAPTOR King of Tough 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 18.

    The 28-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led three times for a race-high 103 of 163-scheduled laps, including the final 64, as he survived the track’s record 12 caution periods and on-track carnages from start to finish. Then during a two-lap shootout, Hill, who was being intimidated by Kligerman’s last-lap effort, avoided chaos himself by keeping his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing entry straight as Kligerman got bumped and was wrecking toward the finish while rubbing fenders with Hill for the win, which enabled the Georgian to capture a second consecutive Xfinity victory at his home track.

    With on-track qualifying that was scheduled to occur on Friday canceled due to persistent rain, the starting lineup for Saturday’s main event was determined through a performance metric system. Based on the system, rookie Sammy Smith, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Phoenix Raceway, started on pole position and was joined on the front row by teammate John Hunter Nemechek.

    Prior to the event, Kyle Sieg and Joe Graf Jr. dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, teammates Sammy Smith and Nemechek dueled dead even for the lead amid two tight-packed lanes through the first two turns until Nemechek peaked ahead on the inside lane. Then through the frontstretch, Nemechek pulled his No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra in front of Smith’s No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra as he led the first lap while teammate Ryan Truex battled Hill for third. During the second lap, the first caution of the event flew due to a two-car wreck involving Joey Gase and Caesar Bacarella on the frontstretch.

    With the event proceeding under green on the seventh lap, Nemechek received a push from teammate Smith to pull ahead of Austin Hill and retain the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. Through Turns 3 and 4, however, Hill carved his way into second place before being locked into a battle with Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith for the spot. Amid the battles, Nemechek retained the lead in front of the pack.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Nemechek was leading by a hair over Austin Hill, rookie Chandler, Sheldon Creed and Sammy Smith while Ryan Truex, Ryan Sieg, Cole Custer, Daniel Hemric and Riley Herbst were in the top 10. Shortly after, Hill muscled his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro into the lead after overtaking Nemechek.

    Then on the 11th lap and with Hill leading ahead of teammate Creed and Nemechek, the second caution flew following a vicious three-car wreck that involved Jeffrey Earnhardt, Kaz Grala and Garrett Smithley in Turn 3.

    Following an extensive caution period and a restart on Lap 24, Hill and Nemechek dueled for the lead until Hill pulled ahead entering Turns 3 and 4. In the process, Creed followed suit in second along with Chandler Smith and Custer while Nemechek fell back to fifth. He then continued to lose spots on the inside lane as Ryan Sieg, Brett Moffitt, Parker Kligerman and Ryan Truex streaked by him on the outside lane. It would not be until Lap 26 that the caution returned due to another multi-car wreck that struck in Turn 1 when Kyle Weatherman got loose and hit the outside wall with Josh Williams and Jeb Burton also sustaining damage to avoid Weatherman. During the caution period, some like Sammy Smith, Justin Haley, Sam Mayer, Gray Gaulding, Joe Graf Jr. and Blaine Perkins pitted while the ret led by Hill remained on the track.

    With nine laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hill received a push from teammate Creed on the outside lane to retain the lead ahead of Custer, who had drafting help from Ryan Sieg on the inside lane. Nearly a lap later, the caution flew for the fifth time due to debris on the frontstretch. By then, Hill managed to remain ahead of Custer with the top spot. During the caution period, some like Ryan Truex, Josh Berry, Justin Allgaier and Sage Karam pitted while the rest led by Hill remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Josh Williams parked his car on the frontstretch and walked away from his car to the infield after being ordered by NASCAR officials.

    With three laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hill retained the lead ahead of teammate Creed with drafting help from Custer. With Hill remaining out in front and transitioning from the outside to the inside lane for the following lap, Chandler Smith challenged Creed for the runner-up spot. Then on the final lap of the first stage, Creed launched his bid for the lead on teammate Hill after receiving a push from Nemechek through the backstretch and entering Turn 3. Then the first stage scheduled on Lap 40 concluded under caution when Chad Chastain and Patrick Emerling wrecked in Turn 4. Amid a duel between two Richard Childress Racing teammates, Hill was awarded the first Xfinity stage. Teammate Creed settled in second while Chandler Smith, Nemchek, Herbst, Moffitt, Ryan Sieg, Custer, Hemric and Kligerman were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Creed, pitted while the rest, led by Justin Haley and Brandon Jones, remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 47 as Haley and Anthony Alfredo occupied the front row. At the start, Haley and Alfredo battled for the lead in front of the pack while Nemechek launched a three-wide bid just outside of the top 10 entering Turn 1. With the field fanning out to three lanes entering the frontstretch, Alfredo made his way into the lead over Haley while Ryan Truex battled for third over Brandon Jones.

    At the Lap 55 mark, the caution returned for a spin involving Chad Chastain in Turn 3. By then, Alfredo was leading over Haley, Jones, Ryan Sieg and Connor Mosack while Kligerman, Parker Retzlaff, Berry, Joe Graf Jr. and Ryan Truex were running in the top 10.

    With the event restarting under green on Lap 60, Alfredo and Jones dueled for the lead with Ryan Sieg, Haley and the field following suit. As the battle for the lead ensued, the caution returned a lap later when Parker Retzlaff blew a right-front tire and slapped the Turn 1 outside wall.

    During the following restart on Lap 66, Alfredo and Jones battled for the lead until Jones muscled into the lead on the inside lane while Alfredo lost the lead and lost a handful of spots on the outside lane. Behind, Kligerman launched his attack on Ryan Sieg for second as Jones remained as the leader. A few laps later, the eighth caution of the event flew amid a two-car wreck involving Connor Mosack and Hemric in Turn 4 after Mosack got loose. With the caution flying, names like Haley, Jeb Burton, Sammy Smith, Chandler Smith and Hemric pitted while the rest led by Jones remained on the track.

    As the field restarted with five laps remaining in the second stage, Jones and Kligerman battled for the lead ahead of two tight-packed lanes until Jones peaked ahead through Turns 3 and 4. During the following lap, however, the ninth caution flew when Berry made contact and turned teammate Allgaier head-on into the outside wall on the backstretch, with Jeremy Clements sustaining damage while trying to dodge Allgaier’s damaged No. 7 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro. The multi-car wreck was enough for the second stage scheduled on Lap 80 to conclude under caution as Kligerman captured his first Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Herbst settled in second followed by Brandon Jones, Creed, and Alfredo while Ryan Sieg, Berry, Hill, Custer and Joe Graf Jr. were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, names like Gray Gaulding, Patrick Emerling and Chad Chastain remained on the track while the rest led by Kligerman pitted for service. During the pit stops, Alfredo was penalized for having a crew member jump over the pit wall too soon.

    With 77 laps remaining, the final stage started as Herbst and Kligerman occupied the front row. At the start, both of the front-runners dueled for the lead in front of two packs of cars, but Herbst kept his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang up front with Moffitt running towards the front. As the field fanned out to multiple lanes in the following laps, Herbst continued to lead ahead of Moffitt, Kligerman, Hemric and Brandon Jones while Creed was in sixth.

    Down to the final 70 laps of the event, Hill muscled and carved his way back to the lead as the field towards the front continued to jostle for the lead. In the process, Nemechek carved his way back into the top five in fourth and Chandler Smith was in fifth while Herbst and Creed were in second and third. Six laps later, Herbst reassumed the lead from Hill while Kligerman, who fell back to sixth earlier, moved up to fourth.

    With 50 laps remaining, Hill was out in front of a long line of competitors running towards the outside lane as Kligerman was in second followed by Moffitt, Chandler Smith and Ryan Truex. Behind, Hemric, Haley, Clements, Ryan Sieg and Herbst were in the top 10. Creed, meanwhile, fell off the pace from 10th place after suffering a right-front tire.

    Following the event’s 10th caution period with 47 laps remaining amid a two-car wreck involving Patrick Emerling and Kyle Sieg in Turn 1, some that included Hill, Herbst, Truex, Jones, Gray Gaulding and Ryan Ellis remained on the track while the rest of the front-runners pitted.

    During the following restart with 40 laps remaining, Hill peeked ahead of Brandon Jones at the start until Jones received a push from Custer to assume the lead. Hill, however, fought back on the outside lane as he had drafting help from Herbst with the pack behind locked in deep between two tight lanes. Not long after, Hill gained the momentum on the outside lane to clear Jones and assume the lead to both lanes while Herbst battled Jones for second. In the process, Custer remained in fourth while battling Truex while Ryan Sieg and Hemric battled for sixth.

    With less than 35 laps remaining, Hill led in front of Herbst, Truex, Hemric and Custer on the outside lane. By then, Chandler Smith, who was running towards the front earlier, took his car to the garage due to a gearing issue. Then with 29 laps remaining, Kligerman gained a huge run on the inside lane to move his No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet Camaro all the way up to third place independently as he tried to blend in within the top-five front-runners. In the process, Hill retained the lead in front of Herbst and Truex while a majority of the field opted to remain in a long single-file line on the outside lane.

    Then with nearly 20 laps of the event remaining, the battle for the lead intensified as Kligerman tried to challenge Hill for the lead while running on the inside lane. Despite receiving help from Alfredo, Jeb Burton and Haley, Hill continued to lead while defending both lanes to his control and having the clean air to his advantage. Kligerman, however, kept himself within the hunt as he battled Herbst for second.

    With 15 laps remaining, the field fanned out to two tight-packed lanes as Hill continued to lead while Kligerman and Herbst battled for second. Behind, Jeb Burton and Alfredo moved into the top five while Hemric, Haley, Moffitt, Custer and Clements were scored in the top 10. By then, the top-17 competitors were separated under a second.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Hill retained the lead despite having Kligerman close to Hill’s rear bumper. Herbst was in third followed by Hemric and Alfredo while the top-19 competitors were separated by less than two seconds. Two laps later, however, the event’s 11th caution flew when Parker Retzlaff wrecked in Turn 4.

    As the field restarted with two laps remaining, Hill, who received drafting help from Kligerman on the outside lane, was drafted to the lead ahead of Hemric, who restarted on the inside lane. Hill then was left on his own to fend for his lead amid Kligerman while Hemric kept the two leaders close within his sight.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hill remained as the leader in front of a hard-charging Kligerman and Hemric. Then through the backstretch and with Hemric trying to get to Hill’s rear bumper, Kligerman made his move to Hill’s outside as he tried to draw his No. 48 entry even to Hill’s No. 21 entry. Then entering Turn 4 and the frontstretch, contact from Hemric turned Kligerman into Hill, though both managed to keep their respective cars straight as they rubbed fenders and traded paint. With Hill managing to keep his car straight, Kligerman was then bumped and turned by Hemric again as he spun and ignited a multi-car wreck across the finish line while Hill managed to pull away and capture the victory by 0.085 seconds over Hemric.

    With the victory, Hill became the first three-time winner of this year’s Xfinity Series season as he captured his fifth Xfinity career victory in his 53rd series start. In addition to collecting his second straight win at Atlanta, Hill has notched three consecutive top-two finishes in three Xfinity career starts at his home track.

    “[This win] really does [matter],” Hill said on FS1. “Just having my whole family here, growing up in Georgia, an hour down the road and growing up racing here on this little quarter-mile racetrack. I knew it was gonna be tough today. It just seemed like guys could get really good runs, a lot different than last year’s race the way that it unfolded. [Spotter] Derek Kneeland did a hell of a job on top of the spotter’s stand. Everybody with [Richard Childress Racing] and ECR Engines did such a phenomenal job. Really good pit strategy. We were on it all night. Once I got into the lead, I knew it was wreckers or checkers. When [Kligerman] hit me in the right rear, I’m guessing he got hit or something, I thought I was heading into the outside wall but was able to gather it up, bring [the car] on home. This is so special. That was a tough one to win. I can’t wait to celebrate this with my family.”

    Amid the wild two-lap shootout and the carnage at the conclusion’s event, Hemric came home in second followed by Ryan Truex while Kligerman slid backward across the finish line to grab fourth place. Herbst, who also wrecked as he hit Kligerman and slid his car toward the inside lane before clipping Haley, managed to finish fifth while Moffitt, Berry, Nemechek, Mayer and Haley finished in the top 10.

    There were a record 12 cautions for 68 laps. The event featured 13 lead changes for eight different leaders.

    Following the fifth event of the 2023 Xfinity Series season, race winner Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by 46 over both John Hunter Nemechek and Riley Herbst with Chandler Smith trailing by 77, Justin Allgaier by 84 and Sam Mayer by 92.

    Results.

    1. Austin Hill, 103 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Daniel Hemric

    3. Ryan Truex

    4. Parker Kligerman, five laps led, Stage 2 winner

    5. Riley Herbst, 11 laps led

    6. Brett Moffitt

    7. Josh Berry

    8. John Hunter Nemechek, 10 laps led

    9. Sam Mayer

    10. Justin Haley, five laps led

    11. Ryan Sieg

    12. Cole Custer

    13. Brennan Poole

    14. Anthony Alfredo, 18 laps led

    15. Jeremy Clements

    16. Jeb Burton

    17. Sammy Smith

    18. Patrick Emerling

    19. Brandon Jones, 10 laps led

    20. Gray Gaulding, one lap led

    21. Sheldon Creed

    22. Blaine Perkins

    23. Ryan Ellis

    24. Chad Chastain

    25. Joe Graf Jr.

    26. Kyle Sieg, two laps down

    27. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident

    28. Chandler Smith – OUT, Rear Gear

    29. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

    30. Connor Mosack – OUT, Accident

    31. Sage Karam – OUT, Radiator

    32. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

    33. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident

    34. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

    35. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident

    36. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Accident

    37. Joey Gase – OUT, Accident

    38. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ third annual trip to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, which will also serve as the Dash 4 Cash qualifying event. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, March 25, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Sammy Smith dominates for first Xfinity Series career win at Phoenix

    Sammy Smith dominates for first Xfinity Series career win at Phoenix

    In the valley of the desert where a handful of NASCAR’s future stars battled against the all-time series winner and champion Kyle Busch, a new star shined the brightest as rookie Sammy Smith notched his first NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory in the United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, March 11.

    The 18-year-old Smith from Johnston, Iowa, led a race-high 92 of 200-scheduled laps, including the final 52, as he withstood a flurry of cautions, a 15-lap dash to the finish and a late charge from teammate Ryan Truex to claim his first Xfinity career victory in his 13th start in the series and become the first first-time winner across NASCAR’s top three national touring series for the 2023 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Cole Custer notched his first Xfinity pole of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 129.959 mph in 27.701 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Justin Allgaier, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 129.706 mph in 27.755 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Kyle Busch and Jeffrey Earnhardt dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars. Parker Kligerman also dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the frontstretch dogleg as Custer, who also went through the dogleg, retained the lead ahead of Daniel Hemric and Sheldon Creed while Allgaier fell back into a side-by-side battle with John Hunter Nemechek for fourth. At the conclusion of the first lap, Custer led ahead of Hemric and Creed while Allgaier retained fourth in front of Nemechek and the field.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Custer was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Creed followed by Hemric, Allgaier and Nemechek while rookie Chandler Smith, Josh Berry, rookie Sammy Smith, Riley Herbst and Austin Hill were in the top 10. Behind, Ryan Truex was in 11th ahead of Ryan Sieg, Sam Mayer, Brett Moffitt and Kaz Grala while Jeb Burton, Josh Williams, Brandon Jones, Kyle Sieg and rookie Parker Retzlaff rounded out the top 20.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Custer extended his advantage to more than a second over Creed while third-place Allgaier trailed by more than two seconds. By then, Nemechek and Hemric remained in the top five while the two Smiths involving Sammy and Chandler battle for sixth. In addition, Kyle Busch cracked the top 20 after starting towards the rear of the field.

    Ten laps later, Custer continued to lead by more than two seconds over the new runner-up competitor Allgaier while Creed fell back to third as he trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Nemechek and Sammy Smith were in the top five in front of Herbst while Hemric was back in seventh in front of teammate Chandler Smith, Josh Berry and Austin Hill. By then, Ryan Truex was back in 11th in front of Mayer and Brandon Jones while Kyle Busch was up in 14th.  

    Another eight laps later, the first caution of the event flew when the back bumper from Leland Honeyman’s No. 45 Alpha Prime Racing entry came loose and fell onto the frontstretch. The cause of the loose bumper happened a few laps earlier when Honeyman got loose and made contact against the outside wall towards Turn 1.

    With 10 laps remaining in the first stage, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Custer bolted ahead with the lead as the field fanned out through the dogleg again. Behind, Sammy Smith challenged Allgaier for second while Creed, Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Herbst battled for fourth. Shortly after, Allgaier launched a challenge to the outside of Custer for the lead but was unable to prevail as Custer maintained the lead on the inside lane.

    Then on Lap 37, Allgaier made his move to the outside of Custer as he assumed the lead in his No. 7 hellowater Chevrolet Camaro through the backstretch and back to the frontstretch. A lap later, the caution returned when Berry, who was running in eighth, got bumped by Chandler Smith as he spun in the middle of Turn 3. Despite the spin, the entire field managed to dodge Berry as he continued without sustaining any damage. During the caution period, some led by Nemechek pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.

    With two laps remaining in the first stage, the event resumed under green. At the start, the field fanned out to four lanes through the dogleg and through the frontstretch as Allgaier retained the lead. Behind, Creed made his way into second in front of a bevy of competitors that continued to fan out to multiple lanes. This, however, allowed Allgaier to pull away from the field.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Allgaier claimed his second stage victory of the 2023 Xfinity season. Creed fended off Sammy Smith for second followed by Herbst and Hemric while Custer, Busch, Mayer, Nemechek and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some led by Allgaier pitted for the first time in the event while the rest led by Mayer and Nemechek remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 55 as Mayer and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the dogleg, Nemechek muscled into the lead on the inside lane while Hill and Mayer battled for second in front of a flurry of competitors. As the battles around the circuit proceeded, the caution returned during the following lap when Moffitt, who was running just outside the top 10, got loose underneath Jeremy Clements and spun in the middle of Turn 3, though he was narrowly dodged by the field.

    During the following restart on Lap 62, Nemechek rocketed with the lead on the inside lane while Hill made his way into second. Behind, Ryan Truex and Jeb Burton challenged Mayer for third, though the later prevailed exiting the backstretch. As Nemechek retained the lead, Berry, who spun towards the conclusion of the first stage, carved his way back to sixth with multiple battles ensuing behind.

    Following another caution period for a two-car incident involving Connor Mosack and Josh Williams in Turn 2 on Lap 68 and another restart on Lap 74, Nemechek battled and fended off Hill to remain the lead on the inside lane. Shortly after, however, NASCAR assessed Nemechek a pass-through penalty through pit road as a result of Nemechek dipping his No. 20 Safeway/Albertsons Toyota Supra below the frontstretch’s double yellow line boundary, which was deemed a violation. With Nemechek penalized, Hill assumed the lead followed by Sammy Smith while Ryan Truex, Mayer, Berry and Busch occupied the top six.

    By Lap 84, the caution flew when Berry, who was running in fourth, got bumped by teammate Mayer as he spun his No. 8 Jarrett Logistics Systems Chevrolet Camaro in Turn 2 and towards the pit road’s entrance while being dodged by Busch. By then, Nemechek, who was mired in the next-to-last position in 37th place, managed to remain on the lead lap while Hill retained the lead in front of Sammy Smith and Truex. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Hill pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.

    With two laps remaining in the second stage, the event restarted under green as Allgaier and Anthony Alfredo occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier and Alfredo dueled for the lead through the frontstretch with the field behind fanning out to multiple lanes. As the field continued to battle through the backstretch, Allgaier pulled away as he commenced the final lap of the second stage. With no competition luring behind, Allgaier claimed his second consecutive Xfinity stage victory of the season and third overall at the Lap 90 mark. Hill carved his way back to second followed by Hemric, Sammy Smith and Kyle Busch while Alfredo, Mayer, Herbst, Kaz Grala and Creed were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a few drivers including Allgaier and Alfredo pitted while the rest led by Hill remained on the track.

    With 100 laps remaining, which marked the event’s halfway mark, the final stage started as Hill and Hemric occupied the front row. At the start, a three-wide battle ensued through the frontstretch as Kyle Busch and Hemric challenged Hill for the lead.  In the process, Sammy Smith made it a four-car battle as he joined the battle while Busch carved his way into the lead by a hair over Smith. Soon after, Smith launched his challenge on Busch for the lead before prevailing in Turn 2 with 97 laps remaining. As Smith assumed the lead, Busch fell back to second while Hemric, Hill and Mayer were scored in the top five. Meanwhile, Ryan Truex was in sixth in front of teammate Nemechek, who rallied from his restart penalty, while Herbst, Custer and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10.

    With 90 laps remaining, Sammy Smith was leading by more than a second over Busch followed by Hemric, Hill and Nemechek while Mayer, Herbst, Ryan Truex, Custer and Chandler Smith occupied the top 10. Behind, Creed was in 11th ahead of Brandon Jones, Kyle Weatherman, Grala and Parker Kligerman while Berry, Jeb Burton, Allgaier, Moffitt and Ryan Sieg were running in the top 20.

    Fifteen laps later, Sammy Smith extended his advantage to more than three seconds over the new runner-up competitor Hill as Busch, who had debris on his front grille, slipped back to third to remove the debris behind Hill’s rear bumper. By then, Nemechek moved up to fourth in front of Mayer while Herbst, Hemric, Custer, Chandler Smith and Creed were running in the top 10.

    With 62 laps remaining, the caution flew when Gray Gaulding wrecked against the Turn 1 outside wall as his event came to a late end. During the caution period, the field led by Sammy Smith pitted, but Hill reassumed the lead following a stellar pit service from his No. 21 crew followed by Busch while Sammy Smith dropped to third. Nemechek, Herbst and Mayer exited fourth through sixth while Allgaier gained four spots to move up to eighth.

    Down to the final 53 laps, the event restarted under green. At the start, Hill led a stampede of competitors through the frontstretch until Kyle Busch pulled his No. 10 LA Golf Chevrolet Camaro even to Hill’s outside through the backstretch. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Busch peaked ahead with the lead, but Hill fought back on the inside lane. Then As Sammy Smith drew himself in between Busch and Hill to regain his lead through Turn 2, the caution returned when Creed got loose beneath Custer as he spun his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro in Turn 2 while being dodged by the field. At the moment of caution, Smith had reassumed the lead in front of Busch and Hill.

    During the following restart with 44 laps remaining, Smith fended off Kyle Busch to retain the lead through the frontstretch and entering the backstretch. In the process, Busch came under attack from Nemechek for the runner-up spot, which he lost in Turn 3 while Hill fell back to fourth in front of Berry and Allgaier. As the field behind jostled for late positions, Smith maintained the lead as he also started to extend it over teammate Nemechek while third-place Busch trailed by more than a second.

    Then with 30 laps remaining, the caution flew when Alfredo got loose and spun in Turn 2. By then, Sammy Smith was leading by more than two seconds over teammate Nemechek while third-place Busch trailed by more than three seconds.

    When the race restarted under green with 24 laps remaining, Kyle Busch launched a three-wide challenge on Sammy Smith and Nemechek in his bid for the lead through the frontstretch. Then in Turn 1, Nemechek went up the track and tagged the outside wall as he began losing spots. Meanwhile, Busch and Smith dueled for the lead through the backstretch, but Smith prevailed on the outside lane to remain as the leader. As Smith began to pull away during the following lap, a flurry of competitors running in the middle of the pack fanned out and jostled for late positions. Then with 22 laps remaining, Allgaier, who nearly got turned by teammate Brandon Jones in Turns 3 and 4 while running ninth, collided against Kaz Grala, who got pinned by Moffitt, and wrecked into the outside wall across the frontstretch as his eventful event came to an end with a wrecked race car.

    During the following restart with 15 laps remaining, Smith rocketed his No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra away with the lead on the inside lane while Busch battled and just fended off Hill for second. Through the backstretch, Chandler Smith made his way into third followed by Ryan Truex as Hill fell back to fifth. Back at the front, Busch tried to launch an attack beneath Smith on the backstretch, but Smith fended off Busch to retain the lead as Chandler Smith joined the battle in his No. 16 Quick Tie Chevrolet Camaro.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Sammy Smith was leading by nine-tenths of a second over the new runner-up competitor Ryan Truex, who was piloting Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota Genuine Parts Supra, while Busch was being challenged by teammate Chandler Smith for third. Meanwhile, Herbst carved his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang to fifth while Nemechek, Creed, Hill, Berry and Hemric occupied the top 10.

    With five laps remaining, Sammy Smith continued to lead by nearly half a second over teammate Ryan Truex, who continued to reel in on his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate for the lead and potential win, while third-place Busch trailed by more than a second in front of teammate Chandler Smith and Herbst.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Sammy Smith remained as the leader by six-tenths of a second over teammate Ryan Truex, who kept Smith close within his sights but was running out of time to bid for the lead. Despite Truex executing a late valiant effort for his first NASCAR victory, he ran out of time as Smith was able to cycle his No. 18 Supra way back to the start/finish line and claim his first checkered flag in the series.

    With the victory, Smith, whose previous best result was 17th through the first three scheduled events, became the 172nd different competitor to win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series level, the 21st to win an Xfinity event while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing and the third different winner of the 2023 season. He also became the youngest series winner at Phoenix and the fourth-youngest overall at age 18 years, nine months and seven days. In the process, he recorded the record 16th Xfinity victory for JGR at Phoenix.

    “It’s amazing,” Smith, a two-time ARCA Menards Series East champion, said on FS1. “It’s a dream come true. Just thanks to Pilot Flying J, TMC, Allstate Peterbilt Group, Toyota, all the guys on the [Joe Gibbs Racing] team for giving me this opportunity. It’s awesome.”

    Teammate Ryan Truex notched a career-best runner-up result in his first of six scheduled starts with Joe Gibbs Racing for this season, which marked his third runner-up finish in the series overall and his first runner-up result in the series since Phoenix in March 2019, which occurred while driving a part-time stint with JR Motorsports.

    “I thought we were good at the start,” Truex said. “Man, I think the track just changed a lot more than I expected it too. That long run, we were really bad. I was just hanging on, but [crew chief] Jason [Ratcliff] and these [No. 19] guys let me complain on the radio and made the right adjustments. That was a good restart at the end. Glad I could at least try to make it exciting. Congrats to Sammy. He was just the class of the field all day. His car just looked so good. [He] Could really kind of do whatever he wanted. Just thankful to be here. Thanks to Toyota Genuine Parts. Sammy was just a little bit faster, but I’ll try again next time.”

    Sheldon Creed muscled his way to third in front of Herbst while Chandler Smith, who had a last-lap dust-up with Kyle Busch, completed the top five. Nemechek, Hill and Berry finished sixth through eighth, respectively, while Busch, who got sideways beneath teammate Chandler Smith and hit the Turn 1 outside wall on the final lap, ended up ninth. Hemric completed the top 10 in the final running order.

    There were 14 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 69 laps. In total, 33 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the fourth event of the 2023 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill continues to lead the regular-season standings by 30 points over John Hunter Nemechek, 39 over Justin Allgaier and 40 over both Chandler Smith and Riley Herbst.

    Results.

    1. Sammy Smith, 92 laps led

    2. Ryan Truex

    3. Sheldon Creed

    4. Riley Herbst

    5. Chandler Smith, two laps led

    6. John Hunter Nemechek, 19 laps led

    7. Austin Hill, 22 laps led

    8. Josh Berry

    9. Kyle Busch, three laps led

    10. Daniel Hemric

    11. Sam Mayer, four laps led

    12. Cole Custer, 38 laps led

    13. Brett Moffitt

    14. Anthony Alfredo

    15. Parker Kligerman

    16. Ryan Sieg

    17. Kyle Weatherman

    18. Parker Retzlaff

    19. Ryan Ellis

    20. Jeremy Clements

    21. Josh Williams

    22. Jeb Burton

    23. Brandon Jones

    24. Connor Mosack

    25. Kyle Sieg

    26. Joey Gase

    27. Leland Honeyman

    28. Bayley Currey

    29. Brennan Poole

    30. Patrick Emerling

    31. Joe Graf Jr.

    32. Garrett Smithley

    33. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    34. Kaz Grala, one lap down

    35. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Suspension

    36. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident, 20 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    37. Gray Gaulding – OUT, Accident

    38. Dawson Cram – OUT, Fuel pump

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is a trip back to the south for the series’ first of two visits this season at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, March 18, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Austin Hill scores dramatic Xfinity Series victory at Las Vegas

    Austin Hill scores dramatic Xfinity Series victory at Las Vegas

    From trailing rookie Chandler Smith by nearly three seconds with 25 laps remaining to narrowing the deficit and overtaking him prior to the final lap, Austin Hill cashed in with his second NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season in the Alsco Uniforms 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 4.

    The 28-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led three times for 19 of 200-scheduled laps, including the final two, as he overtook Smith for the lead prior to the final lap. Smith, who led a race-high 118 laps but had an advantage of nearly three seconds erased in the closing laps, was then overtaken by Justin Allgaier for the runner-up spot as Allgaier, who had been penalized earlier for a restart violation, tried to steal the victory away on the final lap. Time, however, fell in the favor of Hill as he held off a hard-charging Allgaier to steal the spotlight with his second victory through the series’ first three events of the season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, rookie Chandler Smith notched his first Xfinity career pole after posting a pole-winning lap at 183.119 mph in 29.489 seconds. Joining him on the front row was veteran Justin Allgaier, who clocked in the second-best qualifying lap at 182.778 mph in 29.544 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included Cole Custer, Sheldon Creed, Gray Gaulding, Josh Berry, Brandon Jones and Kyle Busch dropped to the rear of the field in backup cars. Brennan Poole, Ryan Ellis, Alex Labbe and Garrett Smithley also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars along with Patrick Emerling, who replaced CJ McLaughlin in the No. 53 Emerling-Gas Motorsports entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Chandler Smith peeked ahead with the lead on the outside lane followed by Brett Moffitt while John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Hill fanned out entering the first turn. With a three-wide action occurring through the first two turns between Nemechek, Hill and Parker Kligerman for spots in the top five, Smith cleared the field to assume the lead followed by a side-by-side battle for the runner-up spot involving Justin Allgaier and Brett Moffitt.

    As the field returned to the frontstretch, Chandler Smith led the first lap ahead of Moffitt and Allgaier while the field behind continued to fan out and jostle for positions early. Then during the following lap, the first caution flew when Kligerman, who was locked in a battle with Daniel Hemric for fifth place, got loose and slightly tapped by Nemechek as he spun in Turn 2, though he did not make any contact to his No. 48 Big Machine Racing entry as he pitted for fresh tires.

    When the race restarted under green on the sixth lap, Chandler Smith and Allgaier dueled for the lead for nearly a lap until Smith managed to pull ahead on the outside lane to retain the lead. As the field behind fanned out, Austin Hill made his way into third place followed by Nemechek, Brett Moffitt and Daniel Hemric.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Chandler Smith was leading by two-tenths of a second over Allgaier followed by Nemechek, Hill and Hemric while rookie Sammy Smith, Herbst, Sam Mayer, Berry and Moffitt were running in the top 10. Tyler Reddick was in 11th ahead of Rajah Caruth, Anthony Alfredo, Kyle Sieg and Jeb Burton while Kyle Busch methodically worked his way up to 16th from the rear of the field.

    Three laps later, Allgaier muscled his No. 7 Brandt Chevrolet Camaro past Chandler Smith for the lead as Nemechek started to gain ground on the two leaders. Another four laps later, Nemechek assumed the runner-up spot over Smith while Hill and Hemric remained in the top five. It would not be until Lap 22, however, when Nemechek cycled his No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra into the lead over Allgaier.

    Through the first 30 scheduled laps, Nemechek was leading by four-tenths of a second over Allgaier followed by Hill, Hemric and Chandler Smith while Herbst, Sammy Smith, Berry, Mayer and Kyle Busch were battling in the top 10. Behind, Moffitt was in 11th ahead of Creed, Reddick, Jeb Burton and Kligerman while Brandon Jones, Alfredo, Custer, Ryan Sieg and Kyle Sieg occupied the top 20.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Nemechek, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Auto Club Speedway, captured his first stage victory of the 2023 Xfinity season. Allgaier trailed in the runner-up spot by more than a second while Hill, Chandler Smith, Herbst, Hemric, Kyle Busch, Sammy Smith, Creed and Berry were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the field led by Nemechek pitted for service and Hill was the first competitor to exit pit road first followed by Nemechek, Allgaier, Busch, Hemric and Chandler Smith. During the pit stops, Alex Labbe was penalized after a tire rolled out of his pit stall and toward the track. Josh Bilicki was also penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 53 as Hill and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Hill and Nemechek dueled for the lead as the field behind fanned and jostled for spots. Entering the backstretch, Nemechek cleared Hill for the lead while Chandler Smith, Kyle Busch and Allgaier engaged in a three-wide battle for third place. A few laps later, Allgaier launched a bid for the lead to the outside of Nemechek, but Nemechek managed to pull ahead on the inside lane as Chandler Smith and Hill joined the battle. The battle for spots towards the top five proceeded as Sammy Smith and Kyle Busch crept into the picture at the front while Allgaier managed to pull ahead in front of Chandler Smith and Hill for the runner-up spot. Amid the battles, Nemechek checked out with a decent advantage while Hill and Kyle Busch duked for fourth place in front of Sammy Smith.

    Through the first 60 scheduled laps, Nemechek was leading by two-tenths of a second over Allgaier, who had Chandler Smith closing in for the spot, while Kyle Busch and Sammy Smith were in the top five. Meanwhile, Hill fell back to sixth ahead of Mayer, Herbst, Hemric and Kligerman while Brandon Jones, Creed, Berry, Custer and Moffitt were mired in the top 15.

    Ten laps later, Nemechek continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over the new runner-up competitor Chandler Smith, who overtook Allgaier for the spot nearly 10 laps earlier, while Allgaier, Kyle Busch and Mayer were running in the top five. In the midst of the battles, Hill was back in sixth ahead of Sammy Smith, Kligerman, Brandon Jones and Herbst while Hemric was back in 11th.

    Then after Chandler Smith reassumed the lead on Lap 72 followed by Allgaier, the caution flew a lap later when Josh Berry, who was battling Herbst for 10th place, got loose entering Turn 4 and spun his No. 8 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro across the grass without sustaining any damage. By then, Nemechek had fallen back to third in front of his former boss Kyle Busch. During the caution period, Berry pitted along with Nemechek, who radioed a possible vibration and loose wheel throughout the second stage, while the rest led by Chandler Smith on the track.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 78, Chandler Smith and Allgaier battled for the lead for nearly a lap until Allgaier managed to pull ahead on the inside lane to take over the lead. In the midst of the battles, Hill was in third place followed by Kyle Busch while Brandon Jones emerged in the top five in fifth over Sammy Smith.

    Five laps later, however, Allgaier surrendered the lead and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty down pit road after being assessed a restart violation for diving his car below the inside line prior to the start/finish line. With Allgaier plummeting to 26th place and as the last competitor on the lead lap, Chandler Smith reassumed the lead followed by Hill and Kyle Busch while Brandon Jones and Sammy Smith were in the top five. Then with four laps remaining in the second stage, Hill overtook Chandler Smith for the lead as Kyle Busch and Jones closed in on the two leaders.

    With two laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew when Rajah Caruth spun towards the apron in Turn 2. Caruth’s spin was enough for the second stage scheduled on Lap 90 to conclude under caution as Hill captured his second stage victory of the 2023 Xfinity season. Brandon Jones settled in second in front of a hard-charging Kyle Busch while Mayer, Sammy Smith, Chandler Smith, Herbst, Custer, Moffitt and Creed were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Hill returned to pit road for service and Hill retained the lead after exiting pit road first. Kyle Busch exited second followed by Berry, who only opted for fuel for his service, while Herbst, Brandon Jones and Chandler Smith exited in fourth through sixth, respectively. Following the pit stops, Ryan Sieg and Jeremy Clements were penalized for speeding on pit road.

    With 103 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Hill and Kyle Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Hill and Busch duked for the lead through the first two turns as the field behind fanned out. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Busch peaked ahead with the lead and started to maintain control of the field in his No. 10 LA Golf Chevrolet Camaro while teammate Chandler Smith battled Hill for second place.

    With the event surpassing its halfway mark, Busch maintained a slight advantage over teammate Chandler Smith, with the latter launching his own challenge for the lead before reassuming it on Lap 102. Meanwhile, Hill fell back to third in front of Brandon Jones and Herbst while Berry was back in sixth over teammate Mayer, Sammy Smith, Custer and Hemric. By then, Allgaier was in 12th while Nemechek was in 15th.

    Down to the final 90 laps of the event, Chandler Smith was leading by nine-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch and a second-and-a-half over Hill while Bery and Mayer were in the top five. By then, Brandon Jones was in sixth ahead of Herbst and a hard-charging Allgaier while Sammy Smith and Hemric occupied the top 10. By then, Custer was back in 11th over Creed, Nemechek, Kligerman and Tyler Reddick while Moffitt, Kaz Grala, Ryan Sieg, Jeb Burton and Joe Graf Jr. were mired in the top 20.

    Fifteen laps later, Chandler Smith continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch, who slowly began to decrease his deficit to his Kaulig Racing teammate, while Hill remained in third place and trailed by more than a second. Meanwhile, Allgaier charged his way back to fifth place following his restart violation penalty in the second stage as he tried to navigate his way around teammate Mayer for fourth place. Then with 69 laps remaining, Hill navigated his way around Busch for the runner-up spot as Allgaier started to close in on Busch for third place.

    With nearly 60 laps remaining, Chandler Smith retained the lead by more than a second over the new runner-up competitor Allgaier while Hill, Mayer and Kyle Busch were scored in the top five. By then, Nemechek carved his way back to eighth behind Herbst and Berry while Hemric had fallen to 14th in between Custer and Moffitt.

    Not long after, pit stops under green ensued as Kyle Busch pitted. Chandler Smith would pit his No. 16 Quick Tie Chevrolet Camaro a lap later along with Allgaier, Hill, Mayer and others. During the pit stops, Sammy Smith slid his No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra sideways below the apron while trying to enter pit road. During his spin, he managed to come to a stop sideways in front of Josh Williams’ pit stall and avoid hitting Mayer, who was completing his service, as the race remained under green flag conditions. Amid his spin, Sammy Smith was penalized for speeding on pit road. Brandon Jones was also assessed a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road, but his situation went from bad to worse when he received another speeding penalty when he sped while serving his first penalty.

    With less than 55 laps remaining and with the series of green flag pit stops completed, Chandler Smith, who lost the lead to Hill following his pit stop under green before navigating his way back around Hill, cycled his way back to the lead followed by Hill, Kyle Busch, Allgaier and Mayer.

    Under the final 40 laps of the event, Chandler Smith was leading by more than two seconds over Hill followed by Allgaier, who navigated his way around Kyle Busch for third place, while Mayer settled in fifth. By then, Berry occupied sixth in front of Herbst, Nemechek, Creed and Hemric while 13 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. Following his pair of pit road speeding penalties, Brandon Jones was relegated back to 28th.

    With 25 laps remaining, Chandler Smith extended his advantage to nearly three seconds over Hill while Allgaier trailed by nearly four seconds in third place. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was mired in fourth place, trailing by more than six seconds, while Mayer was back in fifth place and trailing by nearly 10 seconds.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Chandler Smith, who was mired behind lapped competitors a few laps earlier and had led by more than two seconds, continued to lead by over a second Hill despite being reported to save fuel. Hill remained in second followed by Allgaier, who closed in on Hill for the runner-up spot.

    With five laps remaining, Chandler Smith retained the lead, but only by nearly half a second as Hill continued to cut Smith’s advantage in his final bid for the lead and the win. Then with two laps remaining, Hill, who managed to close the gap and get close to the rear bumper of Smith’s car through the first two turns and through the backstretch, made his move beneath Smith’s No. 16 entry as he assumed the lead entering the frontstretch.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hill was out in front ahead of Smith as Allgaier drew himself alongside Smith for the runner-up spot. Through the backstretch, Allgaier overtook Smith as Hill remained as the leader. As Allgaier tried to close in to Hill’s rear bumper, Hill managed to methodically navigate his No. 21 Global Industrial Chevrolet Camaro through the final two turns out in front and beat Allgaier by two-tenths of a second to steal the show and grab the victory.

    With the victory, Hill, who won the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in February, notched his fourth career win in the Xfinity Series, his first in the series at Las Vegas and the 90th Xfinity victory overall for Richard Childress Racing.

    “[While I was] Passing one of the lapped cars early in our run, when [Chandler Smith] got by me [after a restart on Lap 98], I got really, really loose on entry to [Turn] 3,” Hill said on FS1. “I thought I was gonna wreck it, saved it. [Smith] got really far out. I just knew I had to not abuse the tires and try to methodically just work my way through traffic. The track was really tough today. Had a really thin line between [Turns] 3 and 4. If you missed it by—it seemed like a half of an inch—you paid for it through the whole lap. That’s just really what I stuck to all race long, was just trying to be disciplined through 3 and 4…I saw [Smith] struggling in traffic and my spotter Derek [Kneeland] was like, ‘Come on, baby. You can get it!’ I saw him get tight off of [Turn] 4 there, and I knew I painted the line perfectly. I knew if I could clear him down the frontstretch, I felt like once we had clean air, we could hold him off. We still got some things to work on, but it feels good to win on a mile and a half, not just these superspeedways.”

    As Hill celebrated the victory, Chandler Smith was left disappointed over falling short of his first Xfinity Series victory. The 20-year-old Smith from Talking Rock, Georgia, however, remained optimistic over his third-place finish and a strong run in his third career start with Kaulig Racing.

    “Overall, I got a little tight there at the very end,” Smith said. “It is what it is. That’s a tough pill to swallow. There’s some things I could’ve done inside before we started getting tight. All in all, I can’t be too disappointed. It’s my sixth [Xfinity] start, third start with Kaulig Racing. We had a really fast Quick Tie Products Camaro, and I just really appreciate [owner] Matt Kaulig, [team president] Chris Rice, everybody at Kaulig Racing for bringing me on board, believing in me. We’re going to win a few races this year, for sure.”

    Allgaier settled in second place while Kyle Busch, who was aiming for a triple weekend sweep at his home track, ended up in fourth place in his first start with Kaulig Racing and in his first of five Xfinity starts of the 2023 season. Berry rallied to finish fifth while Nemechek, Mayer, Herbst, Creed and Hemric completed the top 10.

    There were 14 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 22 laps. Only 12 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the third event of the 2023 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by 21 points over Justin Allgaier, 24 over John Hunter Nemechek, 34 over Chandler Smith and 44 over Riley Herbst.

    Results.

    1. Austin Hill, 19 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Justin Allgaier, 10 laps led

    3. Chandler Smith, 118 laps led

    4. Kyle Busch, four laps led

    5. Josh Berry, two laps led

    6. John Hunter Nemechek, 45 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    7. Sam Mayer, one lap led

    8. Riley Herbst

    9. Sheldon Creed

    10. Daniel Hemric

    11. Parker Kligerman

    12. Cole Custer

    13. Tyler Reddick, one lap down

    14. Jeb Burton, one lap down

    15. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

    16. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down

    17. Sammy Smith, one lap down

    18. Alex Labbe, one lap down

    19. Anthony Alfredo, two laps down, one lap led

    20. Kyle Sieg, two laps down

    21. Brandon Jones, two laps down

    22. Brett Moffitt, two laps down

    23. Kaz Grala, two laps down

    24. Ryan Sieg, three laps down

    25. Jeremy Clements, three laps down

    26. Rajah Caruth, three laps down

    27. Ryan Ellis, three laps down

    28. Bayley Currey, three laps down

    29. Jeffrey Earnhardt, three laps down

    30. Josh Williams, three laps down

    31. Josh Bilicki, four laps down

    32. Gray Gaulding, four laps down

    33. Brennan Poole, four laps down

    34. Patrick Emerling, six laps down

    35. Blaine Perkins, eight laps down

    36. Garrett Smithley, 13 laps down

    37. Parker Retzlaff, 14 laps down

    38. Joey Gase – OUT, Fuel Pump

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, for the series’ third and final stretch of a three-week West Coast swing. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, March 11, at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Austin Hill survives dramatic finish for second Xfinity win at Daytona

    Austin Hill survives dramatic finish for second Xfinity win at Daytona

    From starting at the rear of the field to claiming the lead at the moment of caution, Austin Hill commenced a new season of NASCAR Xfinity Series competition on a thrilling note by winning the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 18.

    The 28-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led four times for a race-high 39 of 125 over-scheduled laps in a season opener that started off on a rough note, when Hill was forced to surrender his pole-winning spot to resolve radio issues to his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro. Starting at the rear of the field, he managed to methodically carve his way to the front and claim the first stage victory. He then spent the majority of the event running within the lead pack and managed to withstand the field during an overtime attempt to emerge victorious under caution amid a multi-car wreck on the final lap and win the opener at Daytona for a second consecutive season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Austin Hill, the reigning Xfinity rookie of the year and the reigning Daytona opener winner, started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 182.563 mph in 49.298 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Parker Kligerman, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 182.441 mph in 49.331 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included Blaine Perkins, Gray Gaulding, Kyle Sieg and Joey Gase dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars. Ryan Ellis also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change while Stefan Parsons also fell back to the rear after replacing an ill Caesar Bacarella in the No. 45 Alpha Prime Racing entry. Jeb Burton would also start at the rear of the field after making a pit stop to replace a battery to his No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing entry.

    Then, just as the start of the event was approaching, Hill peeled off the track and pitted after dealing with radio issues to his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing entry. With Hill having to drop to the rear of the field, this allowed the third-place starter Cole Custer to start alongside Kligerman on the front row.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Kligerman, the new full-time driver of Big Machine Racing’s No. 48 entry, shot out with an early advantage on the outside lane by Sheldon Creed through the first two turns. Kligerman continued to lead through the backstretch until Custer fought back on the inside lane followed by Justin Allgaier and John Hunter Nemechek. Maintaining both lanes to his control, Custer proceeded to lead the first lap in his No. 00 Has Ford Mustang before Allgaier launched his bid for the lead on the inside lane. Through the backstretch, Allgaier was able to break away from the pack and move up the outside lane with drafting help from Nemechek as he went on to lead the second lap followed by Nemechek and Riley Herbst while Brandon Jones served as the lead competitor on the inside lane.

    Through the first five scheduled laps and as the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes, Allgaier was leading by a hair over Nemechek followed by Brandon Jones, Herbst and Daniel Hemric while Custer, Kligerman, Justin Haley, Sam Mayer and Creed were in the top 10. By then, rookie Chandler Smith was in 11th followed by Anthony Alfredo, Hill, Jade Buford and Josh Berry while Jeb Burton, Sammy Smith, Ryan Sieg, Brett Moffitt and Myatt Snider were running inside the top 20.

    Two laps later, the first caution of the event flew when smoke billowed out of the No. 4 JD Motorsports entry piloted by Bayley Currey past the frontstretch. During the caution period, a multitude of names that included Herbst, Custer, Mayer, Berry, Burton, Snider, Parker Retzlaff, Jeremy Clements, Brennan Poole, Kyle Sieg, Kaz Grala, Ryan Ellis and Sammy Smith pitted while the rest led by new leader Nemechek remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 11, Nemechek received a push from Kligerman to shoot to an early lead until Allgaier fought back on the inside lane through the first two lanes and the backstretch. As the field fanned out to three lanes, Nemechek and Allgaier continued to duel for the lead in front of Haley and Hill.

    By Lap 15, Nemechek and Allgaier remained dead even in a tight battle for the lead and in front of a tight pack of cars, with Nemechek running the outside lane in front of Hemric while Allgaier remained on the inside lane in front of Haley.

    At the Lap 20 mark, the caution returned when Mayer made contact with Blaine Perkins by turning Perkins into Hemric as Perkins proceeded to spin and hit the inside wall towards the pit wall entrance while Hemric limped his No. 11 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro back to pit road with extensive right-front damage. The incident on the frontstretch was one that ended Hemric and Perkin’s run early. During the caution period, a multitude of names that included Buford, Creed, Kligerman, Moffitt, Custer, Herbst, Ryan Sieg, Clements, Grala, Brandon Jones, Mayer, Snider and Retzlaff pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.

    With the event restarting under green on Lap 25, Allgaier and Haley dueled for the lead until Haley was drafted into the lead on the outside lane following a push from Hill. During the following lap, Hill made his move beneath Haley to contend for the lead as he received drafting help from Allgaier on the inside lane. He would then prevail entering the frontstretch and proceed to fend off challenges coming through both lanes.

    Then on the final lap of the first stage, Chandler Smith launched a final corner attack to Hill’s outside as the field jostled and scrambled for positions towards the front. Hill, however, was able to pull ahead on the inside lane through the frontstretch as he claimed the first stage victory on Lap 30. Smith settled in second while Allgaier, Haley, Burton, Creed, Berry, Kligerman, Nemechek and Snider were scored in the top 10 as all received the first wave of stage points of the season. Under the stage break, some led by Hill pitted while the rest led by Creed remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 36 as Creed and Mayer occupied the front row. At the start, Creed received a push from Kligerman to maintain a slight advantage through the backstretch before Mayer fought back after receiving a draft from Herbst’s No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang. As the rest of the field caught up to the two leaders, Creed and Mayer continued to duel for the lead before Herbst drew himself alongside Mayer to ignite his bid for the lead. By Lap 39, however, Mayer managed to pull away with a slight advantage over Creed and Kligerman.

    Then on Lap 40 and as the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes through the frontstretch, the caution returned when Creed, who was getting bumped by Kligerman, got loose as he barely hit Hill before veering into the outside wall just past the frontstretch and with damage to his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro. As the field scrambled to avoid the incident, Allgaier got loose as he also spun his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro from the bottom to the inside lane and just in front of Haley’s nose. Stefan Parsons also spun in the middle of the pack as he limped his car back to pit road with flat tires. During the caution period, some like Haley pitted while the rest led by Mayer remained on the track.

    At the start of the following restart on Lap 45, Mayer prevailed on the outside lane with drafting help from Brandon Jones and in front of two tight-packed lanes. Kligerman would soon challenge Mayer on the inside lane as both engaged in a tight side-by-side battle for the lead. By the Lap 50 mark, however, Hill reclaimed the lead.

    With five laps remaining in the second stage, Allgaier, who methodically carved his way back to the front following his spin, was scored as the leader followed by teammate Mayer, Moffitt, Hill and Jeb Burton.

    When the second stage concluded at the halfway mark on Lap 60, Allgaier fended off teammate Mayer to claim the second stage victory on Lap 60. Mayer settled in second followed by Hill, Jones, Moffitt, Berry, Herbst, Nemechek, Custer, and Sammy Smith, who spun past the frontstretch after he got by Burton, who originally got bumped and turned by Alfredo.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Allgaier pitted while some that included Gray Gaulding, Poole, Joey Gase, CJ McLaughlin and Kyle Sieg remained on the track. All five competitors would eventually pit as Allgaier cycled his way back into the lead.

    With 54 laps remaining, the final stage started as Allgaier and Hill occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier and Hill dueled for the lead through the first two turns and they continued to battle dead even for the lead entering the frontstretch until Allgaier pulled ahead by a hair on the outside lane. He continued to lead the field as the event reached its final 50-lap mark.

    Then with 45 laps remaining, a wave of competitors led by Allgaier pitted under green while the rest led by Nemechek remained on the track. During the pit stops, Kligerman spun, but he managed to straighten his car without hitting the wall. Another lap later, another wave of competitors led by Nemechek pitted under green as Gaulding assumed the lead. Once the final wave of competitors led by Gaulding pitted with nearly 40 laps remaining, Josh Berry cycled his way into the lead followed by Hill, Allgaier, Mayer and Herbst while Jones, Custer, Moffitt, Nemechek and Snider were in the top 10. By then, Allgaier was back in 11th while Kligerman plummeted to 30th.

    Down to the final 35 laps of the event, Berry was leading a 15-car breakaway ahead of Hill, Allgaier, Mayer, Herbst, Jones, Custer, Haley, Buford and Chandler Smith while Alfredo, Burton, Moffitt, Nemechek and Snider.

    Three laps later, the caution flew when CJ McLaughlin and Sammy Smith wrecked on the frontstretch. During the caution period, names like Alfredo, Clements, Retzlaff, Parsons, Josh Williams, Kligerman, Jesse Iwuji, David Starr and Smith pitted while the rest led by Berry remained on the track.

    With 26 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Berry and Hill dueled for the lead until Hill peaked ahead through the first two turns. Berry, however, prevailed on the outside lane as he received a draft from all three of his JR Motorsports teammates to reassume the lead through the backstretch. Then during the following lap, Hill, who was being drafted by Herbst through the first two turns, managed to slide in front of Berry to control the field exiting the backstretch. Soon after, a multitude of competitors settled in a long single-file line on the outside lane as Hill retained the lead followed by Berry, Allgaier, Mayer and Jones while Nemechek, Snider, Ryan Sieg, Alfredo and Jeffrey Earnhardt were scored in the top 10.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, the top-26 competitors were separated by two seconds while running in a long line on the outside lane and as Hill was leading Berry, Allgaier, Mayer, Jones, Nemechek, Snider, Ryan Sieg, Alfredo and Earnhardt while Kligerman, Herbst, Retzlaff, Joe Graf Jr. and Jade Buford, Gaulding, Parker Chase, Josh Williams, Chandler Smith and Haley occupied the top 20.

    A few laps later, Moffitt dropped out of the 26-car train after scraping the wall and limping back to pit road with a flat tire. Despite the contact, the race remained under green flag conditions as Hill continued to lead the JR Motorsports’ quadruplet. Then with 12 laps remaining, Kligerman made a bold move to the inside lane and back up to the outside lane, where he forced Earnhardt into the outside wall in Turns 1 and 2 as Earnhardt fell off the pace with a flat tire.

    With 10 laps remaining, Hill continued to lead a long line of competitors followed by Berry, Allgaier, Mayer and Jones while Nemechek, Snider, Ryan Sieg, Alfredo and Kligerman were scored in the top 10. By then, Parker Retzlaff was in 11th while Herbst, Graf Jr., Buford and Gaulding occupied the top 15.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Hill retained the lead ahead of the pack while the four JR Motorsports’ competitors remained in a single-file lane within the top five. Soon after, Kligerman, who was mired within the top 15, made the first move towards the inside lane as he tried to launch his bid to the front.

    Three laps later, Allgaier initiated a move to the inside lane as he overtook Berry for the runner-up spot. Hill then moved back to the bottom of the track to block Allgaier as Jones opted to follow Allgaier. Then on the backstretch, Jones got turned by teammate Berry while running third as he spun his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro through the grass. The incident not only displayed the caution, but it also sent the field into overtime. Prior to overtime, however, Berry fell off the pace after his No. 8 Bass Pro Shops Club Chevrolet Camaro ran out of fuel. This allowed Alfredo and Nemechek to move up the leaderboard within the top five behind Hill, Allgaier and Mayer.

    At the start of the first overtime attempt, Allgaier and Hill duked for the lead, with Hill receiving a draft from Alfredo while Allgaier battled back on the inside lane followed by teammate Mayer. Exiting the backstretch, Allgaier started to pull away on the inside lane as he placed a huge distance between himself and a side-by-side battle between Mayer and Hill.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allgaier remained as the leader, but was far ahead of the pack that quickly caught back to him through the first two turns amid the draft. Through Turns 1 and 2, Mayer made a bold move to Allgaier’s outside to assume a brief advantage. Then entering the backstretch, he moved up in front of Hill’s front nose to block him while also bumping into Allgaier. This resulted with Mayer getting loose as Hill made contact and turned Mayer across the straightaway and into the outside wall. As a result, Mayer’s No. 1 Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet Camaro hit the wall and overturned on its roof as he slid upside down amid a shower of sparks throughout the backstretch before flipping back on all four wheels in the grass. While a majority of the field dodged the carnage, additional names that included Kligerman, Alfredo, Buford and David Starr also wrecked.

    With the event concluding under caution, NASCAR was left to determine the winner between a tight three-wide battle between Hill, Nemechek and Allgaier. Following an extensive review, Hill was declared the official winner as he emerged out in front of both Nemechek and Allgaier when the caution was displayed.

    With the victory, Hill claimed his third career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and his first since winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway in July 2022. He also became the first Xfinity competitor of this season to be guaranteed a spot for the 2023 Xfinity Playoffs while also recording the eighth Daytona Xfinity victory for Richard Childress Racing and the 50th overall for Chevrolet. By winning the opener at Daytona for a second consecutive year, he became the first competitor to win the opener at Daytona in consecutive seasons since Tony Stewart achieved four consecutive opener wins from 2008 to 2011.

    “I have no idea [how I won],” Hill said on FS1. “I don’t know. I didn’t feel like the inside line was that great all day, for most of the day. I just wanted to choose the top [lane]. I knew [Alfredo] would stay with me. He was pretty committed. When I saw [Mayer] and [Allgaier] get together, I went to go squeeze him. [Mayer] came down. He started getting loose and then, you can’t lift. It’s the last lap. I hope Sam’s okay. That was a heck of flip there, but as soon as the caution lights came out, I thought I had it, but it’s so close. To get back to back [wins] here at Daytona, it’s really special. That’s three wins for me now [at Daytona]. I can’t thank everyone at [Richard Childress Racing]. Our Bennett Chevrolet was so good. We came from the back two different times. [I] Hoped everyone enjoyed [the race]. It was such a blast. I had so much. We won at Daytona! Let’s go!”

    With Hill emerging as the winner, John Hunter Nemechek settled in second place followed by Allgaier, who led 36 laps before being overtaken on the final lap.

    “[I’m] Really proud of everybody at JR Motorsports,” Allgaier said. “Our Chevy Camaros were absolutely blazing fast. This whole team’s worked their guts out. To have the adversity that we had tonight, to go to the back and have that spin, just battled our way through. It’s crazy how fast our car was tonight and how good we were in traffic. [I’m] Disappointed. I thought I could get enough of a draft off of [Berry] and maybe, they couldn’t catch me, but I just got too far out there. That was really all it came down to, but proud of our team. Really proud of the effort we put in. I think we got a lot to walk out of here with our confidence high. We’ll go on next week to California and I think we’ll be as equally fast.”

    Rookie Parker Retzlaff and Myatt Snider finished in the top five while Herbst, Joe Graf Jr., Ryan Sieg, Custer and Haley came home in the top 10 in the final running order. Mayer, who ended up 27th following his final lap wreck, emerged uninjured.

    There were 25 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 32 laps.

    Following the first event of the 2023 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by six points over Justin Allgaier, 18 over John Hunter Nemechek, 23 over Riley Herbst and 24 over Chandler Smith.

    Results.

    1. Austin Hill, 39 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. John Hunter Nemechek, eight laps led

    3. Justin Allgaier, 36 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    4. Parker Retzlaff

    5. Myatt Snider

    6. Riley Herbst

    7. Joe Graf Jr.

    8. Ryan Sieg

    9. Cole Custer, one lap led

    10. Justin Haley, one lap led

    11. Jeb Burton

    12. Chandler Smith

    13. Stefan Parsons

    14. Brandon Jones

    15. Josh Williams

    16. Parker Chase

    17. Jeremy Clements

    18. Joey Gase

    19. Sammy Smith

    20. Gray Gaulding, one lap led

    21. Kyle Sieg

    22. David Starr, two laps led

    23. Parker Kligerman, one lap led

    24. Anthony Alfredo

    25. Jade Buford

    26. Josh Berry, 17 laps led

    27. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident, 14 laps led

    28. Jeffrey Earnhardt, one lap down

    29. Brett Moffitt, one lap down

    30. Jesse Iwuji – OUT, Electrical

    31. CJ McLaughlin – OUT, Accident

    32. Kaz Grala – OUT, Engine

    33. Brennan Poole – OUT, Engine

    34. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident, five laps led

    35. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident

    36. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

    37. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Accident

    38. Bayley Currey – OUT, Engine

    With the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season underway, the competitors and teams will be embarking on a three-race West Coast swing, beginning at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, which will mark the series’ final competition at the two-mile speedway venue. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, February 25, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • John Hunter Nemechek inks full-time Xfinity Series ride with Joe Gibbs Racing for 2023 season

    John Hunter Nemechek inks full-time Xfinity Series ride with Joe Gibbs Racing for 2023 season

    John Hunter Nemechek will be returning to the NASCAR Xfinity Series on a full-time basis and pilot the No. 20 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing in his quest for the series championship.

    The news comes as the 25-year-old Nemechek from Mooresville, North Carolina, is coming off two full-time seasons in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with Kyle Busch Motorsports, where he scored seven victories, qualified for the Playoffs during both seasons and achieved the 2021 Truck Series regular-season championship. In addition to his Truck schedule, he competed in a total of 16 Xfinity events between Joe Gibbs Racing and Sam Hunt Racing. During his part-time campaign in the Xfinity circuit, Nemechek won at Texas Motor Speedway with JGR in October 2021. He also piloted the team’s No. 18 Toyota Supra in three events this past season and achieved his best run at Richmond Raceway in April after finishing second.

    The 2023 season will mark Nemechek’s first full-time campaign in the Xfinity circuit since 2019, where he recorded six top-five results and 19 top-10 results as he qualified for the 2019 Xfinity Playoffs and finished in seventh place in the final standings while competing for GMS Racing.

    Through 67 previous starts in the Xfinity Series, Nemechek has achieved two victories, one pole, 17 top-five results, 37 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 12.6.

    “I’m appreciative of the opportunity to get back to competing full time in the Xfinity Series,” Nemechek said. “JGR is a group that I know I can win with after getting that win at Texas in 2021. I’m excited to get to work on the 2023 season so we can go out and win some races and compete for a championship.”

    Mobil 1 will be serving as Nemechek’s primary sponsor with additional sponsorship support coming from Berry’s Bullets, Pye Barker Fire and Safety, Romco Equipment and his Grocery Store Brands throughout the season. Ben Beshore, who spent the previous two seasons in the Cup Series as a crew chief for Kyle Busch, will be returning to the Xfinity Series for the first time since 2020 to serve as Nemechek’s crew chief.

    The addition of Nemechek to Joe Gibbs Racing means that he will be serving as one of the team’s two full-time competitors for the 2023 Xfinity season. Sammy Smith was announced as the full-time driver of the No. 18 Toyota two days ago.

    “John Hunter has shown the dedication it takes to be a successful racecar driver,” Steve DeSouza, Executive Vice President, Xfinity Series and Driver Development, added. “He has experience at all levels of NASCAR that will be valuable to the team in 2023. We are excited to add him to our driver lineup for the year and look forward to the success the No. 20 team will see.”

    With his plans for the upcoming season set, Nemechek’s quest for the 2023 Xfinity Series championship with Joe Gibbs Racing will commence at Daytona International Speedway on February 18. The event is slated to commence at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Zane Smith earns first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship at Phoenix

    Zane Smith earns first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship at Phoenix

    After finishing in the runner-up spot in the final standings during the previous two seasons, the third time was the lucky charm for Zane Smith as he prevailed in a late battle against his title rivals to win the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship along with the season-finale Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway on Friday, November 4.

    In total, the 23-year-old Smith from Huntington Beach, California, led five times for a race-high 77 of 154 over-scheduled laps during the finale from pole position. Despite losing a combined five spots on pit road during the conclusion of both stages, which he won both, he remained within striking distance of the title fight and against his title rivals throughout the final stage. From executing a bold three-wide pass for the lead during a restart with 39 laps remaining to pitting for four fresh tires and restarting towards the top 10 with 10 laps remaining, Smith carved his way back to the runner-up spot and received another opportunity to reassume the lead after title rival Ty Majeski spun with four laps remaining, an incident that nearly collected Smith. Then during an overtime attempt, Smith prevailed in a late battle against Rhodes and Chandler Smith, including a final lap “bump-and-run” attempt from Rhodes, to assume the lead for good and proceed to win both the finale and claim his first elusive NASCAR national touring series championship.  

    The 2022 Truck Series championship comes in Smith’s third full-time season in the series and his first with Front Row Motorsports, where he commenced the season by winning at Daytona International Speedway in February and notching two additional victories throughout the regular-season stretch before clinching the 2022 Truck Series regular-season title, entering the Playoffs with momentum and utilizing consistency to transfer all the way to the Championship 4 round.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Zane Smith, a Championship 4 finalist, claimed the final pole position of the 2022 season and the first of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 138.032 mph in 26.081 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Layne Riggs, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 137.825 mph in 26.120 seconds. Zane Smith’s other three championship rivals that included Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski and Chandler Smith qualified sixth, eighth and 12th, respectively.

    Prior to the event, Derek Kraus dropped to the rear of the field in a backup truck along with rookie Dean Thompson, who dropped back due to an engine change to his truck.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Zane Smith fended off an early charge from rookie Corey Heim to retain the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch as he went on to lead the first lap. During the following lap, however, Layne Riggs mounted a charge through Turns 1 and 2 as he overtook Smith for the lead. Despite being challenged by Smith, Riggs retained the top spot as the field behind jostled for positions.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Riggs was leading by two-tenths of a second over Zane followed by Heim, Stewart Friesen and Ben Rhodes while Ty Majeski, Matt Crafton, John Hunter Nemechek, Tanner Gray and Christian Eckes were running in the top 10. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith, the fourth and final title contender, was in 12th while trying to march his way to the front.

    Two laps later, the first caution flew when Keith McGee and Armani Williams, both of whom were battling at the rear of the field, wrecked in Turn 3. The two-truck wreck occurred a lap early after Zane Smith had reassumed the lead over Riggs.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 13, Zane Smith rocketed with a strong start to retain the lead as the field fanned out through the dogleg and entering Turn 2. Meanwhile, Heim moved up to second followed by Riggs, who soon after lost third place to teammate Friesen, while Rhodes retained fifth.

    By Lap 20, Zane Smith’s No. 38 Michael Roberts Construction Ford F-150 was leading by more than a second over Heim’s No. 51 Crescent Tools Toyota Tundra TRD Pro followed by Friesen, Riggs and Rhodes while Grant Enfinger, Nemechek, Crafton, Eckes and Chandler Smith occupied the top 10. Meanwhile, Majeski, who was running within the top 10, was back in 11th ahead of brothers Tanner and Taylor Gray while Rajah Caruth and Matt DiBenedetto were running in the top 15.

    Five laps later, Zane Smith stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Heim while Friesen, Riggs and Rhodes remained in the top five. By then, Nemchek moved up to sixth following a fierce battle against Enfinger, who fell back to seventh and was being pressured by Matt Crafton for more. Chandler Smith and Majeski were back in ninth and 11th, respectively.

    Another 10 laps later, Zane Smith extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Heim followed by Friesen and a side-by-side battle for fourth place between Riggs and Nemechek. While Zane Smith remained as the top-running title contender with the race lead, his title rivals that included Rhodes, Chandler Smith and Majeski were back in seventh, ninth and 10th, respectively.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Zane Smith struck first early in his championship bid by capturing his ninth stage victory of the 2022 season. Heim settled in second followed by Friesen, Nemechek and Crafton while Rhodes, Enfinger, Chandler Smith, Eckes and Riggs were scored in the top 10. By then, Majeski was scored in 11th after getting edged by Riggs at the start/finish line.

    Under the stage break, the field led by Zane Smith pitted for fresh tires, fuel and adjustments. Following the pit stops, Heim exited first followed by teammate Nemechek, Zane Smith, teammate Chandler Smith, Enfinger, Majeski and Crafton. Following the pit stops, trouble struck for Eckes, who initially exited ninth but limped back to his pit stall with the left-front tire on his No. 98 CMR Toyota Tundra TRD Pro locked up and igniting sparks around the circuit.

    The second stage started on Lap 53 as teammates Heim and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start and as the field fanned out through the dogleg, Heim retained the lead ahead of teammates Nemechek and Chandler Smith followed by Zane Smith. During the following lap, however, Nemechek assumed the lead in his No. 4 Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota Tundra TRD Pro followed by Heim, Chandler Smith and Zane Smith as the field behind continued to jostle for positions. By then, Carson Hocevar was assessed a pass-through penalty for a restart violation.

    By Lap 60, Nemechek was leading by a second over title contender Zane Smith followed by Chandler Smith, Heim and Majeski while Friesen, Enfinger, Crafton, Taylor Gray and Rhodes were in the top 10.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 75, Nemechek retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over Zane Smith followed by Chandler Smith, Heim and Friesen while Majeski, Crafton, Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Rhodes were scored in the top 10 ahead of Caruth, Tyler Ankrum, Riggs, DiBenedetto, Tanner Gray and Eckes. By then, 22 of 35 competitors were scored on the lead lap.

    Nearly five laps later, the battle for the lead ignited between Nemechek and Zane Smith as Smith tried to overtake Nemechek through the backstretch. Nemechek, however, retained the top spot through Turns 3 and 4 and continued to lead ahead of a hard-charging Smith.

    Then with four laps remaining in the second stage and following his late battle against Nemechek, Zane Smith emerged out in front with the lead despite Nemechek fighting back through every turn and straightaway. Despite being drawn against Nemechek during the following three laps, Zane Smith was able to fend off Nemechek as he went on to capture his series-leading 10th stage victory of the 2022 season and second of the night on Lap 90 as he struck yet again in his bid to claim his first NASCAR championship. Nemechek settled in second while Chandler Smith, Heim, Majeski, Crafton, Enfinger, Friesen, Taylor Gray and Rhodes were scored in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, the field led by Zane Smith returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Nemechek exited with the top spot followed by Chandler Smith, Heim, Zane Smith, Majeski and Rhodes. In the midst of the pit stops, DiBenedetto was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    With 52 laps remaining, the final stage started as teammates Nemechek and Chandler Smith occupied the front row. At the start and as the field fanned out through the dogleg again, Chandler Smith retained the lead ahead of teammate Nemechek, Zane Smith and Heim. Then the caution quickly returned when Eckes spun and backed his truck against the Turn 1 outside wall after getting hit by Tyler Ankrum entering the turn and in the midst of the field fanning out to multiple lanes.

    When the race restarted with 45 laps remaining, Chandler Smith briefly retained the lead ahead of the field through the dogleg and the first two turns until teammate Nemechek challenged and overtook Smith on the outside lane for the top spot. The caution, however, quickly returned once again due to a multi-truck wreck in Turn 1 that involved Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth, Riggs and Kraus.

    During the following restart with 39 laps remaining, Zane Smith, who restarted on the inside lane behind Nemechek, used the dogleg to his advantage as he launched a three-wide challenge and drew himself in a bid for the lead alongside Chandler Smith. He then managed to overtake and clear Chandler Smith for the lead exiting the backstretch and entering Turn 3 while Nemechek settled in third. 

    With 30 laps remaining, Zane Smith was leading both the race and the championship by seven-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith’s No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra TRD Pro while Nemechek, Enfinger and Majeski and Rhodes were in the top six ahead of Heim, Crafton, Kaden Honeycutt and Ankrum.

    Ten laps later, Zane Smith continued to lead by nine-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith while Nemechek, Enfinger and Majeski remained in the top five on the track. Meanwhile, the fourth and final Playoff competitor, Rhodes, was back in seventh behind Heim.

    Then another four laps later, the caution flew when Hailie Deegan cut a left-tire tire and went dead straight into the outside wall in Turn 3 as her final race with David Gilliland Racing came to a late end. During the caution period, Friesen and Hocevar remained on the track while the rest led by Zane Smith pitted. Following the pit stops, Rhodes exited pit road first after opting for a two-tire pit strategy followed by DiBenedetto, Honeycutt and the Gray brothers, all of whom opted for just two fresh tires. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith was the first competitor to exit pit road with four fresh tires in sixth place followed by Majeski, Nemechek and Zane Smith.

    With the race restarting with 10 laps remaining, the field fanned out as Friesen retained the lead ahead of Rhodes and Hocevar. As both Zane and Chandler Smith were trying to carve their way back towards the front, teammates Rhodes and Majeski battled for second and for the title, with the former trying to overtake Friesen for the race lead. 

    With seven laps remaining, Rhodes overtook Friesen for the lead on two fresh tires entering the backstretch as he commenced his late charge to defend his series title. By then, however, Zane Smith carved his way back into the runner-up spot while both Majeski and Chandler Smith were were trying to overtake Friesen to maintain their title hopes.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, the final four title contenders were first through fourth on the track, with Rhodes leading ahead of Zane Smith, Majeksi and Chandler Smith. 

    Then during the following lap, Majeski’s championship hopes evaporated after the Wisconsin native made contact with Zane Smith entering the backstretch while battling for the runner-up spot, which caused Majeski’s No. 66 Road Ranger Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to get loose as he spun and made light contact against the inside wall. Majeski’s incident was also enough to send the event into overtime as the event exceeded past its scheduled distance.

    During the first overtime attempt, Zane Smith, who opted to restart behind Rhodes on the inside lane, used the dogleg to his advantage as he managed to overtake both Chandler Smith and Rhodes through the first two turns to reassume the lead. Chandler Smith then crossed over to Zane’s Ford on the inside lane as he tried to stall Zane’s run while drawing even with Zane through the backstretch. Chandler, however, slightly slid up the track through Turn 3, which allowed Zane Smith to pull ahead while Rhodes rejoined the battle for the lead and the championship.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Zane Smith was out in front by a mere margin over Chandler Smith and Rhodes. Through the first two turns, Zane Smith pulled ahead followed by a hard-charging Rhodes while Chandler Smith fell back to third. With Rhodes setting up a final attempt on Zane Smith for the victory and the title, he then got to Zane’s rear bumper in an attempt to bump and move him up the track to overtake him. The bump, however, was not enough to stall Smith’s momentum as the Californian managed to remain ahead of Rhodes and beat him to the finish line by two-tenths of a second to win the finale and clinch his first series championship.

    With his accomplishment, Zane Smith, who ended up as the championship runner-up during the previous two seasons while competing for GMS Racing, became the 20th different competitor to win the Truck Series championship along with becoming the first Ford competitor to win a Truck title since Matt Crafton made the last accomplishment in 2019. He also recorded the first NASCAR drivers’ and owners’ championships to Front Row Motorsports in the team’s third season in the series with crew chief Chris Lawson also achieving his first NASCAR Truck title. With the champion Zane Smith winning the finale, this marks the third time since the series’ Playoff elimination-style format was incepted in 2016 where the championship-winning competitor won the finale.

    “Oh my god,” Smith, who will be remaining in the Truck Series with Front Row Motorsports for 2023, said on FS1. “Third time’s a charm. I wanted this [championship] more than anyone in the world. I don’t care what anyone says. Thank you, all you race fans. My whole team, man. I was crying that whole lap. My fiancé, McCall, stuck to me with all the brutal times. I’ve wanted this championship for so long. I’ve wanted this moment all my whole life. Thank you, everyone. That’s all I got. I wasn’t gonna let it go down like that. I was either wrecked or I was winning this [championship]. There was no other option. Last year and the year before, we showed so much speed and should’ve won a lot more races than we did, but [team owner] Bob Jenkins is the only reason why I’m here right now. Without him, none of this would be possible. When I came [to Front Row Motorsports], all I cared about was the guys that were on this team and I had seen their work ethics. I’d seen the effort they put in and I know they wanted it as bad as I do. I didn’t care what the trucks looked like. All I knew was their work ethic was there and we could make a championship out of this team.”

    While Smith celebrated a championship on the championship stage, Rhodes was left disappointed with his runner-up result both in the event and in the final standings as he came one position shy of defending his series crown.

    “Two tires versus four. That was the name of the game,” Rhodes said. “We didn’t have the pace all night that we needed to be up there and compete, so it was a great heads-up call by my crew chief. Ultimately, we just didn’t need that last caution. I think we could’ve held [the field] off for the final few laps. I was giving [Zane Smith] all the dirty air he could handle. I think we were gonna be fine until that caution just got us. I did what I could on the restart to try to get a jump, but with two tires versus four, I just didn’t have the grip I needed. I tried to hold him off the best I could. [I] Threw a move on him at the very end and just didn’t have enough grip to make it stick. All in all, I am proud of my Kubota Toyota Tundra team, ThorSport Racing. We didn’t have the pace, but we got up there. That’s what matters at the end. We just got to go back, do our homework. Second is not fun. I’m gonna mope my way all the way back to Kentucky…I’d like to not be coming to clutch all the time.”

    With Zane Smith and Rhodes finishing first and second both on the track and in the final standings, Chandler Smith ended up in third place while Majeski, who settled in 20th place during the finale, ended up in fourth place in the final standings. Despite ending up in third place in his final event with Kyle Busch Motorsports, Chandler Smith remained optimistic approaching next season as he will be moving up to the Xfinity Series to drive for Kaulig Racing.

    “It just wasn’t meant to be,” Smith said. “We were mistake free. The pit crew was on top of it. [We] Gained positions every time on pit road. Had a shot at the end. I’m at peace with that because at the end of the day, it’s all part of the bigger plan. It was fun racing with [Zane Smith]. I appreciate the opportunity [from] Safelite,[Kyle Busch Motorsports], Toyota Racing Development’s given me for the past six-plus years. It sucks that it’s ending, but onwards to bigger and better things over at Kaulig Racing. Really looking forward to starting next year already.”

    Like Smith, Ty Majeski, who clinched his spot for the Championship 4 on the strength of Playoff victories at Bristol Motor Speedway and at Talladega Superspeedway, remained positive over his attempted run for the title as he looks ahead to next season.

    “I was being aggressive there,” Majeski said. “We wanted to bring a championship home for Duke and Rhonda [Thorson] and everybody at ThorSport [Racing]. I thought the best opportunity there for us was to try to wiggle [Smith] a little bit and try to get underneath him and try to set up the race between Ben [Rhodes] and I. I was just trying to be aggressive underneath him and lost it off of [Turn] 2. All you can ask for is the chance to win the championship with five to go and we had that tonight, and it just didn’t pan out. I’m proud of our season and proud of what we accomplished as a 66 bunch. [Crew chief] Joe [Shear Jr.] and the team have been great to work with. It just stings to be that close and see it in front of you and just come up a little bit short. We will come back next year and come back stronger.”

    John Hunter Nemechek finished fourth in the finale and fifth in the final standings in his second and final campaign with Kyle Busch Motorsports while Friesen wrapped up the season in fifth place on the track and in sixth place in the standings. Enfinger, Heim, Tanner Gray, Kaden Honeycutt and Carson Hocevar completed the top 10 on the track.

    With his seventh-place result, Heim clinched the 2022 Truck Series Rookie-of-the-Year title. With 12 victories to this season, Toyota was awarded their 13th manufacturer’s title in the Truck circuit.

    The 2022 NASCAR Truck Series season marks the 14th and final season under title sponsorship from Camping World as Craftsman Tools will be filling in the role and returning as a title sponsor for the series since 2008.

    There were 15 lead changes for seven different leaders. The finale featured five cautions for 42 laps.

    Results.

    1. Zane Smith, 77 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Ben Rhodes, eight laps led

    3. Chandler Smith, nine laps led

    4. John Hunter Nemechek, 44 laps led

    5. Stewart Friesen, six laps led

    6. Grant Enfinger

    7. Corey Heim, five laps led

    8. Tanner Gray

    9. Kaden Honeycutt

    10. Carson Hocevar 

    11. Derek Kraus

    12. Matt Crafton

    13. Layne Riggs, five laps led

    14. Tyler Ankrum

    15. Colby Howard

    16. Jake Garcia

    17. Taylor Gray

    18. Lawlesss Alan

    19. Chase Purdy

    20. Ty Majeski 

    21. Dean Thompson

    22. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

    23. Tyler Hill, two laps down

    24. Austin Wayne Self, two laps down

    25. Blaine Perkins, two laps down

    26. Chris Hacker, two laps down

    27. Timmy Hill, two laps down

    28. Johnny Sauter, two laps down

    29. Jack Wood, three laps down

    30. Christian Eckes, three laps down

    31. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Accident

    32. Rajah Caruth – OUT, Accident

    33. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Too slow

    34. Keith McGee – OUT, Dvp

    35. Armami Williams – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Championship finalists

    Final standings

    1. Zane Smith 

    2. Ben Rhodes

    3. Chandler Smith

    4. Ty Majeski

    5. John Hunter Nemechek

    6. Stewart Friesen

    7. Grant Enfinger

    8. Christian Eckess

    9. Matt Crafton

    10. Carson Hocevar

    The NASCAR Truck Series competitors and teams enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2023, to commence a new season of racing.

     

  • Larson rallies for dominant Cup victory at Homestead

    Larson rallies for dominant Cup victory at Homestead

    Kyle Larson rallied from a two-race slump that vanquished his hopes of defending his NASCAR Cup Series championship by grabbing a dominant victory in the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, October 23.

    The 2021 Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led five times for a race-high 199 of 267-scheduled laps as he also rallied from making late-race contact with Martin Truex Jr. on pit road during a late caution period that knocked Truex out of contention to fend off Ross Chastain and the field during a 17-lap dash to the finish. The victory was Larson’s first at Homestead in NASCAR’s premier series along with his third of the season. 

    Mired within Larson’s dominant victory at Homestead was the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs as no Playoff competitor was able to win at Miami nor join Joey Logano with early automatic passes to the Championship 4 round. With that, three spots remain vacant approaching next weekend’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway, which will determine the four finalists who will contend for this year’s title.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Playoff competitor William Byron captured his first pole position of the 2022 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 166.389 mph in 32.454 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff competitor Christopher Bell, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 166.139 mph in 32.503 seconds.

    Prior to the event, rookie Todd Gilliland and Corey LaJoie dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Byron pulled ahead and managed to clear Bell entering the first turn to assume full command of the field through the backstretch. As the field behind fanned out and jostled early for positions, Byron proceeded to lead the first lap. As John Hunter Nemechek, who was filling in for the suspended Bubba Wallace, challenged Bell for the runner-up spot, a three-car battle for fourth place between Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott ensued while Ryan Blaney started to join the battle.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Byron was leading by nine-tenths of a second over teammate Larson followed by Bell, Nemechek and Elliott while Blaney, Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick was in 11th ahead of Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick while Martin Truex Jr., Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola and Michael McDowell battled in the top 20 on the track.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Byron retained the lead by nine-tenths of a second over teammate Larson followed by Bell and Nemechek while Allmendinger moved into fifth place over Elliott. By then, five of the remaining eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10, minus Chastain, Hamlin and Chase Briscoe. 

    Fifteen laps later, Byron continued to lead by nearly half a second over teammate Larson followed by a hard-charging Reddick. Nemechek and Allmendinger were scored in the top five while Bell, Elliott, Logano, Chastain and Blaney were running in the top 10. With six of eight Playoff competitors running in the top 10, the remaining two that included Hamlin and Briscoe were running in 13th and 20th, respectively.

    Two laps later, Larson muscled his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead over teammate Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. By then, both Hendrick Motorsports competitors were more than five seconds ahead of third-place Reddick’s No. 8 3Chi Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

    Another four laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Nemechek, who was running in fourth place, got loose while running close towards the outside lane entering the backstretch and slipped sideways before spinning the No. 45 Columbia Toyota TRD Camry across the track and towards the infield before making contact with the inside wall and continuing. During the first caution period, the leaders led by Byron pitted early for tires, fuel and adjustments. Following the pit stops, Byron reassumed the lead after exiting in first place followed by teammate Larson, with Reddick, Bell and Elliott in the top five spots.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 35, Byron retained the lead over Larson, Reddick and Elliott as the field fanned out through the first two turns and through the backstretch before returning to the frontstretch. Three laps later, the battle for the lead intensified as Larson reassumed the top spot over teammate Byron while Reddick remained in third ahead of Elliott and a hard-charging Allmendinger. Meanwhile, Keselowski was in sixth ahead of Blaney, Chastain and Bell while Truex trailed behind in 10th.

    By Lap 45 and with a series of on-track battles occurring around Homestead, Larson was leading by more than a second over Reddick, who prevailed in a battle against Byron for the runner-up spot, while Allmendinger was battling Elliott for fourth place. Behind, Keselowski remained in sixth ahead of Blaney, Truex, Chastain and Logano while Bell, Austin Dillon, Buescher, Gibbs, Justin Haley, Daniel Suarez, Aric Almirola, Harvick, Hamlin and Briscoe occupied the top 20 ahead of Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, Corey LaJoie and rookie Harrison Burton. Meanwhile, rookie Austin Cindric was in 27th, Noah Gragson was in 29th while filling in for Alex Bowman and Nemechek was mired back in 31st.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than five seconds over Reddick while Byron, Allmendinger and Truex were scored in the top five. By then, Austin Dillon was in the top 10 in seventh place behind Elliott while Keselowski, Logano and Blaney occupied the top 10 on the track. 

    Another 10 laps later, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than nine seconds over runner-up Reddick and nearly 10 seconds over teammate Byron while Allmendinger and Truex battled for fourth place. Soon after, Austin Dillon started to close in on Elliott for sixth place while Playoff competitors Chastain, Hamlin, Bell and Briscoe were mired outside the top 10.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 80, Larson captured his fifth stage victory of the 2022 season with an advantage of more than eight seconds over teammate Byron, who managed to hold off Truex in the closing stages of the first stage. Reddick, who briefly fell off the pace a few laps earlier, settled in fourth ahead of teammate Austin Dillon, Allmendinger, Keselowski, Elliott, Blaney and Logano. By then, four of eight Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 and received the first round of stage points while the remaining Playoff competitors that included Hamlin, Chastain, Bell and Briscoe were mired in 13th, 14th, 15th and 17th, respectively. In addition 29 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Larson returned to pit road for service and Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by teammate Byron, Truex, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Elliott.

    The second stage started on Lap 87 as teammates Larson and Byron occupied the front row. At the start and as the field fanned out entering the first turn, Byron and Larson dueled for the lead and they remained dead even through the frontstretch and back to the backstretch during the following lap. Soon after, Larson cleared Byron to retain the lead as Truex initiated his challenge for the runner-up spot over Byron. Behind, Elliott was in fourth ahead of Keselowski and Blaney while Allmendinger, who endured a slow pit road during the first stage break, made his way to seventh in front of Chastain, Austin Dillon and Logano.

    Through the first 100 scheduled laps, Larson was leading by more than a second over Truex, who overtook Byron two laps earlier, while Blaney and Elliott were scored in the top five ahead of Keselowski, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Logano and Allmendinger. By then, Suarez was in 11th ahead of Reddick, Harvick, Bell and Hamlin while Kyle Busch, Haley, Cindric, Stenhouse and Buescher were scored in the top 20. In addition, 30 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Fifteen laps later, Larson extended his advantage to nearly three seconds over Truex while third-place Byron, who was the highest-running Playoff competitor on the track, trailed by more than six seconds. By then, four of eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 while Logano, Hamlin, Bell and Briscoe were mired back in 12th, 14th, 18th and 20th.

    Nearly five laps later, the first round of green flag pit stops commenced as Cindric pitted along with Cole Custer, Briscoe, Logano, Harrison Burton and a bevy of competitors. Not long after, Larson surrendered the lead to pit as he nearly made contact with Landon Cassill as Cassill got sideways while trying to pit. In the process, Larson nearly got hit by Hamlin, who was exiting his pit stall while Larson was trying to enter his. Following the pit stops, Gragson was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    By Lap 125 and with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop, Bell, who had yet to pit, was leading by more than seven seconds over Nemechek followed by Larson, the first competitor on four fresh tires and fuel. Another two laps later, Larson reassumed the lead once Bell and Nemechek pitted.

    At the halfway mark between Laps 133 and 134, Larson was leading by more than five seconds over Truex followed by Byron, Blaney and Keselowski while Elliott, Chastain, Suarez, Harvick and Logano were in the top 10. Allmendinger was in 11th ahead of Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Stenhouse and Cindric while Buescher, Haley, Burton, Briscoe and Bell occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Almirola was mired in 21st followed by McDowell, Austin Dillon and Corey LaJoie, all of whom were scored on the lead lap, while Ty Gibbs was the first competitor mired a lap down in 25th. Reddick, who missed his pit box during the green flag pit stops, was strapped in 26th, Gragson was in 28th ahead of Erik Jones and Nemechek, who endured a slow pit stop to tighten a loose left-front wheel, was in 30th.

    By Lap 150, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than four seconds over runner-up Truex and more than nine seconds over third-place Byron while Blaney and Keselowski were running in the top five. 

    Eleven laps later, the caution flew when Playoff competitor Briscoe, who made contact with Nemechek on the frontstretch a few laps earlier, briefly got loose before getting into the outside wall hard in Turn 1 and fell off the pace with damage to the right side of his car. Briscoe’s incident was enough to terminate his day in the garage due to suspension damage to his No. 14 Magical Vacation Planner Ford Mustang as he now faces a “must-win” situation next weekend at Martinsville Speedway to maintain his championship hopes. It was also enough for the second stage scheduled on Lap 165 to conclude under caution as Larson captured his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season and completed a stage sweep of the day. Truex settled in second while Byron, Blaney, Keselowski, Elliott, Suarez, Chastain, Logano and Hamlin were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Larson pitted and Larson retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Truex, Byron, Blaney and Elliott.

    With 97 laps remaining, the final stage started as Larson and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, Larson and Truex dueled for the lead until Larson managed to fend off Truex and Byron to retain the lead through the backstretch as the field fanned out. Through the frontstretch, Blaney muscled his No. 12 Pennzoil/Menards Ford Mustang into third place over Hamlin, Elliott and Truex while Larson remained as the leader ahead of Byron.

    Seven laps later, Larson was out in front by more than a second over Blaney, who continued to rocket his way towards the front, while Hamlin, Truex and Byron were in the top five. Meanwhile, Elliott was in sixth ahead of Suarez and Logano while Chastain and Keselowski occupied the top 10.

    Another four laps later, Hamlin got loose entering Turn 1 and made contact with the wall while battling Blaney for the runner-up spot. Despite falling back to fifth, Hamlin managed to continue running straight and the race proceeded under green.

    With 75 laps remaining, Larson extended his advantage to more than five seconds over Blaney followed by Truex while Elliott was running in fourth ahead of Hamlin, Logano, Suarez, Chastain, Harvick and Byron.

    Then with nearly 60 laps remaining, another round of green flag pit stops commenced as Byron pitted, though he endured a slow pit stop to tighten a loose wheel, along with Logano, Blaney, Reddick, Elliott, Truex, Chastain and others. A few laps later, however, the caution returned when Blaney, who had just made a pit stop, spun on the access road while exiting pit road.

    During the caution period, the remaining competitor who had yet to pit, including the leader, Larson, pitted. With 19 competitors scored on the lead lap, Truex cycled his way into the lead followed by Chastain while Larson, who was the first competitor to exit pit road, lined up in third place alongside Suarez.

    When the race restarted with 51 laps remaining, Hamlin made a bold move beneath Chastain and Truex to assume the lead entering the backstretch as the field fanned out and scrambled for late positions. As Hamlin remained out in front while navigating his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry back to the frontstretch, Chastain and Truex battled for second while Larson was trying to navigate around Keselowski for fourth. With 46 laps remaining, however, Truex, who was riding a one-year winless drought, muscled his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry into the lead.

    With 35 laps remaining, Truex was leading by more than a second over Chastain followed by Larson, Hamlin and Allmendinger while Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Harvick, Stenhouse and Logano were running in the top 10. By then, three of seven Playoff competitors running on the track were running in the top 10 while Bell, Elliott, Byron, and Blaney were mired back in 12th, 14th, 15th and 17th.

    A few laps later, Larson rocketed by Chastain for the runner-up spot as he commenced his charge on Truex for the lead. 

    With 23 laps remaining, the caution returned when Reddick slipped sideways while running towards the outside wall entering the backstretch before he spun his No. 8 3Chi Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 below the track and hit the inside wall hard as his race came to an end. During the caution period, the leaders led by Truex peeled off the track to pit. As the field approached their respective pit stalls, a bump from Larson sent Truex spinning and sliding into his pit stall as Truex came to rest in his stall backward. The issue, which forced Truex’s pit crew to service the car while the No. 19 Toyota was backward, plummeted Truex below the leaderboard as Larson, who did not sustain any damage to his No. 5 Chevrolet, rallied to exit pit road first followed by Hamlin, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Keselowski and Harvick.

    Down to the final 17 laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Larson fended off both Hamlin and Chastain to retain the lead through the first two turns. With the field jostling for later positions, Hamlin and Chastain dueled for second in front of Harvick, Allmendinger and Austin Dillon while Larson was trying to pull away with the lead.

    A few laps later, a three-car battle for the runner-up spot commenced as Allmendinger overtook Hamlin for the spot followed by a hard-charging Chastain, who squeezed his No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into third place over Hamlin in Turn 3, as they were all within less than a second behind the leader Larson.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson was leading by three-tenths of a second over Chastain, who was being attacked by Allmendinger for the spot, as Austin Dillon moved up to fourth. Meanwhile, Hamlin was back in fifth while being closed in by Keselowski. 

    Another few laps later, Chastain and Allmendinger continued to duel for the runner-up spot, with the former prevailing, while Larson extended his advantage to nearly a second.

    With five laps remaining, Larson continued to lead by a second over Chastain as Allmendinger kept Chastain close within his front windshield. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by more than a second over Chastain and Allmendinger. Having no challengers closing in for a final lap, Larson was able to maintain his ground and advantage as he cycled back to the frontstretch and streaked across the finish line in first place for his third checkered flag of the 2022 season.

    With his victory, Larson, who achieved his 19th Cup Series career win, secured a spot for his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team to contend for the 2022 Cup Series owners’ championship at Phoenix Raceway in early November.

    “Yeah, definitely the best run we’ve had all year long,” Larson said on NBC. “We’ve been capable of it, I feel like, many weekends. We just haven’t quite put it all together. [Crew chief] Cliff [Daniels] gave a great speech this morning and got us all ready to go and focused. [I] Did my best to keep it out of the wall. I got into the wall a few times, but I could still make speed doing that. Amazing race car. I knew that last run was gonna be short enough where I was gonna be in some sort of trouble there, but thankfully, AJ [Allmendinger] and Ross [Chastain] were racing hard behind me. Happy for our team. We get to go race for an owners’ title at Phoenix in a couple of weeks. We’re still, technically, not out of it. I know I can’t win the championship, but it means more to me to win it as a team. We’re gonna go to Phoenix and try to get another championship.”

    Chastain, who rolled off the grid in 20th place, fended off Allmendinger to finish in second place for the fifth time this season and to emerge as the highest-finishing Playoff competitor of the day. With that, Chastain leaves Miami 19 points above the top-four cutline to make the Championship 4 round and approaching next weekend’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville.

    “Not the way you would have scripted it,” Chastain said. “I feel like we had a top-three or four car all day, all weekend, and a little too tight in qualifying, and come behind that with a driver that chose the complete wrong lane in [Turns] 3 and 4, against everything I’ve ever trained for and prepared for. Qualified 20th, and it took us all day long. We need to get the car turning better from qualifying into the race. We were too tight. [Crew chief] Phil Surgen and his whole team got it turning better, and pit stops were incredible again. Our guys were just, they’re just rock stars on pit road, and I’m so glad to go to battle with them.

    “At the end of the day, I know we didn’t score a ton of stage points. We put ourselves in position at the end and just keep executing. I almost spun off Turn 2 in front of Daniel [Suarez], and I had my arms all crossed up and I just took a deep breath down the back, and thought, what can I control here? I can control not spinning out, so let’s go a little slower next time, and had a shot at it.”

    Austin Dillon and Keselowski completed the top five on the track followed by Truex, who rallied from his late-race pit road incident with Larson that spoiled Truex’s opportunity in claiming his first victory of the season.

    “It’s really hard to see through these windshields right now with the sun like that and all the stuff covering it,” Truex said. “I did see my box late for sure, so I slowed down before I turned out of the way of [Larson] there. Obviously, partly on me. I didn’t expect to get turned around. I’m glad nobody got hurt there. But overall, it’s just disappointing. To have a good day going like that and have a shot at winning and couldn’t close the deal. I hate it for my team. It’s been one of those years.”

    Hamlin, Harvick, Kyle Busch and Suarez finished in the top 10. Notably, Playoff competitors Bell, Byron, Elliott, Blaney and Logano finished 11th, 12th, 14th, 17th and 18th, respectively. As a result, teammates Elliott and Byron are above the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings along with Chastain as well as Logano, who is already guaranteed a spot for the finale after winning last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, while Hamlin, Blaney, Bell and Briscoe are left looking on the outside and with one last race to maintain their title hopes.

    “Pit crew did a great job the second half,” Hamlin, who trails the cutline by five points, said. “I can’t get my car to go. I can’t get it to turn. We’re just too slow on the short runs. Something we have to work on for sure. We weren’t fast enough to really compete with those guys even when we got the lead, we were a sitting duck because I couldn’t go anywhere. Nearly crashed into [Chastain], that was exciting and just kept going. We’ve got to get stage points. We can’t be outside the top 10 the first two stages. That’s what has hurt us. We always have. We just have to go there and get it done and perform well. I think we can. We have to perform well and execute.”

    Today’s event at Miami featured 11 lead changes for five different leaders. The race also featured five cautions for 30 laps.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Larson, 199 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Ross Chastain

    3. AJ Allmendinger

    4. Austin Dillon

    5. Brad Keselowski

    6. Martin Truex Jr., 28 laps led

    7. Denny Hamlin, four laps led

    8. Kevin Harvick

    9. Kyle Busch

    10. Daniel Suarez

    11. Christopher Bell, four laps led

    12. William Byron, 32 laps led

    13. Chris Buescher

    14. Chase Elliott

    15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    16. Michael McDowell

    17. Ryan Blaney

    18. Joey Logano

    19. Austin Cindric

    20. Harrison Burton

    21. Aric Almirola

    22. Ty Gibbs

    23. Corey LaJoie

    24. Cole Custer, one lap down

    25. Noah Gragson, one lap down

    26. Ty Dillon, one lap down

    27. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down

    28. Justin Haley, one lap down

    29. Landon Cassill, one lap down

    30. Erik Jones, three laps down

    31. Todd Gilliland, three laps down

    32. JJ Yeley, four laps down

    33. BJ McLeod, five laps down

    34. Cody Ware, five laps down

    35. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident

    36. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Joey Logano – Advanced

    2. Ross Chastain +19

    3. Chase Elliott +11

    4. William Byron +5

    5. Denny Hamlin -5

    6. Ryan Blaney -18

    7. Christopher Bell -33

    8. Chase Briscoe -44

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff schedule is Martinsville Speedway, where the Championship 4 field will be determined. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, October 30, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Ty Majeski wins Homestead for second Truck Series victory

    Ty Majeski wins Homestead for second Truck Series victory

    A month after locking himself into the Championship 4 round with his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career victory at Bristol Motor Speedway, Ty Majeski doubled down with additional momentum after claiming a late dominant victory in the Baptist Health Cancer Care 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 22.

    The 28-year-old Majeski from Seymour, Wisconsin, led two times for a race-high 67 of 134-scheduled laps, including the final 33, and beat runner-up Zane Smith by more than four seconds to claim the second Truck Series victory of his career at Miami. By winning two of three Round of 8 events during the Playoffs and automatically transferring to the Championship 4 round, Majeski will square off against Zane Smith, Chandler Smith and reigning series champion Ben Rhodes for this year’s Truck Series championship that will be determined at Phoenix Raceway in early November.

    With on-track qualifying that was scheduled for Friday being canceled due to rain, the starting lineup was determined through a metric system from NASCAR’s rulebook. As a result, Ryan Preece was initially awarded the pole position for the main event. Preece, however, dropped to the rear of the field along with Lawless Alan and Nick Leitz due to unapproved adjustments. With that, Playoff competitor Ben Rhodes led the field to the start alongside Matt DiBenedetto.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Rhodes launched ahead of DiBenedetto, who spun the tires at the start, before Chandler Smith drew himself alongside Rhodes in his early bid for the lead through the first two turns. Following an early side-by-side battle with Chandler Smith, Rhodes pulled ahead through Turns 3 and 4 as he led the first lap while the field behind fanned out and jostled early for positions.

    Through the first five laps of the event, Rhodes was leading ahead of Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, Zane Smith and Stewart Friesen while Tyler Ankrum, Matt DiBenedetto, John Hunter Nemechek, Parker Kligerman and Matt Crafton were running in the top 10. By then, Ty Majeski was in 12th, Corey Heim was back in 16th and Grant Enfinger was vying for 17th.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Rhodes’ No. 99 Kubota Toyota Tundra TRD Pro continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith’s No. 18 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro followed by Zane Smith, Friesen and Eckes. By then, all 36 starters were on the lead lap. In addition, the remaining eight Playoff contenders were running in the top 11.

    A few laps later, Nemechek, who made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3 on the third lap, got into the wall again in the third turn before hitting the wall hard in Turn 1 after losing a tire. The incident prompted Nemechek, who came into the event five laps behind the top-four cutline to make the championship finale, to make an unscheduled pit stop under green and fall out of the lead lap category. Nemechek would eventually make multiple trips to pit road for repairs to his No. 4 Gearwrench Toyota Tundra TRD Pro as his title hopes took an early serious hit.

    By Lap 20, Rhodes remained as the leader by more than a second over Chandler Smith followed by Zane Smith, Friesen and Majeski while Eckes was back in sixth. 

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Rhodes, who came into Miami three points above the top-four cutline, captured his ninth stage victory of the 2022 season. Zane Smith settled in second followed by Friesen, Majeski, Enfinger, Eckes, Chandler Smith, Crafton, Parker Kligerman and Preece.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Rhodes pitted and Zane Smith emerged with the lead over the field. Following the pit stops, Parker Kligerman was penalized for speeding on pit road along with Matt Crafton, whose pit crew jumped over the pit stall too soon. In addition, Blaine Perkins was penalized due to crew member interference.

    The second stage started on Lap 36 as Zane Smith and Enfinger occupied the front row. At the start, Rhodes used the outside lane to his advantage as he rocketed past Zane Smith and Enfinger with a three-wide move to reassume the lead through the backstretch. Enfinger, however, fought back during the following lap as he drew his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST alongside Rhodes while Zane Smith tried to close back in on the two leaders. Behind, Preece and Majeski battled for fourth while Heim occupied sixth place.

    By the Lap 40 mark, a side-by-side battle for the lead commenced between Rhodes and Zane Smith, with Rhodes using the outside lane to his advantage while Smith tried to use the inside lane to pull ahead of Rhodes. During the following lap, Smith managed to pull his No. 38 Speed Ford F-150 in front of Rhodes entering Turn 4 and fend off a crossover move by Rhodes to claim the outside lane and the lead. Not long after, Preece battled and overtook Rhodes for second followed by Majeski while Enfinger remained in fifth.

    Ten laps later on Lap 50, Zane Smith was leading by more than a second over Majeski followed by Preece, Rhodes and Eckes while Enfinger, Friesen, Heim, Chandler Smith and Colby Howard occupied the top 10. With seven of eight Playoff competitors running in the top 10 on the track, Nemechek was the lone Playoff competitor running in the back of the pack as he was mired in 36th, dead last, while scored two laps down.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 60, Zane Smith, who came into Miami 18 points above the top-four cutline, captured his eighth stage victory of the 2022 season. Majeski trailed in second place by more than a second while Preece, Friesen, Rhodes, Eckes, Enfinger, Howard, Heim and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, Nemechek was pinned three laps behind in 36th place.

    Under the stage break, the leader led by Zane Smith pitted and Preece exited with the lead followed by Majeski, Eckes, Zane Smith and Heim. During the pit stops, Rhodes suffered a slow pit stop as he exited pit road in 15th place. Following the pit stops, Kaden Honeycutt was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    With 68 laps remaining, the final stage started as Preece and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out engines the first turn, Majeski muscled ahead with the lead on the inside lane followed by Preece and Zane Smith while Eckes and Enfinger battled for fourth in front of Heim and the field.

    Eight laps later and with 60 laps remaining, Majeski was leading by a tenth of a second over Zane Smith followed by a heated four-truck battle for third place between Eckes, Heim, Enfinger and Preece. Friesen, meanwhile, was in seventh while Derek Kraus, Chandler Smith and Rhodes were scored in the top 10. By then, Nemechek was still pinned multiple laps down in 36th place, dead last.

    Then with 55 laps remaining, Enfinger’s championship hopes took a serious hit after he made an unscheduled pit stop under green to address a flat right-front tire due to making contact with the outside wall. After pitting for four fresh tires, Enfinger, who came into Miami in a “must-win” situation, lost a lap to the leaders.

    Back on the track with 50 laps remaining, Majeski retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Zane Smith followed by Heim, Eckes and Friesen while Preece, Chandler Smith, Crafton, Rhodes and Kraus occupied the top 10. With Enfinger mired in 31st, Nemechek was back in 36th, dead last, as both Playoff competitors were in jeopardy of not transferring to the finale.

    With 40 laps remaining, pit stops under green commenced as Preece pitted followed by Bret Holmes. Rhodes also pitted along with Kligerman, Chase Purdy, Hailie Deegan, Friesen and a wave of competitors.

    With 32 laps remaining and with the cycle of green flag pit stops complete, Majeski reassumed the lead followed by a hard-charging Zane Smith while Preece was in third. By then, Friesen was back in fourth as he was contending for a transfer spot to the finale against Rhodes, who was in eighth and held sole possession of the fourth and final transfer spot to the finale by a single point.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Majeski continued to lead by more than a second over Zane Smith and more than 10 seconds over third-place Preece. Meanwhile, Friesen was in fourth in front of Heim and Eckes while Rhodes was trying to fend off Chandler Smith for seventh place and for a spot in the finale. By then, Enfinger rallied to 11th while Nemechek was mired in 32nd palace, four laps down.

    Six laps later, Friesen overtook Preece for third place and drew himself into a tie for the fourth and final transfer spot to the finale over Rhodes, who remained in seventh but owned the tie-breaker for recording the best finish during the Round of 8 at Talladega Superspeedway with a second-place result.

    With 10 laps remaining, Majeski retained the lead by nearly three seconds over Zane Smith. Behind, Friesen remained in third place, trailing the leaders by more than 14 seconds, while Rhodes was locked in a battle with teammate Crafton for seventh place, a spot Rhodes needs to retain to transfer to the finale. Eckes, meanwhile, was running in sixth, but eight points below the top-four cutline.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Majeski stabilized his advantage to more than four seconds over Zane Smith while Rhodes, who briefly lost seventh place to Crafton, retained his spot on the track in front of his ThorSport Racing teammate and with a spot to the finale on the line. A few laps later, Rhodes managed to track and overtake teammate Eckes for sixth place, which placed Rhodes in a one-point advantage over Friesen, who remained in third place, in the standings.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski remained as the leader by more than four seconds over Zane Smith. With no challenges lurking behind or in front of him, Majeski was able to navigate his way around Homestead for a final time as he cycled back to the finish line and claimed his second checkered flag in the series.

    The victory, which was enough for Toyota to secure the manufacturer’s title for the 13th time overall, gave Majeski and his No. 66 ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro team additional momentum approaching the championship finale at Phoenix Raceway in November, where the Wisconsin native will contend for his first Truck Series title.

    “Man, this is awesome,” Majeski said on FS1. “This place is so hard to read and practice. Nobody has any grip, right? I didn’t know really what we had, but man, this No. 66 Road Ranger Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was bad to the bone today. Man, just thank you to Joe Shear, my crew chief. We’ve been working great this year together. Just so thankful that we’re able to make the most of this thing. We’re gonna go chase a championship [in] two weeks. [There’s gonna be] A lot of sim time, a lot of simulator just like the rest of the year. We’ve been working really hard on Phoenix ever since we won Bristol. We’re bringing that truck back. I feel really good about what we have so far. Keep fine-tuning [the truck]. If it’s anywhere near this [Homestead truck] today, we’ll be pretty good.”

    Zane Smith settled in second place for the fifth time this season, which was more than for him to transfer to the Championship 4 finale for a third consecutive season as he will contend for his first Truck Series championship.

    “Another really good [Front Row Motorsports] Ford,” Zane Smith said. “Man, I really wanted to get that [win]. Just hats off to my whole team. They’ve put in a lot of hours the past couple of weeks. [I] Just really wanted this one for them, but we get to go fight for another championship, which is really cool. One more left. That’s all that matters. I pretty much figured out every way to lose one, so third time’s a charm, hopefully. We’ve been fast all year. Regardless of what happens at Phoenix, it’s just an outstanding year.”

    Friesen came home in third place, trailing the leaders by more than 13 seconds, but missed the top-four cutline by a single point over Rhodes, who finished sixth in front of teammates Eckes and Crafton. As a result, Rhodes will join teammate Majeski, Zane Smith and 10th-place finisher Chandler Smith as the four competitors to transfer to the Championship 4 finale and contend for the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. 

    “Every spot matters,” Rhodes said. “We got in by one point from what I understand. I’m just really, really happy [that] we had a good showing for this Kubota Toyota Tundra. Man, I wished [the race] was easier. It seemed harder than it should have. Just glad that we can defend the title. It’s been an up-and-down season. We aren’t the best on mile-and-a-halfs, but we made leaps and bounds here. We were able to get the first stage win, be fifth in the second [stage] and when we had that bad pit stop and went back to 15th, I was sweating bullets. I knew I had a lot of work to do. I just didn’t know it was gonna be that tough. We just got to be consistent. We’re working on that. So far, so good. I’m thrilled with the last two races, Now, we’ve turned everything around and made it back in.”

    “We, overall, just missed it today,” Chandler Smith said. “With that being said, we are all focused on going to run for a championship. I’m really happy with that. Being here with my Satellite [Kyle Busch Motorsports] group. This is awesome to be able to have the opportunity to go and run for a championship. I may never be able to do this in my career again, so really, really, thankful for the opportunity. Just super blessed right now. I’m feeling humbled.”

    Friesen, meanwhile, joins seventh-place finisher Eckes, 14th-place finisher Enfinger and 35th-place finisher Nemechek as the four competitors who have been eliminated from Playoff contention.

    “I didn’t have a teammate to lay over and give me an extra point like they were doing in the back,” Friesen said. “I’m so proud of our race team. That’s the best truck we’ve ever had here. Just a beautiful race car today. It was so fun to drive. We nailed it. We just lost a couple of spots in the pits and the front two could fire off a little bit better and get gone. That was it. I was praying for a caution. It didn’t happen, but I’m proud of our race team. I’m excited to move forward and keep building our race team. That’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna keep building over the winter.”

    “[I] Just made a mistake on my end,” Nemechek said. “I got dirtied up behind [Friesen] early on in stage in and hit the fence and just trying to make up time and was pushing the issue probably a little too hard. Ultimately pushed it a little too hard, hit the fence again and had the right front go flat. Came in, pitted and ended up not clearing tires good enough and had another tire go down and had to pit again. Then had to play pit strategy and after that, it was just damage control. It’s on me. It’s just frustrating for myself for sure to not advance to the final four, but still have a couple races left to go out and try to win.”

    In addition to the driver’s championship battle, the final four title contenders (Majeski, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith and Rhodes) will contend for this year’s owners’ championship.

    There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured two cautions for 10 laps. All 36 starters finished the race while 10 finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Ty Majeski, 67 laps led

    2. Zane Smith, 26 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Stewart Friesen

    4. Ryan Preece, two laps led

    5. Corey Heim

    6. Ben Rhodes, 37 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    7. Christian Eckes

    8. Matt Crafton

    9. Parker Kligerman

    10. Chandler Smith

    11. Tyler Ankrum, one lap down

    12. Carson Hocevar, one lap down

    13. Colby Howard, one lap down

    14. Grant Enfinger, one lap down

    15. Derek Kraus, one lap down

    16. Chase Purdy, one lap down

    17. Hailie Deegan, one lap down

    18. Kaz Grala, one lap down

    19. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

    20. Timmy Hill, one lap down, two laps led

    21. Max Gutierrez, one lap down

    22. Blaine Perkins, two laps down

    23. Dean Thompson, two laps down

    24. Brennan Poole, two laps down

    25. Tanner Gray, two laps down

    26. Stefan Parsons, two laps down

    27. Kaden Honeycutt, two laps down

    28. Nick Leitz, three laps down

    29. Tyler Hill, three laps down

    30. Chad Chastain, three laps down

    31. Jack Wood, four laps down

    32. Mason Maggio, five laps down

    33. Bret Holmes, five laps down

    34. Lawless Alan, five laps down

    35. John Hunter Nemechek, six laps down

    36. Spencer Boyd, 10 laps down

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings.

    1. Ty Majeski – Advanced

    2. Zane Smith – Advanced

    3. Chandler Smith – Advanced

    4. Ben Rhodes – Advanced

    5. Stewart Friesen – Eliminated

    6. Christian Eckes – Eliminated

    7. Grant Enfinger – Eliminated

    8. John Hunter Nemechek – Eliminated

    The 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season is set to conclude at Phoenix Raceway on November 4, where a champion will be crowned. The finale is scheduled to occur at 10 p.m. ET on FS1.