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Christopher Bell muscles to first Cup victory of 2024 at Phoenix

Christopher Bell was not to be denied. His fast No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE entry enabled him to rally from restarting towards the middle of the pack during a late-race restart period to leading the final 41 laps en route to a strong victory in the Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, March 10.

The 29-year-old Bell from Norman, Oklahoma, led twice for 50 of 312-scheduled laps in an event where he started 13th and spent the first stage period running within the top 15 before his car came to life during the second stage period, which allowed him to carve his way to the front and claim the second stage victory over Toyota teammate Tyler Reddick.

Despite losing ground for the lead following a slow pit stop prior to the start of the final stage, Bell, who dodged a series of cautions and on-track incidents during the final stage’s start, pitted along with the majority of the front-runners for fresh tires and fuel during a late caution period with less than 98 laps remaining. During the final restart with 92 laps remaining, Bell used the four fresh tires to his advantage and methodically navigated his way back towards the front. Once teammate Martin Truex Jr. pitted for fresh tires and fuel with 41 laps remaining, the lead was all Bell’s as the Oklahoma native maintained a sizeable gap between himself and Chris Buescher and teammate Ty Gibbs for the remainder of the event, which was enough for him to claim his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2024 season.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, March 9, Denny Hamlin claimed his first Cup Series pole position of the 2024 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 132.655 mph in 27.138 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Ty Gibbs, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 132.227 mph in 27.226 seconds.

Prior to the event, rookie Josh Berry dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments and repairs made to his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry after he spun and hit the wall during his qualifying attempt.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, teammates Hamlin and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and entering the first two turns until Gibbs rocketed his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE into the lead from the outside lane entering the backstretch. As the field fanned out to as large as four lanes, Gibbs proceeded to lead the first lap while Erik Jones battled and overtook Hamlin for the runner-up spot.

Through the second to fifth lap marks, Gibbs maintained a steady lead that would grow to half a second over Erik Jones and teammate Hamlin while Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott followed suit in the top five. Behind, William Byron trailed in sixth ahead of Chase Briscoe and rookie Carson Hocevar while Michael McDowell, Martin Truex Jr. and Noah Gragson battled for ninth place in front of Daniel Suarez and Kyle Larson.

Then approaching the sixth lap, the event’s first caution flew after Derek Kraus spun sideways on the bottom lane through Turn 2 and back across the track entering the backstretch before he was hit by both Austin Dillon and Austin Cindric, the latter of which would retire from further competition. During the event’s first caution period, some including Kyle Busch pitted while the rest led by Ty Gibbs remained on the track.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 12, Gibbs muscled ahead of the field to retain the lead on the inside lane while Reddick ignited a three-wide battle on Hamlin and Erik Jones for the runner-up spot. Jones would use the outside lane to fend off both Toyota teammates for second place as Elliott and Byron trailed closely in the top six. In addition, Briscoe and Hocevar battled for seventh place along with McDowell while Gibbs stretched his early advantage by nearly half a second over Jones by the Lap 15 mark.

Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Gibbs was leading by four-tenths of a second over Jones followed by Hamlin, Reddick and Chase Elliott while William Byron, Michael McDowell, Carson Hocevar, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney followed suit in the top 10. Behind, Martin Truex Jr. was in 11th ahead of Noah Gragson, Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez and Christopher Bell while Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch and John Hunter Nemechek trailed in the top 20. Meanwhile, Josh Berry was mired in 21st ahead of Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, Ryan Preece and Alex Bowman while Todd Gilliland, Corey LaJoie, Harrison Burton, Daniel Hemric and Justin Haley rounded out the top 30.

Ten laps later, Gibbs stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Jones while Hamlin and Reddick trailed by within one-and-a-half seconds. Elliott would trail the top-four competitors by more than two seconds and teammate Byron would trail by more than three seconds as Gibbs maintained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Jones, who was slowly closing in on the leader, by the Lap 40 mark.

By Lap 50, Gibbs stabilized his advantage to two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Reddick, who moved into the runner-up spot, followed by Hamlin while Jones fell back to fourth place. In the process, Hendrick Motorsports’ Elliott and Byron remained in fifth and sixth, respectively, as they trailed the lead by more than two seconds while McDowell, Blaney, Briscoe and Truex were running in the top 10 ahead of Larson, Gragson, Hocevar, Suarez and Keselowski.

Seven laps later, Reddick, who navigated his way around Phoenix’s racing lanes to narrow the gap between himself and Gibbs, drew himself into a side-by-side battle with Gibbs for the lead through the backstretch and the frontstretch. Gibbs would try to fight back from the outside lane, but Reddick used the inside lane to muscle his No. 45 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE ahead with the top spot.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, Reddick, who capitalized late on his battle with Ty Gibbs, captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season as he also stretched his advantage to six-tenths of a second. Gibbs settled in second followed by Hamlin, Jones and Elliott while Byron, Blaney, McDowell, Briscoe and Truex were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Reddick pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin emerged as the new race leader after he exited pit road first from the first pit box while Reddick, Byron, Elliott, Gibbs, Blaney, Briscoe, Larson, Keselowski and Jones followed suit in the top 10. Not long after, Larson pitted his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for a second time due to a left-rear tire issue while Hocevar also pitted again for a loose wheel.

The second stage period started on Lap 69 as Hamlin and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin muscled his No. 11 Mavis Brakes Plus Toyota Camry XSE ahead with the lead as the front-runners dived below the frontstretch dog-leg and fanned out entering the first two turns. With Hamlin leading the race, Reddick maintained the runner-up spot while a three-wide action for third place involving Gibbs, Byron and Elliott ensued in front of Blaney. In the process, Keselowski was in seventh ahead of another three-wide battle involving Truex, Briscoe and Jones while Hamlin was leading just past the Lap 70 mark.

Through the first 80 scheduled laps, Hamlin extended his advantage to a second over Reddick followed by Elliott, Gibbs and Byron while Blaney, Truex, Keselowski, Bell and Gragson trailed in the top 10 ahead of Erik Jones, Suarez, Briscoe, Bowman and McDowell. Hamlin would stretch his lead to more than two seconds over Reddick by the Lap 90 mark while Elliott, Gibbs and Byron remained in the top five.

At the Lap 100 mark, Hamlin continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Reddick followed by Elliott, Byron and Gibbs while Truex, Bell, Blaney, Keselowski and Gragson were scored in the top 10. Behind, Erik Jones trailed in 11th followed by Suarez, Briscoe, Bowman and McDowell while Buescher, Wallace, Chastain, Preece and Larson were running in the top 20 ahead of Nemechek, Logano, LaJoie, Kyle Busch and Berry.

Fifteen laps later, Hamlin stabilized his lead to more than a second over Reddick as Elliott and Byron remained in the top four. Meanwhile, Bell carved his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE into fifth place followed by teammate Truex while teammate Ty Gibbs dropped to seventh.

Shortly after, green flag pit stops commenced as Blaney pitted his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse along with Chastain and Larson. More names like Byron, Bell, Truex, Keselowski, Bowman, Wallace, Buescher, Preece, Logano, LaJoie, Daniel Hemric, Elliott, Gibbs, Briscoe, Nemechek, rookie Zane Smith, Justin Haley and Reddick would pit during the ensuing laps, starting from Lap 116, before Hamlin pitted from the lead on Lap 119.

Just past the Lap 120 mark and with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop under green, Todd Gilliland, who has yet to pit, was leading ahead of Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Hocevar and Kraus, all of whom have yet to pit, while Hamlin, the first competitor who pitted and who nearly made contact with Suarez while trying to enter his pit stall, trailed in sixth place as he also had Reddick closing in on him for position.

On Lap 133, Reddick, who overtook Hamlin through the first two turns a lap earlier, used the outside lane to rocket past Gilliland for the race lead. Hamlin would quickly follow suit for the runner-up spot as Byron and Bell trailed in the top five within six seconds. By then, Stenhouse and Hocevar remained on the track in sixth and seventh, respectively, while Kyle Busch was scored a lap down after he pitted under green.

Just past the Lap 145 mark, Reddick stretched his advantage to nearly a second over Hamlin as Gilliland, who led 14 laps, continued to run on the track in third place ahead of Bell, Byron and Truex. Reddick would maintain his lead by eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Bell and Byron overtook Gilliland for third and fourth by Lap 150.

By the halfway mark on Lap 156, Reddick continued to lead within a second over Hamlin while Bell, Byron and Truex trailed in the top five ahead of Gilliland, Blaney, Elliott, Keselowski and Gragson, all of whom were running in the top 10 and trailing the lead by 14 seconds. Reddick would maintain the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Bell trailed in third place by more than a second as Gilliland pitted under green by the Lap 165 mark.

By Lap 175, Reddick, who was mired in lapped traffic as he was trying to lap Logano, retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Bell, who nearly overtook Reddick for the lead entering the first two turns, while third-place Hamlin trailed by nearly a second as Byron and Truex trailed from a distance in the top five. Bell would then capitalize on his charge to overtake Reddick for the lead through the first two turns with four laps remaining to the second stage’s conclusion.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 185, Bell captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Reddick trailed in second followed by Hamlin, Byron and Truex while Blaney, Elliott, Gragson, Keselowski and Chris Buescher were scored in the top 10. By then, 19 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while Ryan Preece, who was running 19th, managed to fend off Logano to emerge as the first competitor scored a lap down and receive the free pass.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Bell returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin benefitted from having the first pit box towards the exit of pit road for a second time as he exited first followed by Reddick, Byron, Elliott, Blaney and Truex. Amid the pit stops, Harrison Burton was penalized for speeding on pit road.

With 118 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Hamlin and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, the front-runners fanned out and dived through the frontstretch dog-leg as Hamlin maintained the lead in front of a side-by-side battle between Reddick and Byron for the runner-up spot. With the field still fanning out across multiple lanes from the backstretch through the frontstretch, Hamlin maintained the lead in front of Reddick and Byron. The caution, however, would return two laps later after Kyle Busch, who was mired in 25th, got loose through Turn 2 and was bumped by Zane Smith into Kaz Grala before Busch spun his No. 8 zone Premium Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 within the middle of the track through the backstretch.

During the following restart with 110 laps remaining, the front-runners dived through the frontstretch dog-leg as Reddick overtook Hamlin for the lead. With the field fanning out through the backstretch, Reddick was leading by nearly half a second over Hamlin followed by Blaney, Byron and Truex as Ross Chastain, who was running in the middle of the pack, scraped the outside wall towards the frontstretch, though the event remained under green flag conditions.

With 107 laps remaining, the caution returned after Logano, who was scored as the first competitor a lap down, received a huge bump by Nemechek entering Turn 1 that sent his No. 22 Hunt Brother’s Pizza Ford Mustang Dark Horse spinning below the apron before he came back across the track and was hit by Corey LaJoie, with Kraus, Zane Smith and Berry also involved as Logano’s long afternoon came to a late end.

As the event restarted with 100 laps remaining, the leaders dived through the frontstretch dog-leg as Reddick battled and fended off Hamlin to retain the lead. With Hamlin fighting back during the following lap by drawing even with Reddick, Truex joined the tight three-car battle for the lead while Byron maintained fourth place in front of a three-wide battle involving Gragson, Keselowski and Wallace as Blaney and Bell battled for ninth.

The caution, however, returned with 98 laps remaining after Hamlin, who was battling Reddick for the lead, got loose underneath Reddick entering Turn 1 as he slid into Reddick and spun sideways from the middle to the bottom lane through Turn 2 while the rest of the field scattered to avoid hitting Hamlin. During the caution period, a majority of the front-runners led by Reddick pitted for fresh tires and fuel while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.

With the event restarting with 92 laps remaining, the field fanned out and dived through the frontstretch dog-leg as Truex maintained the lead in front of the field. During the following lap, Truex was leading by three-tenths of a second over Preece, Gilliland, Chastain and Buescher while Ty Gibbs, who pitted for two fresh tires and a full tank of fuel, carved his way up to seventh place. Amid the tight battles between those who pitted and those who did not, Wallace, who was getting pinned in between Briscoe and Erik Jones while battling for a top-10 spot, got loose and got Jones’ No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE sideways entering Turn 1, which resulted with Jones making contact with the outside wall and plummeting in the leaderboard, though the event remained under green flag conditions.

Back at the front of the pack, Ty Gibbs continued to use the two fresh tires to his advantage as he carved his way up to third place while Truex continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Preece with 90 laps remaining. By then, names like Chastain, McDowell, Gilliland, Buescher, Briscoe, Keselowski and Suarez were running in the top 10 while front-runners Reddick, Bell, Blaney, Elliott, Hamlin and Byron were mired in 12th, 13th, 15th, 17th, 18th and 20th, respectively.

With 75 laps remaining, Truex was leading by two seconds over Preece as Ty Gibbs was trying to close in and overtake Preece for the runner-up spot. Behind, Chastain was running in fourth place ahead of Buescher, Keselowski and McDowell while Bell carved his way up to eighth place with four fresh tires in front of Gilliland and Briscoe. By then, Reddick was mired in 12th while Blaney was in 14th. Meanwhile, Hamlin was in 16th while Wallace was back in 18th.

Fifteen laps later, Truex, who continued to hold strong on old tires and with questions arising on how much fuel he had to make it to the scheduled distance, was still leading as he stretched his advantage to four seconds over teammate Ty Gibbs, who overtook Preece for the runner-up spot six laps earlier. Behind, Chastain was in fourth while Bell navigated his way into the top five on his four fresh tires. Bell would then overtake both Preece and Chastain to move his strong race car into third place another two laps later as he trailed his teammate by less than six seconds.

With 50 laps remaining, Truex continued to lead by five seconds over teammate Bell, who overtook teammate Ty Gibbs for the runner-up spot on four fresh tires and with enough fuel for the scheduled distance as he was running faster lap times compared to his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. Behind, Chastain and Buescher were running in the top five ahead of Preece, Keselowski, McDowell and Gilliland while Reddick was able to navigate his way back into the top 10 as he was in 10th followed by Gilliland, Gragson, Blaney, Suarez and Hamlin.

Nine laps later, Truex surrendered the lead to pit his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE under green for fresh tires and a full tank of fuel as he ended up a lap down. This allowed teammate Bell to assume the race lead as he was leading by more than two seconds over teammate Ty Gibbs while Chastain, Buescher and Keselowski were scored in the top five. As Preece pitted under green, Truex would manage to overtake teammate Bell to un-lap himself while the latter stretched his advantage by more than four seconds over teammate Gibbs with 30 laps remaining. By then, Reddick was up to eighth place ahead of Blaney and Gragson while Hamlin was in 11th.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Bell stabilized his advantage to more than four seconds over teammate Gibbs while Buescher, Chastain and Keselowski continued to hold strong in the top five. Behind, Reddick moved his Mobil 1 entry up to seventh behind McDowell, Blaney was in eighth ahead of Briscoe and Gragson, Hamlin was still mired in 11th, Larson was in 14th and Byron was mired in 18th behind Truex.

Five laps later, Bell stretched his lead slightly to five seconds over teammate Gibbs while third-place Buescher trailed by less than six seconds. Bell would extend his lead by another second to six seconds over Buescher, who overtook Gibbs for the runner-up spot, with 10 laps remaining as Keselowski and Chastain battled fiercely for fourth place.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Bell maintained the lead by more than six seconds over Buescher and teammate Gibbs while Keselowski and Chastain continued to run in the top five ahead of Blaney and McDowell. Behind, Briscoe, Truex and Reddick battled for eighth while Gragson and Hamlin battled for 11th.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bell remained as the leader by more than five seconds over Buescher’s No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse. With the gap between the leader and the runner-up spot large, Bell was able to navigate his way around the Phoenix circuit smoothly for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his first checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season.

With the victory, Bell, who became the fourth winner through the first four events of the 2024 Cup season, captured his seventh Cup Series career victory and his first at Phoenix as he extended his winning streak in the Cup circuit to four consecutive seasons. Bell also registered the first Cup victory of the 2024 season for both Joe Gibbs Racing and the Toyota nameplate while also recording the first official victory for Toyota’s Camry XSE stock car.

“This one feels really good,” Bell said on the frontstretch on FOX. “A credit to my engineers, my crew chief and all the mechanics on this [No. 20 car]. You don’t get cars like that very often as you know. Just super, super proud to be on this No. 20 car. This Rheem Camry was amazing today. I feel like we have [a] capability of running races like this a lot. Hopefully, this [win] is the first of many this year.”

Buescher, whose previous best result in the Cup Series is ninth during the first three events on this year’s schedule and who is coming off an early accident last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway due to a loose wheel that resulted in the suspension of two of his crew members, settled in the runner-up spot followed by Ty Gibbs, who led 57 laps and notched a career-best result.

“[The runner-up finish]’s huge,” Buescher said. “We’ve talked a lot internally. We’ve been able to lead, at any point, on all three races leading up to this. We didn’t quite get there today but certainly, a great finish for our BuildSubs.com Ford Mustang. Really proud of everybody. I know we had a rough go last weekend. This [finish] was good to get everybody back together and prove that we’re in this together. We’re gonna win or lose these things as a team. That was almost a win today.”

Keselowski came home in fourth place while Blaney edged Chastain to finish fifth.

Chastain, Truex, McDowell, Briscoe and Reddick finished in the top 10.

Notably, Hamlin, who led the most laps at 68 along with his 23XI Racing driver Reddick, ended up 11th ahead of Noah Gragson, Larson settled in 14th, Wallace ended up 16th, Byron finished 18th ahead of teammates Elliott and Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch capped off his long afternoon in 22nd. In addition, Carson Hocevar emerged as the highest-finishing rookie candidate in 15th place.

There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 40 laps. In addition, 21 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the fourth event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Ryan Blaney leads the regular-season standings by 10 points over both Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr., 17 over William Byron and 21 over both Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs.

Results.

1. Christopher Bell, 50 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Chris Buescher

3. Ty Gibbs, 57 laps led

4. Brad Keselowski

5. Ryan Blaney

6. Ross Chastain

7. Martin Truex Jr., 55 laps led

8. Michael McDowell

9. Chase Briscoe

10. Tyler Reddick, 68 laps led, Stage 1 winner

11. Denny Hamlin, 68 laps led

12. Noah Gragson

13. Daniel Suarez

14. Kyle Larson

15. Carson Hocevar

16. Bubba Wallace

17. Todd Gilliland, 14 laps led

18. William Byron

19. Chase Elliott

20. Alex Bowman

21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

22. Kyle Busch, one lap down

23. Ryan Preece, one lap down

24. Justin Haley, one lap down

25. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down

26. Josh Berry, two laps down

27. Harrison Burton, two laps down

28. Daniel Hemric, two laps down

29. Zane Smith, three laps down

30. Kaz Grala, three laps down

31. Erik Jones, seven laps down

32. Austin Dillon, eight laps down

33. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident

34. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident

35. Derek Kraus – OUT, Accident

36. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the return of the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, March 17, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

March 10, 2024
William Byron capitalizes late to claim first Daytona 500 victory

In a star-studded and electrifying season-opening event where the Ford and Toyota competitors were deemed as the heavyweight favorites, Chevrolet competitor William Byron and Hendrick Motorsports delivered the final ultimatum that sent them to Victory Lane in the rain-postponed, 66th annual running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Monday, February 19.

The 26-year-old Byron from Charlotte, North Carolina, led the final four of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started 18th and was consistent amongst a bevy of competitors running in tight two and three-stacked lanes from start to finish. After dodging a multi-car wreck with eight laps remaining that eliminated a bevy of former Cup Series champions and stars, Byron cycled to the front and made his presence at the front known for the first time during the final restart. With four laps remaining, he fended off late challenges from Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric.

Then as both Chastain and Cindric wrecked before the start of the final lap, Byron managed to start the final lap and emerge in front of teammate Alex Bowman at the moment of caution to emerge as the winner of the Great American Race for the first time in his career and in his seventh full-time campaign piloting the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports.

The starting lineup for the main event was determined through a single-car qualifying session comprising two rounds that occurred on Wednesday, February 14, followed by a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duels on Thursday, February 15. At the conclusion of both sessions, Joey Logano started in the pole position after posting a lap at 171.947 mph in 49.465 seconds and was joined on the front row by Michael McDowell, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 181.686 mph in 49.536 seconds. Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell occupied the second row after both won their respective Duel events.

Before the event, the following drivers including Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric dropped to the rear of the field in backup cars after each wrecked their primary cars during the Duel events. Kaz Grala also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change made to his Front Row Motorsports entry.

When the green flag waved and the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season commenced, Logano gained an early advantage to lead the field entering the first two turns from the outside lane followed by Christopher Bell until McDowell fought back on the inside lane as both fought for the top spot through the backstretch and in front of two packed lanes. With the field still stacked up amid two tight-packed lanes through the frontstretch, Logano led the first lap by a hair over McDowell as both continued to battle side-by-side for the lead during the proceeding laps.

Then on the fifth lap and as the field started to fan out to three lanes as both Logano and McDowell continued to fight for the lead, the event’s first caution flew. Brad Keselowski, who was running within the top 10, got John Hunter Nemechek loose and sent him veering left into Harrison Burton. Burton, who collected rookie Carson Hocevar, was sent spinning across the frontstretch grass before his No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Mustang Dark Horse came back across the track and was T-boned by Kaz Grala, who sent Ryan Preece spinning across the frontstretch. Preece, however, avoided making heavy contact with the inside wall, before Burton was hit by Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Jimmie Johnson collided with Hocevar.

During the first caution period, nearly the entire field led by Logano and McDowell pitted while the rest of the field, including Christopher Bell, David Ragan, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Blaney and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., remained on the track. During the pit stops, where a majority of the field opted for only fuel for their respective entries, William Byron received a vehicle interference penalty when he pulled up into the wrong box and nearly collided with teammate Alex Bowman. In addition, Nemechek would be penalized for an equipment violation.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 11, Bell and Blaney dueled for the lead amid two tight-packed lanes through the first two turns as Bell had Logano drafting him on the outside lane while Blaney had Daniel Hemric drafting him on the inside lane. Both Bell and Blaney would continue to compete for the lead in front of two tight-packed lanes during the proceeding laps. By then, AJ Allmendinger served a drive-through penalty through pit road for not lining up properly during the restart.

Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Bell and Blaney continued to battle for the lead in front of two tight-packed lanes while Hemric, Logano, McDowell, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick were scored in the top 10 followed by Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Erik Jones, Riley Herbst, rookie Josh Berry, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, rookie Zane Smith, Daniel Suarez and Justin Haley. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was back in 21st along with Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs, Todd Gilliland and Martin Truex Jr. while Bubba Wallace, Nemechek, Corey LaJoie, William Byron and Noah Gragson were running within the top 30 ahead of Ragan, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece, Anthony Alfredo and Allmendinger, with Jimmie Johnson scored two laps down in 36th place.

Five laps later, Bell and Blaney remained dead even for the lead in front of the pack as Hemric and Logano followed suit in the second row while McDowell and Elliott were running in the third row ahead of Keselowski, Cindric, Hamlin and Reddick. The field led by both Bell and Blaney would continue to run stacked amid two tight-packed lanes by the Lap 30 mark.

Just past the Lap 35 mark and with a majority of the field migrating to the inside lane while trying to conserve fuel, Blaney had sole possession of the lead followed by Bell, Hemric, Logano and Elliott while Keselowski and Cindric fought for sixth place with Cindric leading a handful of competitors on the outside lane. A lap later, Logano mounted a charge on the outside lane through the frontstretch but was blocked by teammate Blaney entering the first turn. By then, Blaney had his Team Penske teammates Logano and Cindric along with a majority of the competitors following suit on the outside lane while Bell served as the lead competitor on the inside lane, followed by Hemric, Elliott and Keselowski.

On Lap 40, Logano mounted another charge on the outside lane followed by teammate Cindric and overtook him for the lead entering Turns 1 and 2 while teammate Blaney moved to the inside lane in front of Bell. Another lap later, however, the Team Penske competitors along with Bell, Hemric and Keselowski pitted under green, mainly for fuel, while McDowell assumed the lead. Chris Buescher would then pit his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse by Lap 42 as McDowell was trying to fend off Berry, Hamlin, Elliott and Kyle Busch for the lead. Though he initially prevailed, McDowell was left battling Elliott side-by-side for the lead.

After Berry led a lap on Lap 45, Elliott assumed the lead in his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 during the following lap. He would be followed by Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Martin Truex Jr. and Noah Gragson while Byron, Larson, Hamlin, Bowman and Zane Smith were scored in the top 10 as the field dispersed, with the Team Penske competitors separated as Blaney was losing the draft from teammates Logano and Cindric due to taking extra time in his pit stall for fuel.

Just past the Lap 50 mark, top names that included Bell, Hemric, Blaney and McDowell, all of whom previously pitted, were lapped by the front-runners as Elliott retained the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Wallace, Truex and Gragson while Byron, Larson, Hamlin, Bowman and Zane Smith remained in the top 10 amid a long single-file line towards the outside lane.

Four laps later, Zane Smith and Stenhouse pitted under green. Another lap later, a bevy of competitors, mainly Chevrolet competitors, led by Elliott pitted as Wallace cycled into the lead, though Wallace would lead another wave of competitors, mainly Toyota competitors, into pit road for service during the following lap as Gragson cycled into the lead followed by a bevy of Ford competitors. The leader, Gragson, along with teammate Berry, Justin Haley and Todd Gilliland then pitted prior to the Lap 60 mark as Ragan assumed the lead followed by Preece while Kyle Busch, who was leading a bevy of competitors who pitted, was in third and trying to gain ground amid the draft.

With three laps remaining in the first stage period, Ragan and Preece, both of whom were trying to stretch their fuel tanks to the distance of the stage’s conclusion, were overtaken by a wave of competitors led by Kyle Busch, who assumed the lead followed by Byron, Elliott, Suarez and Larson while Bowman, Chastain, Wallace, Truex and Hamlin were mired in the front pack.

At the start of the first stage period’s final lap, Elliott moved to the outside lane as he assumed the lead from Busch followed by teammates Larson, Bowman and Chastain. Then entering the frontstretch, Larson tried to make his move to Elliott’s outside approaching the start/finish line, but Chastain gave Elliott a bump, which propelled Elliott forward as he claimed the first stage victory on Lap 65. Teammate Larson settled in second followed by Chastain while Byron, Bowman, Busch, Hamlin, Wallace, Truex and Suarez were scored in the top 10. By then, Blaney, Bell and Hemric had managed to cycle their way back onto the lead lap while Allmendinger fended off McDowell to emerge as the first competitor scored a lap down, which enabled him to cycle back onto the lead lap during the caution period.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Elliott pitted while select names that included Keselowski, Riley Herbst and Hemric remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, both Nemechek and Reddick stalled their respective entries. In addition, Kyle Busch was penalized for a safety violation. Herbst and Hemric would pit during the proceeding lap while Keselowski remained on the track, though he pitted to top off of fuel prior to the lead as Larson and Berry cycled into the lead.

The second stage period started on Lap 70 as Larson and Berry occupied the front row. At the start, Larson and Berry dueled for the lead through the first two turns as Berry muscled his No. 4 SunnyD Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead before Larson fought back on the outside lane. With both remaining dead even for the lead, Larson led the next scheduled lap as Hamlin and Gilliland followed suit in the second lane.

With the field fanning out to three lanes through the backstretch by Lap 71, both Larson and Berry remained dead even for the lead until Logano mounted a charge from the third outside lane as he rocketed his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead followed by Chase Briscoe and Haley before Briscoe, who migrated to the inside lane, challenged Logano for the lead as Logano transitioned from the inside and outside lane. With Larson stuck in the middle lane, Logano had drafting help from Haley on the outside lane while Briscoe was trying to regain momentum from the inside lane. As teammates Briscoe and Berry lost momentum and were slowly drifting to the rear of the field, Logano retained the lead followed by Haley, Buescher, Kyle Busch, Preece and Blaney while Larson, who moved in front of Briscoe, was trying to mount forward on the inside lane by the Lap 75 mark.

By Lap 80, Logano was leading followed by Haley, Buscher, Busch and Preece while Blaney, Gilliland, Hemric, Wallace and Zane Smith were in the top 10 followed by Truex, Larson, Alfredo, Reddick, Bell, Elliott, Cindric, LaJoie, Keselowski and Stenhouse. Meanwhile, Byron was mired back in 25th while teammates Berry and Briscoe fell back to 23rd and 27th, respectively, as Chastain was in 29th in between Gragson and Ty Gibbs. In addition, Hamlin was back in 34th place.

Ten laps later, Logano continued to lead followed by Haley, Wallace and Buescher while Todd Gilliland, who was challenging Logano for the lead a few laps earlier, was trying to mount back towards the front on the inside lane as Gilliland, who received drafting help from Wallace earlier, was being drafted by Truex while Reddick tried to join the fray.

A few laps later and as the field lapped McDowell, who was battling gear issues, through the frontstretch, Gilliland steered his No. 38 gener8tor Ford Mustang Dark Horse to the inside lane and battled dead even with Logano through the first two turns before managing to move in front of Logano’s Ford through the backstretch. This allowed Truex to mount a charge on the inside lane as Gilliland retained the lead both on the outside lane and in the overall event ahead of Logano while Truex, Reddick, Haley and Cindric were battling with close quarters for the top spot.

At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Gilliland continued to lead followed by Logano, Truex, Haley and Reddick while Wallace, Cindric, Buescher, Keselowski and Busch were scored in the top 10 amid two tight-packed lanes. By then, 34 of 40 competitors were scored on the lead lap and separated by two seconds. Gilliland would continue to lead the next eight laps until he was overtaken by Bubba Wallace through the frontstretch. Wallace, however, would be overtaken by Kyle Busch exiting the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4 while Preece mounted a charge to the outside lane as he challenged Busch for the lead while Wallace followed suit.

Then on Lap 111, a second cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Preece led Logano, Gilliland, Wallace and a bevy of competitors to pit road. Amid the pit stops, Berry was turned by Nemechek as he was trying to enter his pit stall while Preece, who locked up his front tires while trying to enter pit road, was penalized for speeding on pit road. Meanwhile, Busch assumed the lead followed by Larson, Alfredo and the rest of the pack.

Busch would then lead another wave of competitors, mainly Chevrolet competitors, to pit road for service on Lap 114 under green while Larson, who assumed a brief lead, led Blaney, Elliott, Corey LaJoie, Cindric, Byron, Bowman and Chastain to pit road. At the completion of the green flag pit stops, Larson managed to merge back onto the track as the leader followed by teammate Elliott, Blaney and LaJoie while Busch was trying to carve his way back to the front followed by a bevy of competitors. Larson would maintain the lead until Cindric made his way to the front and the lead, followed by teammate Blaney nearing the Lap 120 mark while Busch was in fourth ahead of Elliott, Byron and LaJoie.

Just past the Lap 120 mark, a tight battle for the lead ignited between Cindric and Busch, with Busch receiving drafting help from Byron on the outside lane while Cindric had teammate Blaney drafting him in front of two tight-packed lanes as the top-23 competitors were separated by more than a second.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 130, Blaney, who had been drafting teammate Cindric over the course of the previous 10 laps amid his battle with Busch, made a bold move beneath teammate Cindric to assume the lead through Turns 3 and 4, which enabled him to muscle his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead of the pack and claim the stage victory. Teammate Cindric followed suit in second along with Suarez while Busch, Reddick, Byron, Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., AJ Allmendinger and Buescher were scored into the top 10. Amid the battle towards the front, Ty Gibbs managed to fend off Preece and Berry to emerge as the first competitor a lap down as he cycled back onto the lead lap.

During the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Blaney pitted while Keselowski remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Suarez was penalized for equipment interference while Busch had issues for a loose wheel to his entry, but he managed to cycle back to his pit stall to have the wheel issue addressed as he remained on the lead lap. In addition, Keselowkski, Nemechek and Ragan would pit, which cycled Cindric back to the lead.

With 64 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Cindric and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, Cindric and Wallace dueled for the lead as Cindric had teammate Blaney drafting him on the outside lane while Wallace had teammate Reddick drafting him on the inside lane. Both Cindric and Wallace would continue to battle dead even for the lead during the proceeding laps. Then as the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes, Allmendinger, who rallied from being mired a lap down earlier, muscled his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead over Wallace followed by Buescher and Truex while Wallace and Cindric slipped out of the top five. A tight battle for the lead then ignited between Allmendinger and Reddick with 60 laps remaining while the field continued to battle amid three tight-packed lanes.

Five laps later, Allmendinger retained the lead from the inside lane followed by teammate Hemric while LaJoie was trying to mount a charge from the outside lane followed by Bell and Truex as Hamlin was leading the middle lane ahead of Kyle Busch. Not long after, Allmendinger would get shuffled out of the lead as LaJoie and Kyle Busch battled dead even for the lead while Hamlin, Bowman, Larson and Bell followed suit with 50 laps remaining. Two laps later, Hamlin muscled his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE into the lead over LaJoie as Busch tried to fight back on the inside lane.

With 40 laps remaining, Hamlin was leading ahead of LaJoie, Busch, Bell, Logano and the rest of the field. As the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes while the intensity of the event started to ignite, Logano, who assumed the lead not long after, was leading followed by Ragan, Hamlin, Busch, and Keselowski while Bell, Briscoe, Reddick, Gragson and Chastain were scored in the top 10 amid two tight-packed lanes with 30 laps remaining. Logano would continue to lead ahead of Ragan, Hamlin, Keselowski, Busch and the rest of the field with 25 laps remaining.

Then with 23 laps remaining, another wave of green flag pit stops commenced as Riley Herbst led Hemric, LaJoie and a handful of competitors to pit road. Another wave of competitors, mainly Toyota competitors, led by Bell pitted during the next lap while Hamlin and Busch pitted together with 20 laps remaining. A wave of Ford competitors led by the race leader Logano would pit with 19 laps remaining while a wave of Chevrolet competitors led by Chastain pitted during the following lap. After the pit stops, Ross Chastain would cycle into the lead followed by Stenhouse and teammate Suarez while Logano was trying to weave his way back to the front amid the drafting momentum from his Ford teammates.

Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Chastain was leading ahead of Logano, Stenhouse and a bevy of competitors running tight amid two tight-packed lanes. Shortly after, Suarez would muscle his No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead while Stenhouse was getting shuffled out of the lead draft. Meanwhile, Chastain remained in contention up on the outside lane followed by Logano while Byron tried to mount a charge on the inside lane.

A few laps later, the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes as Chastain made his move to the outside lane followed by Logano, leaving Suarez pinned on the middle lane and Byron on the inside lane, as he reassumed the lead. Not long after, Byron mounted a charge on the inside lane along with Suarez as all three continued to battle dead even in front of the stacked field with 10 laps remaining.

Then with nine laps remaining, the caution flew after Bowman bumped and got teammate Byron loose, which resulted with Byron veering left and clipping Keselowski’s No. 6 Castrol Ford Mustang Dark Horse into Logano and into the path of both Blaney and Truex exiting the backstretch, which triggered a multi-car wreck that collected Suarez, Stenhouse, Reddick, Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Preece, Gragson, Hemric, Alfredo, Larson, Briscoe, Buescher and Erik Jones. Amid the wreckage, Chastain barely escaped with the lead followed by Bowman, Byron, Cindric and Elliott as the event was placed in a red flag period for more than 15 minutes.

Once the red flag lifted and the field proceeded under a cautious pace, some led by Briscoe pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.

Down to the final four laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Chastain and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Chastain and Byron dueled for the lead through the first two turns as Chastain had Bowman drafting him on the outside lane while Byron had Cindric drafting him on the inside lane. Through the backstretch, Chastain and Byron continued to battle dead even for the lead as the field returned to the frontstretch with three laps remaining.

With two laps remaining, Byron received a strong push from Cindric to muscle his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead of Chastain from the inside lane through the frontstretch. Byron would then maintain the lead over Cindric, Chastain and LaJoie through the backstretch and approaching the start/finish line to start the final lap of the event.

Then as the field approached the tri-oval to start the final lap of the event, Cindric, who blocked LaJoie while battling Byron for the lead, veered back to the right and clipped Chastain’s No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which sent both spinning through the frontstretch’s grass as Cindric came back across the track and was T-boned by Ragan as Zane Smith was also involved while Chastain slid across the infield and just missed the inside wall.

With the leaders having crossed the start/finish line to start the final lap of the event prior to the caution being displayed that ended the event, Byron emerged out in front of teammate Bowman and the field when the caution flew and was declared the winner of the event.

With the victory, Byron, whose previous best Daytona 500 result was 21st, became the 43rd competitor to win the Great American Race as this season marks the fourth consecutive time where the Daytona 500 featured a first-time winner of the event. In addition, Byron, who achieved his 11th NASCAR Cup Series career victory and second at Daytona International Speedway, delivered the ninth Daytona 500 victory for Hendrick Motorsports and the team’s first since 2014, which occurred with Dale Earnhardt Jr., while also piloting the No. 24 car to a 500 victory for the first time since Jeff Gordon made the last accomplishment in 2005. The 500 victory was also the first for crew chief Ryan “Rudy” Fugle and the 26th overall for the Chevrolet nameplate.

Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“[Daytona 500 champion title] sounds really damn good,” Byron said on FOX. “I’ve so many emotions. Obviously, I hate what happened at the backstretch. I just got pushed and got sideways, but just so proud of this whole AXALTA team, 40th anniversary to the day on Monday [when HMS first competed]. Just extremely blessed and thankful for all the opportunities. We just wanna keep [the early momentum] going. We have a lot to prove this year. This is a good start, obviously. Daytona 500! It’s freakin’ awesome! Let’s go!”

“[We had] Just really good strategy [that got us to the front],” Byron added. “We laid back and tried to save fuel for most of the race. We would get up there at the end of the stages and make some moves. Just thankful for great power under the hood, all of our partners, everybody that allows us to do this. I’m just a kid from racing on computers and winning the Daytona 500. I can’t believe it. [Me and my dad] have been through so much. We sat up in the grandstands together and watched the races. It’s so freakin’ cool.”

In addition to Byron, the 2024 Daytona 500 victory was meaningful for Jeff Gordon, vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, and owner Rick Hendrick, whose team, Hendrick Motorsports, is celebrating its 40th anniversary of competition in the NASCAR Cup Series.

“I’m telling you, you couldn’t write the script any better,” Hendrick said in Victory Lane. “When we think about coming down here the first time, we didn’t think we should be here, felt so out of place. We win this on our 40th [anniversary] to the day. It’s just… and tied a record now, so that’s awesome.”

“It’s so cool,” Gordon added. “What this is gonna do for this team, for AXALTA and all of our partners, and William Byron. He was already a superstar. He just went to another level being a superstar. I wasn’t driving the car, but I felt like I was making every lap with him out there. It’s just crazy to watch these guys do what they do and do it so well. To watch it from this side of it, it makes me so happy, so proud. We’re gonna celebrate. This is an amazing win. Huge win. Daytona 500!”

Teammate Bowman settled in second place while Bell, Corey LaJoie and Bubba Wallace finished in the top five. For Bowman, the runner-up result was his best in his eighth attempt of winning the Great American Race.

“I was pretty sure Willliam [Byron] had it, but you’re gonna let him debate it, right?” Bowman said. “I think a couple hundred more feet and obviously, we had the run. Just so proud of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. To get a Hendrick Motorsports 1-2 [finish], have the No. 24 car in Victory Lane. Obviously, I wish it was our Ally No. 48 [car], but it was a great day for us. Proud of everybody. We did everything we could right. [I] Wish it was one spot better, but still, proud of the whole team.”

Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, Noah Gragson and Chase Briscoe completed the top 10 in the final running order.

Notably, Kyle Larson ended up 11th followed by Kyle Busch, rookie Zane Smith, Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. while Hamlin ended up 19th. Chastain, who was in the position of achieving his first Daytona 500 victory prior to the final lap accident, ended up 21st while Cindric ended up 22nd.

There were 41 lead changes for 20 different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 20 laps. Overall, 20 of 40 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the first event of the 2024 Cup Series season, William Byron leads the regular-season standings by four points over teammate Alex Bowman, 10 over Christopher Bell, 12 over Chase Elliott, 15 over Bubba Wallace and 17 over John Hunter Nemechek, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch.

Results.

1. William Byron, four laps led

2. Alex Bowman

3. Christopher Bell, 22 laps led

4. Corey LaJoie, one lap led

5. Bubba Wallace, three laps led

6. AJ Allmendinger, nine laps led

7. John Hunter Nemechek

8. Erik Jones

9. Noah Gragson, five laps led

10. Chase Briscoe

11. Kyle Larson, seven laps led

12. Kyle Busch, 12 laps led

13. Zane Smith

14. Chase Elliott, 13 laps led, Stage 1 winner

15. Martin Truex Jr.

16. Daniel Hemric

17. Ty Gibbs

18. Chris Buescher

19. Denny Hamlin, 10 laps led

20. David Ragan, two laps led

21. Ross Chastain, one lap down, 14 laps led

22. Austin Cindric, one lap down, 13 laps led

23. Ryan Preece, one lap down

24. Riley Herbst, one lap down

25. Josh Berry, one lap down

26. Justin Haley, one lap down

27. Anthony Alfredo, two laps down

28. Jimmie Johnson, four laps down

29. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident

30. Ryan Blaney – OUT, 12 laps led, Stage 2 winner

31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

32. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 45 laps led

33. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident, three laps led

34. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident, two laps led

35. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident, 16 laps led

36. Michael McDowell, 24 laps down, six laps led

37. Austin Dillon, 54 laps down

38. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident

39. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

40. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Accident

With the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season officially underway, the next event on the schedule is the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, February 25, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

February 19, 2024
NASCAR Cup Series: First-time winner(s) in 2024?

In 75 years of NASCAR competition, a total of 204 competitors have achieved at least one victory in the sport’s premier series: the Cup Series.

The commencement of the list of Cup Series winners dates back to June 19, 1949, when Jim Roper, a native of Halstead, Kansas, won NASCAR’s first-ever event at Charlotte Speedway after initial winner Glenn Dunaway was disqualified due to illegal springs being detected in his race-winning car during the post-race inspection process.

The most recent occurrence of a first-time Cup Series winner was during NASCAR’s inaugural event on the Streets of Chicago this past July when Shane van Gisbergen, a three-time Supercars champion from Auckland, New Zealand, won in his series debut while driving Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 entry. In winning at Chicago, van Gisbergen became the seventh different competitor to win in a Cup Series debut, a feat that includes Roper, Jack White, Harold Kite, Leon Sales, Marvin Burke and Johnny Rutherford.

Over the last decade (2014-23), 22 competitors won for the first time in the Cup Series, minus the 2015 season that featured no first-time winners. The list of 22 first-time winners between the 2014-23 seasons is more than the list between the 1974-83 seasons (14), the 1984-93 seasons (15) and the 2004-13 seasons (17), but the same as between the 1994-2003 seasons combined. Currently, the season that holds the all-time record of occurrences of first-time Cup winners is 1950, which featured 12 first-timers, including the season’s eventual champion Bill Rexford.

During the last decade (2014-23), a Cup Series season featured on average two first-time winners, minus the 2017 and 2021 seasons that featured three. Another season within the last decade that did not feature two first-time winners is 2022. Instead, it was a season that featured five first-timers (Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez) stapling their names among NASCAR’s elite, from the past to the present and future, as winners in NASCAR’s premier series. The previous season with the most first-time winners was back in 2011, which also featured five first-time winners (Marcos Ambrose, Trevor Bayne, Paul Menard, David Ragan and Regan Smith).

To date, the 2011 and 2022 seasons along with the 2001 and 2002 seasons hold the record with the most first-time winners in the modern era of NASCAR at five each. Between 2001 and 2002, the following names that include Johnny Benson Jr., Kurt Busch, Ricky Craven, Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler and Michael Waltrip each scored their first Cup career victory.

Additional names that have won in the Cup Series for the first time from 2003 to 2023 include AJ Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Christopher Bell, Greg Biffle, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher, William Byron, Cole Custer, Austin Dillon, Carl Edwards, Chase Elliott, Justin Haley, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Erik Jones, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell, Casey Mears, Juan Pablo Montoya, David Reutimann, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Brian Vickers and Bubba Wallace.

From the list of 49 first-time winners between 2001 to 2023, 37 would proceed to win multiple Cup events. In addition, 10 would become Cup Series champions and 12 would become Daytona 500 champions.

With the 2024 season set to present a new season of Cup Series competition, beginning this upcoming weekend for the third annual running of the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, it also presents an array of opportunities for a bevy of competitors, new and familiar, to elevate their names and achieve the title of race winner in NASCAR’s premier series.

The competitor who leads the group of potential first-time Cup Series winners entering the 2024 season is Ty Gibbs. The 21-year-old Gibbs, who is the grandson of NASCAR championship-winning team owner and Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs from Charlotte, North Carolina, is coming off his first full-time campaign in the Cup Series, where he achieved the 2023 Rookie-of-the-Year title on the strength of four top-five results, 10 top-10 results, 112 laps led, an average-finishing result of 18.4 and an 18th-place finish in the final standings.

A former champion of both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the ARCA Menards Series divisions, Gibbs’ highest finish in the Cup Series is fourth place, which occurred at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course last October. He also displayed a strong performance at Bristol Motor Speedway last September, where he led 102 laps before finishing fifth. Having completed his first full-time Cup season, new goals await for Gibbs and the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE team in the form of achieving a first Cup victory, making the Playoffs and continuing to make the presence of running towards the front known frequently.

Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Another name that stands out as a potential first-time winner is Josh Berry. The 33-year-old Berry from Hendersonville, Tennessee, graduates to the Cup Series to drive the No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing as he replaces the 2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick, who retired at the 2023 season’s conclusion. Berry, a former champion of the CARS Late Model Stock Tour is the all-time wins leader in the series and spent the bulk of his career competing in late models and earning his way toward the top level of stock car competition.

He spent the previous three seasons as an Xfinity Series competitor for JR Motorsports, where he made the Playoffs during the last two seasons, made the Championship 4 round in 2022, and notched five series victories. He has also made 10 career starts in the Cup Series, with his first two occurring with Spire Motorsports in 2021.

This past season, he made 10 Cup starts as an interim competitor between Hendrick Motorsports and Legacy Motor Club, where he filled in for top names that included Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and Noah Gragson. During the short stint, he piloted Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 48 Chevrolet to a non-points victory in the NASCAR All-Star Race Open at North Wilkesboro Speedway that allowed him to compete in his first All-Star Race in May. He also piloted the No. 9 Chevrolet to a career-best runner-up finish behind teammate Kyle Larson at Richmond Raceway in April. With a new opportunity in the form of a new seat in a new team earned for him in 2024, the next goal for Berry is to earn a first Cup career victory.

Next is Harrison Burton, who returns to pilot the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse for a third consecutive Cup season. A 23-year-old, second-generation racer from Huntersville, North Carolina, Burton, who is also the 2017 ARCA Menards Series East champion and a four-time Xfinity Series race winner, is coming off two consecutive seasons in the Cup Series. During those two seasons, he has tallied only a total of four top-10 results, 60 laps led, average-finishing results outside the top-20 mark and final points results below the top-25 mark. His best on-track result was a third-place finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in July 2022.

Amid the on-track difficulties, Burton remains optimistic about turning the tide and regaining his competitiveness from his early racing career that would enable him to join his father Jeff, and Uncle Ward, as Cup Series winners. Should Burton accomplish his goal of winning in 2024, he would also strike gold in recording the elusive 100th Cup career win for Wood Brothers Racing, a goal that has eluded the organization since 2017.

After relinquishing his full-time seat at Front Row Motorsports for select events but managing to compete the entire 36-race schedule with select starts with Rick Ware Racing last season, Todd Gilliland reclaims his seat in FRM’s No. 38 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the entire 2024 season. Like Burton, the 23-year-old, second-generation Gilliland from Sherrills Ford, North Carolina, is also a two-time ARCA Menards Series West champion and a three-time Craftsman Truck Series race winner. is coming off two full-time Cup seasons, where he has only achieved a single top-five result, six top-10 results, 11 laps led, average-finishing results outside the top-20 mark and two consecutive 28th-place finishes in the final standings, with his best result being a fourth-place finish at Indianapolis in July 2022.

Compared to his rookie season in 2022, Gilliland steadily improved his stats to notch 11 top-15 results this past season, which is seven more than the 2022 season, and he tallied a total of 554 points at this season’s conclusion, which is 23 points extra than the previous season. With Front Row Motorsports slowly becoming competitive on a weekly basis and coming off a dominant victory at Indianapolis with teammate Michael McDowell that enabled them to contend in the first round of the 2023 Cup Playoffs, the next step for Gilliland remains to gain more consistency that would enable him to contend for victories with FRM and become the first member of the Gilliland racing family to win in the Cup Series.

Photo by Chad Wells for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Coming off his strongest Cup Series season to date, Corey LaJoie enters the 2024 season with an aim to continue to elevate both himself and Spire Motorsports from the midfield to the front on a consistent basis that would enable both to motor their way to Victory Lane. The 32-year-old, third-generation LaJoie from Kannapolis, North Carolina, is coming off his fifth full-time season in NASCAR’s premier series, second piloting the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, where he recorded career-high stats in top fives (two), top 10s (three) and laps led (66) as he also notched a career-best average-finishing result of 20.8 on the strength of 18 top-20 results and a career-best 25th place in the final standings. Throughout the season, he scored a career-best fourth-place finish twice, the first at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March and the second at Talladega Superspeedway in October, and made a single start in Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 9 entry in place of the suspended Chase Elliott at World Wide Technology Raceway in June, where he finished 21st.

LaJoie’s closet opportunity to win a first Cup event still dates back to July 2022 at Atlanta, where he led 19 laps and was leading during a three-lap shootout until he was overtaken by Elliott during the final lap and wrecked on the final lap while trying to overtake Elliott through the first turn as he plummeted to 21st place in the final running order. Compared to the 2022 season, where he ended up with eight DNFs throughout the 36-race schedule, LaJoie was the only competitor to sustain no DNFs throughout the 2023 campaign, which marks a drastic level of improvement amid a rocky start to his career as the driver strives to march closer to the front and contend for the first Cup victory regularly beyond superspeedway venues.

Coming off a difficult first-time campaign with Stewart-Haas Racing, Ryan Preece aims to turn the tide amid the on-track struggles directed to SHR and Preece’s No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry entering the 2024 Cup season. The 33-year-old Preece from Berlin, Connecticut, who is the 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion and a race winner across the Truck and Xfinity Series divisions, made his return to full-time Cup competition after previously competing in the series from 2019 to 2021 with JTG-Daugherty Racing.

Amid five DNFs throughout the 2023 season, including a harrowing barrel-roll accident at Daytona in August while contending for a Playoff berth, Preece managed to pilot SHR’s No. 41 entry to 12 top-15 results and 19 top-20 results throughout the 36-race campaign before settling in 23rd place in the final standings. With Richmond Raceway in late July providing his best run of the season in fifth place, he notched his first pole at Martinsville Speedway in April in an event where he led the first 135 laps before he was penalized early for speeding on pit road and rallying up to 15th place. He also displayed a strong performance during last year’s Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum, where he led a race-high 43 laps before fading to seventh place. After concluding the 2023 season with a steady gain in the form of five top-15 results in the final eight-scheduled events, the next step for Preece involves steadily gaining consistency within the top-10 mark that would enable him to contend and add a Cup Series victory next to his accomplished modified tour resume.

Within this year’s list of potential first-time Cup Series winners, the series will also feature two future stars who have been elevated from Truck Series competition to full-time Cup Series rookies in 2024.

The first is Zane Smith, the 2022 Truck Series champion who won nine series races, including twice at Daytona, in four seasons (92 starts) and made 12 career starts in the Xfinity Series. The 24-year-old Smith from Huntington Beach, California, will pilot the No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports in collaboration with Trackhouse Racing, a team which Smith is under contract with on a multi-year basis. While Smith enters the Cup Series as a first-time full-time competitor, he does so with limited Cup starts noted on his resume as he made his series’ debut at World Wide Technology Raceway as an interim competitor for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing in 2022 before making eight starts between Front Row Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing this past season. His best result in the Cup circuit is a 10th-place run at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Coca-Cola 600 in May followed by a 13th-place finish during the 65th running of the Daytona 500 in February. Having made his name known within the top ranks of NASCAR based on his Truck Series performance and championship, the next step for Smith will involve elevating himself amongst NASCAR’s elite as he contends for both his first series victory and the Rookie-of-the-Year title.

Photo by Kirk Schroll for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Another Cup Series rookie contender who has been elevated from the Truck Series is Carson Hocevar, a 21-year-old native from Portage, Michigan, who comes with three full-time seasons of Truck competition and a total of five Xfinity starts within his resume. A former winner of the Winchester 400, Hocevar is coming off a career year to date, where he notched his first four career victories in the Truck Series and transferred to the Championship 4 round before ending up in third place in the final standings while competing for Niece Motorsports. Amid his full-time Truck campaign, Hocevar made his first nine career starts in NASCAR’s premier series in 2023, with his first occurring at World Wide Technology Raceway in June. He then competed in eight of the final 10 races for Legacy Motor Club, where he achieved a season-best 11th-place result at Bristol in September. Driving the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports for the 2024 season, Hocevar aims to implement the select Cup starts gained throughout the 2023 season along with his early Truck Series success to gain consistency in NASCAR’s premier series that would enable him to contend for both a first Cup victory and this year’s Rookie-of-the-Year title.

This year’s growing list of potential first-time winners also features a host of names who re-enter the series and aim for redemption by being consistently competitive against NASCAR’s elite. One of the names from this category is Noah Gragson, a competitor who was deemed a prominent star at the start of the 2023 season before his career was placed on a hiatus amid an off-track action that nearly derailed his path to becoming a future Cup Series winner and champion. After graduating to the Cup level with a full-time ride at Legacy Motor Club this past season, the 25-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, competed in 21 events, where he recorded an average-finishing result of 28.2 and a season-best 12th-place finish at Atlanta in March, before being suspended indefinitely from both Legacy Motor Club and NASCAR for violating the sport’s member conduct policy and liking an offensive meme on social media in early August.

A month later, Gragson was reinstated by NASCAR after completing the sport’s diversity and inclusion program. Another three months later, the opportunity for him to return to the Cup level arrived when he was selected as the driver of the No. 10 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing on a multiyear basis, beginning in 2024, as he replaced veteran Aric Almirola, who scaled back to competing on a part-time basis in the Xfinity Series.

Before his suspension, Gragson had already developed a name for himself within the NASCAR ranks, having achieved victories across both the ARCA Menards Series East and West divisions along with the Truck and Xfinity circuits. His best results in championship standings are a pair of runner-up finishes, the first occurring during the 2018 Truck season and the second occurring during the 2022 Xfinity season. The Las Vegas native also campaigned in half of the Cup events throughout the 2022 season between Beard Motorsports, Kaulig Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, where he notched a strong fifth-place run at Daytona while driving the No. 62 Beard entry. With his past success, Gragson strives to make the most of a second opportunity and transform a hard-working, off-season period into success with a championship-winning organization.

Another competitor who returns to full-time Cup Series competition for a second opportunity amid a five-year absence is Daniel Hemric. The 33-year-old Hemric from Kannapolis, North Carolina, who also won the 2010 Legends Million, made his first two Cup career starts in 2018 with Richard Childress Racing before achieving a full-time Cup ride in RCR’s No. 8 entry in 2019. Despite claiming the rookie title, Hemric, who only notched one pole, two top-10 results with an average-finish result of 22.5, was replaced by Tyler Reddick before the 2020 season.

Since the 2020 season, the North Carolina native scaled back down to the Xfinity Series, a series in which he made two Championship 4 appearances in 2017 and 2018, where he started as a part-time competitor for JR Motorsports before returning as a full-time competitor in 2021 with Joe Gibbs Racing. During his series’ return, Hemric achieved a breakthrough moment by achieving both his first Xfinity victory and championship during the 2021 finale at Phoenix. He also recorded a pole, 31 top-five results, 65 top-10 results and nearly 800 laps led while also achieving three Playoff appearances.

With Hemric coming off two full-time Xfinity seasons with Kaulig Racing, where he made the Playoffs and ended up in the top 10 in the final standings during both seasons, an opportunity to return to Cup competition for this season was announced last August as he replaces the departing Justin Haley in Kaulig’s No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry. With his new Cup ride, the next step for Hemric involves striving to both keep his name in the series and continue to have the final word against his doubters for years to come.

Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images.

Like Hemric, John Hunter Nemechek experienced a similar path in having a first full-time Cup season marred with on-track challenges that resulted in him scaling back down in NASCAR’s divisional ranks and working his way back up to the top to obtain another opportunity to compete against NASCAR’s elite.

A 26-year-old, second-generation racer from Mooresville, North Carolina, Nemechek’s inaugural presence in the Cup Series occurred in the final three events of the 2019 season, where he replaced Matt Tifft to drive for Front Row Motorsports before becoming a full-time FRM competitor in 2020.

After only obtaining three top-10 results and finishing 27th in the final standings with an average-finishing result of 22.4, Nemechek made the big decision to scale back down to the Truck Series and join forces with Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2021 with a goal to win races and regain his competitiveness. Having previously achieved six Truck Series victories and two Playoff appearances in 2016 and 2017, Nemechek quickly regained his competitive form as he notched six victories between 2021 and 2022 with KBM, won the 2021 Truck Series Regular Season championship, clinched a Playoff berth during both seasons and the Championship 4 round in 2021, where he ended up in third place in the final standings.

This past season, Nemechek, who competed for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series, nabbed seven victories and made it to the Championship 4 round, where he contended for the series’ title until a final lap incident during an overtime shootout resulted with the North Carolina native settling in fourth place in the final standings. Nonetheless, this past season marked Nemechek’s strongest in the Xfinity circuit as he ended up with an average-finishing result of 9.5 and finished in the top 10 in all but nine of the 33-race schedule. Now set to pilot the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club for the 2024 Cup season amid a rejuvenated, three-year climb back to the top, Nemechek next strives to both etch a new legacy towards his racing family and a new chapter to his racing career in the form of winning in the Cup Series.

Lastly, this year’s list of potential first-time Cup winners features a host of names who will campaign in NASCAR’s premier series on a part-time basis, but remain on the radar for any element of potential on-track surprises. The first name within this category is Anthony Alfredo, who is currently scheduled to make two Cup starts in the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for Beard Motorsports, which includes this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500. The 24-year-old Alfredo from Ridgefield, Connecticut, makes a limited return to the Cup circuit after campaigning in two events with Live Fast Motorsports this past season.

Previously, he competed on a full-time Cup basis with Front Row Motorsports in 2021, where he recorded a single top-10 result, a total of five top-20 results and a 30th-place result in the final standings. To date, he has also made a total of 85 starts in the Xfinity Series and 13 in the Truck Series. Despite having his overall average-finishing result in the Cup circuit hovering outside of the top-25 mark, the Connecticut native’s previous successes of strong runs on superspeedway venues across NASCAR’s top three national touring series along with Beard Motorsports’ grit in vying for spots on superspeedway venues, including the Daytona 500, gives Alfredo a strong sense of optimism to place himself in a potential spot of vying for a victory in the Great American Race. Aside from his part-time Cup campaign, Alfredo is set to compete on a full-time basis in this year’s Xfinity season with Our Motorsports.

After making select premier series starts in three of the previous four seasons, Kaz Grala will campaign in an expanded Cup slate of 26 races, 25 in the No. 15 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Rick Ware Racing and one in the No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse throughout Daytona Speedweeks as he attempts to qualify for this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

The 25-year-old Grala from Boston, Massachusetts, notches Cup Series rides for the majority of the 2024 season after competing in this past season’s Xfinity Series circuit with Sam Hunt Racing, where he ended up in 17th place in the final driver’s standings on the strength of nine top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 19.1. In total, Grala has 77 Xfinity career starts and 51 Truck Series starts within his racing resume, with a single victory occurring during the Truck opener at Daytona in 2017.

Meanwhile, the Boston native has only made seven Cup career starts, with his first occurring during the series’ inaugural event at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in 2020, where he achieved an impressive seventh-place result as a fill-in competitor for Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet team after Dillon was absent following a positive COVID-19 test. His other Cup starts include three with Kaulig Racing in 2021 and three with The Money Team Racing in 2022, where he competed in the Daytona 500 during both seasons and notched a career-best sixth-place finish at Talladega in 2021.

Amid his limited Cup starts, the newly formed alliance for Rick Ware Racing with Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, a championship-winning organization that achieved three victories and placed both owner Brad Keselowski and veteran Chris Buescher into the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, gives both the team and driver a sense of optimism and excitement approaching the new season, with Grala striving to claw his way to the top amongst NASCAR’s elite. Grala’s 2024 campaign with Rick Ware Racing commences with this weekend’s Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum followed by Atlanta Motor Speedway in late February. The rest of his schedule with RWR remains to be determined.

Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

More than two months after scoring a full-time seat in Kaulig Racing’s No. 11 entry for this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Josh Williams has scored again by notching a part-time Cup Series ride in Kaulig’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry, beginning this upcoming weekend at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the Busch Light Clash. The 30-year-old Williams from Port Charlotte, Florida, leaps into the spotlight amongst NASCAR’s elite with only three previous Cup starts listed in his extensive racing resume that includes 186 career starts in the Xfinity circuit, two in the Truck Series and 102 in the ARCA Menards Series.

Within his three Cup career starts, all occurring with Live Fast Motorsports in 2022, the Floridian managed to finish on average 10 spots better than where he started, with his best results being a pair of 25th-place runs at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. Having full confidence in the team’s model and management amid the intensity to boost his performance, Williams strives to capitalize on the biggest opportunity of his racing career by being both consistent and competitive on the track that would enable him to contend for an Xfinity Series championship and potentially become a future Cup Series star. Following The Clash, Williams will make his first points-paying start of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway in late February while the rest of his schedule remains to be determined. He will have race-winning crew chief Travis Mack as his crew chief and share the No. 16 ride with veteran AJ Allmendinger while the rest of the entry’s driver lineup also remains to be determined.

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to commence this Sunday, February 4, with the third annual running of the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that will air at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. Afterward, the 66th running of the Daytona 500 will follow suit on February 18, which will serve as the first points-paying event on the schedule and provide one of 36 opportunities for any competitors listed above to achieve a first-time win in NASCAR’s premier series. The 2024 Daytona 500’s broadcast time is set to air at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

January 31, 2024
Allgaier grabs thrilling Xfinity victory at Martinsville in overtime, secures Championship 4 berth

In a matter of one turn during an overtime shootout, Justin Allgaier went from being scored outside of the cutline to make the Championship 4 round to racing his way into the round and receiving an opportunity to contend for this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series championship after notching a thrilling victory in the Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, October 28.

The 37-year-old Allgaier from Riverton, Illinois, led twice for 21 of 256 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row and quickly took care of business in the early stages by winning the first stage period amid a strategic pit call to remain on the track on old tires. After pitting for fresh tires prior to the second stage, Allgaier spent the stage mired outside the top 10 and battling amongst his fellow Xfinity Series rivals to remain in contention of making the cutline.

Then amid chaos after chaos followed by a multitude of caution periods and restarts, including an overtime shootout, Allgaier, who restarted fifth in overtime, managed to muscle his way up to third place on the final lap. He then benefitted from a final lap altercation involving Richard Childress Racing’s Playoff contenders Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill to overtake both entering the final turn before edging Creed in a photo finish to win for the fourth time in this year’s Xfinity Series season and race his way into the Championship 4, where he will be one of four competitors who will battle for this year’s championship at next weekend’s finale at Phoenix Raceway.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, October 27, Playoff contender and rookie Sammy Smith notched his first Xfinity pole position of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 94.515 mph in 23.035 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Justin Allgaier, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 94.458 mph in 20.047 seconds.

Prior to the event, the following names that included Jeb Burton, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chris Hacker, Devin Jones and Brett Moffitt dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Sammy Smith rocketed his No. 18 Pringles Toyota Supra ahead of the field prior to entering Turn 1 as he maintained the lead over Allgaier and Playoff contender Cole Custer. With the field running in two-wide formation and stacked through the backstretch, Smith proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of both Allgaier and Custer while Riley Herbst and Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek pursued in the top five.

During the next three laps, Sammy Smith stretched his advantage to more than a second over Allgaier, who was being pressured by Custer for the runner-up spot while Nemechek and Herbst remained dead even for fourth place in front of Playoff contender Chandler Smith, Brandon Jones and Richard Childress Racing’s Playoff contenders Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill. Amid the early on-track battles, the first caution of the event flew on the fourth lap after Joe Graf Jr. spun with a flat left-rear tire in Turn 2.

When the race restarted on Lap 10, Sammy Smith and Allgaier dueled for the lead until Smith muscled away from Allgaier entering the backstretch. Behind, Custer was in third ahead of Nemechek while Herbst, Creed, Chandler Smith and Austin Hill battled for fifth. Amid the battles, Sammy Smith retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over Allgaier and a second over Nemechek by the Lap 15 mark.

At the Lap 20 mark, Sammy Smith was leading by half a second over Allgaier followed by Nemechek, Custer and Herbst while Creed, Hill, Myatt Snider, rookie Chandler Smith and Brandon Jones were in the top 10. With Daniel Hemric, Ryan Sieg, Josh Berry, rookie Parker Retzlaff and Parker Kligerman running in the top 15, Playoff contender Sam Mayer, who is already guaranteed a spot into this year’s Championship 4 by winning last weekend’s event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, was in 18th.

Fifteen laps later, Sammy Smith continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Nemechek, Custer and Herbst continued to run in the top five. Behind, Creed, Snider, Hill, Chandler Smith and Hemric were scored in the top 10 while Mayer was mired in 19th.

Another six laps later, the second caution flag of the event flew due to an incident involving Kyle Sieg in Turn 2. During the caution period, a majority of the lead lap field led by the leader Sammy Smith pitted while the rest, including Allgaier, Nemechek, Custer, Hill, Josh Bilicki, Anthony Alfredo, Rajah Caruth, Josh Williams and Brennan Poole remained on the track.

During the following restart on Lap 49, Allgaier briefly dueled with Nemechek through the first two turns before muscling his No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro ahead from the inside lane to gain the advantage with the top spot. Shortly after, Custer battled and overtook Nemechek for the runner-up spot as Hill tried to join the battle amid a series of on-track battles ensuing behind the front-runners.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, Allgaier, who came into the event three points below the top-four cutline to make this year’s Championship 4 round, captured his 13th Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Custer followed suit in second along with Nemechek, Hill and Sammy Smith while Alfredo, Herbst, Myatt Snider, Chandler Smith and Josh Bilicki were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contender Sheldon Creed ended up 11th while Mayer was mired back within the top 30.

Under the stage break, some led by Allgaier, including those who remained on the track during the previous caution period, pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track.

The second stage period started on Lap 68 as teammates Sammy Smith and Myatt Snider occupied the front row. At the start, Smith and Snider dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Smith managed to fend off Snider through the backstretch to retain the top spot. Behind, Chandler Smith moved up to third ahead of Herbst and Berry while Creed was in sixth ahead of Hemric, Brandon Jones, Kaz Grala and Ryan Sieg. The caution, however, would return on Lap 72 after Custer, who was mired within the middle of the pack after pitting during the stage break, made contact with Layne Riggs entering Turns 1 and 2 as Riggs spun while Mayer slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting Riggs.

When the race restarted on Lap 79, Sammy Smith fended off Chandler Smith entering Turn 1 to retain the lead while continuing to run on the inside lane. Shortly after, Snider gave Chandler Smith a light bump to move him out of the groove and overtake him for the runner-up spot while both Berry and Herbst tried to move Chandler Smith out of the groove to overtake him for third and fourth. In the midst of the bumping and on-track contact for positions, Creed pursued closely in sixth while Sammy Smith maintained the lead over teammate Snider.

On Lap 87, the caution flew after Ryan Sieg, who was battling Herbst for sixth place, got loose underneath Herbst, made contact against Herbst’s Ford and spun towards the middle of the track in Turn 2, with the field managing to fan out and dodge Sieg’s No. 39 Ford as the Georgian continued without sustaining any significant damage to his entry. During the caution period, select names that included Mayer, Kligerman and Alfredo pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track.

The ensuing restart on Lap 94 featured Sammy Smith rocketing away from the inside lane to retain the lead while Berry retained second place ahead of Snider, Chandler Smith, Creed and Herbst. Not long after, a three-wide battle ensued between Chandler Smith, Snider and Creed while Brandon Jones carved his way up to sixth followed by Hemric, Herbst, Grala and Retzlaff. Amid the contact and physical battles ensuing behind, Sammy Smith extended his advantage by nearly a second over Berry as the event surpassed the Lap 100 mark.

At the Lap 110 mark, Sammy Smith was leading by more than a second over Berry and more than two seconds over third-place Snider while Creed, Chandler Smith, Grala, Brandon Jones, Retzlaff, Custer and Jeremy Clements were running in the top 10. Behind, Playoff contenders Allgaier, Nemechek, Mayer and Hill were scored in 14th through 17th, respectively.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 120, Sammy Smith, who navigated his way through lapped traffic and came into the event 49 points below the Championship 4 cutline, captured his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Berry trailed in the runner-up spot followed by Snider, Creed and Grala while Retzlaff, Chandler Smith, Custer, Brandon Jones and Herbst were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Allgaier, Mayer, Nemechek and Hill were scored in 11th, 14th, 15th and 17th, respectively, as Nemechek managed to clinch his spot into this year’s Championship 4 round.

During the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Sammy Smith pitted for service while Layne Riggs and Ryan Sieg remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Mayer exited pit road first after only electing fuel to his entry while Sammy Smith followed suit with four fresh tires along with Berry, Snider, Creed, Custer and Herbst.

With 121 laps remaining, the final stage period started as Riggs and Ryan Sieg occupied the front row. At the start, Riggs gained a strong start on the inside lane to muscle away from the field with the lead while Mayer quickly made his way into the runner-up spot along with a hard-charging Sammy Smith while Ryan Sieg fell back to fourth in front of Snider. Behind, Creed battled with Custer and Allgaier for seventh as Sammy Smith overtook Mayer for the runner-up spot before igniting his charge on Riggs for the lead.

Then with 116 laps remaining, Sammy Smith reassumed the lead after overtaking Riggs for the top spot. Snider and Berry would follow suit not long after as Riggs managed to remain in fourth in front of Mayer.

Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Sammy Smith was leading by more than three seconds over Berry and by four seconds over teammate Snider while Custer muscled his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang into fourth place ahead of Riggs. Mayer, Creed, Herbst, Grala and Allgaier were in the top 10 while Retzlaff, Nemechek, Brandon Jones, Chandler Smith and Hill were back in the top 15.

Four laps later, the caution flew after Riggs, who was running fifth, got hit by Mayer as Riggs spun for a second time in Turn 2. During the caution period, select names that included Playoff contenders Allgaier and Hill pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track.

With the race restarting with 90 laps remaining, Sammy Smith fended off teammate Snider and Berry to retain the lead as the field behind fanned out and jostled for late positions. As Sammy Smith retained the lead and started to pull away from his competition, the caution returned a few laps later after Akinori Ogata spun in Turn 2. During the caution period, select names that included Snider, Creed and Chandler Smith pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Chandler Smith was penalized for having too many men over the pit wall.

During the following restart with 81 laps remaining, Sammy Smith muscled away from Berry to retain the lead through the first two turns as Berry managed to remain in front of Custer and maintain the runner-up spot. With Herbst and Mayer battling for fourth place in front of Nemechek, Grala and Jones, Sammy Smith checked out with an advantage of more than a second with 75 laps remaining. Shortly after, the caution flew due to Kligerman losing a right-front tire and falling off the pace through the frontstretch. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Sammy Smith pitted while the rest led by Nemechek remained on the track.

With the race restarting with 68 laps remaining, Nemechek retained the lead ahead of the field while Hill made his way into the runner-up spot. As Allgaier was trying to carve his way into the top five, the bumping within the pack continued to ignite amongst the Playoff contenders and front-runners through every turn and straightaway. Then three laps later, more on-track trouble ignited after Snider fell off the pace and stacked up the field exiting the backstretch, which resulted with Connor Mosack, who was hit by teammate Grala and was scraping the inside wall, spinning and hitting Grala as Clements and Jeb Burton were also involved by hitting Mosack. In the midst of the carnage, Playoff contender Custer sustained minimal front-nose damage to his No. 00 Haas Ford, but he continued to remain on the track in 12th place. Not long after, Playoff contender Chandler Smith retired due to a mechanical issue to his No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro, which took him out of the equation of making this year’s Championship 4 round.

In the ensuing restart with 54 laps remaining, Nemechek and Hill dueled for the lead for a full lap, with Hill leading the next lap, and they continued to duel for the lead during the next lap as he led the respective lap before he muscled his No. 21 Global Industrial Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Nemechek’s No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra and clear with the lead from the outside lane. The caution, however, quickly returned during the following lap after Akinori Ogata spun for a second time of the day, this time in Turn 4.

During the following restart with 44 laps remaining, Nemechek challenged Hill for the lead from the outside lane and he managed to pull ahead through the frontstretch to lead the following lap just before the caution flew against after JJ Yeley and Ryan Ellis wrecked in the frontstretch.

With the race restarting with 36 laps remaining, Nemechek and Hill dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Nemechek used the outside lane to retain the lead from Hill. With Nemechek leading Hill, Allgaier was trying to fend off Creed and Sammy Smith for third place, with Creed and Smith placed in “must-win” scenarios to advance into the Championship 4 round, before the latter two managed to overtake the veteran Allgaier for third and fourth. As the race progressed, the caution would return with 31 laps remaining after Kaz Grala spun in Turn 2.

With the race restarting with 25 laps remaining, Nemechek retained the lead as he restarted from the inside lane while Hill managed to fend off teammate Creed to retain the runner-up spot. This allowed Sammy Smith to challenge Creed for third place followed by Allgaier and Custer as Smith made his way into third place.

With less than 20 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Hill while third-place Sammy Smith trailed by more than a second. Behind, Creed, Allgaier and Custer engaged in a fierce battle for fourth place and for the final spots to the Championship 4 round while Herbst, Jeb Burton, Snider and Riggs were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Mayer was mired in 16th as the battle between Creed, Custer and Allgaier ensued while Nemechek extended his advantage to more than a second over Hill with 15 laps remaining.

Following another caution period after Alfredo spun in Turn 4 with 14 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with eight laps remaining. At the start, Sammy Smith tried to make a move beneath teammate Nemechek entering Turn 1, but Nemechek blocked his teammate and retained the lead over Hill through the first two turns. Behind, Sammy Smith lost third place to Creed after he hopped the curb entering Turn 1, which allowed Allgaier to challenge him to fourth place. Back at the front, however, Hill gave Nemechek a push to the bumper entering Turn 3, which moved Nemechek up the track as Hill and Creed moved into first and second through the frontstretch. Then as Nemechek, Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Herbst and Custer battled for third behind the two Richard Childress Racing competitors during the following lap, the caution returned for six laps remaining as a multi-car wreck ignited entering the backstretch when Jeb Burton and Snider made contact and resulted with Snider hitting Riggs, spinning back across the track and collecting Grala, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Mayer, Clements, Josh Williams, CJ McLaughlin, Rajah Caruth, Chad Finchum, Jones and Bilicki. The carnage was enough for the event to be placed in a red flag period for 28 minutes.

Once the red flag was lifted and the field returned under a cautious pace, the event was sent into overtime as the on-track safety workers continued to clean the racing surface amid the carnage and leaked fluid. Amid an extensive caution period, the race restarted in overtime as teammates Hill and Creed occupied the front row in front of Nemechek, Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Custer. At the start, Nemechek got into the rear of Hill, which caused Nemechek to go way below the inside lane as Hill tried to fend off teammate Creed for the lead entering Turn 1. Hill and Creed then made contact entering the backstretch, which allowed Hill to muscle ahead of his teammate as Allgaier trailed in third place. By then, Nemechek moved up to fourth while Sammy Smith and Custer battled for fifth.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hill, who was bumped by teammate Creed entering Turns 3 and 4, remained as the leader ahead of Creed and Allgaier, who scrubbed the frontstretch’s outside wall after making contact with Nemechek. Then in Turn 1, Creed ran into the rear of teammate Hill, which caused Hill to go wide as Creed made his move beneath Hill for the lead. After dueling with Hill through the backstretch, where Hill rammed into the side of Creed, Creed muscled his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro ahead from Hill and assumed the lead before he went up the track in Turn 3, locked up the front tires and was hit in the rear by Hill. Amid the chaos, Allgaier made his move beneath both as Hill was then turned by Nemechek and triggered a multi-car wreck. With the wreck ensuing behind, Allgaier and Creed rubbed fenders approaching the finish line, with Allgaier edging Creed by 0.032 seconds to grab the victory and race his way into the Championship 4 round.

With the victory, Allgaier achieved his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2023 season, his first at Martinsville, his first since winning the Playoff opener at Bristol Motor Speedway in September and the 23rd of his career. The 2023 season marks Allgaier’s sixth season reaching the Championship 4 round as he will officially contend for his first elusive Xfinity Series championship in his 13th full-time campaign in the series, eighth while driving for JR Motorsports.

“[Spotter] Eddie D’Hondt, [crew chief] Jim Pohlman, both of those guys kept telling me it’s not over,” Allgaier said on USA Network. “Thank God is so good. You fans that came here today. Coming to the start/finish line, I don’t think I saw a single person sitting down. I just was hanging on and trying to go as fast as I can. I hope everybody that crashed on the frontstraightaway is alright. Man, this Hellmann’s car has been lights out all year. It’s been as fast as Xfinity 10G, for sure. I cannot say enough about the Hendrick Engine shop, everybody at Chevrolet, all of our partners. We got a shot at going for the championship in Phoenix. This is an emotional one. I’ve wanted to win at Martinsville for a long time and man, I’ve been on the other end of that too many times. To be able to come out of here tonight with the win and to have a shot at the championship next week, Jim Pohlman, what an incredible crew chief. He’s done an amazing job. Pit crew was lights out. Heck, I don’t even know who to thank right now. This is incredible.”

Amid the overtime shootout and the final lap accident, Cole Custer, who ended up 19th backwards and with a wrecked race car, managed to claim the fourth and final spot into the Championship 4 berth by seven points as he will join Allgaier, John Hunter Nemechek and Sam Mayer as the four competitors who will contend for this year’s Xfinity Series championship.

“It’s just Martinsville, everybody’s desperate,” Custer, who made the Championship 4 for the third time in his career, said in the infield care center. “It’s just one of those deals. I just can’t all my guys enough. They worked so hard and just gotten better and better and better throughout the year. I’m so glad this is over. It’s just amazing to be in the Final Four and have a shot at [the championship]. I think we’ll have something for [the competition] at Phoenix.”

Meanwhile, Austin Hill, this year’s regular-season champion who was unable to limp his wrecked race car across the finish line, ended up 21st with a DNF and was the first competitor scored out of the Playoffs. Teammate Sheldon Creed and Sammy Smith along with Chandler Smith were also eliminated from the Playoffs after all three came into Martinsville placed in “must-win” situations to transfer. The incident did very little to ease Hill’s frustration over missing an opportunity of contending for the title and towards his Richard Childress Racing teammate over the late contact.

“It wasn’t cool of me to do what I did into [Turn] 1 like driving [Creed] up the racetrack, but I still kind of stayed off of him,” Hill said. “[Creed] just did not give me a chance getting into [Turn] 3 and he didn’t give me a chance getting into [Turn] 1 [on the final lap]. Just shoved me up the racetrack. I know he’s in a “must-win” situation, but still, man, uncalled for that to happen and then, neither of the [Richard Childress Racing] guys make it to the Final Four. It’s just frustrating. Pretty excited for [Creed] to go to his next adventure over at [Joe Gibbs Racing]. I don’t have to put up with him no more…Just ridiculous.”

“I don’t know if it’s fair,” Creed said. “I don’t like racing that way and that seems to be the way that this race always plays out. I thought we had it there coming to the checkered. Not proud of racing like that. A shot at the Championship Four. I didn’t blast [Hill]. He’s still with me. I drug [raced] right here to keep him next to me and then, we raced pretty hard [in Turn 3] and I don’t know who gets into him. I feel like I played pretty fair for the situation and he’s gonna be mad, but it’s for a Championship 4 spot and I wanna fight for my guys all the way to the end.”

On the track, Sammy Smith ended up third followed by Herbst and Josh Berry while Hemric, Parker Retzlaff, Alfredo, Jeb Burton and Kligerman finished in the top 10.

There were 13 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured 15 cautions for 101 laps. In addition, 20 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Justin Allgaier, 21 laps led, Stage 1 winner

2. Sheldon Creed, one lap led

3. Sammy Smith, 147 laps led, Stage 2 winner

4. Riley Herbst

5. Josh Berry

6. Daniel Hemric

7. Parker Retzlaff

8. Anthony Alfredo

9. Jeb Burton

10. Parker Kligerman

11. Layne Riggs, nine laps led

12. Rajah Caruth

13. CJ McLaughlin

14. Josh Williams

15. Myatt Snider, one lap led

16. Brandon Jones

17. Jeremy Clements

18. John Hunter Nemechek, 54 laps led

19. Cole Custer, one lap led

20. Brett Moffitt

21. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident, 22 laps led

22. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Accident

23. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

24. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Transmission

25. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

26. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

27. Chad Finchum – OUT, Accident

28. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident

29. Joe Graf Jr., 16 laps down

30. Chris Hacker – OUT, Radiator

31. Connor Mosack – OUT, Radiator

32. Brennan Poole – OUT, Engine

33. Akinori Ogata – OUT, Oil line

34. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

35. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Steering

36. Chandler Smith – OUT, Accident

37. Devin Jones – OUT, Engine

38. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff competitors

Playoff standings

1. Sam Mayer – Advanced

2. Justin Allgaier – Advanced

3. John Hunter Nemechek – Advanced

4. Cole Custer – Advanced

5. Austin Hill – Eliminated

6. Sammy Smith – Eliminated

7. Sheldon Creed – Eliminated

8. Chandler Smith – Eliminated

The 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is set to conclude next Saturday, November 4, at Phoenix Raceway, where a champion will be crowned. The finale’s broadcast is slated to occur at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network.

October 28, 2023
Mayer avoids title elimination with dominant Xfinity victory at Charlotte Roval; Playoff’s Round of 8 field set

After crashing out of his last three consecutive starts, including his latest two that nearly derailed his championship hopes, Sam Mayer capitalized after being in a “must-win” situation and earned a walk-off win into the Playoff’s Round of 8 by dominating from pole position and winning the sixth annual running of the Drive for the Cure 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course on Saturday, October 7.

The 20-year-old Mayer from Franklin, Wisconsin, led four times for a race-high 50 of 67 scheduled laps in an event in which he entered 34 points below the top-eight cutline and in a “must-win” situation to transfer to the next round after crashing and not finishing his previous two events. Commencing his weekend by winning the pole position, Mayer briefly lost the lead to teammate Justin Allgaier at the event’s start before claiming it for the first time on the fifth lap. Despite surrendering the lead to pit prior to the first two stage’s conclusion and sacrificing stage points, Mayer, who restarted in the top six with 11 laps remaining, capitalized on two late caution periods to overtake Cole Custer with four laps remaining and rocket away to score his third NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2023 season and be one of eight Playoff competitors to race their way into the Round of 8.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Playoff contender Sam Mayer started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 101.798 mph in 82.045 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate and Playoff contender Justin Allgaier, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 101.751 mph in 82.083 seconds.

Prior to the event, a bevy of names that included Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek, Kyle Sieg, Ryan Sieg, Jeremy Clements, Conor Daly and Josh Williams dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

When the green flag waved and the race started, teammates Mayer and Allgaier dueled for the lead amid two stacked lanes through the first three turns until Allgaier managed to muscle ahead from the inside lane and assume the lead through the infield road course turns. With the field navigating its way through the road course turns and back onto the oval turns, Allgaier managed to retain the lead as he proceeded to lead the first lap while Mayer, Josh Berry, Sheldon Creed and Daniel Hemric followed suit.

Through the second to fourth lap, Allgaier stabilized his advantage to as high as half a second over a hard-charging Mayer while Berry, Creed and Hemric remained in the top five. Behind, Parker Kligerman was in sixth while Cole Custer, Austin Hill, Riley Herbst and Alex Labbe were running in the top 10.

Through the fifth lap, Mayer, who used the frontstretch chicane to claim the lead back from Allgaier, was leading by four-tenths of a second over teammate Allgaier while Berry, Creed and Hemric were scored in the top five. Behind, Kligerman was in sixth ahead of Custer, Hill, Herbst and Alex Labbe while Kaz Grala, Brandon Jones, Jordan Taylor, rookie Chandler Smith and Kyle Weatherman were in the top 15. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Sammy Smith and Jeb Burton were in 17th and 18th while John Hunter Nemechek was mired in 27th.

At the Lap 10 mark, Mayer continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over teammate Allgaier while Berry, Creed and Hemric retained their respective spots in the top five. With Custer, Kligerman and Hill running sixth through eighth, Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith and Jeb Burton were in 13th, 15th and 16th, respectively, while Nemechek was still back in 27th.

Seven laps later, a host of names that included Berry, Custer, Herbst, Labbe and Grala pitted under green. More names that included Connor Mosack, Brandon Jones, Jordan Taylor, Parker Retzlaff, Myatt Snider and Nemechek would follow suit on pit road before the leader Mayer pitted on Lap 18, just before pit road closed and as Allgaier reassumed the lead.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Allgaier, who had already secured his spot for the Playoff’s Round of 8 by virtue of winning the Playoff opener at Bristol Motor Speedway in September, claimed his 12th Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Hemric settled in second followed by Creed, Kligerman and Hill while Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith, Mayer, Jeb Burton and Josh Bilicki were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Allgaier pitted while the rest led by Mayer remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Jeb Burton was penalized for speeding on pit road while Conor Daly was also penalized for his crew being over the pit wall too soon.

The second stage period started on Lap 24 as teammates Mayer and Berry occupied the front row. At the start, the field quickly fanned out entering the first turn as teammates Mayer and Berry dueled for the lead. After being locked in a dead even battle against Berry through the first three turns, Mayer muscled ahead from the outside lane and retained the top spot through the infield turns before blending back on the oval turns ahead of the field. As the field continued to jostle for spots back on the oval turns and through the backstretch chicane, Mayer was leading by nearly a second over teammate Berry while Custer, Riley Herbst and Alex Labbe followed suit. Mired within the on-track battles was the battle for the transfer spots to the Playoffs with Mayer, Hill, Chandler Smith, Creed and Sammy Smith currently scored above the cutline while Hemric, Kligerman, Berry and Jeb Burton were scored below the cutline.

Through the Lap 30 mark, Mayer extended his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Berry with Custer, Herbst and Labbe were in the top five. Behind, Nemechek, Brandon Jones, Allgaier, Hemric and Creed were in the top 10, Sammy Smith, Kligerman and Hill were running 12th through 14th, Chandler Smtih was in 20th and Jeb Burton was back in 28th.

Two laps later, Berry, who came into the event below the cutline, spun and backed his No. 8 High Rock Vodka Chevrolet Camaro into the wall in between Turns 3 and 4 while running second, which dropped him to 13th. Amid Berry’s incident, the race remained under green flag conditions as Mayer continued to extend his advantage by more than five seconds over Custer. With Herbst, Nemechek and Brandon Jones running in the top five, Playoff contenders Allgaier, Hemric, Creed and Kligerman were battling in the top 10 while Sammy Smith, Berry and Hill were in the top 14. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith was in 19th and Jeb Burton was up to 23rd.

By Lap 37, green flag pit stops ensued for a second time as Herbst pitted his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang from third place followed by Hill, Grala, Berry, Myatt Snider, Mosack, Jordan Taylor, Sage Karam and Retzlaff as Mayer stabilized his lead by more than six seconds over Custer. Mayer then pitted during the following lap along with Custer, Jones and Allgaier as Nemechek assumed the lead just as pit road closed. Shortly after, Conor Daly drew a caution after he blew a left-rear tire and spun towards the outside wall in Turn 15 before he limped his damaged car and came to a stop towards the frontstretch chicane. Daly’s incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 40 to conclude under caution. As a result, Nemechek, who had already secured his spot into the Round of 8 based on winning the previous Xfinity Playoff event at Texas Motor Speedway, captured his 10th Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season, Hemric followed suit in second while Kligerman, Creed, Labbe, Sammy Smith, Mayer, Chandler Smith, Bilicki and Stefan Parsons were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, some led by Nemechek pitted for service while the rest led by Mayer remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Brandon Jones was penalized for speeding on pit road.

With 24 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Mayer and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Mayer used the outside lane to retain the lead from Custer through Turn 1. As the field behind jostled for positions, Mayer started to pull away from Custer while Allgaier was in third ahead of Herbst and Grala. By then, Hemric and Creed were currently tied for the eighth and final transfer spot to the Playoffs, with Hemric owning the tie-breaker by virtue of securing a higher result within the Round of 12, while Kligerman, who was in 12th, was two points below the cutline.

With 20 laps remaining and amid the on-track battles, Mayer extended his advantage to a second over Custer followed by Allgaier, Herbst and Grala while Hill, Berry, Connor Mosack, Ryan Sieg and Myatt Snider were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Kligerman was in 11th ahead of Hemric, Jeb Burton, Sammy Smith and Creed while Nemechek and Chandler Smith were in 17th and 18th, respectively.

Five laps later, Mayer continued to lead by more than a second over Custer while Allgaier, Herbst and Grala were in the top five. Meanwhile, Kligerman and Hemric were in ninth and 10th while Creed was back in 15th, which currently placed him a single point above the cutline over Hemric while Kligerman trailed the cutline by three points. In addition, Sammy Smith, who was in 14th, was five points above the cutline while Jeb Burton and Berry were currently scored out of the cutline. Shortly after, Hemric and Creed were scored tied for the final transfer spot after Hemric moved into 10th place on the track, with Creed in 15^th and eighth-place Kligerman behind by two points while Sammy Smith was still scored above the cutline while running 14th on the track.

Then with 12 laps remaining, Allgaier pitted under green as Mayer continued to lead by more than a second over Custer. Shortly after, the caution flew due to debris reported in Turn 17. During the caution period, Allgaier along with Jeb Burton and Blaine Perkins remained on the track while the rest, led by Mayer, pitted.

Down to the final eight laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Jeb Burton and Allgaier dueled for the lead until trouble struck after Burton got sideways and sent him and Allgaier sliding into the wall, with Perkins also hitting the wall while slamming on the brakes as the caution quickly returned and Allgaier was left eliminated from contention. With the leaders wrecked, Custer assumed the lead followed by Mayer, Bery, Herbst and Hill.

During the proceeding restart with five laps remaining, Custer and Mayer dueled for the lead entering Turn 1 until Custer managed to muscle his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang ahead entering Turn 2 and the infield turns. With Mayer keeping Custer within his sights, Custer retained the lead through infield turns and the oval turns. Amid Ryan Ellis getting into the wall and Brandon Jones spinning on the frontstretch, the race remained under green as Custer retained the lead back to the frontstretch ahead of Mayer, Berry, Herbst and Grala.

Then during the following lap, Mayer, who came into the event below the cutline and in a “must-win” situation, overtook Custer for the lead through Turn 4. Mayer’s move moved him back above the cutline. As a result, Creed was now scored a single point above Hemric on points and above the cutline with Kligerman behind by six points. Amid the battles, Sammy Smith was also scored above the cutline by three points.

During the proceeding laps, Mayer extended his advantage to more than a second over Custer with Berry, Herbst and Grala were in the top five. Behind, Kligerman was in sixth and scored five points below the cutline, Hemric was in sixth and scored two points below and Creed was in 10th behind teammate Hill while scored two points above the cutline.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Mayer remained as the leader by more than two seconds over Custer. With Custer unable to close the gap, Mayer was able to smoothly navigate his way around the infield road course and oval circuits for a final time before returning to the frontstretch chicane and crossing the finish line to claim his third checkered flag of the 2023 Xfinity season.

With the victory, Mayer notched his third NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory in his 80th series start, all occurring on road course events, and his first since winning at Watkins Glen International in August. The victory was also the sixth of the season for JR Motorsports and the 15th for the Chevrolet nameplate. By winning the Playoff’s Round of 12 finale, Mayer clinched his spot for the Round of 8 as he continues in his pursuit of winning his first Xfinity Series title.

“I knew we had time,” Mayer said on NBC. “Our car was so fast. What a day. We kicked their tails today. It just feels so great. Bonus points feel great, winning feels great. Winning solves everything. That’s the name of the game. Getting another shot at [the title], I think this is our second chance moment and I think we can make something out of it. Winning still feels great.”

Meanwhile, as Custer, Berry and Herbst finished second through fourth, Kligerman, who was locked in a tight battle against Kaz Grala for fifth place, made contact with Grala through the frontstretch chicane before he, Grala and a hard-charging Daniel Hemric crossed the finish line in a three-wide photo finish as Grala edged Kligerman and Hemric, respectively, to finish fifth. The sixth- and seventh-place results for Kligerman and Hemric, however, were not enough for both to transfer into the Round of 8 as Creed, who ended up 10th on the track, claimed the eighth and final transfer spot by two points over Hemric and four over Kligerman.

As a result, Creed joins Sam Mayer, John Hunter Nemechek, teammate Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Chandler Smith and Sammy Smith as competitors to transfer into the Playoff’s Round of 8 while Daniel Hemric, Parker Kligerman, Josh Berry and Jeb Burton were eliminated from title contention.

“[I] Just kind of stumbled our way through this first round to make it,” Creed said. “Really just fortunate that we have the luck we did at the times we did. At the end of the day, we need to bring faster race cars. Just proud of everyone’s fight. We can’t stumble our way through the next [round], that’s for sure.”

“It’s the way it is,” Hemric said. “Before the day started, I said I’m gonna be humble in victory and gracious in defeat. We were defeated this round. It’s the way it goes. We carry on. I put [my team] in a hole, for sure, there in Texas. I hate it for these guys. We got a long road ahead of us. It’s just part of the journey, man. Journey makes the man. Looking forward to what’s ahead and what’s ahead for this race team.”

“[I was saying] Just get every spot I could and hope something happen,” Kligerman said. “I just knew I had to pass people and I was just trying everything I could to get spots. I’m more upset because I love the pressure of all of this. I love the idea of fighting for something so big like we were, but it’s been a big achievement to be a part of the Playoffs for this race team. I think I can be a better driver in 2024 than I was this year for [the team]. Man, I feel like every move, aside from that one restart, I felt like we were money. Just not enough.”

There were 10 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 12 laps. In addition, 33 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Sam Mayer, 50 laps led

2. Cole Custer, four laps led

3. Josh Berry

4. Riley Herbst

5. Kaz Grala

6. Parker Kligerman

7. Daniel Hemric

8. John Hunter Nemechek, two laps led, Stage 2 winner

9. Austin Hill

10. Sheldon Creed

11. Sammy Smith

12. Chandler Smith

13. Ryan Sieg

14. Myatt Snider

15. Alex Labbe

16. Jordan Taylor

17. Brennan Poole

18. Stefan Parsons

19. Rajah Caruth

20. Josh Williams

21. Leland Honeyman

22. Parker Retzlaff

23. Jeremy Clements

24. Connor Mosack

25. Josh Bilicki

26. Kyle Weatherman

27. Sage Karam

28. Blaine Perkins

29. Brandon Jones

30. Anthony Alfredo

31. Joe Graf Jr.

32. Kyle Sieg

33. Alex Guenette

34. Jeb Burton, one lap down, one lap led

35. Conor Daly, one lap down

36. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident

37. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident, 10 laps led, Stage 1 winner

38. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Ignition

*Bold indicates Playoff competitors

Playoff standings

1. John Hunter Nemechek – Advanced

2. Justin Allgaier – Advanced

3. Sam Mayer – Advanced

4. Cole Custer – Advanced

5. Austin Hill – Advanced

6. Chandler Smith – Advanced

7. Sammy Smith – Advanced

8. Sheldon Creed – Advanced

9. Daniel Hemric – Eliminated

10. Parker Kligerman – Eliminated

11. Josh Berry – Eliminated

12. Jeb Burton – Eliminated

The Round of 8 in the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is scheduled to commence next Saturday, October 14, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event’s broadcast is slated to occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

October 7, 2023
Nemechek clinches Round of 8 spot with late Xfinity victory at Texas

In an event dominated by Justin Allgaier and compiled with a series of caution flags and on-track chaos, the seas parted ways for John Hunter Nemechek to storm to the lead in the closing laps and to his unprecedented seventh NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2023 season in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 23.

The 26-year-old Nemechek from Mooresville, North Carolina, led twice for 38 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified 11th and spent the majority of the event running towards the front while avoiding a series of carnages and caution periods that started just past the opening lap and setting up a 10-lap dash to the finish. During the 10-lap shootout, Nemechek, who pitted during a late caution period for fresh tires with less than 20 laps remaining, capitalized on a late on-track skirmish involving the leaders Justin Allgaier and Parker Kligerman through Turns 3 and 4 to overtake them both through the frontstretch and assume the lead with six laps remaining. Once out in front of the field with the clean air and fresh tires, Nemechek was able to fend off a late charge from Kligerman to win for the seventh time in the 2023 Xfinity Series season and clinch his spot for the Playoff’s Round of 8.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Justin Allgaier, winner of last weekend’s Playoff opener at Bristol Motor Speedway, started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 185.008 mph in 29.188 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Trevor Bayne, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 184.919 mph in 29.202 seconds.

Prior to the event, the following names that included newcomer Layne Riggs, Playoff contender Chandler Smith, Joe Graf Jr. and Brett Moffitt dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Allgaier and Bayne dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Allgaier muscled ahead from the outside lane and retained the lead entering the backstretch. Behind, early trouble struck for Playoff contender Sam Mayer after Mayer, who was running sixth, slid up the track and hit the backstretch’s outside wall after blowing a right-front tire. Despite Mayer falling off the pace and nursing his damaged No. 1 Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet Camaro to pit road, the race remained under green flag conditions as Allgaier proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Bayne while Cole Custer, Austin Hill and Brandon Jones followed suit. During the second lap, however, the first caution of the event flew after 10th-place Riley Herbst hit the outside wall in Turn 4 and damaged the right side of his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang. Mayer and Herbst’s separate incidents would knock both competitors out of contention and in the garage with wrecked race cars.

When the race restarted under green on the seventh lap, Allgaier wasted no time in muscling his No. 7 Reese’s Ice Cream Chevrolet Camaro away with the lead. Behind Bayne and Custer battled in front of Hill, John Hunter Nemechek and Brandon Jones as the field jostled and fanned out through the backstretch. With Bayne keeping his No. 19 Interstate Batteries Toyota Supra running on the outside lane, Custer assumed the runner-up spot followed by Hill.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Allgaier was leading ahead of Custer followed by Hill, Bayne and Nemechek while Jones, Josh Berry, Parker Kligerman, Sammy Smith and Daniel Hemric were in the top 10. Shortly after, the event’s second caution flew after Patrick Emerling, Layne Riggs and Joe Graf Jr. wrecked through the frontstretch.

During the proceeding restart on Lap 16, Allgaier and Hill dueled for the lead until Hill muscled ahead from the outside lane with a slight advantage. Allgaier, however, fought back through the backstretch from the inside lane as he reassumed the lead through Turn 3 and led the proceeding lap. With Allgaier leading Hill, Custer trailed in third ahead of Bayne, Nemechek and Jones while Kligerman battled and overtook Berry for seventh. Not long after, Hemric, who was running 11th, went wide entering Turn 1 and began to fall off the pace after running his No. 10 Poppy Bank Chevrolet Camaro through the frontstretch’s grass and damaging the left-front fender and splitter. Hemric continued to remain on the track and under green flag conditions but would proceed to lose a bevy of spots and fall toward the bottom of the leaderboard.

Just past the Lap 20 mark, Allgaier was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hill while Custer, Bayne and Nemechek were in the top five. Behind, Jones, Kligerman, Berry, Sammy Smith and Kaz Grala were in the top 10. Allgaier would slightly extend his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Hill by Lap 25 while third-place Custer trailed by more than two seconds.

At the Lap 35 mark, Allgaier would continue to lead by more than a second over Hill followed by Custer, Bayne and Nemechek while Jones, Kligerman, Berry, Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith were mired within the top 10 on the track.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Allgaier captured his 10th Xfinity stage victory of 2023. Hill followed suit in second ahead of Custer, Bayne and Nemechek while Jones, Kligerman, Berry, Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, 23 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while Hemric was trapped a lap down in 33rd Meanwhile, Jeb Burton was in 14th and Creed was in 24th, though he managed to remain ahead of Allgaier to stay on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Allgaier pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Allgaier retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Custer, Hill, Bayne, Nemechek and Brandon Jones.

The second stage period started on Lap 52 as Allgaier and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier and Custer dueled for the lead through Turn 1 until Custer, who was being drafted by Hill, muscled ahead from the inside lane and assumed the lead entering the backstretch. As Custer grabbed the lead from Allgaier, Hill was in third ahead of Bayne and Nemechek while Kligerman and Jones battled for seventh in front of Berry and Chandler Smith.

Then on Lap 55, the caution flew for a harrowing accident that involved Brennan Poole as Poole spun through the frontstretch’s grass, kept spinning towards pit road and slammed into Jeffery Earnhardt’s pit stall head-on before his car came to a stop with heavy front nose damage towards the pit road entrance. In the midst of the carnage, Gase also spun through the frontstretch while Poole emerged uninjured.

As the race restarted under green on Lap 63, Allgaier and Custer dueled for the lead amid two stacked lanes until Allgaier rocketed away from the outside lane with the lead through the first two turns. Behind, Hill fended off Bayne to retain third as he pursued Custer while Nemechek followed suit by moving up to fourth. With Bayne falling back to fifth, Berry and Kligerman dueled for sixth while Brandon Jones, Chandler Smith and Sammy Smith followed suit in the top 10. By Lap 64, however, the caution returned after Jeffrey Earnhardt hit the wall in the backstretch.

During the following restart on Lap 68, Allgaier and Custer again dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and through the first two turns until Allgaier muscled ahead from the inside lane and retained the lead from Custer. Behind, Hill fended off Nemechek to retain third while Bayne, Kligerman, Berry and Jones battled amid two tight lanes for positions fifth to eighth in front of Chandler Smith and Jeb Burton. Bayne and Berry would grab fifth and sixth ahead of Kligerman while Chandler Smith would move up to eighth in front of Jones and Jeb Burton. Further ahead, Hill and Nemechek started to close in on Custer for the runner-up spot while Allgaier retained the lead.

At the Lap 75 mark, Allgaier was leading by more than a second over Custer, who remained ahead of Hill and Nemechek, while Bayne followed suit in fifth. Behind, Berry, Chandler Smith, Kligerman, Jones and Sammy Smith were in the top 10 while Jeb Burton, Jeremy Clements, rookie Parker Retzlaff, Kyle Weatherman Weatherman and Ryan Sieg were scored in the top 15. Meanwhile, Creed was mired back in 20th while Hemric was a lap down in 28th.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Allgaier, who navigated his way through lapped traffic, captured his 11th Xfinity stage victory of the season and second of the day after maintaining the lead by more than two seconds over Custer. Custer retained second ahead of Hill and Nemechek while Bayne, Berry, Chandler Smith, Kligerman, Jones, and Sammy Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, 23 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while Playoff contenders Creed, Jeb Burton and Hemric were mired in 17th, 21st and 27th, respectively.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Allgaier returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Allgaier retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Custer, Bayne, Berry, Chandler Smith, Jeremy Clements, Nemechek, Kligerman and Jones while Hill fell back to 11th after getting blocked by Nemechek on pit road. Amid the pit stops, Jeb Burton was held in his pit stall for two laps for losing a left-rear wheel on the track. In addition, Stefan Parsons relieved Josh Williams for the remainder of the event.

With 103 laps remaining, the final stage started as Allgaier and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier launched ahead from the outside lane to retain the lead through Turn 1 until Custer regained his momentum from the inside lane and dueled with Allgaier for the lead before grabbing it entering Turn 3. Behind, trouble ignited after Berry and Bayne, both of whom were battling for third place, made contact as Bayne clipped Berry before both spun sideways in front of the pack. In the process, Berry hit the outside wall and Bayne was hit by Hill and Kyle Weatherman, thus terminating his third and final scheduled start of the season with a wrecked race car, while both Chandler Smith and Kligerman barely escaped the carnage.

When the race restarted under green with 96 laps remaining, Allgaier received a push from Chandler Smith to retain the lead from Custer while on the outside lane. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Chandler Smith engaged in a duel against Custer for the runner-up spot ahead of Nemechek and Kligerman while Allgaier rocketed away. Behind, Retzlaff made contact with the wall, but the race remained under green as Allgaier started to stretch his advantage to nearly a second. The caution, however, would return with 93 laps remaining after Jeffrey Earnhardt wrecked for a second time in Turn 2 and broke the drive shaft from his car.

During the following restart with 86 laps remaining, Allgaier and Custer dueled for the top spot as Allgaier had Chandler Smith drafting him entering Turn 1. Then exiting the turn, Allgaier got loose while being drafted by Smith and slipped up the track entering the backstretch as he fell all the way back to 14th. With Allgaier falling back, Custer was out in front followed by Nemechek while Chandler Smith and Kligerman battled for third place in front of Sammy Smith. Amid a series of battles towards the front, the caution would fly with 81 laps remaining after Dawson Cram spun in Turn 4. By then, Custer retained the lead ahead of Nemechek and Chandler Smith while Sammy Smith was up to fourth in front of Kligerman and Jones. During the caution period, Allgaier and Hemric pitted while the rest led by Custer remained on the track.

With the race restarting under green with 76 laps remaining, Nemechek briefly dueled and moved into the lead from Custer on the inside lane. In the process, Chandler and Sammy Smith battled for third in front of Jones, Kligerman and Kaz Grala while Nemechek proceeded to stretch his advantage to nearly half a second over Custer. As Nemechek continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Custer with 70 laps remaining, Allgaier muscled his way up to seventh while Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith, Jones and Kligerman were scored in the top six. By then, Jeb Burton, who returned to the track after spending a bevy of laps in the garage due to a mechanical issue, nursed his No. 27 Alsco Chevrolet Camaro to the garage as smoke started to come out of the car.

With 60 laps remaining, Nemechek extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Custer, who had Chandler Smith intimidating him for the runner-up spot, while Sammy Smith maintained fourth place as he trailed the lead by more than three seconds. Meanwhile, Allgaier cracked the top five as he was back in fifth while Jones, Kligerman, Moffitt, Ryan Sieg and Clements were running in the top 10 ahead of Grala, Creed, Hill, Hemric and Parker Chase.

Ten laps later, Nemechek stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Custer as Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith and Allgaier followed suit and in close-quarters racing. With Custer navigating his way through lapped traffic, Chandler Smith remained within close pursuit of Custer while Sammy Smith and Allgaier also followed suit in close conditions before Allgaier overtook Sammy Smith to move up to fourth.

With 45 laps remaining, green flag pit stops ensued as Custer surrendered the runner-up spot to pit his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang. Nemechek would surrender the lead to pit his No. 20 ROMCO Toyota Supra during the following lap while more names that included Chandler Smith, Jones, Kligerman, Creed, Sammy Smith, Grala pitted during the proceeding laps. Amid the pit stops, Allgaier, who pitted, remained on the track and reassumed the lead as he was leading by more than 15 seconds over Hill.

Shortly after, the caution flew when newcomer Daniel Dye spun in Turn 2. By then, only seven competitors that included Allgaier, Hill, Hemric, JJ Yeley, Kyle Sieg, Ryan Ellis and Anthony Alfredo were scored on the lead lap. During the caution period, the remaining lead lap competitors pitted for service.

When the race restarted with 35 laps remaining, Allgaier and Hemric battled for the lead through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1 as the field behind fanned out to three lanes. Allgaier, though, would clear Hemric and assume full command of the top spot with both lanes to his control through the backstretch while Hill and Kyle Sieg battled for third. By then, Nemechek, who was one of several competitors to use the wave around to cycle back on the lead lap, was trying to carve his way back to the front as he moved up to sixth ahead of Custer and Kligerman. Nemechek would proceed to climb up to fourth ahead of Custer and Kligerman while Allgaier extended his lead by more than two seconds over Hemric with 30 laps remaining.

Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Allgaier continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by nearly three seconds over a hard-charging Nemechek followed by Hill, Custer and Kligerman while Hemric fell back to sixth. By then, Ryan and Kyle Sieg were battling Clements for seventh while Grala was in 10th. Meanwhile, Sammy Smith was mired back in 11th while Creed and Chandler Smith were mired within the top 15.

Four laps later, the caution flew due to debris in the form of sheet metal being reported in the backstretch. During the caution period, a majority led by Nemechek pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.

With 17 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Allgaier and Hill occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier and Hill briefly dueled through the frontstretch until Allgaier muscled ahead to retain the lead. Shortly after, the caution quickly returned after Yeley and Grala wrecked and collided against one another towards the outside wall in Turn 3.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hill and Allgaier dueled for the lead through the frontstretch as the field behind fanned out. Allgaier proceeded to retain the lead with the momentum on the outside lane exiting the backstretch. With Hill trying to keep pace with Allgaier, Kligerman drew himself into the picture as he ignited his late bid for the lead. With Kligerman taking the runner-up spot from Hill, he then proceeded to challenge Allgaier for the lead through the backstretch not long after. Then with eight laps remaining and amid a dead heat for the lead between Allgaier and Kligerman, the latter slipped up the track in Turn 3, which forced Allgaier to go wide as he would get caught in the marbles and nearly hit the outside wall entering the frontstretch. As both tried to regain their momentum, Nemechek threw himself back into the spotlight as he overtook Allgaier before he overtook Kligerman, who led a lap, through the frontstretch and returned to the lead.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Nemechek, who officially reassumed the lead during the previous lap, was leading ahead of Kligerman while Sammy Smith moved his No. 18 Allstate Peterbilt Toyota Supra into third ahead of Allgaier, who was trying to retain fourth ahead of Chandler Smith while Custer and Hill followed suit within the top seven.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Nemechek remained as the leader by eight-tenths of a second over Kligerman. Having a clear racetrack in front of him and with Kligerman unable to close the gap, Nemechek was able to cycle his No. 20 Toyota around the Texas circuit for a final time and cross the finish line to claim his seventh checkered flag of the season and by more than three seconds over Kligerman.

With the victory, Nemechek also claimed his second Xfinity Series win at Texas Motor Speedway, his first since winning the regular-season finale at Kansas Speedway two weeks earlier and the ninth of his Xfinity career. Thus, he joined Justin Allgaier as the only Playoff competitors to have clinched a spot for the Playoff’s Round of 8 by winning as he continues his quest to contend for this year’s Xfinity Series championship with Joe Gibbs Racing before returning to the NASCAR Cup Series to drive for Legacy Motor Club in 2024.

“Well, I messed up that [last] restart,” Nemechek said on USA Network. “[The car] bounced out of third gear, so that one was on me, but I knew that I had to push hard and try and recover right there. Man, hats off to this No. 20 team, Joe Gibbs Racing. It is absolutely amazing what we’ve been able to accomplish so far this year. I don’t think we’re done yet, that’s for sure. We set a lot of goals as this No. 20 team coming into this year. It’s so good to accomplish all of those, but win number seven. ROMCO back in Victory Lane here at Texas. [We’re] Preparing for the Round of 8 [in the Playoffs]. My goal coming into today was to lock ourselves in for the next round. Going into the [Charlotte] Roval and not having to worry about [road course struggles] is definitely a relief. We’re still gonna go there, try and play strategy, try and win the race, get some more Playoff points, but focus on [Las] Vegas, Homestead, Martinsville, and then on to Phoenix.”

While Nemechek celebrated with the fans on the frontstretch, Kligerman and Allgaier, both of whom exchanged words, were left disappointed on pit road after both had the race victory at the Lone Star state evaporate. For Kligerman, the runner-up result marked his second of this season and his eighth top-five result of the 2023 season. Initially being 22 points below the top-eight cutline, Kligerman and Big Machine Racing now trail the cutline by a single point with their strong result and approaching the Round of 8 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course that will occur on October 7.

“Obviously, I had a great run, got to [Allgaier] and then, down in [Turns] 3 and 4, I don’t know how much we got squeezed or just didn’t have it, but I felt like I could clear him pretty easily,” Kligerman, who addressed his contact with Allgaier, said. “I just somehow got super loose and that allowed [Nemechek] to get to us and then, whatever. It feels like I choked. [Allgaier] says he gave me a lot of room,…but proud of everybody at Big Machine Racing. We showed up here once again in a pressure-packed situation. I’m really disappointed right now. I could see that [win]. I could feel it. That was the best damn restart I ever had in my entire life. Put us in perfect position. We had the tire advantage. Just choked. This one will hurt, but we’ll go make up for it next [event] into the next round and then go on to the Championship 4 and go compete for a championship.”

For Allgaier, he is already guaranteed a spot for the Round of 8 by winning last weekend’s Playoff opener at Bristol Motor Speedway despite ending up in fifth place after leading a race-high 133 laps.

“When I went to talk to [Kligerman], he said I squeezed him, but I feel like I left him plenty of room getting down in [Turns 3 and 4], knowing he was gonna go to the bottom [lane] and he drove it in super, super deep into [Turn] 3,” Allgaier said. “He’s been around this sport long enough, so that’s what’s gonna happen. It’s just disappointing not only that because, not only did it screw up battling for second there, but it put us way up in the marbles and just hanging on to [the car]. He didn’t make contact, so I give him that, but proud of the effort today. We’ll keep digging. Lot’s to look forward to.”

Rookie Sammy Smith, who has finished no higher than ninth during his previous eight Xfinity starts, came home in third place for his first top-five result in 10 races while Chandler Smith and Allgaier finished in the top five. Meanwhile, Custer, who led 28 laps, ended up in sixth place, which was enough for him to clinch his spot into the Round of 8 by points, while Hill, Creed, Brandon Jones and Brett Moffitt finished in the top 10.

Notably, Hemric ended up 24th after taking his car to the garage with damage spotted to his right front with three laps remaining. In addition, Berry capped off his long afternoon in 27th, seven laps behind the leaders, and Jeb Burton retired in 31st due to a suspension issue.

There were nine lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 65 laps. In addition, 15 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. John Hunter Nemechek, 38 laps led

2. Parker Kligerman, one lap led

3. Sammy Smith

4. Chandler Smith

5. Justin Allgaier, 133 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

6. Cole Custer, 28 laps led

7. Austin Hill

8. Sheldon Creed

9. Brandon Jones

10. Brett Moffitt

11. Ryan Sieg

12. Kyle Sieg

13. Ryan Ellis

14. Anthony Alfredo

15. Kyle Weatherman

16. Parker Chase, one lap down

17. Daniel Dye, one lap down

18. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

19. Layne Riggs, two laps down

20. Josh Williams, two laps down

21. Dawson Cram, two laps down

22. David Starr, three laps down

23. Sage Karam, three laps down

24. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

25. CJ McLaughlin, five laps down

26. Joey Gase, six laps down

27. Josh Berry, seven laps down

28. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

29. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident

30. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident

31. Jeb Burton – OUT, Suspension

32. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

33. Trevor Bayne – OUT, Accident

34. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident

35. Patrick Emerling – OUT, Suspension

36. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Dvp

37. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

38. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff competitors

Playoff standings

1. John Hunter Nemechek – Advanced

2. Justin Allgaier- Advanced

3. Cole Custer – Advanced

4. Austin Hill +44

5. Chandler Smith +32

6. Sammy Smith +18

7. Sheldon Creed +9

8. Daniel Hemric +1

9. Parker Kligerman -1

10. Jeb Burton -19

11. Josh Berry -27

12. Sam Mayer -34

The Round of 12 in the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to conclude at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in Concord, North Carolina, on October 7, where the Round of 8 field will be determined. The event’s broadcast is slated to occur at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

September 23, 2023
Allgaier fends off Hemric to win Xfinity Playoff opener at Bristol

Justin Allgaier commenced the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs in dramatic fashion by dominating and making a late charge back to the front amid a late pit stop for four fresh tires to outduel Daniel Hemric amid a late battle and win the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 15.

The 37-year-old Allgaier from Riverton, Illinois, led three times for a race-high 110 of 300-scheduled laps in an event where he started 10th and battled up towards the front as he collected stage points during both stage break periods, all while leading for the first time in Lap 109. Amid late on-track chaos, Allgaier and crew chief Jim Pohlman rolled the dice by surrendering the lead and pitting for fresh tires during a late caution period with 50 laps remaining. Restarting within the top 15 during the final restart with 44 laps remaining, Allgaier methodically carved his way back to the front before engaging in a fierce battle with Daniel Hemric for the lead with 20 laps remaining. Allgaier then succeeded in reassuming the top spot from Hemric following a bold pass with 12 laps remaining and managed to pull away to win for the third time in the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season and become the first Xfinity Playoff contender to transfer from the Round of 12 to 8.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Playoff contender Cole Custer claimed pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 122.341 mph in 15.684 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Josh Berry, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 122.123 mph in 15.712 seconds.

Prior to the event, the following names that included Derek Kraus, Anthony Alfredo and Riley Herbst dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Jeb Burton also dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car after wrecking his primary car during Friday’s practice session.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Custer rocketed ahead as he then transitioned his No. 00 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang from the outside lane to the inside lane to retain the lead through the first two turns. Behind, rookie Chandler Smith made his way into second over Berry followed by John Hunter Nemechek as Daniel Hemric and rookie Sammy Smith followed suit. As the field jostled for early positions amid two lanes, Custer proceeded to lead the first lap.

Through the second to fifth lap, the field running in the middle of the pack fanned out to as high as three lanes while most of the front-runners ran in a single file line behind the leader Custer. In the process, Berry, who nearly got loose while battling Nemechek for third place through Turn 2, slowly began to lose spots as he dropped out of the top five due to being stuck on the outside lane. Berry’s misfortunes allowed Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Brandon Jones to move into the top five behind Custer and Chandler Smith.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Custer was leading by more than a second over Chandler Smith followed by Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Justin Allgaier while Brandon Jones, Berry, Daniel Hemric, Trevor Bayne and Ryan Sieg were in the top 10. By then, Playoff newcomer Parker Kligerman was in 11th ahead of Sam Mayer, Jeremy Clements, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and rookie Parker Retzlaff while Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill were mired in 19th and 20th. Meanwhile, Jeb Burton was mired back in 31st.

Ten laps later, Custer continued to lead by two seconds over Nemechek followed by Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith and Allgaier. Behind, Berry lost a spot to eighth place over Brandon Jones and Bayne while Kligerman cracked the top 10 as he was in 10th ahead of Mayer and Hemric. Meanwhile, Earnhardt Jr. was in 13th while teammates Creed and Hill were still mired in 18th and 19th, respectively. In the process, Burton gained three spots to 28th as Custer’s lead decreased to a second over Nemechek by Lap 25.

At the Lap 35 mark, Custer stabilized his lead by a second over Nemechek while Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith continued to run in the top five. Behind, Brandon Jones, Bayne, Berry, Ryan Sieg and Mayer completed the top 10 while Kligerman, Hemric, Earnhardt Jr., Jeffrey Earnhardt and Retzlaff trailed in the top 15. Meanwhile, Hill and Creed were in 17th and 18th while Jeb Burton was in 25th. Custer’s lead would increase again to more than two seconds over Nemechek at the Lap 40 mark.

By Lap 50, Custer’s advantage stabilized to more than two seconds over the new runner-up competitor, Allgaier, while Nemechek fell back to third in front of Jones and Sammy Smith. By then, Playoff contenders Chandler Smith, Mayer and Kligerman were in the top 10 while Berry and Hemric trailed in 11th and 12th in front of Earnhardt Jr. In addition, Hill was in 16th, teammate Creed trailed in 19th and Burton, who would lose a lap to the leaders, was in 23rd.

Fifteen laps later, Custer extended his lead by nearly three seconds over Allgaier while Nemechek, Jones and Sammy Smith were scored in the top five. With Bayne, Chandler Smith, Mayer, Kligerman and Ryan Sieg running in the top 10, Earnhardt Jr. moved up to 11th in front of Hemric, Berry, Retzlaff and Riley Herbst. Custer would proceed to stretch his advantage to more than two seconds over Allgaier just past the Lap 75 mark.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 85, Custer claimed his sixth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Allgaier settled in second as he trailed by more than a second while Brandon Jones, Nemechek, Bayne, Chandler Smith, Kligerman, Mayer, Earnhardt Jr. and Sammy Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Hemric, Hill, Berry, Creed and Burton were mired within the top 20 on the track, but they did not claim the first round of stage points. In addition, 16 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Custer pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Custer retained the lead after exiting first while Allgaier, Jones, Nemechek, Earnhardt Jr. and Bayne followed suit.

The second stage started on Lap 95 as Custer and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Custer rocketed ahead and retained the lead from the outside lane while Jones and Allgaier battled for second through Turns 1 and 2. Then in Turn 3, Allgaier nearly got loose after battling dead even and making slight contact with Jones. Their contact allowed Earnhardt Jr. to close in from fourth before Jones would succeed and clear Allgaier for the runner-up spot. Amid the battles, Custer proceeded to lead by the Lap 100 mark as Nemechek settled in fifth.

Not long after, the battle for the lead intensified between Custer and Allgaier, who reclaimed the runner-up spot from teammate Jones during Lap 101 before using the inside lane to gain ground on Custer. After a brief dueling match, Allgaier gained the lead from the inside lane by Lap 109. With Allgaier leading, Custer, who remained on the outside lane, retained second in front of Earnhardt Jr. Behind, Jones, who had a small tire rub towards the left-rear fender of his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro, was in fourth in front of Nemechek while Sammy Smith, Herbst, Chandler Smith, Bayne and Mayer were in the top 10 by Lap 115.

At the Lap 125 mark, Allgaier was leading by a second over Custer while Earnhardt Jr., Jones and Nemechek continued to trail in the top five. Behind, Sammy Smith was in sixth ahead of Herbst, Bayne, Chandler Smith and Mayer while Hill, Kligerman, Hemric, Berry, Jeb Burton and Creed were in 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 18th and 21st, respectively. Allgaier would continue to lead by more than a second over Custer by Lap 135. By then, Jones regained third place from Earnhardt Jr. while Nemechek retained fifth in front of teammate Sammy Smith.

On Lap 146, the caution flew when Joe Graf Jr. got bumped by Connor Mosack before he spun exiting the frontstretch and through Turn 1 as he nearly collected Custer, Jones and Earnhardt Jr. while spinning towards the Turn 1 outside wall before he spun below the apron and proceeded. The incident occurred laps later after Playoff contender Kligerman took his No. 48 Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet Camaro to the garage due to a wheel bearing issue.

During the caution period, a bevy of names that included Jones, Earnhardt Jr., Bayne, Herbst, Mayer, Chandler Smith, Hemric and Berry pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.

When the race restarted on Lap 153, Allgaier fended off Nemechek to retain the lead as the field jostled for positions. Seven laps into the restart, Allgaier was leading by a tenth of a second over Custer followed by Hill, Bayne and Earnhardt Jr. while Nemechek was battling Hemric for sixth place. By then, Jones was in ninth ahead of Herbst while Berry was in 11th and Sammy Smith was back in 15th.

Then on Lap 166, the caution flew when Berry, who was battling teammate Mayer in the top 10, raced up the track in Turn 1 and clipped Mayer’s No. 1 Huck’s Market Chevrolet Camaro, with the ensuing contact resulting with Mayer spinning and slapping the outside wall while Berry got hit and collided into the outside wall by teammate Jones, thus knocking out three JR Motorsports competitors from contention and hindering Mayer and Berry’s start to the Playoffs, as Ryan Sieg also spun and collided into Jones’ No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro from the carnage. The caution for the multi-car wreck was enough to conclude the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 170 under caution as Allgaier claimed his ninth Xfinity stage victory of 2023. Custer settled in second followed by Hill, Earnhardt Jr. and Bayne while Nemechek, Hemric, Herbst, Chandler Smith and Jeffrey Earnhardt were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, various pit strategies ensued as Earnhardt Jr., Bayne, Chandler Smith, Parker Retzlaff and Herbst remained on the track while the rest led by Allgaier and Custer pitted.

With 121 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Earnhardt Jr. and Chandler Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Earnhardt Jr. and Chandler Smith dueled for the lead for a full lap until Earnhardt Jr. rocketed his No. 88 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Smith and clear of the field with both lanes to his control. With Earnhardt Jr. leading, Bayne moved his No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra into second as Allgaier would follow suit a few laps later. The caution, however, would return with 116 laps remaining after Jeremy Clements and Joe Graf Jr. wrecked in Turn 1. Following the incident, Jeb Burton ran into the side of Jeffery Earnhardt to express his displeasure over being put into the wall by Earnhardt prior to the caution period.

During the ensuing restart with 110 laps remaining, Earnhardt Jr. retained lead and moved from the outside to the inside lane to fend off teammate Allgaier. By then, Bayne trailed closely along with Herbst, Chandler Smith and Nemechek as Earnhardt Jr. continued to lead.

With 100 laps remaining, Earnhardt Jr. was leading by a second over Bayne followed by Allgaier, Custer and Nemechek while Herbst, Hill, Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith were in the top 10. By then, Creed and Hemric were mired in the top 15.

Fifteen laps later, Earnhardt Jr. continued to lead by more than a second over Custer while Allgaier, Nemechek and Bayne trailed in the top five ahead of Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith, Hill, Creed, Herbst, Chandler Smith, Hemric, Retzlaff, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Derek Kraus as Jeb Burton followed suit in 16th.

Shortly after, the caution flew when Creed slid up the track and made contact with teammate Hill entering the frontstretch as Hill, the 2023 Xfinity regular-season champion, spun and hit the inside wall. The damage to the No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro was enough to terminate Hill’s run late in the event. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Earnhardt pitted while Allgaier, Ryan Sieg, Hemric, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Jeb Burton remained on the track.

With the race restarting under green with 76 laps remaining, Allgaier and Hemric dueled for the lead until Allgaier pulled ahead through Turn 2 as Ryan Sieg closed in while in third place. Behind and in the ensuing laps, Earnhardt Jr. overtook Jeb Burton for fourth as Nemechek and Custer followed suit.

With 60 laps remaining, Allgaier retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Hemric while Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Sieg and Nemechek were in the top five. Behind, Custer was in sixth ahead of Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith, Bayne and Herbst while Creed was back in 12th ahead of Jeb Burton.

Following another caution period eight laps later after Josh Bilicki got sideways off the front nose of Rajah Caruth and wrecked on the frontstretch, select names that included Allgaier, Jeb Burton and Retzlaff pitted while rest led by Hemric remained on the track.

With the race restarting with 44 laps remaining, Hemric fended off Nemechek to lead from outside lead while Custer and Earnhardt Jr. battled for third. Though Nemechek led Lap 257 by a hair, Hemric regained momentum from the outside lane to reassume the lead in his No. 10 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro. As Hemric worked to retain lead from Nemechek, Earnhardt Jr. trailed closely in third while Custer and Chandler Smith were in fourth and fifth.

With 30 laps remaining and amid a four-car battle for the lead, Hemric was leading by two-tenths of a second over Nemechek while Custer and Earnhardt Jr. were under seven-tenths of a second as they joined the battle. Shortly after, Earnhardt Jr. fell off the pace and pitted under green before he then parked his No. 88 Chevrolet in Nemechek’s stall as smoke and fire started to billow inside of the car. Despite his event coming to a late closure, Earnhardt Jr. was able to emerge unscathed and the race remained under green flag conditions as the safety crew put out the fire and towed Earnhardt Jr.’s car back behind the wall.

With Earnhardt out of contention, Hemric retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Allgaier followed by Nemechek, Custer and Chandler Smith with less than 25 laps remaining. Shortly after and with 20 laps remaining, the battle for the lead intensified as a side-by-side battle ensued between Hemric and Allgaier. Despite being pressured by Allgaier on the inside lane, Hemric, who nearly lost the lead after getting briefly held up by Kligerman, remained on the outside lane to retain the lead.

With 15 laps remaining, Hemric was still leading by a tenth of a second over Allgaier as both continued to challenge one another amid the turns for the lead. Then three laps later, Allgaier muscled his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro ahead from the inside lane. He would then clear Hemric through Turn 2 to assume the lead and continue to lead with 10 laps remaining as he had both lanes under his control.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Allgaier stretched his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Hemric while third-place Nemechek trailed by more than two seconds ahead of Custer and Chandler Smith.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allgaier remained as the leader by more than a second over Hemric. With Hemric unable to close the deficit amid lapped traffic, Allgaier was able to navigate his way around the 0.533-mile oval circuit for a final time and cycle back to the frontstretch to claim the checkered flag and win for the third time this season by more than a second over Hemric.

Photo by Chad Wells for SpeedwayMedia.com.

With the victory, Allgaier notched his 22nd career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, his third of the season, his first since winning at Daytona International Speedway in late August and first at Bristol since 2010, where Allgaier had claimed his first Xfinity career victory. The victory, which also marked the fifth of the season for JR Motorsports, automatically transferred Allgaier, crew chief Jim Pohlman and his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro team a spot into the Round of 8 in the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs.

During his victory celebration, Allgaier, who gave his father and team owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., a ride across the side mirrors of his race-winning car to Victory Lane, broke the news that he will remain as a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for JR Motorsports for the 2024 season.

“How cool was it that I got to battle with the bossman, Dale Jr.,” Allgaier said on USA Network. “Just cannot say enough for this team. This team has done such an amazing job at this racetrack since I started at JR Motorsports. We led a lot of laps and the monkey was definitely on our back. The pit strategy there, man, coming down pit road all by myself, that was nerve racking. I’m speechless, man. This place, Jim Pohlman and I circled this place on our calendar when we started the year, before we ever even took the green flag lap. We said we want to win Bristol. Man, we won Bristol! It’s Bristol, baby! Let’s go!”

Hemric, who was announced to be driving for Kaulig Racing for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season earlier in the day, settled in second place for the third time this season and the 13th time in his career. Despite falling one spot shy of claiming his second Xfinity victory, Hemric was left satisfied with his result as he is currently ranked in sixth place in the Playoff standings while 12 points above the top-eight cutline.

“It’s been a hell of a day,” Hemric said. “I just want it so bad for these guys. Everybody at Kaulig Racing deserves it, so proud of our effort, though. We came a long way over the course of 300 laps there.”

Nemechek, Custer and Chandler Smith finished in the top five, thus joining Allgaier and Hemric as Playoff contenders to notch top-five results in the Playoff opener. Ryan Sieg, Trevor Bayne, Herbst, Sammy Smith and Grala completed the top 10 in the final running order.

Notably, Playoff contenders Sheldon Creed and Jeb Burton ended up 11th and 13th, Kligerman concluded his long night in 31st, 54 laps down, and Hill, Mayer and Berry were the three Playoff contenders who failed to finish the first Playoff event. In addition, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended up 30th after his late ignition issues prevented him from finishing the event.

There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 48 laps. In addition, 14 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Justin Allgaier, 110 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Daniel Hemric, 33 laps led

3. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap led

4. Cole Custer, 109 laps led, Stage 1 winner

5. Chandler Smith

6. Ryan Sieg

7. Trevor Bayne

8. Riley Herbst

9. Sammy Smith

10. Kaz Grala

11. Sheldon Creed

12. Derek Kraus

13. Jeb Burton

14. Connor Mosack

15. Parker Retzlaff, one lap down

16. Brett Moffitt, one lap down

17. Rajah Caruth, two laps down

18. Ryan Ellis, two laps down

19. Stefan Parsons, two laps down

20. Josh Williams, two laps down

21. Kyle Sieg, two laps down

22. Brennan Poole, three laps down

23. Kyle Weatherman, three laps down

24. Jeremy Clements, three laps down

25. Anthony Alfredo, four laps down

26. Joe Graf Jr., five laps down

27. Josh Bilicki, six laps down

28. Blaine Perkins, six laps down

29. Chad Finchum, 24 laps down

30. Dale Earnhardt Jr. – OUT, Ignition

31. Parker Kligerman, 54 laps down

32. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Brakes

33. Austin Hill – OUT, Dvp

34. Brandon Jones – OUT, Suspension

35. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

36. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

37. BJ McLeod – OUT, Power

38. Timmy Hill – OUT, Rear gear

*Bold indicates Playoff competitors

Playoff standings

1. Justin Allgaier – Advanced

2. John Hunter Nemechek +65

3. Cole Custer +39

4. Austin Hill +21

5. Chandler Smith +18

6. Daniel Hemric +12

7. Sammy Smith +5

8. Sheldon Creed +4

9. Jeb Burton -4

10. Sam Mayer -14

11. Parker Kligerman -22

12. Josh Berry -24

With the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs underway, the postseason battle for the title continues next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, for the second Round of 12 event. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, September 23, at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

September 16, 2023
Nemechek wins Xfinity regular-season finale at Kansas; Kligerman claims final Playoff berth

Three days after unveiling his planned return to the NASCAR Cup Series for the 2024 season, John Hunter Nemechek took care of extra business in his closing stretch as a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series competitor and capped off this year’s regular-season stretch on a dominant note by winning the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, September 9.

The 26-year-old Nemechek from Mooresville, North Carolina, led four times for a race-high 154 of 200-scheduled laps in an event that was mired with 10 caution flag periods and on-track chaos that affected a bevy of competitors who were either locked in or looking from the outside to make the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoff field. Amid the battles for the final Playoff berth, Nemechek, who had already guaranteed himself a Playoff spot based on winning five times throughout the regular-season stretch, came into Kansas with a mission to both win and try to gain ground on Austin Hill to steal the regular-season title in last-minute fashion.

Despite falling short in claiming the latter, Nemechek, who led for the first time on Lap 41, was flawless while leading as he executed the final restart with 50 laps remaining to perfection by muscling away and beating runner-up Brandon Jones by more than seven seconds to claim his unprecedented sixth checkered flag of the 2023 Xfinity season and officially enter the Playoffs with strong momentum in preparation to claim the series championship.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Justin Allgaier started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 176.206 mph in 30.646 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Sammy Smith, who clocked in the second-best qualifying lap at 175.347 mph in 30.796 seconds.

Prior to the event, Leland Honeyman, who initially failed to qualify for the event, dropped to the rear of the field after replacing Timmy Hill in the No. 66 MBM Motorsports entry. Matt Mills also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his entry along with CJ McLaughlin, who fell back due to an engine change.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Allgaier and Sammy Smith dueled for the lead as the field began to fan out through the frontstretch and entering the first turn. Then as the field led by Allgaier made its way through the backstretch, the first caution flag of the event flew after Nick Leitz and Anthony Alfredo wrecked towards the outside wall and against each other in Turn 1.

When the race restarted under green on the fifth lap, Allgaier used the outside lane to his advantage as he rocketed away from Sammy Smith to retain the lead while Cole Custer, who restarted behind Allgaier, followed suit by claiming the runner-up spot. With Allgaier leading, Custer retained second over Sammy Smith while John Hunter Nemechek, Josh Berry, Brandon Jones and Daniel Hemric followed suit as the field behind fanned out and jostled for early spots.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps and as the field continued to jostle for spots, Allgaier was leading by six-tenths of a second over Custer followed by Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Brandon Jones while Berry, Hemric, Brett Moffitt, Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill were in the top 10. Behind, Ryan Sieg was in 11th ahead of Riley Herbst while Sam Mayer, Parker Kligerman and rookie Chandler Smith battled in the top 15.

Two laps later, the second caution flag of the event flew due to debris reported near the entrance of pit road. During the caution period, select names, among which included rookie Chandler Smith and Jeremy Clements, pitted while the rest led by Allgaier, who was spotted to have a brake pad stuck on the splitter of his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro, remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Chandler Smith’s pit crew went under the hood to diagnose a mechanical issue that would eventually send Smith and his No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro team to the garage.

During the proceeding restart on Lap 18, Allgaier and Custer dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and they continued to duel through the backstretch while the field behind fanned out to three and four lanes. Then as Allgaier cleared the field and drove away from Custer entering the frontstretch, the caution quickly returned during the following lap when Sam Mayer, who was running ninth, made contact with Creed and spun across the frontstretch and was T-boned by Kyle Weatherman, thus knocking both out of the event.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 25, Allgaier and Custer dueled again for the lead through the frontstretch and backstretch until Allgaier used the outside lane to his advantage and rocketed away with the lead. With Allgaier leading, Nemechek started to gain ground on Custer for the runner-up spot as the field fanned out through the backstretch with Berry losing a bevy of spots and slipping out of the top 10 on the track.

At the Lap 30 mark, Allgaier was leading by six-tenths of a second over Nemechek, who overtook Custer for the runner-up spot a few laps earlier, while Custer, Sammy Smith and Hemric, who officially clinched his spot for the 2023 Xfinity Playoffs, were in the top five. Behind, Brandon Jones, needing a victory to make the Playoffs, was in sixth as he tried to close in on Hemric for a top-five spot while Hill, Kligerman, Creed and Derek Kraus were running in the top 10. With Kaz Grala, Ryan Sieg, Jeb Burton, Brett Moffit and Herbst occupying the top 15, Berry was back in 16th ahead of Connor Mosack, Joe Graf Jr., Rajah Caruth and Josh Williams.

Five laps later, Allgaier continued to lead by half a second over Nemechek while third-place Custer trailed by more than a second. Meanwhile, Hemric, who was running in the top five, plummeted to 20th due to an issue with his No. 10 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro and while Berry was mired back in 14th. By then, Brandon Jones cracked the top five in fourth while Sammy Smith was in fifth. With Hemric continuing to fall off the pace and running in the apron, his early run went from good to bad and worse after he missed his pit stall while trying to pit and dropped out of the lead lap category as he would eventually take his car to the garage.

Then on Lap 41, Nemechek, who gained a massive run through the backstretch on Allgaier during the previous lap, overtook Allgaier for the lead in his No. 20 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota Supra. With Allgaier trying to fight back through Turns 1 and 2 along with the backstretch, he nearly got loose in Turn 1 and slid up the track in Turn 3, which allowed Custer to battle him for the runner-up spot while Nemechek slowly started to pull away. Meanwhile, Herbst, who was battling Kligerman for the final spot to make the Playoffs, worked his way up to ninth while Kligerman, who was currently scored five points above the cutline over Herbst, was in seventh.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Nemechek, who was trying to gain ground on Austin Hill in battling for this year’s Xfinity regular-season title, captured his eighth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season following his late rally and overtake on Allgaier for the lead. Custer settled in second followed by Allgaier while Brandon Jones, Sammy Smith, Kligerman, Hill, Creed, Herbst and Derek Kraus were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Nemechek pitted. Following the pit stops, Custer moved into the lead after exiting pit road first while Nemechek, Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones, Creed, Kligerman and Herbst followed suit.

The second stage started on Lap 51 as Custer and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Custer and Nemechek dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch and entering the first two turns until Nemechek managed to cycle around Custer and reassume the lead. With Nemechek back out in front with the lead, Allgaier started to battle Custer for second in front of Brandon Jones and Sammy Smith while Kligerman muscled his No. 48 Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet Camaro up to sixth place in his bid to make the Playoffs. During the proceeding laps and with Nemechek still leading, Berry returned to the top 10 as he was running ninth in between Creed and Hill while Herbst joined the battle as he was five spots behind Kligerman on the track.

Then on Lap 58, the caution returned due to debris in the form of a tire carcass coming apart from Jeremy Clements’ entry in Turn 1. In the midst of the issue, Custer, who was running third in front of Sammy Smith, went up the track after running over the debris and scrubbed the outside wall in Turn 1 as he limped his damaged No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang to pit road for repairs. The damage, which broke the upper control arm in the No. 00 entry, was enough to terminate Custer’s strong run in the garage.

On the ensuing restart on Lap 64, Nemechek and Allgaier dueled for the lead in front of the field. Behind, however, Kligerman, who restarted in the top 10, spun the tires while trying to regain pace, which caused the field to briefly stack up as he was then hit by Herbst, who then fell off the pace as he went up the track with a flat tire and pitted his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang under green. Back on track, Nemechek retained the lead over Allgaier while Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones and Berry followed suit.

At the Lap 70 mark, Nemechek was leading by three-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones and Berry continued to run in the top five. By then, Kligerman, who continued to run under full power, was in eighth while Herbst was mired back in 32nd after he lost two laps in the process of pitting under green and was now 29 points behind Kligerman for a Playoff spot.

Four laps later, the caution flew when Brandon Jones, who was running fourth, snapped sideways and spun his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro across the frontstretch grass, though he continued without sustaining any damage.

With 11 laps remaining in the second stage period, the event restarted under green. At the start, teammates Nemechek and Sammy Smith dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch. With Nemechek muscling away with the lead, where he proceeded to lead the Lap 80 mark, Allgaier trailed and started to challenge Smith or the lead while Hill, Allgaier and Berry battled for fourth. Teammates, Allgaier and Berry would overtake Hill for third and fourth while Sammy Smith tried to gain ground on teammate Nemechek for the lead.

When the second stage period on Lap 90, Nemechek captured his ninth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 and second of the day after extending his advantage to more than a second over teammate Sammy Smith. Smith settled in second followed by Allgaier, Berry and Hill while Kligerman, Creed Kraus, rookie Parker Retzlaff and Moffitt were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Nemechek returned to pit road for service while Brandon Jones remained on the track to inherit the lead. Following the pit stops, Nemechek exited first while teammate, Sammy Smith, Hill, Creed, Allgaier, Kraus, Berry and Kligerman followed suit.

With 104 laps remaining, the final stage started as Brandon Jones and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek reassumed the lead after gaining a strong start from the inside lane while Hill, Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Creed followed suit with the field fanning out through the backstretch. Not long after, the caution quickly returned when Sammy Smith, who was bumped by Creed, clipped and sent Allgaier for a spin as both wrecked against the outside wall in Turn 3 while Brandon Jones, who was losing spots while restarting on old tires, spun sideways to avoid the carnage. In the midst of the carnage, Herbst, who gained one of his two lost laps during the second stage break period, was the recipient of the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap and potentially draw himself back into contention to still make the Playoffs.

During the proceeding restart with 97 laps remaining, Nemechek and Hill battled early for the lead past the restart zone as the field scattered and jostled for late positions through the first two turns and the backstretch. With Nemechek retaining the lead through the proceeding laps, Creed muscled his way up to second while Berry came out late to overtake Hill and move his No. 8 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro to third. By then, Kligerman cracked the top five as he was in fifth in front of Kraus while Retzlaff, Ryan Ellis, Grala and Jeb Burton were in the top 10. In the process, Nemechek retained the lead by more than a second with 90 laps remaining.

With 80 laps remaining, Nemechek extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Berry while Creed trailed in third place by more than four seconds. With Creed and Kligerman in the top five, Kraus, Retzlaff, Brandon Jones, Grala and Moffitt trailed in the top 10 while Herbst carved his way up to 12th. As Nemechek continued to extend his advantage to more than three seconds with 75 laps remaining, Herbst continued his march back to the front as he returned to the top 10 by moving up to 10th behind Grala.

A few laps later, however, Herbst’s late rally from his early issues evaporated after he was forced to pit under green due to a flat right-front tire with smoke coming out of his car amid a tire rub. Mired back multiple laps once again, Herbst found himself strapped in 29th place while Kligerman continued to run in fifth as he was now scored 30 points above the cutline and in position to claim the final Playoff spot. Meanwhile, Nemechek extended his advantage to more than six seconds over Berry.

With 63 laps remaining, the caution flew when Rajah Caruth was turned by Matt Mills and spun his No. 45 Circle Pay Chevrolet Camaro across the frontstretch grass and towards pit road before he looped his car straight and continued. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Nemechek peeled off the track to pit for service. Following the pit stops, Nemechek retained the lead after exiting first while Berry, Hill, Creed and Kligerman followed suit.

As the race restarted with 57 laps remaining, Nemechek rocketed away from the field to retain the lead while Hill and Berry battled for second. As Berry rocketed away from Hill during the following lap with Nemechek out in front, Brandon Jones overtook both Kligerman and Creed through the backstretch just before the caution returned when Caruth slid his car sideways through Turns 3 and 4.

When the race restarted with 50 laps remaining, Nemechek and Berry dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Nemechek managed to muscle ahead with the lead entering the backstretch. Behind, Hill, Brandon Jones and Kligerman battled for third as Jones overtook both to move up to third before proceeding to catch teammate Berry for more. In the process, Hill and Kligerman kept battling for fourth place in front of Creed. Jones would then overtake teammate Berry for the runner-up spot with 47 laps remaining as he now set his sights on Nemechek for the lead and win to get into the Playoffs.

With 35 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by more than a second over Brandon Jones while Hill moved his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro up to third place in front of Berry and Kligerman. Behind, Moffitt was in sixth while Creed, Kraus, Jeb Burton and Grala were scored in the top 10.

Ten laps later, Nemechek stretched his advantage to more than three seconds over Brandon Jones while third-place Hill trailed by more than five seconds ahead of Berry and Kligerman. Nemechek would continue to extend his advantage to more than four seconds over Brandon Jones followed by Hill while Kligerman overtook Berry for fourth place with 20 laps remaining.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Nemechek stabilized his advantage to nearly six seconds over Brandon Jones while Hill, Kligerman and Creed were trailing behind in the top five and by more than nine seconds. By then, Berry fell back to sixth while Moffitt, Kraus, Grala and Joe Graf Jr. were mired in the top 10.

With five laps remaining, Nemechek continued to lead by more than six seconds over Brandon Jones as he continued to muscle away from the field while navigating his way through lapped traffic.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Nemechek remained as the leader by more than six seconds over Brandon Jones. With Jones too far back to mount a late charge, Nemechek, who continued to deal with lapped traffic, was able to cycle his way around the Kansas circuit for a final time smoothly and cross the finish line to claim his sixth checkered flag of the 2023 Xfinity season and by more than seven seconds over Jones.

With the victory, Nemechek scored his eighth career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, his sixth of the season, his second at Kansas and the 10th of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing. In addition, Nemechek recorded the milestone 200th Xfinity career win for the Toyota nameplate. Despite falling short of claiming the Xfinity Series regular-season title to Austin Hill by a mere margin, Nemechek enters the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs with momentum and with the top seed with 2,049 points as he prepares to embark on his quest to win his first Xfinity title.

“I don’t if this [win] makes us the [championship] favorite or not, but super proud of this No. 20 team, Joe Gibbs Racing,” Nemechek said on NBC. “Man, it’s been a week. It’s been an exciting week, but I’m super pumped to get [the] Pye Barker Toyota GR Supra back in Victory Lane. [Crew chief] Ben [Beshore] and all the guys made the right adjustments all day. They brought a really fast hot rod. Overall, just super pumped, super ecstatic. I’m looking forward to getting in the Playoffs starting next weekend at Bristol [Motor Speedway]. We came in here today trying to get the regular-season championship. I said that we’re gonna have a 60-point day this weekend and that’s what we did. We controlled where we can control. We did everything that we could possibly do, so let’s get to the Playoffs. I’m ready.”

Brandon Jones rallied from his pair of on-track spins by settling in second place, which marks his highest-finishing result of the season, but was not able to gain enough ground to make the Playoffs for himself and the No. 9 JR Motorsports team.

Creed settled in third place followed by Parker Kligerman, who was able to clinch the 12th and final transfer spot into the Playoffs as both he and Big Machine Racing will make their inaugural presences in the Xfinity Series Playoffs as title contenders while seeded 12th in the Playoff standings with 2,002 points. With Kligerman in the Playoffs, Herbst, who came into Kansas a single point ahead of Kligerman, ended up dropping below the cutline amid his series of on-track issues and with a 23rd-place finish as he too missed the Playoffs.

Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“That’s a very satisfying feeling,” Kligerman said. “I was definitely the biggest John Hunter [Nemechek] fan that last run there, seeing [Brandon Jones] be so fast that last run. I’m really proud of this whole Big Machine Racing team. They brought a really good Spiked Light Coolers Chevy as we showed throughout this race. We executed at a high level and that’s what I’m seeing us do for the last 12 weeks. I felt like if we could just get in the Playoffs and we bring this going forward, we’re gonna go racing for a championship. What an honor to get the first Playoff berth for this race team. Overall, just a really solid day where we executed on a high level. If we can do that in the next eight weeks, we got a chance at this thing.”

“We just weren’t good enough today,” Herbst said. “I feel like we weren’t good enough, though, so that’s what’s frustrating. I just don’t think we executed on that restart [on Lap 64]. I don’t really know what happened. They all got stacked up. I don’t know if somebody missed a gear or spun the tires, but at that point, our day was kind of in a big hole. I feel like we can go now and try to win races. I don’t think we’re gonna quit working by any means and I think we’re gonna hopefully end up in Victory Lane by the year’s over.”

Finishing behind Kligerman on the track was Austin Hill, who was able to lock up the Xfinity Series regular-season championship over Nemechek. As a result, Hill, who was awarded an additional 15 Playoff bonus points, will be seeded in second place behind Nemechek in the Playoff standings with 2,039 points as he prepares to contend for his first Xfinity title.

“We just struggled all day with the balance of our Bennett Chevrolet,” Hill said. “We persevered, we dug deep. Not even sure how we finished in the top five there. Us getting the regular-season championship just shows that no matter how tough the battle is and how tough the uphill climb is, we never give up. We keep fighting. The guys did an awesome job on pit road on gaining me spots. That helped. We just had to go out there and just salvage what we could. Going into the Playoffs, we have a lot of work to do to catch up to [Nemechek]. He was class of the field today. We gotta be better come Bristol time.”

Berry, Moffitt, Derek Kraus, Joe Graf Jr. and Kaz Grala finished in the top 10 on the track.

John Hunter Nemechek, Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Sam Mayer, rookie Chandler Smith, Josh Berry, Sheldon Creed, rookie Sammy Smith, Jeb Burton, Daniel Hemric and Parker Kligerman have made the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs and will embark on a seven-race stretch to battle for this year’s Xfinity Series championship.

Riley Herbst, Brandon Jones, Brett Moffitt, rookie Parker Retzlaff, Kaz Grala, Ryan Sieg, Jeremy Clements, Anthony Alfredo, Joe Graf Jr., Kyle Sieg, Josh Williams, Brennan Poole, Ryan Ellis and Blaine Perkins are among the rest of the competitors who missed the Playoffs.

There were seven lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 49 laps. In addition, 11 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. John Hunter Nemechek, 154 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

2. Brandon Jones, two laps led

3. Sheldon Creed

4. Parker Kligerman

5. Austin Hill

6. Josh Berry

7. Brett Moffitt

8. Derek Kraus

9. Joe Graf Jr.

10. Kaz Grala

11. Parker Retzlaff

12. Jeb Burton, one lap down

13. Josh Williams, one lap down

14. Connor Mosack, one lap down

15. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

16. Mason Massey, one lap down

17. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

18. Justin Allgaier, one lap down, 40 laps led

19. Matt Mills, two laps down

20. Kyle Sieg, two laps down

21. Dawson Cram, two laps down

22. CJ McLaughlin, two laps down

23. Riley Herbst, two laps down

24. Joey Gase, two laps down

25. Garrett Smithley, two laps down

26. Leland Honeyman, three laps down

27. Anthony Alfredo, three laps down

28. Brennan Poole, three laps down

29. Rajah Caruth, three laps down

30. Ryan Sieg, four laps down

31. Nick Leitz, six laps down

32. Chandler Smith, 14 laps down

33. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Brakes

34. Daniel Hemric, 80 laps down

35. Sammy Smith – OUT, Accident, one lap led

36. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident, three laps led

37. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

38. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident

The 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to commence next Friday, September 15, at Bristol Motor Speedway, with the event’s broadcast slated to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

September 9, 2023
Ty Gibbs aces Indianapolis Road Course for first Xfinity victory of 2023

A late strategic move by exiting pit road ahead of AJ Allmendinger enabled Ty Gibbs to assume the lead and muscle away from the field during a 16-lap dash to the finish to win the fourth annual running of the Pennzoil 150 at the Brickyard on Saturday, August 12.

The reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Charlotte, North Carolina, led twice for a race-high 28 of 62-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row alongside Allmendinger before he made his presence known early after assuming the lead on the third lap. Despite losing the lead by Lap 13 to pit for slick tires amid an early lightning delay followed by a brief round of precipitation, Gibbs remained within striking distance of the front-runners throughout the event.

Then with 19 laps remaining, an opportunity struck for Gibbs, who managed to exit pit road ahead of Allmendinger amid a late cycle of green flag pit stops just as the caution flew for a stalled car off the course in Turn 1. Once a handful of competitors who had not yet pitted did so, Gibbs cycled into the lead. He then managed to fend off Allmendinger before distancing himself from the field during a restart with 16 laps remaining to cruise to his first Xfinity victory in his seventh start of the season and his first at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, AJ Allmendinger notched his third pole position of the 2023 Xfinity season and the 11th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 92.985 mph in 94.428 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Gibbs, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 92.352 mph in 95.075 seconds.

Prior to the event, the following competitors that included Brennan Poole, Jeremy Clements, Brad Perez and Blaine Perkins dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Joe Graf Jr. also dropped to the rear of the field for missing driver introductions.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Allmendinger rocketed away from the field while entering the new restart zone in between Turns 13 and 14 as he also fended off Ty Gibbs through the frontstretch entering the first braking turn. Gibbs then tried to pull a crossover move on Allmendinger through Turns 1 and 2, but Allmendinger retained the lead as the field navigated its way from Turns 2 to 6 before entering a long straightaway prior to another braking zone in Turn 7. With the field behind fanning out and jostling for early positions, Allmendinger continued to lead from Turns 7 to 14 before he returned to the frontstretch and led the first lap. By then, Ty Gibbs kept Allmendinger within his sights and within close margins while Josh Berry, Austin Hill and Daniel Hemric were in the top five.

Through the second lap, Gibbs drew himself alongside Allmendinger entering Turns 3 and 4 in a bid for the lead, but Allmendinger gained the upper advantage and the preferred lane through Turn 5 as he retained the lead while Gibbs settled in second. Allmendinger would proceed to lead the second lap while continuing to fend off Gibbs’ early challenge. By the third lap, however, Ty Gibbs gained a run on Allmendinger exiting the frontstretch and assumed the lead in his No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra through the first braking turn.

Through the first five scheduled laps, Ty Gibbs was leading by nearly two seconds over Allmendinger while Berry, Cole Custer and Austin Hill were in the top five. Behind, John Hunter Nemechek, Hemric, Sheldon Creed, Riley Herbst and Justin Allgaier were in the top 10 while Ross Chastain, Parker Kligerman, rookie Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer and Connor Mosack occupied the top 15 on the track. With Brett Moffitt, Josh Bilicki, Kaz Grala, Miguel Paludo and rookie Chandler Smith running in the top 20, Sage Karam was mired in 21st ahead of Jeb Burton, rookie Parker Retzlaff, Brandon Jones and Alex Labbe.

Another lap later, the first caution of the event flew due to lightning occurring near the speedway. By the seventh lap, the field led by Ty Gibbs was directed to pit road and the event was red-flagged amid the lightning strike and as light precipitation began to increase.

When the red flag was lifted following a delay period spanning nearly 44 minutes, the competitors returned to the track’s racing surface under a cautious pace on the eighth lap in spite of the track conditions still being slightly wet from the precipitation. Prior to the red flag being lifted, the pit crews were given the option to change to wet tires for their respective entries.

During the caution laps, however, some led by Allmendinger and including Sam Mayer, Chandler Smith, Retzlaff, Kyle Weatherman and Blaine Perkins pitted to change from wet to slick tires while the rest led by Ty Gibbs remained on the track.

When the race resumed under green flag conditions on Lap 11 and amid a single-file restart formation, Ty Gibbs retained the lead through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1 followed by Custer as the field fanned out. Then as the field navigated its way from Turns 2 to 7, Ross Chastain spun after getting hit by Connor Mosack’s No. 24 Toyota Genuine Parts Supra in Turn 7, but the event remained under green flag conditions as he proceeded without getting hit by the field. Back at the front of the pack, Ty Gibbs stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Custer during the proceeding laps while Berry, Nemechek and Austin Hill were in the top five ahead of Hemric.

By Lap 14, Ty Gibbs surrendered the lead to pit for slick tires under green along with Custer, Moffitt, Kaz Grala, Chastain, Jeb Burton, Ryan Sieg, Brennan Poole and Josh Williams. More names that included Nemechek, Austin Hill, Miguel Paludo, Sage Karam and Josh Bilicki would then pit on Lap 15 as Berry cycled into the lead followed by Hemric and Creed, who would pit on Lap 16. Shortly after, however, Hemric overtook Berry for the lead as Parker Kligerman joined the battle. By Lap 17, more names that included Herbst, Sammy Smith and Alex Labbe pitted as Hemric continued to lead.

Then on Lap 18, Allmendinger, who methodically carved his way through the field while on slick tires and from starting midfield since the restart, overtook teammate Hemric for the lead in Turn 13. Allmendinger would proceed to stretch his advantage to more than three seconds by the time he entered Turn 7 over teammate Hemric before Mayer, who also pitted prior to the restart, overtook Hemric for the runner-up spot.

At the conclusion of the first stage period on Lap 20, Allmendinger captured his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Mayer settled in second followed by Hemric, Kligerman and Allgaier while Ty Gibbs, Retzlaff, Chandler Smith, Berry and Custer were scored in the top 10.

With the race remaining under green just past the Lap 20 mark to start the second stage period, Allmendinger continued to extend his advantage to more than five seconds over Mayer while third-place Hemric trailed by more than 14 seconds. Nearing the Lap 21 mark, the following names that included Hemric, Allgaier, Kligerman and Berry pitted for slick tires. By then, Josh Williams nursed his car to the garage amid smoke billowing out of his entry nearing the conclusion of the first stage period.

By Lap 25 and with the entire field running on slick tires, Allmendinger was leading by more than six seconds over Mayer while Ty Gibbs was in third and trailing by more than 15 seconds. Behind, Custer and Retzlaff were in the top five while Chandler Smith, Creed, Austin Hill, Nemechek and Kyle Weatherman occupied the top 10 in front of Herbst, Moffitt, Grala, Paludo and Ryan Sieg. Meanwhile, Kligerman was mired back in 35th while a lap down after pitting a few laps earlier due to a flat left-front tire on his No. 48 Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet Camaro stemming from a valve stem being knocked out.

A lap later, the caution flew when Brad Perez came to a stop on the oval circuit near Turns 13 and 14 as smoke started to billow out of his No. 53 entry due to a mechanical issue. By then, Allmendinger was leading by more than six seconds over Mayer while Ty Gibbs, Custer and Retzlaff continued to run in the top five.

During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by Mayer and including Custer, Moffitt, Ryan Sieg, Allgaier and Berry remained on the track.

As the event restarted under green and in double-file formation on Lap 30, Mayer muscled ahead from Custer with the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch and entering Turn 1. From Turn 2 to Turn 6, Mayer retained the lead as Custer also retained second in front of Allgaier while Allmendinger, who restarted eighth, had quickly carved his way up to fourth while on four fresh tires. With the field continuing to jostle for positions around each of the remaining 14 turns, Mayer would lead the following lap, Lap 31, as the event reached its halfway mark.

By Lap 34, Allmendinger battled and reassumed the lead from Mayer through the first three turns. Allmendinger would proceed to increase his advantage to more than a second over Mayer during the following lap while Ty Gibbs, who overtook Custer for third place the lap prior, trailed by more than two seconds.

Then on Lap 36, Custer, who was battling Allgaier for fourth, made slight contact with Allgaier in Turn 13. Allgaier then ran over the curb entering Turn 14 and made contact again with Custer as Custer ran off the circuit and into the grass before he spun back onto the course while trying to straighten his car. Custer would manage to proceed without sustaining significant damage to his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang and without drawing a caution while Creed, Herbst and Hill managed to overtake Allgaier for positions fourth through sixth amid the chaos. Another lap later, Allgaier pitted under green along with teammate Paludo, Moffitt, Custer and Andre Castro while Allmendinger retained the lead over Ty Gibbs and Mayer.

At the conclusion of the second stage period on Lap 40, Allmendinger captured his third Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season and second of the day as he was leading by more than three seconds over Ty Gibbs. Gibbs settled in second while Mayer, Creed, Herbst, Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, Nemechek, Hemric and Jeremy Clements were scored in the top 10.

With the final stage commencing under a continuous green flag period with 22 laps remaining, Allmendinger retained the lead by more than two seconds over Ty Gibbs. Another lap later, names including Nemechek, Mayer, Hemric and Chandler Smith pitted under green. Herbst would pit from fourth place with 20 laps remaining while Allmendinger continued to lead by nearly three seconds over Ty Gibbs with 20 laps remaining. By then, Nemechek and Herbst were penalized for speeding on pit road.

A lap later, Allmendinger surrendered the lead to pit under green followed by Ty Gibbs, Austin Hill, Grala, Brandon Jones while Creed cycled into the lead. Shortly after, however, the caution flew for Andre Castro parking his car off the course in Turn 1 due to a mechanical issue. By then, Creed had made a pit stop, but had failed to enter pit road in time just as the caution flew and was sent to the rear of the field for the proceeding restart.

During the caution period, some led by Clements and including Josh Bilicki, Karam, Retzlaff, Jeb Burton, Preston Pardus, Paludo and Kligerman pitted while the rest led by Ty Gibbs, who had managed to overtake Allmendinger during the green flag pit stops, remained on the track.

Down to the final 16 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Ty Gibbs fended off Allmendinger to retain the lead through the frontstretch as the field fanned out. Then in Turn 1, Allmendinger tried to draw even with Gibbs, but Gibbs muscled ahead on the inside lane in Turn 2. Gibbs would continue to lead during the proceeding turns as Brandon Jones spun in Turn 1 after getting bumped by Sammy Smith, but without drawing a caution. After fending off another charge from Allmendinger amid contact through Turn 7 while Hemric went off the course after getting hit by teammate Chandler Smith and an oncoming Connor Mosack, Gibbs continued to lead while Mayer pressured Allmendinger for the runner-up spot.

Gibbs would proceed to lead with 15 laps remaining ahead of Allmendinger and Mayer while Allgaier and Austin Hill battled for fourth. By then, select competitors like teammates Chandler Smith and Hemric along with Sammy Smith pitted under green amid their contact and off-track incident in Turn 7. Gibbs would proceed to extend his advantage to more than two seconds over runner-up Allmendinger during the proceeding laps while Mayer trailed in third place by more than four seconds followed by Austin Hill and Allgaier. By then, Custer rallied to sixth while Grala, Nemechek, Moffitt and Kligerman were running in the top 10.

With 10 laps remaining, Gibbs continued to lead by more than three seconds over Allmendinger while Mayer, Hill and Allgaier remained in the top five. Behind, Custer, Grala, Nemechek, Moffitt and Kligerman also remained in the top 10 while Creed, Labbe, Jeb Burton, Herbst and Berry were mired in the top 15. Meanwhile, Brandon Jones was down in 23rd, Hemric was in 28th ahead of Sammy Smith while a lap down and Chandler Smith was in 33rd.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Ty Gibbs extended his advantage to more than four seconds over Allmendinger while third-place Mayer trailed by more than six seconds ahead of Austin Hill and Allgaier. By then, Blaine Perkins, who went off the course in between Turns 8 to 10 after making contact with Ryan Ellis, was mired in 33rd as he eventually pitted. Chandler Smith, who was two laps down in 32nd, locked up the front tires and went off the course in Turn 12 while earlier, Ryan Sieg was assessed a stop-and-go penalty after missing Turn 6 as he was currently running in 27th.

Shortly after, trouble struck for Grala, who was running sixth before he went off the course entering Turn 1. Then as he tried to blend back into the racing surface, he clipped Nemechek and sent Nemechek’s No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra spinning in Turn 2 as Nemechek fell out of the top 10 on the track. Despite the incident, the race remained under green flag conditions as Ty Gibbs retained the lead by more than five seconds over Allmendinger.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Ty Gibbs remained as the leader by more than seven seconds over Mayer, who battled and overtook Allmendinger’s No. 10 LeafHome Water Solutions Chevrolet Camaro for the runner-up spot a lap prior. Amid the late on-track chaos and having a clear view in front of him, Gibbs was able to smoothly navigate his way around the 14-turn circuit for a final time and cruise back to the frontstretch to claim his first checkered flag of the 2023 NASCAR season and his first at Indianapolis.

With the victory, Gibbs, who is currently competing in his first full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series for Joe Gibbs Racing, notched his 12th career victory in the Xfinity Series and his first since winning both the 2022 season finale and championship at Phoenix Raceway this past November. In addition to winning at Indianapolis for the first time and becoming the fourth different winner in four Xfinity events on Indy’s road course venue, he achieved his fourth victory on a road course venue and the second of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 “all-star” entry led by veteran crew chief Jason Ratcliff while also becoming the 13th different winner of this year’s Xfinity season.

Gibbs’ victory capped off an eventful IndyCar-NASCAR doubleheader feature at Indianapolis on Saturday as six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon fended off pole-sitter Graham Rahal amid a late battle to win the Gallagher Grand Prix at the Indy Road Course hours earlier.

“It’s definitely about time [that I won],” Gibbs said on USA Network. “Really cool to get one here at the Brickyard. I grew up racing go-karts at New Castle right down the street, so really special to me. Awesome car! Great car. Thank you, Jason Ratcliff. This is the man right here. Jason does such a great job. This is just so special. We got the Brickyard! Let’s go!”

Mayer, who led five laps in his No. 1 Huck’s Market Chevrolet Camaro, settled in the runner-up spot for the third time this season while Allmendinger, who led 21 laps and swept both stages, ended up third in his fifth Xfinity event of the season. Austin Hill and Allgaier finished in the top five while Custer, Kligerman, Creed, Grala and Moffitt came home in the top 10.

Notably, Nemechek ended up 13th in between Herbst and Berry, Brandon Jones settled in 21st ahead of teammate Miguel Paludo, Hemric ended up 27th in front of Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith retired in 34th due to a suspension failure.

There were 10 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured three cautions for nine laps. In addition, 26 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

With four Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by 11 points over John Hunter Nemechek and 34 over Justin Allgaier.

Results.

1. Ty Gibbs, 28 laps led

2. Sam Mayer, five laps led

3. AJ Allmendinger, 21 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

4. Austin Hill

5. Justin Allgaier

6. Cole Custer

7. Parker Kligerman

8. Sheldon Creed, one lap led

9. Kaz Grala

10. Brett Moffitt

11. Alex Labbe

12. Riley Herbst

13. John Hunter Nemechek

14. Josh Berry, two laps led

15. Sage Karam

16. Jeb Burton

17. Parker Retzlaff

18. Josh Bilicki, one lap led

19. Jeremy Clements, one lap led

20. Kyle Weatherman

21. Brandon Jones

22. Miguel Paludo

23. Anthony Alfredo

24. Preston Pardus

25. Brennan Poole

26. Connor Mosack

27. Daniel Hemric, one lap down, three laps down

28. Sammy Smith, one lap down

29. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

30. Kyle Sieg, one lap down

31. Blaine Perkins, two laps down

32. Ryan Sieg, five laps down

33. Josh Williams, five laps down

34. Chandler Smith – OUT, Suspension

35. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Axle

36. Andre Castro – OUT, Suspension

37. Ross Chastain – OUT, Suspension

38. Brad Perez – OUT, Brakes

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is another road course event as the series travels east from Indiana to New York for Watkins Glen International. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, August 19, at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

August 12, 2023
Buescher goes back-to-back with dramatic Cup victory at Michigan

The one-day wait amid an extensive rain delay period was worth the wait for Chris Buescher and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing as both navigated their way to win the rain-postponed FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway that started on Sunday, August 6, and concluded on Monday, August 7.

The 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Prosper, Texas, led three times for a race-high 52 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he rolled off the starting grid in fourth place and was coming off a breakthrough victory at Richmond Raceway. Amid a one-day postponement of the event due to precipitation and various pit strategies that ensued throughout the event, Buescher, who managed to cycle his way past dominant Martin Truex Jr. amid the final cycle of green flag pit stops with nearly 40 laps remaining, assumed the race lead with 18 laps remaining and, despite nearly losing the lead with 12 laps remaining, fended off a late surge from Truex to notch his second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory in recent weeks and gain needed momentum with the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs looming.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, August 5, Christopher Bell notched his second Cup pole position of the season and the sixth of his career after posting a fast pole-winning lap at 193.382 mph in 37.232 seconds, which marks the fastest qualifying lap posted since the 2020 Daytona 500. Joining him on the front row was Ross Chastain, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 193.242 mph in 37.259 seconds.

Prior to the event, the following names that included Corey LaJoie, JJ Yeley and Austin Hill dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Another competitor who also dropped to the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments was Josh Berry, who was piloting the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club entry in place of the suspended Noah Gragson.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a delay of more than an hour and a half due to precipitation, Bell and Chastain dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Chastain, who restarted on the inside lane, received a huge shove from rookie Ty Gibbs to muscle his No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead through Turns 1 and 2, where he then moved in front of Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry entering the backstretch. As the field fanned out and jostled early for positions exiting the backstretch and entering Turns 3 and 4, Chastain proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Bell while Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs followed suit.

Through the second lap, Chastain maintained the lead ahead of Bell while Truex battled Buescher for third place ahead of Ty Gibbs. Behind, Logano retained sixth ahead of Chase Elliott while William Byron, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney were in the top 10.

Through the first five scheduled laps, Chastain was leading by four-tenths of a second over Truex followed by Bell, Buescher and Ty Gibbs while Logano, Elliott, Wallace, Byron and Blaney were in the top 10. Behind, Denny Hamlin was in 11th ahead of Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Tyler Reddick while Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick was mired in 21st ahead of Erik Jones, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. while AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Preece, Justin Haley, Todd Gilliland and Corey LaJoie rounded out the top 30.

At the Lap 10 mark, Chastain stabilized his early advantage to four-tenths of a second over Truex while third-place Bell trailed by more than a second. With Buescher and Ty Gibbs remaining in the top five, Wallace was up to sixth ahead of Elliott and Byron while Logano fell back to ninth in front of teammate Blaney.

Four laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Kyle Busch, who was battling Blaney for 10th place, moved up the track and made contact with Blaney, where he then got loose, spun and made contact with the outside wall in Turn 2 on the driver’s side. The incident, which was enough to terminate Busch’s event early as he sustained his fifth DNF of the season, occurred as Chastain was being challenged by Truex for the lead. It also served as the competition caution period initially planned for Lap 20.

During the competition caution period, a majority of the field led by Chastain pitted for service while 11 competitors led by the race leader Truex remained on the track amid mixed strategy.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 19, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead until Truex muscled his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota TRD Camry into the lead through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. With the field fanning out, Truex maintained the lead by half a second over teammate Gibbs while Buescher followed suit along with Wallace and Blaney. Behind, Elliott was in sixth followed by Suarez and Reddick, but Reddick would overtake both by Lap 21 while Chastain, the first competitor who pitted during the competition caution, was in 10th.

Just past the Lap 25 mark and amid a series of on-track battles, Truex was leading by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Ty Gibbs while Buescher, Wallace and Blaney were scored in the top five. Truex would extend his advantage to more than a second over Gibbs by Lap 30. By then, Reddick, who started 15th, rocketed his No. 45 Rocket League Toyota TRD Camry into fifth place while Chastain was mired in ninth in between teammate Suarez and Keselowski. In addition, Bell was in 12th behind Byron, Larson, who nearly got loose entering Turn 4, fell back to 15th ahead of Hamlin and Logano was mired in 24th ahead of Aric Almirola and Harvick. In addition, Josh Berry was in 28th in between Kaulig Racing’s Haley and Allmendinger.

On Lap 34, the second caution of the event flew when Elliott, who was running in ninth after being overtaken by Trackhouse Racing’s Suarez and Chastain a lap earlier, slipped sideways after blowing a right-rear tire and wrecked against the Turn 2 outside wall. The incident not only terminated Elliott’s race amid extensive damage to his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, but it hampered his hopes of gaining valuable points towards the 2023 Cup Series Playoff cutline. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Buescher pitted while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.

With six laps remaining in the first stage period, the race proceeded under green as Truex and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, Truex muscled ahead from Wallace while starting on the outside lane as the field fanned out to four lanes entering the first two turns and the backstretch. With Truex remaining ahead of Wallace on the track and amid a series of on-track battles between competitors on mixed strategies, Ty Gibbs was in third followed by Keselowski and Suarez while Larson was in sixth ahead of Corey LaJoie and teammate Alex Bowman.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Truex, who announced his return for the 2024 Cup season with Joe Gibbs Racing on Saturday, claimed his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Wallace trailed in second while Ty Gibbs, Keselowski, Larson, Suarez, Bowman, Hamlin, Erik Jones and LaJoie were scored in the top 10. By then, Byron, who was running ninth, got loose, slipped up and slapped towards the outside wall entering Turn 4 as he limped his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 across the start/finish line in 13th.

Under the stage break, some led by Truex, who remained on the track during the two previous caution periods, pitted while the rest led by Bowman remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Stenhouse was penalized for speeding on pit road and for an uncontrolled tire violation. Not long after, Truex made another pit stop as he was sent to the rear of the field.

The second stage started on Lap 50 as Bowman and Erik Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Bowman and Jones dueled for the lead entering the first two turns as the field fanned out. Bowman and Jones would continue to duel for the lead through the backstretch while Hamlin, Reddick, Bell and Blaney followed pursuit. Then as the field made their way through Turns 3 and 4, the caution quickly returned when Berry, who was running 16th and battling with Harrison Burton, got loose in front of LaJoie and spun backwards towards the outside wall as he slapped the wall while barely missing Todd Gilliland before the damaged No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 came to a rest below the turn’s grass as his event came to an end. By then, Byron, who was on the Damaged Vehicle Policy clock period spanning seven minutes as his pit crew attempted to repair the No. 24 car, ran out of their scheduled repairment time as his event also came to an end.

During the following restart on Lap 55, Bowman rocketed ahead with the lead from the outside lane as he then moved in front of Erik Jones to retain the top spot through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. With the battles ensuing through the backstretch, Bell rocketed his way around Erik Jones for the runner-up spot as he pursued Bowman for the lead while Chastain aggressively carved his way up to 11th.

Through the Lap 60 mark, Bowman was leading by a tenth of a second over Bell followed by Erik Jones, Hamlin and Reddick while Blaney, Austin Cindric, Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon and Allmendinger were in the top 10. By then, Chastain, Wallace, Briscoe, Larson and Truex were in the top 15 while Logano, LaJoie, Almirola, Haley and Buescher occupied the top 20. Behind, Keselowski was mired in 21st ahead of Harrison Burton, Ty Dillon, Ty Gibbs and Suarez while Harvick was back in 26th.

Four laps later, Bell, who had just overtaken Bowman amid a battle for the lead through the frontstretch, slipped sideways entering Turns 1 and 2 amid close-quarters racing with Bowman with Hamlin joining the battle. This resulted with Bell spinning backwards towards the outside wall as he pounded the wall and sustained significant rear end damage to his pole-winning car. During the caution period, the entire field led by Bowman, expect for Josh Bilicki, pitted for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Bowman exited first followed by Truex, Reddick, Blaney, Larson, Austin Dillon and Cindric. Bilicki would pit prior to the restart as Bowman reassumed the lead.

When the race proceeded under green on Lap 69, where Bowman and Reddick occupied the front row, Bowman and Reddick dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Reddick managed to muscle ahead from the inside lane and assume the lead through the backstretch. As the field fanned out amid a series of on-track battles, including a pair of run-ins involving Blaney and LaJoie, Reddick maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Bowman while Larson was up in third followed by Truex, Cindric and Erik Jones.

Four laps later, the caution returned due to reports of precipitation occurring around the speedway. Soon after, the field led by Reddick was directed to pit road and the event was placed in a red flag period due to the ongoing precipitation on Lap 74. With the precipitation increasing and the delay spanning more than an hour, NASCAR ended up postponing the remainder of the event’s coverage to Monday, August 7, at noon ET on USA Network.

The following day on Monday, the field endured a brief 33-minute delay due to light mist before returning to the track under a cautious pace. During the caution period, Bell pitted even when pit road was closed for additional repairs to his pole-winning car amid his wreck from Sunday as he was still scored on the lead lap. Once pit road opened for the entire field to pit, some led by Reddick and including Bowman, Larson, Austin Dillon, Ty Gibbs, LaJoie, Stenhouse, Michael McDowell, Haley, Cole Custer and Bilicki pitted while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.

When the race resumed under green flag conditions on Lap 82 amid an extensive caution period due to reports of light precipitation, where Truex and Cindric occupied the front row, Truex and Cindric dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Bubba Wallace made a bold three-wide move on both through the backstretch to assume the lead in his No. 23 DoorDash Toyota TRD Camry. With Wallace leading the proceeding lap, Truex settled in second while Keselowski battled Cindric for third in front of Erik Jones, Buescher and Hamlin. Jones then overtook Keselowski and Cindric in a three-wide move through the backstretch to move his No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to third as Wallace retained the lead. As the field continued to jostle for positions through the Lap 85 mark, Wallace stabilized his advantage to within a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Truex.

By Lap 90, the top-three competitors were separated by nearly half a second as Wallace was still leading by two-tenths of a second over Truex followed by Erik Jones while Cindric and Suarez trailed in the top five by more than a second. Behind, Keselowski was in sixth ahead of teammate Buescher, Hamlin, Harrison Burton and Allmendinger while Blaney, Chastain, Logano, Reddick, Bowman, Larson, Briscoe, Harvick, Ryan Preece, Almirola and Ty Gibbs were battling within the top 20.

At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Truex cycled his way around Wallace, who continued to remain on the track and stretch his fuel tank to finish the second stage, to reassume the lead through the frontstretch while third-place Erik Jones trailed by six-tenths of a second. Behind, Suarez trailed in fourth place by more than a second while Hamlin was in fifth and trailing by more than two seconds.

Two laps later, the caution flew when Preece, who was running 22nd, blew a right-rear tire entering Turn 1, but he managed to avoid hitting the outside wall as he fell off the pace with light smoke coming out of his No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang. During the caution period, some including the race leader Truex pitted while the rest led by Wallace and including Suarez, Keselowski, Chastain, Allmendinger, Logano, Bowman, Larson, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon, LaJoie and Custer remained on the track amid mixed strategy ensuing. Amid the pit stops, Hamlin, who was running in the top five prior to the caution period, stalled his car while trying to exit his pit stall as he plummeted towards the rear of the lead lap field.

As the race restarted with 13 laps remaining in the second stage period, Wallace and Suarez dueled for the lead amid two tight-stacked lanes. Behind, Austin Dillon fell off the pace after nearly hitting the outside wall in Turn 1 and pitted under green due to a flat right-side tire, a move that pinned him a lap behind the leaders. Back at the front, Wallace and Suarez continued to duel for the lead until Suarez, who restarted beneath Wallace on the front row, managed to rocket his No. 99 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead entering Turns 3 and 4 as he assumed the lead from Wallace while Keselowski was in third.

Just past the Lap 110 mark and amid a series of on-track battles, Suarez retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Keselowski while Wallace fell back to third in front of Bowman and Logano. Behind, Larson was in sixth ahead of Allmendinger while Truex charged his way up to eighth place while on four fresh tires and a full tank of fuel. Meanwhile, Hamlin carved his way up to 17th while battling Harvick for position.

At the conclusion of the second stage period on Lap 120, Truex, who overtook Wallace for third place on Lap 118 as he continued to rocket his way back to the front on fresh tires, surged past Keselowski entering the backstretch and managed to side-draft Suarez amid Suarez trying to block Truex to claim the stage victory, his fifth of the season, in a photo finish. Suarez, who came into the event 34 points below the top-16 cutline towards the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, settled in second followed by Keselowski while Wallace, Bowman, Larson, Logano, Allmendinger, Cindric and Buescher were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Truex while the rest led by Buescher and including Reddick, Blaney, Harvick, Almirola, Gilliland and McDowell remained on the track with more mixed strategy ensuing. Amid the pit stops, Bell was penalized for his pit crew jumping over the pit wall too soon.

With 74 laps remaining, the final stage started as Buescher and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher and Reddick dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. The caution then quickly returned when Cindric rubbed McDowell up into teammate Gilliland as Gilliland got squeezed towards the outside wall. In the ensuing contact, Bowman, who came into the event 42 points below the top-16 cutline, received light contact from Briscoe that got Bowman loose and spinning as he hit Gilliland before spinning with front nose damage on his No. 48 Ally Detroit Pistons Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. During the caution period, some including Wallace, Briscoe, the Dillon brothers, Gilliland, Erik Jones, Larson and Haley pitted while the rest led by Buescher remained on the track.

With the race restarting with 67 laps remaining, Buescher surged ahead with the lead from the outside lane as he then fended off Reddick through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. Reddick maintained second in front of Blaney, Harvick and Cindric while Almirola was in sixth. Behind, Truex carved his way to seventh as he then battled Almirola for more while Hamlin was in eighth followed by Chastain and Burton.

Seven laps later, Buescher stabilized his lead to two-tenths of a second over Reddick followed by Blaney while Truex moved up to fourth in front of Harvick. Behind, Cindric was in sixth ahead of Hamlin, Almirola, Chastain and Burton while McDowell, Ty Gibbs, Keselowski, Logano, Suarez, Preece, Allmendinger, Wallace, Larson and Austin Hill occupied the top 20.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Buescher continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Reddick while Truex trailed by less than six seconds as Hamlin moved up to fourth ahead of Blaney, Cindric and Harvick.

Seven laps later, green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Buescher surrendered the lead to pit followed by Reddick and Harvick as Reddick exited ahead of Buescher off of pit road. During the following lap, however, Reddick returned to pit road due to a flat right-rear tire on his No. 45 entry, an issue that left Reddick steaming towards his pit crew. By then, Hamlin and Almirola pitted under green before Truex surrendered the lead to pit with 41 laps remaining. Amid the pit stops, Buescher managed to cycle his No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang past Truex on the track as Keselowski assumed the lead with less than 40 laps remaining.

With 30 laps remaining, Keselowski retained the lead by over Suarez followed by Larson, Erik Jones and Logano, Bell, Wallace, LaJoie, Stenhouse and Preece were scored in the top 10. By then, Ty Gibbs, who was running in fifth place, pitted under green. Logano and LaJoie would pit a few laps later as Keselowski extended his lead to six seconds over Suarez and seven seconds over Larson. By then, Buescher worked his way up to 11th while Truex trailed behind in 12th.

With 25 laps remaining, Suarez surrendered the runner-up spot to pit under green along with Preece. Keselowski would then surrender the lead the following lap to pit his No. 6 Nexlizet Ford Mustang as Larson assumed the lead. With 23 laps remaining, however, Larson pitted his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from the lead along with Erik Jones, Bell and Wallace as Ty Dillon cycled into the lead followed by brother Austin Dillon. Behind, Buescher and Truex moved up to third and fourth as the latter, who had a strong race car, continued to try to navigate his way around the former with both having enough fuel to finish the event.

Once the Dillon brothers pitted with nearly 20 laps remaining, Buescher cycled his way into the race lead with 18 laps remaining as Truex continued to intimidate and trail by two-tenths of a second. Buescher would continue to lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Truex while third-place Hamlin trailed by four seconds as Keselowski and Harvick were in the top five.

Then with 13 laps remaining, Truex, who gained ground to Buescher’s rear bumper through the frontstretch, made his move beneath Buescher for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 as both dueled for the top spot through the backstretch. Truex then side-drafted Buescher back through the frontstretch as he led the following lap by a hair before Buescher returned the favor by side-drafting Truex in a fight to reassume the lead. Despite leading with 12 laps remaining, Truex got loose entering Turn 1, which allowed Buescher to pull ahead with the lead by nearly a second.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Buescher stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Truex while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than three seconds. Keselowski and Larson remained in the top five while Harvick, Chastain, Blaney, Suarez and Cindric were in the top 10. Behind, Ty Gibbs was in 11th ahead of Erik Jones and Almirola while Bell carved his damaged car to 14th place ahead of Wallace.

With five laps remaining, Truex regained his ground on Buescher as he was only trailing by two-tenths of a second for the lead in his fast No. 19 Toyota. With Buescher retaining the lead, Truex kept Buescher’s No. 17 Ford close within his sights amid the draft as he tried to gain a run around Buescher with the laps dwindling.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Buescher remained as the leader by less than three-tenths of a second over Truex. Through Turns 1 and 2, Truex could not gain a run to draw even with Buescher as both entered the backstretch. Then entering Turns 3 and 4, Truex made a final lap charge to get alongside Buescher, but the run was not enough as Buescher managed to retain the lead and beat Truex to the finish line by a tenth of a second to notch his second consecutive checkered flag in recent weeks.

With the victory, Buescher, who ended up leading a race-high 52 laps, recorded his fourth career win in NASCAR’s premier series as this marks his first season notching multiple Cup victories, thus making him the sixth multi-race winner of the 2023 Cup Series season, and first time claiming back-to-back Cup race victories. The victory was also the 14th overall in the Cup circuit for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing at the Irish Hills, making RFK Racing the winningest organization at the speedway, and their first since Greg Biffle won in 2012 while Ford claimed its 21st Cup victory, ninth in a row, at Michigan.

Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“That was our plan [to win],” Buescher said on USA Network. “That’s what we come to do every weekend. It’s awesome. Glad we got to get this whole [race] in. I know it’s been a long weekend, but this Castrol Edge Mustang was so good in practice, qualifying. This team gave me a great car again. [I] Had to work for that [win], too. Hard racing there at the end. Martin [Truex Jr.] was very clean with me. I appreciate that. [I] Get to go to Victory Lane two weeks in a row, so that’s pretty awesome. We’ve got work to do, but that’s massive progress right there for us to do [and win at] two vastly different racetracks. We got road [course] races coming up. I’m excited for those two and Daytona. I look at the schedule we have ahead of us, and this is a heck of a time to get turned on and get rolling.”

Truex, who led six times for 47 laps, settled in second place for the second time this season amid a strong performance on the track. This also marks Truex’s fourth runner-up result at the Irish Hills as he continues his pursuit for his first Michigan win.

“I think we just needed maybe a little bit longer run to wear the tires some more,” Truex, who extended his lead in the regular-season standings to 57 points, said. “I felt like we were a little better, but it’s just really hard to pass the leader on equal tires. We had an unbelievable Auto-Owners Camry today and hats off to everybody that puts in the work on these things. It was a rocket. It’s just the leader in clean air is really, really hard to pass. Just didn’t quite have enough, but all in all, a good day.”

Hamlin came home in third place while Keselowski, Buescher’s teammate and co-owner at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, ended up in fourth place in his home track. The fourth-place result marked Keselowski’s fifth top-five result of the season as he is now 168 points above the top-16 cutline towards the Playoff standings, but he was also left satisfied from an owner’s perspective with Buescher winning the race and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing gaining momentum with the start of the Playoffs lingering.

“[I’m] Really happy for all the folks at Castrol and for [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing],” Keselowski said. “There’s a lot of work going on here and we’re digging deep and getting the results. I’m just so thankful and proud for everyone at RFK. We’re letting our results speak for themselves and Chris [Buescher] has done a heck of a job driving the car. When you can win, it feels really good, but we got to keep some humbleness and keep our head down. There’s some great competition out here.”

Larson completed the top five in fifth place while Suarez, teammate Chastain, Harvick, Blaney and Erik Jones finished in the top 10. Notably, Ty Gibbs settled in 11th while Bell rallied from his early wreck on Sunday to finish 13th ahead of Logano and LaJoie. In addition, Wallace fell back to 18th ahead of Austin Dillon, McDowell ended up a lap down in 24th, Allmendinger settled in 26th, Reddick fell back to 30th and Bowman ended up 33rd after he was unable to finish due to a steering issue to his car stemming from his late wreck.

There were 26 lead changes for 16 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 43 laps. In addition, 21 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

With three regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the regular-season standings by 57 points over teammate Denny Hamlin and 96 over William Byron.

William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and rookie Ty Gibbs occupy the remaining vacant spots to the Playoffs based on points, with Gibbs occupying the 16th and final vacant spots by three points over Michael McDowell, five over Daniel Suarez, 24 over AJ Allmendinger, 44 over Alex Bowman, 53 over Austin Cindric, 55 over Chase Elliott, 72 over Justin Haley, 81 over Aric Almirola and 89 over Ryan Preece.

Results.

1. Chris Buescher, 52 laps led

2. Martin Truex Jr., 47 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

3. Denny Hamlin, one lap led

4. Brad Keselowski, 15 laps led

5. Kyle Larson, two laps led

6. Daniel Suarez, 12 laps led

7. Ross Chastain, 16 laps led

8. Kevin Harvick

9. Ryan Blaney, one lap led

10. Erik Jones

11. Ty Gibbs, one lap led

12. Austin Cindric

13. Christopher Bell, one lap led

14. Joey Logano

15. Corey LaJoie

16. Aric Almirola

17. Harrison Burton

18. Bubba Wallace, 21 laps led

19. Austin Dillon, two laps led

20. Ty Dillon, two laps led

21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

22. Ryan Preece, one lap down

23. Justin Haley, one lap down

24. Michael McDowell, one lap down

25. Cole Custer, one lap down

26. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

27. JJ Yeley, one lap down

28. Austin Hill, two laps down

29. Todd Gilliland, three laps down

30. Tyler Reddick, three laps down, seven laps led

31. Chase Briscoe, three laps down

32. Josh Bilicki, four laps down, one lap led

33. Alex Bowman – OUT, Steering, 19 laps led

34. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

35. William Byron – OUT, Dvp

36. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident

37. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in Indianapolis, Indiana. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, August 13, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

August 7, 2023