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Gragson clinches Championship 4 spot with dominant Xfinity victory at Homestead

Noah Gragson’s dream 2022 season has been elevated to another high note after the driver of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro clinched a Championship 4 berth with a late dominant victory in the Contender Boats 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 22.

The 24-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, led six times for a race-high 127 of 200-scheduled laps and was initially on his way to claim a dominant victory with a large advantage when a caution with 13 laps remaining due to an on-track incident briefly stalled his run. Despite the caution, Gragson’s pit crew capitalized late by giving him the final fresh of sticker tires needed for a short run with the lead. During a five-lap dash to the finish, he executed at the start to fend off his fellow Playoff rivals to score his unprecedented eighth victory of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

Above all, Gragson became the second Playoff competitor to punch his ticket into the Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway in November alongside teammate Josh Berry, where he will contend for his first Xfinity Series championship.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Trevor Bayne secured his second pole position of the 2022 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 166.667 mph in 32.400 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff competitor Noah Gragson, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 165.731 mph in 32.583 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Bayne and Gragson dueled for the lead in Turn 1 and again in Turn 3 until Bayne managed to pull ahead and lead the first lap while the field behind jostled early for positions. As Bayne retained the top spot, Gragson was being challenged early for the runner-up spot by Ty Gibbs and Daniel Hemric while Sam Mayer was in fifth.

On the third lap, the first caution of the event flew when Jeb Burton made contact with JJ Yeley and sent Yeley up the track as he squeezed Riley Herbst into the outside wall in the backstretch.

During the following restart on the seventh lap, Bayne and Gragson dueled for the lead again until Bayne pulled ahead to retain the lead. Behind, Gragson was left to battle Gibbs for second place while Mayer, who was trying to overtake Hemric for fourth place, got loose entering Turn 3. Mayer’s minor slip-up, which nearly collected Hemric, allowed Hemric to retain fourth followed by Brandon Jones, Kyle Weatherman and AJ Allmendinger while Mayer fell back to eighth in front of Austin Hill.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Bayne was leading ahead of teammate Gibbs, Gragson, Brandon Jones and a hard-charging Weatherman while Hemric, Allmendinger, Mayer, Hill and Chandler Smith occupied the top 10. By then, Josh Berry, a Championship 4 finalist after winning last weekend’s event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, was in 12th while teammate Justin Allgaier was back in 14th.

Thirteen laps later, Gragson battled and overtook Bayne to become the second different leader of the day. By then, Gibbs, Hill and Allmendinger were scored in the top five followed by Landon Cassill, Hemric, Weatherman, Allgaier and Berry while Mayer and Brandon Jones fell back to 11th and 12th. In addition, Sheldon Creed made an unscheduled pit stop under green after cutting a right-rear tire.

At the Lap 35 mark, Gragson retained the lead by more than four seconds over Gibbs while Cassill muscled his No. 10 Voyager Chevrolet Camaro into third place. Bayne, meanwhile, fell back to fourth in front of Hill and Allmendinger while Hemric, Mayer, Allgaier and Weatherman were running in the top 10.

Six laps later, the second caution of the event flew when Mason Massey had fallen off the pace in Turn 2 after getting into the wall. At the same time, CJ McLaughlin spun from the top to the bottom and below the apron through the backstretch as his car came to a stop. The incident was enough for the first stage scheduled on Lap 45 to conclude under caution as Gragson captured his 15th stage victory of the 2022 season. Cassill settled in second followed by Gibbs, Bayne, Allmendinger, Hill, Hemric, Mayer, Weatherman and Allgaier. By then, six of eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 while the remaining two which included Berry and Brandon Jones were scored in 11th and 12th, respectively.

Under the stage break, the leaders led by Gragson pitted for four fresh tires and fuel. Following the pit stops, Cassill emerged with the lead followed by Gibbs, Gragson and Hill. During the pit stops, Nick Sanchez, the 2022 ARCA Menards Series champion, missed his pit stall and had to cycle around the circuit for a second time for service.

The second stage started on Lap 50 as Cassill and Gragson occupied the front row. At the start and amid a brief stack-up towards the front, Gibbs muscled his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra into the lead until Gragson rocketed his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro back into the lead through the backstretch and back to the frontstretch. Shortly after, a three-car battle for the lead intensified between Gragson, Gibbs and Hill while Allmendinger was in fourth ahead of Cassill, Mayer and a bevy of competitors vying for positions.

By Lap 55, Hill led a lap for himself and he retained the top spot ahead of Gragson and Gibbs while Allmendinger, Mayer, Cassill, Berry, Bayne, Allgaier and Hemric were running in the top 10. By then, all but one of eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 as Brandon Jones was mired in 14th.

Fifteen laps later, Hill retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Gragson followed by Allmendinger, Bayne and Gibbs while Allgaier, Mayer, Cassill, Hemric and Chandler Smith were running in the top 10. By then, Berry made an unscheduled pit stop under green after making contact with the outside wall.

Another lap later, Gragson reassumed the lead over Hill as Allmendinger started to close in on the two leaders. While Bayne and Gibbs stabilized themselves in the top five, a three-car battle for sixth place occurred between Cassill, Allgaier and Mayer. Not long after, Creed made another pit stop under green after getting into the wall and cutting a right-rear tire.

By Lap 80, Gragson was leading by more than a second over Allmendinger, who overtook Hill for the runner-up spot, while Bayne and Gibbs remained in the top five. A few laps later, Weatherman, who was having a strong run toward the front, pitted under green after making contact with the wall. Soon after, Ryan Sieg was off the pace while running in the access road with flat tires while Allgaier made a pit stop under green with a flat right-front tire.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Gragson captured his 16th stage victory of the 2022 season and the second of the day. Allmendinger settled in second followed by Hill, Bayne, Mayer, Gibbs, Cassill, Hemric, Chandler Smith and Stefan Parsons. By then, five of eight Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 while the remaining Playoff competitors that included Brandon Jones, Berry and Allgaier were scored in 11th, 19th and 24th, respectively.

Under the stage break, the leaders led by Gragson pitted and Gragson retained the lead after exiting pit road first and by a hair over Hill, Allmendinger, Bayne and Mayer.

With 104 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Gragson and Hill dueled for the lead until Gragson cleared the field and pulled away through the backstretch followed by Bayne. During the following lap and as the field behind jostled for positions, Hill overtook Gragson through Turns 3 and 4 to take the lead while Bayne was running third place in front of a side-by-side battle between Mayer and Allmendinger. Brandon Jones soon joined the battle toward the front along with Gibbs, Hemric and Cassill.

At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Hill and Bayne battled dead even for the lead, with the latter returning to the lead, while Gragson, Allmendinger and Brandon Jones were running in the top five. Behind, Hemric, Gibbs, Mayer, Cassill and Berry scrambled within the top 10 while Chandler Smith, Herbst, Parsons, Sanchez and Parker Retzlaff were running in the top 15 ahead of Bayley Currey, Anthony Alfredo, Jeb Burton, Brennan Poole, Myatt Snider and Allgaier.

Ten laps later, Bayne was out in front by more than a second over Hill while Allmendinger, Gragson, Berry, Cassill, Gibbs, Brandon Jones, Hemric and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, six of eight Playoff competitors were running in the top 10 while the remaining two that included Mayer and Allgaier were in 11th and 16th.

Another 15 laps later and with a series of spots being swapped towards the front, Gragson, who overtook Hill three laps earlier and was starting to reel in on Bayne for the lead, executed a bold move beneath Bayne entering the first turn to reassume the lead. Not long after taking the lead, Gragson extended his advantage to more than a second while Bayne was starting to be challenged by Allmendinger and Hill for the runner-up spot.

With less than 70 laps remaining, Allmendinger moved his way into the runner-up spot over Hill following a heated between Hill while Gragson continued to extend his advantage to more than four seconds. Behind, Berry was in fourth ahead of Bayne while Gibbs, Cassill, Hemric, Smith and Mayer were in the top 10.

Then with less than 65 laps remaining, Allgaier, who was running in 17th, pitted under green but endured a slow stop from his crew due to a jack issue.

With 60 laps remaining, pit stops under green commenced as Hill pitted followed by the leader Gragson, Bayne, Brandon Jones, Gibbs, Mayer and others. Following the pit stops, Bayne was penalized for speeding while entering pit road. Under the final 55 scheduled laps and with the cycle of green flag pit stops complete, Gragson cycled his way back into the lead followed by a hard-charging Hill while Allmendinger, Gibbs and Cassill were scored in the top five.

Five laps later, Gragson’s advantage decreased to a tenth of a second over Hill, who continued to close in on Gragson despite radioing concerns about a vibration to his No. 21 United Rentals Chevrolet Camaro. Another three laps later, Hill surrendered the runner-up spot to pit under green to have the vibration issue addressed as he dropped out of the lead lap category.

Back on the track and with 45 laps remaining, Gragson was leading by more than five seconds over runner-up Allmendinger and by more than nine seconds over third-place Berry while Cassill and Gibbs were in the top five.

Two laps later, Cassill, who was running towards the top five, pitted under green for four fresh tires and fuel while Gragson retained the lead by more than six seconds over Allmendinger.

With 30 laps remaining, Gragson stabilized his advantage to more than six seconds over Allmendinger while Berry, Hemric and Gibbs were scored in the top five. By then, seven of eight Playoff competitors were scored in the top 10 while the remaining Playoff competitor, Allgaier, was in 12th. In addition, 13 competitors were scored on the lead lap.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event and with a handful of competitors making contact against one another and towards the wall, Gragson extended his advantage to nearly eight seconds over Allmendinger while third-place Berry trailed by more than eight seconds. While Hemric and Gibbs remained in the top five, Chandler Smith was up in sixth while Mayer, Hill, Allgaier and Herbst were in the top 10.

Then with 13 laps remaining, the caution flew when Stefan Parsons spun in Turn 1 with damage to his entry. By then, Nick Sanchez had fallen off the pace below the apron with flat right-side tires after making contact with the wall earlier as his strong night towards the front was spoiled. Parsons’ incident erased Gragson’s advantage of more than eight seconds over teammate Berry.

Under caution, the leaders led by Gragson pitted and Gragson exited with the lead still in his possession followed by Allmendinger, Hemric, Gibbs and Hill.

Down to the final five laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson launched away with the lead following a strong start while Allmendinger was left to fend off Gibbs for second place. Through the backstretch, however, Allmendinger and Gibbs gained ground on Gragson, who continued to lead as he returned to the frontstretch. As the laps dwindled, Gragson slightly extended his advantage to nearly half a second over Allmendinger while Gibbs kept Allmendinger close in front of him.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gragson remained as the leader by half a second over Gibbs while Allmendinger was back in third. Having no late challenges mounting behind him, Gragson muscled his way back to the frontstretch under full power and streaked across the finish line for his unprecedented eighth victory of the 2022 season and to claim a second spot in the championship finale.

In addition, Gragson recorded his 13th career victory in the Xfinity Series and his first at Homestead after dominating the previous three Xfinity events in Miami before falling short of the victory. Gragson’s victory was also the 15th of the season for JR Motorsports, which marked the 73rd overall Xfinity victory for JRM, and the 23rd of the season for Chevrolet, which clinched the manufacturer’s title a week ago.

“I wanted this one so bad the last three years,” Gragson said on USA Network. “Words can’t describe how thankful I am for everybody at JR Motorsports. Unbelievable. Thank you, Bass Pro Shops. Man, I’m worn out. It takes a lot of focus to run the fence like that. Pit crew did a great job. Really grateful.”

Ty Gibbs posted his fourth runner-up result of the season and left Homestead with a 30-point advantage above the top-four cutline to transfer to the Championship 4 round while Allmendinger, who came into the event 16 points below the cutline, moved back into the cutline with a five-point advantage with his sixth third-place finish of this season.

“We were just battling our race car, I feel like, all day,” Gibbs said. “We made great adjustments and my guys never gave up. Thank you to my whole Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra No. 54 group. We’ll move on to Martinsville. I feel like that’s a place we were really fast earlier this year and probably had a shot to win at, so I’m excited to go back there. To come out with a P2 finish is, I feel like, pretty good. We’re plus 30 [in the Playoff standings], so I think that’s really strong.”

“[I’m] Really proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger said. “Our Action Industries Chevy was pretty damn good. It was probably still better than the driver. Overall, we made up a lot of points there and we at least have a shot down at Martinsville.”

Hemric and Mayer finished fourth and fifth while Bayne, Chandler Smith, Herbst, Hill and Allgaier, who rallied from an eventful run from the rear towards the front, completed the top 10 on the track.

“I’m glad [today’s] over,” Allgaier, who is five points below the cutline, said. “Our team, definitely, had some adversity tonight. The only saving grace, I think, was about a 70-lap run there. We were able to drive away from [Gragson] and keep on the lead lap or tail end of the lead lap. I felt like we definitely made good strides over the course of the day to get our BRANDT Foundation Camaro up where we needed to be. The jack [issue] hurt us the most. That green flag stop, just losing all that track position, and I just tried to push it as hard as I could to get back up there. Ultimately, it worked out. We got back on the lead lap and were able to score some points there. We’re below the cut. We’ll go [to Martinsville] and we can lay it all on the line. Five points [deficit] is nothing. We can go there and have a good weekend. We’ll lock our way into Phoenix.”

There were 13 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 24 laps.

Results.

1. Noah Gragson, 127 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

2. Ty Gibbs, one lap led

3. AJ Allmendinger, one lap led

4. Daniel Hemric

5. Sam Mayer

6. Trevor Bayne, 46 laps led

7. Chandler Smith

8. Riley Herbst

9. Austin Hill, 19 laps led

10. Justin Allgaier

11. Josh Berry, three laps led

12. Landon Cassill, three laps led

13. Bayley Currey

14. Brennan Poole

15. Brandon Jones, one lap down

16. Parker Retzlaff, one lap down

17. Sheldon Creed, one lap down

18. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down

19. Jeb Burton, one lap down

20. Kyle Weatherman, two laps down

21. David Starr, two laps down

22. Myatt Snider, two laps down

23. Patrick Emerling, two laps down

24. Joe Graf Jr., two laps down

25. Nicholas Sanchez, two laps down

26. Jeremy Clements, three laps down

27. Kris Wright, four laps down

28. Julia Landauer, four laps down

29. Timmy Hill, five laps down

30. Josh Williams, five laps down

31. CJ McLaughlin, five laps down

32. Matt Mills, five laps down

33. Ryan Sieg, 10 laps down

34. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Accident

35. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Accident

36. BJ McLeod – OUT, Electrical

37. Mason Massey – OUT, Engine

38. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. Noah Gragson – Advanced

2. Josh Berry – Advanced

3. Ty Gibbs +30

4. AJ Allmendinger +5

5. Justin Allgaier -5

6. Austin Hill -7

7. Sam Mayer -28

8. Brandon Jones -38

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ return to Martinsville Speedway, where the Championship 4 field will be determined. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, October 29, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

October 22, 2022
Allmendinger claims photo finish win at Talladega, advances to Playoff’s Round of 8

AJ Allmendinger saved his absolute best for the last and kept his championship hopes for this season alive after beating Sam Mayer in a photo finish to win the Sparks 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, October 1.

The 40-year-old Allmendinger from Los Gatos, California, led three times for a total of three of 113-scheduled laps. Prior to the finish, he was running in second place behind pole-sitter Austin Hill under the final 10 laps. Following a shuffle amongst the front-runners, he made his way to the front of the field with two laps remaining before being overtaken by Sam Mayer prior to the final lap as he was shuffled back to third. Allmendinger then overtook Sieg through the backstretch and tucked in behind Mayer for the following two turns until he seized an opportunity entering the frontstretch to pull a slingshot move on Mayer with drafting help from teammate Landon Cassill. From there, Allmendinger was able to surge ahead and edge Mayer by a nose to claim his fourth checkered flag of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series and a spot to the Playoff’s Round of 8.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Playoff contender Austin Hill claimed his first career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 182.036 mph in 52.605 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Ty Gibbs, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 181.981 mph in 52.621 seconds.

Prior to the event, names like Jesse Iwuji, Caesar Bacarella, Jeremy Clements, BJ McLeod, Mason Massey and Noah Gragson dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective cars. Joey Gase also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change along with Bayley Currey, Timmy Hill and Howie Disavino III, all of whom missed driver introductions.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Hill battled Allmendinger dead even for the lead, but managed to retain the top spot and pull away from the field entering Turns 3 and 4 as he proceeded to lead the first lap with drafting help from teammate Sheldon Creed.

During the third lap, the first caution of the event flew when Ty Gibbs got bumped off the front nose of Justin Allgaier’s No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro as his No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota Supra slipped sideways before spinning across the backstretch. Despite making light contact with the outside wall, Gibbs managed to continue as he was dodged by the field. Under the caution period, names like Gragson, Sam Mayer, Ryan Vargas, Clements and Caesar Bacarella pitted while the rest led by Hill remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on the sixth lap, Hill retained the lead followed by teammate Creed, Allgaier, Brandon Jones and the field. Not long after, Allgaier launched a bid for the lead on the outside lane before rocketing to the top on the eighth lap. By then, he had drafting help from AJ Allmendinger and a number of competitors running on the outside lane while Hill attempted to fight back on the inside lane.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Allgaier was leading ahead of Allmendinger, Hill, Daniel Hemric and Trevor Bayne while the field behind fanned out to three tight-packed lanes.

By Lap 15, Hill, who reassumed the lead a lap prior, was out in front followed by teammate Creed and Bayne while Anthony Alfredo, Myatt Snider, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger, Gragson, Riley Herbst and Hemric were in the top 10. In addition, 10 of the 12 Playoff contenders were running within the top 20 with Sam Mayer running in 21st and Jeremy Clements mired back in 25th.

Nearing the first stage’s conclusion on Lap 20, Hill continued to lead as he was out in front of a long line of competitors running towards the outside lane. Creed settled in second followed by Alfredo, Allmendinger, Hemric, Allgaier, Brandon Brown, JJ Yeley, Brandon Jones and Ryan Sieg while Bayne, Snider, Derek Griffith, Gibbs, Gragson, Jeb Burton, Parker Kligerman, Herbst, Berry and Mayer were in the top 20.

Then with two laps remaining in the first stage, a number of competitors led by Allmendinger dipped to the bottom lane in an attempt to overthrow Hill, but Hill also moved below the bottom lane as he retained the lead.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 25, Hill captured his second stage victory of the 2022 season. Teammate Creed settled in second followed by Hemric, Brandon Jones, Bayne, Allmendinger, Allgaier, Gibbs, Brown and Mayer. By then, seven of 12 Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10 while Herbst, Ryan Sieg, Josh Berry, Gragson and Clements were running within the top 22.

Under the stage break, some led by Hill pitted while others that included Currey, Timmy Hill, Howie Disavino III, Joey Gase, Ryan Vargas, David Starr, Joe Graaf Jr., Iwuji, McLod and Caesar Bacarella remained on the track. All the competitors who remained on the track under caution eventually pitted prior to the restart, giving Hill back the lead.

The second stage started on Lap 30 as Hill and Bayne occupied the front row. At the start, Hill retained the lead on the inside lane before Bayne assumed the top spot on the outside lane with drafting help from teammate Brandon Jones, Mayer and a bevy of competitors. As Bayne continued to lead on the outside lane, Hill remained as the lead competitor on the inside lane followed by teammate Creed.

Ten laps later, Bayne retained the lead followed by teammate Brandon Jones while Creed emerged as the first competitor on the inside lane while launching his bid for the lead followed by Brown. By then, the field started to fan out to three tight-packed lanes.

Another five laps later, Hill, who made a bold move beneath Bayne through the frontstretch to reassume the lead three laps earlier, was out in front followed by Alfredo and Brown while Bayne, Mayer and Sieg were running three wide while battling for fourth in front of the pack.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 50, Hill, who navigated his way through both lanes while also fending off a late surge from Allgaier, captured his third stage victory of the 2022 season and second of the day. Allgaier settled in second followed by Allmendinger, Bayne, Jeb Burton, Mayer, Brown, Brandon Jones, Sieg and Berry. By then, seven of 12 Playoff were scored in the top 10 while Gibbs, Herbst, Gragson, Hemric and Clements were running in 11th, 12th, 14t, 23rd and 31st, respectively.

Under the stage break, the leaders led by Hill returned to pit road for service while names like Currey, Joey Gaase, Jeffrey Earnhardt, David Starr, Joe Graf Jr., Iwuji, Caesar Bacarella, Disavino, Timmy Hill, Ryan Vargas, McLeod and Mike Harmon remained on the track. All eventually pitted prior to the restart, giving Bayne the lead followed by Mayer, Gragson, Brandon Jones and Gibbs.

With 58 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Bayne and Gragson dueled for the lead before Gragson muscled his way into the lead while Bayne settled in second in front of teammates Brandon Jones and Gibbs. A lap later and with the field fanning out to three tight-packed lanes, Ryan Sieg emerged with the lead followed by a fast-charging Allmendinger and Hill.

With 50 laps remaining, Sieg was the leader of the race and ahead of a long line of competitors running towards the outside wall followed by Allmendinger, Hill, Brandon Jones and Gragson while Gibbs, Herbst, Landon Cassill, Snider and Jeb Burton were in the top 10.

Nearing the final 45 laps of the event, green flag pit stops commenced as teammates Jeb Burton and Anthony Alfredo pitted before another wave of competitors, including Gragson, pitted, mainly for fuel. During the pit stops, Myatt Snider turned across the front nose of Blaine Perkins while trying to enter his pit stall as Snider ended up looping his car backwards inside his pit stall.

With 40 laps remaining, Currey, who was one of 11 competitors who had yet to pit, was leading while Hill, the first competitor who pitted, led a bevy competitors in 12th place as he tried to close in on the lead group.

Eight laps later, Hill reassumed the lead when the rest of the competitors who had yet to pit led by Currey pitted. By then, Hill led a 14-car breakaway at the front followed by Allmendinger, Gragson, Cassill, Mayer, Kligerman, Creed, Sieg, Herbst, Berry, Gibbs, Bayne, Brandon Jones and Hemric. Behind, the next six competitors trailed by more than four seconds with Jeb Burton in 15th ahead of Allgaier, Alfredo, Derek Griffith, Yeley and Brandon Brown. With all but one of 12 Playoff competitors running within the top 20, Clements was the lone Playoff contender running outside of the top 20 in 25th.

With 25 laps remaining, Hill retained the lead ahead of Allmendinger, Gragson, Cassill and Mayer while the top-14 competitors remained four seconds ahead of the 15th-place competitor Jeb Burton. In addition, the top-19 competitors were ahead by nearly 23 seconds over the 20th-place competitor Blaine Perkins.

Five laps later and down to the final 20 laps of the event, Hill continued to lead ahead of Allmendinger, Gragson, Cassill and Mayer while Kligerman, Creed, Sieg, Herbst, Berry, Gibbs, Bayne, Brandon Jones and Hemric remained within the 14-car lead pack.

With 10 laps remaining, Hill remained as the leader ahead of the 14-car lead pack followed by Allmendinger, Gragson, Cassill, Mayer, Kligerman, Creed, Sieg, Herbst, Berry, Gibbs, Bayne, Brandon Jones and Hemric.

Then with six laps remaining, Mayer was the first competitor to fan out and start a second lane followed by Sieg and others as they launched a bid for the lead on Hill, who remained on the inside lane. During the following lap, Gragson made a move on the outside lane before he was blocked by Hill through the frontstretch. This then caused the field to fan out to three lanes as Hill was shoved out of the lead draft while Mayer and Allmendinger moved up and battled dead even for the lead ahead of the pack.

With two laps remaining, Allmendinger was out in front with drafting help from teammate Cassill while Mayer fought back on the outside lane with drafting help from Sieg. Through the backstretch, Mayer gained a strong run as he cleared the field and assume the lead with both lanes to his control. While Snider spun behind the leaders in the backstretch, the race remainder under green flag conditions.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Mayer remained as the leader ahead of Sieg, Allmendinger, Cassill and the pack. He continued to lead through three turns until he started to pull away from the pack. This allowed the pack led by Allmendinger and Sieg to gain a momentum and close back in on Mayer entering the frontstretch. Then, Allmendinger, who had teammate Cassill behind him, made his move to the outside of Mayer. With the momentum on his side, Allmendinger was able to beat Mayer by 0.015 seconds to steal the victory.

As a result, Allmendinger achieved his fourth Xfinity Series victory of the season, the 14th of his career and his first on a superspeedway venue. The victory awarded Allmendinger and his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro team a one-way ticket to the Round of 8 in the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs, where he joins Noah Gragson as the only competitors to be guaranteed a spot for the next Playoff round. It also marks the seventh Xfinity victory for Kaulig Racing on a superspeedway venue (Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway).

Photo by Chad Wells for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“I still hate [restrictor plate racing]!” Allmendinger exclaimed on USA Network. “Gosh, we’ve been so close to winning one and I feel like I keep giving them away. I’m still learning, trying to know what too big of a lead is, but honestly, all the credit to [teammate] Landon Cassill. He kept shoving me. He stuck with me. That’s what’s great about Kaulig Racing. When you got teammates like Landon and Daniel [Hemric], that you know no matter where you go, they’re gonna go with you. [It] Makes it a little bit easier. [Cassill]’s gonna share [the win] with me, but I wish we could both be the winner because he deserves it more than I do. Man, I just wanted to win a superspeedway [event]. Finally got it.”

Mayer, who came within inches of claiming his first Xfinity career victory, settled in a career-best second place for his 10th top-five finish of the season. With the result, Mayer, who came into Talladega a single point above the top-eight cutline, leaves Talladega with a 13-point advantage above the cutline as he is in seventh place in the Playoff standings.

“This is my first time getting to the end of a speedway race, coming to the checkered [flag],” Mayer said. “It was a good first experience, I guess. [I will] Take a top five [finish] at a place like this any day. Going into today, we were just like get some stage points and hopefully, survive to the end. Obviously, we survived at the end and we did everything right. We were just three feet shy…I’m looking forward to [the Charlotte Roval]. I’m just happy to get through this one, but our Accelerate Chevrolet Camaro probably should be in Victory Lane right now.”

Cassill came home in third place followed by Ryan Sieg and Josh Berry. Kligerman, Gibbs, Hemric, Brandon Jones and Gragson completed the top 10 on the track. Notably, eight of 12 Playoff competitors finished in the top 10 on the track while Herbst, Hill, Allgaier and Clements finished 11th, 14th, 15th and 20th, respectively.

There were 20 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 11 laps. All 38 starters finished the event while 23 finished on the lead lap.

The 2022 Sparks 300 event marks the third and final time the fall Xfinity Talladega event will occur, with the series’ scaling back to competing at Talladega once annually in 2023.

Results.

1. AJ Allmendinger, three laps led

2. Sam Mayer, three laps led

3. Landon Cassill

4. Ryan Sieg, 11 laps led

5. Josh Berry

6. Parker Kligerman

7. Ty Gibbs

8. Daniel Hemric

9. Brandon Jones, one lap led

10. Noah Gragson, one lap led

11. Riley Herbst

12. Sheldon Creed, two laps led

13. Trevor Bayne, 13 laps led

14. Austin Hill, 60 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

15. Justin Allgaier, six laps led

16. Anthony Alfredo

17. Jeb Burton

18. JJ Yeley

19. Josh Williams

20. Jeremy Clements

21. Joey Gase

22. Joe Garaf Jr.

23. Derek Griffith

24. Bayley Currey, one lap down, 12 laps led

25. David Starr, one lap down

26. BJ McLeod, one lap down

27. Timmy Hill, one lap down, one lap led

28. Jesse Iwuji, one lap down

29. CJ McLaughlin, one lap down

30. Ryan Vargas, one lap down

31. Caesar Bacarella, one lap down

32. Howie Disavino III, one lap down

33. Brandon Brown, one lap down

34. Mike Harmon, two laps down

35. Myatt Snider, two laps down

36. Blaine Perkins, three laps down

37. Jeffrey Earnhardt, four laps down

38. Mason Massey, 18 laps down

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings

1. Noah Gragson – Advanced

2. AJ Allmendinger – Advanced

3. Ty Gibbs +49

4. Austin Hill +43

5. Josh Berry +27

6. Justin Allgaier +25

7. Sam Mayer +12

8. Ryan Sieg +6

9. Daniel Hemric -6

10. Riley Herbst -10

11. Brandon Jones -10

12. Jeremy Clements -47

The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs will continue next weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course for a 250-mile feature and where the first round of eliminations will occur. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, October 8, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

October 1, 2022
Gragson wins the battle at Bristol; Allmendinger clinches 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season championship

In a late attrition between two Xfinity Series regulars to cap off the regular-season stretch on a strong note, Noah Gragson came out of top over a late battle against Brandon Jones to win the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 16.

The 24-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, led the final 25 laps and benefitted through a 20-lap dash to the finish while on old tires to fend off a hard-charging Jones and capture his sixth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season and third in a row in recent weeks at Thunder Valley. The victory enabled Gragson to collect additional bonus points toward the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs as he commences the pursuit of his first NASCAR national touring series championship.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Ty Gibbs claimed his fifth career pole position and fourth of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 122.584 mph in 15.563 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Josh Berry, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 122.100 mph in 15.715 seconds.

Prior to the event, Joe Graf Jr. and Stefan Parsons dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Gibbs and Berry dueled for the lead while AJ Allmendinger, who started fourth, briefly went up the track and struggled to come up to pace after having a gear shifting issue. By the completion of the first lap, he was mired back in eighth while Gibbs was out in front ahead of Berry, Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer and Daniel Hemric.

On the fifth lap, the first caution flew when Nick Sanchez blew a right-front tire entering the backstretch as he fell off the pace and managed to keep the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet Camaro off the wall. At the moment of caution, Gibbs was out in front by more than a second followed by Berry, Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Mayer while Jeb Burton, Ryan Sieg, Noah Gragson, Daniel Hemric and Brandon Jones were in the top 10.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 10, Gibbs launched ahead with the lead while Allgaier moved his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro into the runner-up spot over teammate Berry. Behind, Mayer rocketed his No. 1 Huck’s Market Chevrolet Camaro into fourth place after overtaking Smith while Jeb Burton was in sixth ahead of a side-by-side battle between Gragson and Brandon Jones.

Three laps later, however, the caution returned when Riley Herbst made contact against rookie Sheldon Creed’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro entering Turn 4 while battling for a spot in the top 15 as he spun before his No. 98 Resorts World Ford Mustang went below the apron and continued without sustaining any significant damage.

During the following restart on Lap 18, Gibbs rocketed away with another strong restart in his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra while Allgaier fended off teammate Berry for the runner-up spot. Behind, Sammy Smith maneuvered his No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra around Mayer for fourth while Gragson battled Jeb Burton for sixth place.

Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Gibbs was leading by nearly a second over Allgaier followed by Berry, Smith and Mayer while Gragson, Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones, Hemric and Landon Cassill were in the top 10. By then, Allmendinger was black in 11th ahead of Ryan Sieg, rookie Austin Hill, Creed and Jeremy Clements while Anthony Alfredo, Bayley Currey, Brandon Brown, Jeffrey Earnhardt and JJ Yeley were in the top 20.

Eleven laps later, the caution flew when Sanchez spun in Turn 4 as this marked his second incident of the night. During the caution period, few names like Brandon Jones, whose window net was loose, and Creed pitted while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track.

When the race proceeded under green on Lap 41, Gibbs and Allgaier dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Gibbs managed to clear and fend off Allgaier with the lead. Behind, a trio of JR Motorsports competitors including Berry, Gragson and Mayer battled for third while Jeb Burton retained sixth ahead of Allmendinger, Smith, Hemric and Hill.

Four laps later, the caution returned when Brandon Brown got loose entering the backstretch as he spun, pounded the inside wall and damaged the rear end of his car.

Another five laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs and Allgaier dueled for the lead again through the first two turns before Gibbs retained the top spot on the outside lane in Turn 2. Behind, Gragson was in third followed by teammates Berry and Merry while Allmendinger was locked in a battle with Jeb Burton and Hemric for sixth.

By Lap 60, Gibbs continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Gragson, Berry, Mayer, Allmendinger, Jeb Burton, Hemric, Smith and Ryan Sieg were running in the top 10. Meanwhile, Austin Hill was in 11th followed by Cassill, Clements, Currey and Kyle Weatherman while Creed, Herbst and Brandon Jones were in 20th, 21st and 24th, respectively.

Fifteen laps later and at the Lap 75 mark, Gibbs stabilized his advantage to less than half a second over Allgaier, who kept teammate Gragson behind in his rearview mirror, while Mayer and Berry remained in the top five. Behind, Allmendinger retained sixth as he was slowly catching Berry for position.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 85, Gibbs, who had to navigate his way through lapped traffic while also keeping Allgaier behind him, captured his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season. Allgaier settled in second while Gragson, Mayer, Allmendinger, Berry, Jeb Burton, Hemric, Cassill and Ryan Sieg were scored in the top 10. By then, Creed was mired in 17th as he was unable to record a stage point in the first stage compared to his rivals (Hemric, Cassill and Sieg) vying for the final Playoff berths.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Gibbs pitted while Creed and Jeffrey Earnhardt remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 94 as Creed and Jeffrey Earnhardt occupied the front row. At the start, Creed took off with the lead on the outside lane followed by Gibbs and Allgaier while Earnhardt struggled to launch on the inside lane. During the following lap, Allgaier overtook Gibbs for the runner-up spot before he went to work on Creed for the lead.

Soon after, a tight side-by-side battle for the lead between Creed and Allgaier ignited as Creed refused to give up the top spot. With both competitors refusing to give up and making contact, Creed managed to pull away with a steady lead of half a second while Allgaier was being challenged by Gibbs for the runner-up spot.

At the Lap 110 mark, Creed was leading by a tenth of a second over Allgaier followed by Gibbs, Mayer and Gragson while Brandon Jones, Smith, Allmendinger, Earnhardt and Hill were in the top 10. By then, Cassill, who came into the event holding the final transfer spot to the Playoffs, made an unscheduled pit stop under green. Soon after, Cassill, who then had smoke coming out of the right front of his No. 10 Voyager Chevrolet Camaro upon returning to the track with the driver reporting a brake hub issue, took his car to the garage as his Playoff hopes were placed in jeopardy.

Fifteen laps later, Allgaier prevailed in his intense battle with Creed as he moved into the lead while Creed was left to fend off Gibbs and Gragson for the runner-up spot. Another three laps later, however, disaster struck for Creed when Gragson bumped into the rear of Gibbs as Gibbs went up the track and collided with Creed and both competitors smacked the outside wall hard in Turn 2. The wreck was enough to eliminate Creed from the event as his hopes of making the Playoffs evaporated. Gibbs was also eliminated from the event while Gragson continued.

When the race proceeded under green on Lap 138, Allgaier took off with the lead on the outside lane while teammate Gragson retained the runner-up spot in front of Brandon Jones, who was racing on two fresh tires. Soon after, Mayer bolted his way into third place while Allmendinger went to work in battling Jones for fourth.

At the halfway mark on Lap 150, Allgaier was leading by more than half a second over teammate Gragson followed by Mayer, Allmendinger and Brandon Jones while Hill, Herbst, Jeb Burton, Hemric and Smith were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Ryan Sieg was in 12th in front of Berry, who got into the outside wall earlier, while Cassill was still mired in 37th and undergoing repairs in the garage.

Ten laps later, Allgaier extended his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over teammate Gragson while Mayer, Allmendinger and Brandon Jones remained in the top five. By then, Sieg remained in Playoff contention as he was in 13th place.

Then with four laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew when Mayer, who tried to pull a three-wide move on both CJ McLaughlin and JJ Yeley, entering Turn 1, made contact with Yeley as both spun through the turn and below the apron while being dodged by Gragson.

The incident involving Mayer was enough for the second stage to conclude on Lap 170 as Allgaier captured his eighth stage victory of the 2022 season. Teammate Gragson settled in second while Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Herbst, Hill, Jeb Burton, Hemric, Mayer and Sammy Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, Hemric and Sieg, who settled in 11th, were above the top-12 cutline while Cassill remained in the garage and in 37th place. In addition, Allmendinger locked up the 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season championship for a second consecutive season.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Allgaier pitted and Allgaier retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Gragson, Brandon Jones, Hill, Allmendinger and Herbst. Back on the track, however, Bayley Currey and Joe Graf Jr. remained on the track.

With 121 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Currey and Graf occupied the front row. At the start, Currey launched ahead followed by Allgaier while Graf struggled to get up to speed on the inside lane. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Allgaier navigated his way around Currey as he reassumed the lead. Shortly after, Brandon Jones moved into second place while Currey retained third ahead of Hill, Herbst and Gragson.

Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Allgaier retained as the leader by a tenth of a second over future teammate Brandon Jones while Currey, Hill and Gragson were scored in the top five. By then, Sieg was in 10th on the track behind Hemric and scored six points above the cutline over Cassill, who was in 37th place and more than 90 laps down.

Twenty-five laps later, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than a second over Brandon Jones, who started to have Hill pressure him for the runner-up spot, while Gragson and Herbst were running in the top five. Behind, Allmendinger was in sixth ahead of Mayer, Ryan Sieg, Currey and Stefan Parsons. By then, Cassill, who was back on the track, was 112 laps behind the leaders while Sieg continued to hold possession of the 12th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs. Hemric, who was back in 15th, also continued to remain above the top-12 cutline.

With less than 60 laps remaining, Gragson overtook Brandon Jones for the runner-up spot while Allgaier continued to extend his advantage to more than two seconds. By then, Hemric, who was mired back in 22nd and off the lead lap category, was reporting power steering issues to his No. 11 AG1 Chevrolet Camaro.

Down to the final 35 laps of the event, the battle for the lead started to intensify as Gragson closed in to the rear bumper of teammate Allgaier in his bid for the lead.

Then with 30 laps remaining, the caution flew when Yeley, who made contact with the leader Allgaier as Allgaier was trying to lap Yeley and Alex Labbe with a three-wide move, spun and pounded the inside wall in the backstretch as his event came to an end. During the caution period, some led by Allgaier pitted while the rest led by Gragson remained on the track Following the pit stops, Allgaier and Jeffrey Earnhardt were sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

With 20 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson rocketed his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro to the lead ahead of Brandon Jones’ No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra while Hill started to challenge Jones for the runner-up spot. Behind, Herbst was in fourth followed by Mayer, Berry, Stefan Parsons and Ryan Sieg, who was trying to finish the event to make the Playoffs.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Gragson stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Brandon Jones followed by Hill, Herbst and Berry while Sieg remained in ninth and in contention to make the Playoffs.

With five laps remaining, a tight battle for the lead ignited between Gragson and Brandon Jones, with the former remaining out in front by a hair over the latter as both also navigated his way through lapped traffic.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gragson retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Brandon Jones. Entering Turn 3, Jones gained a strong run on Gragson in a final bid for the lead, but the run was not enough as Gragson retained the top spot. From here, he made his way back to the frontstretch and beat Jones to the finish line by a tenth of a second to grab his sixth checkered flag of the 2022 season and his third in a row in recent weeks.

With the victory, Gragson achieved his 11th career win in the Xfinity Series, his second at Thunder Valley and the 12th victory of the season for JR Motorsports. By accumulating six victories along with a bevy of points throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, he will commence the Playoffs with the top seed and with 2,051 points as he pursues his quest of winning his first Xfinity title.

Photo by Jim Barnes for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“Man, three [wins] in a row,” Gragson said on USA Network. “That last caution came out. I knew if we could bring the top [lane], it was gonna be hard for [Jones] to get there. [I] Appreciate Brandon Jones for racing us clean. He fed us the bumper with two [laps] to go. I was hanging on, scrubbing the fence, but we won here at Bristol in 2020. There was no fans here. This is 10 times cooler. [I] Appreciate you, Bristol. Thank you, all you fans, for coming out. You guys are awesome. Man, I’m just so thankful. What a great opportunity to race here for our fans and having the opportunity to win a race. Man, our car was fast all day. Once we got out to the top, we were rolling. Man, I had a blast.”

Brandon Jones, who is set to join JR Motorsports to pilot the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro in 2023, trailed Gragson and his future ride to the finish line by a tenth of a second as he settled in second place for the second time of the season and for his sixth top-five result of the season. He will line up in seventh place in the Playoff standings with 2,010 points as he also commences his pursuit for his first Xfinity title.

“I thought this [loss] hurts the most just because that was our race to win,” Jones said. “We fought so many different things tonight, adversity-wise. [I] Just kept piling back up and kept coming back. It was really cool to look at our race, in particular, as a whole to see where it started to where it ended for us. [I] Really thought when [Allgaier] sped [on pit road], I was like, ‘Aw man. Easy piece of cake. We got it.’ The bottom [lane] didn’t take off great. I didn’t have a great restart, but those newer tires, fresher tires, certainly paid a dividend at the very end. I just caught [Gragson] at the wrong time every single time. I could get in deeper into the corner and I could get him to the middle, but I just could never get to the exit. I got him, maybe, two times where I had a shot to try and get to his left rear and try to get him loose. I put maximum pressure on him. [I] Gave it everything I had today. Man, there’s a lot of momentum. These last couple of races we’ve had has really kicked it up here lately, so we’re ready. “

Hill came home in third place followed by Mayer and Herbst, all of whom have made the 2022 Xfinity Playoffs. Allmendinger settled in sixth place while Berry, Stefan Parsons, Allgaier and Ryan Sieg completed the top 10 on the track.

By clinching the 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season championship and being awarded an additional 15-point bonus towards the Playoffs, Allmendinger became the first Xfinity competitor to achieve multiple regular-season titles and the first to do so in back-to-back seasons. He will now line up in fourth place in the Playoff standings with 2,032 points as he pursues his first NASCAR title.

Photo by Christian Gardner for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“[I’m] Really proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger said. “[I’m] Frustrated at myself tonight, but all in all, great to win the regular-season championship two years in a row. To finish top six today, [I] really had a really fast car at the end of the race there. On long runs, I thought we had a shot to win the race. Short runs, we struggled a little bit, but overall, great regular season. We got to get ready for the Playoffs. We’ve been struggling a little bit. Tonight was a little bit of a boost and hopefully, get ready for Texas.”

Sieg’s 10th-place run was enough for him to claim the 12th and final spot to the Playoffs by five points over Cassill, who could only climb his way to 35th place on the track while 112 laps behind the leaders. Hemric also made the Playoffs despite finishing 20th as he will pursue his quest to defend his series title.

Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Josh Berry, rookie Austin Hill, Brandon Jones, Jeremy Clements, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Daniel Hemric and Ryan Sieg have made the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

Landon Cassill and rookie Sheldon Creed join names like Anthony Alfredo, Brandon Brown, Brett Moffitt, Jeb Burton, Myatt Snider and Alex Labbe as the remaining competitors who did not make the Playoffs.

There were six lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 58 laps.

Results.

1. Noah Gragson, 25 laps led

2. Brandon Jones

3. Austin Hill

4. Sam Mayer

5. Riley Herbst

6. AJ Allmendinger

7. Josh Berry

8. Stefan Parsons

9. Justin Allgaier, 148 laps led, Stage 2 winner

10. Ryan Sieg

11. Bayley Currey, four laps led

12. Jeffrey Earnhardt

13. Anthony Alfredo

14. Sammy Smith, one lap down

15. Jeb Burton, one lap down

16. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

17. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down

18. Sage Karam, one lap down

19. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

20. Daniel Hemric, two laps down

21. Josh Williams, two laps down

22. Myatt Snider, two laps down

23. Joe Graf Jr., two laps down

24. CJ McLaughlin, three laps down

25. Kris Wright, three laps down

26. Alex Labbe, three laps down

27. Patrick Emerling, six laps down

28. Ronnie Bassett Jr., six laps down

29. Nick Sanchez, six laps down

30. David Starr, seven laps down

31. Bobby McCarty, 12 laps down

32. Mason Massey – OUT, Oil line

33. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

34. BJ McLeod – OUT, Brakes

35. Landon Cassill, 112 laps down

36. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident, 89 laps led, Stage 1 winner

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

38. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident

The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to commence next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, September 24, at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

September 17, 2022
Hemric, Sieg clinch 2022 Xfinity Playoff berths; Cassill, Creed eliminated

At the start of the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 16, all eyes were focused on Daniel Hemric, Landon Cassill, Ryan Sieg and rookie Sheldon Creed, all of whom were battling for the final two transfer spots to make the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

When the event concluded following 300 laps of intensity, carnage and chaos, Hemric and Sieg were left victorious as they claimed the final two spots to the Playoffs while Cassill and Creed were left on the outside of the Playoff picture. For Hemric and Sieg, their road to making the Playoffs did not come without drama from start to finish.

For Hemric, who rolled off the starting grid in eighth place, the majority of his event went smoothly as he claimed top-10 results in both stages and was initially poised for a top-10 run on the track. His event, however, briefly turned sour when he radioed power steering issues to his No. 11 AG1 Chevrolet Camaro and fell out of the lead lap category. Needing to finish to have an opportunity to defend his series, Hemric managed to accomplish his mission after surviving a 20-lap dash to the finish to finish 20th, two laps down, and claim the first of two vacant spots in the Playoffs.

With his accomplishment, Hemric, the reigning Xfinity Series champion, qualified for his fourth career appearance in the Xfinity Series Playoffs and his first with Kaulig Racing amid a difficult 2022 campaign, where he has recorded nine top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch and is seeking his first victory of the season. Despite the on-track struggles, Hemric sets his sights on the Playoffs and turning the difficulties throughout the regular-season stretch into success for the Playoffs.

“All the money we spent training, it was worth every penny after [the race],” Hemric said on USA Network. “That was the toughest challenge I’ve ever experienced inside of a race car that 80 or 90-lap run, whatever it was. [I] Had a leak somewhere in the system. That caution with 15 [laps] to go, we got the [pit] stop and it took a full bottle and a half of power steering to have power steering back. Obviously, [I] just got to execute better on that. In the Playoffs, you can’t have issues like that. Thankfully, we are part of that. We got a lot of work to do to get this AG1 Camaro, this entire No. 11 team to be championship contenders. We’re gonna fight. We’re gonna continue to fight, go down swinging. Read to go battle.”

Perhaps there was no competitor smiling more on pit road in making the Playoffs than Sieg, who started Friday night’s event in 10th place. His road to the Playoffs started with drama three days earlier when the news from NASCAR emerged that Jeremy Clements, who was initially assessed an L2-level penalty for an intake manifold violation and was disqualified from the Playoffs despite winning at Daytona International Speedway in late August, was reinstated back into the Playoff picture after winning his appeal case. Clements’ reinstatement knocked Sieg back below the cutline as he trailed the top-12 cutline by 19 points behind Landon Cassill.

Throughout the event, however, good fortune struck Sieg, who leaped his way back inside the cutline during the second stage once Cassill took his No. 10 Voyager Chevrolet Camaro to the garage due to a mechanical issue just past the one-third mark of the event. With Cassill multiple laps down, all Sieg had to do was nurse his No. 39 A-Game Ford Mustang to the finish and with a strong on-track result. Despite enduring a total of eight caution periods and a 20-lap dash to the finish, Sieg accomplished his task as he finished in 10th place, which was enough to claim the 12th and final spot in the Playoffs by five points over Cassill.

With his accomplishment, Sieg, who is currently campaigning in his ninth full-time season in the Xfinity Series with his family-owned RSS Racing organization, qualified for the Playoffs for the fourth time in his career. He will now embark on a seven-race stretch to contend for his first NASCAR national touring series championship. He also continues to pursue his first NASCAR victory, having made 294 previous starts without recording a victory to his resume.

“It’s Bristol,” Sieg said. “You never know what can happen. “It’s a lot of fun racing on these short tracks. Too bad we didn’t add a couple next year, but all in all, just a great day for our CMR/A-Game Ford. Just grind it out and find ourselves going to the Playoffs. That’s amazing for our small team and we’ll have [crew chief] Cowboy [Starland] back in the Playoffs in his last year. We got a top 10 [finish]. First time here. It’s all turning around a little bit. We’ve struggled through the summer, but we’ve turned it around. Hopefully, we’re headed in the right direction for these Playoffs.”

The first competitor to be left outside of the Playoff picture following the regular-season stretch was Cassill, Hemric’s teammate. In his first season with Kaulig Racing and amid a roller coaster regular-season stretch, Cassill came into the event retaining the 12th and final spot to the Playoffs after recording nine top-10 results throughout the regular-season stretch. Despite rolling off the grid in 16th place and remaining within striking distance of a strong run to qualify for this first appearance in the Xfinity Playoffs, his championship hopes took a serious hit nearing the Lap 110 mark when he made an unscheduled pit stop under green.

Soon after, the night went from bad to worse for the Iowa native as he took his car to the garage with smoke coming out of his No. 10 Chevrolet due to an apparent mechanical issue involving the brake hub. By the time Cassill returned to the track, he was 112 laps behind the leaders and needed to either gain a bevy of spots below the leaderboard or have Sieg eliminated from the event. With Sieg managing to finish 10th, Cassill could only climb his way up to 35th place in the final leaderboard, which was not enough for him to retain his Playoff hopes for this season as he missed the cutline by five points. He will be the only Kaulig Racing competitor to not make the Playoffs while his teammates Hemric and AJ Allmendinger, the 2022 Xfinity regular-season champion, will contend for this year’s title.

Photo by Jim Barnes for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“[The event] was fine,” Cassill said. “We were fast enough and I was doing what I needed to do, and then we had a mechanical failure. I really don’t know what to say. We’ll just move forward from here.”

Another competitor who did not make the Playoffs was Creed, who rallied from a difficult start to his rookie campaign in the Xfinity circuit to endure a strong summer stretch to draw himself back into contention to make the Playoffs. Despite being 32 points below the cutline at the start of the event and qualifying 22nd for Friday night’s event at Bristol, an opportunity presented itself for Creed when he elected to remain on the track with the lead on old tires to start the second stage. Despite being pressured by veteran Justin Allgaier at the start, Creed held his ground on the outside lane and managed to lead 34 laps before he lost the lead to Allgaier on Lap 125.

Three laps later, however, Creed’s strong run came to a crashing halt when he was caught up in a wreck in Turn 2 that started when the eventual winner Noah Gragson bumped into Ty Gibbs and sent Gibbs up the racetrack and into Creed’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro, with the latter two making hard contact against the outside wall with wrecked race cars. The damage was enough to knock Creed out of the race and out of contention to contend for his first Xfinity title as he sets his sights on concluding the 2022 season on a strong note.

“[It] Looked like [Gragson] just got [Gibbs] on the left rear, got him loose and shot him up into me,” Creed said. “[We] Did what we had to do. [I] Didn’t have a great qualifying effort. I got track position there and still was super loose, but I had pace. I felt like that was the first time today I had good speed. I thought we were probably one [pit] stop away from being able to race those guys for a win. Man, that’s just the way my year’s gone. We have speed at times and then, stuff like that happens. Unfortunate, but proud of my guys. We never gave up all year. I felt like we gave it one hell of a fight the last few weeks. [I] Felt like we would’ve had a shot [to win] tonight. We’re gonna keep digging this year and maybe, build some new cars.”

With Cassill and Creed among a handful of competitors failing to make the Playoffs, Hemric and Sieg join 10 other competitors in a seven-race battle for the 2022 Xfinity Series championship. Their Playoff battle begins next Saturday, September 24, at Texas Motor Speedway with the event’s coverage to commence at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

September 16, 2022
Cassill to make 200th Xfinity career start at Darlington

In his 13th season with at least one start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Landon Cassill is primed to reach a milestone start of his own in the series. By competing in this weekend’s Xfinity event at Darlington Raceway, the driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro will make his 200th career start in the Xfinity circuit.

A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Cassill’s racing career began at age three on a quad before evolving to go-karts, midgets, the ASA Late Model Series, legends, modified, the American Speed Association and the CRA Super Series. In 2006, he was discovered by NASCAR through the GM Racing Development competition and signed by Hendrick Motorsports for the 2007 season. Making his debut at Gateway International Raceway in July and in HMS’ No. 24 Chevrolet, Cassill finished 32nd after being involved in a multi-car wreck past the halfway stage. He returned for five additional events in 2007, where he earned a season-best result of 18th place at Dover Motor Speedway in September.

The following season, Cassill campaigned in 19 of the 35-race Xfinity schedule. During the season, he made 16 starts in the No. 5 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports while his other three scheduled starts at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Watkins Glen International occurred in the No. 4 Chevrolet for Jay Robinson Racing. Throughout the season, he notched his first career pole at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June along with a total of five top-10 results, with his best on-track result being sixth place at Gateway International Raceway in July and at Phoenix International Raceway in November. At the season’s conclusion, Cassill was named the 2008 Xfinity Rookie-of-the-Year recipient.

From 2009 to 2011, Cassill made a total of eight starts in the Xfinity Series between Phoenix Raceway, JR Motorsports and RAB Racing. During this stint, he notched a strong third-place result during the 2011 Xfinity opener at Daytona while driving the No. 1 Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing. The result occurred after he drafted Tony Stewart to a photo finish victory over Clint Bowyer.

After competing for BK Racing during the 2012 Cup Series season, Cassill returned to the Xfinity Series in 2013, where he competed in the No. 4 Chevrolet for JD Motorsports. Campaigning in 23 of the 33-race schedule, he earned five top-20 results, including two season-best results of 17th place at Talladega Superspeedway in May and at Watkins Glen International in August.

Cassill remained at JD Motorsports for the 2014 Xfinity season, where he competed in all 33-scheduled events. Compared to his previous season at JDM, he achieved three top-10 results, including two season-best eighth-place results at Talladega in April and at Road America in June. He returned for a third season at JD Motorsports in 2015, where he competed in all but four of the 33-race schedule and earned a season-best eighth-place finish at Darlington Raceway in September. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in the Xfinity Series.

After spending the 2016 and 2017 seasons in the Cup Series with Front Row Motorsports, Cassill scaled back to a part-time role in the Cup circuit with StarCom Racing in 2018. He also made select Xfinity starts between JD Motorsports, MBM Motorsports and Shepherd Racing Ventures. In five scheduled starts, his best results were a pair of fifth-place results at Darlington Raceway and at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September.

Following a 17-race Xfinity schedule in 2019 between JD Motorsports and Shepherd Racing Ventures, where he earned two top-10 results with JDM, followed by four starts with Shepherd Racing Ventures throughout the 2020 season, Cassill rejoined JD Motorsports as a full-time NASCAR Xfinity competitor between the Nos. 4 and 6 Chevrolets in 2021. Throughout the 33-race schedule, he achieved 15 top-20 results, including three season-best 12th-place results at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in February, Darlington in May and at Martinsville Speedway in October.

In December 2021, Cassill was signed by Kaulig Racing along with sponsor Voyager Digital for the 2022 Xfinity season. Piloting the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro, he has achieved three top-five results and nine top-10 results, with his highest on-track result being a runner-up result at Martinsville Speedway in April, through the first 23-scheduled events. He is currently ranked in 11th place in the regular-season standings and is above the top-12 cutline to make the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs by 12 points with three regular-season events remaining.

Through 199 previous Xfinity starts, Cassill has achieved one pole, four top-five results, 23 top-10 results, 34 laps led and an average-finishing result of 21.9 while he continues his pursuit for his first victory across NASCAR’s top three national touring series.

Cassill is scheduled to make his 200th Xfinity Series career start at Darlington Raceway on Saturday, September 3, with the event’s coverage to start at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

August 31, 2022
Austin Dillon wins and clinches 2022 Cup Series Playoff berth at Daytona

Facing a “must-win” scenario to retain his championship hopes for the 2022 season, Austin Dillon survived a whirlwind of a day to execute his lone mission of the day: winning to advance to the Cup Series Playoffs, which he did in the rain-postponed Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, August 28.

The 32-year-old Dillon from Welcome, North Carolina, led twice for 10 of 160-scheduled laps overall. He threw himself in race-winning contention after dodging the Big One with 23 laps remaining while ironically rallying from being involved in an earlier multi-car wreck with 36 laps remaining, where he slid his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sideways and backwards through pit road. Shortly after taking the lead, the race was placed in a red flag period due to rain for three hours and 19 minutes. When the race restarted for a 16-lap dash to the finish, Dillon lost the lead to rookie Austin Cindric at the start. Thirteen laps later, however, contact between Cindric and Dillon enabled the latter to reassume the top spot, where he had teammate Tyler Reddick drafting him amid a small pack of competitors. With his teammate behind him and no late challenges emerging from behind over the final three laps, Dillon was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and claim his first elusive checkered flag of the 2022 Cup Series season and race his way into the Playoffs.

In the midst of the late turn of events with Dillon winning, Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr., both of whom were involved in separate multi-car incidents of their own, were left to battle amongst one another for the 16th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs. At the conclusion of the event, Blaney claimed the final spot to the Playoffs with a top-15 finish by a mere margin over Truex, who ended up in the top 10.

With on-track qualifying that would determine the starting lineup initially scheduled for Friday but cancelled due to rain, Kyle Larson, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Watkins Glen International, was awarded the pole position based on a metric qualifying formula per NASCAR’s rulebook. Joining him on the front row was teammate Chase Elliott, the 2022 Cup regular-season champion.

When the green flag waved and the race started on Sunday morning after rain postponed the event from its original starting time from Saturday night, Larson briefly jumped ahead with an early advantage on the outside entering the first turn, but teammate Elliott received a strong push from Joey Logano and a bevy of competitors on the inside lane through the first two turns to launch ahead. With the inside lane gaining the advantage for a full lap, Elliott proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Logano, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick and Michael McDowell while Larson was mired back in seventh.

Two laps later, Elliott continued to lead ahead of Logano and Bell while Larson, the first competitor on the outside lane, moved up to fourth as the outside lane started to gain momentum towards the competitors on the inside lane.

Five laps into the event, Elliott’s No. 9 Adrenaline Shoc Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was leading a long line of competitors on the inside lane while Logano, Bell, Harvick and McDowell were in the top five. Martin Truex Jr., Cole Custer, Larson, Daniel Suarez and William Byron were scored in the top 10, with Larson remaining as the first competitor leading the outside lane.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps and with the field fanning out to three tight-packed lanes, Elliott retained the lead ahead of Logano, Bell, Harvick and McDowell. Meanwhile, Larson, who was placed in a four-wide situation entering the backstretch and was shuffled all the way outside of the top 20 earlier, was trying to carve his way back to the front as he was scored in 20th while drafting teammate Alex Bowman and Ryan Blaney on the outside lane.

Four laps later, trouble ensued for Larson as he fell off the pace entering the first turn and slowly limped his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to pit road and to the garage as he retired due to an engine issue. During Larson’s on-track issue, he stalled rookie Austin Cindric’s progress within the pack when he fell off the pace as Cindric lost the draft and was mired all the way back in 39th, eight seconds behind the leaders.

Back on the track and at the Lap 20 mark, Elliott retained the lead of the overall event on the inside lane while Erik Jones started to gain a strong run on the outside lane with drafting help from Denny Hamlin and a bevy of competitors. Not long after, a side-by-side battle for the lead commenced between Elliott and Jones as Jones continued to receive a draft from Hamlin in a bid for the lead while Elliott remained in front of Logano’s front nose to fight back and retain a narrow advantage.

Ten laps later, Erik Jones, who led the previous five of 10 laps following his side-by-side duel against Elliott, was out in front and with clean air on the inside lane followed by Hamlin, Elliott, Blaney, and Logano while Bell, Corey LaJoie, Harvick, rookie Harrison Burton and McDowell were in the top 10. By then, Cindric was lapped by the field.

Just then on Lap 30, the first caution of the event flew when Hamlin, who nearly got Jones sideways entering the backstretch, slipped sideways in his No. 11 FedEx Cares Toyota TRD Camry and triggered a chain reaction wreck that involved teammate Bell, Keselowski, Harvick and Blaney while everyone else scattered to avoid the calamity. The incident moved Truex, who dodged the incident, up to 15th place in the regular-season standings while Blaney, who lost multiple lanes on pit lane for repairs after damaging the right front of his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang, fell back towards the edge of the cutline in 16th place in the standings and in jeopardy of not making the postseason in the case of a new winner. The incident also eliminated Keselowski from Playoff contention amid a disappointing campaign in his first season as a driver/co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

During the caution period, nearly the entire field pitted while names like Elliott, Harrison Burton, Logano, Truex, BJ McLeod, Noah Gragson and Kyle Busch remained on the track.

With a single lap remaining in the first stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Elliott jumped ahead on the inside lane while Logano received drafting help from Truex on the outside lane to challenge for the lead. Logano then moved in front of Elliott to assume the lead. As Elliott tried to move to the outside lane of Logano to reassume the lead exiting the backstretch, Logano managed to maintain his advantage on the inside lane through the final two turns and beat Elliott back to the start/finish line to claim the first stage victory on Lap 35, thus claiming his fifth stage victory of the 2022 season. Elliott settled in second followed by Harrison Burton, Kyle Busch, Truex, LaJoie, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Erik Jones and McDowell. By then, Blaney was mired back in 34th and three laps behind the leaders.

Under the stage break, some led by Logano pitted while the rest led by LaJoie, who pitted prior to the first stage’s conclusion, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Kyle Busch was sent to the rear for running over equipment. Prior to the restart, names like Chase Briscoe, Gragson, Truex, Elliott and Kyle Busch returned to pit road to top off on fuel.

The second stage started on Lap 40 as LaJoie and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, LaJoie and Wallace dueled for the lead as Wallace had drafting help from Erik Jones while LaJoie was getting drafted by Stenhouse. Following a side-by-side battle for nearly a full lap, Wallace assumed command on the outside lane. Not long after, a third drafting line formed as Christopher Buescher launched his bid for the lead. As Wallace moved up the track to stall Buescher’s progress, Erik Jones moved into the lead with drafting help from LaJoie, who soon moved to the inside of Jones to challenge for the lead. By then, the field fanned out the three tight-packed lanes as LaJoie moved into the lead despite being challenged by Jones and Buescher.

Through the first 50 scheduled laps, Erik Jones, who reassumed the lead on Lap 46, was leading ahead of Wallace, Buescher and a number of competitors on the outside lane while LaJoie was leading the charge on the inside lane. Shortly after, Wallace was shuffled out of the lead pack and Jones lost the lead as Buescher moved to the lead with drafting help from LaJoie. By then, Ty Gibbs, who remained as an interim competitor in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota TRD Camry for Kurt Busch, was lapped by the field.

Ten laps later, Erik Jones, who led the previous seven of 10 laps, was out in front ahead of Byron and Buescher while Bowman issued his challenge for the lead on the outside lane with drafting help from Hamlin. By then, Blaney, who was a lap down at the start of the second stage, was lapped for a second time by the field with a flapped hood amid his early wreck.

Another five laps later, Hamlin, who rallied from his early incident, was leading for the first time ahead of Logano, Burton, Kyle Busch, Daniel Hemric and Ross Chastain while Jones, who fell back into the top 10, remained as the first competitor on the inside lane ahead of Byron. Meanwhile, Buescher was shuffled all the way back to 27th.

Nearing the Lap 70 mark, Erik Jones drifted his No. 43 Focus Factor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 towards the rear of the rear while bailing out of the lead pack as Hamlin continued to lead ahead of Logano, Burton, Kyle Busch and Justin Haley. By then, Gilliland was in sixth followed by Harvick, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon and Chastain while Bowman, Byron, Hemric, LaJoie, Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Truex, Daniel Suarez, Cole Custer and Cindric were in the top 20.

Six laps later, the first round of green flag pit stops ensued as Toyota competitors Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Wallace and Truex peeled off the track to pit for fuel. Another two laps later, the rest of the field led by Logano pitted for fuel as Logano was the first competitor to exit pit road. Amid the pit stops and with the event reaching its halfway mark on Lap 80, McLeod was leading ahead of Elliott, Reddick, Stenhouse, Kyle Busch, Burton and the rest of the field.

By Lap 81, however, Elliott was back out in front before he was overtaken by Reddick with drafting help from Kyle Busch during the following lap. By then, the Toyota competitors that included Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Truex and Wallace cycled their way towards the top five after pitting two laps earlier than the field.

At the Lap 90 mark, Kyle Busch and Reddick, both of whom led a combined six of the previous 10 laps, were locked dead even for the lead before Reddick assumed command with drafting help from Elliott as the field began to stack up in two tight-packed lanes. By then, Gibbs and Blaney were lapped by the field, with Gibbs five laps behind the leaders while Blaney was now six laps behind.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 95, Kyle Busch fended off the field through multiple lanes in his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry to claim his second stage victory of the season. Teammate Truex edged teammate Hamlin and Logano in a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot while Wallace, Gilliland, Reddick, Harvick, Stenhouse and Austin Dillon were scored in the top 10. By then, Elliott was shuffled all the way back to 16th while Blaney was mired in 34th and six laps behind the leaders.

Under the stage break, names like Ty Dillon, Buescher and McLeod remained on the track while the rest led by Kyle Busch pitted. During the pit stops, Busch was penalized for speeding on pit road. Prior to the start of the final stage, names like Ty Dillon, McLeod, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, Gilliland, Erik Jones, Gragson, Suarez and Blaney returned to pit road for service.

With 60 laps remaining, the final stage started as McDowell, who assumed the lead after only opting for fuel, and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, McDowell emerged out in front with drafting help from Logano on the inside lane before Logano pulled out on the outside lane and took the lead with drafting help from teammate Cindric.

A lap later, the caution returned when McDowell got hooked off the front nose of Reddick in the backstretch as he slapped the outside wall and veered back across the superspeedway before clipping LaJoie and triggering another multi-car wreck that involved Chastain, Buescher and Byron. Among those involved included Truex, who slowly limped his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry back to pit road with right-front fender damage. In the midst of the wreck, McDowell’s Playoff hopes came to an end as he was unable to continue.

With 53 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Logano and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick’s No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchens Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 received drafting help from Stenhouse’s No. 47 NOS Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the outside lane while Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang retained the lead as he received drafting help from Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the inside lane. Reddick was able to lead the following lap before Logano reassume the top spot the lap after.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Reddick and Logano dueled for the lead followed by Stenhouse, Bowman, Wallace, Cindric, Briscoe, Hamlin, Custer, Burton and a bevy of competitors with potential weather threats looming near the superspeedway.

A few laps later, the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes as Reddick retained the lead ahead of Wallace, Logano and Bowman while moving from the inside to the outside lane to preserve his narrow advantage. As Reddick tried to fend off Wallace and the field with the lead, Bowman made his move into the lead with 46 laps remaining as he received drafting help from Stenhouse and Logano.

With 40 laps remaining, Bowman continued to lead the race and a long line of competitors on the outside lane followed by Stenhouse, Logano, Briscoe and Custer. On the inside lane, Kyle Busch was in seventh with drafting help from Toyota teammates Wallace and Hamlin. By then, Truex, who remained on the lead lap, was in 26th while Blaney, who remained six laps behind the leaders, was mired back in 30th.

Four laps later and just as Logano reassumed the lead from Bowman with drafting help from Briscoe, the caution flew when Briscoe, who moved from the bottom to the outside lane entering the frontstretch, got loose off the front nose of Bowman as he spun and veered back into the outside wall in front of a bevy of competitors on the outside lane. In the midst of his incident and spin, Briscoe’s No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang briefly came off the ground before his car came to a rest in the frontstretch grass. Among those involved included Bowman, Custer, Stenhouse, Gilliland, Wallace and Austin Dillon, who spun his No. 3 BREZTRI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through pit road, as Wallace, who slid through the frontstretch grass, emerged with left-front fender damage to his No. 23 DoorDash Toyota TRD Camry. In the midst of the incident, some like Wallace and Dillon continued while the rest including Briscoe were eliminated from title contention.

During the caution period, names like Justin Haley, Erik Jones and McLeod remained on the track while the rest led by Logano pitted.

With 30 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Haley received a draft from Logano to retain the lead before Erik Jones started to gain momentum on the outside lane. Entering the backstretch, however, the caution returned when Erik Jones slipped off the front nose of Almirola and veered into the path of Logano as both spun below the backstretch and were dodged by the field. In the midst of the incident, Aric Almirola emerged in the runner-up spot behind Haley while Daniel Suarez, Buescher and Elliott were in the top five. In addition, Truex was in 14th while Blaney was mired in 29th and still six laps behind the leaders.

Four laps later, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Haley fended off both lanes to retain the lead as Suarez issued his challenge for the lead on the inside lane with drafting help from Kyle Busch while Almirola was on the outside lane with drafting help from Buescher.

Another lap later, Suarez moved to the outside of Haley through the frontstretch as he moved into the lead with drafting help from Almirola while Haley fell back to third in front of Kyle Busch and Hamlin. Shortly after, a stack-up through the backstretch allowed Hamlin to challenge Suarez for the top spot.

Just then and with 23 laps remaining, the caution returned when nearly the entire field led by Suarez and Hamlin slipped sideways and wrecked in Turn 1 as rain was being reported around the superspeedway venue. Amid the late turns of events and with nearly everyone running towards the lead pack wrecked, Austin Dillon, who was running in the middle of the pack but dodged his wrecked fellow competitors while running below the apron, emerged out in front with the lead followed by Kevin Harvick, Cindric, Cody Ware and Kyle Busch while Truex, Landon Cassill, David Ragan, McLeod and Noah Gragson were scored in the top 10.

Two laps later, the field led by Austin Dillon were led to pit road and the race was red-flagged due to inclement weather and with rain falling amid dark clouds and a shining sun.

Following a delay of three hours and 19 minutes as the track was dried out amid the extensive rain delay, the red flag was lifted and the field returned to the track under a cautious pace. Meanwhile, Harvick, who was in second during the red flag delay, retired and had his No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang towed back to the garage after sustaining terminal damage from the Big One prior to the red flag period. Harrison Burton also retired after failing to maintain speed under the damage vehicle policy as the number of lead lap competitors dwindled to 10 led by Austin Dillon.

Down to the final 16 laps of the event, the green flag waved and the race restarted. At the start, Dillon and Cindric briefly dueled for the lead until Cindric received a draft from Truex to launch his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang into the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Cindric retained the lead followed by Austin Dillon and Landon Cassill wile Truex got shuffled back to fourth in front of teammate Kyle Busch and Reddick.

During the following lap, Cindric led a four-car breakaway from the small pack followed by Austin Dillon, Cassill and Truex while Kyle Busch led the small pack ahead of Cody Ware, Reddick, McLeod, Ragan and Gragson. Meanwhile, Wallace was in 11th and a lap behind the leaders while Logano was in 12th, two laps behind. Logano’s teammate Blaney continued to run six laps behind in 18th place.

With 10 laps remaining, Cindric continued to lead ahead of Austin Dillon, Cassill and Gragson, who received drafting help from Reddick to catch the four-car lead pack, while Truex fell back to fifth. Truex soon lost ground of the lead pack as he settled in sixth with Cassill in fifth while Gragson situated himself behind Cindric and Austin Dillon as Reddick settled stabilized himself behind Gragson’s No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Cindric retained the lead ahead of a four-year breakaway from the scattered pack followed by Austin Dillon, Gragson and Reddick while Cassill trailed by two seconds. Truex, meanwhile, stabilized himself in sixth while Ragan, Cody Ware, McLeod and Kyle Busch were in the top 10.

Then with three laps remaining, Austin Dillon got into the rear of Cindric as Cindric slipped sideways below the apron in Turn 1. This allowed Dillon to return to the top of the leaderboard, though he was far ahead of the pack that quickly caught back to him towards the backstretch. Through the backstretch, however, teammate Reddick settled in second behind Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet followed by a hard-charging Cassill, Gragson, Ragan and Cody Ware while Cindric fell back to seventh.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Austin Dillon remained as the leader ahead of teammate Reddick, Cassill, Ragan, Cody Ware, Cindric and Gragson. Entering the first two turns and through the frontstretch, Dillon and Reddick continued to run first and second followed by Ware. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Cindric made his move to the outside of Ware for third place. He, however, could not gain any further drafting help from behind. This allowed Dillon to return to the frontstretch with a clear racetrack and no challenges from behind as he stormed across the finish line in first place and victorious ahead of Reddick and Cindric.

By winning at Daytona in a “must-win” scenario, Austin Dillon notched his fourth career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his second at Daytona after winning the 2018 Daytona 500 and his first Cup victory since winning at Texas Motor Speedway in July 2020. Above all, he raced his way into the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs, which marked his fifth overall appearance in the Playoffs and first following a one-year absence.

“Crazy faith,” Dillon said on NBC. “We stayed ready. I got to thank my teammate Tyler Reddick, BREZTRI, Bass Pro Shops. Everybody that makes this thing happen. Man, we’re in the Playoffs. There was a lot going on there [at the end]. I knew that if we got to the white [flag], if I waited too long, I was afraid somebody would wreck behind us, so I wanted to go ahead and get the lead. We were able to get it. I had a big run to [Cindric] and then, I had my teammate back there. I knew we were in pretty good shape to the end. He did a good job checking up any kind of run. I felt like I had good teammates and Chevrolet behind me. If I could get the lead, [Cindric] would not be able to hold onto the draft. It’s crazy. You just never give up and have faith. We had some tough finishes this year like Charlotte [in May]. I beat myself over that. I made a good move and just didn’t finish it off. Today, we finished it off. I’m so proud of these guys and I’m glad to be going to Victory Lane.”

Teammate Reddick, who already solidified his spot in the 2022 Playoffs by virtue of winning twice throughout the regular-season stretch, came home in second place as he made it a 1-2 finish for Richard Childress Racing while RCR secured both competitors into the Playoffs. Cindric, who won the Daytona 500 in February and is a 2022 Cup Playoff newcomer, rallied for third place while Cassill and Gragson, both of whom were ineligible for the Playoffs but seeking their first victory in NASCAR’s premier series, finished in the top five.

“I got hit by another race car going 190-200 mph,” Cindric said. “Glad I saved it. Glad I had a shot to come back through the field. [Dillon] is racing for a playoff spot. Totally expect to get drove through. Just a matter of time. Pretty bummed. I mean, we had a shot to win today. We put ourselves in position. Not a scratch on [the car]. Dang it. I knew I was a sitting duck. I felt like I was Xfinity racing again. I was the only Ford out there. One lap longer, [I] might have had a shot. I don’t know. Just frustrating just to be that close. Kind of pissed about it, but can’t be too upset. In the Playoffs and have a lot to fight for. Great opportunity.”

Cody Ware, McLeod, Truex, Ragan and Kyle Busch finished in the top 10.

Meanwhile and amid the late turn of events on the track, Blaney finished 15th while still six laps behind the leaders while Truex, who lost the draft and could not gain any momentum towards the frontstretch, ended up ninth. In the end, Blaney was the beneficiary as he claimed the 16th and final spot to the Playoffs by three points over Truex. The result extended Blaney’s consecutive seasons of making the Cup Playoffs to six seasons, thus ensuring all three Team Penske cars in the Playoffs, while Truex, the 2017 Cup Series champion, missed the Playoffs for the first time since 2014.

“We’re very fortunate, that’s for sure,” Blaney, who continues to pursue his first victory of the season, said. “It was not a good day get going. You get torn up early and that point, our fate was not really in our hands. All we could do was try to keep working on it and fix it to where we could make laps. Thankfully, we were able to get enough cars throughout the wrecks that we kind of just kept moving up and we were able to get in. That’s definitely a lot more stressful than I wanted coming into here, but I just got to give a lot of props to the No. 12 group for fixing [the car] and sticking with it all day. That’s why you do it. Your day could start off like that and you just stay with them. Stay in the game and it was definitely beneficial for us, so I appreciate them. We’ll go race for a championship…Definitely, a roller coaster of emotions and luckily, it ended on a high for our group.”

“Just not fast enough to keep up with those guys,” Truex said. “We got the restart we needed and got in a decent spot there. Just couldn’t keep up. I was wide open the whole last run there. It’s a shame. It stinks, but just too much damage to have enough speed to do what we needed to do. Hindsight’s always 20/20. We gave away plenty of points throughout the season, but it is what it is.”

Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez, rookie Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman and Austin Dillon have made the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Aric Almirola, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Justin Haley, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Cole Custer, Brad Keselowski, rookie Harrison Burton, Ty Dillon, rookie Todd Gilliland, Corey LaJoie, Cody Ware and Kurt Busch, who was absent as he continues to recover from concussion-like symptoms, are the remaining competitors who did not make the Playoffs.

There were 39 lead changes for 19 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 30 laps. A total of 17 of 37 starters finished the race, with 10 finishing on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Austin Dillon, 10 laps led

2. Tyler Reddick, 13 laps led

3. Austin Cindric, 13 laps led

4. Landon Cassill

5. Noah Gragson

6. Cody Ware

7. BJ McLeod, two laps led

8. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led

9. David Ragan

10. Kyle Busch, seven laps led, Stage 2 winner

11. Bubba Wallace, one lap down, two laps led

12. Joey Logano, two laps down, 14 laps led, Stage 1 winner

13. Ty Gibbs, two laps down

14. Alex Bowman, four laps down, 11 laps led

15. Ryan Blaney, six laps down

16. Cole Custer, seven laps down

17. Erik Jones – OUT, Dvp, 22 laps led

18. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident, one lap led

19. Harrison Burton – OUT, Dvp

20. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Accident

21. Aric Almirola – OUT, Accident

22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

23. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident

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

25. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident, 13 laps led

26. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

27. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident, one lap led

28. Justin Haley – OUT, Accident, eight laps led

29. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident, 31 laps led

30. Corey LaJoie, 23 laps down, six laps led

31. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident

32. Michael McDowell – OUT, Accident, two laps led

33. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident

34. William Byron – OUT, Accident, one lap led

35. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Accident

36. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident

37. Kyle Larson – OUT, Engine

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to commence next weekend at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Cook Out Southern 500. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, September 4, at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.

August 28, 2022
Allgaier surges to late Xfinity Series victory at New Hampshire

Justin Allgaier survived a series of late cautions and carnage and stormed to the front during the final 50 laps, pulling away during a 21-lap dash to the finish to win the Crayon 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 16.

The 36-year-old veteran from Riverton, Illinois, led twice for 47 of 200 laps, including the final 19, as he withstood a late battle against Landon Cassill before beating Trevor Bayne by nearly four seconds for his third NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2022 season. Ironically, Allgaier rallied from being involved in an early incident involving newcomer Julia Landauer, where the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro sustained right-front fender damage, to preserve his tires and charge to his late victory.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Josh Berry initially qualified on pole position after posting a pole-qualifying lap at 127.163 mph in 29.952 seconds. He, however, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his car after he slapped the outside wall in Turn 2 during his qualifying session. With that, Daniel Hemric, who clocked in a fast qualifying lap at 126.930 mph in 30.007 seconds led the field to the start. Joining him on the front row was Justin Allgaier, who posted his best qualifying lap at 126.829 mph in 30.031 seconds.

Prior to the event, names like Akinori Ogata, Alex Labbe, Howie Disavino III, Joe Graf Jr. and David Starr joined Berry at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective cars. Jeremy Clements also dropped to the rear of the field for a tire change along with JJ Yeley, who changed an engine.

When the green flag waved and the race started amid a stacked start from the field, Hemric managed to clear the field entering the first two turns as he went on to lead the first lap while Ty Gibbs challenged and overtook Allgaier for the runner-up spot. Shortly after, Allgaier was locked in a three-wide battle with Trevor Bayne and Landon Cassill for position as Bayne moved up to third while the field behind jostled early for positions. Meanwhile, Brandon Jones, who was up in sixth, got shuffled back to 11th.

Then on the fifth lap, Gibbs, who attempted to make a move on Hemric for the lead entering Turn 3, got loose as his No. 54 He Gets Us Toyota Supra made slight contact against Hemric’s No. 11 AG1 Chevrolet Camaro. This allowed Bayne to move his No. 18 Devotion Nutrition Toyota Supra into the lead while Hemric and Gibbs recovered and settled in second and fourth.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Bayne was leading by nearly a second over both Hemric and Gibbs while Allgaier and William Byron occupied the top five. Cassill was in sixth ahead of teammate AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg while Riley Herbst, Brandon Jones, rookie Sheldon Creed, Brett Moffitt, Derek Griffith, rookie Austin Hill, Ty Dillon, Anthony Alfredo, Brandon Brown and Myatt Snider were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Josh Berry was mired in 27th behind Alex Labbe.

Ten laps later, Bayne’s advantage decreased to two-tenths of a second as teammate Gibbs caught and started to challenge Bayne for the lead. Behind, Allgaier was in third place, trailing the leaders by more than two seconds, while Byron was up in fourth ahead of Hemric, Cassill and Allmendinger.

Then another two laps later, Gibbs challenged and overtook teammate Bayne for the lead entering the first turn.

Just past the Lap 30 mark, an initial two-car battle for the lead between teammates Gibbs and Bayne became a four-car battle as JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier and William Byron joined the battle, with Allgaier overtaking Bayne for the runner-up spot as he pursued Gibbs for the lead.

Then on Lap 35, the first caution flew when Allgaier, who was trying to pursue Gibbs for the lead while also trying to both fend off teammate Byron and overtake the lapped car of newcomer Julia Landauer, made contact and turned Landauer on the frontstretch as she backed her No. 45 Garage XYZ Chevrolet Camaro against the inside wall while Allgaier proceeded despite sustaining right-front fender damage.

During the caution period, names like Ryan Sieg, Anthony Alfredo, Brandon Brown, Myatt Snider, Jeremy Clements, Bailey Currey, Mason Massey, JJ Yeley and Joe Graf Jr. remained on the track while the rest of the field led by Gibbs pitted. During the pit stops, Byron lost several spots on pit road after he got blocked by Creed in front of his pit stall.

With four laps remaining in the first stage, the event restarted under green. At the start, Sieg took off with the lead followed by Brown and Alfredo as the field stacked up and fanned out through the first two turns between the competitors with fresh tires and those with none.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Sieg managed to fend off a hard-charging Gibbs to claim his first stage victory of the season. Allmendinger and Byron managed to carve their way up to third and fourth while Brown edged Bayne to conclude the first stage in fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were Alfredo, Cassill, Gragson and Hemric. By then, Berry was up in 13th.

Under the stage break, some led by Sieg pitted while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 52 as Gibbs and AJ Allmendinger occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs launched ahead on the outside lane with the lead while Byron challenged and overtook Allmendinger for the runner-up spot through the backstretch. With Byron succeeding in his brief battle against Allmendinger, Bayne challenged Cassill for fourth place as Hemric, Gragson, Allgaier, Creed, Riley Herbst and Berry battled for spots in the top 10.

Through the first 60 scheduled laps, Gibbs was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Byron while Allmendinger, Cassill and Bayne occupied the top five. Hemric was in sixth ahead of Herbst, Gragson, Creed and Berry while Allgaier, Ty Dillon, Hill, Sieg, Brandon Jones, Mayer, Jeb Burton, Brown, Alex Labbe and Myatt Snider were in the top 20.

At the Lap 75 mark, Gibbs continued to lead by more than a second over Byron while Cassill was up in third ahead of teammate Allmendinger and Bayne. Meanwhile, Allgaier was mired back in ninth behind teammates Gragson and Berry.

Six laps later and with the leaders mired in lapped traffic, Byron moved his No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro into the lead over Gibbs. Cassill, Allmendinger and Bayne remained in the top five while Gragson started to pressure Hemric for sixth place.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Byron captured the stage victory by nearly three seconds over Cassill while Gibbs, Allmendinger, Bayne, Hemric, Allgaier, Berry, Herbst and Sieg were scored in the top 10. Just as the stage concluded, Gragson, who was battling Hemric for sixth place, got bumped and turned by Hemric entering Turn 3 as he spun and dropped to 17th.

Under the stage break, the leaders led by Byron pitted and Byron retained the lead followed by Cassill, Allmendinger, Hemric, Berry and Bayne. During the pit stops, Gibbs lost a few laps to the leaders due to a mechanical issue with his car.

With 103 laps remaining, the final stage started as Byron and Cassill occupied the front row. During the start, however, the caution quickly returned for a two-car wreck involving Matt Mills and Julia Landauer in Turn 1. The wreck was enough to terminate Landauer’s Xfinity debut in the garage and with a wrecked race car.

Six laps later, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Byron briefly retained the lead until he went wide and fell off the pace due to suffering a flat tire. With Byron pitting under green and losing a lap to the leaders, Cassill moved into the lead followed by teammate Allmendinger, Berry, Allgaier and Hemric while Creed, Ty Dillon, Bayne, Gragson and Herbst were in the top 10.

Shortly after, the caution returned when Hemric lost a left-rear tire, spun and wrecked hard against the Turn 3 outside wall as his strong run came to an end.

With 89 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Berry, who started at the rear of the field despite recording the pole, assumed the lead over Cassill while Creed battled and overtook Allmendinger for third place in front of Gragson. Behind, Ty Dillon and Allgaier battled for sixth ahead of Bayne, Sieg and Herbst.

Then with 85 laps remaining, the caution flew when Derek Griffith spun in Turn 4. During the caution period, some like Austin Hill pitted while the rest led by Berry remained on the track.

With 79 laps remaining, the event proceeded under green. At the start and as the field stacked up when Ty Dillon missed a shift, Berry and Cassill duked dead even for the lead as Gragson muscled his way into third place ahead of Allmendinger and Creed. During the following lap, Cassill cleared Berry to take the lead while Gragson challenged teammate Berry for the top spot.

Then with 76 laps remaining, the caution returned when Creed tapped and spun Berry’s No. 8 Tire Pros Chevrolet Camaro in the backstretch. Berry’s incident, which occurred in the middle of the backstretch, ignited a chain reaction, a stack-up and a multi-car wreck involving Mayer, Brandon Jones, Herbst, Myatt Snider, Sieg and Jeb Burton, who lifted Sieg’s rear tires off the ground as he briefly went into the air before coming back down as Burton’s front nose was left demolished. The wreck was enough for the event to be red-flagged for more than seven minutes.

When the red flag lifted and the field proceeded at a cautious pace, names like Brandon Brown, Alfredo, Kyle Weatherman, Labbe, Austin Hill, Brandon Jones and Bayley Currey remained on the track while the rest led by Cassill pitted.

Following an extensive caution period, the event proceeded under green with 63 laps remaining. At the start, Brown rocketed with the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. Then through the backstretch, Creed, who was racing on fresh tires, pulled a bold four-wide move on teammate Hill, Labbe and Alfredo to assume the runner-up spot as Alfredo got loose and smacked the outside wall in Turn 3. With the race remaining under green, Creed moved his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro into the lead during the following lap as Cassill cycled his way into third place.

With 58 laps remaining, Allmendinger and Labbe made contact against one another as Allmendinger, who received miscommunication from his spotter, sent Labbe into the outside wall on the frontstretch. In the midst of the carnage, Brandon Jones, who was trying to avoid the incident, was hit by Brett Moffitt as his No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra spun and pounded the inside wall head-on as his event came to an end, and with the caution returning.

With nearly 50 laps remaining, the event restarted under green as Creed and Cassill battled for the lead. Behind, Allgaier utilized the outside lane to muscle his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro into third place through the backstretch. During the following lap, Cassill cleared Creed to assume the lead while Allgaier rocketed into the runner-up spot. Behind, teammates Hill and Creed battled for third in front of Byron, who recovered from falling a lap behind in the early laps of the final stage.

Then with 48 laps remaining, Allgaier peaked ahead as he took the lead despite having Cassill close to his rear bumper. While Allgaier and Cassill battled for the lead, Creed and Byron duked for third while Gragson and Bayne overtook Hill for fifth and sixth.

With 40 laps remaining, Allgaier was leading by six-tenths of a second over Cassill while Byron, Bayne and Creed were scored in the top five. Gragson settled in sixth ahead of Hill while Moffitt, Ty Dillon and Brandon Brown occupied the top 10.

Shortly after, disaster struck again for Byron, who fell off the pace while running in third place and pitted under green for a second time due to a mechanical issue with his No. 88 entry. In comparison to his previous issue at the start of the final stage, this issue cost Byron multiple laps and the opportunity to win.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Allgaier continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Cassill while Bayne trailed in third place by more than three seconds. Meanwhile, Creed and Gragson battled for fourth while Hill, Ty Dillon, Moffitt, Brown and Bayley Currey were scored in the top 10.

Then with 26 laps remaining, the caution flew when smoke billowed out of the No. 13 entry piloted by Akinori Ogata entering the backstretch as the Japanese competitor limped his car back to the garage.

Down to the final 21 laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Allgaier and Cassill battled for the lead through the first two turns until Cassill utilized the inside lane to his advantage as he moved his No. 10 Carnomaly Chevrolet Camaro back into the lead. With the field jostling for late positions, Cassill and Allgaier battled for the lead once again as both Gragson and Bayne settled in third and fourth.

Then with 18 laps remaining, Allgaier reassumed the lead through the backstretch. As Cassill tried to draw himself alongside Allgaier through the following two turns, Gragson issued his challenge on Cassill for the runner-up spot with Bayne settling in fourth. Meanwhile, Brandon Brown, racing on four fresh tires, overtook Creed to move into the top five.

With less than 15 laps remaining, Allgaier was ahead by eight-tenths of a second over Cassill followed by a three-car battle for third place between Bayne, Gragson and Brown.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than a second over Cassill, who had Bayne close in on him for the runner-up spot. Meanwhile, Gragson and Brown battled for fourth while Creed, Ty Dillon, Hill, Clements and Kyle Weatherman were in the top 10.

With five laps remaining, Allgaier remained as the leader by more than two seconds over both Cassill and Bayne, with both competitors dueling hard for the runner-up spot in front of Gragson.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allgaier was leading by more than four seconds over Bayne, who withstood his late, furious battle against Cassill. Having a clear race track in front of him while preserving his tires to perfection, Allgaier was able to cruise his way back to the frontstretch as he captured his third checkered flag of the season.

With the victory, Allgaier achieved his first victory at the Magic Mile as he became the second Xfinity regular to achieve three-plus victories this season along with recording his 19th career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In addition, Allgaier’s victory at New Hampshire snapped a six-year winning streak for Toyota at the Magic Mile with Chevrolet achieving its first win at New Hampshire since 2007 and it was the eighth of the season for JR Motorsports.

“We finished second last year to [a Toyota driver],” Allgaier said on USA Network. “I told these guys [that] I really wanted to win here. This place has been so much fun over the years. First of all, it’s my wife’s birthday today. If I came here with my wife on her birthday, the best way to do it is to take home a trophy to her. Just proud of our team. I didn’t do a good job early on in the race. I apologize to Julia [Landauer] and the No. 45 team. I got into her. I still don’t know what happened, but I just feel bad no matter the case was. [I] Just felt like all day, I wasn’t doing a good job and the guys kept me calm with great pit stops all day. [Spotter] Eddie D’Hondt’s awesome up on the spotter stand. Just really proud of this team. God’s good and you fans, thank you for coming out. This place never disappoints. Love coming to New Hampshire.”

Finishing in the runner-up spot for the second time of the year and to Allgaier was Bayne, who also posted his fourth top-five result in his part-time campaign with Joe Gibbs Racing. Bayne’s next scheduled Xfinity event is at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October.

“First of all, I never knew what it was like to be frustrated with second place so much,” Bayne said. “Now, watching Dale’s [Earnhardt Jr.] car out there, the No. 7 gets smaller in my windshield two races in a row, has not been fun. We got to figure out how to beat these guys, how to win races. I know we’re close, but what did I need? I think it was just short-run speed. To fight back to finish second was a good day, but I really wanted to see my kids hold a lobster in Victory Lane. I don’t know what it’s gonna take. Thankful to be here. Thankful for Devotion [Nutrition] for allowing me to [race]. I wanna do it more. That’s for sure.”

Cassill, who led 17 laps, settled in third place for his fourth top-five result of the season while Gragson and Brown finished in the top five.

“[This run] just says a lot [about this team],” Cassill said. “I’m really proud of these guys. We worked really hard in the sim and they made a lot of improvements on this car. Fast as Xfinity Internet, right? I just didn’t have any right-rear tire left for Justin [Allgaier] at the end there. [I] Gave it all I had on that restart, but I just can’t thank Kaulig Racing enough for having me in their car. We’ll get that win soon.”

Following the event, however, Cassill and Gragson were disqualified from their top-five results after their respective cars were found to be low during the post-race inspection process. With that, Brown was promoted to third place followed by Jeremy Clements and Creed. Completing the top 10 were Ty Dillon, Hill, Weatherman, Mason Massey and Bayley Currey.

There were 15 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 56 laps.

With eight races remaining in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season stretch, AJ Allmendinger continues to lead the regular season standings by 16 points over Justin Allgaier, 28 over Ty Gibbs, 87 over Josh Berry and 99 over Noah Gragson.

Ty Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, Josh Berry, rookie Austin Hill and Brandon Jones are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Xfinity Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular season stretch while Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Sieg and Landon Cassill occupy the remaining vacant spots to the Playoffs based on points. Brandon Brown trails the top-12 cutline to make the Playoffs by 61 points, rookie Sheldon Creed trails by 63, Anthony Alfredo trails by 69, Brett Moffitt trails by 79, Jeb Burton trails by 98, Jeremy Clements trails by 122, Myatt Snider trails by 138 and Alex Labbe trails by 143 points.

Results:

1. Justin Allgaier, 47 laps led

2. Trevor Bayne, 17 laps led

3. Brandon Brown, 12 laps led

4. Jeremy Clements

5. Sheldon Creed, 10 laps led

6. Ty Dillon

7. Austin Hill

8. Kyle Weatherman

9. Mason Massey

10. Bayley Currey

11. David Starr

12. Joe Graf Jr.

13. CJ McLaughlin

14. Brett Moffitt

15. Sam Mayer

16. Patrick Emerling

17. Howie Disavino III

18. Derek Griffith

19. Ryan Vargas

20. AJ Allmendinger

21. Ty Gibbs, four laps down, 49 laps led

22. Matt Mills, eight laps down

23. JJ Yeley, 10 laps down

24. Josh Williams – OUT, Electrical

25. Akinori Ogata – OUT, Engine

26. William Byron – OUT, Electrical, 22 laps led, Stage 2 winner

27. Alex Labbe – OUT, Accident

28. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident

29. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

30. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

31. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident, 11 laps led

32. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Accident, 10 laps led, Stage 1 winner

33. Jeb Burton – OUT, Accident

34. Myatt Snider – OUT, Accident

35. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident, five laps led

36. Julia Landauer – OUT, Accident

37. Landon Cassill – Disqualified, 17 laps led

38. Noah Gragson – Disqualified

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of the season to Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, July 23, at 5 p.m. ET on USA Network.

July 16, 2022
Allgaier cruises to a dominant Xfinity Series victory at Nashville

Justin Allgaier outlasted the warm humidity surrounding the state of Tennessee by scoring a dominant NASCAR Xfinity Series win in the Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday, June 25.

The 36-year-old Allgaier from Riverton, Illinois, led five times for a race-high 134 of 188 laps, including the final 40. He swept both stages en route to his second Xfinity victory of the 2022 season and his first at Nashville after beating runner-up Trevor Bayne by four-and-a-half seconds.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring Saturday, Riley Herbst started on pole position for the second time in his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 156.665 mph in 30.562 seconds. Joining him on the front row was AJ Allmendinger, winner of the previous Xfinity event at Portland International Raceway who posted a qualifying lap at 156.200 mph in 30.653 seconds.

Prior to the event, Tyler Reddick started at the rear of the field due to an engine change. Natalie Decker also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to her car.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Herbst and Allmendinger dueled early for the lead through the first two turns until Allmendinger gained the advantage on the outside lane in Turn 3 to take the lead as he led the first lap. Behind, the field fanned out and jostled for positions through the frontstretch as Allmendinger stabilized his early advantage over Herbst.

By the fifth lap, Allmendinger was leading by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Herbst followed by Trevor Bayne, rookie Austin Hill and Justin Allgaier while Jeb Burton, Josh Berry, Daniel Hemric, Noah Gragson and Brandon Jones were in the top 10.

At the Lap 10 mark, Allmendinger continued to lead by a second over Herbst while Allgaier continued his march to the front as he battled Bayne for third place. Behind, Hill remained in fifth while Gragson, Brandon Jones and Ty Gibbs battled for ninth.

Five laps later, Allgaier muscled his No, 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro to the runner-up spot after he overtook Herbst’s No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang. Another four laps later, Allgaier emerged as the second leader of the event after he overtook Allmendinger’s No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro for the top spot.

Through the first 35 laps of the event, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than four seconds over both Allmendinger and Herbst as Hill and Bayne joined the battle in the top five. Meanwhile, Berry was in sixth while Jeb Burton, Ty Gibbs, Brandon Jones and Hemric were in the top 10. Sam Mayer was in 11th ahead of teammate Noah Gragson, Landon Cassill, Ryan Preece and Jeffrey Earnhardt while rookie Sheldon Creed, Brett Moffitt, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Brown and Kyle Weatherman were in the top 20.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Allgaier, who continued to extend his advantage to six seconds, captured his fourth stage victory of the 2022 Xfinity season. Bayne made his way into the runner-up spot followed by Herbst, Allmendinger, Hill, Berry, Gibbs, Brandon Jones, Mayer and Gragson.

Under the stage break, the field led by Allgaier pitted as Allgaier exited with the lead followed by teammate Berry, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger, Gibbs and Hill. Following the pit stops, Kaulig Racing’s Allmendinger, Cassill and Hemric were penalized for speeding on pit road along with Sheldon Creed and Kyle Sieg. Jeb Burton was also penalized due to an equipment interference while Bayne endured a slow pit stop due to Herbst hitting Bayne’s crew member.

The second stage started on Lap 52 as teammates Allgaier and Berry occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Allgaier rocketed away with the lead while Gibbs battled Berry for the runner-up spot. Behind, teammate Mayer along with Brandon Jones, Herbst and Hill battled towards the front as Allgaier checked away from the field.

By Lap 60, Allgaier was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Gibbs followed by Mayer, Herbst and Hill while Berry, Gragson, Bayne, Brandon Jones and Ryan Preece were running in the top 10. By then, Allmendinger was mired in 13th, Tyler Reddick was up in 16th and Hemric was back in 22nd.

At the Lap 75 mark, Allgaier extended his advantage to nearly one-and-a-half seconds over Gibbs while Mayer, Herbst and Bayne remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Hill was back in 10th while Preece made his way up to eighth. Allmendinger could only make his way back up to 11th while Hemric was mired in 17th ahead of teammate Landon Cassill.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Allgaier claimed his fifth stage victory of this season and swept both stages of the event in Nashville after beating Gibbs by more than two seconds. Gibbs settled in second followed by Mayer, Herbst, Bayne, Gragson, Berry, Brandon Jones, Preece and Hill.

Under the stage break, the leaders led by Allgaier returned to pit road as Gibbs edged Allgaier to emerge with the lead followed by Bayne, Gragson, Herbst and Mayer. Following the pit stops, Mayer and Anthony Alfredo were penalized for speeding on pit road.

With 92 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Allgaier and Gibbs dueled for the lead through the backstretch until Allgaier retained the lead approaching Turn 4. Behind, Bayne and Hill battled for third in front of a flurry of competitors led by Brandon Jones.

Back at the front, Gibbs reignited his battle for the lead against Allgaier as he swapped the top spot with the JR Motorsports veteran before he assumed the lead with 89 laps remaining. Allgaier, however, fought back during the following lap as the battle between him and Gibbs continued to ignite. Behind, Bayne trailed by eight-tenths of a second while Brandon Jones, Hill and Allmendinger, who rallied from his early pit road speeding penalty, battled for spots in the top five.

With 83 laps remaining, the caution flew when Berry slipped sideways and spun off the front nose of Preece through the backstretch. During the caution period, some like Ryan Sieg, Brandon Brown, Alfredo and Berry pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.

Four laps later, the race proceeded under green, At the start, Allgaier gained another strong start to retain the lead while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bayne and Ty Gibbs battled for the runner-up spot. Behind, Hill was in fourth ahead of Hemric, who recovered from his early pit road speeding penalty, while a three-wide action occurred between Gragson, Creed and Jeb Burton.

Then with 72 laps remaining, the caution returned when Jeffrey Earnhardt made contact while battling Creed as he spun off of Turn 4 while being dodged by the field. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Allgaier pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Preece and Bayne were penalized for equipment interference.

With 66 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Allmendinger and Brandon Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Allmendinger took off with the lead followed by Jones and Gragson as the field fanned out.

Then during the following lap, the caution flew when Jeb Burton made contact and turned Creed sideways into the outside wall in Turn 1 as Joe Graf Jr. was also involved.

When the race restarted under green with 58 laps remaining, Allmendinger fended Brandon Jones to retain the lead as Allgaier bolted his way towards the front on four fresh tires. Meanwhile, Gragson remained in third ahead of Hemric and Gibbs while Cassill, Mayer, Ryan Sieg and Tyler Reddick were in the top 10. Shortly after, Myatt Snider spun behind the leaders, but the race proceeded under green.

Four laps later, the battle for the lead between Brandon Jones and Allmendinger ignited as Jones made his move beneath Allmendinger’s No. 16 Chevrolet through the turns. The former, however, was able to fend off the challenges entering the straightaways as Gragson joined the battle. Meanwhile, Allgaier battled and overtook Gibbs for fourth place.

With less than 50 laps remaining, Allmendinger stabilized his advantage to nearly half a second over Brandon Jones while third-place Gragson trailed by nearly seven-tenths of a second. Allgaier and Gibbs remained in the top five followed by Mayer while Hemric, Herbst, Bayne, Hill and Cassill battled within the top 10.

Then with 42 laps remaining, contact ensued between rivals Gibbs and Mayer as Mayer got into the left-rear quarter panel of Gibbs’ No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra entering Turn 4 while both were battling in the top five. With Gibbs sideways, he made contact with Mayer’s No. 1 Huck’s Market Chevrolet Camaro and both competitors bumped and rubbed fenders before both managed to continue running straight as the race proceeded under green. The contact placed Mayer in fifth while Gibbs fell back to eighth behind Herbst.

Back at the front, Allgaier reassumed the lead with 37 laps remaining after tracking and overtaking Allmendinger on four fresh tires while Brandon Jones and Gragson settled in third and fourth.

With 30 laps remaining, the battle for the runner-up spot ensued as Gragson overtook Brandon Jones before he issued his challenge on Allmendinger. With Allgaier checking out and leading by nearly four seconds, Bayne, who rallied from his late pit road penalty, made his way into the top five as he then overtook teammate Brandon Jones for fourth place.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Allgaier continued to lead by more than three seconds over Bayne, who made his way into the runner-up spot, while Gragson, Herbst and Brandon Jones were in the top five. Shortly after, however, Gragson, who had not pitted since the conclusion of the second stage, pitted for four fresh tires and fuel. Brandon Jones would soon pit along with Allmendinger, Hemric and Cassill.

With 10 laps remaining, Allgaier remained as the leader by more than nearly four seconds over Bayne while Herbst, Gibbs and Mayer were up in the top five. By then, Preece was in sixth followed by Hill, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ryan Sieg and Brett Moffitt.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allgaier stabilized his advantage to four seconds over Bayne. Having a clear racetrack in front of him with a dominant race car, Allgaier was able to cycle his way back to the finish line and claim his second checkered flag of the 2022 Xfinity season.

With his second victory of the season and first at Nashville, Allgaier recorded his 18th career win in the Xfinity Series, his 15th driving for JR Motorsports, as he became the fifth multi-winner of this year’s Xfinity season.

“What a heck of a race,” Allgaier said on USA Network. “I’ve been coming here a long time and love this racetrack, and have been trying to go to Victory Lane so bad and haven’t been able to do it. Today was for the dirt racers, though, ‘cause it was slick, it was hot. We were sliding around. Just proud of this team, everybody at JR Motorsports, the Hendrick engine shop…These black marks [burnouts], they never get old. That’s the best race car I’ve ever had. This series is just so much fun right now. Man, that was a good race. ”

Bayne, a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, came home in the runner-up spot for his third top-five result in his fifth series start of the season while Herbst, Ty Gibbs and Mayer finished in the top five.

“I think I’ve learned a lot of perspective in the last three years,” Bayne said. “I’m still frustrated and upset right now with second because we had a winning car. I felt like I did everything I could to do today. We drove to second three times and just kept getting ourself in pit road with [Herbst] clipping our guys. Nothing my guys can do about that, but then, we had a tire get away, went all the way to the back on that last run and drove to second. Catching Allgaier, my buddy Gator, congrats to him. Proud of him, happy for him, but I wanted that guitar really bad. The thing is I’m thankful to be here, thankful to have the opportunity to drive these cars. You can see how pink I am. That’s pushing hard those last 20 laps…It’s all we could do, man. We just got to clean it up. If you’re gonna win, you got to be perfect.”

“Our Ford Mustang was really good,” Herbst said. “We got the pole and we wanted to lead some laps. Unfortunately, we didn’t lead any laps. We got quite a bit of stage points, which we needed. It’s just a really good day for everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing and myself included. I’m proud of all these guys on the No. 98 team. Just keep doing these runs and we’ll eventually get there. Just keep knocking on the door. Eventually, it will open.”

Preece, winner of Friday night’s Truck Series event at Nashville, ended up in sixth place while Jeffrey Earnhardt, Hill, Ryan Sieg and Moffitt completed the top 10.

Notably, Gragson, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger, Hemric and Cassill finished 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th following their late pit stops.

There were 13 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 27 laps.

With 11 races remaining in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season stretch, AJ Allmendinger leads the regular-season standings by 25 points over Ty Gibbs, 32 over Justin Allgaier, 42 over Noah Gragson and 75 over Josh Berry.

Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier, Josh Berry, AJ Allmendinger, Brandon Jones and rookie Austin Hill are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Xfinity Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular season stretch while Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Daniel Hemric, Landon Cassill and Ryan Sieg occupy the remaining vacant spots to the Playoffs based on points. Anthony Alfredo trails the top-12 cutline to the Playoffs by 69 points, Brett Moffitt trails by 72, Brandon Brown trails by 74, Jeb Burton trails by 93, Sheldon Creed trails by 100, Myatt Snider trails by 116, Alex Labbe trails by 141 and Jeremy Clements trails by 160.

Results.

1. Justin Allgaier, 134 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

2. Trevor Bayne

3. Riley Herbst

4. Ty Gibbs, four laps led

5. Sam Mayer

6. Ryan Preece

7. Jeffrey Earnhardt

8. Austin Hill

9. Ryan Sieg

10. Brett Moffitt

11. Brandon Brown

12. Parker Retzlaff

13. Noah Gragson, one lap down

14. Brandon Jones, one lap down, one lap led

15. Stefan Parsons, one lap won

16. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down, 48 laps led

17. Daniel Hemric, one lap down

18. Landon Cassill, one lap down

19. Ryan Vargas, one lap down

20. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down

21. Tyler Reddick, two laps down

22. Jeremy Clements, two laps down

23. Alex Labbe, two laps down

24. Ryan Ellis, three laps down

25. Kyle Sieg, three laps down

26. Patrick Emerling, three laps down

27. Myatt Snider, three laps down

28. BJ McLeod, three laps down

29. Josh Berry, four łaps down

30. Dillon Bassett, six laps down

31. Bayley Currey, seven laps down

32. Natalie Decker, seven laps down

33. JJ Yeley, 31 laps down

34. Josh Williams – OUT, Electrical

35. Jeb Burton – OUT, Accident

36. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident

37. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Accident

38. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Power

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ 13th consecutive, annual visit to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, which will occur on Saturday, July 2, at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

June 25, 2022
Stenhouse, Buescher, Suarez and Jones transfer to 2022 All-Star Race from the All-Star Open

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones completed the starting grid for the 2022 NASCAR All-Star Race after transferring from the NASCAR All-Star Open at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 22. Stenhouse, Buescher and Suarez raced their way into the main event after each claimed a stage victory, respectively, while Jones was revealed as the Fan Vote winner, thus claiming the final spot of the 24-car grid for the All-Star event.

With the starting lineup based on on-track qualifying occurring on Saturday, Tyler Reddick initially qualified on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 186.981 mph in 28.880 seconds. He, however, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. As a result, Daniel Suarez, who posted a qualifying lap at 186.903 mph in 28.892 seconds, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who qualified with a fast lap at 186.490 mph in 28.965 seconds, started on the front row.

Prior to the event, Justin Haley joined Reddick at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 31 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Stenhouse and Suarez dueled for the lead for nearly a full lap before the former pulled ahead entering the frontstretch as he led the first lap. At the same time, Chris Buescher overtook Suarez for the runner-up spot while Austin Dillon was up in fourth ahead of Erik Jones and rookie Harrison Burton.

Through the first five laps of the event, Stenhouse was leading by three-tenths of a second over Buescher followed by Suarez, Erik Jones and Austin Dillon while Burton, Corey LaJoie, Reddick, Haley and Ty Dillon were in the top 10.

By Lap 10, Stenhouse continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Buescher. Meanwhile, Reddick, who started at the rear of the field, was up in sixth place after he overtook Harrison Burton.

With five laps remaining in the first stage, Stenhouse extended his advantage to more than a second over Buescher followed by Suarez and Austin Dillon while Reddick was up in fifth ahead of Erik Jones. By then, Haley, who also started at the rear of the field, was in seventh in front of Burton, LaJoie and Ty Dillon.

At the start of the final lap of the first stage on Lap 19, Stenhouse remained as the leader by one-and-a-half seconds over Buescher. Remaining uncontested for a final full cycle, Stenhouse captured the first stage victory on Lap 20 and secured a spot in the 2022 All-Star Race, which will mark his fourth appearance in the million dollar event.

“Our Viva Camaro took off really, really strong there,” Stenhouse said. “All the Kroger team’s been working hard these last few weeks and we’ve been getting results, which is nice. Now, we get to go race for a million bucks and be in the big show, which was disappointing. We sat and watched it last year, so it feels really good. We’ll make some changes, make some adjustments and [I] got a better idea of what my car was doing there. Hopefully, we can run up through the field.”

Under the stage break, the remainder of the field led by Buescher pitted. Following the pit stops, Haley and BJ McLeod were sent to the rear of the field due to uncontrolled tire violations.

The second stage started on Lap 20 as LaJoie and Suarez occupied the front row. At the start, LaJoie took off with the lead followed by Suarez as the field scrambled and jostled behind for positions. When the field returned to the start/finish line, LaJoie was out in front ahead of Suarez and Buescher while Reddick was in fourth ahead of Erik Jones.

Then on Lap 26 and as Suarez started to pressure LaJoie for the lead, the caution flew when Landon Cassill got loose, spun and made hard contact against the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4.

When the race restarted on Lap 31, LaJoie and Suarez dueled for the lead through the backstretch until Buescher pulled a bold three-wide move on both through Turns 3 and 4 in a bid for the lead. When the field returned to the start/finish line, Buescher emerged out in front followed by Suarez and Reddick while LaJoie was back in front of Erik Jones.

By Lap 35, Buescher was leading by three-tenths of a second over Suarez followed by Reddick, Erik Jones and LaJoie while Austin Dillon was in sixth.

At the start of the final lap of the second stage on Lap 39, Buescher stabilized his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Suarez. Despite having Suarez close within his rearview mirror, Buescher was able to fend off the competition to win the second stage on Lap 40 and race his way into the 2022 All-Star Race, which will mark his second appearance in the event as both Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing competitors will contend for a million dollars.

“That was cool to be able to race our way in with our Fastenal Mustang,” Buescher said. “It was aggressive racing like we know it is when we come to the All-Star and these short runs. Get to watch them get it there side by side. I see [LaJoie] start slipping up the hill and I’m like, ‘We got to commit.’ It was cool. Had a good push down the front straightaway, had to be really protective into [Turn] 1. That grip was just starting to come in, so I’m pretty curious to see where the end of this race goes and really excited for the All-Star now.”

Under the stage break, some like Cole Custer, LaJoie pitted while the rest led by Suarez remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Custer was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

With 10 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green. At the start, Suarez and Reddick, both of whom started on the front row, dueled for the lead through the backstretch until Suarez managed to clear Reddick through Turns 3 and 4 to assume the lead.

Then with eight laps remaining, the caution flew when Reddick got loose entering Turns 3 and 4 and spun several times in the middle of the track. As the field scrambled to avoid Reddick’s spinning car, Harrison Burton collided into Reddick past the start/finish line. The incident spoiled Reddick’s opportunity to compete in the All-Star Race along for Harrison Burton.

When the race restarted with eight laps remaining, Suarez took off with a strong launch from the field as Austin Dillon moved into the runner-up spot followed by Erik Jones.

As the field returned to the start/finish line, Suarez was out in front by two-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon followed by Justin Haley, Erik Jones and LaJoie while Ty Dillon was up in sixth place.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Suarez was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon while third-place Haley trailed by more than a second.

When the white flag waved and the final lap was underway, Suarez continued to lead by more than a second over both Austin Dillon and Haley. Having no challengers coming close to his rear bumper, Suarez cycled his way back to the finish line as he won the All-Star Open for the second time in his career and earn a one-way trip to the All-Star Race for the third time in his career. Suarez’s accomplishment meant that both Trackhouse Racing competitors earned a spot for the All-Star event.

“I only wished I had to run 20 [laps], but we had to run the whole 50,” Suarez said. “Overall, just very proud of my team. Every time that I’ve been part of the All-Star Race, it’s always a lot of fun. It’s just about fun, not with the trophy. What I love the most is the part about going out there in a stage with a pit crew, with a team, everybody having a good time. I’m so happy that I’m gonna be able to do this with my No. 99 crew: Trackhouse Racing.”

In the midst of the conclusion of the event, Erik Jones, who finished in fifth place, earned the 24th and final spot after being named the Fan Vote winner. As a result, Jones earned a spot for the All-Star event for the third time in his career.

“[I] Appreciate the fans,” Jones said. “I never thought I’d have a shot to win [the Fan Vote], but the No. 43 fans are pretty strong. Been struggling a bit, but we’ll make some big changes here for tonight. Hopefully, give’em a run for it.”

Austin Dillon finished in second place, but was one of 12 competitors who did not make the 2022 All-Star Race along with Justin Haley, Corey LaJoie, Ty Dillon, Cole Custer, Todd Gilliland, Cody Ware, Garrett Smithley, BJ McLeod, Tyler Reddick, Harrison Burton and Landon Cassill.

There were four lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured four cautions for eight laps.

Results.

1. Daniel Suarez – Stage 3 winner, 10 laps led

2. Austin Dillon

3. Justin Haley

4. Corey LaJoie, 11 laps led

5. Erik Jones – Fan Vote winner

6. Ty Dillon

7. Cole Custer

8. Todd Gilliland

9. Cody Ware

10. Garrett Smithley

11. BJ McLeod

12. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident

13. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

14. Chris Buescher – Stage 2 winner, nine laps led

15. Landon Cassill – OUT, Accident

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Stage 1 winner, 20 laps led

The 2022 NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway will follow suit on Sunday, May 22, at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

May 22, 2022
Gragson survives triple-overtime attempts for first Xfinity victory at Talladega

Noah Gragson outlasted the carnage and the competition through three overtime attempts to etch his name as a winner at Talladega Superspeedway after fending off Jeffrey Earnhardt on the final lap to win the Ag-Pro 300 on Saturday, April 23.

The 23-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, led twice for seven of 124 over-scheduled laps and was able to both grab the lead and maintain it ahead of AJ Allmendinger and the field during the third of three overtime attempts after teammate Justin Allgaier ran out of fuel and fell out of contention. From there, Gragson fended off a hard-charging Jeffrey Earnhardt to streak to his second victory of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

With on-track qualifying occurring on Friday, Jeffrey Earnhardt, who was piloting the iconic No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing on a one-race deal while having support from legendary crew chief and current FOX NASCAR analyst, Larry McReynolds, started on pole position for the first time in his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 182.560 mph in 52.454 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate and Xfinity rookie Austin Hill, who posted a fast lap at 182.351 mph in 52.514 seconds.

Prior to the event, Matt Mills, Brandon Jones, Ryan Ellis, Caesar Bacarella, Shane Lee, Riley Herbst and David Starr dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective machines.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Earnhardt quickly moved his No. 3 ForeverLawn Chevrolet Camaro to the outside lane in front of teammates Hill and Sheldon Creed while Ty Gibbs was the lead competitor on the inside lane. Through Turns 3 and 4, however, Gibbs managed to muscle his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra to the lead as the field stacked up and started to fan out to multiple lanes through the tri-oval.

Through the first lap, Gibbs was leading ahead of Earnhardt while Landon Cassill and Hill battled for third place. Behind, a three-wide battle ensued between Creed, Daniel Hemric and Ryan Sieg.

By the fifth lap, Earnhardt moved into the lead for the first time followed by his Richard Childress Racing teammates Hill and Creed.

Five laps later, the first caution of the even flew when Ryan Ellis lost a left-rear tire and spun in Turn 2. Under caution, the entire field pitted as names like Anthony Alfredo, Ryan Vargas, Chandler Smith, JJ Yeley. Jeremy Clements, Mason Massey, Noah Gragson, Brandon Brown, Sam Mayer, Shane Lee and Alex Labbe took only fuel on their stops. The rest of the competitors elected for fresh tires.

On Lap 14, the race proceeded under green. At the start, teammates Hill and Earnhardt dueled for the lead as Hill had teammate Creed pushing him while Earnhardt had Cassill drafting him through Turn 2 and the backstretch. Then entering Turns 3 and 4, Hill moved his No. 21 Bennett Transp. and Logistics Chevrolet Camaro from the outside to the inside lane and managed to muscle ahead of teammate Creed to retain the lead.

With five laps remaining in the first stage, Creed drew himself in a side-by-side battle against teammate Hill for the lead through the tri-oval before Hill managed to pull in front of Creed’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro to retain the lead. A few laps later, however, Josh Berry managed to gain a run through the inside lane to lead a lap for himself.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 25, Berry, who managed to clear Hill and pull away from the field the lap prior, claimed his second stage victory of the season. Gibbs settled in second followed by AJ Allmendinger, Cassill, Hill, Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Anthony Alfredo, Sam Mayer and Brett Moffitt.

Under the stage break, some led by Berry pitted while the rest including Alfredo, Brandon Brown, JJ Yeley, Mason Massey and Alex Labbe remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 30 as Alfredo and Brown occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out to three lanes through the backstretch as Yeley made his way to the front followed by Gragson, Mayer, Alfredo and Brandon Jones while Massey drifted towards the back.

By Lap 35 and with the field still fanned out through three lanes and in a tight pack, Gragson’s No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro was leading ahead of Brett Moffitt, Berry, Brandon Jones and Alfredo.

Five laps later, Hill, who reassumed the lead on Lap 39, was back out in front ahead of Alfredo, Brown, Gragson, Mayer, Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones, Massey, Earnhardt and Allgaier.

At the Lap 45 mark, all but one of the 38 starters, Josh Williams, were separated by six-and-a-half seconds as Mayer was out in front in a side-by-side battle against teammate Allgaier while Brandon Jones, Hill, Drew Dollar, Gibbs, Earnhardt, Creed, Jeb Burton and Alfredo were scored in the top 10.

Three laps later, the caution flew for a multi-car wreck that started when Massey lost a tire, shot up the track and bumped against Berry’s No. 8 PUBG Mobile Chevrolet Camaro entering Turn 2 before spinning through the infield, clipping Yeley and pounding the inside wall as his car briefly came off the ground before coming to a rest with a wrecked car. In the midst of Massey’s hard wreck, Berry and Yeley also collided and wrecked with Moffitt and newcomer Chandler Smith getting collected.

The incident concluded the second stage scheduled on Lap 50 under caution as Allgaier claimed his first stage victory of the season. Teammate Mayer settled in second followed by Hill, Brandon Jones, Gibbs, Dollar, Brown, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Myatt Snider and Jeb Burton.

Under the stage break, the field pitted. During the pit stops, Hill, Mayer, Gibbs, Snider, Jeb Burton, Herbst, Ryan Sieg, Herbst, Kaz Grala, Jeremy Clements and Gray Gaulding pitted for two tires while the rest of the field opted for four fresh tires. In addition, Brandon Jones was penalized for not remaining in a single file line with the field while entering pit road.

With 59 laps remaining, the final stage started as Hill and Mayer occupied the front row. At the start, Hill received a big push from Gibbs to retain the lead ahead of Mayer and the competitors running in the outside lane. When the field returned to the start/finish line and as the field fanned out to multiple lanes, Hill was leading ahead of Gibbs, Creed, Herbst and Allgaier with the top-five competitors breaking away from the side-by-side action while Mayer and Ryan Sieg battled for sixth place.

At the halfway mark between Laps 56 and 57, Hill continued to lead ahead of Gibbs, Creed, Herbst, Allgaier, Ryan Sieg, AJ Allmendinger, Alfredo, Cassill and Hemric.

With 45 laps remaining, the caution flew due to a rear bumper cover from Berry’s car being reported on the backstretch. At the moment of the caution, Hill remained the leader ahead of Gibbs, Creed, Allgaier and Gragson. During the caution period, the field returned to pit road for tires and fuel except for Ryan Sieg.

With 42 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hill received a strong push from Gragson to move into the lead. When the field returned to the start/finish line, Hill retained the lead ahead of Gragson, Gibbs, Creed and Herbst.

Under the final 40 laps, Hill was placed on defense mode as he worked to fend off Gibbs on the outside lane and Gragson on the inside lane amid the tight pack running towards the front.

Then with 36 laps remaining, Gibbs, who went wide and lost touch with the leaders, made contact with Daniel Hemric through the backstretch before he veered sideways and made contact with teammates Brandon Jones and Drew Dollar along with David Starr, Sieg and Ellis before pounding the inside wall as his strong afternoon came to an end.

With 32 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, teammates Hill and Creed dueled for the lead as Hill had Gragson drafting him while Herbst tucked in behind Creed on the outside lane before Creed managed to stabilize himself into the runner-up spot on the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4. Soon after, Allmendinger moved up to fourth place followed by a side-by-side battle against Cassill and Herbst.

Under the final 30 laps of the event, the front-runners settled in a long single-file line as Hill was leading teammate Creed, Gragson, Allmendinger, Cassill and Snider. Not long after, Mayer started to formulate a line on the outside lane as he tried to challenge Snider for the sixth spot.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event and with the field fanning out to double lanes while in a tight pack, Hill was placed back on defense mode from the bottom to the inside lane as he retained the lead ahead of Allmendinger, Allgaier, Herbst, Creed, Mayer, Gragson, Alex Labbe, Moffitt and Cassill.

Then with 16 laps remaining and as the intensity towards the front pack continued to brew, the caution flew when Matt Mills hit the Turn 1 wall after blowing a right-front tire as he shredded debris across the track.

With 12 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Hill and Allmendinger battled dead-even for the lead through the first two turns as Allmendinger had Mayer drafting him while Hill had support from Allgaier. With the field locked in a side-by-side battle, Hill managed to clear the field through Turns 3 and 4 and he went to work to defend the lead through both lanes.

During the following lap, Mayer made a bold three-wide move on Allmendinger to move him out of the way in his bid to the front as Ryan Sieg and Jeb Burton also charged to the front. Meanwhile, Hill retained the top spot ahead of Allgaier.

Then with nine laps remaining, the caution returned due to a heavy multi-car wreck in Turn 1 that involved Brandon Jones, Snider, Drew Dollar, Joe Graf Jr., Brandon Brown, Kaz Grala and Ryan Vargas.

Down to the final four laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hill and Allgaier dueled for the lead with Jeb Burton pushing Hill while Allgaier had teammate Mayer and Allmendinger drafting him. Then through the backstretch, Mayer got loose off the front nose of Allmendinger and veered into Hill as both competitors were sent sideways into the inside wall with Mayer suffering heavy front nose damage and Hill, who led a race-high 67 laps, sustained left-side damage. In the midst of the incident, Allgaier emerged with the lead followed by Allmendinger, Creed, Jeb Burton and Cassill as the field was sent into overtime.

At the start of the first overtime attempt, Allgaier and Allmendinger dueled for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 before Allmendinger emerged with the lead through the backstretch ahead of Allgaier and Jeb Burton. Then, the event was sent into a second overtime attempt due to a hard incident in Turn 3 that involved Creed and Caesar Bacarella.

During the second overtime attempt, Allgaier and Allmendinger dueled until Allgaier broke free from the pack with the lead through the backstretch. Then the event was sent into a third overtime attempt when Clements ran out of fuel as his car came to a stop below the apron between Turns 1 and 2.

At the start of the third overtime attempt, Allgaier, who restarted on the front row and on the outside lane, ran out of fuel and pulled his car out of line while teammate Gragson, who received a strong start, rocketed to the lead ahead of Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg and the field.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gragson was leading ahead of Allmendinger, Sieg, Jeb Burton, Jeffrey Earnhardt and the field. In Turn 1, Sieg nearly got turned off the front nose of Jeb Burton, but he managed to straighten his car and proceed forward without wrecking. This allowed Earnhardt to gain a run on Allmendinger for the runner-up spot as Herbst, Moffitt and Cassill made their move to the front.

Then in Turns 3 and 4, Allmendinger and Herbst rubbed fenders, which allowed Earnhardt to make a bold three-wide move to move into second place as he tried to challenge Gragson for the win. With Earnhardt unable to gain a draft from the field to overtake Gragson for the top spot, Gragson was able to stabilize himself through both lanes and streak across the finish line in first place with the victory by 0.131 seconds over Earnhardt.

The victory was the seventh of Gragson’s Xfinity Series career and the second superspeedway victory for him after he won at Daytona International Speedway in February 2020. He also became the second Xfinity Series regular to achieve multiple victories this season alongside Ty Gibbs.

“Our 50th anniversary Bass Pro Shops Chevy Camaro was awesome,” Gragson said on FS1. “This JR Motorsports team, they never quit. Thanks to everybody back at JR Motorsports. The Fab shop. Everybody that helps get all four [JR Motorsports] cars to the race track. We had four really fast cars. [Crew chief] Luke Lambert and the rest of this Bass Pro Shops team. They called one hell of a race. It came down to fuel strategy. There’s one point where I was like, ‘Man, I can’t get up there.’ We just don’t have the car fast enough, but we never quit. That’s the most important thing…I’ve got to run in the Cup race [on Sunday], but the Talladega Boulevard looks a lot more enchanting right now and inviting, so I might have to go out there and then throw some beads. We’ll go have some fun tonight, baby.”

While Gragson celebrated with the fans on the frontstretch, Jeffrey Earnhardt was left with smiles on pit road as he notched a career-best second-place result in his 136th start in the Xfinity circuit and at a track instilled with a rich legacy towards the Earnhardt name, most notably towards Jeffrey’s late grandfather, Dale Earnhardt Sr., and uncle, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“[I needed] Just a push there at the end,” Earnhardt said. “Everyone spreads apart and it’s really hard to build a run by yourself without someone at the back. Unfortunately, our teammates got wiped out early. Man, I’m living a dream here. I’m so thankful to get this opportunity. So thankful for everyone to allow me to come do this…[Richard Childress Racing] for building this amazing race car. We were fast all weekend long. We just fell a little short there and I hate it, but congrats to Noah. He’s good at plate races. Fell up a little bit short, but hopefully, this will lead to a lot more to come in the future and we’ll be able to come back and give’em a run for their money. Just very thankful to even be here. I’ll forever be grateful for this opportunity.”

Meanwhile, Allmendinger Came home in third place and captured the third Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus, which was his second of this season.

“This place makes me shake,” Allmendinger said. “That last lap, I thought I wrecked at least seven times. The first thing, just to get out with a clean race car, finish in the top five was a big deal, but to win another Xfinity Dash 4 Cash [bonus]. Comcast, Xfinity, thank you so much for what you do. For allowing us to go for a hundred grand in these four races. To win two of them is a big deal…We get to do it again at Dover.”

Teammate Landon Cassill and Ryan Sieg finished in the top five as they will join Gragson and Allmendinger to battle for the fourth and final Dash 4 Cash bonus next weekend at Dover Motor Speedway. Alfredo, Herbst, Joe Graf Jr., Snider and Brett Moffitt finished in the top 10.

There were 25 lead changes for 14 different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 39 laps.

With his third-place result, AJ Allmendinger continues to lead the regular-season standings by 40 points over Noah Gragson and 45 over Ty Gibbs.

Results.

1. Noah Gragson, seven laps led

2. Jeffrey Earnhardt, 10 laps led

3. AJ Allmendinger, six laps led

4. Landon Cassill

5. Ryan Sieg

6. Anthony Alfredo, three laps led

7. Riley Herbst

8. Joe Graf Jr.

9. Myatt Snider

10. Brett Moffitt

11. Josh Berry, five laps led, Stage 1 winner

12. Alex Labbe

13. Drew Dollar, one lap led

14. Shane Lee

15. Jeb Burton

16. Joey Gase

17. Bayley Currey

18. Kyle Sieg

19. Josh Williams

20. Ryan Vargas

21. Gray Gaulding, one lap led

22. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Fuel pressure, 13 laps led, Stage 2 winner

23. Jeremy Clements, two laps down

24. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident, one lap led

25. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident

26. Brandon Jones – OUT, Dvp

27. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident, 67 laps led

28. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident, two laps led

29. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident

30. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident, one lap led

31. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

32. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Dvp

33. David Starr – OUT, Dvp, one lap led

34. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Dvp

35. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident, five laps led

36. JJ Yeley – OUT, Dvp, two laps led

37. Mason Massey – OUT, Accident

38. Chandler Smith – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ lone event at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Delaware, where the fourth and final Xfinity Dash 4 Cash initiative will occur. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, April 30, at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 23, 2022