Justin Allgaier dominated the Xfinity Series field to claim a decisive win at Darlington Raceway. He won the first two stages in his No. 5 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, led 119 of 147 laps and captured the checkered flag for his 24th victory in the series.
It was his third win at Darlington and his 24th Xfinity Series win, tying him with team owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr. He also leads the series with 267 top-10 finishes, breaking a tie with Kyle Busch.
“I didn’t know if the day would come when I’d be able to match Dale Jr.,” Allgaier said after the race. “Not only is he a great boss but a really good mentor and an unbelievable race car driver.
“To be able to come here, to be able to tie him, to be able to take over the all-time top 10s, man, there’s nothing better than that.”
Austin Hill led six laps, finished second and leads the series by 3 points. Cole Custer was third as Sam Mayer and Aric Almirola rounded out the top five finishers at Darlington.
Parker Kligerman, Riley Herbst, rookie Jesse Love, Sheldon Creed and Brandon Jones rounded out the top 10.
The post-race inspection was completed with no issues.
The Xfinity Series is off next week and returns to completion on May 25 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
A year after achieving his first elusive victory across NASCAR’s top three national touring series at the Monster Mile, Ryan Truex etched himself as a two-time race winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series level after prevailing through two overtime shootouts and a late challenge from Carson Kvapil to win the BetRivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway on Saturday, April 27.
The 32-year-old Truex from Mayetta, New Jersey, led the final two of 208 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started 12th and ran a consistent event, where he racked up a handful of stage points and dodged a series of late-race caution periods to line up alongside Carson Kvapil at the start of the second of two overtime shootouts. After muscling past Kvapil during the start of the second overtime shootout, Truex then took the white flag to start the final lap of the event and retained the lead just before the event’s race-ending caution flew after front-runner Justin Allgaier wrecked on the frontstretch. The incident resulted in Truex claiming the checkered flag to win at Dover for a second consecutive season and to collect his second career win in the Xfinity Series.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Friday, April 26, Brandon Jones notched his second Xfinity pole position of the 2024 season and the 10th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 156.683 mph in 22.950 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Riley Herbst, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 156.781 mph in 22.962 seconds.
Before the event, the following names that included Anthony Alfredo, Jeb Burton, Blaine Perkins, Garrett Smithley, Josh Williams and JJ Yeley 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, Brandon Jones motored his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro ahead with the lead from the outside lane through the first two turns. As the field behind jostled for early spots, Jones proceeded to lead the first lap as teammate Justin Allgaier overtook Riley Herbst to move into the runner-up spot as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sheldon Creed and Chandler Smith followed suit in the top five ahead of Austin Hill, Kyle Weatherman and a side-by-side battle between Taylor Gray and rookie Jesse Love.
On the fourth lap, the event’s first caution flew after Hailie Deegan and JJ Yeley, both of whom were racing towards the rear of the field, made contact through the frontstretch that resulted with Yeley spinning and slapping the outside wall in Turn 1 as his event came to an early end.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 13, Allgaier launched his No. 7 Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet Camaro ahead of teammate Jones through the first two turns as he muscled ahead to assume the lead while the rest of the field jostled for early spots. Allgaier would power ahead by more than a second by the Lap 15 mark while Jones, Herbst, Creed and Hill followed suit in the top five. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith, Gray, AJ Allmendinger, Cole Custer and Love were racing in the top 10 ahead of Kyle Weatherman, Ryan Sieg, Ryan Truex, Parker Kligerman and Sammy Smith as Allgaier continued to lead by more than a second by the Lap 20 mark.
Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Allgaier led by more than a second over teammate Jones while third-place Herbst trailed by five seconds. Creed and Hill followed suit in the top five while Chandler Smith, Gray, Custer, Allmendinger and Love were racing in the top 10 ahead of Ryan Sieg, Truex, Sammy Smith, Parker Retzlaff, Weatherman, Kligerman, Matt DiBenedetto, Sam Mayer, Carson Kvapil and Kaden Honeycut.
Shortly after, the event’s second caution period flew after Ryan Sieg, winner of the third Dash 4 Cash bonus from last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway and who was running in the top 15, came to a stop below the track in Turn 2 after his No. 39 Sci Aps Ford Mustang went up in flames, with the driver able to quickly escape his burned car.
During the caution period, some including Love, Parker Retzlaff and rookie Shane van Gisbergen pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.
With the event restarting under green on Lap 32, Allgaier retained the lead after muscling ahead on the inside lane while teammate Jones was trying to fend off Creed for the runner-up spot. Behind, Herbst trailed in fourth ahead of Hill and Custer while Chandler Smith, Gray, Allmendinger and Truex occupied the top 10.
Just past the Lap 35 mark, Allgaier was leading by a second over teammate Jones with Creed following suit in third while Herbst and Hill battled in the top five ahead of Custer and Chandler Smith. The deficit for Creed, Custer, Herbst, Hill and Chandler Smith would increase to four seconds as Allgaier retained the lead by the Lap 40 mark.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Allgaier captured his fourth Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammates Jones settled in second followed by Custer, Creed and Herbst while Hill, Chandler Smith, Allmendinger, Truex and Sam Mayer were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Allgaier pitted while the rest led by Retzlaff and Love, including those who pitted during the previous caution period, remained on the track. Towards the end of the first stage’s break period, Blaine Perkins stopped on the track in Turn 2 after his car ended up on fire.
The second stage period started on Lap 51 as Retzlaff and Love occupied the front row. At the start, Retzlaff and Love battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch as Jeb Burton followed suit in third. Love would prevail and take over the top spot during the following lap while the rest of the field behind scrambled and jostled for positions by the Lap 55 mark.
At the Lap 60 mark, Love was leading by half a second over Retzlaff followed by Custer, Jeb Burton and Hill while Creed, Herbst, Kaden Honeycutt, Chandler Smith and Allgaier were running in the top 10 as Allmendinger, Sammy Smith, Shane van Gisbergen, Truex and Jones trailed in the top 15.
Ten laps later, Love retained the lead by nine-tenths of a second over Retzlaff as third-place Custer, who was the first competitor who exited pit road during the first stage’s break period, trailed by a second as he was racing ahead of Creed and Herbst.
Another two laps later, Custer motored his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang past Love’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro through the first two turns as he assumed the lead. Custer extended his advantage to a second over Love by the Lap 75 mark and to two seconds over Love just past the Lap 80 mark.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Custer captured his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Hill charged his way into the runner-up spot followed by Love, Retzlaff and Creed while Allgaier, Herbst, Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith and Truex were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Custer pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Custer retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Hill, Allgaier, Herbst, Love, Sammy Smith, Creed, Truex, Chandler Smith and Allmendinger.
With 102 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Custer and Hill occupied the front row. At the start, Custer fended off Hill to retain the lead as Allgaier muscled his way past Hill for the runner-up spot. Allgaier and Hill would battle for the runner-up spot ahead of Herbst and Love while Custer led with 100 laps remaining. Not long after, Love made an unscheduled pit stop under green to address a cut left-rear tire after making contact with Ryan Truex.
With 85 laps remaining, Custer stretched his advantage to three seconds over Allgaier while Herbst, Sammy Smith and Hill trailed in the top five ahead of Carson Kvapil, Creed, Truex, Allmendinger and Anthony Alfredo.
Ten laps later, Custer stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Allgaier as Herbst, Sammy Smith and Hill continued to run in the top five ahead of Kvapil, Creed, Truex, Allmendinger and Chandler Smith.
Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Custer continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Allgaier as Herbst, Sammy Smith and Hill trailed by five seconds. Behind, Kvapil retained sixth ahead of Creed and Chandler Smith, who gained two spots, as Allmendinger and Truex trailed in the top 10 ahead of Jones, Mayer, Kligerman, Alfredo and Jeb Burton.
Eight laps later, the caution flew due to rain reported around the venue. During the caution period, some led by Herbst pitted while the rest led by Custer, who missed the pit road entrance line and did not pit when reported to do so, remained on the track.
With the caution period being extended due to the rain, the field led by Custer was directed to pit road with 33 laps remaining and the event was placed in a weather delay that spanned more than 12 minutes. Once the red flag period was lifted and the field returned to the track under a cautious pace, select names including Custer pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.
When the race restarted under green flag conditions with 28 laps remaining, Allgaier and Hill battled closely against one another for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch until Allgaier went wide and up the track in Turn 3. This allowed Hill to muscle ahead with the lead as Kvapil moved into the runner-up spot while Allgaier was left to battle Creed and Mayer to retain third place.
Another lap later, the caution returned after Jones, who was racing in the top 10, made contact with Allmendinger in Turn 2 that resulted in Allmendinger bumping into Jones and sending Jones for a spin towards the inside wall on the backstretch, but Jones managed to keep his car off the wall.
The start of the following restart period with 21 laps remaining featured Hill retaining the lead ahead of Creed, Kvapil and Gray. Four laps later, however, the caution returned after Mayer, who was battling Gray for a top-five spot, got loose underneath Gray and clipped Gray which resulted in Gray slamming into the outside wall in Turn 2.
During the start of the next restart period with 11 laps remaining, Hill and Creed battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch before Creed muscled ahead from the inside lane. With 10 laps remaining, however, Hill would battle back against Creed for the top spot as.
Then with eight laps remaining, Kvapil drew himself beneath a side-by-side action between Hill and Creed through the frontstretch. This generated a three-wide action for the lead as Kvapil moved his No. 88 Chevy Truck Season Chevrolet Camaro into the lead. The caution, however, returned a lap later after Herbst got turned sideways in Turn 4, which triggered a multi-car wreck that collected Kyle Sieg, Sammy Smith, Leland Honeyman, Brennan Poole, Daniel Dye and Allgaier. The incident was enough to sent the event into overtime.
The first overtime period did not last long as Hill got loose underneath Kvapil while battling him for the lead through the first two turns, which resulted in Hill spinning his No. 21 Nuthin Fancy Collection Chevrolet Camaro below the apron.
The second overtime attempt generated a different outcome as Ryan Truex, who restarted alongside Kvapil on the inside lane, battled dead even with Kvapil for nearly a full lap until Truex muscled ahead with the lead through Turns 3 and 4.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Truex was leading by two-tenths of a second over Kvapil as Mayer, Creed and Custer battled for third place. Not long after, the caution flew, which ended the race as Allgaier wrecked on the frontstretch. With the checkered flag being displayed alongside the caution flag, Truex was able to coast his No. 20 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota Supra back to the frontstretch victorious for a second consecutive season at the Monster Mile.
With the victory, Truex, who previously recorded two top-10 results in four starts thus far of the season, achieved his second career win in his 95th start in the Xfinity circuit and fifth of the 2024 season. He also recorded the fifth victory of the season for both Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing as he became the third different competitor to pilot JGR’s No. 20 Toyota Supra entry to an Xfinity race victory in 2024.
“I can’t believe it,” Truex said on FS1. “Our car was just good at the end when it mattered. I was so loose all day. Shout out to Carson [Kvapil]. What an amazing run for what, his second race. I felt a little bad running him up the hill, but you’ve got to take these things when you can. I’m out of breath. I think I held my breath the last two laps. Love these fans. Love this track. Just can’t believe it.”
Meanwhile, Kvapil, a full-time CARS Late Model Stock Tour competitor for JR Motorsports and the son of former NASCAR Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil, was left with mixed reactions on pit road despite achieving a career-best runner-up result in his second Xfinity Series career start. He finished in fourth place during his first Xfinity career start at Martinsville Speedway in early April.
“It sucks, right? You get that close [to winning],” Kvapil said. “I really don’t even know what to say. I think we had a really fast Chevrolet here. JR Motorsports brought me a really good piece. I’m just really fortunate to be in the spot that I am. I’m happy that I have a shot to win a race at the end there. We had a good car. I just couldn’t really get up through the restarts really good…[Truex] just barely got us there at the end.”
Sam Mayer ended up in third place followed by Sheldon Creed and Cole Custer. AJ Allmendinger, Chandler Smith, Kyle Weatherman, Anthony Alfredo and Parker Retzlaff finished in the top 10.
For the fourth and final Dash 4 Cash bonus of the 2024 season, the honors belonged to Anthony Alfredo, who achieved his first bonus of the initiative of his career as he also collected his fifth top-10 result of the season.
There were 11 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 61 laps. In addition, 20 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 10th event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Chandler Smith leads the regular-season standings by a single point over Cole Custer, 17 over Austin Hill, 57 over rookie Jesse Love and 81 over Justin Allgaier.
Results.
1. Ryan Truex, two laps led
2. Carson Kvapil, 14 laps led
3. Sam Mayer
4. Sheldon Creed, three laps led
5. Cole Custer, 95 laps led, Stage 2 winner
6. AJ Allmendinger
7. Chandler Smith
8. Kyle Weatherman
9. Anthony Alfredo
10. Parker Retzlaff, three laps led
11. Jeb Burton
12. Parker Kligerman
13. Ryan Ellis
14. Jeremy Clements
15. Austin Hill, 17 laps led
16. Riley Herbst
17. Justin Allgaier, 39 laps led, Stage 1 winner
18. Shane van Gisbergen
19. Brandon Jones, 13 laps led
20. Daniel Dye
21. Leland Honeyman, one lap down
22. Brennan Poole, one lap down
23. Kaden Honeycutt, two laps down
24. Jesse Love, two laps down, 21 laps led
25. Josh Williams, two laps down
26. David Starr, two laps down
27. Kyle Sieg, two laps down, one lap led
28. Patrick Emerling, three laps down
29. Dawson Cram, three laps down
30. Garrett Smithley, six laps down
31. Hailie Deegan, eight laps down
32. Matt DiBenedetto, 12 laps down
33. Sammy Smith – OUT, Accident
34. Taylor Gray – OUT, Accident
35. Corey Heim – OUT, Engine
36. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Electrical
37. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Engine
38. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident
With the completion of the 2024 Xfinity Series’ Dash 4 Cash initiative, the next event on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200. The event is scheduled for May 11 and will air at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
After generating an impressive start to his first NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign, rookie Jesse Love sealed the deal by notching his first career victory in the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, April 20, amid two overtime shootouts.
The 19-year-old Love from Menlo Park, California, led five times for 28 of 124 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row alongside teammate and pole-sitter Austin Hill. After spending nearly the entire first stage period running behind Hill amid the draft, Love overtook him on the final lap prior to Justin Allgaier wrecking out of the event to capture the stage victory.
Love then spent the remainder of the event battling within the draft and towards the front while avoiding a handful of late on-track calamities that sent the event into overtime twice. After sneaking his way back into the lead for the start of the second overtime shootout, Love survived on a low tank of fuel and fended off late challenges from Leland Honeyman and Brennan Poole to score his first Xfinity Series career victory in his ninth series start.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, April 19, Austin Hill notched his fifth Xfinity career pole position, his first of the 2024 season and his third straight at Talladega after posting a pole-winning lap at 181.629 mph in 52.723 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate and rookie Jesse Love, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 181.120 mph in 52.871 seconds.
Prior to the event, the following names that included Jeb Burton, Sheldon Creed and Taylor Gray 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, Austin Hill received a push from Cole Custer on the outside lane to muscle ahead before he then transitioned to the inside lane and moved in front of teammate Jesse Love through the first two turns. As the field fanned out to three lanes through the backstretch, Hill would manage to fend off the early challenges and maintain control of both lanes to return to the tri-oval with the lead and lead the first lap.
On the second lap, Sammy Smith would challenge Hill for the lead from the backstretch through the frontstretch amid the draft as the field fully fanned out to three packed lanes. Smith, however, would lose ground during the following lap as he had no drafting help on the inside lane as Hill, who continued to have both lanes under his control, maintained the top spot ahead of teammate Love, Parker Kligerman, Ryan Truex and AJ Allmendinger through the fifth lap mark.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps and with a majority of the field migrating to a long line on the outside lane, Hill was leading ahead of teammate Love, Kligerman, Truex and Chandler Smith, who was trying to ignite a drafting run from the inside lane, while Cole Custer, AJ Allmendinger, Riley Herbst, Justin Allgaier and Ryan Sieg trailed in the top 10 ahead of rookie Shane van Gisbergen, Anthony Alfredo, Kyle Weatherman, Jeremy Clements and Sheldon Creed.
A lap later, Custer, who was drafting Chandler Smith on the inside lane, made a bold move beneath Smith to assume the runner-up spot before he then made a move beneath Hill in a bid for the lead through the frontstretch. Despite drawing even against Hill through the first two turns and the backstretch, Hill quickly fought back on the inside lane as he had teammate Love drafting him while Custer was trying to keep pace amid the draft.
By Lap 15, Hill was leading by a tenth of a second over teammate Love followed by Chandler Smith, Kligerman and Truex while Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, van Gisbergen, Kyle Weatherman, Clements and the rest of the field followed suit, with the top 29 of 38 starters trailing within three seconds.
Just past the Lap 20 mark, Hill continued to lead just ahead of teammate Love as Chandler Smith, Kligerman, Truex, Allmendinger, Allgaier, van Gisbergen, Weatherman and Clements were running in the top 10 ahead of Brandon Jones, Jeb Burton, Alfredo, Perkins, Taylor Gray, Creed, Herbst, Custer, Ryan Sieg and Josh Williams, all of whom were running under two seconds.
On the final lap of the first stage period, the event’s first caution period flew after Allgaier, who was running in the top 10, got loose entering the backstretch and made contact with Herbst that sent Allgaier spinning before the Illinois veteran T-boned the inside wall hard at full pace as his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro then came to a halt back across the track, with Allgaier managing to emerge uninjured. Allgaier’s incident not only spoiled his chances of achieving the third Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus of the season, but it was also enough for the first stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 25 to conclude under caution as Jesse Love, who overtook teammate Hill for the lead on the frontstretch and prior to Allgaier’s wreck, captured his fourth Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Kligerman ended up second followed by Hill, Chandler Smith and Allmendinger while Truex, van Gisbergen, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst and Custer were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Love pitted for service while the rest led by Matt DiBenedetto and including Joey Gase, Caesar Bacarella, Leland Honeyman, Jordan Anderson, Dawson Cram, Mason Massey and Hailie Deegan remained on the track. All including Josh Bilicki, who exited pit road first the lap prior, pitted during the following lap, which allowed Love to cycle back into the lead. Kligerman, who slid through his pit box earlier, also returned to pit road for another pit service.
The second stage period started on Lap 30 as teammates Love and Hil occupied the front row. At the start, Love and Hill battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns and entering the backstretch until Hill muscled back ahead with the lead exiting the backstretch as Ryan Truex followed suit in second. With the field fanning out to three tight-packed lanes during the following lap, Hill maintained control of both lanes amid the draft.
On Lap 34, a three-wide battle for the lead ensued as Custer, Truex and Hill battled dead even for the lead through the frontstretch until Custer muscled his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang into the lead. Hill then fought back during the following two turns and the backstretch before Custer moved in front of Hill to stall his momentum. This allowed Ryan Sieg to move into the lead despite drawing dead even with Truex through the first two turns before Custer fought back and battled Sieg for the lead through the backstretch and the frontstretch. With the field tight-packed amid three lanes, Sieg fended off Custer to maintain the lead on the inside lane while Hill was trying to regain momentum on the outside lane by Lap 37.
Just past the Lap 40 mark, Sieg continued to lead ahead of Hill, who surged his way back towards the front, along with Herbst while Love followed suit in fourth, though he would be overtaken by Chandler Smith, Custer and Taylor Gray amid the draft. Chandler Smith would then challenge Sieg in a side-by-side battle for the lead from the inside lane by Lap 42 before he assumed the top spot by the following lap as he had Hill following suit. Another lap later, teammate Truex challenged Smith for the lead before he got shuffled out of the draft. This enabled Smith to retain the top spot ahead of Hill and Love while Brandon Jones was trying to ignite a charge from the inside lane.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 50, Hill, who reassumed the lead four laps earlier, captured his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season after fending off a last-lap charge from Allmendinger. Love edged Allmendinger to claim second followed by Sieg and Brandon Jones while Chandler Smith, Kligerman, Herbst, Jeb Burton and Truex were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, a majority of the field led by Hill pitted for service while the rest led by Jordan Anderson remained on the track. The remaining competitors who elected not to pit led by Anderson would pit shortly after as Love, who only opted for fuel to his entry, reassumed the lead.
With 58 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Love and Brandon Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Love muscled ahead from the outside lane to retain the lead as he had Chandler Smith following him in the draft while Jones was trying to keep pace from the inside lane. With Hill trying to fight his way back to the front in ninth place and as the field fanned out amid the draft, Jones would assume the lead just past the halfway mark on Lap 57. With Jones leading, Kligerman followed suit along with Hill while Love was left to fend off Sieg for fourth place.
With 52 laps remaining, Ryan Sieg muscled ahead from Jones on the inside lane entering the frontstretch to assume the lead. Sammy Smith would then rocket his way into a side-by-side challenge against Sieg for the lead entering Turn 3 as Smith had Shane van Gisbergen following him. With more battles at the front ensuing and more names carving their way to the front, van Gisbergen then led a lap for himself in his No. 97 Wendy’s Chevrolet Camaro with 50 laps remaining until Hill drafted Sammy Smith back to the lead ahead of a tight three-wide pack.
A few laps later, the caution returned after Kligerman, who was running fourth, turned across the right-front fender of Sieg, where he then turned and sent Jones’ No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro head-on into the outside wall in the frontstretch. This triggered a multi-car wreck that involved Allmendinger, Clements, Truex, Sam Mayer, Josh Williams, Jeb Burton, DiBenedetto, Leland Honeyman and Kyle Weatherman. At the moment of caution, Hill had reassumed the lead over Sammy Smith.
During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Hill pitted for service while the rest led by David Starr remained on the track. As the rest of the field, including Starr and DiBenedetto pitted during the following few laps, Hill, who only opted for fuel to his entry, cycled back into the lead.
As the event restarted under green with 41 laps remaining, Sieg received a push from Custer to maintain the lead on the inside lane as Herbst tried to follow suit in third place. Hill, however, would fight back on the outside before Custer moved in front of Hill to stall his momentum. Amid the field fanning out through the frontstretch, Herbst would assume the lead with 40 laps remaining. Then as Herbst was trying to fend off Love for the lead, the caution returned after Allmendinger’s rear bumper cover split, came off of the car and fell on the backstretch.
During the following restart period with 35 laps remaining, Herbst muscled his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang ahead from the inside lane to retain the lead through the first two turns before he transitioned up to the outside lane to block Sieg and retain the lead. With the field fanning out to three lanes and charging hard to the front, Hill challenged Herbst for the lead during the following lap, but Herbst received a strong push from Sieg, Custer and Kligerman amid the draft to maintain the lead from the outside lane, which dropped Hill out of the top five as he was trying to regain momentum with drafting help from Alfredo and Love.
With 30 laps remaining, Hill, who led the previous lap by a hair, over Herbst, was leading by a mere margin over Herbst amid a side-by-side battle while Alfredo, Sieg, Custer, Love, Kligerman, Sheldon Creed, Jordan Anderson and Chandler Smith were running in the top 10 ahead of van Gisbergen, Jeb Burton, Sammy Smith, Parker Retzlaff and Taylor Gray. By the following lap, the top-29 competitors were separated by two seconds as Herbst rocketed back into the lead ahead of Ford teammates Sieg and Custer while Kligerman, Creed and Hill followed suit.
Five laps later, Kligerman, who led the previous lap, was leading ahead of Hill followed by Herbst, Sieg and Custer while Creed, Alfredo, van Gisbergen, Love and Jeb Burton were scored in the top 10 within the bevy of cars battling in the pack.
Two laps later, Sieg, who was battling for the lead, lost pace and pitted under green to address a flat right-rear tire to his No. 39 Sci Aps Ford Mustang after he made contact with the frontstretch’s outside wall earlier. The move pinned Sieg a lap down and currently out of contention to claim the third Dash 4 Cash prize while allowing Allmendinger, who was racing in the middle of the pack, to draw himself back into contention for the prize. Amid Sieg’s late-race issue, Anthony Alfredo cycled into the lead as he was trying to fend off Kligerman, Chandler Smith and a bevy of competitors towards the front and in the draft.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event and with a majority of the field migrating to a long single-file line towards the outside wall, Alfredo was leading ahead of Kligerman, Hill, Creed and van Gisbergen while Burton, Josh Williams, Retzlaff, Custer and David Starr were racing in the top 10. Behind, Love, Weatherman, Herbst, DiBenedetto and Patrick Emerling occupied the top-15 spots ahead of Blaine Perkins, Sammy Smith, Taylor Gray, Chandler Smith and Anderson.
Five laps later, Custer, who assumed the lead the previous lap, was leading ahead of teammate Herbst while Alfredo, who nearly wrecked amid contact with Creed, had drifted out of lead contention. Custer would then get stuck in the middle of a three-wide packed competition that resulted with him losing the lead and a handful of spots as Herbst assumed a brief lead before Love assumed the lead back to the frontstretch.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Love was leading both the race and a long line of competitors running towards the outside wall, with Kligerman, Hill, Herbst, Creed, Williams, van Gisbergen, Alfredo, Retzlaff and Perkins following suit in the top 10. By then, the top-19 competitors were running within two seconds of one another.
With five laps remaining, Love continued to lead ahead of Kligerman, Hill, Herbst, Creed and a long line of competitors within the lead-lap draft, with some including Jeb Burton, Custer and Chandler Smith starting to fan out of the line and attempt to mount a charge from the inside lane.
Two laps later, the front-runners started to scatter and fan out as Hill made a move underneath Kligerman through the first two turns to settle behind the leader and teammate Love, with Creed also mounting a charge from the outside lane amid the draft. Entering the frontstretch, Kligerman ran towards the outside wall to overtake Creed for position as Hill overtook teammate Love for the lead with two laps remaining.
Then with two laps remaining, Hill got loose exiting the backstretch after he received a tap from Kligerman within the draft that resulted with Hill spinning his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro across the front nose of Alfredo’s No. 5 Dude Wipes Chevrolet Camaro while Weatherman, Gray, Anderson, Starr, Burton, Herbst and Emerling also wrecked in an attempt to avoid Hill’s carnage as the rest of the front-runners scattered. The incident was enough to send the event into overtime as Kligerman escaped with the lead followed by Williams, Love, Perkins, van Gisbergen and Creed.
The start of the first overtime attempt did not last long after Creed, who was running fourth, got bumped by Sammy Smith exiting the frontstretch that resulted with Creed running into the side of Williams and sending Williams sideways before he spun and clipped Kligerman’s No. 48 Spiked Lite Coolers Chevrolet Camaro as Kligerman hit the outside wall head-on and was taken out of contention for his first victory. The incident occurred as van Gisbergen, who restarted on the second row, fell off the pace after he ran out of fuel. Amid the carnage and fuel concerns amongst the leaders, Love escaped with the lead followed by Sammy Smith while Leland Honeyman, Hailie Deegan, Joey Gase, Caesar Bacarella, Brennan Poole and Ryan Ellis followed suit in the top eight. During the caution period, however, Smith fell off the pace after he ran out of fuel, where he then needed a wrecker to push his No. 8 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet Camaro back to his pit stall.
The start of the second overtime attempt generated a different outcome as Love rocketed his No. 2 WAT Chevrolet Camaro away from a side-by-side battle involving Honeyman and Deegan through the first two turns. With Ryan Ellis slipping sideways and coming to a halt towards the bottom of the track while the race remained under green flag conditions, Love was left to defend a stacked three-wide charge behind through the following two turns.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Love remained as the leader as he had Honeyman drafting him just past the start/finish line. With Love leading a scattered field through the backstretch, he then threw two blocks on Honeyman before Brennan Poole mounted a charge entering Turns 3 and 4 followed by Alfredo. Poole then drew even with Love and tried to take the lead entering the tri-oval, but his momentum stalled as Love muscled back ahead. With the field fanned out to four lanes and as Joey Gase wrecked through the tri-oval while charging to the front, Love had enough momentum, motor and gas to drive across the finish line first for his first ever checkered flag in the Xfinity circuit.
With the victory, Love, the reigning ARCA Menards Series champion, became the 177th competitor overall to win in the Xfinity Series and the seventh to do so at Talladega. He also became the seventh winner through the first nine events of the 2024 Xfinity schedule.
In addition, Love recorded the 95th Xfinity career win for Richard Childress Racing and the first for RCR’s No. 2 entry since Myatt Snider won at Homestead-Miami Speedway in February 2021. The victory was the first in eight years in the Xfinity circuit for veteran Danny Stockman Jr., who returned to RCR as a crew chief for the California rookie.
“Man, it’s been just a journey to get to this point,” Love said on FOX. “I got so many people to thank. Man, I wanted [this win] so bad. I had PTSD flashbacks from Atlanta and burned [the car] to the ground. It’s awesome. I love Talladega, my favorite speedway. I love the fans. My team did a phenomenal job. I was just going back and forth to if I thought I was doing a good job and then, I was making dumb decisions. Towards the end, the bottom [lane] started rolling. I don’t even remember what happened. I’d be lying if I told you I remembered what happened. Just a phenomenal car. Just ready to go celebrate with my family. A lot of people that I love very much that sacrificed a lot for me to get to this point.”
Behind Love, Herbst mounted a late rally to finish second while Alfredo, Leland Honeyman and Brennan Poole finished in the top five.
Sheldon Creed, Caesar Bacarella, Matt DiBenedetto, Jeb Burton and Custer completed the top 10 on the track.
Meanwhile, Ryan Sieg finished 17th and claimed the third Dash 4 Cash bonus of the 2024 season and his first overall by two positions over AJ Allmendinger, who ended up 19th. Sieg, Jesse Love, Riley Herbst and Anthony Alfredo will square off against one another for the fourth and final Dash 4 Cash bonus of the 2024 season next weekend at Dover Motor Speedway.
There were 34 lead changes for 16 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 28 laps. In addition, 22 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the ninth event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Chandler Smith leads the regular-season standings by 14 points over Cole Custer, 16 over Austin Hill, 41 over Jesse Love, 79 over Justin Allgaier and 85 over Riley Herbst.
Results.
1. Jesse Love, 28 laps led, Stage 1 winner
2. Riley Herbst, 13 laps led
3. Anthony Alfredo, six laps led
4. Leland Honeyman
5. Brennan Poole
6. Sheldon Creed
7. Caesar Bacarella
8. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap led
9. Jeb Burton
10. Cole Custer, four laps led
11. Mason Massey
12. Hailie Deegan
13. Kyle Sieg
14. Austin Hill, 41 laps led, Stage 2 winner
15. Taylor Gray, one lap led
16. Josh Bilicki
17. Ryan Sieg, seven laps led
18. Joey Gase
19. AJ Allmendinger
20. Josh Williams
21. Sammy Smith, two laps led
22. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap led
23. Blaine Perkins, one lap down
24. David Starr, one lap down, one lap led
25. Chandler Smith, one lap down, three laps led
26. Ryan Ellis, one lap down
27. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, DVP
28. Dawson Cram, four laps down
29. Parker Kligerman – OUT, Accident, 10 laps led
30. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Ignition
31. Jordan Anderson – OUT, Accident, one lap led
32. Patrick Emerling – OUT, Accident
33. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident, four laps led
34. Ryan Truex – OUT, Accident, one lap led
35. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Accident
36. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident
37. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Engine
38. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the BetRivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Delaware. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, April 27, and air at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
Sam Mayer erased his difficult start to the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season by edging Ryan Sieg in a photo finish to score a breakthrough victory in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, April 13.
The 20-year-old Mayer from Franklin, Wisconsin, led four times for five of the 200 scheduled laps after starting in 10th place and spending the early portions of the event mired outside of the top 10. After recording a single stage point following the second stage’s mark, Mayer ran steadily within the top 10 during the final stage period. He persevered through a late cycle of green flag pit stops and a series of late-race restarts amid on-track carnages, including the final restart with 11 laps remaining, to ignite his charge to the front. He then squared off against Ryan Sieg, who was trying to capture his first elusive victory in the Xfinity circuit.
After gaining a run on Sieg at the start of the final lap, Mayer overtook him for the lead through the backstretch before he nearly went up the track entering Turns 3 and 4. This allowed Sieg to draw even with Mayer as both hit fenders while continuing to run side by side to the finish line. Despite running on the outside lane, Mayer had enough momentum to beat Sieg by 0.002 seconds to claim his first elusive Xfinity victory of the 2024 season and cash in on the series’ second Dash 4 Cash bonus.
On-track qualifying to determine the starting lineup occurred on Friday, April 12 with rookie Jesse Love notching his third Xfinity pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 185.612 mph in 29.093 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Cole Custer, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying time at 185.471 mph in 29.115 seconds.
Before the event, the following drivers including Jeremy Clements, Matt DiBenedetto, Parker Retzlaff and Kyle Sieg dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Jesse Love muscled his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro ahead from the inside lane through the first two turns while Chandler Smith followed suit in second as he overtook Cole Custer for the position. Love led the first lap ahead of Chandler Smith and Custer while Justin Allgaier, Taylor Gray and Riley Herbst followed suit in the top six.
During the following lap, Gray, who was running fifth, got sideways entering the backstretch but managed to keep his No. 19 Operation 300/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra straight without spinning, but lost three spots in the process. With the field scattering to avoid hitting Gray, teammate Chandler Smith overtook Love for the lead through the frontstretch while Custer followed suit in the runner-up spot. Chandler Smith would proceed to lead the fifth lap mark.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Chandler Smith was leading by four-tenths of a second over Custer followed by Allgaier, Herbst and Love while Ryan Truex, AJ Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Taylor Gray and Ryan Sieg were running in the top 10. Behind, Austin Hill was mired in 11th ahead of Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer, Anthony Alfredo and Sheldon Creed as Parker Kligerman, Corey Heim, Kyle Weatherman, Jeb Burton and Hailie Deegan occupied the top 20 ahead of Daniel Dye, Josh Williams, Blaine Perkins, Josh Bilicki and Leland Honeyman.
A lap later, the event’s first caution flew after Daniel Dye spun his No. 10 BPro Auto Parts/Kaulig Racing entry in front of teammate Josh Williams in Turn 2.
When the event restarted under green on Lap 16, Chandler Smith rocketed away with the lead after restarting on the inside lane. Allgaier, who assumed the runner-up spot, then tried to launch a side-by-side battle with Smith for the lead through the backstretch and from the outside lane. Smith would prevail on the inside lane during the following lap while Custer, Ryan Truex and Herbst followed suit in the top five. Smith would lead by a tenth of a second over Allgaier by the Lap 20 mark.
At the Lap 25 mark, Chandler Smith was leading by two-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Custer, Truex and Herbst continued to run in the top five. Three laps later, however, Allgaier would overtake Smith for the lead through the backstretch. Allgaier stretched his advantage to a second over Smith by the Lap 30 mark as Custer, Truex and Herbst trailed in the top five. Behind, Austin Hill moved up to sixth place while Ryan Sieg, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger and Mayer occupied the top 10 on the track.
Just past the Lap 35 mark, Allgaier stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Chandler Smith while third-place Custer trailed the lead by three seconds. Truex and Herbst would retain fourth and fifth, respectively, on the track as Allgaier then extended his lead to two seconds by Lap 40.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Allgaier captured his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Chandler Smith settled in second followed by Herbst, Brandon Jones and Custer while Truex, Hill, Ryan Sieg, Allmendinger and Kligerman were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Allgaier pitted for a first round of service. Following the pit stops, Corey Heim, who missed his pit stall, exited first followed by Allgaier while Herbst, Custer, Chandler Smith, Hill and Truex followed suit. Heim would then be penalized for speeding on pit road as Allgaier cycled back into the lead. Amid the pit stops, AJ Allmendinger lost a bevy of spots after he too missed his pit box while trying to pit.
The second stage period started on Lap 52 as Allgaier and Herbst occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier and Herbst briefly battled for the lead exiting the frontstretch until Allgaier muscled his No. 7 BRANDT/TradeMark Nitrogen Chevrolet Camaro ahead through the first two turns. As Allgaier started to pull away from the field through the backstretch, Custer overtook teammate Herbst for the runner-up spot while Chandler Smith followed suit in third place. Hill, Sheldon Creed, Truex, Jeb Burton, Kligerman and Jones followed suit in the top 10 as Allgaier led by seven-tenths of a second by Lap 55.
Just past the Lap 60 mark, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than a second over Custer while third-place Chandler Smith also trailed by more than a second. Behind, Herbst and Truex were running in the top five followed by Hill, Jones, Creed, Burton and Sammy Smith while Sam Mayer, Kligerman, Love and Hailie Deegan occupied the top 15 on the track.
Through the Lap 70 mark, Allgaier continued to stretch his advantage as he was leading by more than two seconds over Custer while Chandler Smith, Herbst and Truex were racing in the top five ahead of Hill, Jones, Creed, Burton and Sammy Smith.
Four laps later, Kligerman, who was running just outside the top 10, pitted his No. 48 Spiked Lite Coolers/Big Machine Racing Chevrolet Camaro under green to address a right-front tire issue. With Kligerman pinned a lap down, Allgaier stabilized his lead by more than two seconds over Chandler Smith by Lap 80 while Custer, Herbst and Truex were running in the top five.
Shortly after, the caution flew after Leland Honeyman spun through Turn 2. During the caution period, 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 Hill, Custer, Herbst, Chandler Smith, Truex, Creed, Jones, Sammy Smith and Mayer.
With six laps remaining in the second stage period, the event restarted under green. At the start, Hill launched a side-by-side battle against Allgaier for the lead through the first two turns, but Allgaier fended off the challenge to retain the lead. As the field navigated back to the frontstretch, Truex got loose in between Turns 3 and 4 as he went up the track and hit the outside wall, but the event remained under green flag conditions as Truex continued to proceed forward. With the field behind battling for positions, where Creed then got loose through the first two turns, Allgaier retained the lead by more than a second over Custer while Herbst, Jones and Hill trailed in the top five.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Allgaier captured his second consecutive Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Custer trailed in second followed by teammate Herbst, Jones and Ryan Sieg while Sammy Smith, Hill, Love, Allmendinger and Mayer were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, select names including Chandler Smith, Jeb Burton, rookie Shane van Gisbergen, Jeremy Clements, Taylor Gray and Truex pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track, despite Allgaier’s concerns about having a loose wheel on his entry.
With 103 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Allgaier and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier launched ahead to retain the lead from the inside lane while Herbst tried to follow suit in second as he battled teammate Custer for the spot. As Chad Finchum pulled his car down to the apron with damage to his front end, all while the event remained under green flag conditions, Herbst would move into the runner-up spot followed by Sammy Smith while Custer dropped to fourth ahead of Jones, Hill and Ryan Sieg. Hill then got loose through Turns 1 and 2 as he dropped out of the top 10 on the track while Allgaier retained the lead by more than a second over Herbst at the halfway mark on Lap 100.
A lap later, the caution returned after Jeb Burton, who pitted during the second stage’s break period, spun his No. 27 State Water Heaters Chevrolet Camaro towards the frontstretch after slapping the outside wall as he was just dodged by oncoming traffic. During the caution period, some led by Hill and including Gray and Chandler Smith pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.
As the event restarted under green with 94 laps remaining, Allgaier muscled away from the field to retain the lead ahead of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Custer and Herbst while Jones tried to challenge the latter two in fourth place followed by Ryan Sieg, Allmendinger and Sammy Smith. Allgaier would stretch his advantage to more than a second with 90 laps remaining while Custer, Jones, Herbst and Allmendinger followed suit in the top five.
With 75 laps remaining, Allgaier was leading by more than a second over teammate Jones followed by Herbst, Custer and Allmendinger while Mayer, Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith, Creed and Love were running in the top 10. Behind, Kligerman trailed in 11th ahead of Anthony Alfredo, Parker Retzlaff, Kyle Sieg and Josh Williams while Hill, Truex, Gray, Clements and van Gisbergen followed suit in the top 20.
Fifteen laps later, Allgaier continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Herbst as Jones, Allmendinger and Mayer trailed in the top five. By then, pit stops under green started to commence as Sammy Smith pitted. Custer, Ryan Sieg, Love, Heim and Kyle Sieg would pit during the proceeding laps before Allgaier led a group of front-runners, including Herbst and Jones, to pit road for service with 58 laps remaining.
With 50 laps remaining, Hill, who pitted earlier just past the halfway mark, was leading by nearly five seconds over Truex followed by van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith and Kyle Weatherman. Meanwhile, Allgaier trailed the lead in eighth place and Herbst was in 10th while Custer and Jones were mired in the top 15. By then, nearly the entire field made a pit stop, minus the top seven competitors, while Creed was mired towards the middle of the pack after he was penalized for a safety violation during his green flag pit stop.
Ten laps later, Hill continued to lead by more than nine seconds over both van Gisbergen and Chandler Smith while Allgaier carved his way up to fourth place as he trailed the lead by 18 seconds. Behind, Weatherman and Honeyman were running in the top six ahead of Herbst, Mayer, Custer, Jones, Allmendinger and Ryan Sieg, all of whom were scored on the lead lap.
Another 10 laps later, the leader Hill peeled off the track to pit his No. 21 Global Industrial Chevrolet Camaro for two fresh tires under green. Hill’s move enabled Allgaier to cycle back into the lead while Herbst, Mayer, Jones and Custer followed suit in the top five. By then, van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith, Weatherman and Honeyman had all pitted.
The caution would then fly with 28 laps remaining after Allgaier, who was trying to fend off Herbst, got loose while trying to lap Honeyman entering Turn 2, which resulted in Honeyman getting hit and spinning sideways into the outside wall in Turn 2. During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Allgaier returned to pit road for service while Kligerman remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Jones exited pit road first ahead of Hill, both of whom only elected for two fresh tires while Allgaier, Mayer, Custer, Herbst, Allmendinger, Sammy Smith, Ryan Sieg and Love followed suit in the top 10.
Down to the final 21 laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Kligerman and Jones occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out as Jones and Hill challenged Kligerman for the lead through the first two turns. With the field still fanned out through the backstretch, Jones muscled ahead with the lead on the outside lane while teammate Mayer followed suit in second ahead of Hill, Herbst, Allmendinger and Ryan Sieg while Allgaier, who went up the track, dropped out of the top five as he was running in the top 10.
During the following lap, Jones retained the lead by a tenth of a second over teammate Mayer while Ryan Sieg challenged and overtook Herbst for third place. Mayer then overtook Jones for the lead with 19 laps remaining through the frontstretch before Sieg continued his late, strong charge to the front by overtaking Mayer entering Turns 3 and 4. With Sieg leading, Mayer trailed in second ahead of Herbst and Jones while Allgaier, who was trying to march his way back to the front, was in fifth.
Following another caution period with 17 laps remaining amid an incident involving Kyle Weatherman and Hailie Deegan through the frontstretch, the race restarted under green with 11 laps remaining. At the start, Sieg muscled ahead to retain the lead from Herbst, Mayer and Allgaier while the rest of the field behind jostled for late positions. Amid the battles and more on-track chaos within the field, Sieg was scored the leader by seven-tenths of a second with 10 laps remaining. Shortly after, Retzlaff made contact with the wall and Herbst pitted under green after making on-track contact with Jones, but the event remainded under green flag conditions.
Down to the final five laps of the event, Sieg retained the lead by more than a second over Mayer while Allgaier, Allmendinger and Custer followed suit in the top five. Despite having his advantage shaved off by a tenth during the ensuing laps, Sieg continued to lead by a steady margin over Mayer and Allgaier.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Sieg remained as the leader by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Mayer. Through the first two turns, Mayer gained a strong run on Sieg from the outside lane, where he then crossed his No. 1 Carolina Carports Chevrolet Camaro over to the inside lane, drew even with Sieg’s No. 39 Sci Aps Ford Mustang and overtook him for the lead through the backstretch. Mayer then got loose entering Turn 3, which allowed Sieg to draw back even beneath Sieg approaching the frontstretch. With neither giving an inch amid a side-by-side battle to the finish line and on-track contact, Mayer managed to edge Sieg on the outside lane by 0.002 seconds before getting squeezed into the outside wall to claim his first Xfinity checkered flag of the 2024 season in dramatic fashion.
With the victory, Mayer, who sustained three DNFs through three of the first four-scheduled events and is coming off a strong runner-up result at Martinsville Speedway, notched his fifth career win in the Xfinity Series, his first at Texas Motor Speedway and his first since winning at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October 2023. The victory was also the first of the season for JR Motorsports and the fourth for the Chevrolet nameplate.
As an added bonus, Mayer claimed the second Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus of the 2024 season. This marks his second time claiming the bonus since he achieved his first at Richmond Raceway in 2022.
“That’s absolutely unreal,” Mayer said on FS1. “This Carolina Carports Chevrolet was certainly as fast as Xfinity Internet. This team, the amount of adversity we had to fight this entire year so far and to come to a mile and a half that I want to say I’m good at, but it took every ounce for me to do that today. So proud of my team. [My spotter Kevin Hamlin] might have won that race because he told me [the] bottom of [Turns] 3 and 4 were better, so props to him.”
While Mayer was left jubilant and in disbelief on the frontstretch with his victory, Sieg was left disappointed on pit road after falling short of his first Xfinity victory by a hair, which occurred in his 342nd career start in the Xfinity circuit. The result marks the third time where Sieg ended up in the runner-up spot.
“Sucks, we had a really good car,” Sieg said. “I got tight and then tried to change my line to do different things. [I] Fell behind and I saw [Mayer] coming. I was doing all I could do and then at the end, I was just trying to run him into the wall, trying to win the race. We were so close. This sucks. I’ve been second before too many times, but this is a good thing. We’re running where we need to be in the top five. Just got to clean up a few things. [The first win]’ll come. We got to keep fighting. We’re right there. Just thought we had it there at the end.”
Allgaier and Allmendinger finished third and fourth, respectively, as they will compete for the third Dash 4 Cash bonus of the 2024 season next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway along with race winner Mayer and runner-up Ryan Sieg.
Cole Custer finished fifth while Austin Hill, Ryan Truex, Sammy Smith, rookie Jesse Love and Anthony Alfredo ended up in the top 10 on the track.
There were 16 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 35 laps. In addition, 25 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the eighth event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Chandler Smith continues to lead the regular-season standings by 19 points over Cole Custer, 33 points over Austin Hill, 56 over Justin Allgaier and 76 over Jesse Love.
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, where the third Dash 4 Cash event will occur. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, April 20, and air at 4 p.m. ET on FOX.
Seventeen years after being credited a NASCAR Xfinity Series victory driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, Aric Almirola earned an Xfinity victory with JGR in the DUDE Wipes 250 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, April 6, following a dramatic, overtime shootout to the finish.
The 40-year-old Almirola from Tampa, Florida, led six times for a race-high 148 of 251 over-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified in sixth place. He quickly made his name known at the front by assuming the lead for the first time on Lap 28, where he would win the first stage period on Lap 50.
Amid a series of war of attrition and on-track chaotic moments, including a series of late-race restarts, Almirola, who spent the majority of the event battling with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates towards the front, capitalized on an overtime shootout period to muscle away from Sam Mayer and retain the lead on the final lap amid a race-ending caution to achieve both his first race-winning checkered flag and first Dash 4 Cash bonus of the 2024 season.
On-track qualifying on Friday, April 5 determined the starting lineup with Brandon Jones initially recording his first Xfinity pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 96.15 mph in 19.694 seconds. Jones, however, was forced to start at the rear of the field due to an unapproved adjustment to change brake rotors on his pole-winning car along with teammates Allgaier and Sammy Smith. Akinori Ogata, Leland Honeyman, Ryan Ellis and Chandler Smith also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective entries.
As a result, Cole Custer, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 95.845 mph in 19.757 seconds, led the field to the green flag as he started alongside Sheldon Creed, who posted the third-fastest qualifying lap at 95.840 mph in 19.758 seconds, on the front row.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Custer and Creed battled for the lead through the first two turns until Custer muscled his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang ahead on the outside lane through the backstretch. Custer would then move in front of Creed’s front nose entering Turns 3 and 4 and proceed to lead the first lap.
Through the second to fifth lap mark, Custer retained the lead by within three-tenths of a second over Creed while Jeb Burton trailed in third place ahead of Aric Almirola and Alfredo Alfredo, all of whom were racing in the top five. Behind, Sam Mayer occupied sixth place ahead of rookie Jesse Love, Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg and AJ Allmendinger while Austin Hill was scored in 11th ahead of newcomer Carson Kvapil, Matt DiBenedetto, Taylor Gray and rookie Shane van Gisbergen.
On the ninth lap, the event’s first caution period flew after Sammy Smith, who attempted to throw a dive-bomb move underneath Garrett Smithley and Dexter Bean, made contact with both entering Turns 3 and 4 resulting in Bean spinning.
When the event restarted under green on Lap 14, Custer managed to fend off Creed for a full lap to retain the lead. As Custer muscled ahead during the Lap 15 mark, Almirola challenged teammate Creed for the runner-up spot while Burton and Mayer remained within close distance.
Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Custer was leading by half a second over Almirola followed by Creed, Burton and Mayer while Alfredo, Retzlaff, Love, Allmendinger and Ryan Sieg were scored in the top 10 ahead of Hill, Kvapil, Jeremy Clements, Corey Heim and Riley Herbst. Meanwhile, Brandon Jones was running in 23rd place behind teammate Sammy Smith and Hailie Deegan while Gray, DiBenedetto, van Gisbergen, Parker Kligerman and Josh Williams were running in the top 20. In addition, Chandler Smith, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Richmond Raceway, was mired back in 25th.
Seven laps later, Almirola challenged and overtook Custer for the lead through the first two turns. Almirola would proceed to stretch his advantage to half a second by the Lap 30 mark while teammate Creed tried to close in on Custer for the runner-up spot.
On Lap 35, the event’s second caution period flew after Brennan Poole tapped and sent Hailie Deegan for a spin in Turn 2, where she was then hit by Kyle Weatherman and sustained damage to her No. 15 AM Racing entry. During the caution period, some including the JR Motorsports’ competitors Kvapil, Sammy Smith, Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones pitted as part of a strategic plan while the rest led by Almirola remained on the track.
During the following restart on Lap 42, Almirola muscled his No. 20 He Gets Us Toyota Supra ahead to retain the lead on the inside lane ahead of teammate Creed and Custer. Almirola would continue to lead through the Lap 50 mark as Creed and Custer followed suit in second and third, respectively. Behind, Mayer occupied fourth place while Allmendinger trailed in fifth as he was ahead of Alfredo, Burton, Ryan Sieg, Retzlaff, Hill, Love, Herbst and Gray.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, Almirola fended off a late challenge and bump from teammate Creed to capture his third Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Creed settled in second followed by Custer, Mayer and Allmendinger while Alfredo, Ryan Sieg, Hill, Burton and Retzlaff were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, all five JR Motorsports competitors led by Sam Mayer and including teammates Sammy Smith, Allgaier, Jones and Kvapil, remained on the track while the rest led by Almirola pitted for service. Amid the pit stops, Herbst was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation while Kligerman was also penalized for speeding on pit road.
The second stage period started on Lap 70 as teammates Mayer and Sammy Smith occupied the front row. At the start, however, the caution quickly returned after Jones, who struggled to launch from the second row on the outside lane, ignited a stack-up that resulted in Logan Bearden, Deegan, Allmendinger, Hill, Heim, Retzlaff, Leland Honeyman, Herbst, Burton, Bean, Kyle Sieg and Alfredo all wrecking and sustaining damage to their respective entries entering the first turn. The incident was enough to send the event in a red flag period for more than nine minutes.
When the red flag lifted and the field resumed under a cautious pace, the competitors who wrecked, including Herbst, pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track. By then, top names that included Retzlaff, Heim, Hill and Allmendinger were ruled out of the event.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 80, Sammy Smith and Mayer battled for the lead through the first two turns until Smith muscled ahead with the lead through the backstretch while Almirola fanned out to three lanes in his drive back to the front. As Smith retained the lead during the following lap ahead of teammate Mayer, Creed was in third ahead of a tight side-by-side battle between Allgaier and Custer while Kvapil and Almirola followed suit.
Following another caution period that occurred on Lap 84 after Kligerman spun his No. 48 Spiked Lite Coolers Chevrolet Camaro from 29th place in Turn 2 due to cutting a left-front tire, the start of the following restart period on Lap 90 featured a brief side-by-side battle between teammates Sammy Smith and Mayer through the first two turns. With Smith muscling ahead through the backstretch and entering Turns 3 and 4, Mayer then got loose after he hit the curbs exiting Turn 4, which allowed teammate Allgaier and Creed to move into second and third while Mayer, who got his car stuck on the outside lane but resumed under full pace, dropped to 10th place.
At the Lap 100 mark, Sammy Smith continued to lead by a second in his No. 8 TMC Transportation Chevrolet Camaro over teammates Allgaier and Kvapil as Almirola and Custer trailed in the top five. Behind, Creed occupied sixth place ahead of Jones, Burton, Ryan Sieg and Josh Williams while Mayer, Chandler Smith, Love, Alfredo and Taylor Gray were running in the top 15 ahead of a battle between Herbst and van Gisbergen.
Ten laps later, Sammy Smith retained the lead by a tenth of a second over teammate Allgaier, who was using the front bumper to pressure his JR Motorsports teammate for the top spot through the turns, while teammate Kvapil trailed by within eight-tenths of a second. Another lap, however, Allgaier managed to draw even with Smith on the inside lane through the frontstretch until he muscled his No. 7 Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet Camaro ahead with the lead through the backstretch. With Allgaier leading, Smith retained second while Almirola challenged Kvapil for third place.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 120, Allgaier, who stretched his advantage, captured his first Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Almirola settled in second followed by Sammy Smith, Kvapil and Custer while Creed, Jones, Chandler Smith, Burton and Ryan Sieg were scored in the top 10. By then, 29 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Allgaier pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Almirola assumed the lead after he exited pit road first ahead of Sammy Smith while Creed, Custer, Chandler Smith, Allgaier, Jones, Herbst, Ryan Sieg and van Gisbergen followed suit in the top 10. Amid the pit stops, Allgaier lost 14 spots due to an issue while having his left-rear tire changed while Taylor Gray was penalized for his pit crew jumping over the pit wall too early.
With 120 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Almirola and Sammy Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Almirola muscled ahead from Smith amid contact to retain the lead while teammate Creed moved into the runner-up spot through Turns 3 and 4. Teammate Chandler Smith would grab third place from Smith during the following lap, thus placing all three Joe Gibbs Racing entries in the top three spots, while Custer followed suit and overtook Smith for fourth place.
Not long after, the battle for the lead between Almirola and Creed ignited as the latter gave the former a bump through Turns 3 and 4, but Almirola retained the top spot during the proceeding laps. Behind, Custer and Jones were racing in the top five while Allgaier, Herbst, Smith, Kvapil and Ryan Sieg occupied the top 10, with a series of bumps and jostles for spots ensuing in the middle of the pack.
With 110 laps remaining, Almirola stretched his advantage to more than a second over teammate Creed as Custer intimidated Chandler Smith for third place. Almirola would stabilize his advantage to more than a second over teammate Chandler Smith as teammate Creed dropped to third with 100 laps remaining.
Down to the final 85 laps of the event, Almirola continued to lead by nearly a second over teammate Chandler Smith while third-place/teammate Creed trailed by two seconds ahead of Custer, Allgaier and Kvapil.
Four laps later, the caution flew due to a metal debris reported in Turn 3. During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Almirola returned to pit road for service while Kligerman, who did not have any fresh tires in his pit box, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Almirola exited first ahead of teammate Creed, Custer and teammate Chandler Smith while Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Herbst followed suit.
When the event restarted under green with 73 laps remaining, Kligerman and Almirola battled for the lead through the first two turns until Almirola managed to muscle ahead through the backstretch and move in front of Kligerman, who made contact with Custer through Turns 3 and 4. The contact allowed Creed and Custer to move ahead in second and third, with Chandler Smith following suit in fourth. As Kligerman began to lose ground on old tires while also trapped on the outside lane, Chandler Smith made contact with teammate Creed amid a tight three-wide battle during the following lap in Turn 3, though Creed managed to bump and fend off Smith for second place while Custer and Sammy Smith bumped and battled for fourth place. Amid the bumps and late battles, Almirola stretched his advantage to eight-tenths of a second with 70 laps remaining.
Down to the final 60 laps of the event, Almirola was leading by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Creed while teammate Chandler Smith trailed by nearly a second while Sammy Smith and Custer were racing in the top five. Behind, Herbst occupied sixth place ahead of Mayer, Kvapil, Love and Allgaier while Taylor Gray, Ryan Sieg, Alfredo, Jones and Burton were scored in the top 15.
Following another caution period with 55 laps remaining after Garrett Smithley spun in Turn 1, the start of the following restart period with 46 laps remaining featured a tight side-by-side battle between teammates Almirola and Chandler Smith, which ensued for the next four laps until Almirola managed to clear Smith and move in front of him to have both lanes to his control with the lead. Smith then got loose as he tried to re-challenge Almirola for the lead, which allowed teammate Creed to battle and overtake Smith for the runner-up spot while Custer and Sammy Smith followed suit in the top five. With a series of bumps and late battles igniting in the middle of the field, Almirola slightly stretched his lead to four-tenths of a second with less than 40 laps remaining.
With 30 laps remaining, Almirola was leading by six-tenths of a second over teammate Creed while teammate Chandler Smith trailed by less than a second as he was trying to mount a charge on Creed for the runner-up spot. By then, Mayer carved his way back to fourth as he was ahead of Custer while Sammy Smith, Allgaier, Herbst, Alfredo and Kvapil were running in the top 10. Meanwhile, Love occupied 11th place while Jones, Gray, van Gisbergen and Ryan Sieg were in the top 15.
Ten laps later, Almirola extended his advantage to two seconds over teammate Chandler Smith, who bumped into the side of teammate Creed three laps earlier, to move into the runner-up spot. Behind, Creed, who slipped up the track in Turn 1 with 22 laps remaining while giving teammate Smith a bump back following their contact, was battling Mayer for third while Allgaier trailed by more than four seconds in fifth place.
Another three laps later, the caution flew after Ryan Sieg, who was running in the top 15, spun and hit the outside wall in Turn 1 after he over-drove his No. 39 Sci Aps Ford Mustang entering the turn, which evaporated Almirola’s reasonable advantage over teammate Chandler Smith.
Down to the final 11 laps of the event, the event restarted under green. At the start, teammates Almirola and Chandler Smith battled dead even and rubbed fenders for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. Then in Turns 3 and 4, Smith bumped Almirola and muscled his No. 81 Wheelers Toyota Supra into the lead. A lap later, however, Almirola bumped and sent Smith up the track in Turns 3 and 4. This allowed Almirola to reassume the lead followed by Mayer while Smith was left to battle teammate Creed for third place.
Then with a series of battles and on-track contact ensuing within the field in the closing laps, Mayer bumped and made his move beneath Almirola for the lead through the backstretch with eight laps remaining. Amid a tight side-by-side battle, Mayer then motored his No. 1 10X Health Chevrolet Camaro ahead to lead the proceeding lap ahead of Almirola before the caution returned due to a multi-car wreck that erupted when Jeb Burton got turned sideways along with Myatt Snider and resulted with both, including Clements, Kyle Sieg and DiBenedetto all wrecking and sustaining significant damage to their respective entries. The incident was enough to send the event into overtime.
At the start of the overtime period, Mayer and Almirola briefly battled dead even for the lead in Turn 1 until Creed attempted to stretch the battle to three lanes through the turn, which he got Mayer sideways amid contact. This allowed Almirola to muscle ahead on the outside lane as he reassumed the lead from Mayer while the field fanned out through the backstretch.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Almirola remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Mayer. Not long after, the caution returned and the event was deemed official after Herbst, who was racing in the top 10, got sideways entering Turn 1 and backed his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang hard against the outside wall as Ryan Ellis and Brandon Jones also piled into the carnage. With the event concluding under caution, Almirola was able to coast his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing entry around the Martinsville circuit smoothly for a final time before returning to the frontstretch and claiming his first checkered flag of the 2024 Xfinity season.
With the victory, Almirola, who was making his fourth Xfinity start of the 2024 season, recorded his fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series career win in his 108th series start. He also achieved his first victory at Martinsville Speedway and his first series win since winning at Sonoma Raceway in June 2023 while driving for RSS Racing. As a bonus, Almirola claimed the first Dash 4 Cash’s $100,000 bonus of this season, which marked his first time achieving the award. The victory was the fourth of the season for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota.
The Martinsville victory with Joe Gibbs Racing was extremely meaningful for the veteran Almirola, whose first career start across NASCAR’s top three national touring series occurred in a JGR car in the Xfinity Series at Richmond Raceway in May 2006. In addition, Almirola was credited with his first Xfinity career victory with JGR at the Milwaukee Mile in June 2007.
The victory occurred after Almirola, who had started on pole position and was dominating early, was forced to relinquish his seat to Denny Hamlin, who was initially set to compete in the entry but was not able to arrive at the track in time for the event’s start, due to sponsorship obligations. In the end, Hamlin proceeded to win as a relief competitor while Almirola, who did not participate in the team’s celebration, was credited the victory due to starting the event.
For tonight, Almirola, who retired from full-time Cup Series competition at the conclusion of the 2023 season and rejoined Joe Gibbs Racing for a part-time campaign in the Xfinity Series, was not to be denied of earning an Xfinity victory driving for JGR while completing all of the event’s miles from start to finish behind the steering wheel.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Man, this is so awesome,” Almirola said on FS1. “To win for Joe Gibbs Racing, I’ve had an asterisk next to a win for Coach [Gibbs] for 17 years and this is so awesome to finally put a real win banner up inside the shop at Joe Gibbs Racing. Man, this GR Supra was fast. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Coach, for calling me and giving me this opportunity to come and have some fun and still scratch the itch of racing, but still to get to spend a lot of time with my family. I’ve had so much pressure to win. I think everybody expected me to just get in [the No. 20 car] and go win.
“The reality is it’s really hard to jump in these cars and race against the guys that do it week in and week out. This just feels really good. I’ve won a lot of races in my career, through the late model ranks and stuff to get me that opportunity to go to work for Coach. And then from there, it’s been a lot of ups and downs and a lot of struggles over 20 years in NASCAR. To cap off my career doing it the way I want to do it with Coach, with this whole organization at Joe Gibbs Racing, it feels amazing. We’re gonna celebrate this one.”
Mayer, who led 11 laps and has finished no higher than ninth during the first six events on the schedule, posted a strong runner-up result followed by Chandler Smith, who led three laps and rallied from starting at the rear of the field without posting a qualifying lap to finish third.
“The way this year’s gone, I’m happy with P2 at the end of the day,” Mayer said. “We finished the race. The car’s pretty much in one piece. Man, those restarts here are just ruthless and painful. Obviously, [Almirola] was really, really good today, and it was good that I was able to keep up and be as fast as them and pass all those [Joe Gibbs Racing] cars there at the end and march up to the front, for real. That’s the first time I’ve done that here. Super proud of [the No. 1] guys. We’re digging ourselves out of a whole little by little. At the end of the day, we needed a [win] and got one, I feel like, stolen from me there a little bit. We’re gonna go and try to haul the mail [at Texas Motor Speedway].”
Newcomer Carson Kvapil achieved a solid fourth-place finish in his Xfinity Series debut while Allgaier ended up in fifth place. Sheldon Creed, Sammy Smith, Cole Custer, rookie Jesse Love and Josh Williams finished in the top 10.
With Almirola not scheduled to compete in next weekend’s event on the schedule at Texas Motor Speedway, the next four competitors who will contend for the second Dash 4 Cash bonus of this season will be Sam Mayer, Chandler Smith, Justin Allgaier and Sheldon Creed.
There were 15 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 68 laps. In addition, 24 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the seventh event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Chandler Smith continues to lead the regular-season standings by 35 points over Cole Custer, 41 over Austin Hill, 76 over Jesse Love and 79 over Justin Allgaier.
Results.
1. Aric Almirola, 148 laps led, Stage 1 winner
2. Sam Mayer, 11 laps led
3. Chandler Smith, three laps led
4. Carson Kvapil
5. Justin Allgaier, 14 laps led, Stage 2 winner
6. Sheldon Creed
7. Sammy Smith, 42 laps led
8. Cole Custer, 27 laps led
9. Jesse Love
10. Josh Williams
11. Shane van Gisbergen
12. Parker Kligerman, five laps led
13. Taylor Gray
14. Brennan Poole
15. Anthony Alfredo
16. Blaine Perkins
17. Ryan Sieg
18. Hailie Deegan
19. Myatt Snider
20. Dexter Bean
21. Matt DiBenedetto
22. Jeremy Clements
23. Kyle Sieg
24. Dawson Cram
25. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident
26. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident
27. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident
28. Joey Gase, one lap down, one lap led
29. Garrett Smithley, two laps down
30. Logan Bearden, four laps down
31. Leland Honeyman, seven laps down
32. Jeb Burton – OUT, Accident
33. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident
34. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident
35. Corey Heim – OUT, Accident
36. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident
37. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident
38. Akinori Ogata – OUT, Brakes
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, for the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 and where the second Dash 4 Cash event will occur. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, April 13, at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
Chandler Smith’s strong start to the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season continued into Easter weekend with a late victory in the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, March 30.
The 21-year-old Smith from Talking Rock, Georgia, led twice for 76 of 250-scheduled laps in an event where he started in fourth place and finished in the top 10 during both stage periods before he made his first appearance as the race leader with 87 laps remaining after he navigated his way past teammate Aric Almirola.
Despite restarting in 15th place after pitting during the final restart period with 68 laps remaining, Smith was able to quickly carve his way back to the front and he reassumed the top spot with 60 laps remaining. From there, he maintained a reasonable gap between himself and Almirola while leading the rest of the way en route to his second Xfinity victory of the 2024 season and his second in a row at Richmond.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Parker Retzlaff notched the first pole position for himself and Jordan Anderson Racing after he posted a pole-winning lap at 120.428 mph in 22.420 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Brandon Jones, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 119.915 mph in 22.516 seconds.
Prior to the event, Joey Gase dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his entry.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Retzlaff rocketed ahead with the lead followed by Cole Custer, who drew alongside Retzlaff for a full lap, starting in Turn 1, and nearly took the lead from the inside lane. Retzlaff was able to use the outside lane to muscle ahead through Turns 3 and 4 as he led the first lap while the field behind jostled for early spots.
Through the second to fifth lap mark, the field began to fan out as Retzlaff maintained a reasonable lead over both Custer and Justin Allgaier while Brandon Jones settled in fourth ahead of Chandler Smith and Corey Heim. Retzlaff would retain the lead by the Lap 10 mark by three-tenths of a second over Allgaier as Custer fell to third ahead of Chandler Smith and Jones.
Just shy of the Lap 20 mark, the event’s first caution period flew after Ryan Vargas came to a stop on the frontstretch as his car went up in smoke, starting in Turn 4. During the event’s first caution period, some including Garrett Smithley, Patrick Emerling, Blaine Perkins and Joey Gase pitted while the rest led by Retzlaff remained on the track.
When the event restarted on Lap 27, Retzlaff fended off both Custer and Allgaier as the field fanned out entering the first two turns. Through the backstretch, however, Custer and Retzlaff made contact, which got Retzlaff loose as Allgaier made his move on the outside lane and assumed the lead. Allgaier would retain the lead by the Lap 35 mark as Corey Heim moved into the runner-up spot while Custer, Aric Almirola, Retzlaff and Brandon Jones were running in the top six.
By Lap 43, the event’s second caution period flew after Jones, who was running in the top six, slipped sideways entering the first two turns after his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro went up in smoke, where he then made contact with the outside wall as Ryan Sieg spun after running over Jones’ spilled fluid. The incident occurred just after Allgaier overtook Heim for the lead. During the caution period, some including AJ Allmendinger, Jeremy Clements, Shane van Gisbergen and Brennan Poole pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 56, Allgaier and Heim battled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch as Aric Almirola trailed closely in third. Allgaier would then muscle ahead of Heim by the Lap 60 mark while Almirola moved into the runner-up spot. As the battles within the field ensued between those running on fresh tires versus those on old tires, Almirola assumed the lead over Allgaier by Lap 64.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 75, Almirola captured his first Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Poole settled in second ahead of Heim, Allgaier and Herbst while Mayer, Chandler Smith, Custer, Gray and Sammy Smith were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Almirola pitted. Following the pit stops, Almirola retained the lead after he exited pit road first followed by Allgaier, Riley Herbst, Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer and Brennan Poole.
The second stage period started on Lap 84 as Almirola and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Almirola rocketed ahead with the lead from the inside lane while Allgaier, Herbst, Chandler Smith and Hill battled within the top five. Almirola would stabilize his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Herbst by the Lap 90 mark as Chandler Smith, Allgaier and Hill remained in the top five ahead of Parker Kligerman, Mayer, Cole Custer, newcomer Taylor Gray and Sam Mayer.
On Lap 95, the caution returned after Logan Bearden hit Garrett Smithley before he spun in Turn 4. During the caution period, some including Hailie Deegan, Dawson Cram and Ryan Sieg pitted while the rest led by Almirola remained on the track.
With the event restarting on Lap 101, Almirola fended off a brief challenge by teammate Chandler Smith past the frontstretch and through the first two turns while the field fanned out. As Kligerman scrapped the outside wall after making contact with Custer through the first two turns, Almirola retained the lead ahead of teammate Chandler Smith. Almirola would continue to lead by nearly a second by the Lap 110 mark as Allgaier, Chandler Smith and Herbst trailed in the top four followed by a side-by-side battle between Hill and Mayer. Amid the battles towards the front, Sheldon Creed was black-flagged for having smoke billow out of his car due to a right-rear brake issue.
At the halfway mark on Lap 125, Almirola was scored the leader by more than a second over teammate Chandler Smith followed by Allgaier, Herbst and Hill while Mayer, Gray, Sammy Smith, Retzlaff and Love were running in the top 10 ahead of Heim, Custer, Kyle Weatherman, Josh Williams and Allmendinger. Meanwhile, Shane van Gisbergen was in 16th while Kligerman, Bubba Pollard, DiBenedetto and Jeb Burton occupied the top 20 spots on the track.
Fifteen laps later, Almirola extended his advantage to more than three seconds over teammate Chandler Smith while third-place Mayer also trailed by more than three seconds. Behind, newcomer Taylor Gray trailed by more than five seconds in fourth place while Allgaier occupied fifth in front of Hill, Heim, Herbst, Retzlaff and Custer.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 150, Almirola captured his second consecutive Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Mayer settled in second ahead of Chandler Smith, Gray and Heim while Allgaier, Hill, Retzlaff, Custer and Logan Bearden were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Almirola returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Almirola retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Mayer, Gray and Hill while Chandler Smith dropped and exited pit road in fifth place ahead of Allgaier and Custer.
With 91 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Almirola and Mayer occupied the front row. At the start, Almirola retained the lead over Mayer, whose left-front fender was smoking due to making contact with Heim during the second stage’s break period. With Mayer remaining on the track for the following lap, he would be overtaken by Chandler Smith while Hill, Allgaier and Custer were running in the top six. Chandler Smith would then proceed to overtake teammate Almirola for the lead with 87 laps remaining.
With 78 laps remaining, the caution flew after Joey Gase, who was running towards the rear of the field, was punted by Dawson Cram entering the first turn, which sent Gase spinning and colliding into the outside wall, which terminated his run. Amid the incident, however, Gase expressed his displeasure to Cram by ripping out the rear bumper out of his wrecked car and tossing it at Cram during the caution period.
During the caution period, some led by teammates Chandler Smith and Almirola pitted while others led by Allgaier remained on the track.
With the event restarting under green with 67 laps remaining, Allgaier and Custer battled for the lead in front of Retzlaff and Herbst while Chandler Smith was trying to carve his way back to the front on fresh tires. Seven laps later, Smith reassumed the top spot after navigating his way past Allgaier and Custer.
With 45 laps remaining, Chandler Smith was leading by nearly two seconds over teammate Almirola while Jesse Love, Heim and Allgaier were racing in the top five ahead of Hill, Gray, Herbst, Kligerman and Custer.
Fifteen laps later, Chandler Smith retained the lead by more than a second over teammate Almirola while Heim, Love and Gray were racing in the top five. Smith would extend his advantage by more than two seconds over Almirola with 20 laps remaining.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Chandler Smith continued to lead by more than three seconds over teammate Almirola while Heim, Gray and Love were running in the top five. Meanwhile, Bubba Pollard was up to sixth place while Hill, Kligerman, Sammy Smith and Allgaier were running in the top 10 as Chandler Smith stabilized his advantage by three seconds with five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Chandler Smith remained as the leader by four seconds over teammate Almirola. As teammate Gray overtook Heim for third place, Smith was on cruise control for a final circuit as he cycled his No. 81 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra back to the frontstretch for a final time and to claim his second checkered flag of the 2024 Xfinity season.
With the victory, Chandler Smith, who has finished in the top eight through the first six events on the 2024 schedule, notched his third Xfinity Series career win in his 42nd series start and his first since winning at Phoenix Raceway in early March. He also notched his second consecutive series victory at Richmond Raceway and he joined Austin Hill as the only competitors to repeat as race winners during the 2024 Xfinity season.
“Never give up, never give up,” Smith said on FS1. “This car was not good, Stage 1 wasn’t good, wasn’t good in Stage 2, but we were able to do some strategy there with our Mobil 1 GR Supra and this thing was as fast as Xfinity Internet when it counted. I’m back here winning races here on a consistent basis. I think we took over the points lead again too, so I’m just blessed. I’m beyond blessed.”
As Chandler Smith celebrated on the frontstretch and in Victory Lane, teammate Aric Almirola, who led a race-high 95 laps compared to Smith’s 76, settled in the runner-up spot in his third Xfinity start of the 2024 season.
“We just got a little bit too loose,” Almirola said. “The run before that in Stage 2, when I took off my car was really, really good. At the end, it just felt a little tight and that last run for whatever reason, different set of tires or what, I let Chandler go, and when I started to just creep back to him, I didn’t have anything to go with. I was too loose in and I couldn’t get throttle down on exit. [I] Hate that to win both stages and feel like we had the dominant car and then to let it slip away there at the end, is disappointing. Still a fun week, this weekend, coming back to Richmond 18 years after making my first start for Coach [Gibbs]. I really wanted to put this [No. 20 He Gets Us Toyota Supra] into Victory Lane today, but it’s gonna have to wait.”
Newcomer Taylor Gray capped off a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2-3 finish by achieving a third-place finish in his series debut while Corey Heim and Jesse Love finished in the top five. Newcomer Bubba Pollard also delivered with a sixth-place finish in his Xfinity debut while Kilgerman, Hill, Sammy Smith and Custer finished in the top 10 on the track.
With today’s Xfinity event at Richmond serving as a qualifying event for the first Dash 4 Cash round of the 2024 season, race winner Chandler Smith along with Aric Almirola, Jesse Love and Parker Kligerman have qualified for the first Dash 4 Cash round that will occur next Saturday at Martinsville Speedway.
There were 14 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 51 laps. In addition, nine of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the sixth event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Chandler Smith leads the regular-season standings by 10 points over Austin Hill, 41 over Cole Custer, 67 over Jesse Love, 71 over Riley Herbst and 80 over AJ Allmendinger.
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, for the DUDE Wipes 250. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, April 6, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
In an event mired with gusty winds, John Hunter Nemechek zipped his way to a dominant victory in The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 2, for his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season.
“We definitely worked hard for this one,” Nemechek said. “We were good, but we weren’t great. Tyler (Allen), all of the guys on the 20 team just kept adjusting on it. Hats off to them. They made this Toyota GR Supra faster every single time that we made a pit stop. It continued to get faster, faster and faster. The Safeway Toyota GR Supra looked good, proud to have all of the brands that we do, all of our partners – feels good to come back and win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and to do it here in Vegas – I’ve been so close, so many times with Joe Gibbs Racing, so to finally get it done, it feels really good.”
The 26-year-old, second-generation Nemechek from Mooresville, North Carolina, led five times for a race-high 99 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started 12th but raced his way to the front as he led for the first time on Lap 56 and finished in second place behind teammate Chandler Smith during both stage periods. After swapping the lead with Smith at the start of the final stage period, Nemechek, who reassumed the top spot during a restart with 72 laps remaining, then withstood a late round of green flag pit stops to reclaim the lead with 10 laps remaining, where he would muscle away from pole-sitter Cole Custer, Smith, and Austin Hill to cash in his first Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 campaign and his 10th of his career.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, March 1, Cole Custer, the reigning Xfinity Series champion, notched his first Xfinity pole position of the 2024 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 181.281 mph in 29.788 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Chandler Smith, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 181.178 mph in 29.805 seconds.
Before the event, Anthony Alfredo dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car while Justin Allgaier, Blaine Perkins and Sage Karam also 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, AJ Allmendinger made a bold three-wide move beneath Custer and Chandler Smith through the first two turns in his early bid for the lead. Through Turns 3 and 4, however, Smith muscled ahead and proceeded to lead the first lap as Allmendinger was left to battle Austin Hill for the runner-up spot while Custer went up the track and was engaged in a tight three-wide battle for fourth place that involved Parker Retzlaff and Parker Kligerman. As the field behind continued to jostle for early spots, Chandler Smith was stretching his early advantage by more than half a second over Hill.
Through the first five scheduled laps, Chandler Smith was leading by more than seven-tenths of a second over Hill followed by John Hunter Nemechek, Allmendinger and Custer while Ryan Sieg, Kligerman, Riley Herbst, Parker Retzlaff and Sammy Smith were running in the top 10 ahead of Aric Almirola, Sheldon Creed, Sam Mayer, Corey Heim and Brandon Jones. Meanwhile, rookie Jesse Love was in 17th, Justin Allgaier was running 20th and Shane van Gisbergen was mired within the top 25.
Two laps later, the event’s first caution period flew after Retzlaff, who was running in the top 10, slid sideways in front of Sammy Smith entering Turn 4 and was hit by Sam Mayer, which damaged both vehicles, as Almirola barely dodged the carnage.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 13, the field fanned out to three lanes again approaching the first turn as Chandler Smith managed to retain the lead in front of Allmendinger and Hill while Kligerman muscled his way up to fourth place as Nemechek, who was pinned in the middle of the three-wide battle, slid back to sixth place in between Custer and Ryan Sieg. Amid the early battles ensuing behind, Chandler Smith maintained a reasonable advantage over Allmendinger and Hill by the Lap 15 mark.
Through the first 25 laps, Chandler Smith was leading by more than a second over Custer followed by Nemechek, Hill and Allmendinger while Ryan Sieg, Kligerman, Herbst, Allgaier and Brandon Jones were running in the top 10. Behind, Sammy Smith was back in 11th ahead of Creed, Jesse Love, Heim and Kyle Weatherman while Jeb Burton, Brennan Poole, Leland Honeyman, Kyle Sieg and Hailie Deegan followed suit in the top 20 along with Josh Williams, Almirola, Anthony Alfredo, Ryan Ellis and Jeremy Clements.
Ten laps later, Chandler Smith extended his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Nemechek while Custer and Hill battled for third place as they trailed by four seconds. By then, Shane van Gisbergen had taken his car to the garage following a mechanical issue.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Chandler Smith captured his first Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Nemechek settled in second followed by Hill, Herbst and Custer while Allmendinger, Allgaier, Kligerman, Ryan Sieg and Brandon Jones were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Chandler Smith pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hill exited pit road first followed by Herbst, Nemechek, Custer, Allmendinger and Allgaier while Chandler Smith lost six spots due to a jack issue and exited seventh amid his pit service.
The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Hill and Herbst occupied the front row. At the start, Hill and Herbst dueled for the top spot through the first two turns until Hill muscled ahead with the lead exiting the backstretch. With Hill leading the race, Nemechek and Herbst battled for the runner-up spot in front of Allmendinger and Custer while Chandler Smith was trying to carve his way back to the front from sixth place.
Just past the Lap 55 mark, Nemechek rocketed past Hill for the lead as Hill, who had debris clogging his front grille, was being pressured and overtaken by Herbst, Chandler Smith and a host of competitors, where he would drop to seventh place before he cleared the debris off of his grille. With Hill mired in the top 10 and mired in a bevy of traffic through the on-track battles, Nemechek retained the lead by half a second over both Herbst and Chandler Smith by the Lap 60 mark.
Just past the Lap 70 mark, Nemechek continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith while third-place Herbst trailed by more than a second. With Allgaier and Allmendinger running in the top five, Hill was back in sixth ahead of Kligerman, Ryan Sieg, Custer and Sammy Smith while Jesse Love, Brandon Jones, Almirola, Creed and Heim trailed in the top 15 as Josh Williams was up to 16th place.
Ten laps later, Nemechek retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over teammate Chandler Smith while Herbst, Allgaier and Allmendinger continued to run in the top five ahead of Hill and Kligerman. Meanwhile, Jesse Love cracked the top 10 as he was in ninth ahead of Custer while teammates Sammy Smith and Brandon Jones battled for 11th ahead of Almirola.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Chandler Smith overtook teammate Nemechek on the final lap to capture his second consecutive Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Herbst settled in third followed by Allgaier and Allmendinger while Hill, Love, Kligerman, Custer and Ryan Sieg were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Chandler Smith returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Smith retained the lead after exiting pit road ahead of Herbst and Nemechek while Hill, Allmendinger, Custer and Love followed suit.
With 104 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as teammates Chandler Smith and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead for a full lap and they continued to battle dead even for the top spot for the following lap until Nemechek managed to muscle ahead of Smith and manage both lanes to his control. With Nemechek leading Smith, Herbst trailed in third ahead of Hill, Allgaier and Allmendinger while the rest of the field behind jostled for spots.
At the halfway mark on Lap 100, teammates Nemechek and Chandler Smith dueled for the lead again, but Nemechek withstood his ground and maintained the top spot while running on the outside lane. Nemechek would retain the lead until Chandler Smith reassumed the top spot with 90 laps remaining. By then, Herbst trailed in third place by a second as Hill and Allgaier continued to run in the top five.
With less than 80 laps remaining, Chandler Smith was leading by a tenth of a second over teammate Nemechek while third-place Herbst trailed by nearly a second ahead of Allgaier, Hill and Allmendinger. The caution would then fly with 73 laps remaining after Retzlaff stalled his car towards the exit of pit road. This resulted in the entire lead lap field led by Chandler Smith returning to pit road for service, where Nemechek managed to reassume the lead after beating Smith off of pit road first followed by Hill, Herbst, Allgaier and Allmendinger.
When the race restarted under green with 72 laps remaining, Nemechek fended off teammate Chandler Smith and Hill to maintain the lead from the outside lane while the rest of the field behind fanned out and jostled for late positions through the backstretch. Amid the battles, Nemechek continued to lead with less than 70 laps remaining. He would also maintain the lead with less than 60 laps remaining as Herbst was running in second ahead of Chandler Smith, Hill and Allgaier.
With 50 laps remaining, Nemechek extended his advantage to more than a second over Herbst while teammate Chandler Smith trailed in third place by more than three seconds. Hill and Allgaier continued to run in the top five while Custer, Sammy Smith, Allmendinger, Almirola and Brandon Jones were running in the top 10 ahead of Ryan Sieg, Kligerman, Love, Williams and Hailie Deegan.
Ten laps later, Nemechek stabilized his advantage to a second over Herbst and over three seconds over Chandler Smith while Hill and Allgaier remained in the top five. By then, Ryan Sieg cracked the top 10 as he was running 10th behind Custer, Allmendinger, Sammy Smith and Almirola while Creed overtook Deegan for 15th.
Another five laps later, green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Brandon Jones pitted his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro. Chandler Smith would surrender third place to pit during the following lap along with Herbst, Hill, Custer, Sammy Smith, Love, Allmendinger and others before Nemechek pitted with 31 laps remaining. Amid the pit stops, Jeb Burton was penalized for speeding on pit road.
With Nemechek pitting, Allgaier assumed the race lead with 31 laps remaining followed by Almirola, Williams, Creed and Poole. Allgaier, who was one of seven competitors opting to stretch the fuel tank as far as possible, retained the lead by nine seconds over Williams with 25 laps remaining. Meanwhile, Nemechek was mired back in eighth but was running as the highest competitor who had recently pitted ahead of Herbst and Chandler Smith.
Then with 21 laps remaining, Allgaier, who led 11 laps during his fuel stretch, pitted his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro under green as Williams assumed the race lead. By then, Nemechek carved his way up to third place while Hill, Chandler Smith and Herbst were trying to keep pace with Nemechek. Amid their charge to the front, Williams retained the lead with 15 laps remaining as he was leading by less than 12 seconds over Nemechek.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Nemechek reassumed the lead after Williams, who led the previous 10 laps, pitted under green. By then, Nemechek was out in front by more than four seconds over Hill while Chandler Smith, Custer and Herbst trailed by nearly six seconds in the top five.
With five laps remaining, Nemechek continued to lead by five seconds over a tight three-car battle for the runner-up spot that involved Hill, Custer and Chandler Smith while Herbst trailed by more than six seconds. Meanwhile, Allmendinger trailed in sixth place by seven seconds as Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones and Allgaier were mired in the top 10 and trailing the lead by nearly 22 seconds.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Nemechek remained as the leader by nearly five seconds over Custer. Amid the gusty temperatures, Nemechek was able to navigate his way around the Vegas circuit smoothly for a final time and cycle back to the frontstretch as the winner as he claimed the checkered flag by more than four seconds over Custer.
With the victory, Nemechek, a full-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor for Legacy Motor Club and a part-time Xfinity competitor for Joe Gibbs Racing, scored his 10th career win in the Xfinity Series, second across NASCAR’s top three national touring series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and his ninth driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, with JGR claiming its first victory in 2024 and its fourth at Vegas in the last 10 years. The victory was also the first for rookie crew chief Tyler Allen.
“Hats off to all the guys on this No. 20 team from Joe Gibbs Racing,” Nemechek said on FS1. “Man, it’s awesome to come back out here and win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with a limited number of starts. Our goal was to come and win as many [races] as we possibly could. Nothing else matters. Congrats to [crew chief] Tyler [Allen], who’s the crew chief this year of the No. 20 car. His first win as a crew chief. We’ll go celebrate in Victory Lane. Man, it feels so good to win here in Las Vegas.”
Custer, the pole winner, settled in second place followed by Chandler Smith, Austin Hill and Riley Herbst while Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones and Allgaier finished in the top 10.
There were 12 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 22 laps. In addition, 13 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the third event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by 22 points over Chandler Smith and 27 over Riley Herbst.
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, for the Call811.com Every Dig. Every Time. 200. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, March 9, at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
In an event dominated by rookie Jesse Love, teammate Austin Hill captured the final spotlight by claiming a dramatic, overtime victory in the RAPTOR King of Tough 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, February 24, for his second consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series victory to commence the 2024 season.
The 29-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led the final two of 168 over-scheduled laps in an event where he was poised for a potential top-10 result while teammate Jesse Love dominated the event from pole position and had won the event’s two-stage periods. Following a caution period with two laps remaining that sent the event into overtime and with fuel becoming a concern for a multitude of front-runners, Love’s dominant quest to victory came to a halt at the start of overtime as he stumbled to keep up to pace. Love’s misfortune parted the seas for Hill to move into the lead. From there, Hill was able to fend off Chandler Smith for two laps to grab his second consecutive Xfinity victory to commence the 2024 season.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, February 23, rookie Jesse Love notched his second consecutive pole position of the 2024 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 173.935 mph in 31.874 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Austin Hill, winner of this year’s season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, after he clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 173.706 mph in 31.916 seconds.
Prior to the event, the following names that included Brandon Jones, Patrick Emerling, Jeb Burton, Parker Retzlaff, Joey Gase, Ryan Ellis and Brennan Poole 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 Love and Hill dueled for the lead for a full lap in front of two tight-packed lanes until Love managed to lead the first lap by a hair. By the conclusion of the second lap, Love had both lanes to his control with the lead while Riley Herbst was battling Hill for the runner-up spot.
By the fourth lap, Josh Williams had fallen off the pace due to a flat tire on his Kaulig Racing entry. Amid Williams’ issues, the race remained under green flag conditions as Love also retained the lead followed by Herbst, Sam Mayer, Ryan Truex and John Hunter Nemechek while Chandler Smith, Sheldon Creed, Hill, Parker Kligerman and Sammy Smith occupied the top 10 by the fifth lap mark.
Through the first 15 scheduled laps, Love continued to lead in front of a long single-file line of competitors that included Herbst, Mayer, Truex and Nemechek while Hill, Kligerman, AJ Allmendinger, Sammy Smith and Justin Allgaier trailed in the top 10.
Fifteen laps later, Love retained the lead ahead of Herbst, Mayer, Kligerman and Truex in the draft while Allmendinger, Allgaier, Creed, Sammy Smith and Ryan Sieg were running in the top 10.
When the first sage period concluded on Lap 40, Love, who has led every lap thus far, captured his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Herbst settled in second while Mayer, Truex, Kligerman, Allmendinger, Allgaier, Creed, Ryan Sieg and Sammy Sith were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Love pitted. During the pit stops, Brandon Jones was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation while Poole was also penalized due to his crew members being over the pit box too soon.
The second stage period started on Lap 47 as Love and Kligerman occupied the front row. At the start, Love and Kligerman dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Love muscled the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro ahead with the lead with drafting help from Allgaier. Kligerman, however, would spend the next two laps battling dead even with Love for the top spot until Love muscled back ahead by the Lap 50 mark.
Nearing the Lap 60 mark, the caution flew after JJ Yeley spun off the front nose of Kyle Weatherman exiting the frontstretch and entering the first turn. During the caution period, some drivers, including Shane van Gisbergen, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger and Kyle Sieg pitted while the rest led by Love remained on the track.
During the next restart on Lap 63, Love battled against teammate Hill for nearly a lap until he muscled ahead from the outside lane as he was pursued by Allgaier and Herbst while Hill remained as the lead competitor on the inside lane. As the laps progressed, Nemechek made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3 and Hill drifted outside the top 10 while he continued to run the inside lane. Amid the events, Love continued to lead the race.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 80, Love captured his second consecutive stage victory of the 2024 Xfinity season. Allgaier settled in second while Herbst, Truex, Sammy Smith, Chandler Smith, Cole Custer, Hill, Allmendinger and Creed were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Love pitted while Jeb Burton remained on the track. Shortly after, Burton would surrender the lead to pit, which gave the lead to Allmendinger, who only pitted for fuel.
With 76 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Allmendinger and Love occupied the front row. At the start, Allmendinger and Love dueled for the lead in front of two packed lanes. Allmendinger and Love would then swap the lead during the next seven laps before Love assumed control of both lanes with the top spot with 67 laps remaining.
With 50 laps remaining, Love was leading ahead of Allmendinger, Herbst, Truex and Kligerman while Hill, Brandon Jones, Custer, Mayer and Sammy Smith occupied the top 10 in front of Allgaier, van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ryan Sieg, Creed, Retzlaff, Anthony Alfredo, Leland Honeyman and Ryan Ellis.
Fifteen laps later and with the majority of the field running in a long single-file line towards the outside lane, Love continued to lead ahead of Herbst, Truex, Kligerman and teammate Hill. By then, Allmendinger, who was stuck on the inside lane, had slipped within the top 15.
Another 15 laps later, Love retained the lead as part of a 15-car breakaway followed by Herbst, Truex, Kligerman and Hill.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event and with the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Love maintained the lead in front of Herbst while Truex, Kligerman and Hill remained in the top five, though fuel was becoming a concern for the front-runners.
Then with three laps remaining, Custer, who was running in the top 10, fell off the pace through the frontstretch after he ran out of fuel. Teammate Herbst then met the same fate entering Turns 1 and 2, but the event remained under green flag conditions. With two laps remaining, however, the caution flew after Ryan Sieg came to a stop on the backstretch due to running out of fuel.
During the caution period, some including Brandon Jones, Chandler Smith, van Gisbergen, Allmendinger, Creed, Retzlaff, Jeremy Clements and Alfredo pitted while the rest led by Love remained on the track. With the event sent into overtime, disaster struck for Allgaier, who was running toward the front but was forced to pit after he ran out of fuel prior to the start.
At the start of overtime, Love along with Kligerman and Allmendinger fell off the pace after all three ran out of fuel through the frontstretch. With Love stumbling on gas, Austin Hill shoved Ryan Truex out of his path to assume the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch followed by a hard-charging Chandler Smith while Shane van Gisbergen followed suit in third.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hill remained as the leader by a narrow margin over Chandler Smith and van Gisbergen. With Smith unable to gain enough momentum amid the draft to mount a final lap charge, Hill was able to maintain control of both lanes and cycle his way back to the frontstretch to claim his second consecutive checkered flag of the 2024 season.
With the victory, Hill notched his eighth career win in the Xfinity Series, his sixth on a superspeedway venue and his third victory in his previous four starts at Atlanta, his home track. Hill also became the first competitor to win the first two events on the schedule since Tony Stewart made the last accomplishment in 2008.
“I just gotta thank my guys, everyone on this No. 21 Bennett Chevrolet,” Hill said on FS1. “We all worked through it. I was really thinking we were down and out. I was thinking [Love] was going to go get ‘em, and hey, if I can’t win, let my teammate win. We were riding there in fourth or fifth, whatever it was. I was saving fuel. We came to the restart zone and I’m like sloshing it around and we go through the gears. When I went to shift from third to fourth [gear], I actually stumbled and [Chandler Smith] hit me really hard, and that woke it back up, and I had enough fuel to complete the lap.
“But I’ve got to take this moment to congratulate, Jesse Love, my teammate. He ran an awesome race. To be a rookie and to lead that many laps, he should be sitting in Victory Lane right now. The No. 2 team did a hell of a job. So awesome to win here at my home track again for the third time. Man, what a race. I thought we were down and out. I really did. I thought we were just gonna run second or third and here we are in Victory Lane.”
Chandler Smith settled in the runner-up spot followed by Shane van Gisbergen, who achieved his first top-three result in the Xfinity circuit. Sheldon Creed came home in fourth place followed by Retzlaff while Jeremy Clements, Alfredo, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ryan Truex and Sammy Smith finished in the top 10.
Jesse Love, who led a race-high 157 laps, ended up in 12th place ahead of Allmendinger after he came up two laps shy on his dry tank of fuel.
There were 11 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 23 laps.
Following the second event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill continues to lead the regular-season standings by 17 points over Sheldon Creed, 28 over Riley Herbst, 30 over both Chandler Smtih and Jesse Love, and 36 over Parker Retzlaff.
Results.
1. Austin Hill, two laps led
2. Chandler Smith
3. Shane van Gisbergen
4. Sheldon Creed
5. Parker Retzlaff
6. Jeremy Clements
7. Anthony Alfredo
8. Jeffrey Earnhardt
9. Ryan Truex
10. Sammy Smith
11. Sam Mayer
12. Jesse Love, 157 laps, Stage 1 & 2 winner
13. AJ Allmendinger, eight laps led
14. Brandon Jones
15. Riley Herbst
16. Cole Custer
17. Kyle Weatherman
18. BJ McLeod
19. Parker Kligerman, one lap led
20. Brennan Poole, one lap down
21. Leland Honeyman, one lap down
22. Ryan Sieg, one lap down
23. Jeb Burton, one lap down
24. JJ Yeley, one lap down
25. Ryan Ellis, one lap down
26. Nick Leitz, one lap down
27. Hailie Deegan, one lap down
28. Justin Allgaier, one lap down
29. Joey Gase, two laps down
30. Blaine Perkins, two laps down
31. Dawson Cram, two laps down
32. John Hunter Nemechek, three laps down
33. Patrick Emerling, three laps down
34. Garrett Smithley, three laps down
35. CJ McLaughlin, four laps down
36. Kyle Sieg, four laps down, one lap led
37. Josh Williams, nine laps down
38. Jordan Anderson – OUT, Steering
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is The LiUNA! At Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, March 2, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
Austin Hill rallied from three different circumstances that sent him to the rear of the field to commence a new season of NASCAR Xfinity Series competition on a victorious note three years in a row by winning the rain-postponed United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Monday, February 19.
The 29-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led nine of 120 scheduled laps in an event where he shared the front row with new teammate and series newcomer Jesse Love. After being edged by Love at the conclusion of the first stage period, Hill was involved in a multi-car wreck at the start of the second stage period that sent him to the rear of the field. He would rally with cosmetic damage to his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing entry by winning the second stage but would hit another obstacle by being nabbed with a speeding penalty on pit road during the stage’s break period that sent him to the rear of the field for a second time. After rallying from that, he would hit a third obstacle by pitting during a late caution period with approximately 20 laps remaining to address a flat tire to his entry.
Amid the three issues that sent him to the rear of the field, Hill capitalized on two late-race caution periods and late-race carnages to draft Jordan Anderson to the lead during the final restart with three laps remaining before he assumed the lead. He would then fend off late challenges from Sheldon Creed, Chandler Smith and Brandon Jones to muscle away from the field and notch his third consecutive victory in the Xfinity Series’ opener at Daytona.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, February 17, newcomer Jesse Love secured his first Xfinity career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 181.079 mph in 49.702 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Austin Hill, who clocked in the second-best qualifying lap at 181.068 mph in 49.705 seconds.
Prior to the event, Dawson Cram and BJ McLeod were sent to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. In addition, Sage Karam would start at the rear of the field due to an engine change to his No. 26 Sam Hunt Racing entry.
When the green flag waved and the 2024 Xfinity Series commenced, Love muscled his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro ahead with the lead from the outside lane and ahead of teammate Hill entering the first two turns. With the field stacked amid two tight-packed lanes through the backstretch, Love, who transitioned from the inside to the outside lane to keep Hill behind him, proceeded to lead the first lap. He would proceed to lead the ensuing laps while keeping teammate Hill behind him amid the draft. By then, a majority of the field migrated to a long single-file line towards the outside wall while some led by AJ Allmendinger raced on the inside lane.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Love was leading a bevy of competitors running in a long single-file line towards the outside wall while teammate Hill, Parker Kligerman, Justin Allgaier, Anthony Alfredo, Sammy Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Sheldon Creed, Jeb Burton and Daniel Suarez were scored in the top 10. Behind, Ryan Truex was in 11th followed by Riley Herbst, Cole Custer, Brandon Jones and AJ Allmendinger while Sam Mayer, Daniel Dye, Parker Retzlaff, Shane van Gisbergen and Hailie Deegan rounded out the top 20.
Just past the Lap 20 mark and with the majority of the field still running in a long single-file line on the outside lane, Love also continued to lead ahead of teammate Hill, Kligerman, Allgaier and Alfredo. By then, Sammy Smith, Nemechek, Creed, Burton and Truex were running in the top 10 ahead of Custer, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger, Dye and Retzlaff while van Gisbergen moved up to 16th as Herbst fell back to 17th.
Then on Lap 22, the event’s first caution flew when Suarez, who stepped off the gas to avoid running into the rear of van Gisbergen, got bumped and turned into the outside wall entering Turn 1, where he then spun back across the track and clipped Sam Mayer as Mayer hit the outside wall head-on. Hailie Deegan and Kyle Weatherman would also be involved, with all four competitors being eliminated early from contention.
During the event’s first caution period, some led by Love remained on the track while others led by Allgaier pitted for service.
With the event restarting for a one-lap dash to the conclusion of the first stage period on Lap 29, teammates Love and Hill dueled for the lead in front of the field that was fanning out to three tight-packed lanes through the first two turns and the backstretch. When the field returned to the frontstretch to complete the first stage period on Lap 30, Love was able to edge Hill by a hair to claim the first stage victory. Hill ended up second followed by Kligerman, Alfredo and Burton while Creed, Nemechek, Allmendinger, Allgaier and Ryan Truex were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, some led by Love pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track. During the pit stops, Alfredo was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.
The second stage period started on Lap 35 as Allmendinger and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Allmendinger received an early push from Herbst to muscle his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ahead with the lead through the backstretch until Allgaier muscled ahead from the inside lane entering Turns 3 and 4. He would be followed by Cole Custer and Blaine Perkins as the field behind fanned out to three lanes.
Then during the following lap, where Allgaier was pinned in a tight three-wide battle for the lead against Custer and Perkins, the caution returned after Love, who was running in the top 10 but mired in the middle lane amid a stacked field, got loose in front of Nemechek, where he spun, clipped Allmendinger and triggered a multi-car wreck that collected van Gisbergen, Kligerman, Daniel Dye, Alfredo, Josh Williams, Frankie Muniz, Jeremy Clements and Hill, who spun towards the backstretch’s infield, but managed to keep his No. 21 Bennett Chevrolet Camaro away from the inside wall as he proceeded with cosmetic damage.
Following the second carnage of the night, the event proceeded under green on Lap 42, where Allgaier muscled ahead on the outside lane from Stewart-Haas Racing’s Custer and Riley Herbst. Not long after, Custer and Herbst pinned Allgaier in a three-wide battle for the lead as Custer muscled ahead in his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang from the inside lane. Custer would proceed to lead the next lap, Lap 44, as the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes while Allgaier was trying to regain ground from the inside lane.
On Lap 44, however, Allgaier, who attempted to draw even with Custer for the lead entering the backstretch, went up the track and bumped against Custer sending Allgaier’s No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro spinning towards the backstretch’s infield as Garrett Smithley also spun.
When the race restarted on Lap 48, teammates Parker Retzlaff and Jeb Burton zipped by Custer from the inside lane through the first two turns as Clements tried to follow suit. Burton would then move his No. 27 Golden Corral Chevrolet Camaro in front of Clements to be drafted into the lead from Retzlaff during the next lap, with Retzlaff and Clements getting shuffled out of the lead draft while Hill muscled his way back to the front with a bandaged race car.
Following another caution period on Lap 50, where Nemechek spun his No. 20 Pye Barker Toyota Supra across the frontstretch after losing a left-rear tire as Josh Bilicki also got bumped and spun, the event restarted under green on Lap 56, where Burton maintained a brief lead over Ryan Sieg and Hill before he would be pinned in a three-wide battle with Hill and Sheldon Creed for the lead. Following the battle, Hill was back atop the leaderboard during the following lap.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Hill fended off Sammy Smith and Creed to capture the stage victory. Sammy Smith edged Creed for the runner-up spot while Custer, Sieg, Ryan Truex, Herbst, Allgaier, Allmendinger and Brandon Jones were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, a bevy of names led by Hill pitted while the rest led by teammate Love remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Hill, who slid through his pit box, was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for speeding while entering pit road.
With 54 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Love and Sammy Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Sammy Smith muscled his No. 8 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet Camaro into the lead from the inside lane while Love was left to battle Creed for the runner-up spot in front of two stacked lanes. Smith would proceed to lead the next four laps until Herbst moved his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang into the lead from the outside lane, where he would lead the next four laps.
With 45 laps remaining, select names led by Hill and including teammate Love, Leland Honeyman and Kligerman peeled off the racetrack to pit under green before more names led by Allmendinger and including Sammy Smith, Clements, Daniel Dye, van Gisbergen and Jordan Anderson pitted. Over the next several laps, more names pitted while three names led by Natalie Decker and including Ryan Ellis and Garrett Smithley remained on the track to inherit the top three spots with less than 40 laps remaining.
With 33 laps remaining, Ellis assumed the lead followed by Smithley as Decker dropped to third, though all have yet to pit. Meanwhile, Herbst, the first competitor who pitted, was in fourth and leading a bevy of competitors that fanned out to three lanes.
Then with 24 laps remaining, the caution flew after contact from van Gisbergen sent Jeb Burton spinning entering the frontstretch. By then, Ellis, Smithley and Decker remained on the track as the top-three leaders while Ryan Sieg was the lead competitor of those who pitted followed by Herbst, Custer, Chandler Smith, Hill and Truex. During the caution period, some led by Ellis, Smithley and Decker pitted while the rest, led by Sieg, remained on the track. Not long after, Hill would pit under caution due to a flat tire on his entry.
During the next restart with 18 laps remaining, Sieg received a draft from Herbst to muscle away from Chandler Smith and retain the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. The caution, however, quickly returned after Retzlaff made contact with Clements exiting the backstretch and ignited another multi-car wreck that included Honeyman, Smithley, van Gisbergen and Burton.
The start of the next restart with 11 laps remaining featured Herbst and Sieg dueling for the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch as the field slowly started to fan out to three lanes by the time the front-runners returned to the frontstretch. Not long after, however, Herbst was penalized for a restart violation, where he was laying back prior to the restart zone.
Two laps later and a three-wide battle between Herbst, Anderson and Chandler Smith ignited, the caution returned after Karam, who was being drafted at full speed by Allmendinger, bumped and sent Custer into the backstretch’s outside wall, where he then veered back to the left and clipped Karam into the wall as another multi-car wreck ensued that collected Poole, Daniel Dye, Allgaier and Custer, where all four were sent sliding and slamming into one another towards the infield’s grass before the former two slid back across the track. By then and with Herbst out of contention by falling back to the tail of the field, Anderson was scored the leader followed by Chandler Smith, Hill, Sieg and Retzlaff.
As the event restarted with three laps remaining, Chandler Smith muscled into the lead on the inside lane followed by Sieg and Truex. Not long after, Anderson was drafted by Hill into the lead through the backstretch. Hill, however, seized an opportunity to veer to the right and overtake Anderson entering Turns 3 and 4 while Chandler Smith, Retzlaff and Truex followed suit amid the draft. Hill would maintain the lead over Chandler Smith, Truex and a hard-charging Brandon Jones during the next lap followed by Creed as the field began to fan out and scramble to the front.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hill remained as the leader ahead of ex-teammate Creed, who muscled his way into the runner-up spot followed by Sieg and Sammy Smith while Chandler Smith was losing momentum on the outside lane. Then as the field navigated through the first two turns, Sammy Smith and Sieg made contact that resulted with both along with Truex wrecking. The race, however, remained under green flag conditions as Hill remained ahead of Creed and a scattered field with the lead. With Creed unable to gain any draft or momentum for one final turn, Hill was able to smoothly navigate his way around Turns 3 and 4 with a comfortable advantage at full speed before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his third consecutive checkered flag at Daytona to commence a new season of competition.
With the victory, Hill achieved his seventh NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory in his 82nd series’ start and his fifth on a superspeedway venue as he also became the first competitor to achieve three consecutive Xfinity Daytona opener victories since Tony Stewart made the last accomplishment from 2008-10, with Stewart proceeding to win a fourth consecutive opener in 2011. Compared to his two previous season-opening victories at Daytona that ended under caution, Hill earned this year’s victory under green flag conditions. The Daytona victory was also the ninth overall in the Xfinity circuit for Richard Childress Racing.
“[Tonight’s victory] tops it all,” Hill said on FS1. “Three-peat. You know how hard it is to win at Daytona? God almighty! I don’t know what was going on with me on pit road today, but my guys just kept telling me, ‘Look, man, dig deep; you’re really good at these superspeedways.’ I tried to screw it up on pit road—sped on pit road, slid through the box, about slid through the box on the first stop, but man, this Bennett Chevrolet was fast as Xfinity 10G, that’s for damn sure. I don’t even know what time it is. I know it’s past my bedtime, but we’re about to party tonight, I can tell you that. I am so stoked. This is incredible…it can’t get any better.”
Creed settled in the runner-up spot for the eighth time in his career and in his first event driving for Joe Gibbs Racing while Retzlaff, Jordan Anderson and Chandler Smith finished in the top five.
Herbst rallied his way to finish sixth while Nemechek, Allgaier, Brandon Jones and Allmendinger completed the top-10 finishing order on the track.
Notably, Ryan Ellis ended up 11th after leading 11 laps followed by newcomer Shane van Gisbergen, Cole Custer, Blaine Perkins and BJ McLeod. In addition, Natalie Decker settled in 18th and pole-sitter Jesse Love ended up 20th while Ryan Truex, Ryan Sieg and Sammy Smith ended up 21st through 23rd, respectively, following their last-lap accident.
There were lead changes for different leaders. The race featured cautions for laps. In addition, 22 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the first event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by 11 points over Sheldon Creed, 24 over Riley Herbst, 25 over both Parker Retzlaff and Justin Allgaier, and 26 over Jordan Anderson.
Results.
1. Austin Hill, nine laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Sheldon Creed, two laps led
3. Parker Retzlaff, six laps led
4. Jordan Anderson
5. Chandler Smith, one lap led
6. Riley Herbst, eight laps led
7. John Hunter Nemechek
8. Justin Allgaier, eight laps led
9. Brandon Jones
10. AJ Allmendinger, three laps led
11. Ryan Ellis, 11 laps led
12. Shane van Gisbergen
13. Cole Custer, six laps led
14. Blaine Perkins
15. BJ McLeod
16. Garrett Smithley
17. Patrick Emerling
18. Natalie Decker, seven laps led
19. Brennan Poole
20. Jesse Love, 34 laps led, Stage 1 winner
21. Ryan Truex
22. Ryan Sieg, 12 laps led
23. Sammy Smith, one lap down, six laps led
24. Anthony Alfredo, two laps down
25. Parker Kligerman, two laps down
26. Jeb Burton, two laps down, eight laps led
27. Daniel Dye, three laps down
28. Sage Karam – OUT, Accident
29. Jeremy Clements – OUT, DVP
30. Leland Honeyman – OUT, Accident
31. Dawson Cram – OUT, Accident
32. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident
33. Frankie Muniz – OUT, DVP
34. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident
35. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Accident
36. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident
37. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Accident
38. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident
With the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season underway, the next event on the schedule is Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, for the RAPTOR King of Tough 250. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, February 24, and air at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
In his first full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series season in four years, Cole Custer etched his name as a first-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion after fending off title rivals Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer and John Hunter Nemechek amid an overtime shootout to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, November 4.
The 25-year-old Custer from Ladera Ranch, California, led four times for a race-high 96 of 202 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started in seventh place and provided early speed, especially throughout the long runs, to carve his way to the front. After finishing in the runner-up spot during the first stage period, Custer made his first presence as the leader on Lap 53 and he would spend the majority of the event battling amongst his title rivals Nemechek, Allgaier and Mayer towards the front on the track.
Then after beating his title rivals off of pit road following a late pit stop with less than 20 laps remaining during a caution period, Custer reassumed the race lead from Daniel Hemric during a restart with 12 laps remaining and had appeared to be cruising for both the race victory and title when another caution period with four laps remaining briefly stalled his momentum and sent the event into overtime. Despite slipping back to third at the start of the overtime shootout, Custer then overtook Allgaier and Nemechek amid a three-wide battle before the final lap and would muscle away from the field to win the 2023 Xfinity Series’ finale and claim his first NASCAR Xfinity Series championship in his fourth full-time season in the series.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, rookie Sammy Smith notched his second Xfinity pole position of his career and in recent weeks after posting a pole-winning lap at 132.582 mph in 27.153 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Austin Hill, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 132.572 mph in 27.155 seconds. Meanwhile, John Hunter Nemechek was the highest-qualifying title contender as he started in third place while his title rivals Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer started seventh, eighth and 16th, respectively.
Prior to the event, Anthony Alfredo dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change to his B.J. McLeod Motorsports entry. Rookie Blaine Perkins also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his Our Motorsports entry.
When the green flag waved and the finale commenced, Sammy Smith rocketed his No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra away from the field that fanned out through the dogleg and entered Turns 1 and 2. As the field continued to fan out through the backstretch while the competitors jostled for early spots, Smith proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of a side-by-side battle between teammate Myatt Snider and Austin Hill while title contenders John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Allgaier and rookie Chandler Smith followed suit.
During the second lap, a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot ensued between Hill, Myatt Snider and Nemechek as Sammy Smith checked out with the lead by half a second. In the process, Allgaier fended off Chandler Smith for fifth place as he tried to make a move on both Nemechek and Hill for more. Then on the third lap, the first caution of the finale flew after Allgaier, who was trying to make a three-wide move beneath Nemechek and Hill, got loose underneath Nemechek and spun his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro in Turn 1, with the field scattering to avoid hitting Allgaier as the veteran proceeded without making any on-track contact.
When the race restarted on the seventh lap, the field fanned out through the dogleg as Sammy Smith retained the lead ahead of Hill and teammate Myatt Snider. Not long after, the caution quickly returned after Kyle Sieg spun and wrecked across the outside wall in the frontstretch.
During the following restart on Lap 12, Hill and Sammy Smith dueled for the lead through the frontstretch before Hill muscled his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro ahead from the outside lane to assume the lead. With Hill leading the field through the backstretch, Daniel Hemric, who was running in the top 10, made on-track contact, but he continued to run under the race pace as the field fanned out and continued to jostle for early spots. With Sheldon Creed being penalized for a restart violation and Hemric pitting under green to address a flat left-front tire, Hill retained the lead by a narrow margin over Sammy Smith while Nemechek, Myatt Snider and Chandler Smith trailed in the top five by the Lap 15 mark.
Through the Lap 20 mark, Hill was leading by three-tenths of a second over Sammy Smith followed by title contender Nemechek, Snider and Chandler Smith while title contender Cole Custer trailed in sixth place ahead of teammate Riley Herbst, title contender Sam Mayer, Connor Mosack and Brandon Jones were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Allgaier moved up to 15th while rookie Parker Retzlaff, Josh Berry, Brett Moffitt and Kyle Weatherman occupied the remaining top-15 spots. In addition, Rajah Caruth, who was driving the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports, was battling Derek Kraus for 16th place.
Ten laps later, Hill continued to lead the race by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Nemechek, who was currently leading the championship battle, while Sammy Smith, Custer and Snider trailed in the top five. Meanwhile, Mayer was in seventh while teammate Allgaier returned to the top 10 as he was in 10th place behind teammate Brandon Jones. Another two laps later, Nemechek overtook Hill exiting the frontstretch to assume the race lead in his No. 20 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota Supra as Custer was scored in third place and trailing by more than two seconds. By then, Mayer gained one spot to sixth place while Allgaier was still mired in 10th.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, title contender Nemechek scored his 11th Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Title contender, Custer, followed suit in the runner-up spot and by less than four seconds while Chandler Smith, Hill, Mayer, Sammy Smith, Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Snider and Moffitt were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Nemechek pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Nemechek retained the lead after he managed to exit pit road ahead of his title rivals Custer, Allgaier and Mayer, respectively, while Hill, Chandler Smith and Sammy Smith followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Sammy Smith was penalized for speeding on pit road while Derek Kraus was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.
The second stage period started on Lap 52 as Nemechek and Custer occupied the front row in front of Allgaier and Mayer. At the start, Nemechek and Custer dueled for the lead through the dogleg and the frontstretch as Custer fended off Nemechek to assume the lead both in the race and the championship battle. With Custer leading Nemechek, Mayer was in third ahead of teammate Josh Berry and Chandler Smith while Allgaier fell back to sixth in front of Hill, Connor Mosack and Brandon Jones. Amid the battles ensuing within the pack, Custer was leading by half a second over Nemechek while third-place Mayer trailed by more than a second.
By Lap 60, Custer was leading by half a second over Nemechek followed by Mayer, Berry and Hill while Allgaier trailed in sixth place ahead of Chandler Smith, Brandon Jones, Mosack and Snider. Behind, Herbst trailed in 11th place in front of Creed, Parker Kligerman, Moffitt and Caruth while Jeb Burton, Kaz Grala, Parker Retzlaff, Kyle Weatherman and Jeremy Clements occupied the top 20.
Ten laps later, Custer continued to lead by more than a second over title rival Nemechek and by more than two seconds over title rival Mayer while Berry and Hill trailed in the top five. As Chandler Smith and Brandon Jones followed suit in sixth and seventh, Allgaier was mired back in eighth while Herbst and Creed were in the top 10.
At the Lap 80 mark, Custer extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Nemechek while third-place Mayer trailed by less than three seconds. Meanwhile, Allgaier retained eighth place while Hill, Chandler Smith, Berry and Brandon Jones were running in front of him on the track.
Five laps later, the caution flew after Derek Kraus blew a right-front tire and smacked his No. 11 Poppy Bank Chevrolet Camaro into the outside wall just past Turn 2. Kraus’ incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 90 to conclude under caution as Custer claimed his ninth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Mayer settled in second followed by Nemechek, Hill and Chandler Smith while Brandon Jones, Berry, Creed, Allgaier and Herbst were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Custer returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Custer retained the lead after exiting first ahead of Mayer, Hill, Nemechek, Creed, Chandler Smith and Jones while Allgaier exited in ninth place.
With 105 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Custer and Mayer occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the frontstretch dogleg, Custer retained the lead ahead of Mayer while Hill was in third behind Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Creed and Berry. Shortly after, Nemechek would navigate his way up to the runner-up spot over Mayer while Custer retained the lead nearly six-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Allgaier would trail in eighth place as Custer led the halfway mark on Lap 100. Another lap later, the caution returned after JJ Yeley wrecked in the backstretch.
With the race restarting with 91 laps remaining, Custer retained the advantage by a narrow margin over Nemechek through the frontstretch before Nemechek used the outside lane to navigate past Custer and return to the lead. With Nemechek leading both the race and the championship battle over Custer, Chandler Smith was in third followed by a side-by-side battle between Mayer and Creed while Hill and Allgaier pursued in sixth and seventh, respectively. As the front-runners settled in a long single-file line, Nemechek retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Custer with less than 90 laps remaining.
With 75 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by half a second over a hard-charging Creed while Custer, Mayer and Hill trailed in the top five. Behind, Allgaier was in sixth ahead of Chandler Smith, Herbst, Jones and Berry while Grala, Caruth, Moffitt, Snider and Sammy Smith occupied the top 15.
Ten laps later, Nemechek was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Creed, who led four laps from Laps 127 to 130 before Nemechek reassumed the top spot through the frontstretch. Behind, title contenders Custer, Mayer and Allgaier trailed in the top five ahead of Hill, Chandler Smith, Jones, Herbst and Berry.
Another lap later, the caution flew after Snider, who was battling Caruth and Moffitt for 12th place, slipped sideways off the front nose of Moffitt entering Turn 3 as Snider then spun and slapped his No. 19 Tree Top Toyota Supra against the outside wall before he spun again. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Nemechek pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Nemechek retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Creed, Custer, Allgaier, Mayer, Hill and Chandler Smith. Amid the pit stops, Moffitt and Brandon Jones were penalized for speeding on pit road.
During the proceeding restart with 58 laps remaining, Nemechek and Custer dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg and the first two turns. Through the backstretch, Nemechek muscled ahead with the lead while Custer overtook Creed to move into the runner-up spot. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Chandler Smith challenged Creed for third place while Allgaier and Mayer pursued within close distance along with Herbst, Hill and Daniel Hemric. As Allgaier battled Creed for fourth place in front of Mayer, Nemechek retained the lead over Custer and Chandler Smith with 55 laps remaining.
With less than 50 laps remaining, Nemechek retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over title rival Custer followed by Chandler Smith as Allgaier and Mayer pursued in the top five. Behind, Creed fell back to sixth while Herbst, Hill, Sammy Smith and Hemric were in the top 10.
Then with 43 laps remaining, Custer used the inside lane to muscle his No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang past Nemechek through the backstretch as the Californian reassumed the lead. Despite Nemechek’s efforts in keeping Custer close within his front windshield, the latter started to pull away with the lead in both the race and the title fight by four-tenths of a second with 40 laps remaining. By then, Chandler Smith retained third place while title contenders Allgaier and Mayer remained in fourth and fifth.
With 36 laps remaining, Chris Hacker spun while trying to enter pit road, but the event remained under green flag conditions as Custer retained the lead by more than half a second over Nemechek as Chandler Smith, Allgaier and Mayer continued to pursue in the top five on the track.
Down to the final 30 laps of the event, all four championship finalists were running first through fourth on the track as Custer continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over runner-up Nemechek, by more than two seconds over third-place Allgaier and by less than four seconds over fourth-place Mayer, with non-title contender Creed occupying fifth place ahead of Hill and Chandler Smith.
Two laps later and with the leaders mired in lapped traffic, the battle for the lead between Custer and Nemechek reignited as Nemechek tried to make several runs beneath Custer for the top spot. As both continued to battle closely for the lead amid the lapped traffic, Allgaier started to close in as he was trailing by only a second while Mayer trailed by more than three seconds.
With 20 laps remaining, the four championship finalists continued to run first through fourth on the track as Custer retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Nemechek and by less than two seconds over Allgaier while fourth-place Mayer trailed by three seconds. Just then, the caution flew after Connor Mosack made contact against the outside wall entering Turn 3 before he came to a halt just towards the wall within the turn.
During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Custer pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hemric exited first after opting for a two-tire pit stop followed by Custer, the first competitor with four fresh tires, as Allgaier, Nemechek, Hill, Mayer and Creed followed suit.
As the race restarted with 12 laps remaining, Hemric and Custer dueled for the lead through the frontstretch’s dogleg before Custer muscled ahead with the lead through the first two turns. Behind, Allgaier, who had faint smoke puffing out of his car, threaded the needle between Hemric and Hill to assume the runner-up spot while Nemechek followed suit in third place. As the field behind continued to jostle and fan out for late spots, Custer retained the lead in both the race and the championship battle by a narrow margin over Allgaier and Nemechek, with the latter two battling for the runner-up spot and trying to keep Custer within close reach. Shortly after, Custer was leading by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Nemechek with 10 laps remaining.
Down to the final five laps of the event, the top-four championship finalists returned to running first through fourth on the track as Custer continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Nemechek as Allgaier and Mayer trailed within two seconds. Shortly after, the caution flew and the event was sent into overtime after Anthony Alfredo spun in Turn 4 after getting hit by Dawson Cram. By then, Custer was leading by more than a second over Nemechek as Allgaier and Mayer remained in third and fourth, respectively.
When the event restarted in the first overtime attempt, Nemechek and Custer dueled for the lead through the frontstretch’s dogleg before Nemechek muscled ahead while Custer was stuck in a three-wide battle with Allgaier and Mayer entering the first two turns. Then through the turns, all four championship finalists went four wide entering the backstretch as Nemechek, who went wide entering Turns 1 and 2, and Allgaier rubbed fenders, which resulted in Nemechek briefly scrubbing the outside wall in his No. 20 Toyota, while Custer made his move beneath both. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Allgaier and Custer dueled for the top spot before Custer muscled his No. 00 Ford ahead with the lead and took the white flag to start the final lap.
During the final lap, Custer remained as the leader followed by a hard-charging Allgaier as Creed and Herbst made their way into third and fourth on the track. By then, Mayer was back in fifth while Nemechek was slowly falling off the pace and losing ground of his title rivals. Through Turns 1 and 2, Allgaier was caught in a tight battle for the runner-up spot involving Creed, Herbst and teammate Mayer. This, however, allowed Custer to muscle away with the lead through the backstretch. With Allgaier unable to close the gap entering the final set of turns as he was trying to retain second place on the track, Custer was able to smoothly navigate his way around the final turns at Phoenix before returning to the frontstretch and streaking across the finish line first to win both the race and the championship.
With his accomplishment, Custer became the 33rd different competitor to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship as this marks the fourth consecutive season where the Xfinity Series featured a first-time champion. Custer also became the first competitor from California to win the Xfinity title since Tyler Reddick won back-to-back championships in 2018 and 2019 as he recorded the first Xfinity driver’s title and the second owner’s title for Stewart-Haas Racing. The championship was also the first for rookie crew chief Jonathan Toney as Custer became the first Ford competitor to win the Xfinity title since Austin Cindric made the last accomplishment in 2020. This season marks the sixth consecutive year where the championship-winning competitor won the final event on the schedule.
Overall, Custer, who finished in the runner-up spot in the final standings in 2018 and 2019 and returned to full-time Xfinity Series competition this season after spending the previous three seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series, achieved three victories throughout the 2023 season, with the Phoenix finale victory occurring after the Californian had won at Portland International Raceway in June and the inaugural, rain-shortened Chicago Street Course in July. He also racked up a total of nine stage victories, six poles, 14 top-five results, 21 top-10 results, 586 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.8 throughout the 33-race schedule.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I thought it was over,” Custer, while addressing the overtime shootout, said on USA Network. “I went from first to third. I was able to shift the car all night. Doug Yates’ horsepower worked out. It pulled me off the corner. I can’t believe we won that thing after going back to third on that restart. Man, I can’t say enough about these guys. We started the year off and it was a struggle. We had to kind of dig deep with each other and really talked about how to get better. To see how much this group’s grown through the year and to be a part of something. I knew I wanted to work with [Jonathan Toney]. I knew he was the guy that could make it happen. I wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else. I just can’t thank [owner] Gene Haas enough. He’s given me opportunities. I wouldn’t be here without him. I can’t thank him enough and Ford Performance, Haas Automation, everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. It’s awesome to bring one back to Stewart-Haas right now. Man, I’m gonna enjoy this.”
“You get knocked down a little bit and you just want to prove that you can go out there and do it,” Custer, who will return to Stewart-Haas Racing to defend his title in 2024, added. “I think these guys have just really, always believed in me all year and I just can’t thank them enough for giving me really fast race cars and still believing in me when things weren’t going great.”
“I am super proud of Cole [Custer],” Tony Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, added. “He literally won that one on his own. I’ve watched the replay four times and I still don’t know exactly what he did, but what he did was perfect. It didn’t look good going into [Turn] 1, but coming off of [Turn] 2, whatever he did in the center of [Turns] 1 and 2 was perfect and then, finished it off in [Turns] 3 and 4. This group of guys, they don’t have any quit in them. It hasn’t been a perfect season, but at the end when it counted, they did their job and did their work. Cole drove his ass off tonight.”
With Custer winning both the race and the championship, Sheldon Creed finished a career-best second place for the seventh time in his career and during his final event driving for Richard Childress Racing while Justin Allgaier ended up in third place on the track and as this year’s championship runner-up. The runner-up result in the final standings marks the second time that Allgaier concluded the season as the championship runner-up, though the Illinois veteran remained positive in a season where he notched four victories, a season-high 13 stage victories, three poles, 15 top-five results, 20 top-10 results, 643 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.6.
Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“First of all, hats off to this whole race team, everybody at JR Motorsports” Allgaier, who will remain at JR Motorsports for the 2024 Xfinity Series, said. “To bring the Camaros that we brought this weekend. I don’t know if I’ll get another shot at [the championship] next year. We, at least, will have a shot at it, but I don’t know if we’ll make [the Championship 4]. So proud of the effort of this team and what we were able to accomplish. The restart was fantastic. I thought we did everything right. [Nemechek] kind of missed the bottom [lane] and drove all the way up. Honestly, I was afraid I was gonna run in the back of him and when I tried to turn back down the hill, it just was enough to let [Custer] get back to my inside and ultimately getting down into Turn 3, I don’t know. I’m gonna replay this one in the back of my head a couple of times. I drove it in there pretty deep and just kind of washed up. [Custer] had the turning car all night and we were just a little bit too free, but again, proud of our team, everybody at BRANDT Professional Agriculture. To have the season we had, to finish third in the race and second in points, I can’t be more thankful. We weren’t quite there, but especially even after trying to give [the championship] away on Lap 2 or 3 or whatever, still coming back through, what a night. We’ll be back. We got three months, two months to Daytona. We’ll come back stronger and go try to get to Victory Lane again.”
Meanwhile, Sam Mayer finished fifth on the track behind Herbst and in third place in the final standings while Nemechek, who wrecked on the final lap, ended up 28th on the track and in fourth place in the final standings. The third-place result in the final standings kept Mayer optimistic in a season where he rallied from rolling on his roof at Daytona International Speedway to notch his first four career victories and notch 13 top-five results, 19 top-10 results, 177 laps led and an average-finishing result of 13.2 while contending for his first Xfinity title. Nemechek, however, was left disappointed on pit road in a season where he notched a season-high seven victories along with two poles, 17 top-five results, 24 top-10 results, 1,083 laps led and an average-finishing result of 9.5.
“Those last two restarts were hectic,” Mayer, who will remain at JR Motorsports for the 2024 Xfinity season, said. “We had our work cut out for us. We somehow made it happen there on the first [restart] and then, God blessed us with a second one and gave us another chance at it, but just a little bit short. Our Accelerate Professional Talent Solutions Chevrolet was as fast as Xfinity 10G [Internet]. We were up in the top five. You really can’t do much more other than that. It’s my first top five here [at Phoenix]. I can’t really be too bummed out. It’s more motivating to go out there and do it next year and win the [championship] next year…My best is gonna be even better next year, so I’m looking forward to getting to Daytona, starting the year off right instead of upside down and finish it right instead of third.”
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“[The car was] Destroyed and it didn’t turn,” Nemechek, who will be driving for Legacy Motor Club for the 2024 Cup season, said. “I don’t know if we had a right front [tire] start going down or what exactly it was, but just drove in and didn’t turn. Man, I hate it for our guys, hate it for Toyota [Toyota Racing Development], Pye Barker. [My] Toyota GR Supra was really, really fast, but drive down and it doesn’t turn, it’s not a very good thing. Once we got pinched into the fence there off of [Turn] 2, it hurt the right side even more. I think we had a right rear [tire] start going down as well. It sucks to end up where we finished. I had a really strong effort all day. Proud of this whole No. 20 crew. Just sucks to end our season this way, but overall, a really successful season for this No. 20 team, Joe Gibbs Racing. I was proud to be behind the wheel of this No. 20 car all year. Seven wins is a lot to be proud of. One race doesn’t define us as a group. It’s really just another race. If you win, you come out a champion. It’s what we told ourselves all week. We almost had it, but overall, really proud of this group, proud of myself. We put ourselves in contention. That’s really all you can do. Just needed [the car] to turn a little bit better and the results might have been a little bit different. Man, it sucks, but I’m looking forward to next year and looking forward to getting in a Cup car.”
Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.
On the track, Josh Berry finished sixth in his final event driving for JR Motorsports while Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith and Kaz Grala completed the top 10 on the track.
There were 12 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 46 laps. In addition, 29 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Cole Custer, 96 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Sheldon Creed, four laps led
3. Justin Allgaier
4. Riley Herbst
5. Sam Mayer
6. Josh Berry
7. Austin Hill, 21 laps led
8. Chandler Smith
9. Sammy Smith, 11 laps led
10. Kaz Grala
11. Brandon Jones
12. Jeb Burton
13. Parker Retzlaff
14. Rajah Caruth
15. Brett Moffitt
16. Parker Kligerman
17. Kyle Weatherman
18. Ryan Sieg
19. Dawson Cram
20. Jeremy Clements
21. Daniel Hemric, four laps led
22. Myatt Snider
23. Jeffrey Earnhardt
24. Anthony Alfredo
25. Josh Williams
26. Ryan Ellis
27. Joey Gase
28. John Hunter Nemechek, 66 laps led, Stage 1 winner
29. Brennan Poole
30. Timmy Hill, two laps down
31. Joe Graf Jr., two laps down
32. Blaine Perkins, two laps down
33. Stefan Parsons, eight laps down
34. Connor Mosack – OUT, Accident
35. Chris Hacker – OUT, Suspension
36. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident
37. Derek Kraus – OUT, Accident
38. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Vibration
*Bold indicates championship finalists
Final standings.
1. Cole Custer
2. Justin Allgaier
3. Sam Mayer
4. John Hunter Nemechek
5. Austin Hill
6. Sammy Smith
7. Sheldon Creed
8. Daniel Hemric
9. Chandler Smith
10. Parker Kligerman
11. Josh Berry
12. Jeb Burton
The NASCAR Xfinity Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway to commence the 2024 racing season. The season opener at Daytona is slated to occur on February 17 at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
