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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

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

    2. Daniel Hemric

    3. Ryan Truex

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

    5. Riley Herbst, 11 laps led

    6. Brett Moffitt

    7. Josh Berry

    8. John Hunter Nemechek, 10 laps led

    9. Sam Mayer

    10. Justin Haley, five laps led

    11. Ryan Sieg

    12. Cole Custer

    13. Brennan Poole

    14. Anthony Alfredo, 18 laps led

    15. Jeremy Clements

    16. Jeb Burton

    17. Sammy Smith

    18. Patrick Emerling

    19. Brandon Jones, 10 laps led

    20. Gray Gaulding, one lap led

    21. Sheldon Creed

    22. Blaine Perkins

    23. Ryan Ellis

    24. Chad Chastain

    25. Joe Graf Jr.

    26. Kyle Sieg, two laps down

    27. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident

    28. Chandler Smith – OUT, Rear Gear

    29. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

    30. Connor Mosack – OUT, Accident

    31. Sage Karam – OUT, Radiator

    32. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

    33. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident

    34. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

    35. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident

    36. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Accident

    37. Joey Gase – OUT, Accident

    38. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident

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

  • Austin Hill scores dramatic Xfinity Series victory at Las Vegas

    Austin Hill scores dramatic Xfinity Series victory at Las Vegas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

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

    2. Justin Allgaier, 10 laps led

    3. Chandler Smith, 118 laps led

    4. Kyle Busch, four laps led

    5. Josh Berry, two laps led

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

    7. Sam Mayer, one lap led

    8. Riley Herbst

    9. Sheldon Creed

    10. Daniel Hemric

    11. Parker Kligerman

    12. Cole Custer

    13. Tyler Reddick, one lap down

    14. Jeb Burton, one lap down

    15. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

    16. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down

    17. Sammy Smith, one lap down

    18. Alex Labbe, one lap down

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

    20. Kyle Sieg, two laps down

    21. Brandon Jones, two laps down

    22. Brett Moffitt, two laps down

    23. Kaz Grala, two laps down

    24. Ryan Sieg, three laps down

    25. Jeremy Clements, three laps down

    26. Rajah Caruth, three laps down

    27. Ryan Ellis, three laps down

    28. Bayley Currey, three laps down

    29. Jeffrey Earnhardt, three laps down

    30. Josh Williams, three laps down

    31. Josh Bilicki, four laps down

    32. Gray Gaulding, four laps down

    33. Brennan Poole, four laps down

    34. Patrick Emerling, six laps down

    35. Blaine Perkins, eight laps down

    36. Garrett Smithley, 13 laps down

    37. Parker Retzlaff, 14 laps down

    38. Joey Gase – OUT, Fuel Pump

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

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: California

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: California

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Kyle Busch: Busch won the Pala Casino 400 in Fontana in only his second start for Richard Childress Racing.

    “I knew I could win with RCR,” Busch said. “I’m a confident driver and I know I have the talent to win on any track. My skill set is unlimited. There may be more weapons in my skill set than in my luggage.”

    2. Ross Chastain: Chastain won Stage 1 at Fontana and led 91 laps, but failed to capitalize with a win, settling for third.

    “It looks like Kyle Busch is still ‘Rowdy,’” Chastain said. “But is Kyle a true ‘outlaw?’ He’s not. I am. Because NASCAR outlawed my ‘around-the-outside’wall’ move at Martinsville. But NASCAR didn’t say anything about outlawing an ‘around-the-inside-wall’ move. I’ve got a feeling the physics will work a little differently on that one.”

    3. Joey Logano: Logano followed up his runner-up finish at Daytona with a 10th at California.

    “Sure I’m disappointed that I haven’t won this season,” Logano said. “But it’s nice to know I have two Cup championships under my belt. And let me tell you, that’s a really uncomfortable place to keep them. I can only imagine the discomfort that Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson must endure.”

    4. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin led 11 laps and finished sixth at California.

    “That was the last race in California under its current two-mile configuration,” Hamlin said. “Once the reconfiguration is complete, it will be a ½-mile track. So, just like that, one and a half miles of Fontana will be gone. Most drivers and fans wish that all two miles of the track would disappear.”

    5. Alex Bowman: Bowman finished eighth in the Pala Casino 400.

    “Kyle Busch just had too much car for the rest of us at the end,” Bowman said. “Kudos to Richard Childress Racing, for giving Kyle a car with the firepower under the hood and not in the trunk.”

    6. Daniel Suarez: Suarez joined Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain in the top 10 with a fourth at California.

    “It’s always cool to have Tony Stewart in the Fox Sports booth calling the race,” Suarez said. “You can tell by Tony’s voice that he really misses racing and would love to be out there. I think what I’m trying to say is that Tony sounded ‘hungry.’”

    7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: Daytona 500 winner Stenhouse finished 12th at California.

    “When you win the first race of the season,” Stenhouse said, “it’s hard to improve upon that. After the initial euphoria, I would expect things to steadily go downhill, much like my relationship with Danica Patrick.”

    8. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished fifth in the Pala Casino 400.

    “That was my 750th consecutive Cup start,” Harvick said. “That’s a long time. And Busch beer has been with me for most of it. Hunt Brothers Pizza has been with me for a long time too because that stuff is just so damn hard to digest.”

    9. Chris Buescher: Buescher finished 12th at California after starting the season with a strong fourth in the Daytona 500.

    “I like how we’re running so far,” Buescher said. “I know it’s early, but it’s never too late for another Kyle Busch gun incident joke. So here goes. ‘What did Kyle Busch say when his vacation ended in Mexico in January?’ ‘It’s time to bail.’”

    10. Chase Elliott: Elliott rebounded from a poor showing at Daytona with a solid runner-up finish in the Pala Casino 400.

    “It’s all about overcoming adversity,” Elliott said. “I’m not talking about my bad result at Daytona, I’m talking about having Kyle Larson as a teammate.”

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

    Austin Hill survives dramatic finish for second Xfinity win at Daytona

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

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

    2. John Hunter Nemechek, eight laps led

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

    4. Parker Retzlaff

    5. Myatt Snider

    6. Riley Herbst

    7. Joe Graf Jr.

    8. Ryan Sieg

    9. Cole Custer, one lap led

    10. Justin Haley, one lap led

    11. Jeb Burton

    12. Chandler Smith

    13. Stefan Parsons

    14. Brandon Jones

    15. Josh Williams

    16. Parker Chase

    17. Jeremy Clements

    18. Joey Gase

    19. Sammy Smith

    20. Gray Gaulding, one lap led

    21. Kyle Sieg

    22. David Starr, two laps led

    23. Parker Kligerman, one lap led

    24. Anthony Alfredo

    25. Jade Buford

    26. Josh Berry, 17 laps led

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

    28. Jeffrey Earnhardt, one lap down

    29. Brett Moffitt, one lap down

    30. Jesse Iwuji – OUT, Electrical

    31. CJ McLaughlin – OUT, Accident

    32. Kaz Grala – OUT, Engine

    33. Brennan Poole – OUT, Engine

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

    35. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident

    36. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

    37. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Accident

    38. Bayley Currey – OUT, Engine

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

  • Myatt Snider to make 100th Xfinity career start at Daytona

    Myatt Snider to make 100th Xfinity career start at Daytona

    Embarking on a part-time campaign for this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series season with Joe Gibbs Racing, Myatt Snider is set to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s Xfinity season opener at Daytona International Speedway, Snider will reach 100 career starts in the Xfinity circuit.

    A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Snider made his inaugural presence in the Xfinity Series at the start of the 2020 season when he inked a part-time deal to compete between Richard Childress Racing and RSS Racing. By then, he had achieved the 2018 Craftsman Truck Series Rookie-of-the-Year title and was coming off a full-time campaign in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series for Racing Engineering. Commencing the 2020 season in RCR’s No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro, Snider notched his first career pole for the season opener at Daytona. Despite leading 22 of the first 23 laps, he ended up in 33rd place after being involved in an on-track incident midway into the event. He then finished no higher than 10th during the following five scheduled events before notching his first top-five career result at Bristol Motor Speedway in June, where he finished fifth.

    By June 2020, Snider committed to running the remainder of the Xfinity Series season on a full-time basis between RCR and RSS Racing. Beginning at Atlanta Motor Speedway in June through the season finale at Phoenix Raceway in November, he recorded a total of four top-10 results, which included a season-best fourth-place finish at Pocono Raceway in June. During the span, his best result with RSS Racing was a seventh-place result at Homestead-Miami Speedway in June. Despite missing the 2020 Xfinity Playoffs, Snider led a total of 32 laps throughout the season and notched an average-finishing result of 20.6 before finishing in 16th place in the final standings.

    For the 2021 season, Snider took over RCR’s No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro on a full-time Xfinity Series basis. He commenced the season by finishing seventh at Daytona before finishing 13th during the following event at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course. Then at Homestead, Snider benefitted through two overtime restarts and a late charge from Tyler Reddick to score his first Xfinity career victory in his 36th series start. With a guaranteed spot for the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoffs based on his Homestead victory, the Charlotte native proceeded to accumulate seven additional top-10 results during the final 23 regular-season events before the Playoffs commenced. Following respective finishes of 15th, 31st and eighth during the Round of 12, his title hopes came to an end as he was one of four competitor to not transfer to the Round of 8. Nonetheless, he went on to finish no higher than 10th during the final four scheduled events before concluding the season in ninth place in the final standings. Despite leading a total of nine laps throughout the season, he notched a career-high 11 top-10 results and a career-best average-finishing result of 17.0.

    In November 2021, Snider inked a deal to drive the No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro for Jordan Anderson Racing for the upcoming Xfinity season. The news came a month after RCR announced that former Truck champion Sheldon Creed would replace Snider in the No. 2 car. Snider’s first event with Jordan Anderson Racing commenced on a harrowing note when he was involved in a vicious multi-car wreck on the final lap, where his car went airborne and was shredded on the front and rear ends after catching the backstretch catchfence. Despite the incident, Snider emerged uninjured. After finishing no higher than 21st during the first five scheduled events, he collected his first top-10 result of the season after finishing sixth at Circuit of the Americas in March. Eight races later, he notched his season-best result of second place at Portland International Raceway in June. Despite recording a total of four top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, he did not earn a berth for the 2022 Xfinity Playoffs. He went on to finish in the top 20 in four of the final seven Playoff events before settling in 18th place in the final standings. Despite leading more laps than his previous season at 21, he concluded the season with an average-finishing result of 21.9.

    The 2023 season is set to mark another new beginning for Snider, who is scheduled to compete in six Xfinity events behind the wheel of the No. 19 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. His first start of the season will occur in the season opener at Daytona before competing at Portland in June. He will then cap off the season by competing in four of the final five scheduled events that include the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway and the season finale at Phoenix Raceway between October and November.

    Through 99 previous Xfinity starts, Snider has achieved one victory, one pole, four top-five results, 21 top-10 results, 62 laps led and an average-finishing result of 19.8.

    Snider is scheduled to make his 100th NASCAR Xfinity Series career start at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 18, with the event’s coverage to occur at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Kaz Grala to make 100th NASCAR national touring series career start at Daytona

    Kaz Grala to make 100th NASCAR national touring series career start at Daytona

    The 2023 NASCAR season is set to mark a new beginning for Kaz Grala, who will be competing as a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for the first time in his career with Sam Hunt Racing. This season will also mark his eighth season with at least one start across NASCAR’s top three national touring series, in which he is primed to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s Xfinity Series season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, Grala will achieve 100 national touring series career starts.

    A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Grala, whose racing career started with go-karts at X1 Boston at the age of four before moving up to Bandoleers, legends cars and stock cars, made his inaugural presence within NASCAR’s top three national touring series at Martinsville Speedway in April 2016, where he campaigned on a part-time basis in the Truck Series for GMS Racing. By then, he was coming off two full-time seasons in the ARCA Menards Series East, where he finished in seventh place in the standings during both seasons. During his Truck debut at Martinsville, Grala started 19th and finished 31st after being involved in an early single-truck incident. He proceeded to make eight additional Truck starts between GMS Racing’s Nos. 24 and 33 entries, where he recorded a total of three top-10 results and a season-best result of seventh place at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. His final start of the season occurred at Phoenix Raceway in November, where he started 11th and finished 28th after being involved in a late incident.

    The 2017 season produced Grala’s first and only full-time campaign to date within NASCAR’s top three national touring series as he was assigned to a full-time driving role of the No. 33 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado in the Truck circuit. He commenced the season on a high note by becoming the youngest competitor to win a pole position and a race at Daytona International Speedway in February at age 18 years, one month and 26 days. The victory occurred after Grala dodged a final lap multi-truck wreck to claim his first NASCAR Truck career victory and claim a guaranteed spot to the 2017 Playoffs. He went on to claim five additional top-10 results throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch, including a runner-up result at Dover Motor Speedway in June and a third-place result at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in September despite getting bumped and spun out of the way for the lead by Austin Cindric on the final lap. At the start of the Playoffs, however, Grala was eliminated from title contention following respective finishes of 10th, fifth and 29th during the Round of 8. Nonetheless, he went on to finish in the top 10 in three of the final four scheduled events before finishing in seventh place in the final drivers’ standings.

    Coming off a strong Truck Series campaign, Grala graduated to the Xfinity Series for the 2018 season as he started the season as the driver of the No. 24 JGL Racing Ford Mustang. Despite commencing the season with a fourth-place run at Daytona in February, the Boston native was left without a ride after JGL ceased his entry following the first 10-scheduled events. A few days later, however, Grala managed to secure a part-time Xfinity ride in the No. 61 Ford Mustang for FURY Race Cars, beginning at a Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. Making a total of 12 starts with FURY for the remaining 23-scheduled events, he finished in the top 10 four times, which included a strong fifth-place result at Daytona in July.

    In 2019, Grala made only five national touring series starts, all occurring in the Xfinity Series behind the wheel of the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing. His first start with RCR occurred at Texas Motor Speedway in March, where he finished 18th. He went on to finish 14th during his next three scheduled starts at Richmond Raceway in April, Dover in May and at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July. He then capped off his five-race run with RCR by finishing fifth at Road America in August.

    The 2020 season witnessed Grala competing in a total of seven national touring series events: one in the Cup Series, five in the Xfinity Series and one in the Truck Series. His first start of the season occurred in the Xfinity circuit at Kansas Speedway in July, where he returned for a second part-time stint with RCR and finished 13th. He went on to post his best result of the season at Road America in August, where he finished fourth, followed by back-to-back ninth-place results during a Richmond Raceway doubleheader feature in September. His final Xfinity start of the season occurred at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October, where he ended up in 31st place due to a suspension issue despite winning the first stage. In August, Grala served as an interim competitor for Austin Dillon in RCR’s No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE entry in the Cup Series at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in August. The news of Grala substituting for Dillon came after Dillon tested positive for COVID-19 leading up to the event as Grala made his first career start in NASCAR’s premier series. During the event, the Boston native recorded a strong seventh-place result. For the Truck Series, he made his lone start at Talladega in October, where he piloted the No. 44 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado to a ninth-place result.

    For the 2021 season, Grala competed in a total of three Cup events, two Xfinity events and three Truck events. In the Cup circuit, he competed on a part-time basis for Kaulig Racing that commenced by making his Daytona 500 debut after earning a transfer spot for the main event based on his qualifying speed. During the 500, he led 10 laps before falling back to 28th place in the final running order due to being involved in a late incident. He then went on to post a strong sixth-place finish at Talladega in April and a 35th-place result at Daytona in August after being involved in a late multi-car wreck. In the Xfinity circuit, Grala made a total of two starts for Jordan Anderson Racing, where he finished 18th at Road America and 15th at Texas Motor Speedway, respectively. In the Truck circuit, he made a total of three starts for Young’s Motorsports, all of which occurred on road course venues, as he finished in the top 12 during all his starts. The highlight of his three-race Truck effort occurred during the inaugural event at Circuit of the Americas in May, where he finished second after overtaking Tyler Ankrum in the closing laps.

    This past season, which marked his third consecutive season of making select starts across NASCAR’s top three national touring series, Grala made three starts in the Cup Series, nine in the Xfinity Series and 12 in the Truck Series. His best result in the Truck circuit was a seventh-place result in the series’ inaugural event at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in July, with all of his scheduled starts occurring with Young’s Motorsports. In the Xfinity circuit, he competed between Alpha Prime Racing, Big Machine Racing, Jesse Iwuji Motorsports and Sam Hunt Racing, with his best result being fifth at Watkins Glen International in August. In the Cup circuit, Grala teamed up with the newly formed Money Team Racing and embarked on a part-time campaign that commenced in the 64th running of the Daytona 500 in February. After earning a transfer spot for the main event through the first Bluegreen Vacations Duel, he ended up in 26th place in the 500 despite losing his right-front tire on Lap 40. His other two Cup starts were at Circuit of the Americas in March and in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, where he finished 25th and a season-best 23rd, respectively.

    A month after the 2022 NASCAR season concluded, Grala was announced as a full-time competitor of the No. 26 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing, which he competed for and finished 23rd at Phoenix in November, for the 2023 season as he will contend for the series’ championship for the first time in his career.

    Through 99 previous starts across NASCAR’s top three national touring series, Grala has achieved one victory, one pole, 11 top-five results, 30 top-10 results and 75 laps led while competing for 12 different organizations.

    Grala is scheduled to make his 100th NASCAR national touring series career start in the Xfinity Series season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 18. The event’s coverage is slated to occur at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Austin Hill named 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year

    Austin Hill named 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year

    Austin Hill has been named the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year following the Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, November 5.

    The news comes as the 28-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, is coming off his first full-time campaign in the Xfinity circuit behind the wheel of the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing, where he achieved two victories, one pole, 12 top-five results, 21 top-10 results, 329 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.0 throughout the 33-race schedule.

    Hill graduated to a full-time Xfinity campaign for this season after spending the previous four seasons in the NASCAR Truck Series, where he accumulated eight victories and three Playoff appearances. He commenced his rookie Xfinity campaign on a high note by winning the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway in February and achieving his first career victory in the Xfinity circuit. The victory occurred on a last-lap pass on veteran AJ Allmendinger, whom Hill managed to overtake prior to a caution due to a multi-car wreck occurring on the backstretch that concluded the event and handed the victory to Hill and RCR. 

    Following his victory at Daytona, Hill accumulated two runner-up results, five top-five results and eight top-10 results during the next 15-scheduled events. He then scored his second Xfinity career victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his home track, in July following a dominant run to the finish. The pair of victories were more than enough for Hill to solidify his spot for the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs as he earned six additional top-10 results for the remainder of the regular-season stretch. Despite finishing second, 14th and 29th, respectively, during the Round of 12, Hill transferred to the Round of 8. He, however, did not transfer to the Championship 4 round despite finishing in the top 10 throughout the Round of 8. Despite being involved in a post-race altercation fight with Myatt Snider at Martinsville Speedway in October, he rallied by finishing ninth during the finale at Phoenix, which was good enough to conclude this season in sixth place in the final driver’s standings behind Allmendinger.

    With his accomplishment, Hill became the first competitor to capture the Xfinity rookie title while representing RCR since former series champion Austin Dillon made the last accomplishment in 2012. He also became the first Chevrolet competitor to claim the award since Tyler Reddick made the last accomplishment in 2018, where he won his first of back-to-back titles.

    Hill’s rivals for this year’s Xfinity rookie title featured teammate Sheldon Creed, Kyle Sieg and Jesse Iwuji.

    Hill’s Xfinity plans for 2023 have not been formally announced, though it is expected that he will be returning for a second full-time campaign with RCR. He is also scheduled to make six starts in the NASCAR Cup Series for Beard Motorsports, beginning with the 65th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway which is scheduled to occur on February 19.

    The Xfinity Series competitors and teams enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2023, to commence a new season of racing.

  • Andy Street to call 100th Xfinity event as crew chief at Phoenix

    Andy Street to call 100th Xfinity event as crew chief at Phoenix

    In his third full-time season as a NASCAR Xfinity Series crew chief, Andy Street, who currently works atop the pit box of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro team piloted by rookie Austin Hill, is primed to achieve a milestone start. By participating in this weekend’s Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, Street will call his 100th Xfinity event as a crew chief. 

    A native of Kernersville, North Carolina, and a former drag racer who graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a mechanical engineering degree, Street, who first joined Richard Childress Racing as a design and test engineer in 2003 and has since remained at RCR while working on the engineering and mechanical aspects, made his debut as a NASCAR crew chief at Richmond Raceway in September 2019. Working with driver Joe Graf Jr. and the No. 21 RCR Chevrolet Camaro team, Street led Graf to a 16th-place result in qualifying before the team finished 14th during the main event.

    For the 2020 Xfinity season, Street was promoted to a full-time crew chief role for RCR’s No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro team that was piloted between Myatt Snider, Anthony Alfredo and Kaz Grala. In Street’s first full-time campaign as a NASCAR crew chief, he guided the No. 21 RCR team to pole position with Snider for the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway in February and a total of 15 top-10 results throughout the 33-race schedule. The team’s highest on-track result made throughout the season was a third-place run by Alfredo at Texas Motor Speedway in October followed by three fourth-place results made between Alfredo, Grala and Snider. The results were enough to place RCR’s No. 21 entry in 11th place in the final Xfinity owners’ standings.

    In 2021, Street, who remained at RCR, was assigned to crew chief RCR’s No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro team that was driven by Snider for the entire season. Following two top-15 results through the first two-scheduled events, Street recorded his first career win as a NASCAR crew chief after Snider survived two overtime restarts and held off Tyler Reddick to score his first Xfinity career win at Homestead-Miami Speedway in February. Street and Snider went on to record seven additional top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season schedule before entering the 2021 Xfinity Playoffs as a title contender. Following respective finishes of 15th, 31st and eighth during the Round of 12, however, Snider was one of four competitors to be eliminated from title contention. With the championship hopes of 2021 evaporated, Street and Snider managed to achieve an additional top-10 result during the final four scheduled events before concluding the season in ninth place in the final drivers’ standings.

    This season marked another change for Street, who remained at RCR but returned atop the pit box of the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro team that was taken over by former Camping World Truck Series competitor Austin Hill. In their first race together, Street and Hill went to Victory Lane at Daytona in February after Hill overtook AJ Allmendinger on the final lap and at the moment of caution due to a multi-car wreck to claim his first Xfinity career victory. Sixteen races and eight additional top-10 results later, the duo earned their second victory of the 2022 campaign at Atlanta Motor Speedway in July. The pair of victories along with a total of 16 top-10 results during the 26-race regular-season stretch were enough for the No. 21 RCR team to qualify for the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs. Amid an up-and-down Playoff run highlighted with a pole, a runner-up result at Texas Motor Speedway in September and three consecutive top-10 results during the Round of 8, Hill and Street were eliminated from title contention following this past weekend at Martinsville Speedway. They are ranked in sixth place in the drivers’ standings as the duo look to cap off the season with a third victory to the 2022 campaign.

    Through 99 previous Xfinity events, Street has achieved three victories, two poles, 17 top-five results, 46 top-10 results and 388 laps led while working with six different competitors.

    Street is scheduled to call his 100th Xfinity Series event as a crew chief in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, November 5, with the event’s coverage to occur at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Alfredo to make 100th NASCAR national touring series career start at Martinsville

    Alfredo to make 100th NASCAR national touring series career start at Martinsville

    While Anthony Alfredo is nearing the conclusion of his first full-time campaign in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Our Motorsports, he is also within reach of achieving a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s Xfinity Playoff event at Martinsville Speedway, Alfredo will achieve 100 career starts across NASCAR’s top three national touring series.

    A native of Ridgefield, Connecticut, Alfredo, whose racing career started with go-karts before moving up to Legends cars, made his inaugural presence within NASCAR’s top three national touring series at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he drove for David Gilliland Racing on a part-time basis in the Camping World Truck Series. By then, Alfredo was coming off his first season in the ARCA Menards Series East, where he achieved his first career victory at South Boston Speedway before finishing in fifth place in the final standings. In his debut at Atlanta, Alfredo started 27th and finished 17th in his Truck debut. Throughout the 2019 season, Alfredo competed in 13 of 23-scheduled Truck events for David Gilliland Racing while swapping between the Nos. 15, 17 and 54 Toyota Tundras. He recorded a total of eight top-20 results, two of which were in the top 10, as his highest on-track result was an eighth-place run at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

    In December 2019, Alfredo joined forces with Richard Childress Racing to pilot the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro on a part-time basis for the 2020 Xfinity Series season, which marked his first start in the series. Making his debut at Auto Club Speedway in February, Alfredo notched an impressive sixth-place result in his debut. He backed up his strong debut by notching five additional top-10 results during his next eight scheduled starts, which included his first top-five result after finishing fourth during a Homestead-Miami Speedway doubleheader feature in June. During his final 10 scheduled events, he recorded a total of three top-10 results and achieved a new career-best result of third place at Texas Motor Speedway in October. In total, Alfredo competed in 19 of 33-scheduled Xfinity events for RCR as he achieved two top-five results, nine top-10 results, 15 total laps led and an average-finishing result of 12.6. He also contributed to RCR’s No. 21 entry finishing in 11th place in the final Xfinity owners’ standings.

    A month prior to the 2021 NASCAR season, Alfredo was named a full-time competitor of the No. 38 Ford Mustang for Front Row Motorsports for the upcoming Cup Series season, where he contended for the Rookie-of-the-Year title. His debut in NASCAR’s premier series, however, started off on a rough note after being involved in a multi-car wreck 13 laps into the 63rd running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in February. The Connecticut native proceeded to record a total of three top-20 results during the 26-race regular-season stretch, which were not enough for him to qualify for the 2021 Cup Series Playoffs. During the final 10 Playoff events on the schedule, Alfredo managed to record his first top-10 career result in the Cup circuit after finishing 10th at Talladega Superspeedway in October before settling in 30th place in the final standings and in the runner-up spot in the Rookie-of-the-Year battle against Chase Briscoe. His overall average-finishing result in his first Cup season was 27.5. 

    A month following the conclusion of the 2021 season, Alfredo was named a full-time Xfinity Series competitor of the No. 23 Chevrolet Camaro for Our Motorsports. He commenced the season with a seventh-place result at Daytona followed by a fifth-place run at Auto Club Speedway in February. He went on to finish sixth at Talladega in April before achieving his first career pole for the inaugural Xfinity event at Portland International Raceway, but he did not accumulate enough points to qualify for the 2022 Xfinity Playoffs. Coming off five consecutive top-20 results throughout the Playoffs, he is currently ranked in 15th place in the drivers’ standings with two races remaining to this season.

    Through 99 previous starts across NASCAR’s top three national touring series, Alfredo has achieved one pole, three top-five results, 16 top-10 results and 38 laps led while competing for four different organizations.

    Alfredo is scheduled to make his 100th NASCAR national touring series career start at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, October 29, with the event’s coverage to occur at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Ty Dillon to make 200th Cup career start at Homestead

    Ty Dillon to make 200th Cup career start at Homestead

    Competing in his fifth full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, Ty Dillon is bound to achieve a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s Playoff event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the driver of the No. 42 Petty GMS Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will reach career start No. 200 in NASCAR’s premier series.

    A native of Welcome, North Carolina, and the grandson of NASCAR championship-winning team owner Richard Childress, Dillon made his inaugural presence in the Cup Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway in August 2014. By then, he had campaigned in two Camping World Truck Series seasons for Richard Childress Racing, where he accumulated three victories and a runner-up result in the championship standings in 2013 during the two seasons, and was competing in his first full-time season in the Xfinity Series for RCR, where he claimed his first career victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. Driving the No. 33 Chevrolet SS for RCR, Dillon started 29th and finished 25th in his series debut. He returned to the Cup circuit at Phoenix Raceway in November, where he finished 27th on the track.

    In 2015, Dillon, who continued to run in the Xfinity Series on a full-time basis while part time in the Cup Series, qualified for his first Daytona 500 start in February after piloting the No. 33 RCR Chevrolet SS to a 16th-place result in the first Daytona Duel qualifying race and earning the final transfer spot to the main event. Starting 31st, Dillon finished 28th in his first 500 attempt after being involved in a late incident. He then competed in four additional Cup races in the No. 33 Chevrolet throughout the 2015 season, where he achieved his season-best result of 14th place at Michigan International Speedway in June.

    The following season, Dillon remained as a full-time Xfinity competitor for RCR and as a part-time Cup Series competitor for two organizations. His first Cup start of the season was the 58th running of the Daytona 500, where he finished 25th while driving the No. 95 Chevrolet SS for Leavine Family Racing. The following race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Dillon served as an interim competitor for three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, who was recovering from injuries from a dune buggy accident in January. Driving the No. 14 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing in three races, Dillon recorded finishes of 17th, 15th and 25th at Atlanta, Phoenix and at Bristol, respectively. He also relieved for Stewart for the remainder of the Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway in May, where he finished sixth despite the points being awarded to Stewart since Stewart started the race. Along with his interim role at SHR, he made six additional starts in Leavine Family Racing’s No. 95 Chevrolet. His best results were a 20th-place run at Texas Motor Speedway in April and a 21st-place run at Pocono Raceway in June.

    After three full-time seasons in the Xfinity Series, Dillon was promoted to the Cup Series in 2017 to drive the No. 13 Chevrolet SS for Germain Racing on a full-time basis. In Dillon’s first Cup season, he recorded eight top-15 results, 40 laps led and an average-finishing result of 20.7 throughout the 36-race schedule as he concluded the season in 24th place in the final standings and in third place in the Rookie-of-the-Year standings behind Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez. His best results throughout the season were a pair of 11th-place results at Talladega in October and at Phoenix in November.

    Remaining at Germain Racing for a second full-time Cup season in 2018, Dillon achieved his first top-10 career result in NASCAR’s premier series after finishing sixth at Daytona in July. Throughout his sophomore campaign, he recorded four additional top-15 results and an average-finishing result of 24.1. When the final checkered flag of the 2018 season flew, he concluded the season in 27th place in the final standings.

    Dillon commenced the 2019 Cup season by finishing in sixth place during the 61st running of the Daytona 500 in February. After finishing no higher than 15th over the next six races, he finished 15th at Bristol in April after winning the first stage in a photo finish over Clint Bowyer. Two races later, Dillon made his 100th Cup career start at Talladega in April, where he won the first stage before being shuffled back to 17th place in the final running order. He would then achieve his first top-five career finish (fourth place) at Daytona in July during a rain-shortened event. For the remainder of the season, he achieved an additional top 10 and four additional top-15 results before he concluded the season in 24th place in the final standings. Throughout his junior Cup season, he earned an average result of 20.6 and led a total of 14 laps.

    Throughout the 2020 season, which marked his fourth season at Germain Racing, Dillon recorded an average-finishing result of 22.0 as he also achieved two results in the top 10 throughout the 36-race schedule. His lone highlight of the season was achieving a career-best third-place finish at Talladega in October following a two-lap shootout to the finish. In spite of the result, he settled back in 26th place in the final standings.

    Two months prior to the conclusion of the 2020 season, Germain Racing announced plans to cease all operations in NASCAR at season’s end due to longtime sponsor GEICO not renewing with the team for the future, which left Dillon without a full-time ride for the 2021 season. A month prior to the 2021 season, he managed to secure a part-time ride with Gaunt Brothers Racing, where he attempted to qualify for the 63rd running of the Daytona 500. Prior to the 500, he competed in the newly-formed No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota Camry for the Busch Clash at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in February, where he started 14th and finished 18th. Despite finishing sixth during the first of two Bluegreen Vacations Duel event at Daytona, Dillon did not qualify for the 500 and waited a week until he made his first Cup start with Gaunt Brothers Racing at the Daytona Road Course, where he finished 19th. His other Cup starts of the season with Gaunt Brothers Racing occurred at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in April, Circuit of the Americas in May and at Road America in July, where he finished 26th, 21st and 26th, respectively.

    After spending the 2021 season as a part-time competitor with starts across all three NASCAR national touring series, Dillon returned to the Cup Series as a full-time competitor, where he joined forces with the newly-merged Petty GMS Motorsports to pilot the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. He commenced the season with an 11th-place result during the 64th running of the Daytona 500 followed by four additional top-20 results through the first six scheduled events before he collected his first top-10 result of the season at the Bristol Dirt Course in April, where he finished 10th. Despite earning an additional eight top-20 results and an average-finishing result of 21.7 throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, Dillon did not qualify for the 2022 Cup Playoffs. Coming off five top-25 results during the previous seven Playoff events, including a 16th-place result at Texas Motor Speedway in September, he is currently ranked in 29th place in the driver’s standings.

    Through 199 previous Cup starts, Dillon has achieved two top-five results, seven top-10 results, 76 laps led and an average-finishing result of 22.1. While he is set to depart Petty GMS Motorsports at the conclusion of the 2022 season, he is set to join Spire Motorsports as a full-time driver of the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the 2023 Cup Series season.

    Dillon is scheduled to make his 200th Cup Series career start at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, October 23, with the event’s coverage to start at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.