Tag: Taylor Gray

  • Joe Gibbs Racing reveals driver-crew chief pairings for No. 54 Cup and Xfinity teams in 2025

    Joe Gibbs Racing reveals driver-crew chief pairings for No. 54 Cup and Xfinity teams in 2025

    Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) revealed its realigned driver-crew chief lineup for the organization’s No. 54 teams between the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series divisions for the 2025 season.

    Tyler Allen, who was initially set to crew chief Taylor Gray and the No. 54 JGR Toyota Supra team in the Xfinity Series, has now been named crew chief for Ty Gibbs and the No. 54 JGR Toyota Camry XSE team in the Cup Series. As a result, veteran crew chief Jason Ratcliff will return atop the pit box to crew chief Gray for the latter’s first full-time Xfinity campaign in 2025.

    The news comes 10 days after JGR announced that Chris Gayle, who was paired with Ty Gibbs over the previous two Cup seasons, would be paired with Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 Toyota team while Chris Gabehart, Hamlin’s former crew chief, would be promoted to work as the organization’s competition director.

    “We take a lot of pride in our Xfinity Series program and the depth of talent that we have been able to maintain,” Joe Gibbs, owner and founder of Joe Gibbs Racing, said. “Tyler Allen was successful at the Cup level with us while working under Adam Stevens and was impressive last season in the Xfinity Series leading that 20 team to eight wins while working with a number of different drivers. We have an exciting young and talented team on the 54 car.”

    Allen, who enters the 2025 season for his first year as a full-time crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series, spent seven seasons (2017-23) working as a race engineer under crew chief Adam Stevens. During the seven-year span, he was a part of the 2019 Cup Series championship with Adams and Kyle Busch. In addition, Allen served as an interim crew chief for a single Cup race for Christopher Bell and the No. 20 JGR Toyota team at Martinsville Speedway in October 2021, where Bell finished 17th.

    This past season, Allen served as a first-year crew chief in the Xfinity Series, where he worked atop the pit box of JGR’s No. 20 Toyota team for 29 races and JGR’s No. 19 Toyota team for four races. Throughout the 33-race schedule, Allen notched eight victories between four competitors (Aric Almirola, Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Truex) and led the No. 20 team to a runner-up result in the final Xfinity owner’s standings, all of which Allen strives to utilize the momentum and success from the Xfinity division over to the Cup Series that would enable both him and Ty Gibbs to contend for victories while also returning the No. 54 team back into the Playoffs.

    “It’s an honor to be named crew chief for Ty Gibbs and the 54 Team as we head into the 2025 season,” Allen said. “This opportunity has been a dream of mine since starting here at JGR 10 years ago, and I’m thankful for the support and guidance I’ve received from my mentors, teammates, and everyone along the way. Ty has shown a lot of speed and potential the last two years, and I look forward to building on that experience to get the 54 car in victory lane.”

    For JGR’s No. 54 team in the Xfinity Series, Ratcliff makes his return atop the pit box as a crew chief following a one-year absence. He initially retired from being a crew chief at the conclusion of the 2023 season and spent this past season working as a driver and team coordinator for JGR’s Xfinity and ARCA Menards Series operations. Since making his crew chief debut in the Xfinity Series in 2000, Ratcliff has notched 57 victories between seven competitors and the 2009 championship with Kyle Busch. He has also recorded 15 victories as a Cup Series crew chief, 14 of which occurred with Matt Kenseth and one with Joey Logano.

    Overall, Gray, who was announced to drive for JGR for the 2025 Xfinity season on October 16, is set to become the 26th competitor to work at least one race with Ratcliff, the latter of whom intends to make Gray competitive for his first Xfinity campaign after he spent the previous two seasons competing in the Craftsman Truck Series for TRICON Garage.

    “I’m thrilled to join Taylor and the 54 team for the 2025 season,” Ratcliff said. “After a year away from the track, I’m eager to return to the pit box every weekend. Taylor has the talent and determination to excel in NASCAR, and it’s our mission to help him achieve that success.”

    “It is also exciting to have Jason Ratcliff back on the pit box in the Xfinity Series to work with Taylor Gray next season,” Gibbs added. “He has contributed so much to our organization over his career.”

    Photo by Ted Seminara for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Joe Gibbs Racing’s 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to commence with the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on February 2 that will commence at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. This event will be followed by the 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway that will air at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

    Meanwhile, Joe Gibbs Racing’s 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is set to commence at Daytona International Speedway on February 15 at 5 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Christian Eckes clinches Championship 4 berth at Martinsville with bump and run

    Christian Eckes clinches Championship 4 berth at Martinsville with bump and run

    Christian Eckes capped off a dominant run by pulling a late bump-and-run move on Playoff rival Taylor Gray that enabled him to clinch a Championship 4 berth after winning the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, November 1.

    The 23-year-old Eckes from Greenville, New York, led all but 13 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the pole position. He captured the event’s first two stage periods before he pitted for the first and only time before the start of the final stage period with 90 laps remaining. After reassuming the lead from Ben Rhodes with 84 laps remaining, Eckes would retain the top spot through three caution periods and two restart periods.

    Then, during the event’s final restart period with five laps remaining, Eckes was caught in a controversial incident with Taylor Gray. It resulted in Eckes bumping and sending Gray up the racetrack and out of the lead after Gray had taken it from Eckes at the start of the restart. Eckes would then duel, swap spots and bump Rhodes for the top spot during the following two laps before he moved Rhodes out of the racing groove in the same turn as he moved Gray. With the late clean air to his advantage, Eckes retained the lead for the final two laps and cruised to his fourth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2024 season and secured his first-ever berth to the Championship 4 round.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Playoff contender Christian Eckes notched the pole position with a lap at 96.830 mph in 19.556 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Ty Majeski, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 96.805 mph in 19.561 seconds.

    Before the event, the following names including Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum, Justin Carroll, Tanner Gray and Clayton Green dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Christian Eckes motored his No. 19 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead of Ty Majeski, who struggled to launch at the start, and the field through the frontstretch as he had both lanes to his control through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field behind jostled for early spots, Eckes led the first lap while Majeski fended off Playoff contenders Nick Sanchez and Taylor Gray for the runner-up spot as rookie Layne Riggs followed suit.

    Over the next four laps, Eckes stretched his early advantage to as high as seven-tenths of a second over Majeski while Sanchez followed suit in third place as the field behind bumped and jostled amongst one another for early spots. Behind, Riggs was in fourth place ahead of Taylor Gray while Ben Rhodes, Playoff contender Corey Heim, Chase Purdy, Kaden Honeycutt and Playoff contender Rajah Caruth were in the top 10.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Eckes was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Majeski while Sanchez, Riggs and Taylor Gray were racing in the top five ahead of Rhodes, Heim, Purdy, Honeycutt and Caruth. Behind, Jack Wood, Johnny Sauter, William Sawalich, Dean Thompson and Matt Crafton were in the top 15 while Timmy Hill, Stewart Friesen, Daniel Dye, Landen Lewis and Matt Mills pursued in the top 20. Meanwhile, Playoff contender Grant Enfinger was up to 24th place while Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum was mired in 31st place.

    Ten laps later, Eckes extended his advantage to more than a second over Majeski while third-place Sanchez trailed by two seconds. Behind, Riggs and Taylor Gray remained in the top five ahead of Rhodes, Heim, Purdy, Honeycutt and Caruth as Enfinger and Ankrum were mired in 22nd and 31st, respectively.

    Another 10 laps later, Eckes stabilized his advantage to more than a second over runner-up Majeski and by more than three seconds over third-place Sanchez while Riggs and Taylor Gray remained racing in the top five. Meanwhile, Enfinger cracked the top 20 as he was up to 20th place while Ankrum gained four spots to 27th place. By then, Heim retained seventh place behind Rhodes while Caruth continued to race in 10th place behind Purdy and Honeycutt.

    Then on Lap 35, the event’s first caution period flew due to Matthew Gould slowly coming to a halt in the backstretch after he fell off the pace through the frontstretch earlier. During the caution period, some led by Rhodes and including Enfinger and Ankrum, the latter of whom was spared from losing a lap, pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Matt Crafton and Landen Lewis were both penalized for speeding on pit road.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 42, Eckes fended off Majeski to retain the lead through the first two turns while 10th-place Caruth tried to throw a three-wide move beneath teammate Purdy for more positions towards the front. The following lap, Purdy and Dean Thompson made contact entering Turn 1 as Thompson tried to make a tight move beneath Purdy for position. With a bevy of competitors continuing to bump, fan out and jostle for spots, Eckes proceeded to drive away with the lead as he retained the top spot by the Lap 45 mark.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 50, Eckes, who came into Martinsville 38 points above the top-four cutline in his pursuit to make the Championship 4 round, captured his 10th Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Majeski followed suit in second as he was followed by Sanchez, Taylor Gray and Riggs while Heim, Honeycutt, Purdy, Sawalich and Connor Zilisch were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Caruth plummeted to 28th place after he went up the racetrack in Turn 3 on Lap 49 while Enfinger and Ankrum settled in 14th and 17, respectively.

    Under the stage break, some led by Taylor Gray and including Caruth pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track. By then, the top seven competitors including Eckes, Majeski, Sanchez, Heim, Honeycutt, Purdy and Sawalich were the only ones who had yet to pit. During the pit stops, Jake Garcia was penalized for pitting outside his pit box.

    The second stage period started on Lap 60 as Eckes and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes fended off Majeski and Sanchez to retain the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. Eckes retained the lead for the following lap while Majeski was racing in second place ahead of Sanchez and Heim. Towards the Lap 65 mark, Honeycutt was in fifth place and he was followed by Sawalich while Purdy, who was trapped on the outside lane, was dueling with Friesen and Rhodes for seventh place.

    Just past Lap 70, Eckes extended his lead to more than a second over Majeski while Sanchez and Heim continued to trail in third and fourth, respectively. As Honeycutt retained fifth place in front of Sawalich, Friesen, Rhodes and Zilisch, Purdy dropped to 10th place as he was racing ahead of Enfinger while Ankrum, Taylor Gray and Caruth were mired in 14th, 16th and 22nd, respectively.

    At the Lap 80 mark, Eckes’ advantage stood to nearly two seconds over runner-up Majeski while third-place Sanchez trailed by three seconds. With fourth-place Heim trailing by four seconds, Enfinger and Ankrum were mired in 10th and 11th, respectively, Taylor Gray was up to 15th place and Caruth was mired in 22nd place.

    Ten laps later, Eckes extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Majeski as Sanchez and Heim trailed as far back as six seconds. Behind, Sawalich was up into fifth place and trailing the lead by seven seconds while Friesen, Rhodes, Honeycutt, Enfinger and Ankrum were in the top 10 ahead of Zilisch, Riggs, Taylor Gray, Daniel Dye and Purdy.

    Another four laps later, Eckes lapped Caruth, who was the lowest-running Playoff contender on the track in 25th place and placed in a “must-win” situation to keep his Playoff hopes alive. Eckes would proceed to stretch his lead to four seconds over Majeski just past the Lap 95 mark as both Sanchez and Heim trailed by seven seconds.

    Then on Lap 97, the caution flew as Dylan Lupton slid and wrecked his No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST hard against the Turn 2 outside wall. Lupton’s incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 100 to officially conclude under caution as Eckes captured his second Truck stage victory of the event and the 11th of the 2024 season. Majeski followed suit in second ahead of Sanchez, Heim and Sawalich while Friesen, Rhodes, Honeycutt, Ankrum and Enfinger were scored in the top 10. With seven of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s second round of stage points, Caruth, the only Playoff contender to not score stage points, was mired in 25th place.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Eckes pitted while Ben Rhodes remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, the following names that include Justin Carroll, Daniel Dye and Dean Thompson were all penalized for their respective pit crews jumping over the pit wall too soon. Soon after, Caruth, who pitted twice under the caution period, took his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST behind the wall and the pit crew went under the hood of Caruth’s truck to address a potential left-front braking issue. The issue was enough to knock Caruth both out of the lead lap category and in contention to advance into the Championship 4 round.

    With 90 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Rhodes and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Rhodes retained the lead ahead of Eckes through the first two turns and the backstretch. Rhodes would proceed to lead the following lap ahead of Eckes while Majeski and Sanchez battled for third place in front of Heim. Behind, Taylor Gray, Ankrum and Enfinger were strapped from seventh to ninth, respectively, as Eckes closed in on Rhodes for the lead with 85 laps remaining.

    Then with 84 laps remaining, Eckes gave Rhodes a slight bump in Turn 3, which allowed Eckes to draw himself even with Rhodes’ No. 99 Kubota Ford F-150 through the frontstretch before he muscled back ahead and reassumed the lead. As Eckes proceeded to lead with 80 laps remaining, Sanchez started to close in on Rhodes for the runner-up spot while Majeski and Heim trailed in the top five.

    With 70 laps remaining, Eckes stretched his advantage to more than three seconds over Sanchez and Majeski while Rhodes dropped to fourth place. Meanwhile, Heim retained fifth place ahead of Friesen, Taylor Gray, Ankrum, Enfinger and Sawalich while Caruth, who had his left-front brakes addressed, returned to the track despite being strapped 20 laps down in 33rd place.

    Fifteen laps later, Eckes’ advantage grew to five seconds over runner-up Sanchez while third-place Majeski also trailed by five seconds. In the process, Heim retained fifth place while trying to fend off Friesen and both Taylor Gray and Ankrum battled for seventh place while Enfinger was in 10th place.

    Another 15 laps later, Eckes retained the lead by six seconds over Sanchez while Majeski trailed the latter by nearly a second in third place. Behind, Friesen moved up to fifth place as he trailed Rhodes on the track while Ankrum, Taylor Gray, Sawalich, Enfinger and Riggs occupied the top 10 in front of Heim, Corey Day, Honeycutt, Crafton and Zilisch.

    Then with 38 laps remaining, the caution flew when Honeycutt, who was racing in the top 15, made contact with the outside wall in between Turns 1 and 2 after he blew a right-front tire. During the caution period, some led by Rhodes and including Taylor Gray, Enfinger and Heim pitted while the rest led by Eckes and including Sanchez, Majeski and Ankrum remained on the track.

    The start of the ensuing restart period with 29 laps remaining featured Eckes muscling ahead and leading the field with both lanes under his control through the first two turns while Sanchez and Majeski dueled for the runner-up spot. As Eckes muscled away with a reasonable lead for the following lap, Sanchez, who was placed in a “must-win” situation to maintain his Playoff hopes, muscled his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST away with the runner-up spot ahead of Majeski, who got bumped by Friesen in Turn 1.

    With Friesen settling in fourth behind Majeski, a three-wide action then ensued between Riggs, Rhodes and Taylor Gray during the next lap while Purdy almost got turned by Corey Day through the backstretch. As more bumping and jostling for late spots ensued within the field, Eckes was ahead by more than a second with the lead with 25 laps remaining.

    Then with 19 laps remaining, the caution returned when Dean Thompson bumped and sent teammate Tanner Gray into Brett Moffitt as both went up the track and wrecked against the Turn 3 outside wall while Corey Day slid sideways and spun past both to avoid the carnage. During the caution period, some including Riggs, Crafton, Sawalich and Ankrum pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track.

    Down to the final 12 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Eckes fended off Taylor Gray, whom Eckes shared on the front row, through the first two turns and the backstretch to retain the lead. With Gray settling behind Eckes and in front of a stacked field, Sanchez tried to pursue both from third place as Eckes led the following lap. Then in Turn 1, Gray, who was placed in a “must-win” situation to advance to the Championship 4 round, bumped Eckes through the first two turns. Seconds later, the caution returned when Friesen, who was racing in sixth place, got bumped by Enfinger as the latter was hit by Purdy, which sent Friesen for a spin in Turn 2 as Sauter limped his No. 66 TSPORT Ford F-150 to pit road with damage and sparks flying out of the truck.

    The start of the next restart period with five laps remaining featured Eckes and Taylor Gray sharing the front row for a second time, where Gray dueled with Eckes through the first two turns until Gray used the outside lane to muscle his No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead with the lead through the backstretch. Then entering Turn 3, Eckes bumped and sent Gray up the racetrack, which allowed Eckes to reassume the lead while Gray dropped to fifth place.

    During the following lap, Rhodes bumped and drew himself into a side-by-side with Eckes through the first two turns and the backstretch before Rhodes muscled his way into the lead through Turns 3 and 4. Rhodes proceeded to lead the next lap before Eckes bumped and drew himself back beneath Rhodes through the first two turns and the backstretch. Eckes would then slip up and cause Rhodes to go up the track, which allowed Eckes to muscle back away with the lead as Purdy came storming in his No. 77 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado RST into the runner-up spot. Purdy and Rhodes would both bump and jostle for the runner-up spot during the following lap as Eckes motored away.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Eckes remained in the lead ahead of a tight side-by-side battle between Purdy and Rhodes for the runner-up spot. With the latter two battling amongst one another and not closing the gap to the lead, Eckes would smoothly cycle his No. 19 Chevrolet around the Martinsville circuit for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by more than a second over Rhodes, who edged Purdy at the finish line for the runner-up spot.

    With the victory and the Martinsville sweep of the season, Eckes notched his ninth career win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division, his fourth of the 2024 season and his first since winning at Nashville Superspeedway in late June. He also recorded the fourth Truck victory of the season for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing and the 12th for the Chevrolet nameplate.

    Above all, Eckes, who is in his fourth and final campaign in the Truck Series before he graduates to the Xfinity Series in 2025, officially clinched his spot into this year’s Championship 4 round for the first time in his career as he will contend for his first Craftsman Truck Series championship next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “[Contending for the championship] feels great,” Eckes, who was met with mixed reactions from the crowd, said on FS1.” Like I told everybody, I wasn’t gonna let us lose this race. The truck was too good. [Racing with Taylor Gray], it was just hard racing. I feel bad about [Rhodes]. I just got way too loose entering the corner, but everybody’s really happy with me. I don’t really care. Proud of everybody for working hard. We’ll go on to Phoenix.”

    Not long after, Eckes, who was bumped into the rear by Taylor Gray during the cooldown lap, was met with Gray on the frontstretch as the latter vented his verbal frustration over the late bump and contact caused by Eckes that took Gray out of contention for both the victory and a spot to the Championship 4 round. With both competitors exchanging words while being surrounded by crew members and officials, Gray would give Eckes a light shove to the chest after issuing his warning before he stormed away.

    “[Am I happy] With the exchange? No,” Gray, who finished fourth at Martinsville but missed the Championship 4 cutline by 28 points, said. “I got shipped to the fence whenever I raced him perfectly clean in [Turns] 1 and 2. What comes around goes around. I have to race him next year all year long. I guess he’s got that one for him.”

    Overall, Gray joins Nick Sanchez, Tyler Ankrum and Rajah Caruth as the bottom four Playoff contenders in the standings to not transfer into the Championship 4 round. On the contrary, Corey Heim and Ty Majeski, who finished seventh and 11th at Martinsville, respectively, claimed the final two berths to the Championship 4 round as both join Eckes and Grant Enfinger in the final Playoff round to contend for their first Truck Series championship.

    Rhodes and Purdy finished second and third on the track at Martinsville while Taylor Gray and Nick Sanchez finished in the top five. Layne Riggs, Corey Heim, Tyler Ankrum, Grant Enfinger and Stewart Friesen completed the top-10 final running order.

    There were six lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 46 laps. In addition, 19 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Christian Eckes, 187 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner

    2. Ben Rhodes, 12 laps led

    3. Chase Purdy

    4. Taylor Gray, one lap led

    5. Nick Sanchez

    6. Layne Riggs

    7. Corey Heim

    8. Tyler Ankrum

    9. Grant Enfinger

    10. Stewart Friesen

    11. Ty Majeski

    12. Connor Zilisch

    13. Matt Crafton

    14. William Sawalich

    15. Dawson Sutton

    16. Bayley Currey

    17. Dean Thompson

    18. Corey Day

    19. Matt Mills

    20. Jake Garcia, one lap down

    21. Timmy Hill, two laps down

    22. Spencer Body, two laps down

    23. Lawless Alan, two laps down

    24. Clayton Green, three laps down

    25. Justin Carroll, three laps down

    26. Jack Wood, four laps down

    27. Matthew Gould, five laps down

    28. Johnny Sauter – OUT, Accident

    29. Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident

    30. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Accident

    31. Rajah Caruth, 21 laps down

    32. Daniel Dye – OUT, Brakes

    33. Kaden Honeycutt – OUT, Accident

    34. Dylan Lupton – OUT, Accident

    35. Landen Lewis – OUT, Brakes

    36. Norm Benning – OUT, Brakes

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    2. Christian Eckes – Advanced

    3. Corey Heim – Advanced

    4. Ty Majeski – Advanced

    5. Taylor Gray – Eliminated

    6. Nick Sanchez – Eliminated

    7. Tyler Ankrum – Eliminated

    8. Rajah Caruth – Eliminated

    The 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is set to conclude at Phoenix Raceway, where a champion will be crowned. The finale is scheduled to occur next Friday, November 8, and air at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Grant Enfinger doubles down with dramatic fuel-mileage Truck victory at Homestead

    Grant Enfinger doubles down with dramatic fuel-mileage Truck victory at Homestead

    Three weeks after securing a Championship 4 berth by winning the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener at Talladega Superspeedway, Grant Enfinger doubled down in his bid to be known as a legitimate championship contender for this season’s finale by winning the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 26, following a fuel-mileage battle to the victory.

    The 39-year-old Enfinger from Fairhope, Alabama, led twice for 32 of 134-scheduled laps in an event where he started ninth and cruised to a sixth-place result during the event’s first stage period. Then in the closing laps of the second stage period, he charged up the leaderboard and overtook pole-sitter Corey Heim to assume the lead and race his way to the second stage victory. Despite getting entangled with an on-track incident with Playoff contender Christian Eckes at the start of the final stage period that forced Enfinger to eventually pit and lose a lap amid a tire rub, the Alabama veteran seized an opportunity to rally back through the field that started when Conner Jones intentionally wrecked Matt Mills with 60 laps remaining. During the caution period, he received the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap and pitted for fuel that would enable him to reach the event’s scheduled distance.

    Then starting with the final restart period with 52 laps remaining, Enfinger began his fuel economy run to the finish while also carving his way back up the leaderboard. While most of his fellow Playoff contenders pitted for fuel midway into the final stage period, Enfinger remained on the track and returned to the lead with 21 laps remaining. Despite reducing his pace for the remainder of the event, Enfinger had built a reasonable gap from his closest competition and had enough fuel saved in his tank to reach the event’s scheduled distance and claim the checkered flag for his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2024 season and in recent weeks.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, October 25, Playoff contender Corey Heim notched his first Truck pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 165.062 mph in 32.715 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender and teammate Taylor Gray, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 164.689 mph in 32.789 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that include Tanner Gray, Matt Mills and rookie Layne Riggs dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, the field quickly fanned out through the frontstretch as teammates Corey Heim and Taylor Gray dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field continued to fan out through the backstretch, Heim managed to muscle his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead from the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4 and he would proceed to lead the first lap.

    Over the next four laps and amid a series of early on-track action within the field, Heim proceeded to extend his advantage to as high as seven-tenths of a second over teammate Taylor Gray while Playoff contender Christian Eckes followed suit in third place. Behind, Kaden Honeycutt and Connor Mosack trailed in the top five ahead of Playoff contenders Rajah Caruth and Stewart Friesen while Playoff contenders Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger and Nick Sanchez followed suit in the top 10.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Heim stabilized his advantage to four-tenths of a second over teammate Taylor Gray while third-place Eckes trailed by eight-tenths of a second. Behind, Honeycutt and Mosack remained in the top five ahead of Majeski, Caruth, Friesen, Enfinger and Sanchez while Daniel Dye, Dean Thompson, Matt Crafton, Connor Zilisch and Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum were racing in the top 15.

    Five laps later, Heim stretched his early advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Honeycutt, who overtook Taylor Gray for the runner-up spot a few laps earlier, while Eckes followed suit in fourth place as he trailed Gray by a second. Not long after, Majeski would move into the top five in fifth place as a trio of Playoff contenders that include Caruth, Enfinger and Sanchez were racing from seventh to ninth, respectively, while Heim retained the lead by half a second over Honeycutt at the Lap 20 mark.

    By Lap 25, Honeycutt used the outside lane to gain a big draft on Heim through the backstretch, but Heim moved in front of Honeycutt’s No. 45 Moore’s Venture Foods Chevrolet Silverado RST to stall his momentum. Honeycutt, who was running faster lap times than Heim, would proceed to use the outside lane to continue to gain more ground towards Heim’s rear bumper through every corner and straightaway during the proceeding laps as Heim was navigating his way through lapped traffic.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Heim, who came into Homestead 30 points above the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings, fended off Honeycutt to notch his ninth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Honeycutt settled in second ahead of Majeski, Taylor Gray and Eckes while Enfinger, Mosack, Sanchez, Caruth and Dean Thompson were scored in the top 10. With all but one of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of stage points by finishing in the top 10, the remaining Playoff contender, Tyler Ankrum, settled in 16th place behind teammate Daniel Dye.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Heim pitted for a first round of pit service that included a change of four fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Heim retained the lead as he exited pit road first ahead of teammate Taylor Gray, Honeycutt, Eckes and Enfinger while Majeski, who lost three spots following his pit service, exited in sixth place ahead of Sanchez, Thompson, Mosack and Matt Crafton. Shortly after, Sanchez was sent to the rear of the field due to speeding while exiting pit road.

    The second stage period started under green on Lap 38 as teammates Heim and Taylor Gray occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out through both the frontstretch and the backstretch as Gray received a draft from Eckes to muscle ahead of Heim through the backstretch. As Enfinger muscled into fourth place ahead of Majeski and a steaming pack of trucks through Turns 3 and 4, Eckes challenged Gray for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch during the following lap while Heim followed in close pursuit.

    Taylor Gray would then slide his No. 17 Place of Hope Toyota Tundra TRD Pro in front of Eckes’ No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST entering the frontstretch and lead the next lap before Eckes pulled a crossover move to the inside lane and assumed the lead through Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 40. Shortly after, Heim overtook teammate Gray for the runner-up spot as Eckes led the following lap. Heim then overtook Eckes to reassume the lead entering the frontstretch on Lap 42 and he would proceed to slowly muscle away with the top spot. By Lap 45, Heim stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Eckes while Taylor Gray, Enfinger and Majeski followed suit in the top five. Behind, Mosack occupied sixth place as Caruth, Honeycutt, Crafton and Dye were in the top 10.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Heim extended his advantage to a second over Eckes while Enfinger muscled his way up to third place as he trailed the lead by two seconds. Meanwhile, Taylor Gray fell back to fourth place ahead of Majeski while Mosack, Caruth, Honeycutt, Dye and Crafton were in the top 10. Towards the middle of the field, Playoff contenders Ankrum and Sanchez were mired in 17th and 19th, respectively, as Heim proceeded to lead by seventh-tenths of a second over Eckes by Lap 55.

    Then on Lap 57, Enfinger, who overtook Eckes for the runner-up spot a lap earlier and had been gaining ground on the leaders, steered his No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST into the lead from Heim through Turns 3 and 4 while he also almost got sideways entering the frontstretch. He then fended off Heim entering Turns 1 and 2 to retain the top spot.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Enfinger, who is already guaranteed a spot into this year’s Championship 4 field by winning the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener at Talladega Superspeedway earlier in October, notched his third Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Heim settled in second ahead of Eckes, Majeski and Honeycutt while Taylor Gray, Dye, Mosack, Caruth and Crafton were scored in the top 10. With six of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s second round of Playoff points, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Ankrum and Sanchez were mired in 16th and 17th, respectively.

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Enfinger returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Enfinger exited pit road first as he was followed by Taylor Gray, Heim, Connor Zilisch, Eckes, Honeycutt, Majeski, Caruth, Mosack and Thompson. Shortly after, Zilisch returned to pit road for service due to the Charlotte rookie missing his pit stall during the first cycle with the field.

    With 67 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Enfinger and Taylor Gray occupied the front row. At the start, Taylor Gray muscled ahead into the lead from the inside lane while Eckes and Enfinger collided against one another entering the first turn. As the field fanned out through the first two turns, Eckes fended off Majeski for the runner-up spot while Enfinger, who quickly reassumed third place through the backstretch, had a left-rear tire rub and smoke puffing out of his truck. During the following lap, Enfinger continued to nurse his damaged truck on the track despite dropping out of the top five mark and losing more spots as Taylor Gray retained the lead.

    With 64 laps remaining, however, Eckes and Taylor Gray dueled for the lead as Heim and Majeski followed suit in close pursuit. As Enfinger pitted under green to have his damaged truck assessed prior to the following lap, Eckes was out in front of a tight four-truck battle for the lead that involved Heim, Gray and Majeski. Heim then rocketed back into the lead with 62 laps remaining while Eckes followed suit in second. As Gray and Majeski battled for third place, Layne Riggs carved his way up to fifth place while Caruth, Honeycutt, Sanchez, Mosack and Thompson were in the top 10.

    Then with 60 laps remaining, the caution flew due to Matt Mills, who was racing in the top 20, getting loose after he received a bump from Conner Jones’ No. 66 TSPORT Ford F-150 and smacked the outside wall in Turn 4 as flames erupted out of his No. 42 Utilitra/J.F. Electric Chevrolet Silverado RST. Following the incident, Mills managed to climb out of his damaged truck under his own power while Jones, who vocally expressed his displeasure with Mills over an earlier on-track battle, was assessed a two-lap penalty for reckless driving. Mills would eventually be taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.

    During the caution period, some led by Riggs and including Sanchez and Ankrum pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track. Enfinger, who received the free pass during the caution period, also pitted.

    The start of the next restart period with 52 laps remaining featured Heim receiving a draft from Majeski to muscle ahead of Eckes to retain the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. Then exiting the backstretch, Majeski, who was in third place, shot his No. 98 Poppi/Road Ranger Ford F-150 below the track entering Turns 3 and 4 as he tried to bolt into the lead. Heim, however, used the outside lane and a draft from Eckes to muscle back ahead and retain the lead for the following lap. By then, Majeski managed to claim the runner-up spot as Caruth intimidated Eckes for third place.

    Then as Caruth tried to go below Eckes for third place in Turns 3, he got loose, which allowed Riggs and Dye to overtake him as Caruth was left to battle Sanchez and Taylor Gray for seventh place. Shortly after, Riggs overtook Eckes and Majeski on his four fresh tires before he assumed the lead from Heim with 49 laps remaining.

    With less than 45 laps remaining, Riggs extended his advantage to more than a second over Sanchez, who also bolted his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST to the front on four fresh tires. With Heim dropping to third place, Mosack followed suit in fourth place ahead of Enfinger, Majeski, Ankrum, Dye, Friesen and Ben Rhodes while Eckes, Caruth and Taylor Gray dropped to 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively. As Heim was overtaken by both Mosack and Enfinger, Riggs retained the lead by a second with 40 laps remaining.

    With 36 laps remaining, mixed strategies within the field ensued as Caruth pitted his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST for four fresh tires and fuel under green. Eckes would then pit for the following lap before more names including Crafton, Honeycutt and Majeski pitted during the next lap. Teammates Heim and Taylor Gray would then pit their respective Toyotas under green with 33 laps remaining as Riggs, who was approaching lapped traffic, stabilized his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Sanchez.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Riggs, who was among several competitors who continued to race on the track and aiming to stretch their fuel tank to the scheduled distance, continued to lead by a second over Sanchez while third-place Enfinger also trailed by a second. As Mosack, Ankrum, Friesen, Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Chase Purdy and Dawson Sutton followed suit in the top 10, Heim, the first competitor who recently pitted under green, trailed the lead by 31 seconds in 11th place as Majeski, Timmy Hill, Eckes and Caruth were mired in the top 15, with Taylor Gray trailing in 17th place.

    Three laps later, Enfinger challenged Riggs for the lead and he would overtake him to lead the following lap. Enfinger, who was also racing on fumes to stretch his fuel tank to the scheduled distance, would proceed to lead by half a second over Riggs while Sanchez trailed in third place by nine-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Heim trailed the lead by 26 seconds in 10th place as he remained ahead of Majeski, Eckes and Caruth.

    With 15 laps remaining, Enfinger, who was slowly reducing his speed while remaining on the track to stretch his fuel tank, continued to lead by more than a second over Riggs while third-place Sanchez trailed by more than two seconds. With Mosack and Friesen in the top five ahead of Ankrum, Heim carved his way up to eighth place and trailed the lead by 24 seconds.

    Five laps later, Enfinger retained the lead by more than two seconds over runner-up Riggs and by more than three seconds over Sanchez while Heim, who was still in eighth place, trailed by 21 seconds. By then, Caruth and Taylor Gray, both of whom were strapped in 13th and 14th, respectively, un-lapped themselves while Majeski and Eckes were racing in ninth and 11th, respectively.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Enfinger stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Riggs, who was slowly gaining ground on the former, as Sanchez continued to trail in third place by nearly seven seconds. A lap later, Heim cycled to seventh place but still trailed the leader Enfinger by 18 seconds. Another two laps later, Riggs ran out of fuel as he coasted his No. 38 Love’s RV Stops Ford F-150 below the apron through the first two turns and past Purdy, who also ran out of fuel.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Enfinger remained in the lead by more than 10 seconds over Sanchez. As Sanchez ran out of fuel and dropped off the pace through the backstretch, Enfinger managed to have enough fuel in his dry tank to coast his No. 9 Chevrolet around the Homestead circuit smoothly for a final time and return to the frontstretch victorious for his second consecutive checkered flag of the 2024 Truck Series season.

    With the victory, Enfinger notched his 12th career win in the Craftsman Truck Series division and his first at Homestead as this marks the first time ever where the Alabama veteran has notched back-to-back Truck victories in recent weeks. The Homestead victory was also the second ever for CR7 Motorsports and the 10th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate as Enfinger eyes additional momentum before his bid and the primary focus for the championship battle in the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway two weeks from now.

    “I think the truck we had here was equally as good [as the one from Darlington Raceway] and I feel like we were able to take a disadvantage with whatever happened on that restart [with 67 laps remaining],” Enfinger said on the frontstretch on FS1. “I didn’t think I did anything wrong and my buddy Christian [Eckes] was, I guess, trying to split the middle and just cut our tire a little bit, but just racing. At the end of the day, [crew chief] Jeff Stankiewicz just had the best truck out here. This Champion Power Equipment Chevy was really fast after about five laps yesterday and it was the same way today. [Spotter] Tim [Fedewa] did a good job of managing me with the tires and then Jeff did a good job managing me with the fuel. I felt like I saved at least 20% more than I did in the first run, but Jeff was on me pretty hard. Hard to beat these two weeks.”

    “We’ve had potential all year,” Enfinger added. “There’s been some times I haven’t executed. There’s been some times we just had bad luck, but maybe this is the time we get our momentum and like I told the guys, we’ll just not get too worked up over this one. Just focus on Phoenix, but it’s hard not to have momentum. Just overall, proud of the execution of these guys. More than anything, just proud of the speed. We had the fastest truck all day and when you do that, you can even have some slip-ups or mistakes and overcome them.”

    With Enfinger winning the race, Ty Majeski came home in second place and Connor Mosack settled in third place while Corey Heim could carve his way back up to as high as fourth place ahead of Tyler Ankrum.

    Stewart Friesen, Daniel Dye, Rajah Caruth, Christian Eckes and Taylor Gray finished in the top 10. Meanwhile, Sanchez, who ran out of fuel on the final lap, ended up in 13th place, the final competitor scored on the lead lap, while Riggs fell back to 22nd place, a lap down.

    As a result, Heim, Eckes and Majeski enter next weekend’s Round of 8 finale above the top-four cutline to the Championship 4 field while Caruth, Taylor Gray, Ankrum and Sanchez trail the cutline.

    There were nine lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 19 laps. In addition, 13 of 34 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Grant Enfinger, 32 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Ty Majeski

    3. Connor Mosack

    4. Corey Heim, 68 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    5. Tyler Ankrum

    6. Stewart Friesen

    7. Daniel Dye

    8. Rajah Caruth

    9. Christian Eckes, three laps led

    10. Taylor Gray, four laps led

    11. Matt Crafton

    12. Ben Rhodes

    13. Nick Sanchez

    14. Kaden Honeycutt, one lap down

    15. Dean Thompson, one lap down

    16. Corey Day, one lap down

    17. William Sawalich, one lap down

    18. Connor Zilisch, one lap down

    19. Dawson Sutton, one lap down

    20. Tanner Gray, one lap down

    21. Lawless Alan, one lap down

    22. Layne Riggs, one lap down, 27 laps led

    23. Timmy Hill, two laps down

    24. Jake Garcia, two laps down

    25. Conner Jones, two laps down

    26. Chase Purdy, three laps down

    27. Spencer Boyd, three laps down

    28. Conor Daly, three laps down

    29. Nathan Byrd, four laps down

    30. Marco Andretti, seven laps down

    31. Bayley Currey, nine laps down

    32. Justin Mondeik, 20 laps down

    33. Frankie Muniz, 29 laps down

    34. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    2. Corey Heim +49

    3. Christian Eckes +38

    4. Ty Majeski +22

    5. Rajah Caruth -22

    6. Taylor Gray -24

    7. Tyler Ankrum -41

    8. Nick Sanchez -43

    The Round of 8 in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to conclude at Martinsville Speedway for the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200, which will determine this year’s Championship 4 field. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, November 1, and air at 6 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • AJ Allmendinger clinches Championship 4 berth with resurgent Xfinity victory at Las Vegas

    AJ Allmendinger clinches Championship 4 berth with resurgent Xfinity victory at Las Vegas

    In a season mired with a multitude of on-track frustrations and a long winless drought, AJ Allmendinger cashed back in an emphatic style and became the first competitor to be guaranteed a championship berth in the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series finale by winning the Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 19.

    The 42-year-old Allmendinger from Los Gatos, California, led three times for a race-high 102 of 201 scheduled laps in an event where he started in sixth place and racked up 16 stage points with two top-five results recorded during the event’s two stage periods. Then after cycling his way into the lead for the first time at the start of the final stage period with 105 laps remaining, Allmendinger proceeded to dominate as he led the following 52 laps before navigating his way through a late cycle of green flag pit stops that enabled him to reassume the lead with 50 laps remaining.

    Amid two late-race caution periods and ensuing restarts, Allmendinger fended off late charges from Ryan Sieg, including the final one during a two-lap shootout to the finish, to score his first Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season and race his way into the Championship 4 round, where he will be one of four Playoff contenders to contend for this year’s series championship.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, October 18, Brandon Jones notched his fourth Xfinity pole position of the 2024 season after he posted a pole-winning lap at 183.430 mph in 29.439 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Cole Custer, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 183.187 mph in 29.478 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Sheldon Creed dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change made to his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota entry. Kyle Weatherman also dropped to the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments made to his No. 91 DGM Racing Chevrolet entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Brandon Jones gained the early upper hand from the inside lane as he muscled his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro away from Cole Custer with a push from Playoff contender Chandler Smith entering the first two turns. With Chandler Smith following suit in second ahead of Custer and Playoff contenders Sammy Smith and Sam Mayer for the following two turns, Jones proceeded to lead the first lap.

    Over the next three laps, Jones retained his advantage as high as three-tenths of a second while Custer reassumed second place from Chandler Smith. Sammy Smith and Mayer would continue to follow suit in the top five ahead of Riley Herbst while Playoff contender AJ Allmendinger retained seventh place ahead of Taylor Gray, Playoff contender Jesse Love, Playoff contender Justin Allgaier, Parker Kligerman and Ryan Sieg.

    Then on the fourth lap, the event’s first caution flew due to an incident involving Leland Honeyman and JJ Yeley, when they collided with one another against the backstretch’s outside wall. During the event’s first caution period, select names including Daniel Dye and Joey Gase pitted while the rest led by Jones remained on the track

    When the race restarted under green on the eighth lap, Sammy Smith made a three-wide move beneath teammate Jones and Custer through the frontstretch and he would muscle ahead with the lead through the first two turns. As Smith led a side-by-side duel between Custer and Jones through the backstretch, the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes as Chandler Smith muscled his way up to fourth place. Through the frontstretch, Allgaier would make a bold four-wide move towards the frontstretch’s apron in his bid to move up the leaderboard.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps and amid a series of on-track battles, Sammy Smith retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Custer while Jones followed suit in third place by nine-tenths of a second. Behind, Allmendinger and Chandler Smith would battle for fourth place in front of Herbst and Allgaier as Sammy Smith retained a narrow advantage over Custer. Chandler Smith then nearly got loose in front of Allgaier through Turns 3 and 4 during the following lap, but he kept his car straight despite dropping to seventh place. With Allmendinger, Herbst and Allgaier all moving in front of Chandler Smith, Custer would then overtake Sammy Smith for the lead on Lap 13 and Custer would proceed to lead by nearly half a second by Lap 15.

    By Lap 20, Custer stretched his advantage to a second over Sammy Smith as third-place Jones also trailed by a second. Behind, Allgaier trailed by two seconds in fourth place along with fifth-place Allmendinger while Herbst, Chandler Smith, Aric Almirola, Ryan Sieg and Taylor Gray were in the top 10 ahead of Jesse Love, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, Parker Kligerman and Parker Retzlaff.

    Ten laps later, Custer continued to lead by nine-tenths of a second over Jones followed by Allgaier, who trailed in third place by a second, while Herbst and Sammy Smith followed suit in the top five. As Shane van Gisbergen pitted under green due to an engine issue and eventually was taken to the garage, Custer retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Jones while Allgaier trailed by eight-tenths of a second over the next four laps.

    On Lap 34, however, the caution returned due to an incident involving Dylan Lupton towards the outside wall in Turn 2. During the caution period, some led by Custer and including Allgaier, Love, Hill and Mayer pitted while the rest led by Jones remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Anthony Alfredo was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    The start of the next restart period on Lap 39 featured Herbst briefly muscling ahead of Jones with the lead from the inside lane ahead of Allmendinger and Chandler Smith before Allmendinger made his move beneath Herbst entering the first two turns. Allmendinger, however, almost slid up into Herbst through the turns, which also caused Chandler Smith to briefly step out of the gas to avoid hitting Allmendinger as he was pinned in a four-wide battle with Jones, Sammy Smith, Taylor Gray and a bevy of competitors through the backstretch. With Allmendinger battling Jones for the runner-up spot and Chandler Smith retaining fourth ahead of teammate Almirola and the rest of the field, Herbst proceeded to lead the following lap.

    In the midst of the battles within the field, Custer used the four fresh tires to charge his way from the top 14 to back into the top five and he would proceed to battle Allmendinger and Jones for the runner-up spot by Lap 42 as Herbst retained the lead. Custer would then reassume the lead by Lap 43 and Allgaier would follow suit on his four fresh tires while Herbst dropped to third place in front of Allmendinger.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Custer fended off a hard-charging Allgaier to claim his fourth Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Allgaier settled in second ahead of Herbst, Allmendinger and Creed while Ryan Sieg, Love, Hill, Jones and Mayer were scored in the top 10. With six of eight Playoff contenders accumulating the event’s first round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders including Chandler Smith and Sammy Smith were scored in 15th and 16th, respectively, while Almirola fell back to 12th place.

    Under the stage break, some led by Herbst and including Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by Custer and Allgaier remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Almirola was penalized for a vehicle interference.

    The second stage period started on Lap 51 as Custer and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Custer and Allgaier dueled for the lead through the first two turns as the field fanned out from the frontstretch through the backstretch. After dueling with Custer through the backstretch, Allgaier would proceed to muscle his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro ahead with the lead through Turns 3 and 4, where he would lead the following lap. As Allgaier led Custer, Creed was trying to fend off Ryan Sieg for third place while Mayer, Love, Allmendinger, Chandler Smith, Hill and Retzlaff followed suit in the top 10.

    Just past the Lap 55 mark, Allgaier stretched his advantage to more than a second over Custer while Creed, Ryan Sieg and Mayer followed suit in the top five. Behind, Allmendinger, who pitted during the first stage break period, was up to sixth place on four fresh tires as Herbst, Hill and Sammy Smith battled fiercely for 10th place. Amid the battles, Allgaier would add another second to his advantage as he led by more than two seconds by Lap 60.

    At the Lap 70 mark, Allgaier continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than three seconds over Custer while Allmendinger also trailed by more than three seconds in third place. As Ryan Sieg and Chandler Smith were racing in the top five, Jones would challenge Smith for fifth place as Love, Herbst, Creed and Sammy Smith all trailed in the top 10 by 10 seconds. Meanwhile, Mayer had fallen to 11th place while Hill was mired back in 17th place.

    Ten laps later, Allgaier stabilized his advantage to three seconds over Allmendinger while Ryan Sieg trailed in third place by nearly five seconds. With Jones and Chandler Smith up into the top five, Custer dropped to sixth place ahead of Love while Almirola occupied eighth place ahead of Herbst and Sammy Smith.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Allgaier, who was mired behind lapped traffic, cruised to his 16th Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Allmendinger followed suit in second place by three-tenths of a second while Ryan Sieg, Jones, Chandler Smith, Custer, Almirola, Love, Herbst and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10. With five of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s second round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Sammy Smith, Mayer and Hill were mired back in 12th, 13th and 15th, respectively.

    During the stage break, the entire lead lap field led by Allgaier pitted. Following the pit stops, Allmendinger exited pit road first ahead of Allgaier, Custer, Chandler Smith and Herbst while Almirola, Ryan Sieg, Creed, Love and Jones followed suit in the top 10.

    With 105 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Allmendinger and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, however, the caution quickly returned due to Taylor Gray, who restarted in 11th place, getting hit by Sammy Smith and spinning his No. 19 Operation 300 Toyota Supra towards the middle of the frontstretch amid an accordion effect towards the front of the field. In the process of the spin, Gray’s sliding Toyota barely avoided the Chevrolet entries of Kligerman and Hill before it came to a rest backward across the outside wall as the rest of the field scattered to avoid hitting Gray.

    During the caution period, select names including Richard Childress Racing’s Love and Hill pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.

    The start of the next restart period with 99 laps remaining featured Allmendinger fending off Allgaier to lead the field through the first two turns as Chandler Smith challenged Allgaier for the runner-up spot. The latter would fend off the former for the runner-up spot as Allmendinger led the ensuing lap. With Allmendinger leading, Custer and Almirola battled for fourth place in front of Ryan Sieg, Jones and Herbst before Custer, Sieg and Jones all blew past Almirola for fourth through sixth, respectively, with 96 laps remaining.

    With 90 laps remaining, Allmendinger was leading by two-tenths of a second over Allgaier while third-place Chandler Smith trailed by one-and-a-half seconds. Behind, Ryan Sieg and Custer trailed by two seconds in the top five while Jones, Almirola, Herbst, Creed and Kligerman were racing in the top 10 ahead of Mayer. In addition, Love was mired in 16th place and racing two spots ahead of teammate Hill while Sammy Smith was down in 22nd place.

    Ten laps later, Allmendinger retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Allgaier despite the latter attempting to have the former slow down and help remove debris from Allgaier’s front grille while Allmendinger declined the offer to help. Meanwhile, third-place Chandler Smith trailed in third place by nearly two seconds as Ryan Sieg and Almirola were in the top five.

    Soon after, Allgaier, who was trying to use lapped competitors to remove debris, radioed concerning an alternator issue with his car. Amid the issues, Allgaier used the lapped competitor of Akinori Ogata to remove the debris off his front grille. With the debris gone, Allgaier trailed the leader Allmendinger by more than a second with less than 75 laps remaining. In the process, Chandler Smith continued to trail the lead in his No. 81 QuickTie Toyota Supra by two seconds in third place.

    With 60 laps remaining, Allmendinger stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Allgaier while Ryan Sieg was up to third place and trailing the lead by four seconds. As Chandler Smith dropped to fourth place in front of Kligerman, Almirola was in sixth place and racing ahead of Custer, Herbst, Jones and Love.

    A few laps later, green flag pit stops commenced as a bevy of names including Chandler Smith, Custer, Herbst and Corey Heim pitted. More names including Allgaier, Almirola, Mayer and Jeb Burton would also pit as the leader Allmendinger would then pit with 55 laps remaining. Gray, Jones, Hill and Anthony Alfredo would also pit as Kligerman, who inherited a brief lead, pitted under green with nearly 53 laps remaining. As more names including Ryan Sieg, Creed, Daniel Dye, Jeremy Clements, Matt DiBenedetto and Kyle Weatherman pitted, Gray was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    Back on the track, Love, who inherited a brief lead, pitted under green with 51 laps remaining along with Josh Williams, whose fueler had a bevy of fuel spilling out of the fuel can and in the pit box while trying to fuel the car. This allowed Allmendinger to cycle back into the lead with 50 laps remaining as he was leading by more than two seconds over Allgaier. In the ensuing pit cycle, Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith and Sieg cycled into the top five ahead of Custer.

    With less than 40 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead by nearly three seconds over Allgaier while Ryan Sieg, Chandler Smith and Herbst were scored in the top five ahead of Custer, Kligerman, Jones, Almirola and Love. With five of eight Playoff contenders racing in the top 10 on the track, Mayer and Hill were mired in 12th and 13th, respectively, while Sammy Smith, who pitted under green, was down in 27th place and scored multiple laps down.

    Then with 31 laps remaining, the caution flew due to Kyle Sieg spinning his No. 39 The Thomas Group Ford Mustang entering the frontstretch. At the moment of caution, Allmendinger was leading by four seconds over Ryan Sieg while 14 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Allmendinger pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Allmendinger retained the lead after he exited pit road first ahead of Sieg, Chandler Smith, Herbst, Allgaier and Kligerman.

    At the start of the ensuing restart period with 25 laps remaining, Allmendinger muscled ahead with the lead from the inside lane as Chandler Smith followed suit. With Smith assuming the runner-up spot, Sieg dueled with Kligerman for third place as Herbst tried to throw a three-wide move beneath both for the spot. Amid the battles, Sieg muscled his No. 28 Sci Aps Ford Mustang ahead of both to retain the spot as Allmendinger led the following lap. During the next lap, Sieg tried to close in on Chandler Smith for the runner-up spot and Kligerman was challenged by Allgaier and Herbst for fourth place while Allmendinger retained the lead.

    With 20 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Ryan Sieg, who reassumed the runner-up spot by Chandler Smith a few laps earlier, as Allgaier moved up to fourth place in front of Kligerman and Herbst. Behind, Custer, Jones, Love and Creed were racing in the top 10 as Sieg trimmed Allmendinger’s advantage to four-tenths of a second over the next three laps. Sieg would then trail Allmendinger by two-tenths of a second with 15 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Allmendinger led by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Ryan Sieg. Sieg then drew himself into a side-by-side battle with Allmendinger through the frontstretch for the following lap, which was led by Sieg by a hair. Sieg, however, got loose through the first two turns, which allowed Allmendinger to muscle back ahead with a reasonable gap. Amid his slip-up, Sieg retained the runner-up spot as he trailed Allmendinger by half a second over the next lap while Allgaier trailed in third place by a second.

    Then with seven laps remaining, the caution flew due to Sammy Smith stalling his No. 8 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet Camaro due to a power issue in the backstretch. By then, Allmendinger was leading by three-tenths of a second over Ryan Sieg while Allgaier was trailing the lead by less than a second.

    The start of the next restart period with two laps remaining featured Allmendinger receiving a push from Allgaier from the inside lane as he muscled his No. 16 Modern Day Garage Chevrolet Camaro ahead and retained the lead through the frontstretch. Allmendinger would proceed to lead through the first two turns and the backstretch while Ryan Sieg, Allgaier, Chandler Smith and the rest of the field followed suit.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allmendinger remained in the lead by a tenth of a second over Ryan Sieg while Allgaier followed suit by three-tenths of a second. Sieg would slightly close in to Allmendinger’s rear bumper between the first two turns and the backstretch despite the latter retaining the top spot. Sieg then tried to reduce the gap even more for a final charge through Turns 3 and 4, but it would not be enough as Allmendinger cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed his first elusive checkered flag of the 2024 Xfinity Series season by a tenth of a second over Sieg.

    With the victory, AJ Allmendinger, who is set to return to the NASCAR Cup Series division with Kaulig Racing in 2025, notched his 18th career win in the Xfinity Series, his second at Las Vegas and his first since winning at Nashville Superspeedway in June 2023. He also recorded the 17th Xfinity victory of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate, the fourth for Kaulig Racing and the first for the organization’s No. 16 entry led by crew chief Alex Yontz.

    Above all, Allmendinger became the first Playoff contender to secure one of four berths into this year’s Championship 4 round, where he will contend for his first Xfinity Series championship at Phoenix Raceway in three weeks.

    “I absolutely love these guys and girls at Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger, who made the Championship 4 round for the second time in his career, said on the CW Network. “It’s been such an up and down [season], but what I love about them is we stick together. We keep fighting. First of all, happy birthday, [team owner] Matt Kaulig! The boss’ birthday! I told you I was getting you a trophy! Let’s go, man! I love you! [My family] see how much I care and I put it on myself. What a way to get to Phoenix after a year that we’ve had. Let’s go win a championship! Let’s go!”

    As Allmendinger celebrated both a victory and a championship berth in Victory Lane with his team, Ryan Sieg, who made his 364th career start in the Xfinity Series at Las Vegas, was left disappointed on pit road after settling in a career-best second place for the fifth time in his career and for a second week in a row.

    “[It] Just sucks to finish second again with a great car like we had earlier in Texas,” Sieg said. “One of these days, it’s gonna go our way. We brought a car as fast as Xfinity Internet, but we didn’t get in Victory Lane.”

    Justin Allgaier, who led 42 laps and won the second stage period, came home in third place ahead of Playoff contender Chandler Smith and Parker Kligerman. Playoff rookie Jesse Love finished in sixth place while Riley Herbst, Stage 1 winner Cole Custer, Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill finished in the top 10.

    With six of eight Playoff contenders finishing in the top 10 on the track, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Sam Mayer and Sammy Smith settled in 14th and 32nd, respectively.

    There were 13 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 31 laps. In addition, 24 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. AJ Allmendinger, 102 laps led

    2. Ryan Sieg, two laps led

    3. Justin Allgaier, 42 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    4. Chandler Smith

    5. Parker Kligerman, one lap led

    6. Jesse Love, three laps led

    7. Riley Herbst, four laps led

    8. Cole Custer, 31 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    9. Sheldon Creed

    10. Austin Hill

    11. Corey Heim

    12. Daniel Dye

    13. Aric Almirola

    14. Sam Mayer

    15. Josh Williams

    16. Matt DiBenedetto

    17. Brandon Jones, 11 laps led

    18. Jeremy Clements

    19. Anthony Alfredo

    20. Kyle Weatherman

    21. Brennan Poole

    22. Parker Retzlaff

    23. Myatt Snider

    24. Jeb Burton

    25. JJ Yeley, two laps down

    26. Kyle Sieg, two laps down

    27. Dylan Lupton, three laps down

    28. Ryan Ellis, three laps down

    29. Garrett Smithley, three laps down

    30. Joey Gase, three laps down

    31. Blaine Perkins, three laps down

    32. Sammy Smith, four laps down, five laps led

    33. Taylor Gray, four laps down

    34. Ryan Vargas, four laps down

    35. Akinori Ogata, five laps down

    36. Dawson Cram, eight laps down

    37. Leland Honeyman – OUT, Electrical

    38. Shane van Gisbergen – OUT, Fuel Pump

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. AJ Allmendinger – Advanced

    2. Justin Allgaier +32

    3. Cole Custer +16

    4. Chandler Smith +8

    5. Austin Hill -8

    6. Jesse Love -13

    7. Sam Mayer -23

    8. Sammy Smith -53

    The second Round of 8 event in the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to occur at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, for the Credit One NASCAR Amex Credit Card 300. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, October 26, and air at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Taylor Gray inks full-time Xfinity deal with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025

    Taylor Gray inks full-time Xfinity deal with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025

    Taylor Gray will be ascending to the NASCAR Xfinity Series division on a full-time basis with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) in 2025.

    The news comes as the 19-year-old Gray from Artesia, New Mexico, has spent this season competing on a full-time basis in the Craftsman Truck Series for TRICON Garage, where he is one of eight competitors still contending for the title in this year’s Playoffs, and on a part-time basis in the Xfinity Series for JGR.

    For the 2025 Xfinity season, Gray will be piloting the No. 54 Toyota entry that will be led by Tyler Allen, who is currently in his first full-time season as a NASCAR crew chief between JGR’s Nos. 19 and 20 teams. Through 29 of 33 scheduled events, Allen has led the No. 20 team to seven victories between four competitors as the team remains in contention for the 2024 Xfinity owner’s championship. Allen has also worked with Gray for four events this season, where their current best result is a fifth-place run at Pocono Raceway this past July.

    “I am very thankful for this opportunity,” Gray said in a released statement. “I feel like I have learned a lot in the races I have ran this year, and we can build on that next season. Being able to work with [crew chief] Tyler [Allen] and these guys for a few races has been a great head start on next season and getting that chemistry going, so I’m really excited about what we can do running together full-time.”

    Gray, a nine-time race winner across the ARCA Menards Series’ platforms, made his Xfinity Series debut at Richmond Raceway this past April, where he notched an impressive third-place result while driving JGR’s No. 19 Toyota entry. He would proceed to compete in 11 additional events, where he earned an additional top-five result, an eighth-place run at Michigan International Speedway in August and four additional results in the top 15 during the span. The New Mexico native is scheduled to make his 13th Xfinity start of the 2024 season this upcoming Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    In addition to his part-time Xfinity campaign, Gray has made a total of 53 starts in the Truck Series, to date. During the 53-race campaign, he has recorded 10 top-five results, 19 top-10 results, 28 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.1. This season, Gray made the 2024 Truck Series Playoffs on the strength of five top-five results and nine top-10 results throughout the series’ 16 regular-season events. After transferring from the Playoff’s Round of 10 to 8, he recently tied his career-best result in the series by finishing in second place at Talladega Superspeedway. With the result, Gray is ranked in sixth place in the Playoff standings and is 13 points below the top-four cutline to make the Championship 4 round with two Round of 8 events remaining.

    “We’re looking forward to adding Taylor to our lineup full-time next year,” Steve de Souza, executive vice president of Xfinity Series and development for JGR, added. “Taylor’s strong season in the Truck Series, along with his performance with us on the Xfinity side, have been impressive. With Taylor in the Xfinity car every week in 2025, we expect that trend to continue, and we’re looking forward to him competing for wins and the championship.”

    Gray’s addition to JGR completes the organization’s second piece of its Xfinity Series lineup in 2025 as Brandon Jones was announced to be returning to JGR on a full-time in 2025 this past September.

    Additional partners for Gray’s entry along with the rest of JGR’s Xfinity Series lineup for the upcoming season remain to be determined.

    With his 2025 plans set, Taylor Gray’s next NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the 2024 season is set to occur this upcoming Saturday, October 19, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Ambetter Health 302 that will air at 7 p.m. ET on the CW Network. Gray’s 2024 Truck Series Playoff run is also set to continue on October 26 at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the second Round of 8 event.

  • Grant Enfinger scores dominant victory at Talladega, clinches Championship 4 berth

    Grant Enfinger scores dominant victory at Talladega, clinches Championship 4 berth

    The feeling of winning at home never felt sweeter for Grant Enfinger, who guaranteed himself an early shot to contend for this year’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship after capping off a dominant performance with a victory in the Love’s RV Stop 225 at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday, October 4.

    The 39-year-old Enfinger from Fairhope, Alabama, led nine times for a race-high 34 of 85-scheduled laps in an event where he started in fourth place and spent a majority of the event racing upfront amid the draft and up against both his fellow Playoff and non-Playoff contenders. After finishing second in the first stage before winning the second stage, Enfinger, who would endure three restarts throughout the final stage period, retained the lead at the start of the final one with nine laps remaining. He then fended off late challenges from Playoff contenders Christian Eckes and Taylor Gray through the frontstretch on the final lap and amid a multi-truck wreck approaching the finish line to record his first elusive victory of the season and automatically transfer his way into this year’s Championship 4 round.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, William Sawalich, the 2024 ARCA Menards Series East champion, notched his first Truck Series career pole position after he posted a pole-winning lap at 175.764 mph in 54.482 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ben Rhodes, who posted his best qualifying lap at 175.648 mph in 54.518 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Keith McGee dropped to the rear of the field as a result of replacing Bryan Dauzat in the FDNY Racing entry. Bayley Currey also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change to his Niece Motorsports entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, William Sawalich muscled his No. 1 Starkey/Soundgear Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead with the lead from the inside lane as he was followed by Ben Rhodes and Playoff contenders Ty Majeski and Taylor Gray through the first two turns. Sawalich proceeded to lead through the backstretch as a bevy of competitors behind dueled early for positions in two drafting lanes. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Playoff contender Grant Enfinger received a draft from Chase Purdy from the outside lane to rocket his No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead and lead the first lap ahead of Sawalich.

    Through the second to fifth lap, the field fanned out to three drafting lanes as Purdy, Enfinger and Matt Mills all took turns leading at the front while Jake Garcia, Sawalich, Connor Zilisch, Dean Thompson, Majeski, Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum, Dean Thompson and Lawless Alan all followed pursuit. By then, Ben Rhodes, who started on the front row alongside Sawalich, was penalized for jumping the start, as he launched ahead of Sawalich when he was not in control of bringing the field up to race pace before the event’s start. After serving a drive-through penalty for the penalty, however, Rhodes was penalized a second time, this time for a blend violation as he moved up the racing surface early through the backstretch. The pair of penalties would result in Rhodes losing a lap to the field while Mills and Enfinger dueled for the lead in front of the field.

    Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Enfinger was leading ahead of Purdy, Sawalich, Mills and Majeski while Garcia, Playoff contender Taylor Gray, Zilisch, Ankrum and Dean Thomson were racing in the top 10. Behind, Playoff contender Corey Heim occupied 11th place ahead of, Lawless Alan, Playoff contender Christian Eckes, Playoff contender Rajah Caruth and Ryan Reed while Bret Holmes, Nick Sanchez, Stefan Parsons, Stewart Friesen and Tanner Gray were mired in the top 20.

    Five laps later, Enfinger, who led three of the previous five laps, was leading by a hair amid a side-by-side battle with Mills while the rest of the field racing in two-packed lanes followed suit. By then, Garcia, Sawalich and Zilisch were running in the top five as Playoff contenders Majeski, Taylor Gray and Ankrum were racing in the top-10 mark. In addition, Heim and Caruth were battling within the top-15 mark while Eckes and Sanchez were mired within the top-20 mark. Meanwhile, Johnny Sauter, who was making his second Truck start of the season with Hattori Racing Enterprises, had pitted to have a broken spoiler brace fixed.

    With two laps remaining in the first stage period, Sanchez and Currey pitted their respective entries, primarily for fuel, as Enfinger retained the lead.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Matt Mills received a draft from Garcia to overtake Enfinger from the outside lane through the backstretch and claim his first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Enfinger settled in second ahead of Garcia, Zilisch and Sawalich while Thompson, Majeski, Alan, Taylor Gray and Tanner Gray were scored in the top 10 on the track. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders that included Ankrum, Heim, Eckes and Caruth were mired within the top 16 while Sanchez was down in 32nd place.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Mills pits while the rest including Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Spencer Boyd and Sanchez remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Enfinger exited pit road first ahead of Majeski, Garcia, Alan, Zilisch, Eckes, Thompson, Taylor Gray, Caruth and Tyler Ankrum. Friesen, Crafton and Boyd would eventually pit prior to the second stage’s start while Sanchez, who pitted before the first stage’s conclusion, remained on the track and inherited the lead.

    The second stage period started on Lap 27 as Sanchez and Enfinger occupied the front row. At the start, Sanchez and Enfinger dueled for the lead for a full lap and in front of two stacked lanes. Enfinger was being pushed by Garcia while Sanchez was being pushed by Majeski and Zilisch. By then, Taylor Gray pitted to have a punctured tire on his No. 17 Place of Hope Toyota Tundra TRD Pro removed as both Sanchez and Enfinger continued to duel for the lead by the Lap 30 mark.

    Then with three laps remaining in the second stage period, the caution flew after Sanchez, who had both lanes to his control before Enfinger came storming back to challenge him for the lead, got loose by Zilisch through the frontstretch. Sanchez then slid sideways into the path of Zilisch, where Zilisch kept pushing Sanchez’s spinning No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST while Sauter, Rhodes and Purdy all wrecked against the outside wall while trying to avoid the wreck. The incident occurred as Mills and Parsons made contact, but avoided igniting a wreck entering the frontstretch while being mired behind Playoff contenders Heim, Ankrum and Taylor Gray, the latter of whom had lost a lap to the field.

    The multi-truck incident on Lap 37 was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 40 to officially conclude under caution as Enfinger was awarded his second Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Garcia, Eckes, Alan, Caruth, Thompson, Heim, Tanner Gray, Ankrum and Stefan Parsons were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some, led by Crafton and including Boyd while the rest led by Enfinger pitted. During the pit stops, Mason Maggio, who made contact with Ankrum on pit road, was penalized for having too many men over his pit wall. Soon after and amid the caution period, a bevy of names including Playoff contender Taylor Gray, Sanchez all returned to pit road for additional services.

    With 39 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Dye and Caruth occupied the front row. At the start, Daniel Dye, who received drafting help from a bevy of Chevrolet teammates, including teammate Eckes, muscled his No. 43 NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead of Caruth before he then moved in front of Caruth entering the backstretch. Eckes would also follow suit and he also transitioned his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST in front of Caruth on the inside lane. By the following lap, Dye was leading ahead of a five-truck breakaway from the field along with teammate Eckes, Ankrum, Caruth and Dean Thompson while Enfinger and Corey Heim dueled for sixth place in front of two lines of stacked competitors.

    With 35 laps remaining, teammates Eckes and Dye dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes of competitors. Five laps later, the top-10 competitors on the track were separated under a second as Eckes was leading ahead of Enfinger, teammate Dye, Caruth and Parsons while Mills, Garcia, Alan, Kaden Honeycutt and Sanchez were in the top 10.

    Then with 28 laps remaining, a majority of field led by Eckes and Enfinger pitted under green. During the pit stops, Caruth blew a tire while he was slamming on the brakes and locking up his front tires of his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST while trying to enter pit road. Caruth, however, would be penalized for being too fast while trying to enter pit road as he eventually lost a lap. In addition, Dye missed pit road and could not pit with the front-runners while Norm Benning spun on pit road after making contact with Stefan Parsons. Soon after, Purdy was seen limping his slowed truck below the apron on the backstretch, but he continued without drawing a caution.

    Back on the track with 25 laps remaining, Jason White was leading ahead of Dawson Sutton, Mason Maggio, Honeycutt and Sanchez while Enfinger, Eckes, Garcia, Riggs and Friesen were scored in the top 10.

    Shortly after, the caution flew when Garcia got turned off the front nose of Parsons that resulted in Garcia colliding with rookie Layne Riggs and clipping Riggs again that sent Riggs back across the track and into Tanner Gray and Matt Mills up against the outside wall. Connor Zilisch and Dean Thompson would also get involved in the carnage while Playoff contenders Tyler Ankrum and Taylor Gray slid through the infield grass and kicked up dirt to avoid the carnage.

    During the caution period, some led by the leader Jason White and including Sutton, Mason Maggio, Clay Greenfield, Cory Roper, Spencer Boyd and Ankrum pitted while the rest led by the new leader Honeycutt remained on the track.

    Down to the final 17 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Honeycutt received a draft from Eckes on the inside lane to rocket ahead with the lead through the first two turns. As the field started to fan out to three lanes through the backstretch, Eckes made his move to the outside lane as he overtook Honeycutt while he was followed by Sanchez. Sanchez then made a move beneath Eckes in Turn 4 as he assumed the lead and led the following lap ahead of Honeycutt and Eckes. Sanchez would then be placed on defense to block Eckes and Honeycutt as Enfinger and Taylor Gray started to muscle up into the top five by the following lap.

    The caution would then return with 15 laps remaining after Sanchez received a push from Eckes that got him sliding sideways below the apron entering Turn 3. While trying to save his truck from spinning, Sanchez slid up the track backward in between Turns 3 and 4 and barely clipped Dye, which sent Dye for a spin below the turn’s grass. With nearly the entire field dodging Sanchez’s truck, Keith McGee and Mason Maggio wrecked along with Dawson Sutton while avoiding Sanchez.

    The start of the following restart period with nine laps remaining featured Enfinger rocketing ahead with the lead with drafting help from Eckes and Alan while Taylor Gray, who restarted outside the front row, blended in line in fourth place ahead of Ryan Reed and Ankrum. With a majority of the front-runners running in a long single-file line towards the inside lane, Enfinger retained the lead for the following lap and ahead of Eckes, Alan, Ankrum and Reed.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, the top 12 competitors were racing under a second while the top 16 were separated within a second. In the process, Enfinger was leading ahead of Eckes, Alan, Taylor Gray and Reed while Ankrum, Friesen, Heim, Caruth and Majeski were mired in the top 10 ahead of Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd.

    During the following lap, the field behind Enfinger slowly started to fan out to multiple drafting lanes as Heim, racing in eighth place, was leading a charge from the outside lane with drafting help from Caruth. Heim and Caruth then made contact entering the backstretch, which stalled their momentum and forced both to blend back in the long drafting lane towards the double yellow lines and behind Enfinger, who continued to lead in front of Eckes.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Enfinger remained as the leader ahead of Eckes, Alan, Taylor Gray and Reed while Daniel Dye was trying to ignite a final drafting charge from the outside lane along with Caruth, Parsons and Heim. Enfinger would continue to lead through the backstretch along with Turns 3 and 4 as both Taylor Gray and Ankrum transitioned to the outside lane to receive the drafting momentum Dye was receiving.

    Then through the frontstretch and with the finish line in sight, Lawless Alan would then transition to the outside lane, but Taylor Gray and Eckes pinned him in three-wide formation. As Enfinger retained the lead, trouble ignited as Ankrum was bumped and sent spinning through the frontstretch before he was hit in the driver’s side by Friesen. Eckes then slid sideways off the front nose of teammate Reed and shot back across the track, where he collected a majority of the front-runners. Meanwhile, Enfinger managed to fend off a charge from Taylor Gray to claim the checkered flag and grab the victory.

    With the victory, Enfinger, who scored his first series victory at Talladega in 2016, became the first Playoff competitor to win the Truck Series Playoff event at Talladega and he became the fifth competitor to achieve multiple Truck victories at Talladega. He also notched his 11th career win in the Craftsman Truck Series and his first since winning at the Milwaukee Mile in August 2023.

    Above all, Enfinger, who came into Talladega strapped in seventh place in the Playoff standings, became the first competitor to clinch a spot into this year’s Championship 4 round, where he will contend for the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 8.

    “[My team] knew stuff was going to get dicey,” Enfinger, who credited spotter Tim Fedewa with the victory, said on FS1. “We didn’t make all the perfect decisions today, but we had a Champion Power Equipment Chevy [that] was fast enough to get it done today. That was hairy coming right [to the finish]. I knew Taylor [Gray] was coming with a run. Tim told me to go up, then he told me to come down. It’s just Talladega right there. Hopefully, all the fans enjoyed it. It’s nothing like winning at your hometown, home track. On top of that, we get to race for a championship at Phoenix.”

    Enfinger’s Talladega victory was also the first ever for CR7 Motorsports, a team that debuted in 2018 and had hired Enfinger as a part-time competitor in 2021 before signing him to a full-time, multi-year deal at the start of this season. Now after recording five top-five results and barely transferring into the Playoff’s Round of 8 throughout the previous 19 events on this year’s schedule, the organization will receive its first opportunity to contend for a NASCAR championship with the veteran Enfinger also setting his sights on claiming the title one year after being one position shy of claiming it.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “There are just so many people that make this team,” Enfinger added. “It’s a little bit of the little team that could, but we have great resources with our friends over there at [McAnally-Hilgemann Racing]. Obviously, great resources from everybody at Team Chevy. We’ve been knocking on the door. I know it’s speedway race, but we’ve been knocking on the door at all the tracks. I feel like we stumbled that first round of the Playoffs, but it really doesn’t matter now. [I was] able to win our way to Phoenix. Now, we can just focus on that. Looking forward to having some fun the next couple races, but a championship’s on the line now.

    Behind Enfinger, Taylor Gray tied his career-best result of second place as he just missed his first victory and an early ticket to the Championship 4 round by 0.041 seconds. Daniel Dye managed to cross the finish line in third place with a destroyed race truck while Rajah Caruth and Lawless Alan finished in the top five. Christian Eckes, Ryan Reed, Stefan Parsons, Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd finished in the top 10 on the track.

    With Playoff contenders Enfinger, Taylor Gray, Caruth and Eckes finishing in the top 10 on the track, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Corey Heim, Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum and Nick Sanchez ended up 11th, 12th, 14th and 22nd, respectively. As a result, Eckes, Heim and Majeski leave Talladega above the top-four cutline to the Championship 4 round while Caruth, Gray, Sanchez and Ankrum trail the cutline.

    There were 27 lead changes for 12 different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 25 laps. In addition, 23 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Grant Enfinger, 34 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Taylor Gray

    3. Daniel Dye, three laps led

    4. Rajah Caruth, two laps led

    5. Lawless Alan

    6. Christian Eckes, eight laps led

    7. Ryan Reed

    8. Stefan Parsons

    9. Bret Holmes

    10. Spencer Boyd

    11. Corey Heim

    12. Ty Majeski

    13. Stewart Friesen, one lap led

    14. Tyler Ankrum

    15. Clay Greenfield

    16. Cory Roper

    17. Danny Bohn

    18. Mason Maggio

    19. Kaden Honeycutt, three laps led

    20. Jason White, seven laps led

    21. Norm Benning

    22. Nick Sanchez, 10 laps led

    23. Matt Crafton, one lap led

    24. Dawson Sutton, four laps down, one lap led

    25. Chase Purdy, 14 laps down, one lap led

    26. Keith McGee – OUT, Accident

    27. William Sawalich, 21 laps down

    28. Layne Riggs – OUT, Accident

    29. Jake Garcia – OUT, Accident

    30. Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident

    31. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident, 14 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    32. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

    33. Connor Zilisch – OUT, Accident

    34. Johnny Sauter – OUT, DVP

    35. Ben Rhodes – OUT, Accident

    36. Bayley Currey – OUT, Rear Gear

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    2. Corey Heim +30

    3. Christian Eckes +29

    4. Ty Majeski +5

    5. Rajah Caruth -5

    6. Taylor Gray -13

    7. Nick Sanchez -20

    8. Tyler Ankrum- 23

    The second Round of 8 event in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to occur at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, and is scheduled to occur on October 26 and air at noon ET on FS1.

  • Aric Almirola rallies for second Xfinity victory of 2024 at Kansas

    Aric Almirola rallies for second Xfinity victory of 2024 at Kansas

    Aric Almirola commenced the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs by spoiling the opening race with a resurgent victory in the Kansas Lottery 30 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, September 28, leaving a bevy of Playoff contenders left with bruised feelings and an early axe to grind toward one another.

    The 40-year-old Almirola from Tampa, Florida, led twice for 16 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started sixth and generated race-winning pace in the early portions of the race as he won the first stage period. Then, after settling in second place after the second stage period, Almirola’s event nearly went south when he pitted under green with less than 80 laps remaining due to scraping the outside wall entering the backstretch that cut his right-rear tire.

    With a late-race caution flying with under 60 laps remaining due to a wheel rolling onto the frontstretch’s grass during a late cycle of green-flag pit stops, Almirola was able to methodically carve his way back to the front. Starting from the final restart period with 49 laps remaining, he overtook Playoff contender Cole Custer for the lead with three laps remaining. From there, Almirola was able to drive away from Custer and cruise to his second Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Brandon Jones notched his third Xfinity pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 175.553 mph in 30.760 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Chandler Smith, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 175.291 mph in 30.806 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following drivers, including Logan Bearden, Jeb Burton, Matt DiBenedetto, Brad Perez and Dawson Cram dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Leland Honeyman also dropped to the rear of the field for an engine change.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Chandler Smith jumped ahead with an early advantage from the inside lane as he led Brandon Jones and the field through the first two turns and the backstretch. With nearly the entire field running in two packed lanes, Smith muscled ahead and led the first lap as Connor Zilisch managed to keep his car running straight after he slid sideways through Turns 3 and 4 from fourth place.

    Over the next four laps, Chandler Smith proceeded to lead as Jones, Playoff contender Cole Custer, Aric Almirola, Playoff contender Justin Allgaier and Playoff contender Jesse Love followed suit in the top six while Zilisch dropped to seventh. By then, Jeremy Clements was penalized for a restart violation, when he changed lanes before reaching the start/finish line to begin the race, as Zilisch continued to lose spots while being overtaken by Taylor Gray and Playoff contender Parker Kligerman.

    Then on the sixth lap, the event’s first caution flew when Playoff contender Sammy Smith spun by himself on the backstretch after he got tagged into the frontstretch outside wall by Playoff contender AJ Allmendinger the lap prior. During the caution period, select names including Playoff contender Shane van Gisbergen, Dawson Cram, Joey Gase, Ryan Vargas, Patrick Emerling and Sammy Smith pitted while the rest, led by Chandler Smith, remained on the track.

    The start of the following restart on Lap 11 featured a duel between Jones and Chandler Smith before teammate Aric Almirola shoved Smith back out in front from the inside lane entering the first two turns. Smith then proceeded to clear Jones through the backstretch as both Almirola and Custer challenged Jones for the runner-up spot. With Jones fending off Custer and Almirola for the runner-up spot, Chandler Smith proceeded to lead through the Lap 15 mark.

    Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Chandler Smith was leading by a second over Jones as Custer, Almirola and Taylor Gray were racing in the top five. Behind, Playoff contenders Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer, Austin Hill, Parker Kligerman and Sheldon Creed were scored in the top 10 as Playoff contenders Riley Herbst and Jesse Love followed suit in the top 12. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith added another second to his advantage and led by two seconds at the Lap 25 mark. By then, Custer and Almirola had navigated their way to second and third on the track while Jones fell to fourth in front of Gray.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Chandler Smith maintained his early advantage by a second over Almirola, with Custer, Jones and Gray scored in the top five. With Playoff contenders Mayer, Allgaier, Hill, Creed, Herbst and Kligerman racing in the top 11, Love was back in 13th place, AJ Allmendinger was mired in 15th place, van Gisbergen was down in 26th place and Sammy Smith was trapped in 28th place.

    Seven laps later, Almirola got to teammate Chandler Smith’s left-rear quarter panel and got him loose, then drag-raced him through the frontstretch to assume the lead for the first time. With the clean air to his advantage, Almirola proceeded to lead by more than a second over Smith by Lap 40 with Custer, Jones and Mayer racing in the top five.

    Then on the final lap of the first stage period, the caution flew after Taylor Gray lost an engine and dropped oil across the frontstretch. The caution for Gray was enough for the first stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 45 to officially conclude under caution as Almirola cruised to his fourth Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Chandler Smith followed suit in second along with Custer, Jones and Mayer while Creed, Hill, Allgaier, Herbst and Kligerman were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Allmendinger, Love, van Gisbergen and Sammy Smith were mired in 13th, 16th, 23rd and 28th, respectively.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Almirola peeled off the racetrack to pit for service. Following the pit stops, Custer exited first with the lead, followed by Hill, Mayer, Creed, Chandler Smith and Jones while Almirola lost six spots amid a slow pit service and ended up exiting pit road in seventh place. Amid the pit stops, Allmendinger was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation while JJ Yeley was also penalized for a safety violation. Jones then pitted again from sixth to tighten loose lug nuts

    The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Custer and Hill occupied the front row. Custer gained a strong start from the outside lane to transition back to the inside lane in front of Hill entering the first two turns. As the field behind fanned out, Custer proceeded to lead the following lap while Mayer and Chandler Smith overtook Hill for second and third, respectively. As Smith and Hill dueled for third, Riley Herbst and Sheldon Creed battled for fifth in front of Almirola while Daniel Dye nearly spun after he made contact with Anthony Alfredo. Amid the early battles, Custer proceeded to lead by half a second just past the Lap 55 mark.

    By Lap 60, Custer retained the lead by a second over Chandler Smith as Mayer, Herbst and Hill remained in the top five ahead of Creed, Allgaier, Almirola, Kligerman and Zilisch. Behind, Love and Allmendinger were mired back in 18th and 20th, respectively, while van Gisbergen and Sammy Smith were back in 25th and 28th, respectively. In addition, Jones was in 15th behind Matt DiBenedetto, Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg and Corey Heim.

    Three laps later, the caution returned due to Brad Perez falling off the pace below the backstretch’s apron and coming to a stop in Turn 3. During the caution period, select names including Love, van Gisbergen and Sammy Smith, who cycled back onto the lead lap, pitted while the rest, led by Custer, remained on the track.

    The beginning of the next restart period on Lap 69 did not last long as Playoff contender Justin Allgaier got hit by Sheldon Creed entering the backstretch, sending Allgaier sliding and making head-on contact with the inside wall. During the incident, Custer, who received a strong shove from Chandler Smith during the previous restart’s start, maintained the lead over Mayer, Chandler Smith, Almirola and Hill.

    At the beginning of the next restart period on Lap 75, Mayer and Custer dueled for the lead through the frontstretch. Then as Chandler Smith tried to make a move beneath Custer, Almirola launched a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot through the first two turns as Mayer surged ahead with the lead entering the backstretch. As Mayer led the field through the backstretch, more trouble struck for Allgaier, who blew a tire, hit the outside wall and retired from further competition. Amid his wreck that took an early hit in his Playoff bid, the race remained under green flag conditions as Mayer proceeded to lead the next four laps while Almirola overtook Custer for the runner-up spot.

    At the Lap 80 mark, Mayer retained the lead by half a second over Almirola as Custer, Chandler Smith and Zilisch were racing in the top five. Mayer would slightly extend his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Almirola by Lap 85.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Mayer fended off Almirola to capture his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Almirola retained second while trailing Mayer at the start/finish line by three-tenths of a second while Custer, Chandler Smith and Zilisch were in the top five. “Behind, Hill made contact with Herbst entering the frontstretch and sent Herbst spinning through the frontstretch’s grass while Hill proceeded to finish sixth ahead of Creed, Jones, DiBenedetto and Ryan Sieg. Amid his spin, Herbst ended up in 16th place and joined Love, Kligerman, Allmendinger, van Gisbergen and Sammy Smith as Playoff contenders who did not record and stage points after the second stage period.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field, led by Mayer, pitted. Following the pit stops, Chandler Smith exited pit road first ahead of Custer, Almirola and Creed while Mayer dropped four spots. Not long after, Almirola pitted for a second time to have the lug nuts tightened.

    With 103 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Chandler Smith and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Smith received a strong push from teammate Creed from the outside lane to rocket ahead and maintain the lead from Custer through the first two turns. With the field fanning out and jostling for late spots, Smith proceeded to lead at the event’s scheduled halfway distance on Lap 100.

    With 90 laps remaining, Chandler Smith was leading by a second over Custer with Zilisch, Creed and Hill scored in the top five on the track. Behind, Jones, Ryan Sieg, Mayer, Allmendinger and Corey Heim were racing in the top 10 as Almirola was mired in 11th place ahead of Heim, Josh Williams, Love, Kligerman, Herbst and Retzlaff. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen was back in 21st and Sammy Smith was mired in the 29th.

    Ten laps later, Chandler Smith continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Custer while Zilisch, Creed and Hill remained in the top five. Smith would proceed to lead by four-tenths of a second over Custer with 70 laps remaining. By then, Corey Heim pitted under green after he got loose through the first two turns and smacked the outside wall in front of Kligerman eight laps earlier. Almirola hit the outside wall entering the backstretch after marching his way back into the top 10 and pitted to change a flat right-rear tire nearly five laps earlier.

    Then with 64 laps remaining, Custer, who spent the last several laps closing in and stalking Chandler Smith, used the inside lane from Turns 3 and 4 to muscle ahead of Smith and assume the lead. By then, Ryan Sieg pitted from the top 10 under green. As Herbst and Kligerman battled for ninth place behind Allmendinger, Custer maintained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith as Hill pitted from the top five with 60 laps remaining.

    With 59 laps remaining, Playoff contenders Mayer, Allmendinger and Herbst pitted along with Patrick Emerling and Zilisch before Kligerman, Parker Retzlaff, Chandler Smith and Creed pitted during the following lap. The leader Custer then pitted with 57 laps remaining before the caution flew due to a tire rolling out of Parker Retzlaff’s pit box and onto the frontstretch’s grass. By then, 15 competitors were scored on the lead lap, including Custer as he had exited pit road and returned to the track without being lapped, as Jones had cycled into the lead followed by Josh Williams. During the caution period, some of the drivers, led by Jones, pitted while the rest, led by Custer and including Chandler Smith, Hill and Creed, remained on the track.

    With the race restarting under green with 49 laps remaining, Custer rocketed ahead from the outside lane and he maintained the lead from Hill and Chandler Smith while Almirola rocketed his way back up into the top five. As the field fanned out towards the top-10 mark, Custer proceeded to lead the following lap as Smith was up to second place ahead of Hill. Behind, Almirola barely slid in front of Zilisch entering the frontstretch to snatch fourth place before the latter fought back. While Zilisch and Almirola proceeded to battle for fourth place, Chandler Smith started to close in on Custer for the lead.

    Then with 45 laps remaining, a heated side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between Custer and Chandler Smith that started with both dueling for the lead through the backstretch as they remained dead even through the frontstretch. Chandler Smith would prevail and return to the lead for the following lap while Custer followed suit in second.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Chandler Smith retained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over Custer as Almirola, Zilisch and Jones were scored in the top five. Behind, Hill dropped to sixth ahead of Creed, Love, Williams and Alfredo while Mayer, Herbst, van Gisbergen, DiBenedetto and Ryan Sieg were mired in the top 15 ahead of Allmendinger and Kligerman as Sammy Smith was back in 22nd place.

    Five laps later, Chandler Smith’s advantage decreased to two-tenths of a second over Custer while Almirola, who was faster compared to the top-two competitors, trailed the lead from third place by two seconds. As Custer cut the deficit to a tenth of a second, he could not execute the final move to overtake Chandler Smith as the latter continued to lead while third-place Almirola cut his deficit to a second as he trailed both Chandler Smith and Custer by a second with 20 laps remaining.

    Then with 18 laps remaining, Custer launched a side-by-side battle with Chandler Smith through the frontstretch, but he still could not execute the pass on Smith for the lead entering Turns 1 and 2. With Custer still trailing Chandler Smith for the lead, their early side-by-side battle allowed Almirola to close in to within eight-tenths of a second for the following lap. Custer then drove his car towards the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2 to regain ground on Smith with 16 laps remaining, but he remained behind Smith as Almirola trailed by a second in third place during the following lap.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Custer, who nearly got squeezed into the outside wall by Chandler Smith, used the outside lane amid a huge run gained towards the outside wall from Turns 3 and 4 to duel with Chandler Smith through the frontstretch. This time, he was able to rocket past Smith and assume the lead. As Custer rocketed away with the lead, Almirola, who had caught both Custer and Smith on the track, overtook Smith for the runner-up spot exiting the backstretch as he set his sights on Custer, who maintained a reasonable advantage, for the lead.

    With five laps remaining, Custer, who was trying to weave his way through lapped traffic, maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Almirola while Chandler Smith trailed in third place by three seconds. A lap later, however, Almirola gained a run beneath Custer through the frontstretch and he proceeded to snatch the lead entering the first two turns with three laps remaining as Custer was unable to respond with a crossover move.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Almirola remained in the lead by nearly half a second over Custer. With Custer unable to regain ground to mount a final lap charge and reclaim the lead, Almirola was able to smoothly cycle his way around the Kansas circuit for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by six-tenths of a second over Custer.

    With the victory, Almirola, who will contest in the remaining six Playoff events in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota entry, notched his sixth career win in the Xfinity Series, his second of the season amid eight starts and his first at Kansas, a venue where he was involved in a harrowing accident during a 2017 Cup Series event that left him with a compression fracture to his T5 vertebra. The Kansas victory was the 10th of the season for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota, eight of which have been achieved from the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing entry as the entry earned an automatic pass into the Playoff’s Round of 8 for the owners’ championship battle.

    “[I had to be] Really patient,” Almirola, who described his final overtake on Cole Custer, said on CW Network. “I, obviously, wasn’t patient earlier in the race. I’m wore out. That was a hard day at the office, especially for a guy who’s been sitting on the couch. I knew we had such a great He Gets Us Toyota GR Supra. I was able to get by everybody on the long run and I just pushed too hard there when we had the issue on pit road and I got into the fence and cut the right-rear tire down. I knew I had to put my head down and got to work after that. We got lucky to get the caution when we did and then, we were out of tires, so the fact that [the race] went green there to the end and then, that’s where we were strong. We were really strong on the long run. It just worked out.”

    Meanwhile, as Almirola proceeded to celebrate in Victory Lane, Cole Custer and Chandler Smith, both of whom ended up second and third in the final running order, engaged in a brief post-race conversation on pit road. Custer, who was displeased with being raced hard and nearly getting squeezed into the outside wall by Smith, approached Smith, vocally expressed his displeasure and gestured a wave at Smith before walking away and not hearing Smith’s stance.

    “[Chandler Smith] killed us,” Custer, who leads the Playoff standings by points said, said. “He definitely burned our stuff up [while I was] trying to get by him. It really made me mad when he put us in the fence on that restart. He’s gonna pay the consequences and I’m gonna race him like he races me. I think we could have gone back-to-back [in wins] pretty easily if things fall the right way, but we’ll move on to Talladega. I’m sure points-wise, we’re pretty good, so just got to keep chugging along.”

    “I definitely understand [Custer’s] position,” Smith, who sits in second place behind Custer in the Playoff standings, said. “Last week, I was racing behind somebody for 80 laps and couldn’t find a way around him because we were running the same lane. Obviously, our car was really dominant on the short run. [I] Was able to build up a little bit of a gap and had to come up with a game plan of when [Custer] gets to me, what do I got to do because last time, I just kept running my lane and he just blew my doors off. This is for the race win, this is for advancing into the next round [of the Playoffs] and this is also the guy I’m racing for the championship. I’ve got to be a little more aggressive in a sense of just taking his air away, kind of Cup racing, Truck racing style. Just trying to do the best for my team. [Custer]’s got a very, very valid statement, I understand, but I also wouldn’t change what I did because I was giving myself the best shot to win.”

    Custer and Chandler Smith were not the only pair of Playoff contenders to exchange words on pit road following the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoff opener. In addition, Austin Hill and Riley Herbst, both of whom finished seventh and 10th on the track, exchanged words, where Hill apologized for turning Herbst at the conclusion of the second stage period, while AJ Allmendinger and Sammy Smith, both of whom ended up 17th and 22nd on the track, exchanged words as Smith expressed his displeasure for nearly getting turned and having his car damaged by Allmendinger in the opening laps.

    Meanwhile, Connor Zilisch came home in fourth place for his second consecutive top-five result in just his second Xfinity career start while Sheldon Creed finished fifth. Pole-sitter Brandon Jones settled in sixth place in front of Hill while Playoff rookies Shane van Gisbergen and Jesse Love rallied to finish eighth and ninth in front of Herbst.

    There were 14 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 33 laps. In addition, 16 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Aric Almirola, 16 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Cole Custer, 48 laps led

    3. Chandler Smith, 114 laps led

    4. Connor Zilisch

    5. Sheldon Creed

    6. Brandon Jones, four laps led

    7. Austin Hill

    8. Shane van Gisbergen

    9. Jesse Love

    10. Riley Herbst

    11. Josh Williams

    12. Parker Kligerman

    13. Sam Mayer, 18 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    14. Matt DiBenedetto

    15. Anthony Alfredo

    16. Ryan Sieg

    17. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

    18. Brennan Poole, one lap down

    19. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

    20. JJ Yeley, one lap down

    21. Parker Retzlaff, one lap down

    22. Sammy Smith, one lap down

    23. Jeb Burton, two laps down

    24. Kyle Sieg, two laps down

    25. Leland Honeyman, two laps down

    26. Kyle Weatherman, three laps down

    27. Jeremy Clements, three laps down

    28. Blaine Perkins, three laps down

    29. Ryan Vargas, four laps down

    30. Patrick Emerling, four laps down

    31. Corey Heim, five laps down

    32. Joey Gase, six laps down

    33. Logan Bearden, 10 laps down

    34. Daniel Dye, 11 laps down

    35. Dawson Cram – OUT, Fuel Pressure

    36. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

    37. Brad Perez – OUT, Oil Pump

    38. Taylor Gray – OUT, Engine

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Cole Custer +41

    2. Chandler Smith +36

    3. Austin Hill +26

    4. Sam Mayer +13

    5. Sheldon Creed +10

    6. Shane van Gisbergen +8

    7. Jesse Love +3

    8. Riley Herbst +1

    9. Justin Allgaier -1

    10. AJ Allmendinger -13

    11. Parker Kligerman -15

    12. Sammy Smith -23

    The second Round of 12 event in the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to occur at Talladega Superspeedway for the United Rentals 250. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, October 5, and air at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Corey Heim rallies for wild final-lap Truck Series victory at Kansas; Playoff’s Round of 8 field set

    Corey Heim rallies for wild final-lap Truck Series victory at Kansas; Playoff’s Round of 8 field set

    Corey Heim capped off a roller coaster event that started with starting at the rear of the field to quickly carve his way to the front, dominating and playing a late fuel-mileage battle to perfection on the final lap to win the Kubota Tractor 200 at Kansas Speedway on Friday, September 27.

    The 22-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, led three times for a race-high 64 of 134 scheduled laps in an event where he started at the rear of the 34-truck field due to hitting the wall when a part of his suspension rubbed against his right-side tire while trying to post a qualifying lap, which resulted with his No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota team opting to repair the truck and the driver not posting a qualifying lap.

    Once he took the green flag from the rear of the field, Heim quickly rocketed his way to a third-place result after the first stage period that spanned 30 laps. He would then muscle the lead away from Playoff rival Christian Eckes at the start of the second stage period and proceed to claim the stage victory. Heim would dominate the final stage period before pitting from the lead with less than 30 laps remaining as part of a late cycle of green flag pit stops.

    Then as he cycled his way back to the front in the closing laps, Heim zipped by Playoff contender Ty Majeski, who ran out of fuel on the final lap after he was trying to stretch his fuel tank to the event’s scheduled distance and proceeded to cruise to his sixth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2024 season. As a result of his victory, Heim and seven additional Playoff contenders officially transferred from the Playoff’s Round of 10 to 8 while two contenders, including the reigning series champion Ben Rhodes, were eliminated from title contention.

    On-track qualifying determined the starting lineup on Friday. Playoff contender Ty Majeski secured his fifth Truck Series pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 175.023 mph in 30.853 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Connor Mosack, who posted his best qualifying lap at 174.565 mph in 30.934 seconds.

    Before the event, Playoff contender Corey Heim dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his TRICON Garage Toyota entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Ty Majeski received a push from Playoff contender Christian Eckes from the inside lane to muscle ahead of Connor Mosack through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes, Eckes issued an early side-by-side challenge with Majeski for the lead through Turns 3 and 4, where he would lead the first lap by a narrow margin from the outside lane.

    Over the next three laps, Eckes and Majeski dueled fiercely for the lead through every corner and straightaway while Connor Mosack followed closely in third place. Amid the early battle for the lead, early trouble struck for Playoff contenders Rajah Caruth and Daniel Dye, both of whom hit the outside wall on separate occasions, with Caruth hitting the wall entering the backstretch on the second lap as Dye scraped the wall entering the frontstretch on the third lap. Amid the scrapes, both kept their trucks running straight and proceeding without drawing a caution.

    By the fifth lap, Eckes managed to muscle ahead of Majeski to have both lanes under his control with the top spot. As Conor Daly served a pass-through penalty through pit road for diving his No. 44 Polkadot Chevrolet Silverado RST below the frontstretch’s white lines before taking the green flag, Playoff contender Taylor Gray bounced off the frontstretch’s outside wall and got loose off the front nose of Dawson Sutton while just behind, rookie Layne Riggs nearly spun sideways after he almost brushed the wall. Miraculously, both continued to race straight.

    Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Majeski, who reassumed the lead from Eckes two laps earlier, was leading by over Eckes as Playoff contender Nick Sanchez, Stewart Friesen and Mosack were in the top five. Behind, Kaden Honeycutt, Playoff contender Ben Rhodes, Playoff contender Taylor Gray, Dawson Sutton and Layne Riggs were in the top 10 while Tanner Gray, Corey Heim, Jake Garcia, Matt Mills and Daniel Dye were mired in the top 15. With seven of 10 Playoff contenders racing in the top-15 mark, the remaining Playoff contenders including Tyler Ankrum, Grant Enfinger and Rajah Caruth were mired in 18th, 21st and 22nd, respectively.

    Shortly after, Daniel Dye, who hit the outside wall for a second time, pitted his No. 43 NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet Silverado RST under green and lost a lap in the process. By then, Majeski had stretched his advantage to two seconds over Eckes as Sanchez, Friesen and Honeycutt followed suit in the top five.

    At the Lap 20 mark, Majeski stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Sanchez while Eckes dropped to third place. Behind, Honeycutt and Taylor Gray followed suit in the top five while Friesen, Riggs, Heim, Tanner Gray and Mosack were running in the top 10. Meanwhile, Rhodes was mired in 14th, Ankrum was scored in 18th, Enfinger and Caruth were mired back in 20th and 21st, respectively, and Dye was mired in 33rd as he would pit for a second time to address a flat right-front tire, which cost him two more laps in the process.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Majeski, who came into Kansas 58 points above the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings, captured his sixth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. With the 10 stage points, Majeski officially clinched his spot into the Playoff’s Round of 8. Eckes followed suit in second along with Heim, who thundered his way from the rear of the field, while Honeycutt, Riggs, Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Tanner Gray, Friesen and Mosack were scored in the top 10. By then, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Caruth, Rhodes, Ankrum, Enfinger and Dye were scored in 16th, 17th, 18th, 21st and 34th, respectively, with the latter three laps down.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Majeski pitted for a first round of service while Timmy Hill remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Eckes exited pit road first followed by Heim, Majeski, Sanchez and Riggs. With Hill eventually pitting under the caution period, Eckes cycled back to the lead.

    The second stage period started on Lap 37 as Eckes and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes, who gained a strong start from the inside lane, quickly darted his No. 19 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet Silverado RST to the outside lane to move in front of Heim. Eckes’ move enabled Majeski to try to gain a run from the inside lane as the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch. With Eckes proceeding to lead the following lap, Majeski and Heim dueled for the runner-up spot while Riggs and Sanchez battled for fourth place in front of Taylor Gray and Kaden Honeycutt. As a series of on-track battles towards the front continued, Eckes led by two-tenths over Heim, with Majeski, Riggs and Sanchez in the top five by Lap 40.

    By Lap 45, Heim dueled with Eckes for the lead amid a crossover moves through the frontstretch, where he led a lap for himself for the first time from the inside lane and he would muscle ahead by three-tenths of a second over the following lap. Behind, Riggs trailed in third place by eight-tenths of a second followed by a trio of Playoff contenders that included Majeski, Sanchez and Taylor Gray. With Caruth scored in 11th place behind non-Playoff contenders Tanner Gray, Honeycutt, Bayley Currey and Friesen, Enfinger was in 14th place, Ankrum was scored in 19th place and Rhodes was in 21st place. Meanwhile, Dye was scored two laps down in 31st place.

    Five laps later, Heim stretched his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Riggs, who overtook Eckes for the spot, while Majeski, Taylor Gray and Sanchez continued to follow suit in the top six.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Heim, who had already secured his spot into the Round of 8 by points, notched his eighth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Riggs followed suit in second place as he trailed by three-and-a-half seconds while Eckes, Majeski, Taylor Gray, Sanchez, Tanner Gray, Honeycutt, Currey and Caruth were scored in the top 10. The remaining Playoff contenders included Enfinger, Ankrum, Rhodes and Dye were mired in 15th, 16th, 21st and 31st, respectively.

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Heim returned to pit road for another round of service. Following the pit stops, Heim exited pit road first as he was followed by Riggs and Eckes. Amid the pit stops, Brenden “Butterbean” Queen and Ankrum were both penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation while Dawson Sutton was penalized for being too fast while exiting pit road. Not long after, Taylor Gray, who had a slow pit service, returned to pit road due to an issue with his right front tire.

    With 66 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Heim and Riggs occupied the front row. At the start, Heim and Riggs dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Heim muscled ahead from the inside lane. As the field fanned out to multiple lanes while Eckes challenged Riggs for the runner-up spot, Heim rocketed away with the top spot as he led the following lap.

    Not long after, Eckes, who was fiercely battling Riggs for the runner-up spot, got loose and caused Riggs to step off the gas as he dropped to fifth place. With Eckes retaining second, Sanchez and Tanner Gray followed suit in third and fourth, respectively. Amid the fierce battle for the runner-up spot, Heim was leading by four-tenths of a second with 60 laps remaining.

    A few laps later, the caution returned when Matt Mills, who was battling Taylor Gray and Corey Day for a spot in the top 15, veered dead right into Day as Day made contact against the side of Gray’s No. 17 Place of Hope Toyota Tundra TRD Pro before he hit the Turn 3 outside wall head-on as Mills also slipped and wrecked against the wall. During the caution period, select names including Playoff contenders Majeski, Taylor Gray, and Rhodes pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track. Soon after, Rhodes pitted for a second time for fuel that would enable him to reach the event’s scheduled distance on his full tank.

    With the race restarting under green with 51 laps remaining, Heim and Eckes battled dead even for the lead in front of two stacked lanes from the first two turns through the backstretch as both Riggs and Sanchez tried to join the battle. Heim would then manage to muscle ahead of Eckes for the lead through Turns 3 and 4 and back to the frontstretch for the following lap. Riggs, who was battling Sanchez for third place during the previous lap, would then overtake Eckes for the runner-up spot a few laps later as he commenced his charge on Heim for the lead while Currey, Sanchez, Chase Purdy and Caruth battled for fourth place.

    With nearly 45 laps remaining, the top five competitors were separated by a second as Riggs, who was trying to use every lane to gain ground on Heim through every turn and straightaway, only trailed Heim by a tenth of a second. Behind, Eckes retained third place ahead of Currey and Purdy as Sanchez, Caruth, Mosack, Majeski and Tanner Gray were racing in the top 10. Not long after, Matt Crafton was penalized for a restart violation. Then while trying to serve a pass-through penalty through pit road, Crafton was penalized a second time, this time for missing the commitment line to enter pit road.

    As the event was down to its final 40 laps, Heim retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Riggs while third-place Eckes and fourth-place Currey trailed by two seconds. Purdy retained fifth as he trailed the lead by three seconds while Sanchez, Caruth, Majeski, Tanner Gray and Mosack continued to race in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Enfinger, Ankrum, Rhodes, Taylor Gray and Dye were mired in 12th, 13th, 17th, 19th and 27th, with the latter pinned two laps behind.

    Then 10 laps later and with Heim slightly stretching his advantage to eight-tenths of a second, a late cycle of green flag pit stops and strategies ensued as Riggs and Enfinger peeled off the track to pit their respective entries. By then, Tanner Gray and Sanchez had pitted under green before Currey and Bret Holmes pitted during the following lap. Mosack, Ankrum and Dean Thompson would pit during the next lap before the leader Heim pitted with 27 laps remaining. More names including Caruth, Eckes, Purdy and Caruth would all pit with 25 laps remaining as Majeski cycled into the lead.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Majeski, who opted to remain on the track to stretch his fuel tank and worn tires as far as possible, was leading by seven-and-a-half seconds over runner-up Honeycutt and by eight seconds over third-place Sutton while Rhodes, who commenced his fuel stretch to the event’s scheduled distance and to race his way into the Playoff’s Round of 8, was scored in fourth place. Behind, Heim navigated his way up to seventh place behind teammate Taylor Gray while Enfinger was mired in 17th place behind Caruth.

    Five laps later, Majeski continued to lead by nine seconds over Honeycutt while third-place Sutton trailed by 10 seconds. As Rhodes, who was locked in a heated duel with Enfinger for the final transfer spot into the Round of 8, retained fourth place and trailed the lead by 11 seconds, Heim was up to fifth place and trailing the lead by 16 seconds while Friesen, who opted to remain on the track to try to stretch his fuel tank to the distance, dropped to sixth place as he was in front of Riggs.

    With 10 laps remaining, Majeski retained the lead by 10 seconds over Honeycutt as Heim boosted his way up to third place. With Sutton following suit in fourth place, Rhodes dropped to fifth place, which left him in jeopardy of not advancing to the Round of 8, as Enfinger, who boosted himself back above the cutline, was up to 13th place on the track and trying to overtake Currey for more.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Majeski, whose lap time continued to decrease while he was on fuel-conservation mode, was ahead by six seconds over a hard-charging Heim while Honeycutt, Riggs and Rhodes were scored in the top five. By then, Eckes and Caruth were in seventh and ninth, respectively, while Enfinger was up to 11th as Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Ankrum and Dye were mired in 15th, 17th, 19th and 27th, respectively.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski, who led by three seconds during the previous lap, remained as the leader by more than a second over Heim, but he dropped his No. 98 Soda Sense Ford F-150 below the frontstretch’s apron as he ran out of fuel. By then, both Friesen and Rhodes also ran out of fuel and lost pace with the field as Heim rocketed past Majeski entering Turn 1. Having enough fuel in his fuel tank, Heim smoothly navigated his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro around the Kansas circuit for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch victorious as he claimed the checkered flag.

    With the victory, Heim, who had already secured his spot into the Playoff’s Round of 8 by points, claimed his 11th career win in the Craftsman Truck Series division, his sixth of the season and his second at Kansas after he won the spring Kansas event in May. Heim also became the first competitor to sweep both Truck Kansas events in a single season as he continues his quest to return to the Championship 4 and contend for this year’s Truck Series championship.

    Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “[I had] Just a deep sigh of relief [when Majeski ran out of fuel],” Heim said on the frontstretch on FS1. “We were the best truck all night. Just huge thank you to my TRICON Garage guys. This is my favorite track. I love coming here. I had a smile on my face all week coming to this place. Just glad we could sweep the year here. It’s just such an awesome place to come. [I] Certainly thought we had [the race] lost there with [Majeski] almost making it on fuel, but it just shows my team made the right [pit] call.”

    Behind Heim, rookie Layne Riggs, who was bidding for a third consecutive Truck Series race victory, came home in second place as Christian Eckes, Kaden Honeycutt and Dawson Cram finished in the top five. Ty Majeski, who led 51 laps from pole position, coasted across the finish line in 15th place, the final competitor on the lead lap, after he ended up a single lap shy of having enough fuel to win.

    Meanwhile, Grant Enfinger steered his No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST to a ninth-place result, which was enough for him to claim the eighth and final transfer spot into the Round of 8. He will join Corey Heim, Christian Eckes, Ty Majeski, Nick Sanchez, Rajah Caruth, Tyler Ankrum and Taylor Gray as eight Playoff contenders transferring into the second round of the Playoffs.

    “[Tonight was] Definitely a little bit stressful. Definitely too close for comfort,” Enfinger said. “[Crew chief] Jeff Stankiewicz and all these guys at CR7 Motorsports have done a great job all year, but this is a round we want to forget. We snuck through here and now, we’re looking forward to going to Talladega next week.”

    For Ben Rhodes, however, the reigning two-time series champion ended up in 22nd place and a lap down after he ran out of fuel despite trying to stretch his fuel tank in his No. 99 Kubota Ford F-150 to the distance from when he last pitted on Lap 82. The final result left both him and Daniel Dye eliminated from the Playoffs, with the former not remaining in contention for a third title in 2024.

    “We could have been a lot better to fire off [tonight’s race],” Rhodes said. “All in all, I’m thankful for all of our partners. I wish we were able to get [my sponsors] another championship run, but the past three seasons have been really good to us.”

    The remaining Playoff contenders including Rajah Caruth, Nick Sanchez, Tyler Ankrum, Taylor Gray and Daniel Dye finished seventh, 12th, 14th, 18th and 27, respectively, on the track.

    There were 10 lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 20 laps. In addition, 15 of 34 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results:

    1. Corey Heim, 64 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Layne Riggs

    3. Christian Eckes, 19 laps led

    4. Kaden Honeycutt

    5. Dawson Sutton

    6. Tanner Gray

    7. Rajah Caruth

    8. Bayley Currey

    9. Grant Enfinger

    10. Connor Mosack

    11. Chase Purdy

    12. Nick Sanchez

    13. Dean Thompson

    14. Tyler Ankrum

    15. Ty Majeski, 51 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    16. Bret Holmes, one lap down

    17. Conor Daly, one lap down

    18. Taylor Gray, one lap down

    19. Nathan Byrd, one lap down

    20. Brenden Queen, one lap down

    21. Jake Garcia, one lap down

    22. Ben Rhodes, one lap down

    23. Timmy Hill, two laps down

    24. Stewart Friesen, two laps down

    25. Matt Crafton, two laps down

    26. Justin Mondeik, three laps down

    27. Daniel Dye, three laps down

    28. Spencer Boyd, five laps down

    29. Frankie Muniz, five laps down

    30. Lawless Alan, six laps down

    31. Jennifer Jo Cobb – OUT, Electrical

    32. Corey Day – OUT, Accident

    33. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

    34. Marco Andretti – OUT, Brakes

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings:

    1. Corey Heim – Advanced

    2. Christian Eckes – Advanced

    3. Nick Sanchez – Advanced

    4. Ty Majeski – Advanced

    5. Rajah Caruth – Advanced

    6. Taylor Gray – Advanced

    7. Tyler Ankrum – Advanced

    8. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    9. Ben Rhodes – Eliminated

    10. Daniel Dye – Eliminated

    The Round of 8 in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to occur at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, for the Love’s RV Stop 225. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, October 4, and air at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Layne Riggs doubles down with second consecutive Truck victory at Bristol

    Layne Riggs doubles down with second consecutive Truck victory at Bristol

    Three weeks after winning the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff opener as a non-Playoff contender, rookie Layne Riggs spoiled the Playoffs for a second consecutive race by grabbing a late dominant victory in the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, September 19.

    Riggs, a second-generation racer from Bahama, North Carolina, led the final 80 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified 18th and methodically carved his way up the leaderboard, where he would finish in the top 10 at the conclusion of the first stage period before he moved up into the top-five by the end of the second stage period.

    Then at the start of the final restart period with 80 laps remaining, Riggs overtook Playoff contender Corey Heim to lead for the first time. Despite having his momentum stalled twice due to a pair of late-race caution periods, starting with 44 laps remaining before occurring again with 19 laps remaining, Riggs, who prevailed during the proceeding restarts, capitalized on the final one with 13 laps remaining to muscle his Ford away from a bevy of Playoff contenders and cruise to his second Truck Series career victory in back-to-back races and of his career at Thunder Valley.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Thursday, Connor Zilisch scored his second pole position in three Truck Series starts after he posted a pole-winning lap at 125.207 mph in 15.325 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Corey Heim, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 124.186 mph in 15.451 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Kaden Honeycutt and Playoff contender Ty Majeski dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. As a result of Majeski’s penalty, his truck chief Tyler Shullick was ejected for the event and the driver was revoked a pit selection for next weekend’s event at Kansas Speedway.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Connor Zilisch gained an early advantage from the outside lane and proceeded to fend off Corey Heim through the first two turns. As the field jostled for early spots through the backstretch before navigating back to Turns 3 and 4, Zilisch led the first lap in his No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST.

    Over the proceeding four laps, Zilisch maintained a steady advantage over Heim and William Sawalich while Playoff contenders Rajah Caruth, Christian Eckes and Nick Sanchez followed suit in the top six ahead of Stewart Friesen and Tanner Gray. Behind, Playoff contender Daniel Dye started to battle Tanner Gray for eighth place as Chase Purdy overtook Ty Dillon for 10th place.

    Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Zilisch was leading by half a second over Heim as Sawalich, Caruth, Eckes and Sanchez continued to follow suit in the top six. Meanwhile, Friesen, Dye, Tanner Gray and Purdy also followed suit in the top 10 while Matt Crafton, Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum, Ty Dillon, Dean Thompson, Layne Riggs, Playoff contender Grant Enfinger, Stefan Parsons, Jake Garcia, Playoff contender Taylor Gray and Connor Mosack all occupied the top-20 spots. Behind, Playoff contender Ben Rhodes was mired in 23rd place and teammate Ty Majeski was back in 32nd place behind Bret Holmes and Matt Mills.

    Fifteen laps later, Zilisch stabilized his advantage to two-tenths of a second over Heim while third-place Sawalich and fourth-place Caruth both trailed by a second. With Eckes and Sanchez continuing to follow suit in fifth and sixth, respectively, ahead of Friesen, Dye, Purdy and Matt Crafton, Majeski was still mired in 28th place and in jeopardy of being lapped by Zilisch while the remaining Playoff contenders that included Ankrum, Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Ben Rhodes were racing within the top-21 mark.

    Another 10 laps later, Zilisch retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Heim, who started to close in to Zilisch’s rear bumper as the latter was getting mired in lapped traffic. Behind, Caruth overtook Sawalich for third place while Eckes, who was radioing brake issues to his truck, was trying to fend off Sanchez for fifth place.

    On Lap 42, Heim made his move beneath Zilisch through the backstretch before he assumed the lead for the first time through Turns 3 and 4. As Heim started to muscle away with a steady advantage by the Lap 45 mark, Caruth started to challenge Zilisch for the runner-up spot while Sawalich, Sanchez and Eckes trailed by more than a second in the top-six mark.

    By Lap 50, Caruth managed to fend his way through lapped traffic to overtake teammate Zilisch for the runner-up spot. While Eckes and Friesen pinned the lapped competitor of Keith McGee in a three-wide battle for sixth place ahead of Riggs, Caruth would then overtake Heim for the lead from the outside lane and through the frontstretch on Lap 52.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 55, Caruth, who came into the event four points below the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings, fended off Heim amid a bevy of lapped traffic to notch his first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Heim settled in second ahead of Eckes, Zilisch and Sanchez while Friesen, Sawalich, Riggs, Purdy and Daniel Dye were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Taylor Gray, Majeski, Ankrum, Rhodes and Enfinger were mired in 17th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 24th, respectively, while 30 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Caruth pitted for a first round of pit service while Timmy Hill remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Heim exited pit road first ahead of Caruth, Eckes, Zilisch and Sanchez while Sawalich, Riggs, Tanner Gray, Friesen and Dye followed suit in the top 10, respectively.

    The second stage period started on Lap 65 as Timmy Hill and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Heim used the four fresh tires on the inside lane to rocket his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro away from Hill with the lead entering the backstretch. With Heim pulling away, Caruth and Eckes overtook Hill for second and third, respectively, as the field behind scrambled for positions. With Zilisch making his way up to fourth place and a series of on-track battles ensuing, Heim proceeded to lead just past the Lap 70 mark.

    At the Lap 75 mark, Heim was leading by nearly half a second over Caruth while third-place Eckes trailed by nearly a second. Behind, Zilisch and Riggs were in the top five ahead of Sanchez, Friesen, Sawalich, Crafton and Timmy Hill as Dean Thompson, Purdy, Daniel Dye, Tanner Gray and Majeski trailed in the top 15 ahead of Taylor Gray, Enfinger, Conner Jones, Mosack and newcomer Corey Day. With Playoff contenders Rhodes and Ankrum mired within the top-30 mark, Heim maintained the lead by half a second by Lap 80.

    Just past the Lap 90 mark, Heim’s advantage stabilized to four-tenths of a second over Caruth, with both approaching lapped traffic, as Eckes trailed in third place by a second. As Zilisch and Riggs continued to trail in the top five ahead of Sanchez on the track, Caruth started to issue his challenge on Heim for the lead from the inside lane and he would emerge ahead to lead the Lap 100 mark before Heim fought back from the outside lane. Eckes then joined the battle a few laps later and he would overtake Caruth for the runner-up spot while Heim maintained the lead. Heim would then lap Rhodes, who was mired in 29th place, another lap later.

    Then on the final lap of the second stage period, the caution flew due to Zilisch spinning in Turn 4 from the top five after he got a bump from Sanchez’s No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST exiting the backstretch. The incident involving Zilisch, who lost a lap while trying to straighten his truck, was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 110 to officially conclude under caution as Heim, who came into the event 41 points above the cutline, claimed his seventh Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Eckes, Caruth, Riggs and Sanchez followed suit in the top five while Friesen, Sawalich, Crafton, Thompson and Purdy were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Dye, Taylor Gray, Majeski, Enfinger, Ankrum and Rhodes were mired in 11th, 12th, 13th, 16th, 24th and 30th, respectively, while 27 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    During the stage break, select names led by Nick Sanchez pitted for service while the rest led by Heim, including a majority of the front-runners, remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, newcomer Corey Day was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    With 80 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Heim and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, Heim gained a strong launch from the outside lane to retain the lead through the first two turns. Then as Heim transitioned to the inside lane in front of Eckes, Riggs, who restarted behind Heim, remained on the outside lane to challenge and overtake Heim for the lead through the frontstretch. With Riggs leading the following lap by a hair, he then cleared Heim while remaining on the outside lane and proceeded to lead the next lap mark. With Riggs continuing to lead with 75 laps remaining, Heim and Eckes followed suit in second and third, respectively, while Friesen and Caruth battled for fourth place in front of Sawalich and Crafton.

    With 65 laps remaining, Riggs stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Heim as Eckes, Caruth and Friesen followed suit in the top five. As non-Playoff contenders Sawalich, Crafton, Purdy and Thompson followed suit in the top nine, Playoff contenders Sanchez, Majeski, Taylor Gray, Daniel Dye, Ankrum and Enfinger followed suit from 10th to 15th, while Rhodes was mired in 30th and trapped a lap down.

    Fifteen laps later, Riggs stabilized his steady advantage to half a second over Heim as both Caruth and Eckes trailed by a second in third and fourth, respectively. With Friesen retaining fifth place ahead of Sawalich, Crafton and a hard-charging Sanchez, Playoff contenders Majeski, Taylor Gray, Dye, Ankrum and Enfinger were all mired in the top 15 as Rhodes, who was lapped for a second time, was back in 30th place.

    Six laps later, the caution flew when Playoff contender Daniel Dye, who was running in 14th place and had a flat tire to his No. 43 Champion Container Chevrolet Silverado RST, slipped sideways entering the frontstretch and was hit by Kaden Honeycutt as the latter sustained significant damage to his No. 45 Moore’s Venture Foods Chevrolet Silverado RST. With Honeycutt being taken out of contention, Dye would drop out of the lead lap category as his truck was being repaired.

    During the caution period, select names including Bayley Currey, Ty Dillon, Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Stefan Parsons, Matt Mills, Lawless Alan and Rhodes pitted while the rest led by Riggs remained on the track.

    The start of the following restart period with 29 laps remaining featured Riggs and Heim dueling for the lead through the first two turns until Heim got loose underneath Riggs entering the backstretch. Heim’s slip allowed Riggs to muscle his No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford F-150 ahead with two clear lanes to his advantage as he led the following lap. Riggs would proceed to lead with 25 laps remaining while Playoff contenders Heim, Eckes and Caruth followed suit in the top four ahead of Crafton, Friesen, Sanchez, Sawalich, Purdy and Taylor Gray.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Riggs extended his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Heim as Eckes, Caruth and Crafton trailed in the top five by within two seconds. Another lap later, however, Riggs’ momentum was stalled due to the caution returning as Jack Wood, who was running within the top-20 mark, spun his No. 91 Mongoose Chevrolet Silverado RST due to contact from Ben Rhodes that started when they exited the backstretch before the incident concluded with Wood sliding to a halt below the apron in Turn 4. By then, Dye lost more laps after he pitted under green earlier.

    With the race restarted under green with 13 laps remaining, Riggs and Heim again dueled for the lead as Caruth tried to make the battle fanned out to three lanes entering the first two turns. Amid the battle, Riggs used the outside lane to muscle ahead with the lead through the backstretch as Heim, Caruth and Eckes battled for second place in front of the field. With Heim, Caruth and Eckes fiercely battling for the runner-up spot, Riggs continued to lead with 10 laps remaining.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Riggs extended his advantage to over a second over a three-truck battle involving Heim, Caruth and Eckes as Sanchez was up to fifth place ahead of Crafton, Purdy, Majeski, Friesen, Ankrum and Sawalich.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Riggs remained as the leader by a second over Heim and Caruth while Eckes was losing ground and trailing by two seconds in fourth place. With a comfortable advantage and no challengers closing in from behind, Riggs was able to smoothly cruise his way around the Bristol circuit for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and zipped back across the finish line for his second consecutive checkered flag of the 2024 Truck Series season.

    With the victory, Riggs, who celebrated his first career win at the Milwaukee Mile three races ago in late August, became the first competitor to back up a first career victory with a second in back-to-back Truck Series starts since Chase Briscoe made the last accomplishment between winning his first career race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November 2017 and winning in his one-race series’ return at Eldora Speedway in July 2018. Riggs also became the 26th competitor overall to win a Truck race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    Riggs’ victory was the fourth of the season and in recent weeks for the Ford nameplate and the 10th overall for Front Row Motorsports in the Truck Series. While this season marks the first time a competitor won the first two Truck races of the Playoffs since Sheldon Creed made the previous accomplishment in 2021, Riggs became the first non-Playoff competitor to commence the Playoffs with back-to-back victories.

    “Oh my gosh,” Riggs said on FS1. “We have just learned so much with the cars and trucks. My team, Dylan [Cappello], my crew chief, he’s badass. He works so hard at night. We as a team, we’re a young team. I think the average age [of the No. 38 team] is like in the 20s. It’s so amazing. To be running fifth, 10th and all of sudden, go back to back [with victories] in the Playoffs. Man, I wish I was in the Playoffs so bad. I think we’d be a real threat to win this championship.”

    Behind Riggs, Corey Heim edged a hard-charging Rajah Caruth to claim his third runner-up result of the 2024 season. The result was enough for Heim to clinch a spot by points into the Playoff’s Round of 8 as he continues his pursuit for his first series’ championship.

    “[I] Didn’t quite have it when the grooves started to move around there,” Heim said. “Every time we got a heat cycle on the tires, it seemed like it got tighter and tighter. Just didn’t quite have it, but solid points day in the Playoffs. That’s what you need. I’ll keep moving forward with TRICON Garage, Safelite, Toyota Racing. Huge thanks to all those guys and looking forward to my favorite place next week [at Kansas].”

    In addition to Heim, Christian Eckes and Nick Sanchez have also secured their spots into the Round of 8 by finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

    “It’s a great turnaround for us because I felt like we were maybe a 10th to 12th-place race car in practice,” Eckes said. “Kudos to [crew chief] Charles [Denike] and the [No. 19] guys for getting [the truck] tuned up to run top five. We weren’t race-winning capable, but still a decent run. Just proud of everybody. It’s cool to be locked in the next [Playoff] round, but I got to go take care of business at Kansas first.”

    “[I’m] Happy to recover to fifth,” Sanchez added. “Obviously, I show up to win, so [I] need to be a little better than fifth on my end on some things, but yeah, good night. We locked in the Rev Racing Gainbridge Chevrolet [into the Round of 8]. We go to Kansas and just focus on winning.”

    Matt Crafton, Chase Purdy, Ty Majeski, Stewart Friesen and Tyler Ankrum finished in the top 10 on the track while the remaining Playoff contenders that included Taylor Gray, Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes ended up 12th, 17th and 30th, respectively.

    As a result, Daniel Dye and Ben Rhodes are the two Playoff contenders who enter next weekend’s Round of 10 finale below the cutline in the Playoff standings while Enfinger holds sole possession of the eighth and final transfer spot above the cutline by seven points.

    There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 39 laps. In addition, 23 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Layne Riggs, 80 laps led

    2. Corey Heim, 65 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Rajah Caruth, nine laps led, Stage 1 winner

    4. Christian Eckes

    5. Nick Sanchez

    6. Matt Crafton

    7. Chase Purdy

    8. Ty Majeski

    9. Stewart Friesen

    10. Tyler Ankrum

    11. William Sawalich

    12. Taylor Gray

    13. Bret Holmes

    14. Dean Thompson

    15. Bayley Currey

    16. Stefan Parsons

    17. Grant Enfinger

    18. Corey Day

    19. Connor Zilisch, 41 laps led

    20. Connor Mosack

    21. Jake Garcia

    22. Timmy Hill, five laps led

    23. Tanner Gray

    24. Lawless Alan, one lap down

    25. Matt Mills, one lap down

    26. Jack Wood, one lap down

    27. Ben Rhodes, two laps down

    28. Justin Mondeik, two laps down

    29. Spencer Boyd, two laps down

    30. Ty Dillon, two laps down

    31. Mason Maggio, four laps down

    32. Daniel Dye, six laps down

    33. Keith McGee, six laps down

    34. Tyler Tomassi, eight laps down

    35. Kaden Honeycutt – OUT, Accident

    36. Conner Jones – OUT, Overheating

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Christian Eckes – Advanced

    2. Corey Heim – Advanced

    3. Nick Sanchez – Advanced

    4. Ty Majeski +58

    5. Rajah Caruth +35

    6. Tyler Ankrum +25

    7. Taylor Gray +23

    8. Grant Enfinger +7

    9. Daniel Dye -7

    10. Ben Rhodes -12

    The Round of 10 in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to conclude at Kansas Speedway for the Kubota Tractor 200, where the first of two elimination processes will occur. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, September 27, and air at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Austin Hill sweeps Atlanta for third Xfinity victory of 2024

    Austin Hill sweeps Atlanta for third Xfinity victory of 2024

    With his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro entry sporting a special gold scheme to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his sponsor Bennett Transportation & Logistics, Austin Hill generated a late golden performance on the track to win the Focused Health 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 7.

    The 30-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led the final 12 of 163-scheduled laps in an event where he started fourth place and spent the first stage period racing upfront getting shuffled within the top-10 mark throughout the second stage period. After spending most of the final stage period methodically carving his way back to the front amid the draft, Hill capitalized on the final restart period with 13 laps remaining to overtake Chandler Smith for the lead during the following lap. He then fended off a pair of final lap challenges from Chandler Smith and Corey Heim to notch his third NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season, his fourth at his home track and his first series victory since late February.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, rookie Jesse Love notched his fourth Xfinity career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 173.646 mph in 31.927 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Taylor Gray, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 173.489 mph in 31.956 seconds.

    Before the event, the following names that included AJ Allmendinger, Jeremy Clements, Ryan Ellis and Brennan Poole dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Jesse Love and Taylor Gray dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes through the first two turns and the backstretch until the outside lane led by Love gained the advantage as Love muscled ahead with drafting help from teammate Austin Hill. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Love led the first lap in his No. 2 Samsara Chevrolet Camaro.

    Over the next four laps and with the field briefly fanning out to three lanes before the majority of the filed settled in a long single-file line towards the outside wall, Love retained an early advantage ahead of teammate Hill and Justin Allgaier while Chandler Smith and Taylor Gray pursued in the top five. Behind, Sheldon Creed, Ryan Sieg, Cole Custer, rookie Shane van Gisbergen and Parker Kligerman were in the top 10 while Brandon Jones, Jeb Burton, Ryan Truex, Riley Herbst, Josh Williams, Sam Mayer, Sammy Smith, Corey Heim, Anthony Alfredo and Blaine Perkins were in the top 20 ahead of Parker Retzlaff, Brennan Poole, Kyle Sieg, AJ Allmendinger and Garrett Smithley.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Love continued to lead ahead of teammate Hill, Allgaier, Chandler Smith and Taylor Gray as the top-six competitors, including Creed, were separated by less than a second Meanwhile, the top 13 competitors were separated by within two seconds while the top 19 were separated by within three seconds.

    A lap later, the event’s first caution flew when Ryan Sieg, a Playoff bubble competitor, coasted to a halt in the backstretch due to a wiring issue as he fell out of the lead lap category while needing a wrecker to have his No. 39 Sci Aps Ford Mustang entry nursed back to his pit stall. Amid Sieg’s issues, Anthony Alfredo also encountered early issues due to scraping the outside wall and damaging the right side of his No. 5 Our Motorsports entry. During the caution period, some led by Sammy Smith and including AJ Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by Love remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 16, Sheldon Creed and Love dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Love muscled ahead from the outside lane with drafting help from Chevrolet teammates Hill and Allgaier. With Creed falling back to fourth place, Love proceeded to lead the following lap as the majority of the field migrated towards the outside wall and behind Love. Meanwhile, Parker Kligerman, who was running within the top-10 mark, was trying to form a drafting lane on the inside lane ahead of van Gisbergen, Sam Mayer and Jeb Burton before he quickly moved back up the outside lane and with the pack. Amid the shuffles and battles within the lead pack, Love proceeded to lead the Lap 20 mark.

    At the Lap 25 mark, Allgaier, who spent the previous few laps dueling with Love for the lead from the inside lap despite having no drafting help, was out in front as he muscled his No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Love with the top spot and towards the outside lane. With Allgaier leading and the field behind slowly fanning out to two drafting lanes, Love was second ahead of teammate Hill, Creed and Cole Custer while Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, Chandler Smith, Sam Mayer and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10. Shortly after, the top-nine competitors were separated by less than a second and the top 19 were separated by less than four seconds as Allgaier continued to lead by the Lap 30 mark.

    Nearing the Lap 35 mark, the top 12 competitors were separated by less than two seconds as Allgaier remained out in front of Hill and Love while Herbst and Creed were scored in the top five ahead of Mayer, Brandon Jones, Custer, Chandler Smith, Taylor Gray, Ryan Truex and Corey Heim.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 40, Allgaier edged a hard-charging Hill by 0.012 seconds to score his 14th Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Hill settled in second ahead of Riley Herbst, Creed and Love while Mayer, Brandon Jones, Custer, Chandler Smith and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10. By then, 34 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Allgaier pitted while others led by Allmendinger and Sammy Smith remained on the track. During the pit stops, Josh Williams was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage period started on Lap 47 as Allmendinger and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead entering the first two turns and the backstretch as the field fanned out to three lanes. With Cole Custer fanning out to boost his way up to fourth place, Allmendinger retained the lead from the outside lane over Allgaier as the former had Sammy Smith drafting him.

    Just past the Lap 50 mark, Allmendinger was leading ahead of Sammy Smith, Custer, Herbst and Mayer while Allgaier, Love, Hill, Creed and Gray were scored in the top 10 ahead of van Gisbergen, Brandon Jones, Kligerman, Chandler Smith and Ryan Truex.

    Ten laps later, Allmendinger retained the lead ahead of Sammy Smith, Custer, Herbst and Mayer while Allgaier, Love, Creed, Gray and Jones followed suit in the top 10 ahead of van Gisbergen, Hill, Kligerman, Chandler Smith, Corey Heim, Truex, Jeb Burton, Parker Retzlaff, Brennan Poole and Lawless Alan. With a majority of the field running in a single-file line towards the outside wall, Allmendinger continued to lead by the Lap 79 mark as the top 14 competitors were separated by three seconds.

    Then with three laps remaining in the second stage period, the caution flew after Mayer was turned across the frontstretch’s outside wall by Gray as Mayer, who hit the wall, proceeded with right-side damage to his No. 1 High Rock Vodka Chevrolet Camaro. As Mayer’s damaged car continued to zip through the frontstretch, his car then had flames bursting out from behind and Mayer proceeded to pull his car below the apron and park in the backstretch before exiting uninjured.

    The caution for Mayer’s incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 80 to officially conclude under caution as Allmendinger notched his first Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Sammy Smith settled in second ahead of Custer, Herbst and Allgaier while Love, Taylor Gray, Chandler Smith, van Gisbergen and Creed were scored in the top 10.

    During the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Allmendinger pitted for service while select names including Leland Honeyman, Jeremy Clements, David Starr and Garrett Smithley remained on the track. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, teammates Gray and Creed exited first and second on two fresh tires. Amid the pit stops, Creed was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation while teammate Ryan Truex was penalized for pitting outside of his pit box. In addition, Hill ran into the rear of van Gisbergen after entering pit road.

    With 76 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Gray and Allmendinger occupied the front row. At the start, Gray and Allmendinger dueled for the top spot, with the former managing to retain the top spot. Amid the battles and with the field stacked to two lanes, Gray retained the lead with 70 laps remaining before teammate Chandler Smith would overtake him a lap later.

    With 66 laps remaining, the caution returned for van Gisbergen getting into the outside wall in Turn 4 while running inside the top 10 as he proceeded to nurse his No. 97 Quad Lock Chevrolet Camaro back to his pit stall with right-side damage. During the caution period, multiple names including Hill, Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Kligerman, Corey Heim, Jeb Burton and Creed pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.

    The start of the following restart period with 59 laps remaining featured Chandler Smith and Gray dueling for the top spot as Smith retained the lead for the following lap. Three laps later, Smith was overtaken by Custer through the backstretch and Smith was left battling Herbst for the runner-up spot.

    The caution would then return with 55 laps remaining due to Jeb Burton losing a left front tire and spinning to the bottom of the track. During the caution period, select names including Blaine Perkins, van Gisbergen, Clements and Ryan Ellis pitted while the rest led by Custer remained on the track.

    As the race restarted with 48 laps remaining, Custer dueled and held off Gray to lead the field. Amid the late battles within the pack, Custer proceeded to lead with 40 laps remaining. By then, Chandler Smith was up to second ahead of Herbst, Love and Allmendinger while Josh Williams, Truex, Allgaier, Heim and Hill were in the top 10. After Custer led the next nine laps, Allmendinger overtook him with 31 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Chandler Smith, who assumed the lead two laps earlier, was out in front of Allgaier, Custer, Hill and Gray as Love, Ryan Sieg, Williams, Herbst and Jones followed suit in the top 10, with the top-16 competitors separated by a second. By then, Creed made an unscheduled pit stop under green.

    With less than 20 laps remaining, Chandler Smith continued to lead ahead of Custer, Allgaier, Taylor Gray and Hill. Behind, Jones, who had tried to slide in front of Chandler Smith for the lead a few laps earlier but was unable to do so, slipped out of the top five on the inside lane, and was in seventh as the top 10 competitors were separated by less than a second. By then, Smith was also able to muscle ahead of Allgaier, who was trying to use the inside lane to slide in front of Smith but was unable to do so.

    Then with 19 laps remaining, the caution flew when Allgaier, who was dueling Custer for the runner-up spot, went up the track just past the backstretch and made contact with Custer and Gray. Custer was sent for a spin before he collided with teammate Herbst and Ryan Sieg as Allgaier and Gray were pinned against one another towards the outside wall as Love barely ran into the rear of Gray. The incident was enough for the event to be placed in a red flag period for 15 minutes.

    Once the red flag lifted and the field proceeded under a cautious pace, multiple names that included Love, Allmendinger, Brennan Poole, Parker Retzlaff, Clements, Nick Leitz, Blaine Perkins, Ryan Ellis, Garrett Smithley and David Starr pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track. Among those who pitted included Love, who had a rear bumper cover from Herbst’s car stuck atop the No. 2 Chevrolet.

    With the race restarting under green with 13 laps remaining, Chandler Smith and Hill dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch before Hill muscled ahead and tried to slide in front of Smith through Turns 3 and 4. Smith, however, pulled a crossover move on Hill through the frontstretch, but Hill would prevail from the outside lane through the first two turns as he would maintain the lead through the backstretch while Smtih was battling Josh Williams and Corey Heim for second place.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Hill was leading ahead of Chandler Smith and Williams while the rest of the field behind followed in close pursuit amid two stacked lanes. By then, the top 12 competitors were separated by less than a second while the top 19 were separated by under two seconds.

    With five laps remaining, Hill maintained a steady advantage ahead of Chandler Smith, Heim, Kligerman and Lawless Alan as the top-15 competitors were separated by less than two seconds. Allmendinger would then transition to the inside lane and try to gain a drafting run while battling Sammy Smith for sixth place, but he would then make contact with Alan and nearly send him spinning

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hill, who nearly got sideways off the front nose of Chandler Smith as Smith made a move beneath Hill to duel with him exiting Turns 3 and 4, remained as the leader on the outside lane as Heim, who elected not to draft his Toyota teammate Smith from the inside lane, drafted Hill back out front ahead of Kligerman through the frontstretch.

    Then through Turns 1 and 2, Heim attempted to make a move to Hill’s outside, but Hill blocked and fended off Heim as the latter scraped his No. 26 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota Supra towards the outside wall. This allowed Hill to retain the top spot as Kligerman zipped by for second place. With Allmendinger and Chandler Smith following Kligerman and passing Heim, all four were unable to regain their momentum and catch Hill as Hill cycled his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by three-tenths of a second.

    With the victory, Hill notched his ninth Xfinity Series career win in his 105th series start, his seventh on a superspeedway venue and his fourth at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his home track. This season marks the first time Hill swept both Atlanta Xfinity events as he also notched the 96th Xfinity career victory for Richard Childress Racing and the 13th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Just resilience with this whole Bennett No. 21 team,” Hill said on USA Network. “Our Bennett Chevrolet wasn’t handling great all day. It had plenty of speed. Just the handle on it was tough all day. We had to dig deep for that [win]. [Chandler Smith] got into [Turn] 3 and had me jacked up. He’s doing what he has to do to try to win. [I’m] Very surprised that [Heim] pushed me there and didn’t go with a  Toyota and then, I thought that I messed up into [Turns] 1 and 2. I hate it that [Heim] got in the fence. I wasn’t trying to run him in the fence. I was just trying to get him aero-tight or get him aero-loose because that was happening to me a lot today.”

    “This is insane like to win with this gold car, Bennett’s 50th anniversary. This is their biggest race of the entire year,” Hill added. “To do this for our sponsor, it means a lot. We’re gonna celebrate this one because [the win] didn’t come easy.”

    With Hill winning the race, Parker Kligerman edged AJ Allmendinger by 0.004 seconds to finish in second place for the first time this season while Chandler Smith and Corey Heim rounded out the top five following their last-lap charges for the victory. To add to Hill being surprised about Heim not drafting with Chandler Smith and challenging him for the win, Smith was also left surprised and disappointed with not having the drafting help to challenge for the victory as his home track.

    “I expected my Toyota teammate to come with me and that didn’t happen,” Smith said. “It is what it is. I’m kind of speechless, honestly. There’s a lot of different things I could’ve done that I could’ve been more selfish and when I got clear, went to the bottom [lane] and cover that and just control the race, for sure, but I was trying to be a good teammate. It didn’t pay off for me today, as usual.”

    Rookie Jesse Love charged back up the field to finish sixth while Sammy Smith, Josh Williams, Brandon Jones and Ryan Truex finished in the top 10.

    There were 12 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 36 laps. In addition, 23 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the 24th event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Justin Allgaier continues to lead the regular-season standings by 34 points over Cole Custer, 67 over Chandler Smith and 71 over Austin Hill.

    Results.

    1. Austin Hill, 12 laps led

    2. Parker Kligerman

    3. AJ Allmendinger, 40 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    4. Chandler Smith, 28 laps led

    5. Corey Heim

    6. Jesse Love, 23 laps led

    7. Sammy Smith

    8. Josh Williams

    9. Brandon Jones

    10. Ryan Truex

    11. Kyle Weatherman

    12. Parker Retzlaff

    13. Lawless Alan

    14. Anthony Alfredo

    15. Brennan Poole

    16. Kyle Sieg

    17. Leland Honeyman, one lap led

    18. Mason Maggio

    19. Blaine Perkins

    20. Nick Leitz

    21. Ryan Ellis

    22. David Starr

    23. Garrett Smithley

    24. Jeb Burton, one lap down

    25. Sheldon Creed, three laps down, one lap led

    26. Riley Herbst, five laps down

    27. Shane van Gisbergen, six laps down

    28. Taylor Gray – OUT, Suspension, 12 laps led

    29. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Suspension

    30. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident, 19 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    31. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident, 27 laps led

    32. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Accident

    33. Morgen Baird, 21 laps down

    34. CJ McLaughlin – OUT, Engine

    35. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, Oil Line

    36. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

    37. Dawsom Cram – OUT, Engine

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York, for the Mission 200 at The Glen. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, September 14, and air at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.