With a strong push from Kevin Harvick and a crossover move to overtake Bubba Wallace approaching the finish line, Austin Dillon was able to steal the win in the second Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, February 11. With his first Duel career victory, Dillon will line up in fourth place for Sunday’s Daytona 500.
The lineup for the first duel event was based off of the Daytona 500 pole position qualifying session on Wednesday, February 10, where the even-numbered qualifiers in their respective order competed. With that, William Byron, the outside pole-sitter for the 2021 Daytona 500, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Bubba Wallace. Joey Gase started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced following a delay of more than two and a half hours due to rain, Byron jumped ahead with the advantage while Wallace and Kevin Harvick battled behind. Through the backstretch and in Turn 3, Wallace gained a run on Byron and overtook him to take the lead as he led the first lap.
The following lap and with the field fanning out to two and three lanes, Byron was able to utilize the inside lane to lead the following lap over Wallace, who moved to the outside lane.
After leading the second lap, Byron pulled ahead followed by Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott while Wallace was shuffled back on the outside lane and in a three-wide pack.
By the fifth lap, the top-10 competitors led by Byron were running in a single-file line on the inside. In addition, Noah Gragson, who started at the rear of the field, was in ninth place and leading the way as the highest non-chartered competitor on the field while Kaz Grala was in 14th.
Through the first 10 laps of the race, Byron was still out in front followed by Austin Dillon, Harvick, Elliott and Kurt Busch while Ryan Blaney, Wallace, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski and Ross Chastain were in the top 10. Garrett Smithley, meanwhile, was the highest non-chartered competitor on the field in 11th while Grala and Gragson were behind in 12th and 13th.
Two laps later, Harvick gained a run on the outside lane to emerge with the lead as Blaney drafted Harvick to the front. Shortly after, Wallace drafted and challenged Blaney for the runner-up spot on the inside lane.
By Lap 15, Harvick, racing in his No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang, continued to lead by a narrow margin over Blaney and Wallace while Byron and Keselowski were in the top five.
After leading the next two laps, Wallace got shuffled out of the lead pack after being stuck in the middle lane. With Wallace falling back, Harvick reassumed the top spot followed by teammates Blaney and Keselowski while Byron continued to fight back on the inside lane as he had Austin Dillon, Elliott and Kurt Busch behind him.
Through the first 20 laps of the race, Byron was back in the lead followed by Austin Dillon, Elliott, Harvick, Kurt Busch, Blaney, Keselowski, Corey LaJoie, Truex and Wallace. Gragson and Grala were in 11th and 12th while Garrett Smithley was back in 20th.
Not long after, the field settled in a long single-file lane on the outside lane as Byron continued to lead.
When the field reached the halfway mark on Lap 30, Byron remained at the front followed by Austin Dillon, Harvick, Blaney and Keselowski with Truex in sixth. Gragson was in seventh while Grala was back in 15th.
Shortly after, Blaney gained a run on the inside lane followed by teammate Keselowski, Wallace and a number of other competitors as Blaney made a bid for the lead.
By Lap 33, Austin Dillon emerged with the lead by a nose over Byron. The following lap, Harvick, who was behind Dillon earlier, emerged with the lead. By then, Austin Dillon was behind him while Truex formed a line leading a bevy of cars on the outside wall.
Two laps later, trouble on the track ensued when rookie Chase Briscoe got loose entering Turn 1 and spun. Behind, rookie Anthony Alfredo and Kaz Grala also got sideways after both made contact against one another as both came to rest alongside Briscoe. Garrett Smithley and B.J. McLeod were also involved in the incident. Following the incident, McLeod and Alfredo retired while Grala, Briscoe and Smithley remained on the track. In the process, Grala, who sustained damage to his No. 16 HyperIce Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, lost a lap to the leaders.
Under caution, the leaders pitted and Blaney emerged with the lead after only taking fuel during his stop. Harvick exited in second place followed by Byron, Austin Dillon, Truex and Wallace.
With 20 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the front, Blaney pulled in front of Harvick on the inside lane and retained the lead. In Turn 1 and through the backstretch, Austin Dillon, racing in his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, gained a run on the outside lane with drafting help from Wallace to challenge Blaney for the lead. His run, however, did not last long as Blaney retained the lead when the field returned to the tri-oval.
The following lap, Byron gained a run on the outside lane through the backstretch and back to the start/finish line to reassume the lead. Soon after, Byron and Austin Dillon battled dead even for the lead with the field fanning out to two lanes and running in a tight pack.
With the race down to the final 15 laps, Byron cleared the field with the lead followed by Austin Dillon, Wallace, Keselowski and Blaney. Behind, Smithley and Gragson were battling one another for a transfer spot to Sunday’s Daytona 500.
With 10 laps remaining, the No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE driven by Byron was still leading the field followed by Truex, Austin Dillon, the Busch brothers and Harvick. By then, Gragson was in 12th and in the transfer spot to the 500 while Smithley was in 15th. Meanwhile, Wallace and Blaney were shuffled out of the lead pack.
Two laps later, Truex surged his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry to the lead on the outside lane and with drafting help from Harvick. As Truex took the lead, Harvick was locked in a battle with Byron for the runner-up spot as the field continued to battle tightly in two lanes at the front.
Another two laps later, Harvick, who received a push from Byron, challenged Truex on the inside lane to take the lead.
Down to the final five laps of the race, Harvick continued to lead while Keselowski challenged Truex for the runner-up spot. Not long after, Wallace shoved Truex to the lead as Kyle Busch also moved up into third place.
The following lap, trouble ensued behind when Smithley, who attempted to shove his way in between Keselowski and Gragson past the tri-oval, made contact with Keselowski and turned him into Gragson. The contact ignited a multi-car wreck that also collected Byron and Ross Chastain.
The damage was enough for Byron to sacrifice his front row starting spot for the 500 with the team moving to a back-up car. In addition, Gragson was knocked out of the race as his hopes of making Sunday’s Daytona 500 and his Cup debut with Beard Motorsports disappeared. Smithley continued, though he lost two laps to the leaders. In the midst of everything, Grala received the free pass to return on the lead lap as his hopes of making the 500 were rejuvenated.
The late multi-car wreck sent the race into overtime. At the start, Truex pulled in front of Wallace to retain the lead with Kyle Busch tucked in behind both in third place. Truex was able to retain the lead as he started the final lap, though he had Wallace, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Harvick closing in for one final charge.
Entering the backstretch, Wallace and Austin Dillon, both racing with momentum on the inside and outside lane, left Truex stuck in the middle with no drafting help as Wallace took the lead with drafting help from Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry.
Through Turn 3 and entering the tri-oval, Wallace moved his No. 23 DoorDash Toyota Camry up in an attempt to block Austin Dillon, who had a run with drafting help from Harvick. Dillon, however, made a crossover move on the inside lane and was able to squeak ahead following light contact with Wallace to win by 0.057 seconds.
With his victory, Dillon will attempt to win his second Daytona 500 title after winning his first in 2018.
“I was talking to my spotter before the restart and he was like, ‘We’ve got [Harvick] behind us and he’s been pushing well all night.’ He had [Blaney] so I knew the manufacturer thing was going to be tough,” Dillon said. “I made a decent block on the backstretch and just a heck of a push through [Turns] 3 and 4. I knew Bubba was going to try and block, but I just whipped the wheel and it worked out well.”
Wallace, in his first run with 23XI Racing, settled in a strong second-place result as he will line up in sixth place for Sunday’s 500. Despite the strong run, Wallace was anything but pleased with the result.
“Lot of mistakes,” Wallace said. “Good debut, but nothing to be really happy about on myself. It’s okay for drivers to be hard on themselves. That’s how we motivate ourselves, to get out and do better…It was a good night, but I got some learning to do.”
Harvick crossed the line in third place followed by Kyle Busch and Elliott. Blaney, Corey LaJoie, Ragan, Kurt Busch and Buescher rounded out the top 10 on the track. Truex fell all the way back to 12th place behind Keselowski.
David Ragan, who was guaranteed a spot in the 500 based on his qualifying speed a day earlier, was able to improve his starting spot for the main event after claiming a transfer spot on the track via the duel. With that, Kaz Grala, who finished 14th, secured the final starting spot for the 500. With his accomplishment, Grala will be making his second career start in the Cup Series in Sunday’s Daytona 500 as Kaulig Racing will be making its second consecutive Daytona 500 appearance.
“It’s great,” Grala said. “Obviously, we knew coming into it, this was going to be a really hard year to make the race — excellent competition, great teams, great drivers trying to make this race without charters. So we knew it was a tall order, but I will say now, being able to breathe a sigh of relief that we are in, it makes it that much sweeter knowing that we beat some real incredible teams and drivers to get into this race.”
Garrett Smithley and Gragson, both of whom finished 16th and 18th, failed to qualify for the 500, joining Ty Dillon and Timmy Hill.
There were 14 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured two cautions for eight laps.
Results.
1. Austin Dillon, two laps led
2. Bubba Wallace, three laps led
3. Kevin Harvick, 11 laps led
4. Kyle Busch
5. Chase Elliott
6. Ryan Blaney, four laps led
7. Corey LaJoie
8. David Ragan
9. Kurt Busch
10. Chris Buescher
11. Brad Keselowski
12. Martin Truex Jr., nine laps led
13. Joey Gase
14. Kaz Grala
15. Chase Briscoe, two laps down
16. Garrett Smithley, two laps down
17. Derrike Cope, four laps down
18. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident
19. William Byron – OUT, Accident, 34 laps led
20. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident
21. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident
22. B.J. McLeod – OUT, Accident
With the 2021 Daytona 500 starting grid officially set, the main event will occur on Sunday, February 14, with coverage on FOX at 2:30 p.m. ET.
For a second consecutive night in the desert, a late caution changed the complexity and initial outcome of a race. Like last night’s NASCAR Truck Series finale, pitting for fresh tires was the key element that determined the overall victor. On this occasion, Austin Cindric used four fresh tires to his advantage to overtake Justin Allgaier and Noah Gragson in overtime to win the season-finale Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200 at Phoenix Raceway and clinch the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.
In the final laps of the finale, Cindric had an advantage of nearly a second over title contender Justin Allgaier evaporated when Chase Briscoe, another title contender, spun and drew a caution. The deciding factor was under caution when Cindric opted to pit for four fresh tires while Allgaier, who pitted earlier, remained on the track. In overtime, Cindric was able to overtake Allgaier and Noah Gragson in a two-lap dash to claim his sixth checkered flag of the season. Above all, he was able to come back around and celebrate on the frontstretch as NASCAR’s 30th Xfinity champion.
The starting lineup was based on four stats: current owner’s standings, driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity race and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, the four championship finale contenders started first through fourth, led by pole-sitter Justin Allgaier and followed by Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric and Justin Haley.
For the finale, Haley received a new pit crew, the group that pits Bubba Wallace’s car for Richard Petty Motorsports, due to a crew member of his original team being tested positive for COVID-19.
When the final race of the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season commenced under green, Allgaier rocketed away with the lead. Behind, Cindric and Briscoe battled for the runner-up spot with most of the leaders diving down the dogleg turn and entering Turns 1 and 2. When the field cycled back to the start/finish line, Allgaier was able to lead the first lap as he retained the lead over Cindric and Briscoe while Haley was in fifth behind Noah Gragson.
The first caution of the race flew the following lap when Jeffrey Earnhardt wrecked on the backstretch and sustained damage to the rear end of his No. 0 Chevrolet Camaro.
The race restarted under green on the sixth lap. At the start, Cindric made a low dive three-wide move on the dogleg turn beneath Allgaier and Briscoe. In Turns 1 and 2, however, Allgaier made a crossover move on Cindric, but Briscoe came out on top on the outside lane entering the backstretch to take over the lead. Cindric moved into the runner-up spot while Allgaier, who led the first seven laps, was shuffled back to third.
By Lap 10, Briscoe maintained an advantage less than two-tenths of a second over Cindric with Allgaier in third and Haley in seventh. Gragson was in fourth followed by Ross Chastain and Harrison Burton while Michael Annett, Riley Herbst and Brandon Jones were in the top 10.
Nearly five laps later, Cindric mounted a challenge for the lead on Briscoe. Despite Cindric making several challenges for the lead and Briscoe making contact with the Turn 3 outside wall on Lap 17, Briscoe maintained his narrow advantage over Cindric’s No. 22 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang.
When the competition caution flew on Lap 20, Briscoe was still at the front of the pack and the championship battle over Cindric and Allgaier with Haley mired back in seventh. Gragson, Chastain, Harrison Burton, Annett, Herbst and Brandon Jones were still running in the top 10. At the time of caution, Daniel Hemric made an unscheduled pit stop to diagnose a mechanical issue to his No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet Camaro. Hemric’s crew eventually pushed the car back to the garage due to a carburetor issue.
Under the competition caution, few pitted while the rest, including the final four title contenders, remained on the track.
When the race resumed under green on Lap 26, Allgaier made a low dive through the dogleg turn in an effort for the lead, but Briscoe prevailed entering the backstretch. While Briscoe continued to lead, Cindric battled Allgaier for second while Chastain, Gragson and Haley battled for spots in the top five.
A lap later, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck in Turn 2 that involved C.J. McLaughlin, Donald Theetge, J.J. Yeley and Matt Mills.
The race restarted under green on Lap 34 with Briscoe and Allgaier on the front row followed by Cindric and Gragson. At the start, Briscoe and Allgaier battled dead even while diving low on the dogleg before Briscoe prevailed on the backstretch.
When the field returned back to the start/finish line, Briscoe continued to lead followed by Allgaier and Cindric, both of whom were closing in for the lead. Gragson retained fourth place over Kaulig Racing’s Chastain and Haley while Annett, Harrison Burton, Herbst and Brandon Jones were in the top 10.
At the front, the battle for the lead continued to ignite between Briscoe and Allgaier with Cindric lurking behind. Though Allgaier had a run beneath Briscoe for the lead, Briscoe mounted a run on the outside lane through Turns 1 and 2 and entering the backstretch to maintain his narrow advantage.
With less than five laps remaining in the first stage, Cindric moved into second place over Allgaier. He went on to challenge Briscoe for the lead.
On the final lap of the first stage, Cindric, who continued to close in on Briscoe’s No. 98 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang, gained a run beneath Briscoe through the backstretch. They split the lapped car of Jesse Iwuji entering Turn 3 before Briscoe gained a run on the outside lane in Turn 4 and edged Cindric to claim the first stage on Lap 45 and for his 13th stage victory of the season, the most recorded by an Xfinity competitor this season. Allgaier settled in third followed by Gragson, Chastain, Annett, Haley, Harrison Burton, Herbst and Brandon Jones.
Under the stage break, nearly all of the leaders pitted and Allgaier emerged with the lead following a four-tire pit stop and exiting in first place over Gragson, Briscoe, Cindric and Chastain. Following the pit stops, Herbst was sent to the rear of the field due to improper fueling. At the front, however, Tommy Joe Martins emerged with the lead after remaining on the track.
The second stage started on Lap 53 with Martins and Allgaier on the front row. At the start, Briscoe made a low dive to the dogleg and Allgaier charged ahead on the outside lane while Martins was shuffled back. Allgaier led the following lap by a nose over Briscoe, who challenged Allgaier for the lead with the latter prevailing. Behind, Gragson moved into third place over Cindric while Annett was in fifth. Haley was in sixth ahead of teammate Chastain, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton and Ryan Sieg.
By Lap 60, Allgaier continued to lead the race and the title standings by more than a second over teammate Gragson. Cindric, the second-highest title contender on the track, was in third place followed by Briscoe, who slipped back and had Annett closing in for position. Haley, racing in his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro, was still mired in sixth place in front of Harrison Burton.
Five laps later, Allgaier stabilized his advantage by more than a second over Cindric, who overtook Gragson for the runner-up spot. Briscoe remained in fourth place, trailing the lead by more than two seconds, while Annett was in fifth. Haley fell back to seventh behind Harrison Burton while Brandon Jones, Sieg and Jeremy Clements were in the top 10.
By Lap 70, Allgaier’s advantage decreased to less than two-tenths of a second over Cindric while Briscoe moved back into third place following a dive-bomb move on Gragson entering Turn 2 for position that nearly resulted with Briscoe making contact with the outside wall. Earlier, Chastain made an unscheduled pit stop under green.
Five laps later and while Cindric and Allgaier were engaged in a tight battle for the lead, the caution returned due to smoke and possible fluid coming out of Tommy Joe Martins’ car.
Another five laps later, the race restarted under green with JR Motorsports’ teammates Allgaier and Gragson on the front row. At the start, Allgaier pulled away and retained the lead. Entering Turn 2, Cindric moved into second and Briscoe advanced into third followed by Jones while Gragson slipped back to fifth.
On Lap 83, Cindric prevailed and led for the first time after emerging out in front of Allgaier with Briscoe lurking behind. By then, Sieg made contact with the outside wall in Turns 1 and 2.
With the laps in the second stage winding down, Cindric stabilized his advantage by half a second over Allgaier with Briscoe, Jones and Gragson in the top five. Annett and Harrison Burton were in sixth and seventh while Haley was mired back in eighth. Clements and Myatt Snider rounded out the top 10.
At the start of the final lap of the second stage, Cindric increased his advantage to less than a second over Allgaier with Briscoe closing in for more.
With a number of battles occurring behind, Cindric was able to come back to the start/finish line and win the second stage on Lap 90 for his 11th stage victory of the season. Allgaier held off Briscoe and Brandon Jones for second with teammate Gragson in fifth. Annett, Haley, Harrison Burton, Clements and Snider settled in the top 10. By then, Chastain, who was scored in 24th place and a lap behind, received the free pass to return to the lead lap.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Brandon Jones emerged with the lead following the pit stops. Briscoe exited ahead of Cindric, Allgaier and Gragson with Haley in sixth.
With 102 laps remaining, the final stage started with Jones and Allgaier on the front row followed by Gragson, Briscoe, Mason Diaz and Cindric. At the start, Allgaier and Jones made a low dive down the dogleg before Allgaier prevailed through Turns 1 and 2 and entering the backstretch.
The following lap, Briscoe passed Gragson for third with Cindric and Haley joining the party. At the front, Allgaier was ahead by less than half a second over Jones. Shortly after, Cindric overtook Briscoe for position with Haley mired between the two competitors.
With 95 laps remaining, the final four title contenders were battling in the top six with Allgaier leading by more than a second over Brandon Jones, who started to have Cindric close in for position. Briscoe was in fourth followed by Gragson while Haley was in sixth ahead of Annett, Harrison Burton, Snider and Chastain.
Five laps later, with 90 laps remaining, Allgaier continued to lead by more than a second, but Cindric started to close in as he moved into the runner-up spot. Briscoe remained in fourth place behind Jones while Haley continued to battle Gragson for fifth.
Another five laps later, with 85 laps remaining, Allgaier’s advantage decreased to less than half a second with his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro dealing with loose conditions. That all but gave Cindric the time needed to close in back for the lead in the overall race and the championship.
With 80 laps remaining and with the leaders surrounded by lapped traffic, Cindric narrowed the deficit to three-tenths of a second to Allgaier, who continued to lead with a title in sight. Behind, Briscoe went wide entering Turn 4, which allowed Gragson, Haley and Harrison Burton to close in on him for fourth place.
Ten laps later, with 70 laps remaining, Cindric reassumed the lead in the race and the championship battle over Allgaier as Brandon Jones started to close in the battle for the win in the finale.
Another 10 laps later, with 60 laps remaining, Cindric stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Brandon Jones with Allgaier back in third place. Briscoe and Haley were in fourth and fifth while Harrison Burton, Chastain, Gragson, Annett and Snider were in the top 10. Herbst, who was a lap behind the field earlier, rallied back in 11th ahead of Clements, Brett Moffitt, Josh Williams and Bayley Currey.
Down to the final 50 laps of the race, Cindric continued to lead, but he had Jones, who won at Phoenix in March and racing in his No. 19 Toyota Service Centers Toyota Supra, close in and with the leaders mired in lapped traffic. Behind, Allgaier, who was in third place, radioed concerns about a right-front tire going down, but he continued to run on the track and ahead of Briscoe. Haley, meanwhile, was in sixth in between Harrison Burton and Chastain.
With 45 laps remaining, Briscoe overtook Allgaier for third place while Cindric continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Brandon Jones. Haley was still in sixth.
With approximately 40 laps remaining, pit stops under green commenced as Allgaier made the turn to pit road followed by Harrison Burton and teammate Riley Herbst. Not long after, Haley pitted along with leader Cindric, Briscoe, Jones and Snider, who was then penalized for speeding on pit road.
With less than 35 laps remaining, Chastain, who still needed to pit and who was making his final full-time start with Kaulig Racing, was the leader followed by Gragson, Annett and Josh Williams while Cindric was in fifth place. Allgaier was back in eighth, a lap behind, while Briscoe and Haley were in 10th and 13th.
Five laps later, the caution returned when Joe Graf Jr. made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3. The incident occurred in front of Allgaier, who was battling Jones for position. At the time of caution, Chastain was still leading and among a handful of competitors who had yet to pit. Cindric and Allgaier were on the lead lap while Briscoe was awarded the free pass to return on the lead lap after being scored a lap behind. Haley, meanwhile, was a lap behind the leaders.
Under caution, Allgaier pitted along with teammate Annett and Chastain while Cindric and Jones remained on the track. Briscoe also pitted for adjustment, not for tires. In addition, Haley was among a number of competitors who took the wave around and returned on the lead lap in eighth place with Briscoe in sixth, Allgaier in fifth on fresh tires and Cindric the leader over Brandon Jones and Chastain.
With 23 laps remaining and 10 competitors on the lead lap, the race restarted under green with Cindric and Chastain on the front row followed by Jones and Allgaier. At the start, Chastain received a boost from Allgaier inside the dogleg turn to take the lead. Entering the backstretch, however, Cindric reassumed the lead with Allgaier following behind.
Shortly after, Allgaier mounted a challenge for the lead on fresh tires, but Cindric continued to maintain his position at the front with Chastain shuffled back to third.
With 20 laps remaining, Cindric was out in front by two-tenths of a second over Allgaier, with the battle for the win and the championship coming down to a two man show. Briscoe was back in sixth while Haley was mired back in eighth.
Five laps later, with 15 laps remaining, Cindric, racing on old tires, continued to lead the battle for the win and the title by half a second over Allgaier, racing on fresh tires. Chastain, Annett and Brandon Jones were in the top five with Briscoe in sixth and Haley in ninth.
Down to the final 10 laps of the finale and the 2020 season, Cindric stabilized his advantage for the win and the championship by more than a second over Allgaier, who started to see Cindric pull away on his front windshield. By then, Briscoe moved up to fifth place while Haley was back in ninth place as both competitors were seeing their title hopes coming to an end.
With five laps remaining and the leaders started to catch lapped traffic, Cindric remained at the front with the lead by more than a second over Allgaier with Chastain, Annett and Briscoe in the top five. Haley was back in ninth.
With approximately two laps remaining, the caution returned when Briscoe spun his No. 98 Ford in Turn 4 and made slight contact with the outside wall. The caution all but evaporated Cindric’s on-track advantage over Allgaier, who received an opportunity to pounce and win his first title.
Under caution, however, most of the lead lap competitors led by Cindric pitted while Allgaier remained on the track and emerged with the lead. Chastain also remained on the track in second place.
In overtime, the race restarted under green. At the start, Allgaier took the lead from Chastain entering Turns 1 and 2. Entering the backstretch, however, teammate Gragson and Cindric cleared Chastain and closed in on Allgaier for the lead. Though Allgaier got Cindric boxed in exiting the backstretch, Cindric found his opportunity to win it all entering Turns 3 and 4.
Coming back to the start/finish line for the start of the final lap, Cindric made a three-wide move in between Gragson and Allgaier, who made contact with Cindric at the line as Gragson moved his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/True Timber Camo Chevrolet Camaro into the lead. Following the contact and through the dogleg turn, Gragson emerged with a slight advantage alongside Cindric, who cleared Allgaier and was leading the battle for the title.
In the backstretch, Allgaier lost his momentum and was overtaken by Brandon Jones and Annett while Cindric challenged Gragson for the lead. With fresh tires, Cindric took the lead entering Turns 3 and 4 over Gragson, and it was enough for him to prevail out in front and storm to the checkered flag with the win and the overall championship.
At age 22, Cindric became the fifth-youngest champion in series history as he delivered the second Xfinity Drivers’ championship for team owner Roger Penske. He also became the sixth different Xfinity competitor to win in career start No. 100 as he collected his eighth career victory along with the series title. This marked the 10th consecutive season where the Xfinity champion was 25 years old or younger.
“Well, I watched [2020 Truck Series champion] Sheldon Creed do it last night, so why couldn’t we?” Cindric said. “Amazing effort by this No. 22 team. [Crew chief] Brian Wilson and all the guys. Everybody back at the shop. There was a lot of work put into this race car. Roger Penske. Everyone from Penske Racing. The Menards family, John, Paul, Jim, Jeff — all those guys that put so much support into racing itself. It’s awesome to get them a championship in NASCAR, to be a champion in NASCAR, and do it in front of all these great people cheering us on at championship weekend. Ford Performance, Doug Yates, everybody at Roush Yates Engines. I’m speechless. I can’t believe it. I’m pretty humbled by the effort for sure.”
“I’ve certainly learned how to race a little better,” Cindric added. “The people that have put the support in me and been dedicated — my spotter Coleman Pressley. All the folks that have supported me throughout my career, not just here but the road racing, driving Rallycross cars. My mom and my dad. I can’t forget them. They’re my parents and they’ve put more support behind me than anyone else. My mom has been my rock for my entire racing career. I told you guys that early in the week and I’m so glad she was here to watch.”
In addition to pitting for fresh tires towards the end, Cindric credited his team for the performance of his race car throughout the race that kept him in contention and allowed him to win the championship battle.
“This [car] came to life Lap 1,” Cindric said. “Talk about a relationship between driver and crew chief…we were terrible here in the spring race when I moved up. I asked [Wilson], I told him exactly what I needed and he gave it to me and look where we are. It’s amazing.”
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.
Gragson finished in second place behind Cindric followed by Brandon Jones and Annett. Behind, Justin Allgaier finished in fifth place in the finale and in a career-best second place in the overall standings. While Allgaier was disappointed in falling short in winning his first Xfinity title in his 10th full-time season in the series, he remained humble over the defeat and the opportunity of his late surge to compete for the title.
“So close, but so far away,” Allgaier said. “First of all, hats off to Austin [Cindric], the entire Team Penske group. They’ve been strong competitors all year and to have the race they did tonight, they, obviously, were the best car and they deserve to win. Proud of our guys, proud of everybody at JR Motorsports. We had a shot at it at the end and when it’s all said and done, that’s all you can really ask for…We’ll be back next year. Hopefully, one spot better.”
“I knew that [Cindric and his team] were gonna be good on tires,” Allgaier added. “I was hoping that there would be a few more cars in our rearview mirror when we took the green…Just didn’t have the speed at the end. We were off a little bit all night. The hard part is our balance is so good. That’s the frustrating part. We brought a fantastic race car and the balance was so good. It’s disappointing to be in the situation that we’re in, but again, hats off to these guys, everybody back at the shop. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish.”
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.
Justin Haley finished in eighth place on the track behind Harrison Burton and teammate Chastain, with the Winamac, Indiana, native notching a career-best third place in the final standings.
“We were not too good there at the start,” Haley said. “We actually took a little time on one of the pit stops. We started running in the top five. It’s super hard to pass. Just super fast race track. This is an awesome P3. It’s the farthest that Kaulig Racing’s ever gone. Still really proud of all of my guys. It’s not exactly what we wanted, but I think if we wouldn’t gotten trapped a lap there, that strategy’s really what played in to it at the end,…just too far back to make anything happen on that green-white-checkered…Super excited, super blessed to have another year, another shot at [the title].”
Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images.
Following his late incident that evaporated his championship hopes, Chase Briscoe salvaged a ninth-place result in the finale as he concluded his final full-time season in the Xfinity circuit in fourth place in the final standings and in a season where he won a season-high nine races.
“It was just a frustrating day,” Briscoe said. “This is by far not my best racetrack. We started the race and, for me, just leading laps here I was like, ‘Wow, this is different.’ I was just so loose at the beginning of the race and as the night came, I was just getting freer and freer. I don’t know how many times I about wrecked into [Turn] 1 and would end up hitting the wall. I’ve got to do a lot better job coming here. There’s something about this place that I just really struggle at, so I’ve got a lot of homework to do. It’s definitely frustrating to finish fourth in the championship after the year we had, but, overall, to win nine races it’s been a phenomenal year. I’m happy that we were able to just make the final four with our HighPoint.com Mustang. I’m just thankful to be driving in NASCAR honestly. I’m obviously looking forward to next year, but this one obviously hurts. Anytime you can win nine races and finish fourth in the championship isn’t what you wanted, but we’ll keep our heads high and, like I said, just proud of the whole team. To be able to work with me these last two and a half years from where we started to where we are now has been a huge difference, so just thankful to be driving for Stewart-Haas Racing and come back next year.”
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.
While Cindric became the fifth Ford competitor to win the Xfinity title, Chevrolet clinched the Bill France Performance Cup, the Manufacturers’ title, for the 22nd time. In addition, Roger Penske won his fifth Owners’ championship in eight years.
In a season where he achieved his first four career victories, 15 top-five results, 22 top-10 results, an average result of 10th place and a final points result of eighth place, Harrison Burton claimed the 2020 Xfinity Rookie-of-the-Year title.
There were 16 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 47 laps.
Results.
1. Austin Cindric, Stage 2 winner, 72 laps led
2. Noah Gragson, one lap led
3. Brandon Jones, three laps led
4. Michael Annett
5. Justin Allgaier, 76 laps led
6. Harrison Burton
7. Ross Chastain, 10 laps led
8. Justin Haley
9. Chase Briscoe, Stage 1 winner, 41 laps led
10. Jeremy Clements
11. Riley Herbst
12. Brandon Brown, one lap down
13. Josh Williams, one lap down
14. B.J. McLeod, one lap down
15. Bayley Currey, one lap down
16. David Starr, one lap down
17. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down
18. Myatt Snider, two laps down
19. Brett Moffitt, two laps down
20. Colby Howard, two laps down
21. Alex Labbe, three laps down
22. Kody Vanderwal, three laps down
23. Timmy Hill, three laps down
24. Mason Diaz, four laps down
25. Daniel Hemric, five laps down
26. J.J. Yeley, six laps down
27. Joe Graf Jr., seven laps down
28. Stan Mullis, eight laps down
29. Jesse Little, eight laps down
30. Jesse Iwuji, nine laps down
31. Ryan Sieg, 10 laps down
32. Jeffrey Earnhardt, 21 laps down
33. Ryan Vargas, 82 laps down
34. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Engine, three laps led
35. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident
36. Donald Theetge – OUT, Accident
37. C.J. McLaughlin – OUT, Accident
Final standings.
1. Austin Cindric
2. Justin Allgaier
3. Justin Haley
4. Chase Briscoe
5. Noah Gragson
6. Brandon Jones
7. Ross Chastain
8. Harrison Burton
9. Michael Annett
10. Ryan Sieg
11. Brandon Brown
12. Riley Herbst
Bold indicates Championship finale contenders
The NASCAR Xfinity Series enters its off-season period before returning for the 2021 season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway scheduled on Saturday, February 13.
With the NASCAR Xfinity Series returning to Martinsville Speedway for the first time since 2006 and three spots to the Championship 4 round up for grabs at the start, rookie Harrison Burton knocked another one out of the park after holding off Justin Allgaier to win the Draft Top 250 at the Paperclip circuit. The victory was Burton’s fourth of this season and of his career as he also claimed back-to-back victories for the first time in his NASCAR national touring series career.
The starting lineup was based on four stats: current owner’s standings, driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity race and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Austin Cindric started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Noah Gragson.
Kyle Weatherman and Josh Reaume started at the rear of the field due to driver changes. In addition, Reaume’s No. 93 Chevrolet team have been docked a pit selection for next weekend’s finale event at Phoenix Raceway due to the car failing pre-race inspection twice.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Cindric jumped ahead with the lead and he was able to come back around the start/finish line to lead the first lap. Behind, Gragson retained second place ahead of Kaulig Racing teammates Justin Haley and Ross Chastain. Justin Allgaier closed in in fifth place while Jeb Burton settled in sixth ahead of Brandon Jones.
The first caution of the race flew on the fourth lap when Gray Gaulding fell off the pace and was nearly rammed by leader Cindric and the oncoming leaders when his No. 07 Panini Chevrolet Camaro continued to stall before it came to a rest in Turn 1.
The race restarted on the eighth lap with Cindric and Gragson on the front row followed by Haley, Allgaier, Chastain and Jeb Burton. At the start, Cindric retained the lead following a strong start while Haley mounted a challenge on the inside lane for second place. Behind, Allgaier and Chastain were in the top five while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Harrison Burton and Brandon Jones moved into sixth and seventh.
Shortly after, Harrison Burton moved into fifth place and teammate Jones followed suit while Chastain slipped back to seventh place while stuck on the outside lane. In addition, Michael Annett joined the party as he started to challenge Chastain for more.
By Lap 15, Cindric continued to lead by more than half a second over Haley with Gragson trailing by more than a second. Allgaier and Harrison Burton were in the top five followed by Brandon Jones, Chastain, Jeb Burton, Annett and Brett Moffitt. Meanwhile, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Sieg were in 11th and 12th while A.J. Allmendinger was in 19th place behind Riley Herbst and Jeremy Clements.
Five laps later, on Lap 20, Cindric stabilized his advantage by more than half a second over Haley while Gragson, Allgaier and Harrison Burton continued to run in the top five.
A few laps later, Bayley Currey made contact with the wall after sustaining a flat tire, but he was able to nurse his car back to pit road with a tire rub and the race continued under green.
When the competition caution flew on Lap 25, Cindric was still at the front as the leader followed by Haley, Gragson, Allgaier and Harrison Burton while Brandon Jones, Chastain, Jeb Burton, Annett and Moffitt were in the top 10.
Under caution, some like Sieg, Myatt Snider, Ryan Vargas and Brandon Brown pitted while the rest led by Cindric remained on the track.
When the race restarted on Lap 31, Cindric retained the lead following another strong start while Gragson retained second place on the outside lane. Behind, Haley and Harrison Burton battled for third place while Allgaier was in fifth place ahead of Chastain. Behind, Allmendinger used the outside lane to move up to 11th place.
By Lap 35, Cindric and Gragson were at the front followed by Harrison Burton, Haley, Allgaier and Chastain. Not long after, the caution returned when Gaulding spun in Turn 1 while he was engaged in a three-wide battle with Stefan Parsons and Colby Howard.
The race restarted on Lap 42 with Cindric and Gragson on the front row. At the start, Gragson mounted a challenge for the lead on the outside lane next to Cindric. Back at the start/finish line, Gragson led a lap for himself as he and Cindric made contact in Turn 1 before battling hard through Turns 2 and 3. Entering Turn 4, Gragson cleared Cindric for the lead as Harrison Burton mounted a challenge for second place on Cindric.
By Lap 46, Harrison Burton moved into second place over Cindric while Gragson continued to lead. Shortly after, Jeb Burton wheel hopped and got loose entering Turn 3 as he slid towards the outside wall and got shuffled out of the top 10, though he was able to continue and the race remained under green.
Back towards the front, Harrison Burton started to close in on Gragson for the lead. Behind, Cindric retained third place followed by Haley and Allgaier while Chastain, Jones, Annett, Allmendinger and Moffitt were in the top 10 with Briscoe just outside of the top-10 mark on the track.
While Gragson and Harrison Burton battled for the lead, Allmendinger continued to carve his way toward the front as he overtook Allgaier for sixth place. Behind, Briscoe, a 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship contender, cracked the top 10 in 10th place.
With five laps remaining in the first stage, Gragson retained a narrow lead over Harrison Burton and Cindric while Kaulig Racing’s Haley, Chastain and Allmendinger pursued behind.
With one lap remaining in the first stage, the leaders started to approach lapped traffic. Despite encountering lapped traffic and being challenged by Harrison Burton, Gragson was able to retain the lead and win the first stage on Lap 60 for his ninth stage victory of the season. Burton settled in second place followed by Cindric, Chastain and Haley while Allmendinger, Jones, Allgaier, Annett and Briscoe were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, most of the leaders pitted and Harrison Burton exited with the lead over Gragson followed by Cindric, Allgaier and Allmendinger, who was hit by Brandon Jones as Jones was exiting his pit stall. Back on the track, J.J. Yeley, Stefan Parsons and Sieg remained on the track. Shortly after, Parsons surrendered his position towards the front by pitting.
The second stage started on Lap 68 with Yeley and Harrison Burton on the front row followed by Sieg and Gragson. At the front, Yeley retained the lead while Harrison Burton mounted a challenge behind.
On Lap 70, Harrison Burton emerged with the lead for the first time after passing Yeley. Not long after, Gragson moved into second place over Yeley while Cindric, Haley, Chastain, Sieg and Allgaier battled behind.
Three laps later, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck in Turn 3 that involved Donald Theetge, B.J. McLeod and Parsons. Not long after, the race was red-flagged for more than seven minutes due to mud and dirt on the track that was kicked on the racing surface from the incident.
When the red flag was lifted and the race resumed under green on Lap 80, the battle for the lead ignited between Harrison Burton and Gragson with Gragson prevailing the following lap. Behind, Cindric was in third place in front of Kaulig Racing’s Chastain and Haley while Allgaier and Sieg battled for sixth.
On Lap 83, Harrison Burton reassumed the lead following a lengthy battle with Gragson. A lap later, Chastain overtook Cindric for third place as teammate Haley started to mount a challenge for more along with Allgaier. Behind, Allmendinger moved into seventh place while Jones, Sieg and Herbst were in the top 10. Briscoe, meanwhile, was back in 13th place.
By Lap 90, Harrison Burton was still leading while Chastain, who moved into second place, started to close in for the lead. Gragson fell back to third place while Haley and Allgaier were in the top five. Allmendinger moved up to sixth followed by Jones, Cindric, Herbst and Sieg while Briscoe was in 12th behind Annett.
On Lap 92, Chastain muscled his way below Harrison Burton to take the lead. While Chastain settled into an advantage of half a second over Harrison Burton, Gragson retained third place followed by Haley, Allgaier, Allmendinger and Cindric.
At the Lap 100 mark, Chastain, who was approaching lapped traffic, extended his advantage by more than a second over Harrison Burton with Gragson, Haley and Allgaier pursuing behind. By then, the remaining eight Playoff contenders were running in the top 13 with Briscoe still mired back outside the top 10.
Five laps later, the caution returned when fire erupted out of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Matt Mills, who parked and exited his car on the backstretch. Under caution, some like Harrison Burton, Annett, Allmendinger, Jeb Burton, Sieg, Herbst, Snider, Briscoe, Brandon Brown, Jesse Little and others pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.
With six laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted with Chastain and Gragson on the front row. At the start, Chastain was able to clear Gragson for the lead entering Turn 1 while Gragson was able to fend off Haley for second. Allgaier and Cindric were in the top five followed by Jones, who overtook Moffitt for position.
Down to the final laps of the second stage, Chastain continued to lead with Gragson remaining in pursuit. With clean air being key, Chastain was able to hold on and win the second stage on Lap 120 and for his third stage victory of the season. Gragson settled in second followed by Haley, Allgaier and Cindric while Jones, Moffitt, Allmendinger, Harrison Burton and Timmy Hill rounded out the top 10.
Under the stage break, some of the leaders pitted with Chastain exiting pit road ahead of Gragson, Jones, Allgaier, Cindric and Haley. Back on the track, Allmendinger, who pitted prior to the conclusion of the second stage, remained on the track and assumed the lead followed by Harrison Burton, teammate Herbst, Jeb Burton, Sieg and Briscoe.
With 123 laps remaining, the final stage commenced. At the start, Allmendinger retained the lead and Harrison Burton fended off teammate Herbst for second. Behind, Jeb Burton muscled his way into third place while Myatt Snider, who overtook Briscoe and Herbst for position, went to work on Sieg for fourth.
With 118 laps remaining and the pack behind the leaders bumping and battling hard for position, the caution returned when contact from Allgaier in Turn 4 and a bump from Haley entering Turn 1 sent Yeley spinning as everyone behind scattered to avoid hitting Yeley.
Under caution, the No. 61 Toyota Supra driven by Chad Finchum was towed back to the garage due to mechanical issues.
When the race restarted under green with 112 laps remaining, Allmendinger retained the lead following a strong start while cousins Harrison and Jeb Burton battled for second. Behind, Snider and Sieg battled in the top five while Herbst was in sixth ahead of Briscoe. Behind, Chastain and Jones battled for a top-10 spot while Allgaier was in 13th. Gragson, Cindric and Haley were mired back in 16th, 17th and 18th.
With 105 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Harrison Burton while Jeb Burton was in front of a bevy of competitors in third place. By then, Chastain carved his way into eighth place as he went to work on Briscoe for more.
Five laps remaining and with 100 laps remaining, Allmendinger stabilized his advantage by more than a second over Harrison Burton with Jeb Burton trailing by more than three seconds. Sieg, Snider and Herbst were in the top six while Chastain, a Playoff contender trying to fight his way into the Championship 4 finale round, moved into seventh place ahead of Briscoe.
Meanwhile, Allgaier, Gragson and Cindric were in 10th, 11th and 12th while Haley and Jones were in 14th and 15th behind Brandon Brown.
Fifteen laps later, with 85 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead followed by Harrison and Jeb Burton. Sieg, Snider and Herbst continued to run in fourth through sixth while Chastain started having JR Motorsports’ Allgaier, Annett and Gragson close in for seventh place.
Nearly five laps later, Chastain attempted to push Herbst beneath Snider for position to move forward on the track, but it did not work as Chastain lost his momentum and Allgaier was able to overtake him for position and continue to move up on fresh tires.
With 75 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead over Harrison and Jeb Burton followed by Sieg and Allgaier, who overtook Herbst for position. Behind, Chastain slipped back to 10th place while Gragson and Annett moved up to eighth and ninth.
Down to the final 70 laps of the race, the battle for the lead between Allmendinger and Harrison Burton started to heat up as they were mired in lapped traffic. A few laps later, the caution flew when Bayley Currey made hard contact into the outside wall entering Turn 2.
Under caution, the leaders pitted and Harrison Burton was able to reassume the lead after exiting pit road ahead of Allmendinger with Jeb Burton, Sieg and Allgaier exiting in the top five.
With 61 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Harrison Burton and Allmendinger on the front row. At the start, Burton and Allmendinger battled dead even for the lead and continued to do so for the next four laps before Burton made contact and got loose entering Turn 4 with Allmendinger with the latter prevailing on the outside lane.
Behind, Allgaier overtook teammate Jeb Burton for third place while Gragson passed Sieg for fifth place. Behind Sieg and Herbst was Chastain, mired in eighth place and still scored outside of the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings.
With 52 laps remaining, Harrison Burton reassumed the lead while Allmendinger fell off the pace and made a pit stop under green due to cutting a left-rear tire as a result of his on-track battle and contact with Burton for the lead.
Back on the track and down to the final 50 laps, Allgaier moved into second place behind Harrison Burton while Gragson, Jeb Burton and Herbst were in the top five. Chastain was in sixth ahead of Sieg, Cindric, Briscoe and Haley with Jones in 11th place.
With 45 laps remaining, Harrison Burton continued to lead by a narrow margin over Allgaier with Gragson, Jeb Burton and Chastain in the top five. By then, Cindric, Allgaier and Haley were above the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings and in position of transferring to the Championship 4 round with Chastain, Jones, Gragson and Sieg trailing on the outside of the cutoff mark.
Under 40 laps remaining, Harrison Burton stabilized his advantage by nearly a second over Allgaier, who continued to pressure the rookie for the lead. Gragson retained third place while Chastain overtook Jeb Burton for fourth place.
Four laps later, the caution returned when Snider spun following contact with Brandon Brown. Under caution, some like Sieg, Briscoe, Brandon Jones, Annett and others pitted while the rest led by Harrison Burton remained on the track.
With 30 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Harrison Burton and Allgaier on the front row. At the start, Burton and Allgaier battled dead even for the lead with the former prevailing the following lap. Allgaier settled in second while teammate Gragson, facing a “must-win” situation, moved into third place. Jeb Burton was in fourth while Chastain was in fifth ahead of teammate Haley, Herbst and Cindric.
Down to the final 20 laps of the race, Harrison Burton was still leading, though JRM teammates Allgaier and Gragson kept Burton within their sights. Behind, Chastain overtook Jeb Burton for fourth place while Haley, clinging onto the final transfer spot to the Championship 4 round, battled Herbst to retain sixth place. Cindric was in eighth while Jones was in 10th ahead of Briscoe.
With less than 15 laps remaining and with Harrison Burton still leading Allgaier by more than half a second, Haley was shuffled back to 12th place while teammate Chastain was in fourth place as both Kaulig Racing teammates were left in a battle with one another for a championship finale spot.
Down to the final 10 laps of the race, Harrison Burton continued to lead by nearly a second over Allgaier with teammate Gragson trailing by nearly two seconds. Chastain settled in fourth ahead of Jeb Burton while Herbst, Briscoe, Jones, Annett and Cindric were in the top 10. Haley was in 12th and holding onto the final transfer spot by four points over teammate Chastain.
With five laps remaining, leader Harrison Burton started to catch lapped traffic as he continued to lead by less than a second over Allgaier with Gragson trailing behind by more than a second and Chastain trailing by four seconds.
Despite the lapped traffic, Harrison Burton continued to stabilize his advantage over Allgaier, who continued to close in. At the final lap, Burton continued to lead by half a second. Coming back around to the checkered flag, Burton was able to hold on and win by approximately three-tenths of a second over Allgaier.
At 20 years and 22 days old, Harrison Burton became the youngest winner at Martinsville Speedway, eclipsing his father Jeff’s previous record at 23 years, two months and 24 days old.
During his cool-down lap and victory burnout, Harrison received congrats from his father Jeff, who interviewed his son during the on-track celebration.
“What’s up, dad? That was pretty awesome!” Burton exclaimed. “Great race car. I got the best team in the garage. That’s pretty fun!”
“I heard my old man get on the radio, which was pretty special,” Burton added during a post-race interview. “He’s funny on the TV. He was probably hating that because he tries to stay as non-biased as possible and avoids talking about me as much as he can. When they told him to do that, he was probably excited to talk to me but probably, he was a little bit nervous. That was awesome to have my dad talk to me. The amount of stuff that my dad and my mom have done for me, sacrificing time together, sacrificing time with my sister,…To give back to them by winning these races and, hopefully, proving that all that time spent away was worth it, racing all over the country with my mom, that means a lot.”
Allgaier finished in second place and raced his way into the Championship 4 round while teammate Gragson failed to advance to the Championship 4 round despite finishing in third place.
“I’m just proud of our team, everybody at JR Motorsports,” Allgaier said. “We had four really fast Camaros today. We came in today with the idea of just managing the stages as best we could, managing the race as best we could. At the end there, I really wanted to be able to get up there and pass Harrison, but hats off to those guys. They did a great job. I just didn’t do a good job on getting off the corner. I struggled all day to get my rhythm down. Once we finally did that, I felt like we had a really fast Camaro. Proud to get Unilever a good finish. Most importantly, proud to get all of our partners an opportunity to go for a championship next week. That’s what this is all about. Just got to get after it next week…We just got to go all week and work as hard as we can, and be there whenever it comes time.”
Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images.
“I definitely thought our Bass Pro Shops/True Timber was pretty good,” Gragson said. “I was saving my tires a little bit the run before that…We put on one hell of a stretch in the Playoffs. Overall, we can’t hang our heads over this stretch. We did the best we could do. It wasn’t meant to be. We’ll go fight hard next weekend at Phoenix. I like that track. I wish I was competing in the Final Four. Congrats to all the guys who made it happen. I’m hungry to win one. It sucks finishing second and third. I wanna go win.”
Jeb Burton recorded a strong fourth-place run while Chastain finished in fifth place and failed to advance to the Championship 4 round by four points.
“I made too many mistakes the two races leading up to this,” Chastain said. “I know that. It was a tough week coming here knowing the hole I put us in. Today though, the fight was awesome. I just wanted to win Martinsville. I knew how fast our car was, especially in clean air. Proud of the fight, proud of the effort from everybody. I’ve got great owners. Can’t wait to go to Phoenix and put all the effort after Phoenix into 2021.”
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.
Herbst, Briscoe, Annett, Jones and Cindric rounded out the top 10 on the track. Cindric and Haley, who finished 12th, secured the final two spots to the Championship 4 round, joining Allgaier and Chase Briscoe.
“Yeah, obviously, coming to a race track with a brand new set-up and a car that hasn’t been here, I’m sure [crew chief Brian Wilson] was pretty nervous but obviously, he did a great job,” Cindric said. “Our guys worked incredibly hard on this Pirtek Ford Mustang for this race. Really proud of that. I don’t think we really got to show its capability today. I took the easy way out and picked a lot of bottom lane restarts, which were a lot safer. I hate playing the points game, but we have done that the entire Playoffs. I’m happy we’re in the final four…We get to go to Phoenix and have a lot of fun. I’m excited to go fight for a championship…We got to beat everyone, that’s the thing. You can’t just be better. You have to be the best.”
“The motor’s actually blown up,” Haley said. “From about halfway through the race, the motor started letting go. Just so thankful for everyone at Kaulig Racing. When I first signed on, Chris Rice [President of Kaulig Racing] was like, ‘Hey man, this is a 12th-place car. You got to get it. We gotta work together, we got to get it in the Final Four, we gotta win races and we can do it.’ I believed him. It’s just so awesome to get this thing in the Final Four. If you told a lot of people at the start of the year that the No. 11 car out of Kaulig Racing was gonna be in the Final Four, I’m sure they’d probably say you’re wrong. So, so thankful. Sigh of relief. Matt Kaulig, have a drink for me.”
Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images.
Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier and Justin Haley will contend for this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series championship next weekend at Phoenix Raceway. In addition to the drivers’ championship, all four will battle for this year’s owners’ championship.
Ross Chastain, Brandon Jones, Noah Gragson and Ryan Sieg, who finished 11th, have been eliminated from title contention.
“I wanted to go to Phoenix and have a shot to [win the title],” Jones said. “Luckily, we announced that we’re coming back next year and we’re gonna have a shot at it again. Pretty cool to see Harrison get a couple more wins before the year’s over. I think these guys still need to watch out. We’re gonna be really good at Phoenix when we get there. I think we still could be better for next year.”
There were 11 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 63 laps.
Results.
1. Harrison Burton, 81 laps led
2. Justin Allgaier
3. Noah Gragson, 23 laps led, Stage 1 winner
4. Jeb Burton
5. Ross Chastain, 31 laps led, Stage 2 winner
6. Riley Herbst
7. Chase Briscoe
8. Michael Annett
9. Brandon Jones
10. Austin Cindric, 42 laps led
11. Ryan Sieg
12. Justin Haley
13. Brett Moffitt
14. J.J. Yeley, five laps led
15. Jeremy Clements
16. Tommy Joe Martins
17. Timmy Hill
18. Brandon Brown
19. Josh Williams
20. Mason Diaz
21. Joe Graf Jr.
22. Jesse Little, one lap down
23. Myatt Snider, one lap down
24. Stefan Parsons, one lap down
25. Colby Howard, two laps down
26. A.J. Allmendinger, two laps down, 68 laps led
27. Alex Labbe, three laps down
28. Jeffrey Earnhardt, four laps down
29. Kody Vanderwal, four laps down
30. Kyle Weatherman, four laps down
31. Donald Theetge, five laps down
32. Carl Long, six laps down
33. B.J. McLeod, 11 laps down
34. Ryan Vargas, 17 laps down
35. Gray Gaulding – OUT, Electrical
36. Bayley Currey – OUT, Accident
37. Chad Finchum – OUT, Engine
38. Matt Mills – OUT, Oil line
39. Josh Reaume – OUT, Suspension
Bold indicates Championship finale contenders
Standings
1. Chase Briscoe – Advanced
2. Austin Cindric – Advanced
3. Justin Allgaier – Advanced
4. Justin Haley – Advanced
5. Ross Chastain – Eliminated
6. Brandon Jones – Eliminated
7. Noah Gragson – Eliminated
8. Ryan Sieg – Eliminated
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will travel to Phoenix Raceway for the 2020 season finale and where a champion will be crowned. The race will occur on Saturday, November 7, at 5 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
Emerging as a serious dark horse candidate for this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series championship battle, Justin Haley won the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway after rallying from a late pit road penalty, taking the lead with two laps remaining and retaining his advantage following a multi-car wreck on the final lap. The victory was Haley’s third of his Xfinity career and of the season as he punched his ticket into the Round of 8 in the Playoffs.
The starting lineup was based on four stats: the current owner points standings, driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity race and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Chase Briscoe, coming off his dominating win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Noah Gragson.
Prior to the race, Austin Hill’s No. 61 AISIN Group Toyota Supra failed pre-race inspection twice, resulting with his team losing pit road selection for next weekend’s series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. In addition, drivers like Brandon Jones and Joe Graf Jr. were not in their respective cars as the command to fire engines was given, resulting with both competitors having to hustle to their cars as the engines from the rest of the field were being ignited.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Briscoe jumped ahead with an early lead on the inside lane and was able to move in front of Noah Gragson on the outside lane in Turn 2 to retain the lead. He returned to the inside lane entering the tri-oval, but Gragson gained a run on the outside lane to emerge ahead and lead the first lap.
The following lap, Justin Allgaier left teammate Gragson out to dry on the outside lane to lead the second lap by a nose over Briscoe as the field expanded to two lanes while battling for positions.
By the third lap, Briscoe emerged with the lead to lead a lap for himself for the first time. Behind, Austin Cindric settled behind Briscoe’s No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang followed by Anthony Alfredo and Justin Haley while Allgaier was the first competitor running on the inside lane followed by teammate Michael Annett.
Following the first five laps of the race, Briscoe continued to lead followed by Cindric, Alfredo, Allgaier as the field continued to run in two lanes while remaining in the draft and close to one another in a pack.
Five laps later, on Lap 10, Briscoe and Allgaier battled dead even for the lead and in a double lane battle within the pack. By then, Haley moved up to third place behind Cindric while Alfredo dropped back to 20th place.
With the field reaching its halfway mark of the first stage, Briscoe continued to run ahead of the pack followed by Cindric, Haley, Brandon Jones, Allgaier, Riley Herbst, Annett, Brandon Brown, Harrison Burton and Ryan Sieg while Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson were running inside the top 16 on the track.
With five laps remaining in the first stage and the early double-wide pack racing breaking apart, Briscoe led a single-file line with seven cars on the inside lane while Annett was the first car running on the outside lane in eighth place. By then, A.J. Allmendinger, who started at the rear of the field, cracked the top 15 while Alfredo and Daniel Hemric were running in the top 10 and as the highest-running non-title contenders on the track.
When the final lap of the first stage started, the field started to expand to two lanes as a multitude of Playoff contenders battled for spots in the top 10 for stage points. When the first stage concluded on Lap 25, Briscoe emerged out in front as he collected his eighth stage victory of the season. Cindric settled in second place followed by Brandon Jones, Haley and Alfredo while Herbst, Sieg, Harrison Burton, Hemric and Allgaier settled in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Brandon Brown, Gragson, Chastain and Annett failed to secure stage points.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Briscoe emerged with the lead following a two-tire pit stop, with Jones, Burton, Cindric and Herbst following behind after two-tire stops.
The second stage started on Lap 29 with Briscoe and Jones on the front row. At the start, Briscoe moved in front of Jones on the bottom lane to retain the lead.
The following lap, Jones led a lap for the first time by a nose over Briscoe on the inside lane and with teammates Harrison Burton and Herbst tucked behind Jones’ No. 19 Menards/Swiffer Toyota Supra. Leading the outside lane was Briscoe followed by Cindric, Sieg, Alfredo, Chastain and Haley.
Not long after, the outside lane led by Briscoe prevailed with a number of cars opting to run on the outside lane while the inside lane led by Jones fell back due to a lack of cars. Cindric continued to settle in second place behind Briscoe while Alfredo and Sieg made aggressive moves while attempting to move to the front.
By Lap 35, drivers like Haley, Hemric, Allgaier, Gragson and Chastain moved up behind Briscoe and Cindric with nearly the entire field opting to run in a single-file line on the outside lane.
Five laps later, on Lap 40, Briscoe continued to lead followed by Ford teammate Cindric and Haley while JR Motorsports’ teammates Hemric, Allgaier and Gragson settled in fourth through sixth. Chastain was in seventh place followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Harrison Burton and Herbst. Brown and Sieg were in 11th and 12th while Annett was back in 21st place behind Jeffrey Earnhardt. Allmendinger was in 16th place in front of Alfredo and Josh Williams while Myatt Snider, Brett Moffitt and Austin Hill were in the top 15.
On Lap 42, the caution flew when Austin Hill, in an attempt to side draft Herbst, made contact, turned and sent Herbst for a spin in Turn 4 before he made hard contact into the inside wall at the driver’s door near the pit road entrance before he drove through the tri-oval grass and limped back to his pit stall.
Under caution, few like Gragson, Annett and Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by Briscoe and Cindric remained on track.
Prior to the restart with four laps remaining, the leaders stacked up the field and Chastain, who ran into the rear bumper of Hemric in the top 10, was hit by Harrison Burton, who was getting pushed by Sieg and Moffit, as he spun and touched the outside wall before he came back down and was hit by Colby Howard on the right side of his No. 10 Dyna-Gro Seed Chevrolet Camaro. Following the incident, the race was red-flagged for nine minutes due to fluid on the track.
When the red flag lifted, Chastain limped to pit road as his pit crew went to work to repair the damage and to ensure the car will reach minimum speed under NASCAR’s Damaged Policy guidelines. He was able to return back on the track and in front of the field with the field coming to the restart.
On a one-lap dash to conclude the second stage, Briscoe retained the lead over Cindric and Haley. When the second stage concluded on Lap 50, Briscoe was able to fend off Cindric and the field to collect his ninth stage victory of the season. Cindric settled in second followed by Hemric, Haley and Allgaier while Harrison Burton, Brandon Jones, Sieg, Brandon Brown and Gragson settled in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Gragson emerged with the lead following a fuel-only pit stop. Briscoe followed behind in second place and on two fresh tires followed by Annett, Cindric, Hemric and Jones. Chastain and Harrison Burton pitted to have their respective cars repaired with both on the lead lap. Prior to this, Herbst took his No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota Supra to the garage and retired from the race following his late incident in the second stage.
“It just sucks,” Herbst said at the infield care center on NBCSN. “This is the fastest race car I have ever had on a superspeedway. I was really excited for that. I want to thank everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing for that. It just sucks when a Truck Series guy comes in here to have fun. I’m really good friends with Austin [Hill], so I just hate to see that. If I went into the Truck Series and wrecked his Playoff hopes, he would be upset with me. I’m a little upset. We are not out of it yet. It’s going to be tough at the Roval, but we will see what we will have with the Monster Energy Supra.”
Following the pit stops, Allgaier was sent to the rear of the field due to having too many crew members over the pit wall. In addition, he also pitted again to address possible fluid concerns to his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro, an issue first noted following the red flag period in the second stage, where he re-fired his car and a billow of smoke was puffing out of the tailpipes of his Camaro.
With 58 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Allmendinger, Timmy Hill and Moffitt emerged out in front followed by Gragson and Briscoe. Entering the backstretch, the field expanded to three lanes, but Allmendinger retained the lead followed by Gragson, Annett, Hemric and Haley. Briscoe, meanwhile, was in seventh place while Cindric continued to run behind Briscoe.
At the halfway mark between Laps 56 and 57, Allmendinger continued to lead a bevy of cars running on the outside lane while Briscoe and Cindric fell back inside the top 20 and in front of Allgaier while stuck on the inside lane.
With 50 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead followed by JRM’s Gragson, Annett and Hemric while Haley, Allmendinger’s teammate at Kaulig Racing, was in fifth place. Sieg was in sixth place followed by Austin Hill, Alfredo, Snider and Jesse Little. Meanwhile, Brandon Jones and Brandon Brown were in 12th and 13th while Briscoe, Chastain, Cindric and Allgaier were in 20th through 23rd behind Ryan Vargas. Harrison Burton was in 25th place behind Jeffrey Earnhardt.
With 40 laps remaining, Allmendinger and his No. 16 Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet Camaro continued to lead the way over a multitude of competitors racing on the outside lane. Gragson was in second place followed by teammates Annett and Hemric while Haley, Sieg, Austin Hill, Alfredo, Snider and Little were scored in the top 10. Jones and Brown were still in 12th and 13th, Chastain was in 17th and Allgaier was in 19th. Cindric and Briscoe were back in 20th and 22nd while Harrison Burton was in 26th.
Two laps later and while a majority of competitors led by Allmendinger moved to the inside lane and were slowing down in an attempt to make a pit stop under green, Austin Hill got hit from behind from Alfredo while backing off the pace and spun before he made head-on contact into the inside wall. Behind, Cindric slipped sideways as he also made contact into the inside wall and damaged the front nose of his No. 22 CARQUEST Auto Parts Ford Mustang beyond repair. The caution immediately flew as Jeffrey Earnhardt was also involved in the carnage. Though the wreck knocked Cindric out of contention for the remainder of the race, the stage points he earned by finishing in second place in both stages kept him above the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings and with a decent cushion of transferring to the second round of the Playoffs.
“I just got smoked from behind,” Cindric said at the infield care center on NBCSN. “I had no chance of making it to pit road. It is really unfortunate. Obviously we hit the wall a ton. I really wanted to have a great run for our CARQUEST Ford Mustang and their first race on the car for us. It is really cool to have them back in the sport. We ran up front all day. Unfortunately, circumstances kept me and [Briscoe] from being up front with the way the slower cars stayed out…We were hoping to get ourselves locked into the next round today but we will have to go fight for it next week.”
At the time of caution, a handful of competitors led by Allmendinger entered pit road at the time the pit road entrance was closed. While some like Allmendinger and Gragson drove through pit road without service, Annett, Ryan Vargas and Haley received service and all three were penalized for pitting too soon.
Under caution and with the leaders pitting, Brown exited in first place followed by Allgaier, Jones, Chastain and Briscoe, all of whom opted for a fuel-only stop.
With 30 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with Brandon Brown and Allgaier on the front row. At the start, Brown retained the lead on the inside lane followed by Jones and Chastain while Allgaier and Briscoe battled in the top five.
The following lane, Briscoe gained a huge run on the outside lane and drew himself alongside Brown for the lead followed by Allmendinger. Shortly after, the field started to expand into three lanes with Alex Labbe leading a small pack of cars on the outside lane and Jones leading Allgaier, Chastain and a number of competitors on the middle lane while Briscoe moved into the lead over Brown.
With 26 laps remaining and with Briscoe back in the lead ahead of Allmendinger, Josh Williams moved inside the top five while Brown was shuffled out of the inside lane and back in the middle lane, thus falling out of the top 10.
Three laps later, with 23 laps remaining, the outside lane led by Briscoe prevailed with a bevy of competitors opting to run on the outside lane. By then, Briscoe was leading Allmendinger, Jones, Chastain and Labbe while teammates Gragson and Hemric were in sixth and seventh while running on the inside lane.
Not long after, the caution flew due to debris on the frontstretch. Under caution, the mechanical issues for Allgaier returned with smoke starting to puff out of the tailpipes of his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro.
With 18 laps remaining, the race restarted under green and with Briscoe and Allmendinger on the front row. At the start, the inside lane prevailed as Briscoe retained the lead followed by Labbe, Gragson and Hemric while Allmendinger got shuffled back.
A lap later, Allgaier, who was still dealing with mechanical issues, took his car to the garage and retired for the remainder of the race. At the front, teammates Gragson and Hemric along with Chastain moved up to second, third and fourth while Briscoe continued to lead. In addition, Harrison Burton moved up to fifth place followed by Snider, Moffitt, Alfredo, Sieg, Brown and Jones.
With 15 laps remaining and a majority of competitors settling on the outside lane in a single-file line, Briscoe, the lone Ford competitor towards the front, continued to lead followed by Chevrolet teammates Gragson, Hemric and Chastain while Burton, the highest-running Toyota competitor, was in fifth place ahead of Alfredo.
With 10 laps remaining, Briscoe was still scored as the leader followed by teammates Gragson and Hemric with Chastain and Harrison Burton in the top five. By then, Brandon Jones and Brandon Brown were in eighth and ninth followed by Haley, who rallied from his late pit road penalty, while Annett was back in 16th place and the first car on the inside lane.
With eight laps remaining, Haley started to make moves to the front as he moved into sixth place, two spots behind teammate Chastain, and after making bold moves on the inside lane before settling back in the draft on the outside lane. A few laps later, teammate Allmendinger made his move on the inside lane and started to move into the top five. By then, Briscoe continued to lead over Gragson, Hemric, Chastain and Burton with five laps remaining and with the field starting to jumble up for runs to the front and for the finish.
With three laps remaining, Haley started to form a line on the inside lane in an attempt for the lead while Briscoe continued to lead the race on the outside lane. Entering Turn 4, Gragson got Briscoe sideways following a bump, but Briscoe was able to prevent the car from spinning out in front of the pack as he continued to battle Gragson on the inside lane for the lead.
With two laps remaining, Briscoe moved up the track to block Gragson, which allowed Haley to gain a run on the inside lane and challenge for the lead. In Turn 3, Haley moved into the lead followed by Annett and Sieg while Briscoe and Gragson made contact again, resulting in Briscoe scraping the outside wall and falling out of contention for the win.
At the start of the final lap, Haley was still in the lead followed by Annett and Sieg while Gragson continued to battle on the outside lane in fourth place next to Jones. Through the backstretch, a multi-car wreck ensued that involved Harrison Burton, Allmendinger, Snider, Little, Moffitt and Brown. The wreck ended the race under caution as Haley emerged out in front and was able to grab the win.
With his win, Haley joined Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the only competitors to achieve three consecutive Xfinity Series superspeedway wins. In addition, Haley became the first Xfinity competitor to win two series races at Talladega in one season as he recorded the fourth victory of the season and the sixth overall for Kaulig Racing. Ironically, five of Kaulig Racing’s six career wins in NASCAR have occurred on superspeedway venues.
“Three in a row is pretty hard to do on luck,” Haley said on NBCSN. “We had that penalty there. We struggled to get back, just bunny hopping. Thankfully, Kevin Hamlin, my spotter, was able to guide me through the bunny hops, being able to go from the bottom. We were so far back with 10 [laps] to go. This LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, these ECR Engines, [Richard Childress Racing], Matt Kaulig, we love you! We got this thing in the Round of 8, that’s the most important. Just super thankful to everyone. This is a blessing.”
Annett initially settled in second place for his best result of the season since winning the 2019 Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Following the race, however, Annett was disqualified due to his No. 1 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet Camaro being deemed too low in the left front. As a result, he was credited with a 37th-place result (last place in the field) and dropped from ninth to 12th in the Xfinity Playoff standings, also leaving him with a 38-point deficit entering next Saturday’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
With that, Sieg was promoted into second place while Gragson, Brandon Jones and Hemric rounded out the top five on the track.
“A win would’ve been a lot better, but we’re still on the positive side [in the standings],” Sieg said on NBCSN. “You never know what can happen at the road courses. We’ll do a little bit of a different strategy or you never know what can happen [at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval]. We’re excited to go to the Roval plus 23 [points]…Points day, it was great.”
“This is probably a really impressive day for a superspeedway because I’ve never really been a part of running great all the stages and then, getting that finish that we needed there at the end as well,” Jones said on NBCSN. “These guys did a really good job from the last superspeedway that we went to to try to get our Menards Supra as fast as Xfinity Internet. I think we showed up with something that contended almost for the win there. Really excited, I think the Roval’s gonna be pretty good for us. We had such a good run at Daytona earlier at the road course that I think is gonna be really strong next week. Looking forward to it.”
Chastain rallied from his share of challenges throughout the race by finishing in sixth place while Josh Williams, Garrett Smithley, Brandon Brown and Alex Labbe rounded out the top 10.
“It’s just about the fight, the fight of this No. 10 team,” Chastain said on NBCSN. “It’s no different than some farmer putting Dyna-Gro Seed to the ground and hoping for that rain. It’s the same thing with us…My Chip Ganassi Racing pit crew did an awesome job. Those guys are some unsung heroes today. [The car]’s toed in, the crush panels are knocked out of it. It was a hard hit… Our Dyna-Gro Seed guys, they did what a farmer does and we kept fighting. We came out of here and gave ourselves a shot at the Roval.”
“That was really cool to be able to get out and get our Larry’s Hard Lemonade No. 68 upfront,” Brown said on NBCSN. “I was like, ‘Man, we got the Xfinity Internet speed in this thing.’ We were gonna go all the way to the front, but it’s Talladega. It was a lot of highs and lows. Getting shuffled all the way to the rear and it feels like your race is over, but then you get a line that moves you to the front. It was a lot of fun all day to do that and battle back and forth with these guys…I think we came out and we showed how strong we can be.”
Briscoe, who won both stages, led a race-high 73 laps and was in position to win until the final two laps, fell all the way back to 19th place.
“Obviously, there at the end, you’re doing everything you can to protect the runs,” Briscoe said on NBCSN. “[Gragson]’s trying to make moves, just part of racing here. It was exciting at least on my end. I was about wrecked two or three times trying to block. I knew that he had talked to Dale [Earnhardt Jr.] about how to run this place and obviously, I talked to Dale how to run this place. It was weird because I knew what [Gragson] was trying to do every time. So, I just kept trying to protect it and just, it’s part of racing here. But overall, a really good day for our Ford Performance Racing Ford to win two stages. That’s huge going into the next round. So, 20th, obviously, doesn’t tell the whole picture, but it’s part of racing here. We’re going on to the Roval next week and have some fun.”
“There’s so much going on. I don’t remember what happened,” Gragson said on NBCSN. “It’s pretty wild out there, racing for the win in the Xfinity Series. This is all I’ve ever dreamed of as a kid is to come to these races and have an opportunity to race for the win…It was definitely wild. [Briscoe] was throwing big blocks. That’s what you gotta do in the lead. I thought he did a pretty damn good job up there, but definitely unfortunate letting [Haley] get through for the win. I don’t love sitting here watching people do burnouts. Hopefully, we can go get a burnout at the Roval and take home a checkered flag.”
There were 13 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 25 laps.
24. A.J. Allmendinger – OUT, Accident, 24 laps led
25. Jesse Little – OUT, Accident, five laps led
26. Myatt Snider – OUT, Accident
27. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Accident
28. Kody Vanderwal, three laps down
29. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Engine, one lap led
30. Ryan Vargas – OUT, Suspension
31. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Engine
32. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident
33. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident
34. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident
35. Riley Herbst – OUT, DVP
36. Colby Howard – OUT, Accident, one lap led
37. Michael Annett – DISQUALIFIED
Playoff standings.
1. Chase Briscoe – Advanced
2. Justin Haley – Advanced
3. Austin Cindric +50
4. Noah Gragson +47
5. Brandon Jones +34
6. Ryan Sieg +27
7. Justin Allgaier +19
8. Ross Chastain +7
9. Harrison Burton -7
10. Brandon Brown -19
11. Riley Herbst -36
12. Michael Annett -38
Next on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval on Saturday, October 10, where the Round of 12 in the Xfinity Playoffs will conclude and the first round of eliminations will occur. The race will air at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Coming off his late surge and dominating win on Friday night in Richmond, Virginia, while recording a milestone win for JR Motorsports, Justin Allgaier backed it up by winning the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 250 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday afternoon, September 12, for his third NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season and in the past six races as he also claimed his second victory of the weekend. The win was Allgaier’s 14th of his Xfinity career and 11th while driving JRM’s No. 7 car as JR Motorsports recorded its 51st NASCAR Xfinity career victory.
The starting lineup was based on the results from Friday night’s race at Richmond, where the top-14 finishers were inverted. With that, Tommy Joe Martins started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Brandon Jones. Chad Finchum started at the rear of the field due to an engine change. Rookie Myatt Snider also started at the rear of the field in a backup car.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Martins and Jones battled dead even for the lead before Jones was able to prevail through Turns 3 and 4 and lead the first lap. Behind, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Sieg made a three-wide move on Martins entering Turn 1 before both moved up to second and third behind Jones. Not long after, Kaz Grala also moved up into fourth followed by Michael Annett while Martins continued to fade and lose spots on the track.
By the fifth lap, Jones was ahead by nearly three-tenths of a second over Briscoe with Sieg trailing by half a second. Five laps later, on Lap 10, Jones stabilized his advantage to nearly three-tenths of a second over Briscoe. Behind, Grala moved into third place over Sieg while Noah Gragson joined the battle. Austin Cindric was in sixth followed by Annett, Justin Haley, teammate Ross Chastain and rookie Riley Herbst. Justin Allgaier, winner of Friday night’s Xfinity race at Richmond, was in 11th ahead of cousins Harrison and Jeb Burton while Tommy Joe Martins fell back to 20th.
On Lap 17, Briscoe emerged with the lead after passing Jones on the inside lane the previous lap in Turn 1. Behind him. Grala moved into second place followed by Gragson while Jones settled in fourth place ahead of Haley and Cindric. Four laps later, Haley, who finished in second place on Friday night behind Allgaier, continued his march to the front after passing Jones for fourth place. By then, Allgaier cracked the top 10.
By Lap 25, the top-three competitors on the track led by Briscoe and followed by Grala and Gragson were ahead of fourth-place Haley by a second with Cindric trailing by more than a second and Annett by more than two seconds. Shortly after, Gragson moved into second place over Grala.
Thirty laps into the event and with the leaders approaching lapped traffic, Gragson emerged with the lead after passing Briscoe the previous lap in Turn 1. Briscoe maintained second place over Grala while Haley and Cindric stabilized themselves inside the top five. Behind, Allgaier moved up to sixth place and Ross Chastain moved up to eighth place while Jones fell back to 11th behind teammates Herbst and Harrison Burton.
While Gragson slowly extended his advantage, Grala and Briscoe battled for second place with Haley joining the party and heavy lapped traffic in front of them. On Lap 37, Haley, Briscoe and Grala went three wide for second place amid the lapped traffic for nearly a full circuit before Haley prevailed and took the spot. Behind, Allgaier rocketed his way into third place while Briscoe and Grala settled in the top five ahead of Cindric. Shortly after, Allgaier moved into second place.
With the battling for positions settling down, Gragson was able to maintain the lead just as the competition caution flew on Lap 40. Under caution, few that included Joey Gase and Tommy Joe Martins made a pit stop while the rest remained on track.
The race resumed under green on Lap 45 as teammates Gragson and Allgaier battled for the lead while Briscoe made a three-wide move to move up to third place. At the front, Allgaier emerged with the lead entering Turn 2 and after restarting on the inside lane. Behind, Haley passed Briscoe for third place while teammate Chastain overtook Annett into fifth place in pursuit of more on the track.
Fifty-five laps into the event, Allgaier was ahead by three-tenths of a second over teammate Gragson while Kaulig Racing teammates Haley and Chastain trailed behind. Annett, teammates to Allgaier and Gragson at JR Motorsports, was back in fifth place while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Herbst and Burton battled with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Briscoe for sixth and seventh. Penske’s Cindric was in ninth while RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg was in 10th. Richard Childress Racing’s Grala was back in 12th behind Sieg.
Five laps later, on Lap 60, Allgaier continued to lead by half a second over Gragson with Haley trailing by seven-tenths of a second and Chastain trailing by more than a second. Jones was back in 14th while Martins was back in 27th. In addition, Grala overtook Cindric for 10th place.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 75, Allgaier emerged at the front of the field as he claimed his 10th stage victory of the season. Gragson settled in second place behind his teammate followed by Haley, Chastain and Harrison Burton while Annett, Herbst, Jeb Burton, Sieg and Grala settled in the top 10. By then, Briscoe and his No. 98 Go Bowling Ford Mustang dropped back to 11th place ahead of Brandon Jones while Cindric and his No. 22 PPG Ford Mustang also fell back to 15th place.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Allgaier retained the lead following his pit stop ahead of teammate Gragson, Chastain, Haley, Harrison Burton and Jeb Burton. Following the pit stops, Sieg was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.
The second stage commenced on Lap 82 and Chastain made a bold three-wide move beneath Allgaier and Gragson in Turn 1 to take the lead. Eight laps later, on Lap 90, Chastain stabilized his advantage to a second over teammates Allgaier and Gragson while Jeb Burton moved up to fourth place in front of Haley and Harrison Burton. Behind, Cindric rallied from his late issues near the end of the first stage to run in seventh place followed by Herbst, Briscoe and Brett Moffitt. Annett, Jeremy Clements, Brandon Jones, Brandon Brown and Grala were running in the top 15.
Another 10 laps later, on Lap 100, Chastain stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Allgaier, whose car slowly came to life and with speed on long runs like the first stage, with Gragson trailing by more than a second. Behind, Jeb Burton continued to maintain fourth place over Haley.
By Lap 110, Allgaier cut his deficit to three-tenths of a second over Chastain as the leaders started to approach heavy lapped traffic. Both Chastain and Allgaier were ahead of third-place Gragson by more than two seconds with Haley in fourth. Behind by more than four seconds were cousins Harrison and Jeb Burton, both battling for fifth place, with Herbst joining the party. Cindric was back in eighth place ahead of Briscoe and Annett.
Ten laps later, on Lap 120, Allgaier started to pressure Chastain for the lead as they cleared the lapped traffic. He then attempted to gain a run and set up a pass on the outside lane, but Chastain was able to stabilize his narrow lead.
When the race reached its halfway point on Lap 125, Chastain was still ahead with the lead as Allgaier settled right behind the rear bumper of Chastain’s No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro. Three laps later, Allgaier and his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro moved back into the lead after fending off a challenge by Chastain, who refused to back out of the gas.
Behind, Harrison Burton made his way to third place after passing Gragson while Herbst moved up to fifth place after passing Haley. Jeb Burton settled in seventh place in front of Cindric, Jones and Briscoe. Shortly after, Herbst muscled his No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota Supra into fourth place.
With 10 laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew for an incident involving in Turn 3 involving Colby Howard. By then, Allgaier was leading by more than a second over Chastain with Harrison Burton trailing by less than four seconds. Under caution, some like Chastain, Haley, Harrison Burton, Herbst, Cindric, Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones and Briscoe pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on track. Following the pit stops, Jones was sent to the rear for speeding on pit road.
With five laps remaining, the short dash to the conclusion of the second stage started under green and with Allgaier and Grala restarting on the front row followed by teammates Gragson and Annett. At the start, Allgaier retained the lead while Chastain rocketed his way on the outside lane to move all the way up to second place in two laps and on fresh tires than Allgaier. All this occurred as the field scrambled for positions between those on fresh tires versus those on old tires.
A lap later, teammates Chastain and Haley made a three-wide move on Allgaier for the lead with Chastain reassuming the lead while Allgaier was overtaken by a handful of cars on fresh tires and dropped back to the top 10. By the time the second stage concluded on Lap 150 and with the scrambling for positions still ongoing through every turn and straightaway, Chastain emerged out in front and claimed his second stage victory of the season. Teammate Haley and his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro settled in second followed by Jeb Burton, Briscoe and Harrison Burton while Cindric, Herbst, Allgaier, Gragson and Grala settled in the top 10.
Under the stage break, some like Allgaier, Gragson, Jeb Burton, Grala, Clements and Brandon Brown pitted while the rest led by teammates Chastain and Haley remained on track.
The final stage commenced under green with 93 laps remaining and with Chastain and Haley on the front row. At the start, Chastain took off with the lead followed by Briscoe and Jeb Burton while Haley got shuffled out of the top five entering Turn 2. In one lap, Allgaier moved up to sixth place on fresh tires.
At the front, Jeb Burton made a move beneath Chastain to take the lead with 90 laps remaining. Shortly after, Allgaier rocketed into third place after passing Cindric while Briscoe settled in fifth place in front of Harrison Burton.
With 87 laps remaining, Allgaier overtook Chastain for second place as Jeb Burton continued to lead by a second. Seven laps later, with 80 laps remaining, Allgaier cut his deficit to Jeb Burton down to less than three-tenths of a second. Behind, Chastain trailed by two seconds in third place followed by Gragson and Cindric while Harrison Burton and Haley battled for sixth place.
Two laps later, Allgaier made his way back into the lead after passing teammate Jeb Burton. Another five laps later, with 73 laps remaining, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than a second over Jeb Burton’s No. 8 LS Tractor Chevrolet Camaro.
As the green-flag run progressed and with Allgaier ahead by more than two seconds, Chastain took second place over Jeb Burton with Gragson and Haley in the top five. Cindric was in sixth place followed by Harrison Burton, Annett, Grala and Herbst while Briscoe was back in 12th place in front of Jones, Clements and Brown.
With 60 laps remaining, Allgaier stabilized his lead to three seconds over Chastain. Ten laps later, with 50 laps remaining, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than five seconds over Chastain with Jeb Burton trailing by less than six seconds.
Another 10 laps later and with 40 laps remaining, Allgaier continued to extend his advantage by seven seconds over Chastain with Jeb Burton trailing by more than eight seconds. Fourth-place Haley was trailing by 10 seconds while Gragson and Harrison Burton trailed by more than 12 seconds. By then, names like Ryan Sieg, Brett Moffitt and Chase Briscoe were lapped.
Under 30 laps remaining, Allgaier’s lead expanded to eight seconds over Chastain with Jeb Burton trailing by nine seconds, Haley by less than 11 seconds and Harrison Burton by less than 15 seconds. Gragson retained sixth place ahead of teammate Annett and Grala while Cindric and Jones were scored in the top 10. Behind, Alex Labbe was in 11th place ahead of Herbst, Clements, Brandon Brown and Matt Mills. Jeffrey Earnhardt was in 16th place, a lap down, while Sieg and Briscoe were back in 17th and 19th.
With approximately 20 laps remaining, the caution flew after contact from Brandon Brown sent Herbst hard into the Turn 1 outside wall and with significant damage sustained to the rear end of Herbst’s No. 18 Toyota that knocked Herbst out of contention in the closing laps of the race. The caution erased a nearly nine-second advantage for Allgaier. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Allgaier retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of Jeb Burton and Chastain.
The race restarted under green with 13 laps remaining and with teammates Allgaier and Burton on the front row while Chastain and Harrison Burton lined up on the second row. At the start, Allgaier withstood a challenge from Jeb Burton to retain the lead,
With 10 laps remaining, Allgaier stabilized his advantage to nearly four-tenths of a second over teammate Jeb Burton with Chastain trailing behind and the pack behind jostling for late positions. Two laps later, Allgaier extended his advantage to six-tenths of a second.
With five laps remaining and Allgaier leading by more than a second, Jeb Burton continued to maintain second place ahead of Chastain and Harrison Burton with Haley in fifth place ahead of Gragson.
With the leaders encountering lapped traffic, Chastain started to challenge Jeb Burton for second place followed by Harrison Burton and his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra. Despite encountering lapped traffic in front of him, Allgaier was able to stabilize his advantage and navigate his way through one final circuit and come back around to win by two seconds and for his second checkered flag of the weekend.
Through the first 19 regular-season races of this year, Allgaier had yet to fill in the win column to his stats in 2020. Since recording his first victory at Dover International Speedway in August, Allgaier’s pair of victories this weekend at Richmond allowed him to join Cindric, Briscoe and Brandon Jones as the lone Xfinity competitors to achieve three or more victories throughout the regular-season stretch. In addition, Allgaier joined Cindric as the lone Xfinity competitors to achieve two victories in a doubleheader weekend at a track, when Cindric made his accomplishment at Kentucky Speedway in July.
“I knew how good our car was all day,” Allgaier said in Victory Lane on NBCSN. “It seems like lately, we haven’t been able to get [BRANDT] to Victory Lane. It wasn’t for lack of effort. I knew at the end there, I knew we had speed. I knew when we needed to go we could. I just didn’t know how fast. My teammate, Jeb Burton, did a fantastic job today on that last restart. I’m just so proud of these guys.”
In addition, Allgaier, who won on Friday night at Richmond, spent time afterwards working with his crew to install a new front nose on his No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro prior to Saturday afternoon’s race, where he went on to win.
“I have to thank the Man upstairs,” Allgaier added. “Tonight was definitely a push to the end, but we just had the luck we needed. I say luck, but luck is opportunities and preparation. We were prepared and the opportunities came tonight and we did a good job. I’m really proud of these guys.”
Behind, Jeb Burton settled in a career-best second place in his 40th series start followed by Chastain, who racked up his 12th top-five result of this season. Harrison Burton rallied from a 16th-place result on Friday night to finish in fourth place while Haley recorded a fifth-place run for his second top-five result in two days and for his eighth top-five finish of this season. Gragson finished in sixth place while Annett, Brandon Jones, Grala and Cindric rounded out the top 10. By finishing in 10th place, Cindric clinched this year’s regular-season championship and he will be awarded 15 bonus points for this year’s Playoffs.
By finishing 15th and 34th, Ryan Sieg and Riley Herbst clinched their spots for this year’s Xfinity Playoffs, thus joining Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones, Justin Haley, Harrison Burton, Ross Chastain and Michael Annett for this year’s championship battle.
Brandon Brown finished in 11th place and he holds sole possession of the 12th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs by 49 points over Clements, who finished 17th, and 88 over Snider, who finished 31st, as the series makes its way to the regular-season finale next Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
There were nine lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 29 laps.
Results.
1. Justin Allgaier, 135 laps led, Stage 1 winner
2. Jeb Burton, 12 laps led
3. Ross Chastain, 58 laps led, Stage 2 winner
4. Harrison Burton
5. Noah Gragson, 16 laps led
6. Justin Haley
7. Michael Annett
8. Brandon Jones, 16 laps led
9. Kaz Grala
10. Austin Cindric
11. Brandon Brown
12. Alex Labbe
13. Matt Mills
14. Jeffrey Earnhardt
15. Ryan Sieg, one lap down
16. Chase Briscoe, one lap down, 13 laps led
17. Jeremy Clements, one lap down
18. Brett Moffitt, one lap down
19. Bayley Currey, one lap down
20. Kyle Weatherman, two laps down
21. Mason Massey, two laps down
22. Stephen Leicht, three laps down
23. Joey Gase, three laps down
24. B.J. McLeod, three laps down
25. Josh Williams, three laps down
26. Tommy Joe Martins, three laps down
27. Joe Graf Jr., three laps down
28. Chad Finchum, four laps down
29. Kody Vanderwal, four laps down
30. Dexter Bean, four laps down
31. Myatt Snider, four laps down
32. Vinnie Miller, five laps down
33. Jesse Little, six laps down
34. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident
35. Colby Howard – OUT, Accident
36. Timmy Hill – OUT, Fuel pump
The NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season finale will occur at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 300, which will occur on Friday, September 18, at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
At the start of the final lap of the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway, all three Kaulig Racing competitors led by A.J. Allmendinger and followed by Ross Chastain and Justin Haley were running at the front with an opportunity to win. When the checkered flag flew, two Kaulig competitors made contact and wrecked while the third competitor, Haley, escaped the carnage on the final lap to win at Daytona.
The victory was Haley’s second of his Xfinity Series career, second of this season after winning his first Xfinity career race at Talladega Superspeedway in June and the fifth NASCAR win overall for Kaulig Racing.
The starting lineup was based on three statistical categories: current owner points standings, the results from a previous Xfinity race and the fastest lap from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Chase Briscoe, coming off his victory at Dover International Speedway in part of a doubleheader weekend, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Ross Chastain.
Rookie Riley Herbst was the only competitor to drop to the rear of the field due to an improperly mounted ballast discovered from his No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota Supra during the pre-race technical inspection, resulting in his car chief being ejected. In addition, he was assessed a pass-through penalty at the start of the race. Ryan Sieg, Josh Williams and Tim Viens retained their starting spots, but they all lost a pit stall selection for next weekend’s series race at Darlington Raceway due to multiple pre-race technical failures.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Briscoe received a push from Austin Cindric at the start to jump to an early lead. The top-eight competitors led by Briscoe ran in a single-file lane following by a bevy of competitors racing in double lanes for one lap around the superspeedway venue as Briscoe led the first lap.
The following lap, with Briscoe still leading, Cindric settled in second followed by Kaulig Racing’s Ross Chastain and Justin Haley while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones and Harrison Burton were running inside the top six. Anthony Alfredo was in seventh place ahead of Brandon Brown, Alex Labbe and Brett Moffitt while JR Motorsports’ four-car lineup led by Noah Gragson and including Justin Allgaier, Daniel Hemric and Michael Annett were running inside the top 16.
By the fifth lap, Briscoe was still leading Cindric, Chastain and a bevy of cars racing in a single-file lane followed by a scattered pack racing in two lanes. Trailing the lead pack by more than 34 seconds was Herbst following his opening lap penalty.
Shortly after, the first caution of the race flew when rookie Joe Graf Jr. spun across the tri-oval/frontstretch, made contact with the outside wall and damaged his car following contact with Jeffrey Earnhardt as Caesar Bacarella also sustained damage. Following his incident, Graf was limping his No. 08 Bucked Up Chevrolet Camaro back to pit road when the right-rear tire on his car shredded and left a multitude of debris scattered across Turn 2. The shredded right-rear tire and the damage to the right side of Graf’s car also left his car beyond repairable to continue.
Following the incident, NASCAR declared the caution involving Graf, Earnhardt and Bacarella as the competition caution originally planned on the 10th lap. Under caution, few like Moffitt, Earnhardt, A.J. Allmendinger, Chad Finchum, Ryan Sieg and Herbst pitted while the rest led by Briscoe remained on track.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 11, Briscoe jumped ahead on the outside lane and moved in front of Cindric’s No. 22 Odyssey Battery Ford Mustang on the inside lane to retain the lead through Turn 1. Entering Turn 2, however, Haley made a charge on the outside lane and started to battle with Cindric for the runner-up spot.
A lap later, just as Haley started to mount a challenge on Briscoe and Cindric for the lead, a rough start became worse for Bacarella as he wrecked on the backstretch and sustained heavy damage to the front nose of his No. 90 Alpha Prime/Maxim Chevrolet, thus brining out the second caution of the race. In addition, John Jackson was slowly limping back to pit road.
Under caution, some like teammates Gragson, Hemric, Allgaier and Annett along with Moffitt, Allmendinger and Sieg pitted while the rest led by Briscoe remained on the track.
The race restarted under green on Lap 17, and Briscoe jumped ahead and moved in front of Cindric with the lead again. In Turn 1, Burton mounted a challenge on the outside lane as he and Briscoe battled dead even for the lead. When the field returned to the tri-oval, Briscoe and his No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang were ahead by a nose over Burton and his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra with the entire pack running close behind the leaders.
Two laps later, on Lap 20, Briscoe, who has led every lap thus far, was still ahead with the lead and in front of Cindric, Haley, Chastain, Alfredo and Brown. Not long after, Gragson, fresh off a one-year contract extension with JR Motorsports, started to move into the top five on the outside lane with his three teammates (Allgaier, Hemric and Annett) tucked behind.
On Lap 23, Haley emerged with the lead followed by teammate Chastain and Alfredo while Briscoe fell back to fourth place alongside Brown.
While the battling for the lead continued to intensify, the caution returned a lap later for an accident in Turn 1 involving Earnhardt, teammate B.J. McLeod and Kody Vanderwal, who came to rest below the Turn 1 infield grass with the hood raised above his No. 52 The Swag Spot Chevrolet.
Under caution, some like Alfredo, Labbe, rookie Jesse Little, Myatt Snider, Josh Williams, Timmy Hill, Sieg and Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by teammates Haley and Chastain remained on track.
For the conclusion of the first stage, the field restarted under green for a one-lap shootout. At the start, Haley and his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro jumped ahead and moved in front of teammate Chastain on the inside lane while retaining the lead. In addition, he pulled away in Turn 1 before Cindric and Chastain came charging along with the pack through Turns 2 and 3. Despite the run, Haley was able to fend off the field to win the first stage on Lap 30 and for his third stage victory of the season. Chastain settled in second place followed by Cindric, Brown and Briscoe while Herbst, Gragson, Allgaier, Jones and Hemric were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the majority of the leaders pitted and Chastain emerged with the lead ahead of Briscoe and Haley. Following the pit stops, however, a number of competitors led by Hill, Labbe, Allmendinger, Williams, Moffitt, Sieg and Snider remained on track to occupy the top-seven positions.
The second stage started on Lap 34 with Hill leading as Allmendinger quickly made his way to second place. Back in seventh place in Turn 2 while also gaining a draft back to the front was Chastain with teammate Haley and Cindric also making their move back to the front. With the competitors running close to one another in a pack, Allmendinger made his way into the lead followed by teammates Chastain and Haley on Lap 36.
On Lap 40, with Allmendinger continuing to lead teammates Chastain and Haley followed by Cindric, the caution flew when contact from Briscoe and Jones, who was turning across the nose of Briscoe’s No. 98 Ford in Turn 3, resulted in Jones being spinning sideways as a multi-car erupted in Turn 4. The accident involved all four competitors from JR Motorsports (Gragson, Hemric, Allgaier and Annett) along with Moffitt, Labbe, Brown, Alfredo, Snider, Colby Howard and Tommy Joe Martins.
When the race restarted on Lap 45, Allmendinger retained the lead on the inside lane followed by Cindric and Chastain. Shortly after, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck in Turn 3 when Allgaier, who was trying to continue after being involved in the first multi-car wreck, spun after cutting a tire and triggered another multi-car wreck that involved Labbe, Joey Gase, Snider, Brown and Jeremy Clements. Following the wreck, the race was red-flagged for more than 11 minutes while the safety workers cleaned up the carnage area in Turn 3.
When the race resumed under cautious pace and under green near the 50th lap, Allmendinger and Cindric battled for the lead through Turns 1 and 2. By then, Brown retired in the garage. Allmendinger, nonetheless, was able to retain the lead with his teammates Chastain and Haley tucked right behind. Meanwhile, Cindric dropped out of the top five after receiving no drafting help on the outside lane.
At the halfway mark, Lap 50, Allmendinger and his No. 16 Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet Camaro were still leading teammates Chastain and Haley followed by Herbst and Burton. A few laps later, the caution returned due to debris on the backstretch. Under caution, some like Chastain, Allmendinger, Haley and Hemric pitted while others led by teammates Herbst and Burton remained on track.
With five laps remaining in the second stage, Herbst moved in front of teammate Burton to emerge with the lead. Behind, Cindric, Allmendinger and Chastain wasted no time carving their way back to the front. The following lap, Gray Gaulding and his No. 07 Walk-Ons.com Chevrolet Camaro owned by Bobby Dotter started to challenge Herbst for the lead with Allmendinger behind.
With three laps remaining in the stage, Gaulding emerged with the lead while Allmendinger started to challenge Herbst for second place on the outside lane. On the final lap of the stage, with his Kaulig Racing teammates tucked behind him, Allmendinger was able to pass Gaulding on the backstretch and hold on to win the stage for his second stage victory of the season and the fourth of his career. Teammate Chastain muscled his way to second place followed by teammate Haley, Gaulding and Annett. Herbst, Burton, Briscoe, Cindric and Sieg settled in the top 10. By then, 25 competitors were running on the lead lap. In addition, names like Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Brett Moffitt and Brandon Brown were out of the race.
Under the stage break, some like teammates Allmendinger, Chastain, Haley and Sieg remained on track while the rest led by Gaulding, Cindric and Briscoe pitted.
With less than 40 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green and Allmendinger moved in front of teammates Chastain and Haley to retain the lead. While Allmendinger and Chastain managed to clear the field, Haley was locked in a battle for third place with Sieg. Not long after, Sieg was black-flagged due to having a rear bumper cover loose on his No. 39 CMRroofing.com Chevrolet.
Remaining on track for three laps, Sieg made the turn to pit road to have the bumper cover addressed. At the same time, Hemric was also black-flagged to have a rear bumper replaced and addressed on his No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet. Following his stop, however, Hemric was assessed a drive-through penalty on pit road for having too many crew members over the wall during his service.
With 30 laps remaining and with the laps continuing to wind down, Allmendinger and his No. 16 Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet Camaro continued to lead a 10-car breakaway running in a single-file lane. Teammates Chastain and Haley were in second and third followed by Briscoe, Josh Williams and Cindric. Annett, the lone JR Motorsports competitors in the top 10, was in seventh followed by Herbst, Burton and Gaulding.
Five laps later, Allmendinger was still ahead of a 10-car breakaway followed by teammates Chastain and Haley while rookie Jesse Little, running in 11th place and leading the next wave of cars, was trailing by nine seconds. Another five laps later, with 20 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead teammates Chastain and Haley, though all three Kaulig Racing Chevrolets were in question about having enough fuel to complete the race to its distance compared to their challengers behind them.
Under 15 laps remaining, the top-10 competitors led by Allmendinger were separated by nearly four seconds while the 11th-place car led by Little was trailing by 20 seconds. Five laps later and with 10 laps remaining, the following competitors of Cindric, Briscoe, Annett and Herbst overtook Haley for position while Allmendinger and Chastain continued to lead. By then, 16 competitors were running on the lead lap and the top-nine competitors were ahead of 10th-place Williams by nearly 10 seconds.
With five laps remaining and the top-nine competitors at the front still settling in a single-file line, nose to nose and bumper to bumper, Allmendinger was leading teammate Chastain while Cindric and Briscoe were behind.
With two laps remaining, entering Turn 1, Chastain and Briscoe attempted to pull beneath Allmendinger for the lead, but Allmendinger kept his car ahead of the pack after blocking the run. Chastain and his No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro remained in second while Briscoe fell back to seventh.
When the final lap of the race started, Allmendinger was still leading and blocking Chastain, Cindric and Haley. Entering Turn 3, Chastain gained a run through Turn 2 and he attempted to make a move beneath Allmendinger for the lead and the win. Chastain ended up giving his teammate a bump in the turn that turned Allmendinger sideways as he spun with a multi-car wreck erupting that collected Chastain, Annett and Cindric.
In the midst of the wreck, Haley dodged the carnage involving his teammates and came out on top as he was able to cruise across the finish line to grab a thrilling victory at Daytona.
The victory was Haley’s second at Daytona after he won his first NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona last July in a rain-shortened race while driving for Spire Motorsports. Including his three NASCAR Truck Series career victories in 2018, Haley has won six races across NASCAR’s three major division series. In addition, Haley’s last three victories across NASCAR have occurred on superspeedway venues.
“An amazing effort by Kaulig Racing,” Haley said on the frontstretch on NBCSN. “Obviously, I hate that A.J. and Ross got together there. As you guys at home can see, [team owner] Matt Kaulig, [team president] Chris Rice, we built a team and a family. We all work as one. Extremely proud of this LeafFilter Gutter Protection crew. [I] Can’t believe it. Two superspeedway wins in a row. Gotta say something for [spotter] Kevin Hamlin on the booth, too. Just a little lucky there. We got shoved out and I was a little frustrated, but that’s why you never give up. These things are so unpredictable. An incredible effort today. We swept everything [stages and race win]. Extremely proud of everyone.”
Haley’s victory at Daytona was also redemption from the Xfinity Series race at Daytona in July 2018, where Haley, driving for GMS Racing, made a bold three-wide pass for the win on Kyle Larson and Elliott Sadler entering the tri-oval for the win. While he was able to clear both competitors and streak across the finish line in first place, he completed his pass with his left-side tires crossing beneath the double yellow line zone. As a result, Haley was disqualified and demoted back to the last car on the lead lap while Larson was awarded the win.
“[I] Parked it right here on the double yellow line [area] where I went down too low about two years ago in a Xfinity race,” Haley added. “A little humor there.”
Behind Haley, Gray Gaulding tied his career-best result of second place in his 43rd series start followed by Briscoe, Herbst and Burton. Chastain, Annett and Cindric limped across the line in sixth, seventh and eighth while Williams and Little finished in the top 10. Allmendinger, who was unable to limp his car back to the finish line, ended his race in 15th place.
Following the race, Allmendinger made the mandatory post-race trip to the infield care center. Both Kaulig Racing teammates, at the end, expressed no ill will towards one another with Chastain defending his move and attempt to win to lock himself into the Xfinity Playoffs.
“Hopefully, we get some good ratings on that one,” Chastain said on pit road on NBCSN. “Terrible to run into your teammate like that. It must be my fault, though. It’s unfortunate, we did everything right all night. Man, we just got to win. This No. 10 car, Nutrien Ag Solutions. [I] Did everything right to be the best teammate I could. I haven’t always been. Last lap, I don’t back down and I’m gonna go for it. If I wasn’t there, if I watch the replay, but he got turned, so it wasn’t completely into the bumper. I hate it, man! It’s not gonna help me moving forward. It doesn’t matter how many races each of us run. We’re supposed to go for the win. Team rules the last 10 laps, and we all stayed committed. I hated that Justin got shoved out there with 10 or five [laps] to go. Coming to the checkered, what am I supposed to do? Just finish second? Not this guy.”
“It’s the way it is,” Allmendinger added in the infield care center on NBCSN. “We’re proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing for building really fast Chevys. [I] Wanted to do everything I could to get that Ellsworth Advisors Chevy in Victory Lane. I try to take care of my teammates, but it is what it is. It’s for the win. Ross is going for the championship and going for a win there. I saw him get low and I thought he’d, maybe, take care of me a little bit, considering I was there. He’s going for the win. It is what it is. It’s just disappointing. We were gonna have another 1-2-3 Kaulig finish at Daytona. It’s part of life, it’s racing. More importantly, congrats to my little bro, Justin Haley, and at least getting a Kaulig Racing Chevy in Victory Lane. That’s the most important thing. We’re bringing more trophies home for Matt Kaulig and that’s all that matters. He’s going for the win. I get it.”
There were nine lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 28 laps.
With his top-10 result, Cindric continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 58 points over Briscoe.
From a wreck on Saturday to a win on Sunday, Chase Briscoe capped off an up-and-down weekend at Dover International Speedway by winning the second Drydene 200 event on August 23 in a backup car and following a late battle with Ross Chastain. The victory was Briscoe’s sixth of the season, first since early July at Indianapolis and the eighth of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career.
The starting lineup was based on the results from Saturday’s first Xfinity race at Dover, where only the top-15 finishers were inverted. With that, Brett Moffitt, who finished 15th on Saturday, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Brandon Brown.
Chase Briscoe started at the rear of the field after moving to a backup car along with Daniel Hemric due to a driver change. Anthony Alfredo, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Alex Labbe and Vinnie Miller also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. Noah Gragson and Myatt Snider retained their starting spots for Sunday’s event, but both lost their pit stall selection for next week due to two pre-race technical failures.
When the green flag waved and the second Xfinity Dover race commenced, Moffitt jumped to an early advantage through Turns 1 and 2. Justin Haley moved up to second place followed by rookie Riley Herbst while Brown fell back to fourth place in front of Noah Gragson.
By the third lap, Justin Allgaier, coming off his first win of this season at Dover on Saturday and who started 15th, moved up to eighth place. Ryan Sieg, on the other hand, fell back to 12th place behind rookie Harrison Burton while Austin Cindric was scored in 10th place.
Following the first 10 laps, the first caution of the race flew due to an incident involving Earnhardt and Miller in the backstretch, where they made contact with one another and towards the outside wall before Miller made more contact against the Turn 3 outside wall. By then, Moffitt was still leading over Haley, Herbst, Gragson and Allgaier. Ross Chastain was in seventh place ahead of Cindric and Michael Annett while Burton was in 10th. Brandon Jones was in 14th, Chase Briscoe was in 16th and Alfredo, who rallied from power issues that forced him to start at the rear of the field, was in 20th ahead of Daniel Hemric.
Under caution, few like Timmy Hill, Stephen Leicht, Matt Mills and Korbin Forrister pitted.
When the race restarted around the Lap 15 mark, Moffitt retained the lead following a strong start. Haley and Herbst battled for second place while behind, Brown got loose underneath Gragson in Turn 3. Brown and Gragson were able to prevent their cars from spinning despite sliding sideways as they continued running inside the top 10.
Towards the front, Chastain took over second place followed by Herbst while Haley fell back to fourth in front of teammates Allgaier and Gragson. Meanwhile, Moffitt retained the lead through Lap 20 and when the competition caution flew.
Under caution, only a few that included Brandon Jones, Hemric, Josh Williams, Stephen Leicht, Kody Vanderwal and Matt Mills pitted while the rest remained on track. Prior to the restart, Burton was sent to the rear due to a choose cone violation.
When the race restarted on Lap 24, Moffitt and Chastain battled dead before Chastain emerged with the lead the following lap. Behind, Allgaier continued to muscle his way to the front after taking over third place from Herbst. In addition, Gragson passed Haley for fifth place while Cindric and Briscoe moved up to seventh and eighth. Hemric also emerged in the top 10 as he battled Brandon Brown for more.
Following Lap 30, Chastain was ahead by nearly a second over Moffitt and more than a second over Allgaier. Behind, Jones, racing on fresh tires, was in 18th. Five laps later, Chastain extended his advantage to more than a second over Moffit and nearly two seconds over Allgaier. Gragson moved back up into the top five while Haley, Briscoe, Cindric and Hemric battled for sixth place.
Another five laps later and with the laps in the first stage dwindling, Chastain continued to extend his advantage to more than two seconds over Allgaier and Moffitt. Proving he had a fast car throughout Saturday’s Xfinity Dover race and in the early stages of Sunday’s event, Chastain raced to his first stage victory of the season on Lap 45. Allgaier settled in second followed by Moffitt, Herbst and Gragson. Briscoe, Cindric, Haley, Hemric and Brown were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Jones emerged with the lead following a two-tire pit stop. Behind, Allgaier beat Chastain to exit in second place, but the first on four fresh tires. Following the stops, however, Herbst was sent to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation.
When the second stage started past the Lap 50 mark, Allgaier muscled ahead with the lead. Behind, Chastain and Briscoe made a three-wide move on Jones to move up followed by Cindric while Jones fell back to fifth place. In addition, Gragson took over seventh place from Hemric while Burton moved up to ninth ahead of Haley. Shortly after, Alfredo joined the battle as he battled Burton for a top-10 spot.
While the batting around the track among multiple competitors continued to ensue, Allgaier was ahead by two-tenths of a second over Chastain and with Briscoe and Cindric trailing closely behind the two leaders. By Lap 60, the top-four competitors were ahead by more than a second over fifth-place Jones and more than two seconds over sixth-place Gragson.
Past the Lap 60 mark, the caution returned due to an incident in Turn 2 involving Earnhardt and Herbst. Under caution, few that included Jeremy Clements, B.J. McLeod, Kody Vanderwal and Chad Finchum pitted while the rest remained on track.
On Lap 69, the race restarted and the battle for the lead ignited between Allgaier, Chastain, Briscoe and Cindric. The following lap, Briscoe moved up to second place and he grabbed the lead the next lap. While Briscoe led his first lap of the day, Chastain and Cindric battled for third place followed by Gragson while Hemric moved up to sixth place after passing Jones.
By Lap 80, Briscoe was ahead by six-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Chastain, Cindric and Gragson continued running inside the top five. Behind, Hemric and Jones were in sixth and seventh and Moffit was in eighth ahead of Haley and Burton. Alfredo was in 11th ahead of Brown and Michael Annet, Sieg was in 14th ahead of Snider and Herbst was in 16th.
For the final 10 laps of the second stage, Briscoe was able to power away from the field and claim his fifth stage of the season on Lap 90. Allgaier settled in second followed by Chastain, Cindric and Gragson. Hemric, Jones, Moffitt, Burton and Haley were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Briscoe retained the lead after exiting pit road first following a four-tire stop followed by Cindric, Hemric, Chastain, Burton and Jones while Allgaier fell back to eighth place. The race went from bad to worse for Allgaier, who dropped to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation. Labbe also dropped to the rear of the field due to crew member interference.
With nearly 100 laps remaining, the final stage started and Briscoe retained the lead following a strong start on the outside lane. Chastain moved up to second place over Cindric while Burton moved up to fourth place over Hemric. Gragson and Jones also joined the battle involving Burton and Hemric.
Three laps later and at the halfway mark on Lap 100, Briscoe was ahead by nearly a second over Chastain, who continued to run ahead of Cindric for the runner-up spot. Another 10 laps later and with 90 laps remaining, Briscoe was still leading by more than a second over Chastain and Cindric. Hemric and Burton settled in the top five ahead of Gragson, Annett, Jones, Herbst and Moffitt. Meanwhile, following his uncontrolled tire violation penalty, Allgaier raced his way back up to 14th behind Alfredo, Haley and Sieg. Brown was in 15th, Snider was in 17th and Clements was in 19th.
With 80 laps remaining and while the laps continued to dwindle, Briscoe stabilized his advantage to nearly a second over Chastain with Cindric trailing by two seconds. Hemric trailed by less than four seconds while Burton trailed by more than four seconds. Gragson settled in sixth while Annett and Jones battled for seventh. Allgaier, meanwhile, was up to 11th.
Twenty laps later and with 60 laps remaining, Briscoe extended his advantage to two seconds over Chastain followed by Cindric, Hemric and Burton. Behind, Allgaier was back in the top 10 as he was running in 10th place.
With approximately 40 laps remaining and with only 11 cars on the lead lap, Hemric was the first of the lead-lap competitors to make a green flag pit stop for fresh tires and fuel to complete the race to its distance. Shortly after, Burton made the turn to pit road, but he was penalized for a commitment line violation after he locked up his tires, nearly slid while turning down the banking and failed to keep all four tires inside the pit road entrance line. Haley, not long after, pitted along with race leader Briscoe, Cindric, Moffitt and Chastain.
While the pit stops under green continued to cycle through, Stefan Parsons spun while entering pit road. At the same time, Chastain and Briscoe made contact with one another as Chastain blocked and attempted to retain his spot ahead of Briscoe, who approached him with full speed, bumped him and struggled to navigate his way around Chastain’s No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. Shortly after, Briscoe bumped and moved Chastain out of the way in Turn 3.
At the front, after Jones pitted, Gragson retained the lead ahead of Annett, Allgaier and Alfredo, but all needed to make a final pit stop to complete the race to its distance. Behind, Briscoe was in sixth ahead of Chastain, Cindric and Hemric.
With less than 20 laps remaining, Annett was the leader after teammate Gragson pitted. Behind, Briscoe was ahead by less than two seconds over Chastain. Shortly after, Briscoe extended his advantage over Chastain after Chastain struggled to navigate his way through three lapped cars.
With 12 laps remaining, Briscoe reassumed the lead after Annett pitted. By then, he was ahead by nearly three seconds over Chastain while Cindric started to close within Chastain for the runner-up spot.
Under 10 laps remaining, Briscoe continued to stabilize his advantage to nearly three seconds over Chastain and Cindric. For the remainder of the race and with a decent advantage, Briscoe was able to navigate his way through lapped traffic and claim his sixth checkered flag of the season.
The victory was the 17th in the Xfinity Series for Stewart-Haas Racing since joining forces with Fred Biagi as Briscoe currently leads the current Xfinity field with the most wins of this season (six). In addition, Briscoe recorded his third victory of this season with crew chief Richard Boswell and the 11th for Ford (ninth since June).
“At the beginning of the race, as soon as we took the green [flag], I knew that I was gonna be really good,” Briscoe said on MRN. “The car was way better than what it was yesterday and really what I was looking for. I think we were able to finish sixth in the first stage from the back. I knew that if we could just get clean air, I was gonna be in really good shape. That long run, I felt like I was not the greatest, but just having clean air helped. The green flag cycle, I lost the race last year because I didn’t come to pit road hard enough. I still, obviously, gave up a lot of time to Ross [Chastain]. I got to get a lot better at that. I didn’t want a caution because I had such a big lead, but I was wanting a caution so I didn’t have to do green flag pit stops. Overall, super happy to get HighPoint.com back in Victory Lane. It feels like it’s been forever and it’s only been a month and a half. Hopefully, we can carry this momentum into the Playoffs.”
While celebrating his win, Briscoe took a moment to address his on-track contact with Chastain.
“Me and Ross, I feel like, always race really hard, but we normally keep it clean,” Briscoe added. “I knew that Ross would’ve did the exact same thing in my situation, especially if I’d done what I did off of pit road. I packed air on him, I didn’t hit him. I think once I packed air on him, he slowed up so much. I was so close, I hit him eventually, but I didn’t wreck him. I think he knew I wasn’t very happy after getting ran down the apron. I just moved him out of the way. He’s trying to win his first race of the year. His job is to not let cars pass him…that’s the same as my job. I did what I did.”
Chastain finished in second place for his ninth top-five result of the season followed by Cindric, who has finished in the top five in the last nine Xfinity races. Despite the contact with Briscoe, Chastain expressed no hard feelings towards the race winner.
“I’m just proud of this whole Moose Fraternity team, this No. 10 car, this Kaulig Racing group,” Chastain said. “We’ve been working at it. We didn’t have the speed to start the year. We had high expectations. We’ve been working as a group. I’m just proud that we came here with no practice and we had a car capable of winning both days. We just needed a few more things to go our way. I think if we came back and raced again tomorrow, we probably had one. We keep getting one spot better every day. Our changes overtime were incredible. They were exactly what I needed. Once the race went on, then I needed a little more. It’s one of those things, it’s tough right now…this whole Kaulig group is getting hot and getting fast at the right time.”
“Obviously, a solid day,” Cindric added. “Not the best. We tried some things overnight. Probably the first doubleheader, we tried some things and it didn’t work. It didn’t help when we didn’t have track position. We weren’t able to work our way as forward as quickly we did yesterday on our PPG Ford Mustang. [We] Scored some solid points and move on to Daytona and try to have a little fun there.”
Jones and Hemric rounded out the top five following stellar runs. Finishing in the top 10 were Gragson, Allgaier, Annett, Herbst and Moffitt as only the top-seven competitors finished on the lead lap. Following his pair of penalties, Burton finished in 11th place ahead of Haley.
There were 12 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 24 laps.
With his pair of podium results, Cindric continues to lead the regular-season series standings by 62 points over Briscoe and 97 over Gragson.
Results.
1. Chase Briscoe, 107 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Ross Chastain, 24 laps led, Stage 1 winner
3. Austin Cindric, one lap led
4. Brandon Jones, eight laps led
5. Daniel Hemric
6. Noah Gragson, 11 laps led
7. Justin Allgaier, 19 laps led
8. Michael Annett, one lap down, five laps led
9. Riley Herbst, one lap down
10. Brett Moffitt, one lap down, 25 laps led
11. Harrison Burton, one lap down
12. Justin Haley, one lap down
13. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down
14. Ryan Sieg, one lap down
15. Tommy Joe Martins, two laps down
16. Brandon Brown, two laps down
17. Alex Labbe, two laps down
18. Myatt Snider, three laps down
19. Jeremy Clements, three laps down
20. David Starr, three laps down
21. Joe Graf Jr., three laps down
22. Josh Williams, three laps down
23. Jesse Little, three laps down
24. Chad Finchum, four laps down
25. B.J. McLeod, four laps down
26. Colby Howard, four laps down
27. Kody Vanderwal, four laps down
28. Stefan Parsons, four laps down
29. Jeffrey Earnhardt, five laps down
30. Matt Mills, six laps down
31. Stephen Leicht, eight laps down
32. Korbin Forrister – OUT, Brakes
33. Bayley Currey – OUT, Engine
34. Timmy Hill – OUT, Overheating
35. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Suspension
36. Vinner Miller – OUT, Accident
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will run its next scheduled race at Daytona International Speedway on August 28, which will air at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
In an overtime shootout, Austin Cindric scored his first elusive NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season in the Shady Rays 200 at Kentucky Speedway, the first of a series doubleheader at the Bluegrass State, after powering away from Chase Briscoe and stabilizing a half-second lead over rookie Riley Herbst at the moment of caution due to a last-lap multi-car wreck. The victory was Cindric’s third of his Xfinity Series career and his first on an oval-shaped track after collecting his first two series victories in back-to-back races in August 2019 at Watkins Glen International and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The starting lineup was based on a random draw. Noah Gragson drew the pole position and was joined on the front row with Ross Chastain. The No. 90 DGM Racing Chevrolet team driven by Ronnie Bassett Jr. failed pre-race inspection twice, which cost the team the pit selection for next weekend’s race, but the driver and the team retained their 22nd-starting spot for the first Kentucky race. Mason Massey and Bayley Currey, however, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments.
While the field rolled off of pit road for the pace laps, rookie Anthony Alfredo remained on pit road as his crew addressed a steering issue to the No. 21 Alsco/Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro. Because it was a safety issue being addressed, Alfredo was allowed to retain his 11th-starting spot.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Gragson shot to an early lead on the bottom lane. In Turn 1, however, Jeb Burton slipped on the bottom, spun and was T-boned by Brandon Jones as the rear tires of Burton’s No. 8 Rocky Boots/JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro briefly came off the ground following the contact. The first caution of the race was immediately displayed. Burton was able to continue the race following repairs to the rear end, but multiple laps behind, while Jones retired. This marked the second time in the last three Xfinity Series races where Jones was eliminated prior to the first lap due to an accident.
When the race restarted on the eighth lap, Chastain made a brief challenge for the lead on the outside lane through Turns 1 and 2, but Gragson was able to retain it on the bottom in Turn 3. While Gragson was leading, Austin Cindric, who was in pursuit of his first win of 2020, moved into second after passing Chastain. Michael Annett, rookie Harrison Burton and Chase Briscoe would also overtake Chastain for positions in the top five. Gragson was able to retain the lead when the competition caution flew on the 15th lap.
Under the competition caution, some like Briscoe, Brandon Brown, rookie Joe Graf Jr., rookie Kody Vanderwal, Tommy Joe Martins and Matt Mills pitted for early adjustments while the rest remained on track.
The race restarted on Lap 20 and Gragson retained the lead, though he was being pressured by Cindric. Both competitors drove away with a one-second advantage over third-place Burton, who was followed by Chastain and Alfredo, who rallied from his early steering issues. While the racing progressed, Allgaier, who was running in sixth, slipped underneath Alfredo, but he was able to prevent his car from spinning, though Annett and Justin Haley each gained a position.
In the closing laps of the stage, Burton gained ground and moved into second while Cindric was left in a tight battle with Chastain and Alfredo for position. They did not have anything for Gragson as the driver of the No. 9 Switch/JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro was able to win the first stage on Lap 30, thus collecting his sixth stage win of the season. Burton settled in second followed by Cindric, Chastain and Alfredo. Annett, Haley, Allgaier, Ryan Sieg and Brett Moffitt rounded out the top 10 in the first stage.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Gragson exited first followed by Burton, Cindric, Chastain and Alfredo. Briscoe remained on track and took over the lead. Following the pit stops, however, Burton was sent to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation.
The second stage commenced on Lap 38 and Gragson was able to clear Briscoe for the lead on the bottom lane in Turn 1. By Lap 40, the top-three competitors of Gragson, Briscoe and Cindric were ahead by more than a second over Chastain while rookie Riley Herbst, who started 23rd, was in fifth after overtaking Brown. Behind, Allgaier and Haley were back in 10th and 11th while Alfredo had fallen back to 12th.
Ten laps later, the trio of Gragson, Briscoe and Cindric were still ahead by four seconds over Chastain, nearly five over Herbst and more than eight over Annett. At the front, Gragson was leading by half a second over Briscoe, who had Cindric running near his rear bumper and was reporting a vibration to his No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School/Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang. With the leaders starting to approach lapped traffic, Allgaier was in seventh while Alfredo was in 10th ahead of Haley.
On Lap 54, Cindric threaded his way between the lapped car of Kyle Weatherman and Briscoe to move into the runner-up spot. Though Cindric was starting to narrow his deficit to Gragson, he ran out of time to challenge for the lead as Gragson was able to win the second stage on Lap 60 and claim his seventh stage victory of 2020. Cindric settled in second, more than a second behind, followed by Briscoe, who was more than five seconds behind. Chastain and Herbst settled in the top five while Allgaier, Annett, Sieg, Brown and Alfredo were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Gragson retained the lead after exiting pit road first. Briscoe moved up to second followed by Herbst, Cindric, Chastain and Allgaier.
The final stage started at the halfway mark of the 134-lap race, and Gragson retained the lead following a strong start on the outside lane in Turn 1. Cindric moved his way back to second followed by Briscoe, Herbst and Allgaier while Chastain fell to sixth and in the clutches of Annett and Burton for position.
With 60 laps remaining, Gragson was ahead by a tenth of a second over Cindric and both were ahead of Briscoe, Herbst and Allgaier by more than a second. Behind, Chastain trailed by four seconds while battling a number of cars, including Burton. Ten laps later, Gragson was still ahead by around a tenth of a second over Cindric. Briscoe was in third while Allgaier was in fourth. Herbst was back in fifth and ahead of teammate Burton while Chastain, Annett, Alfredo and Sieg were in the top 10.
Four laps later, the caution returned when Brown, who came into the first Kentucky race clinging on to the 12th and final spot in the standings to the Playoffs, spun through Turns 3 and 4 and made contact with the outside wall following contact from Haley, thus sustaining heavy damage to the rear end. Under caution, the leaders pitted and Haley exited first after having two tires changed on his car. Clements exited second after also changing two tires while Gragson, the first on four fresh tires, was in third. Following the stops, Chastain was sent to the rear of the field due to speeding on pit road.
With less than 40 laps remaining, the race restarted and Haley maintained the lead on the outside lane followed by Cindric. The following lap, Cindric moved into the lead, Haley was pressured by Briscoe for second and Gragson had fallen back to eighth. Burton moved up into fourth followed by teammates Annett and Allgaier with Herbst also behind. Six laps later, Cindric was ahead by nearly two seconds over Haley, who was still pressured by Briscoe for the runner-up spot. Burton, Annett, Allgaier and Herbst followed suit while Gragson was stuck in eighth.
Under 30 laps remaining, the caution returned following a late incident involving Moffitt and Chastain. Four laps later, the race restarted and Haley, who spun his tires but received a push from Briscoe, cleared Cindric for the lead on the inside lane. In Turn 2, Cindric gained a huge run to reassume the lead and Briscoe and Burton moved up while Haley was left in fourth ahead of Allgaier.
Ten laps later, with 20 to go, Cindric was ahead by a second over Briscoe while Burton was trailing by two seconds. Behind, Allgaier moved into fourth after prevailing over a battle with Haley while Gragson was stuck in sixth. With the race dwindling to its final laps, Cindric stretched his lead by more than two seconds over Briscoe, who was struggling for grip. Burton was still in third followed by Allgaier while teammate Gragson was able to race his way back into the top five after passing Haley. Shortly after, the caution returned for a wreck involving Colby Howard in Turn 1.
When the race restarted with nine laps remaining, Cindric and Briscoe battled against one another for the lead as Gragson went three wide to move into third ahead of Burton and Allgaier. A lap later, Cindric cleared Briscoe for the lead and was slowly starting to stabilize his lead by half a second over a steaming pack of cars. With four laps remaining, however, the caution returned when Burton, who had fallen back into the top 10, slid sideways following contact with Annett in a cloud of smoke across the Turn 3 outside wall before he spun his car below the apron. He was able to continue without sustaining any damage.
Following Burton’s late spin, the race was sent into overtime. When the green flag waved, Cindric and Briscoe, again, battled dead even for the lead through Turn 1 when Briscoe got loose underneath Cindric’s No. 22 Team Penske/Snap-On Ford Mustang. Briscoe’s slip allowed Cindric to clear and set sail with the lead in Turn 2 while Herbst and Chastain moved into second and third. Behind, Gragson made contact with teammate Allgaier, which sent Allgaier’s No. 7 BRANDT/JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro slipping sideways across Turns 1 and 2 as he lost a multitude of positions.
On the final lap, with the field behind continuing to scramble for late positions, Cindric was ahead by half a second over Herbst and Chastain while Briscoe fell back to fourth and was locked in a battle with Annett, Alfredo and Haley. As Cindric entered Turn 3, the caution flew following a multi-car wreck that started when Allgaier got loose in Turn 2 and slipped into Bassett Jr., who spun and made hard contact against the inside wall as all four wheels of Bassett’s No. 90 Chevrolet came off the ground. Timmy Hill and Vanderwal were also involved in the wreck. With the race concluding under caution, Cindric was able to cruise across the finish line to win the race.
With the victory, Cindric became the sixth full-time Xfinity competitor to be guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs by virtue of a regular-season win and he became the 17th competitor to win an Xfinity race at Kentucky. He also recorded the first Xfinity victory of the season for Team Penske and the sixth for the Ford nameplate.
“I don’t care what shape the track is, if it’s dirt, oval! I don’t care!” Cindric exclaimed. “I’m just happy that this Snap-On Ford Mustang’s in Victory Lane. We’ve come so close all year. These guys have given me so many awesome race-winning cars with Snap-On celebrating their 100th anniversary with their Makers and Fixers program. It’s awesome to have them on the car. I’m pumped. This is awesome. I’d love to be able to come back and do another performance like that tomorrow night, but all the credit to my guys for getting me here. I love [Briscoe], but he’s won enough! Those restarts were a lot tougher than I was thinking they would be. Obviously, you never got out of the gas till he got loose like he should’ve, but I’m just so happy. Thank you to Roger [Penske], thank you to everyone on the team for believing in me. I believe this is a championship team and this is the start of many wins for this season. I’m so happy that it came here.”
Behind Cindric, Herbst tied his career-best finish of the series with a runner-up result while Chastain rebounded from his late incident with Moffitt to finish third. Briscoe settled in fourth while Annett settled in fifth for his second top-five result of the season. Alfredo finished sixth while Haley, Kyle Weatherman, Sieg and Moffitt concluded the race in the top 10.
Gragson, who led a race-high 87 laps, fell all the way back to 11th, Burton settled in 17th and Allgaier ended his night in 20th and on a wrecker after failing to complete the final lap. Myatt Snider finished 15th and based on the top-15 finishers from Thursday’s race being inverted for the start of Friday’s Xfinity race, second of the week, he will start on the pole and will be joined on the front row with rookie Jesse Little, who finished 14th on Thursday.
Following his last-lap accident, Allgaier was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.
There were six lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 40 laps.
With his fourth-place result, Briscoe maintained the lead in the Xfinity Series regular-season standings by 16 points over Gragson, 45 over Cindric and 48 over Chastain.
Results:
1. Austin Cindric, 41 laps led
2. Riley Herbst
3. Ross Chastain
4. Chase Briscoe, five laps led
5. Michael Annett
6. Anthony Alfredo
7. Justin Haley, three laps led
8. Kyle Weatherman
9. Ryan Sieg
10. Brett Moffitt
11. Noah Gragson, 87 laps led, Stage 1 and 2 winner
12. Jeremy Clements
13. Joe Graf Jr.
14. Jesse Little
15. Myatt Snider
16. Chad Finchum
17. Harrison Burton
18. B.J. McLeod
19. Ronnie Bassett Jr. – OUT, Accident
20. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident
21. Timmy Hill – OUT, Accident
22. Bayley Currey, one lap down
23. Vinnie Miller, two laps down
24. Alex Labbe, two laps down
25. Kody Vanderwal, two laps down
26. Josh Williams, three laps down
27. Brandon Brown, four laps down
28. Mason Massey, six laps down
29. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Suspension
30. Matt Mills, 14 laps down
31. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Brakes
32. Colby Howard – OUT, Accident
33. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Rear gear
34. Jeb Burton – OUT, Accident
35. Stephen Leicht – OUT, Electrical
36. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will return for its second race of the week at Kentucky Speedway on July 10, which will air at 8 p.m. on FS1.
For the fourth time since NASCAR’s return in May amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Noah Gragson will start on pole position for a NASCAR Xfinity Series race by virtue of a random draw. On this occasion, the Las Vegas, Nevada, native drew the pole position that will allow him to lead the field to the start of the Shady Rays 200 at Kentucky Speedway.
Gragson drew his first pole position of the season at Darlington Raceway in May when the Xfinity Series made its return from a two-month hiatus of on-track racing. He drew additional poles at Atlanta Motor Speedway and at Pocono Raceway, both in June. He is currently second in the regular-season standings, 21 points behind Chase Briscoe, and has recorded two victories this season, (Daytona International Speedway in February and at Bristol Motor Speedway in June). He has also recorded five stage wins, eight top-five results and 10 top-10 results in his second season driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports while paired with two-time Xfinity championship crew chief Dave Elenz.
Joining Gragson on the front row will be Ross Chastain, who is third in the regular-season standings. Jeb Burton, who will make his fourth Xfinity Series start of the season, will start in third and start alongside teammate Michael Annett. Rookie Harrison Burton will start fifth in his series debut at Kentucky followed by teammate Brandon Jones and Chase Briscoe, the series points leader who is coming off his thrilling win last weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Grand Prix Circuit. Ryan Sieg, Justin Haley and Justin Allgaier will start in the top 10 followed by Anthony Alfredo and Austin Cindric.
Starting in positions 13-24 are Brett Moffitt, rookie Jesse Little, Garrett Smithley, Alex Labbe, B.J. McLeod, Josh Williams, Brandon Brown, Jeremy Clements, Colby Howard, Ronnie Bassett Jr., rookie Riley Herbst and Jeffrey Earnhardt.
Starting in positions 25-36 are rookie Kody Vanderwal, Mason Massey, Bayley Currey, rookie Myatt Snider, Stephen Leicht, Kyle Weatherman, rookie Joe Graf Jr., Chad Finchum, Timmy Hill, Vinnie Miller, Matt Mills and Tommy Joe Martins.
This Thursday’s race at Kentucky, spanning 134 laps, will serve as the first of a doubleheader Xfinity Series feature in the Bluegrass State, where the second event will occur the following day on Friday, July 10, for the Alsco 300, which will span 200 laps.
The Shady Rays 200, the first Kentucky race of this week, will occur on Thursday, July 9, and will air at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.
If there was one competitor who left both NASCAR Xfinity Series events of this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway with disappointment and feelings of déjà vu, it was Noah Gragson. The Las Vegas native driving for JR Motorsports had the car to beat in both racing events in Miami. Then like a bomb, his dominating performance en route to victory was halted by late-race cautions that would flip the cards on the table and allow his fellow competitors to emerge with late-race victories. While Saturday’s loss was difficult, Sunday’s loss came with a hard, bitter ending for Gragson.
Starting 13th, Gragson started at the rear of the field in a backup car but proved that he had a race-winning car when the green flag dropped. After carving his way through the field, Gragson was able to race up to sixth when the competition caution flew on Lap 20. Twelve laps later, Gragson was able to make his way into the top five when the caution returned following a two-car wreck on the backstretch. In the final four laps of the first stage, Gragson would be overtaken by two competitors for two positions and would finish in sixth.
The second stage was where Gragson flexed his muscles as he restarted in the top five but started to make his move to the front. Gragson spent a good portion of the stage battling hard with teammate Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones and Harrison Burton for the runner-up spot before making his charge for the lead, occupied by Austin Cindric. On Lap 68, Gragson took the lead and was gone as he kept his car rim-riding towards the outside lane and toward the wall to gain speed from the corners to the straightaways, which allowed him to extend his lead. Like yesterday’s event, Gragson was uncontested and won the second stage while also collecting his fifth stage win of the season.
Following a smooth pit stop from his pit crew, Gragson retained the lead for the start of the final stage with 78 laps remaining. For the start of the final stage, Gragson would battle Cindric for the lead before the latter gained the upper advantage. With 61 laps remaining, Cindric made an unscheduled pit stop due to sustaining a flat tire as a result of making contact with the outside wall, which allowed Gragson to reassume the lead. By then, he was more than three seconds over runner-up Chase Briscoe and continued to stretch while remaining close to the wall to gain more speed.
Following green-flag pit stops and exiting second on track, Gragson returned to the lead with 36 laps remaining and was maintaining a healthy lead over Briscoe. He was cruising his way to another win of the season, redemption following his loss on Saturday and his second consecutive $100,000 bonus from the Dash 4 Cash program when déjà vu struck and the caution flew with two laps remaining when Cindric cut another tire and spun in Turn 3.
Under caution, Gragson fell to second as Briscoe’s pit crew got Briscoe ahead of him exiting the pits. On the first overtime attempt, Gragson slipped to third as Jones moved into second, moments before the caution returned for a multi-car wreck that knocked out Gragson’s teammates Hemric and Michael Annett. In the second overtime attempt, Gragson was unable to mount a rally back to the front as he settled in fifth, the highest-finishing JR Motorsports competitor, after being passed by two more competitors. Teammates Annett and Justin Allgaier finished 18th and 22nd while Hemric, who was unable to finish following his late wreck, settled in 31st.
While Gragson parked his No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro on pit road, he watched as Briscoe celebrated his third race win of the season while AJ Allmendinger was awarded the second Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus.
“[I’m] Gonna have to start working on myself because that’s unacceptable on my standards,” Gragson said on MRN. “[Crew chief] Dave Elenz and the rest of the team, they did an unbelievable job to set up the car. We had the lead there at the end and the caution [fell] with a lap and a half to go. These guys, they work their tails off and it’s not to run fifth. It’s to win these races. Gonna keep on focus, keep positive. Super thankful for this team and them sticking behind me. Gonna keep working on myself and try to be better next time, just learn from the opportunity and just take the positives from today.”
With his seventh top-10 result of this year’s Xfinity Series season to go along with two race victories, the bonus points for winning the second stage and leading a race-high 81 laps, Gragson leads the regular-season standings by 18 points over Briscoe and 45 over Burton.
Gragson, along with his fellow competitors, will return for the next series race at Talladega Superspeedway on June 20, where the race will air at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
