Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE team was issued a L2-level penalty for violating Sections 14.7.1.E&F and 14.7.1.1.B&E of the NASCAR Rule Book, all of which pertain to meeting specific engine seal requirements.
The issue involves Hamlin’s race-winning entry at Bristol Motor Speedway earlier in March, where he led a race-high 163 of 500-scheduled laps en route to his first Cup points-paying victory of the 2024 season and ultimately resulting in NASCAR declaring that the team’s car did not meet the requirements involving the engine seal.
As a result of the penalty, Hamlin was docked 75 driver/owner points along with 10 Playoff points. Crew chief Chris Gabehart was fined $100,000.
Per the NASCAR Rule Book, Section 14.7.1.E states all race-winning engines “will be long block sealed by NASCAR and must be completely inspected by NASCAR before the engine may be disassembled by the team. If the team chooses to use the long block sealed race-winning engine again before being inspected, the engine must be used in the same vehicle number the next time it is used.”
Section 14.7.1.F states the long block engine assembly seals of a long block sealed engine must not be altered, removed or replaced.
Section 14.7.1.1.B states that “seals must not be removed without prior approval by NASCAR.”
Section 14.7.1.1.E states that “if a race-winning engine is sealed and presented for post-race inspection at a later date with damaged, altered or missing seals, an L2 Penalty will be assessed.”
With the penalties, Hamlin, who was trailing the 2024 regular-season lead in the standings by 28 points, now trails the lead by 103 points, which also drops him from third to sixth in the regular-season standings. In addition, his Bristol victory in March will not count towards any eligibility for any Playoff or non-points events.
Amid the announcement, David Wilson, President of TRD [Toyota Racing Development] USA, released a statement, where he and TRD took responsibility for Hamlin’s penalty while explaining the actions that were taken and resulted in the penalties being levied by NASCAR.
“As the engine builder for our partner NASCAR Cup Series teams, TRD is solely responsible for the handling and disposition of all our engines pre- and post-race. Despite procedures being in place, Denny’s race-winning engine from Bristol was mistakenly returned to our Costa Mesa facility, disassembled and rebuilt instead of being torn down and inspected by NASCAR per the rule book.
“Although we know with absolute certainty that the engine was legal and would have passed inspection, we left NASCAR in an impossible position because they were not given the opportunity to properly inspect our engine. We have reviewed our processes and have implemented several additional steps to ensure that this never happens again. TRD takes full responsibility for this grievous mistake, and we apologize to Denny, Chris, Coach Gibbs, the entire JGR organization, NASCAR and our fans.”
The good news for Hamlin is that he is still locked into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at Richmond Raceway and Dover Motor Speedway, both in April, and is set to pursue his first Cup championship in his 19th full-time campaign in NASCAR’s premier series.
Hamlin also now has two regular-season events remaining on the 2024 schedule to make up the Bristol victory removed from Playoff eligibility, beginning this upcoming weekend at Daytona International Speedway and next weekend at Darlington Raceway before the 2024 Playoffs commence at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 8.
Denny Hamlin’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season continues with the upcoming Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur this Saturday, August 24, at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
In an event where tire management was the name of the game, Denny Hamlin implemented his racing roots by preserving his tires to the very end, which enabled him to fend off teammate Martin Truex Jr. and win a wild conclusion to the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 17.
The three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, led 13 times for a race-high 163 of 500-scheduled laps after starting in third place and quickly making his presence at the front known by leading for the first time on Lap 21. Then, amid a series of caution periods and tire wear issues that plagued several front-runners and stars, Hamlin preserved his tires and managed to carve his way through traffic and run up front.
He traded the lead on several occasions with his fellow competitors and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates and stretched his worn tires further than his competitors before pitting under green with 53 laps remaining. After cycling back to the lead shortly after, he then managed to fend off a late challenge from Truex while leading 47 of the remaining 48 laps, which was enough for him to claim his first checkered flag of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, March 16, Ryan Blaney secured his first Cup pole position of the 2024 season and the 10th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 124.954 mph in 15.356 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Josh Berry, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 124.792 mph in 15.376 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Blaney muscled his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead to take the lead and managed to fend off both Berry and teammate Joey Logano for a full circuit around the Last Great Coliseum’s concrete surface to lead the first lap. Blaney and Berry battled dead even for the lead during the following two laps before Berry muscled his No. 4 SunnyD Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead of Blaney who fell back to second in front of teammate Logano and Chase Briscoe while Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott joined the battle.
Through Laps 5 to 10, Berry retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Blaney while Briscoe, Hamlin and Elliott were running in the top five. Behind, Michael McDowell moved up to sixth followed by Bubba Wallace and Truex while Logano fell back to ninth in front of Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and William Byron.
Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Berry was leading by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Hamlin followed by Blaney, Elliott and Wallace while Chase Briscoe, Truex Jr., McDowell, Larson and Brad Keselowski were running in the top 10 ahead of Harrison Burton, Erik Jones, Ty Gibbs, William Byron and Christopher Bell. Meanwhile, Logano had fallen to 16th ahead of Kyle Busch, rookie Zane Smith, Austin Cindric and Tyler Reddick.
A lap later, however, Hamlin overtook Berry for the lead. By then, Byron, who was running in the top 15, had fallen off the pace after he was hit by Logano, who was hit by Bell first, entering the backstretch, which resulted in Byron getting loose, scraping the backstretch’s outside wall and bumping across Bell before slipping towards the outside wall in Turn 3. Byron would pit with a broken toe link to his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as the event’s first caution period flew on Lap 22 due to debris reported in between Turns 3 and 4.
During the event’s first caution period, nearly the entire field led by Hamlin pitted for service for the first time while Reddick remained on the track. Following the pit stops amid mixed strategies, Berry exited first with two fresh tires ahead of Wallace, Elliott, Truex, McDowell and Hamlin. Amid the pit stops, Erik Jones was penalized for equipment interference.
When the event restarted under green on Lap 30, Reddick muscled ahead with the lead ahead of Berry and teammate Wallace. As the field cycled back to the frontstretch, however, the caution quickly returned after Reddick received a bump from Berry and was pinned in a tight three-wide battle with Wallace and Berry for the lead entering the frontstretch that got Reddick’s No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE spinning sideways in front of McDowell, Elliott and the field. With Reddick spinning below the track, he was then hit by rookie Zane Smith while Daniel Hemric, Corey LaJoie, AJ Allmendinger and rookie Carson Hocevar, all of whom were running towards the rear of the field, all wrecked across the frontstretch while stepping off the gas.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 38, Wallace fended off Berry from the outside lane to retain the lead while McDowell followed suit in a close third place. With Wallace still leading just past the Lap 40 mark, Hamlin and Elliott battled dead even for fourth place while Blaney and Ty Gibbs battled for sixth. Berry, however, would make his move beneath Wallace to reassume the lead through the frontstretch by Lap 41 while McDowell tried to follow suit. This allowed Hamlin to narrow the gap and challenge McDowell for third place, which he would succeed in doing so on Lap 44 while Blaney and Elliott joined the battle. Amid the early battles towards the front, Berry continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Wallace.
On Lap 47, Wallace cycled his No. 23 Leidos Toyota Camry XSE past Berry to reassume the lead. Team owner Hamlin would quickly follow suit in second along with Blaney and Elliott as Berry settled in fifth by the Lap 50 mark, where Wallace would continue to lead. Three laps later, however, Hamlin assumed the lead in his No. 11 Express Oil Change Toyota Camry XSE following a strong move to the outside lane with four fresh tires entering the backstretch over Wallace. Blaney would also follow suit to move into the runner-up spot followed by Elliott while Wallace fell back to fourth as he was being challenged by Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs and Briscoe for more.
Just past the Lap 60 mark, Hamlin was overtaken by Elliott for the race lead in front of a stacked field jostling for positions amid two lanes. With Elliott leading in his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Blaney battled Hamlin for second in front of Keselowski while Kyle Busch battled Wallace for fifth place.
Nearing the Lap 70 mark, the event’s second caution period flew due to debris reported across the frontstretch after Zane Smith blew a right-front tire. By then, Blaney had led Laps 65 to 68 before the lead was acquired by Kyle Busch, starting on Lap 69. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Busch returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin exited pit road first ahead of Blaney and Elliott while Busch, Keselowski, Briscoe and Bell followed suit. Amid the pit stops, McDowell was penalized for having too many crew members over the pit wall.
With the event restarting under green on Lap 79, Hamlin retained the lead after rocketing away from the field past the restart zone as Blaney and Elliott battled for second in front of Busch, Keselowski and Briscoe. With the field behind battling dead even amongst one another for spots, Hamlin would continue to lead until Blaney shoved his way into the lead through the frontstretch on Lap 83. Blaney would stretch his advantage to as high as two-tenths of a second during the following six laps until Hamlin cycled back into the lead on Lap 89. Behind, Kyle Busch prevailed in a tight battle with Elliott for third place as he tried to close in on the two leaders while Keselowski, Briscoe, Bell, Larson Ty Gibbs and Wallace followed suit in the top 10.
Through the first 100 scheduled laps, Hamlin stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Busch followed by Blaney, Elliott and Keselowski while Bell, Briscoe, Gibbs, Larson and John Hunter Nemechek occupied the top 10 in front of Wallace, Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, Berry and Justin Haley. Meanwhile, Erik Jones was in 16th ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Truex, Logano and Todd Gilliland while Ryan Preece, McDowell, Austin Cindric, LaJoie and Ross Chastain trailed in the top 25.
Ten laps later, Hamlin continued to lead by over three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Busch as Blaney and Bell were running third and fourth, with teammates Elliott and Larson fending off Gibbs for fifth and sixth. Hamlin would then stretch his advantage to more than a second over Blaney, with he and Bell overtaking Busch by the Lap 115 mark. By then, Larson retained fifth in front of Gibbs while Elliott was overtaken by Keselowski and Buescher for seventh and eighth.
Then on Lap 120 and with the majority of the field being mired with tire wear concerns, Blaney overtook Hamlin for the lead as Gibbs and Larson followed suit while Hamlin went wide up the track in Turn 1. By then, Busch and Wallace were falling off the pace and losing a bevy of spots amid concerns of losing their tires towards the end of the first stage period. Gibbs then overtook Blaney for the lead on Lap 121 as he proceeded to lap Austin Cindric while Larson moved into the runner-up spot.
Two laps later, the caution flew after Busch spun in Turn 2 after he lost a right-tire tire to his No. 8 FICO Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, where Busch would proceed to reverse his entry through the backstretch before spinning it back to the front below the apron as he lost a lap to the leaders. Busch’s incident occurred after Hamlin had hit the outside wall entering the frontstretch due to getting bumped by Byron, with Hamlin also cutting a tire but proceeding straight.
Busch’s incident was enough for the first stage period to conclude under caution as Ty Gibbs captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season and of his career. Larson settled in second followed by Buescher, Keselowski and Nemechek while Blaney, Truex, Preece, Berry and Bell were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Gibbs returned to pit road for service and for another round of fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Larson edged Gibbs off of pit road to exit first while Keselowski, Blaney, Buescher and Nemechek followed suit.
The second stage period started on Lap 140 as Larson and Keselowski occupied the front row. At the start, Larson muscled ahead with a brief advantage through the first two turns and the backstretch before Gibbs rocketed his No. 54 SiriusXM Toyota Camry XSE back into the lead during the following lap. John Hunter Nemechek would follow suit in second along with Berry, with the latter then battling Nemechek for second and challenging Gibbs for the lead by the Lap 145 while Larson fell back to fourth along with Nemechek. Shortly after, teammate Martin Truex Jr., who was quick to carve his way to the front, rocketed his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry XSE into the lead by Lap 146 before teammate Gibbs cycled back into the lead by Lap 150. By then, all four Joe Gibbs Racing entries were running in the top five while Larson was battling for second in front of Bell, Truex and Hamlin.
On Lap 154 and with the field running stacked amongst one another through the high banks of Bristol, Larson assumed the lead. Gibbs would reassume the lead three laps later before teammate Hamlin cycled into the lead another two laps.
By Lap 175, Gibbs, who reassumed the lead four laps earlier, was leading by nearly two-tenths of a second over teammate Truex followed by Berry, teammate Bell and Buescher while Keselowski, Larson, Logano, Preece and Nemechek occupied the top 10. Meanwhile, Hamlin had fallen to 11th in front of Blaney, Haley, Daniel Suarez and Kaz Grala.
A lap later, the caution flew after Stenhouse, who was running in the top 20, was mired in a midfield stack-up that started with him making contact with McDowell through the backstretch before he made contact with Hemric and Zane Smith through Turn 4 as Stenhouse’s No. 47 Ball Park Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 emerged wobbling entering the frontstretch while Hemric and Smith hit the outside wall. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Gibbs returned to pit road for service and fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Buescher exited first followed by Gibbs and Truex while Bell, Gilliland, Larson, Logano and Keselowski followed suit. Not long after, Ty Gibbs made an extra pit stop for qualifying scuff tires to preserve his sticker tires.
As the field restarted under green on Lap 189, Buescher retained the lead from the outside lane over Bell and Truex. Buescher would continue to lead by the Lap 200 mark before Bell would zip by Buescher through the frontstretch during the following lap. Teammate Truex would follow suit in second over Buescher while Nemechek and Larson were running in the top five in front of a stacked field. A few laps later, Daniel Suarez nearly wrecked after making contact with Justin Haley through Turns 1 and 2 while battling for a top-10 spot, but he kept his car straight and dropped to 17th while the event remained under green flag conditions.
Twenty-five laps later and amid a series of jostling for positions occurring around the field, Truex cycled past teammate Bell for the lead. By then, teammate Gibbs carved his way back to third place followed by Nemechek and Keselowski while Logano was running sixth ahead of Berry, Hamlin, Grala and Larson.
Another three laps later, the caution flew after Kyle Busch, who was mired in 31st and a lap down, spun for a second time on his own in Turn 2. With nearly the entire field led by Bell pitting again, Bell retained the lead after exiting first with four fresh tires while Nemechek, Logano, Hamlin, Larson and Truex followed suit in the top six. Back on the track, however, Spire Motorsports’ LaJoie and Hocevar remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Blaney was penalized for speeding on pit road.
With the event restarting with 11 laps remaining to the second stage’s conclusion, LaJoie led the field entering the first turn before Bell used the four fresh tires to his advantage as he zipped his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE past the Spire entries for the lead. Logano would quickly follow suit in second along with Nemechek as the field stacked up while navigating past Hocevar and LaJoie.
On Lap 242, Logano gave Bell a bump through Turns 1 and 2 in his bid for the lead, but Bell withstood his ground as he retained the lead. Logano would give Bell another hit on the side during the following lap as they both battled dead even for the lead in front of Nemechek and Gibbs. With Logano claiming the lead and clearing Bell by Lap 245, Gibbs navigated his way past teammate Bell for second during the following lap while Keselowski and Nemechek battled Bell for third. In the process, Logano retained a narrow lead over Gibbs before Gibbs claimed the lead back on Lap 248.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 250, Ty Gibbs claimed his second consecutive Cup stage victory of the day and of the 2024 season. Keselowski overtook Logano through the frontstretch to claim second place while Nemechek, Bell, Truex, Hamlin, Larson, Wallace and Ryan Preece were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Gibbs peeled off the track to pit road. Following the pit stops, Gibbs retained the lead after exiting pit road first with two fresh tires ahead of Logano, Truex, Bell, Gilliland, Nemechek and Keselowski, who was hit on the right front side by Austin Cindric while trying to exit his pit stall. Amid the tire concerns generated by all teams since the event’s start, Goodyear released an extra set of tires for all teams to use.
With 236 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as teammates Gibbs and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs retained the lead over Truex while teammate Bell settled in third ahead of Logano, Nemechek and Keselowski. With the field stacked amid two lanes, Gibbs stretched his advantage to three-tenths of a second with 230 laps remaining. By then, Gilliland moved up to fourth as he was running in between Bell and Nemechek while Keselowski and Logano dropped to eighth and ninth as they were running behind Larson and Hamlin on the track. In addition, Ross Chastain was running 10th on two fresh tires as he was trying to retain the spot over Berry and Wallace.
With 115 laps remaining, Truex cycled past teammate Gibbs for the lead as teammate Bell trailed by half a second in third place. By then, teammate Hamlin was running in sixth place behind Nemechek and Larson while Berry and Haley cracked the top 10. In addition, Logano was plummeting in the leaderboard as he had dropped out of the top 20 while nearly making contact with teammate Blaney.
Down to the final 200 laps of the event, Truex was leading by three-tenths of a second over teammate Bell while teammate Gibbs trailed by half a second in third place. Behind, Nemechek was in fourth place ahead of Hamlin, thus placing five Toyota competitors in the top five, while Keselowski, Larson, Berry, Gilliland and Haley were running in the top 10 ahead of Grala, Chastain, Blaney, McDowell and Wallace. Meanwhile, Logano dropped to 27th behind Austin Dillon and Buescher was in 20th while Elliott was mired in 23rd in between Hocevar and LaJoie.
Nine laps later, the caution flew after Berry, who was running in the top 10, slipped sideways and did a full 360 spin entering the backstretch, but managed to keep his No. 4 entry off the wall. By then, all four Joe Gibbs Racing competitors led by Truex were running first through fourth in front of Keselowski, Larson and Nemechek. As the lead lap field led by Truex drove to pit road for service, Hamlin emerged with the lead after he exited pit road first ahead of teammates Bell and Gibbs followed by Larson while teammate Truex exited fifth ahead of Keselowski, Nemechek and Blaney.
With the event restarting under green with 178 laps remaining, Hamlin muscled ahead with the lead through the first two turns before teammate Gibbs rocketed past Hamlin through the backstretch to return to the lead. Behind, Hamlin fended off teammates Bell and Truex to retain second while Larson tried to challenge Truex for fourth place as he was running ahead of Gilliland, Nemechek and McDowell. As the field behind jostled for late positions, Gibbs stabilized his advantage to three-tenths of a second over teammate Hamlin with 170 laps remaining.
With 160 laps remaining, Gibbs continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Hamlin while teammate Bell trailed in third place by eight-tenths of a second. With a three-wide action ensuing between Gilliland, Berry and Alex Bowman for top-15 spots and more battles ensuring around the Last Great Coliseum, Gibbs stabilized his narrow advantage to two-tenths of a second over teammate Hamlin while teammate Bell, Larson, Keselowski and teammate Truex were running third to sixth with 150 laps remaining. Additionally, Haley was running seventh in front of McDowell, Blaney and Bubba Wallace while Kaz Grala and Nemechek settled in the top 12.
Through the final 135 laps of the event, Hamlin zipped by teammate Gibbs for the lead through the frontstretch. By then, Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson each made separate contact with the outside wall, but the event remained under green flag conditions.
Two laps later, the caution returned after Cindric, who was trying to remain on the lead lap from the leader Hamlin, slipped up the track while avoiding Gilliland and made contact with Stenhouse, who was a lap down, that sent both for a spin in Turn 4 as Hamlin, Gibbs and Bell scattered to avoid the chaos. The caution period prompted the leaders to return to pit road for service, where Hamlin retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of teammates Bell and Gibbs along with Larson, teammate Truex and Keselowski. Amid the pit stops, Larson was penalized for an equipment interference penalty.
During the ensuing restart period with 121 laps remaining, Hamlin retained the lead after muscling away from teammates Bell and Gibbs, though Bell managed to muscle ahead and lead the proceeding lap before Hamlin reclaimed the top spot by the next lap as Gibbs battled teammate Bell in front of teammate Truex and Keselowski. As Hamlin retained the lead in front of his three Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota teammates with 110 laps remaining, Keselowski settled in fifth ahead of McDowell while Haley was running in seventh ahead of Blaney, Wallace and Nemechek.
Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Gibbs, who reassumed the lead from teammate Hamlin a lap earlier, was leading ahead of teammates Bell, Hamlin and Truex, respectively, while Keselowski retained fifth ahead of McDowell, Haley, Nemechek, Wallace and Berry.
Fifteen laps later, Gibbs continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Bell as teammates Hamlin and Truex followed suit in the top four. Another nine laps later, Hamlin nearly took the lead from teammate Gibbs, but he had to move up the track to avoid hitting Gilliland as Gibbs retained the lead in front of Hamlin and Truex while Bell was in fourth ahead of Keselowski.
Not long after and with the concern of tire wear returning amongst the teams, Hamlin, who assumed the lead with 75 laps remaining, was leading over teammate Truex. By then, a bevy of competitors including Berry, Blaney, Bell, Larson and Gilliland were losing ground of the leaders due to tire wear. Gibbs would then lose ground of the lead as his tires were wearing out, which allowed Keselowski to move up to third place. With Briscoe also falling off the pace, Blaney fell off the pace after he lost a tire, which forced him to pit, and Larson pitted under green. Bell would then pit under green with 60 laps remaining due to a flat tire while Hamlin retained a narrow lead over teammate Truex as he was trying to preserve his tires.
With 55 laps remaining and with nearly the entire field being pinned a lap down after having made a pit stop under green for fresh tires, the top-six competitors led by Hamlin were scored on the lead lap. Two laps later, Hamlin surrendered the lead to pit under green as Hocevar made contact with the wall, though the event remained under green flag conditions. Teammate Truex would pit another two laps later along with Keselowski. Once Alex Bowman pitted from the lead with 49 laps remaining, Hamlin cycled back into the lead.
Down to the final 40 laps of the event, Hamlin was leading by more than a second over teammate Truex while Berry, Keselowski and Larson were scored in the top five ahead of Buescher, Bell, Nemechek, Haley and Bowman. Hamlin’s advantage would then shrink to three-tenths of a second over Truex with 30 laps remaining as they were mired in lapped traffic.
With 20 laps remaining, Hamlin continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Truex as they both continued to be mired in lapped traffic. With Keselowski scored in third ahead of Berry and Larson, Hamlin managed to navigate his way through the lapped traffic to fend off Truex and retain the lead with 10 laps remaining.
Down to the final five laps of the event, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to four-tenths of a second over Truex as both cleared a majority of the lapped traffic, but the latter kept the former within his sights.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hamlin remained as the leader by half a second over Truex. With Truex unable to mount a final lap charge on his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate for a final circuit, Hamlin was able to preserve his tires and navigate his way around the Bristol circuit smoothly for a final time as he claimed the checkered flag by a second over Truex.
With the victory, Hamlin, who became the fifth winner through the 2024 season’s first five events, recorded his 52nd career win in the NASCAR Cup Series, his fourth at Bristol, with the victory being his first in the spring, and his first since winning the Bristol Night Race last September. The 2024 Cup season marks Hamlin’s 18th season where he has achieved at least one victory in NASCAR’s premier series as he also recorded the second consecutive victory in recent weeks for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota.
Photo by Chad Wells for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“[Tire management], That’s what I grew up doing here in the short tracks of the whole mid-Atlantic [region],” Hamlin said on FOX. “South Boston [Speedway], Martinsville [Speedway], all those tracks. It’s just what I grew up doing. Once it became a tire management race, I really liked our chances, but obviously, the veteran in Martin [Truex Jr.], he knew how to do it as well. We just had a great car. Great team. The pit crew just did a phenomenal job all day. Can’t say enough about them. Man, it feels so good to win at Bristol.”
Truex, who has finished in the top 15 through this season’s first four-scheduled events, came home with a strong runner-up result for his first top-five finish of the 2024 campaign.
“Just really proud of my team, everybody on our Auto-Owners Camry,” Truex said. “[Crew chief] James [Small] and the guys did a great job this weekend in having a plan coming here. I guess this tire management thing fit into my wheelhouse here at Bristol. The difference was just coming down to the pits so far behind Denny. I had to use mine [tires] up more than him on the last run and then, the last four or five laps of the race, my right rear [tire] was cored. We gave it a hell of an effort. I had a lot of fun today. Second always hurts a little, but it’s a really good run for us here. It’s been a great season so far for us.”
Keselowski settled in third place while Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson finished in the top five and as the final group of competitors to finish on the lead lap. John Hunter Nemechek, Buescher, Elliott, Ty Gibbs and Bell, who were all a lap down, finished in the top 10.
Notably, Berry finished 12th, pole-sitter Blaney ended up 16th, Logano fell back to 22nd and Kyle Busch ended up 25th behind teammate Austin Dillon.
There were a race-record 54 lead changes for 16 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 98 laps. In addition, only five of the 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the fifth event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson and Truex Jr. are tied for the regular-season lead in the points standings as they are both ahead by seven points over Ty Gibbs, eight over Ryan Blaney and 12 over Denny Hamlin.
Results.
1. Denny Hamlin, 163 laps led
2. Martin Truex Jr., 54 laps led
3. Brad Keselowski, one lap led
4. Alex Bowman, three laps led
5. Kyle Larson, 19 laps led
6. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down
7. Chris Buescher, one lap down, 17 laps led
8. Chase Elliott, one lap down, five laps led
9. Ty Gibbs, one lap down, 137 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
10. Christopher Bell, one lap down, 29 laps led
11. Michael McDowell, one lap down
12. Josh Berry, one lap down, 25 laps led
13. Chase Briscoe, two laps down
14. Ryan Preece, two laps down
15. Ross Chastain, two laps down
16. Ryan Blaney, two laps down, 14 laps led
17. Justin Haley, two laps down
18. Daniel Suarez, two laps down
19. Kaz Grala, two laps down
20. Erik Jones, two laps down
21. Corey LaJoie, two laps down, four laps led
22. Joey Logano, two laps down, five laps led
23. AJ Allmendinger, two laps down
24. Austin Dillon, two laps down
25. Kyle Busch, two laps down, five laps led
26. Todd Gilliland, three laps down
27. Carson Hocevar, three laps down
28. Daniel Hemric, four laps down
29. Bubba Wallace, four laps down, 15 laps led
30. Tyler Reddick, five laps down, four laps led
31. Austin Cindric, five laps down
32. Harrison Burton, five laps down
33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., five laps down
34. Noah Gragson, six laps down
35. William Byron, eight laps down
36. Zane Smith – OUT, Engine
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ fourth annual running of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The event is scheduled for next Sunday, March 24, and will air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Christopher Bell was not to be denied. His fast No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE entry enabled him to rally from restarting towards the middle of the pack during a late-race restart period to leading the final 41 laps en route to a strong victory in the Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, March 10.
The 29-year-old Bell from Norman, Oklahoma, led twice for 50 of 312-scheduled laps in an event where he started 13th and spent the first stage period running within the top 15 before his car came to life during the second stage period, which allowed him to carve his way to the front and claim the second stage victory over Toyota teammate Tyler Reddick.
Despite losing ground for the lead following a slow pit stop prior to the start of the final stage, Bell, who dodged a series of cautions and on-track incidents during the final stage’s start, pitted along with the majority of the front-runners for fresh tires and fuel during a late caution period with less than 98 laps remaining. During the final restart with 92 laps remaining, Bell used the four fresh tires to his advantage and methodically navigated his way back towards the front. Once teammate Martin Truex Jr. pitted for fresh tires and fuel with 41 laps remaining, the lead was all Bell’s as the Oklahoma native maintained a sizeable gap between himself and Chris Buescher and teammate Ty Gibbs for the remainder of the event, which was enough for him to claim his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2024 season.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, March 9, Denny Hamlin claimed his first Cup Series pole position of the 2024 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 132.655 mph in 27.138 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Ty Gibbs, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 132.227 mph in 27.226 seconds.
Prior to the event, rookie Josh Berry dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments and repairs made to his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry after he spun and hit the wall during his qualifying attempt.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, teammates Hamlin and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and entering the first two turns until Gibbs rocketed his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE into the lead from the outside lane entering the backstretch. As the field fanned out to as large as four lanes, Gibbs proceeded to lead the first lap while Erik Jones battled and overtook Hamlin for the runner-up spot.
Through the second to fifth lap marks, Gibbs maintained a steady lead that would grow to half a second over Erik Jones and teammate Hamlin while Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott followed suit in the top five. Behind, William Byron trailed in sixth ahead of Chase Briscoe and rookie Carson Hocevar while Michael McDowell, Martin Truex Jr. and Noah Gragson battled for ninth place in front of Daniel Suarez and Kyle Larson.
Then approaching the sixth lap, the event’s first caution flew after Derek Kraus spun sideways on the bottom lane through Turn 2 and back across the track entering the backstretch before he was hit by both Austin Dillon and Austin Cindric, the latter of which would retire from further competition. During the event’s first caution period, some including Kyle Busch pitted while the rest led by Ty Gibbs remained on the track.
When the event restarted under green on Lap 12, Gibbs muscled ahead of the field to retain the lead on the inside lane while Reddick ignited a three-wide battle on Hamlin and Erik Jones for the runner-up spot. Jones would use the outside lane to fend off both Toyota teammates for second place as Elliott and Byron trailed closely in the top six. In addition, Briscoe and Hocevar battled for seventh place along with McDowell while Gibbs stretched his early advantage by nearly half a second over Jones by the Lap 15 mark.
Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Gibbs was leading by four-tenths of a second over Jones followed by Hamlin, Reddick and Chase Elliott while William Byron, Michael McDowell, Carson Hocevar, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney followed suit in the top 10. Behind, Martin Truex Jr. was in 11th ahead of Noah Gragson, Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez and Christopher Bell while Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch and John Hunter Nemechek trailed in the top 20. Meanwhile, Josh Berry was mired in 21st ahead of Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, Ryan Preece and Alex Bowman while Todd Gilliland, Corey LaJoie, Harrison Burton, Daniel Hemric and Justin Haley rounded out the top 30.
Ten laps later, Gibbs stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Jones while Hamlin and Reddick trailed by within one-and-a-half seconds. Elliott would trail the top-four competitors by more than two seconds and teammate Byron would trail by more than three seconds as Gibbs maintained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Jones, who was slowly closing in on the leader, by the Lap 40 mark.
By Lap 50, Gibbs stabilized his advantage to two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Reddick, who moved into the runner-up spot, followed by Hamlin while Jones fell back to fourth place. In the process, Hendrick Motorsports’ Elliott and Byron remained in fifth and sixth, respectively, as they trailed the lead by more than two seconds while McDowell, Blaney, Briscoe and Truex were running in the top 10 ahead of Larson, Gragson, Hocevar, Suarez and Keselowski.
Seven laps later, Reddick, who navigated his way around Phoenix’s racing lanes to narrow the gap between himself and Gibbs, drew himself into a side-by-side battle with Gibbs for the lead through the backstretch and the frontstretch. Gibbs would try to fight back from the outside lane, but Reddick used the inside lane to muscle his No. 45 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE ahead with the top spot.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, Reddick, who capitalized late on his battle with Ty Gibbs, captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season as he also stretched his advantage to six-tenths of a second. Gibbs settled in second followed by Hamlin, Jones and Elliott while Byron, Blaney, McDowell, Briscoe and Truex were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Reddick pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin emerged as the new race leader after he exited pit road first from the first pit box while Reddick, Byron, Elliott, Gibbs, Blaney, Briscoe, Larson, Keselowski and Jones followed suit in the top 10. Not long after, Larson pitted his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for a second time due to a left-rear tire issue while Hocevar also pitted again for a loose wheel.
The second stage period started on Lap 69 as Hamlin and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin muscled his No. 11 Mavis Brakes Plus Toyota Camry XSE ahead with the lead as the front-runners dived below the frontstretch dog-leg and fanned out entering the first two turns. With Hamlin leading the race, Reddick maintained the runner-up spot while a three-wide action for third place involving Gibbs, Byron and Elliott ensued in front of Blaney. In the process, Keselowski was in seventh ahead of another three-wide battle involving Truex, Briscoe and Jones while Hamlin was leading just past the Lap 70 mark.
Through the first 80 scheduled laps, Hamlin extended his advantage to a second over Reddick followed by Elliott, Gibbs and Byron while Blaney, Truex, Keselowski, Bell and Gragson trailed in the top 10 ahead of Erik Jones, Suarez, Briscoe, Bowman and McDowell. Hamlin would stretch his lead to more than two seconds over Reddick by the Lap 90 mark while Elliott, Gibbs and Byron remained in the top five.
At the Lap 100 mark, Hamlin continued to lead by nearly two seconds over Reddick followed by Elliott, Byron and Gibbs while Truex, Bell, Blaney, Keselowski and Gragson were scored in the top 10. Behind, Erik Jones trailed in 11th followed by Suarez, Briscoe, Bowman and McDowell while Buescher, Wallace, Chastain, Preece and Larson were running in the top 20 ahead of Nemechek, Logano, LaJoie, Kyle Busch and Berry.
Fifteen laps later, Hamlin stabilized his lead to more than a second over Reddick as Elliott and Byron remained in the top four. Meanwhile, Bell carved his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE into fifth place followed by teammate Truex while teammate Ty Gibbs dropped to seventh.
Shortly after, green flag pit stops commenced as Blaney pitted his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse along with Chastain and Larson. More names like Byron, Bell, Truex, Keselowski, Bowman, Wallace, Buescher, Preece, Logano, LaJoie, Daniel Hemric, Elliott, Gibbs, Briscoe, Nemechek, rookie Zane Smith, Justin Haley and Reddick would pit during the ensuing laps, starting from Lap 116, before Hamlin pitted from the lead on Lap 119.
Just past the Lap 120 mark and with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop under green, Todd Gilliland, who has yet to pit, was leading ahead of Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Hocevar and Kraus, all of whom have yet to pit, while Hamlin, the first competitor who pitted and who nearly made contact with Suarez while trying to enter his pit stall, trailed in sixth place as he also had Reddick closing in on him for position.
On Lap 133, Reddick, who overtook Hamlin through the first two turns a lap earlier, used the outside lane to rocket past Gilliland for the race lead. Hamlin would quickly follow suit for the runner-up spot as Byron and Bell trailed in the top five within six seconds. By then, Stenhouse and Hocevar remained on the track in sixth and seventh, respectively, while Kyle Busch was scored a lap down after he pitted under green.
Just past the Lap 145 mark, Reddick stretched his advantage to nearly a second over Hamlin as Gilliland, who led 14 laps, continued to run on the track in third place ahead of Bell, Byron and Truex. Reddick would maintain his lead by eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Bell and Byron overtook Gilliland for third and fourth by Lap 150.
By the halfway mark on Lap 156, Reddick continued to lead within a second over Hamlin while Bell, Byron and Truex trailed in the top five ahead of Gilliland, Blaney, Elliott, Keselowski and Gragson, all of whom were running in the top 10 and trailing the lead by 14 seconds. Reddick would maintain the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Bell trailed in third place by more than a second as Gilliland pitted under green by the Lap 165 mark.
By Lap 175, Reddick, who was mired in lapped traffic as he was trying to lap Logano, retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Bell, who nearly overtook Reddick for the lead entering the first two turns, while third-place Hamlin trailed by nearly a second as Byron and Truex trailed from a distance in the top five. Bell would then capitalize on his charge to overtake Reddick for the lead through the first two turns with four laps remaining to the second stage’s conclusion.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 185, Bell captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Reddick trailed in second followed by Hamlin, Byron and Truex while Blaney, Elliott, Gragson, Keselowski and Chris Buescher were scored in the top 10. By then, 19 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while Ryan Preece, who was running 19th, managed to fend off Logano to emerge as the first competitor scored a lap down and receive the free pass.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Bell returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin benefitted from having the first pit box towards the exit of pit road for a second time as he exited first followed by Reddick, Byron, Elliott, Blaney and Truex. Amid the pit stops, Harrison Burton was penalized for speeding on pit road.
With 118 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Hamlin and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, the front-runners fanned out and dived through the frontstretch dog-leg as Hamlin maintained the lead in front of a side-by-side battle between Reddick and Byron for the runner-up spot. With the field still fanning out across multiple lanes from the backstretch through the frontstretch, Hamlin maintained the lead in front of Reddick and Byron. The caution, however, would return two laps later after Kyle Busch, who was mired in 25th, got loose through Turn 2 and was bumped by Zane Smith into Kaz Grala before Busch spun his No. 8 zone Premium Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 within the middle of the track through the backstretch.
During the following restart with 110 laps remaining, the front-runners dived through the frontstretch dog-leg as Reddick overtook Hamlin for the lead. With the field fanning out through the backstretch, Reddick was leading by nearly half a second over Hamlin followed by Blaney, Byron and Truex as Ross Chastain, who was running in the middle of the pack, scraped the outside wall towards the frontstretch, though the event remained under green flag conditions.
With 107 laps remaining, the caution returned after Logano, who was scored as the first competitor a lap down, received a huge bump by Nemechek entering Turn 1 that sent his No. 22 Hunt Brother’s Pizza Ford Mustang Dark Horse spinning below the apron before he came back across the track and was hit by Corey LaJoie, with Kraus, Zane Smith and Berry also involved as Logano’s long afternoon came to a late end.
As the event restarted with 100 laps remaining, the leaders dived through the frontstretch dog-leg as Reddick battled and fended off Hamlin to retain the lead. With Hamlin fighting back during the following lap by drawing even with Reddick, Truex joined the tight three-car battle for the lead while Byron maintained fourth place in front of a three-wide battle involving Gragson, Keselowski and Wallace as Blaney and Bell battled for ninth.
The caution, however, returned with 98 laps remaining after Hamlin, who was battling Reddick for the lead, got loose underneath Reddick entering Turn 1 as he slid into Reddick and spun sideways from the middle to the bottom lane through Turn 2 while the rest of the field scattered to avoid hitting Hamlin. During the caution period, a majority of the front-runners led by Reddick pitted for fresh tires and fuel while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.
With the event restarting with 92 laps remaining, the field fanned out and dived through the frontstretch dog-leg as Truex maintained the lead in front of the field. During the following lap, Truex was leading by three-tenths of a second over Preece, Gilliland, Chastain and Buescher while Ty Gibbs, who pitted for two fresh tires and a full tank of fuel, carved his way up to seventh place. Amid the tight battles between those who pitted and those who did not, Wallace, who was getting pinned in between Briscoe and Erik Jones while battling for a top-10 spot, got loose and got Jones’ No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE sideways entering Turn 1, which resulted with Jones making contact with the outside wall and plummeting in the leaderboard, though the event remained under green flag conditions.
Back at the front of the pack, Ty Gibbs continued to use the two fresh tires to his advantage as he carved his way up to third place while Truex continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Preece with 90 laps remaining. By then, names like Chastain, McDowell, Gilliland, Buescher, Briscoe, Keselowski and Suarez were running in the top 10 while front-runners Reddick, Bell, Blaney, Elliott, Hamlin and Byron were mired in 12th, 13th, 15th, 17th, 18th and 20th, respectively.
With 75 laps remaining, Truex was leading by two seconds over Preece as Ty Gibbs was trying to close in and overtake Preece for the runner-up spot. Behind, Chastain was running in fourth place ahead of Buescher, Keselowski and McDowell while Bell carved his way up to eighth place with four fresh tires in front of Gilliland and Briscoe. By then, Reddick was mired in 12th while Blaney was in 14th. Meanwhile, Hamlin was in 16th while Wallace was back in 18th.
Fifteen laps later, Truex, who continued to hold strong on old tires and with questions arising on how much fuel he had to make it to the scheduled distance, was still leading as he stretched his advantage to four seconds over teammate Ty Gibbs, who overtook Preece for the runner-up spot six laps earlier. Behind, Chastain was in fourth while Bell navigated his way into the top five on his four fresh tires. Bell would then overtake both Preece and Chastain to move his strong race car into third place another two laps later as he trailed his teammate by less than six seconds.
With 50 laps remaining, Truex continued to lead by five seconds over teammate Bell, who overtook teammate Ty Gibbs for the runner-up spot on four fresh tires and with enough fuel for the scheduled distance as he was running faster lap times compared to his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. Behind, Chastain and Buescher were running in the top five ahead of Preece, Keselowski, McDowell and Gilliland while Reddick was able to navigate his way back into the top 10 as he was in 10th followed by Gilliland, Gragson, Blaney, Suarez and Hamlin.
Nine laps later, Truex surrendered the lead to pit his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE under green for fresh tires and a full tank of fuel as he ended up a lap down. This allowed teammate Bell to assume the race lead as he was leading by more than two seconds over teammate Ty Gibbs while Chastain, Buescher and Keselowski were scored in the top five. As Preece pitted under green, Truex would manage to overtake teammate Bell to un-lap himself while the latter stretched his advantage by more than four seconds over teammate Gibbs with 30 laps remaining. By then, Reddick was up to eighth place ahead of Blaney and Gragson while Hamlin was in 11th.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Bell stabilized his advantage to more than four seconds over teammate Gibbs while Buescher, Chastain and Keselowski continued to hold strong in the top five. Behind, Reddick moved his Mobil 1 entry up to seventh behind McDowell, Blaney was in eighth ahead of Briscoe and Gragson, Hamlin was still mired in 11th, Larson was in 14th and Byron was mired in 18th behind Truex.
Five laps later, Bell stretched his lead slightly to five seconds over teammate Gibbs while third-place Buescher trailed by less than six seconds. Bell would extend his lead by another second to six seconds over Buescher, who overtook Gibbs for the runner-up spot, with 10 laps remaining as Keselowski and Chastain battled fiercely for fourth place.
Down to the final five laps of the event, Bell maintained the lead by more than six seconds over Buescher and teammate Gibbs while Keselowski and Chastain continued to run in the top five ahead of Blaney and McDowell. Behind, Briscoe, Truex and Reddick battled for eighth while Gragson and Hamlin battled for 11th.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bell remained as the leader by more than five seconds over Buescher’s No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse. With the gap between the leader and the runner-up spot large, Bell was able to navigate his way around the Phoenix circuit smoothly for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his first checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season.
With the victory, Bell, who became the fourth winner through the first four events of the 2024 Cup season, captured his seventh Cup Series career victory and his first at Phoenix as he extended his winning streak in the Cup circuit to four consecutive seasons. Bell also registered the first Cup victory of the 2024 season for both Joe Gibbs Racing and the Toyota nameplate while also recording the first official victory for Toyota’s Camry XSE stock car.
“This one feels really good,” Bell said on the frontstretch on FOX. “A credit to my engineers, my crew chief and all the mechanics on this [No. 20 car]. You don’t get cars like that very often as you know. Just super, super proud to be on this No. 20 car. This Rheem Camry was amazing today. I feel like we have [a] capability of running races like this a lot. Hopefully, this [win] is the first of many this year.”
Buescher, whose previous best result in the Cup Series is ninth during the first three events on this year’s schedule and who is coming off an early accident last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway due to a loose wheel that resulted in the suspension of two of his crew members, settled in the runner-up spot followed by Ty Gibbs, who led 57 laps and notched a career-best result.
“[The runner-up finish]’s huge,” Buescher said. “We’ve talked a lot internally. We’ve been able to lead, at any point, on all three races leading up to this. We didn’t quite get there today but certainly, a great finish for our BuildSubs.com Ford Mustang. Really proud of everybody. I know we had a rough go last weekend. This [finish] was good to get everybody back together and prove that we’re in this together. We’re gonna win or lose these things as a team. That was almost a win today.”
Keselowski came home in fourth place while Blaney edged Chastain to finish fifth.
Chastain, Truex, McDowell, Briscoe and Reddick finished in the top 10.
Notably, Hamlin, who led the most laps at 68 along with his 23XI Racing driver Reddick, ended up 11th ahead of Noah Gragson, Larson settled in 14th, Wallace ended up 16th, Byron finished 18th ahead of teammates Elliott and Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch capped off his long afternoon in 22nd. In addition, Carson Hocevar emerged as the highest-finishing rookie candidate in 15th place.
There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 40 laps. In addition, 21 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the fourth event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Ryan Blaney leads the regular-season standings by 10 points over both Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr., 17 over William Byron and 21 over both Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs.
Results.
1. Christopher Bell, 50 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Chris Buescher
3. Ty Gibbs, 57 laps led
4. Brad Keselowski
5. Ryan Blaney
6. Ross Chastain
7. Martin Truex Jr., 55 laps led
8. Michael McDowell
9. Chase Briscoe
10. Tyler Reddick, 68 laps led, Stage 1 winner
11. Denny Hamlin, 68 laps led
12. Noah Gragson
13. Daniel Suarez
14. Kyle Larson
15. Carson Hocevar
16. Bubba Wallace
17. Todd Gilliland, 14 laps led
18. William Byron
19. Chase Elliott
20. Alex Bowman
21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22. Kyle Busch, one lap down
23. Ryan Preece, one lap down
24. Justin Haley, one lap down
25. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down
26. Josh Berry, two laps down
27. Harrison Burton, two laps down
28. Daniel Hemric, two laps down
29. Zane Smith, three laps down
30. Kaz Grala, three laps down
31. Erik Jones, seven laps down
32. Austin Dillon, eight laps down
33. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident
34. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident
35. Derek Kraus – OUT, Accident
36. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the return of the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, March 17, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Three days after unveiling his planned return to the NASCAR Cup Series for the 2024 season, John Hunter Nemechek took care of extra business in his closing stretch as a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series competitor and capped off this year’s regular-season stretch on a dominant note by winning the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, September 9.
The 26-year-old Nemechek from Mooresville, North Carolina, led four times for a race-high 154 of 200-scheduled laps in an event that was mired with 10 caution flag periods and on-track chaos that affected a bevy of competitors who were either locked in or looking from the outside to make the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoff field. Amid the battles for the final Playoff berth, Nemechek, who had already guaranteed himself a Playoff spot based on winning five times throughout the regular-season stretch, came into Kansas with a mission to both win and try to gain ground on Austin Hill to steal the regular-season title in last-minute fashion.
Despite falling short in claiming the latter, Nemechek, who led for the first time on Lap 41, was flawless while leading as he executed the final restart with 50 laps remaining to perfection by muscling away and beating runner-up Brandon Jones by more than seven seconds to claim his unprecedented sixth checkered flag of the 2023 Xfinity season and officially enter the Playoffs with strong momentum in preparation to claim the series championship.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Justin Allgaier started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 176.206 mph in 30.646 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Sammy Smith, who clocked in the second-best qualifying lap at 175.347 mph in 30.796 seconds.
Prior to the event, Leland Honeyman, who initially failed to qualify for the event, dropped to the rear of the field after replacing Timmy Hill in the No. 66 MBM Motorsports entry. Matt Mills also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his entry along with CJ McLaughlin, who fell back due to an engine change.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Allgaier and Sammy Smith dueled for the lead as the field began to fan out through the frontstretch and entering the first turn. Then as the field led by Allgaier made its way through the backstretch, the first caution flag of the event flew after Nick Leitz and Anthony Alfredo wrecked towards the outside wall and against each other in Turn 1.
When the race restarted under green on the fifth lap, Allgaier used the outside lane to his advantage as he rocketed away from Sammy Smith to retain the lead while Cole Custer, who restarted behind Allgaier, followed suit by claiming the runner-up spot. With Allgaier leading, Custer retained second over Sammy Smith while John Hunter Nemechek, Josh Berry, Brandon Jones and Daniel Hemric followed suit as the field behind fanned out and jostled for early spots.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps and as the field continued to jostle for spots, Allgaier was leading by six-tenths of a second over Custer followed by Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Brandon Jones while Berry, Hemric, Brett Moffitt, Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill were in the top 10. Behind, Ryan Sieg was in 11th ahead of Riley Herbst while Sam Mayer, Parker Kligerman and rookie Chandler Smith battled in the top 15.
Two laps later, the second caution flag of the event flew due to debris reported near the entrance of pit road. During the caution period, select names, among which included rookie Chandler Smith and Jeremy Clements, pitted while the rest led by Allgaier, who was spotted to have a brake pad stuck on the splitter of his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro, remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Chandler Smith’s pit crew went under the hood to diagnose a mechanical issue that would eventually send Smith and his No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro team to the garage.
During the proceeding restart on Lap 18, Allgaier and Custer dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and they continued to duel through the backstretch while the field behind fanned out to three and four lanes. Then as Allgaier cleared the field and drove away from Custer entering the frontstretch, the caution quickly returned during the following lap when Sam Mayer, who was running ninth, made contact with Creed and spun across the frontstretch and was T-boned by Kyle Weatherman, thus knocking both out of the event.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 25, Allgaier and Custer dueled again for the lead through the frontstretch and backstretch until Allgaier used the outside lane to his advantage and rocketed away with the lead. With Allgaier leading, Nemechek started to gain ground on Custer for the runner-up spot as the field fanned out through the backstretch with Berry losing a bevy of spots and slipping out of the top 10 on the track.
At the Lap 30 mark, Allgaier was leading by six-tenths of a second over Nemechek, who overtook Custer for the runner-up spot a few laps earlier, while Custer, Sammy Smith and Hemric, who officially clinched his spot for the 2023 Xfinity Playoffs, were in the top five. Behind, Brandon Jones, needing a victory to make the Playoffs, was in sixth as he tried to close in on Hemric for a top-five spot while Hill, Kligerman, Creed and Derek Kraus were running in the top 10. With Kaz Grala, Ryan Sieg, Jeb Burton, Brett Moffit and Herbst occupying the top 15, Berry was back in 16th ahead of Connor Mosack, Joe Graf Jr., Rajah Caruth and Josh Williams.
Five laps later, Allgaier continued to lead by half a second over Nemechek while third-place Custer trailed by more than a second. Meanwhile, Hemric, who was running in the top five, plummeted to 20th due to an issue with his No. 10 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro and while Berry was mired back in 14th. By then, Brandon Jones cracked the top five in fourth while Sammy Smith was in fifth. With Hemric continuing to fall off the pace and running in the apron, his early run went from good to bad and worse after he missed his pit stall while trying to pit and dropped out of the lead lap category as he would eventually take his car to the garage.
Then on Lap 41, Nemechek, who gained a massive run through the backstretch on Allgaier during the previous lap, overtook Allgaier for the lead in his No. 20 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota Supra. With Allgaier trying to fight back through Turns 1 and 2 along with the backstretch, he nearly got loose in Turn 1 and slid up the track in Turn 3, which allowed Custer to battle him for the runner-up spot while Nemechek slowly started to pull away. Meanwhile, Herbst, who was battling Kligerman for the final spot to make the Playoffs, worked his way up to ninth while Kligerman, who was currently scored five points above the cutline over Herbst, was in seventh.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Nemechek, who was trying to gain ground on Austin Hill in battling for this year’s Xfinity regular-season title, captured his eighth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season following his late rally and overtake on Allgaier for the lead. Custer settled in second followed by Allgaier while Brandon Jones, Sammy Smith, Kligerman, Hill, Creed, Herbst and Derek Kraus were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Nemechek pitted. Following the pit stops, Custer moved into the lead after exiting pit road first while Nemechek, Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones, Creed, Kligerman and Herbst followed suit.
The second stage started on Lap 51 as Custer and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Custer and Nemechek dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch and entering the first two turns until Nemechek managed to cycle around Custer and reassume the lead. With Nemechek back out in front with the lead, Allgaier started to battle Custer for second in front of Brandon Jones and Sammy Smith while Kligerman muscled his No. 48 Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet Camaro up to sixth place in his bid to make the Playoffs. During the proceeding laps and with Nemechek still leading, Berry returned to the top 10 as he was running ninth in between Creed and Hill while Herbst joined the battle as he was five spots behind Kligerman on the track.
Then on Lap 58, the caution returned due to debris in the form of a tire carcass coming apart from Jeremy Clements’ entry in Turn 1. In the midst of the issue, Custer, who was running third in front of Sammy Smith, went up the track after running over the debris and scrubbed the outside wall in Turn 1 as he limped his damaged No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang to pit road for repairs. The damage, which broke the upper control arm in the No. 00 entry, was enough to terminate Custer’s strong run in the garage.
On the ensuing restart on Lap 64, Nemechek and Allgaier dueled for the lead in front of the field. Behind, however, Kligerman, who restarted in the top 10, spun the tires while trying to regain pace, which caused the field to briefly stack up as he was then hit by Herbst, who then fell off the pace as he went up the track with a flat tire and pitted his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang under green. Back on track, Nemechek retained the lead over Allgaier while Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones and Berry followed suit.
At the Lap 70 mark, Nemechek was leading by three-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones and Berry continued to run in the top five. By then, Kligerman, who continued to run under full power, was in eighth while Herbst was mired back in 32nd after he lost two laps in the process of pitting under green and was now 29 points behind Kligerman for a Playoff spot.
Four laps later, the caution flew when Brandon Jones, who was running fourth, snapped sideways and spun his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro across the frontstretch grass, though he continued without sustaining any damage.
With 11 laps remaining in the second stage period, the event restarted under green. At the start, teammates Nemechek and Sammy Smith dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch. With Nemechek muscling away with the lead, where he proceeded to lead the Lap 80 mark, Allgaier trailed and started to challenge Smith or the lead while Hill, Allgaier and Berry battled for fourth. Teammates, Allgaier and Berry would overtake Hill for third and fourth while Sammy Smith tried to gain ground on teammate Nemechek for the lead.
When the second stage period on Lap 90, Nemechek captured his ninth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 and second of the day after extending his advantage to more than a second over teammate Sammy Smith. Smith settled in second followed by Allgaier, Berry and Hill while Kligerman, Creed Kraus, rookie Parker Retzlaff and Moffitt were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Nemechek returned to pit road for service while Brandon Jones remained on the track to inherit the lead. Following the pit stops, Nemechek exited first while teammate, Sammy Smith, Hill, Creed, Allgaier, Kraus, Berry and Kligerman followed suit.
With 104 laps remaining, the final stage started as Brandon Jones and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek reassumed the lead after gaining a strong start from the inside lane while Hill, Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Creed followed suit with the field fanning out through the backstretch. Not long after, the caution quickly returned when Sammy Smith, who was bumped by Creed, clipped and sent Allgaier for a spin as both wrecked against the outside wall in Turn 3 while Brandon Jones, who was losing spots while restarting on old tires, spun sideways to avoid the carnage. In the midst of the carnage, Herbst, who gained one of his two lost laps during the second stage break period, was the recipient of the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap and potentially draw himself back into contention to still make the Playoffs.
During the proceeding restart with 97 laps remaining, Nemechek and Hill battled early for the lead past the restart zone as the field scattered and jostled for late positions through the first two turns and the backstretch. With Nemechek retaining the lead through the proceeding laps, Creed muscled his way up to second while Berry came out late to overtake Hill and move his No. 8 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro to third. By then, Kligerman cracked the top five as he was in fifth in front of Kraus while Retzlaff, Ryan Ellis, Grala and Jeb Burton were in the top 10. In the process, Nemechek retained the lead by more than a second with 90 laps remaining.
With 80 laps remaining, Nemechek extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Berry while Creed trailed in third place by more than four seconds. With Creed and Kligerman in the top five, Kraus, Retzlaff, Brandon Jones, Grala and Moffitt trailed in the top 10 while Herbst carved his way up to 12th. As Nemechek continued to extend his advantage to more than three seconds with 75 laps remaining, Herbst continued his march back to the front as he returned to the top 10 by moving up to 10th behind Grala.
A few laps later, however, Herbst’s late rally from his early issues evaporated after he was forced to pit under green due to a flat right-front tire with smoke coming out of his car amid a tire rub. Mired back multiple laps once again, Herbst found himself strapped in 29th place while Kligerman continued to run in fifth as he was now scored 30 points above the cutline and in position to claim the final Playoff spot. Meanwhile, Nemechek extended his advantage to more than six seconds over Berry.
With 63 laps remaining, the caution flew when Rajah Caruth was turned by Matt Mills and spun his No. 45 Circle Pay Chevrolet Camaro across the frontstretch grass and towards pit road before he looped his car straight and continued. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Nemechek peeled off the track to pit for service. Following the pit stops, Nemechek retained the lead after exiting first while Berry, Hill, Creed and Kligerman followed suit.
As the race restarted with 57 laps remaining, Nemechek rocketed away from the field to retain the lead while Hill and Berry battled for second. As Berry rocketed away from Hill during the following lap with Nemechek out in front, Brandon Jones overtook both Kligerman and Creed through the backstretch just before the caution returned when Caruth slid his car sideways through Turns 3 and 4.
When the race restarted with 50 laps remaining, Nemechek and Berry dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Nemechek managed to muscle ahead with the lead entering the backstretch. Behind, Hill, Brandon Jones and Kligerman battled for third as Jones overtook both to move up to third before proceeding to catch teammate Berry for more. In the process, Hill and Kligerman kept battling for fourth place in front of Creed. Jones would then overtake teammate Berry for the runner-up spot with 47 laps remaining as he now set his sights on Nemechek for the lead and win to get into the Playoffs.
With 35 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by more than a second over Brandon Jones while Hill moved his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro up to third place in front of Berry and Kligerman. Behind, Moffitt was in sixth while Creed, Kraus, Jeb Burton and Grala were scored in the top 10.
Ten laps later, Nemechek stretched his advantage to more than three seconds over Brandon Jones while third-place Hill trailed by more than five seconds ahead of Berry and Kligerman. Nemechek would continue to extend his advantage to more than four seconds over Brandon Jones followed by Hill while Kligerman overtook Berry for fourth place with 20 laps remaining.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Nemechek stabilized his advantage to nearly six seconds over Brandon Jones while Hill, Kligerman and Creed were trailing behind in the top five and by more than nine seconds. By then, Berry fell back to sixth while Moffitt, Kraus, Grala and Joe Graf Jr. were mired in the top 10.
With five laps remaining, Nemechek continued to lead by more than six seconds over Brandon Jones as he continued to muscle away from the field while navigating his way through lapped traffic.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Nemechek remained as the leader by more than six seconds over Brandon Jones. With Jones too far back to mount a late charge, Nemechek, who continued to deal with lapped traffic, was able to cycle his way around the Kansas circuit for a final time smoothly and cross the finish line to claim his sixth checkered flag of the 2023 Xfinity season and by more than seven seconds over Jones.
With the victory, Nemechek scored his eighth career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, his sixth of the season, his second at Kansas and the 10th of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing. In addition, Nemechek recorded the milestone 200th Xfinity career win for the Toyota nameplate. Despite falling short of claiming the Xfinity Series regular-season title to Austin Hill by a mere margin, Nemechek enters the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs with momentum and with the top seed with 2,049 points as he prepares to embark on his quest to win his first Xfinity title.
“I don’t if this [win] makes us the [championship] favorite or not, but super proud of this No. 20 team, Joe Gibbs Racing,” Nemechek said on NBC. “Man, it’s been a week. It’s been an exciting week, but I’m super pumped to get [the] Pye Barker Toyota GR Supra back in Victory Lane. [Crew chief] Ben [Beshore] and all the guys made the right adjustments all day. They brought a really fast hot rod. Overall, just super pumped, super ecstatic. I’m looking forward to getting in the Playoffs starting next weekend at Bristol [Motor Speedway]. We came in here today trying to get the regular-season championship. I said that we’re gonna have a 60-point day this weekend and that’s what we did. We controlled where we can control. We did everything that we could possibly do, so let’s get to the Playoffs. I’m ready.”
Brandon Jones rallied from his pair of on-track spins by settling in second place, which marks his highest-finishing result of the season, but was not able to gain enough ground to make the Playoffs for himself and the No. 9 JR Motorsports team.
Creed settled in third place followed by Parker Kligerman, who was able to clinch the 12th and final transfer spot into the Playoffs as both he and Big Machine Racing will make their inaugural presences in the Xfinity Series Playoffs as title contenders while seeded 12th in the Playoff standings with 2,002 points. With Kligerman in the Playoffs, Herbst, who came into Kansas a single point ahead of Kligerman, ended up dropping below the cutline amid his series of on-track issues and with a 23rd-place finish as he too missed the Playoffs.
Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“That’s a very satisfying feeling,” Kligerman said. “I was definitely the biggest John Hunter [Nemechek] fan that last run there, seeing [Brandon Jones] be so fast that last run. I’m really proud of this whole Big Machine Racing team. They brought a really good Spiked Light Coolers Chevy as we showed throughout this race. We executed at a high level and that’s what I’m seeing us do for the last 12 weeks. I felt like if we could just get in the Playoffs and we bring this going forward, we’re gonna go racing for a championship. What an honor to get the first Playoff berth for this race team. Overall, just a really solid day where we executed on a high level. If we can do that in the next eight weeks, we got a chance at this thing.”
“We just weren’t good enough today,” Herbst said. “I feel like we weren’t good enough, though, so that’s what’s frustrating. I just don’t think we executed on that restart [on Lap 64]. I don’t really know what happened. They all got stacked up. I don’t know if somebody missed a gear or spun the tires, but at that point, our day was kind of in a big hole. I feel like we can go now and try to win races. I don’t think we’re gonna quit working by any means and I think we’re gonna hopefully end up in Victory Lane by the year’s over.”
Finishing behind Kligerman on the track was Austin Hill, who was able to lock up the Xfinity Series regular-season championship over Nemechek. As a result, Hill, who was awarded an additional 15 Playoff bonus points, will be seeded in second place behind Nemechek in the Playoff standings with 2,039 points as he prepares to contend for his first Xfinity title.
“We just struggled all day with the balance of our Bennett Chevrolet,” Hill said. “We persevered, we dug deep. Not even sure how we finished in the top five there. Us getting the regular-season championship just shows that no matter how tough the battle is and how tough the uphill climb is, we never give up. We keep fighting. The guys did an awesome job on pit road on gaining me spots. That helped. We just had to go out there and just salvage what we could. Going into the Playoffs, we have a lot of work to do to catch up to [Nemechek]. He was class of the field today. We gotta be better come Bristol time.”
Berry, Moffitt, Derek Kraus, Joe Graf Jr. and Kaz Grala finished in the top 10 on the track.
John Hunter Nemechek, Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Sam Mayer, rookie Chandler Smith, Josh Berry, Sheldon Creed, rookie Sammy Smith, Jeb Burton, Daniel Hemric and Parker Kligerman have made the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs and will embark on a seven-race stretch to battle for this year’s Xfinity Series championship.
Riley Herbst, Brandon Jones, Brett Moffitt, rookie Parker Retzlaff, Kaz Grala, Ryan Sieg, Jeremy Clements, Anthony Alfredo, Joe Graf Jr., Kyle Sieg, Josh Williams, Brennan Poole, Ryan Ellis and Blaine Perkins are among the rest of the competitors who missed the Playoffs.
There were seven lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 49 laps. In addition, 11 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. John Hunter Nemechek, 154 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
2. Brandon Jones, two laps led
3. Sheldon Creed
4. Parker Kligerman
5. Austin Hill
6. Josh Berry
7. Brett Moffitt
8. Derek Kraus
9. Joe Graf Jr.
10. Kaz Grala
11. Parker Retzlaff
12. Jeb Burton, one lap down
13. Josh Williams, one lap down
14. Connor Mosack, one lap down
15. Jeremy Clements, one lap down
16. Mason Massey, one lap down
17. Ryan Ellis, one lap down
18. Justin Allgaier, one lap down, 40 laps led
19. Matt Mills, two laps down
20. Kyle Sieg, two laps down
21. Dawson Cram, two laps down
22. CJ McLaughlin, two laps down
23. Riley Herbst, two laps down
24. Joey Gase, two laps down
25. Garrett Smithley, two laps down
26. Leland Honeyman, three laps down
27. Anthony Alfredo, three laps down
28. Brennan Poole, three laps down
29. Rajah Caruth, three laps down
30. Ryan Sieg, four laps down
31. Nick Leitz, six laps down
32. Chandler Smith, 14 laps down
33. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Brakes
34. Daniel Hemric, 80 laps down
35. Sammy Smith – OUT, Accident, one lap led
36. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident, three laps led
37. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident
38. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident
The 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to commence next Friday, September 15, at Bristol Motor Speedway, with the event’s broadcast slated to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Christopher Bell won the Busch Light Pole Award at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with a fast lap of 124.781 mph during qualifying Saturday afternoon. He will lead the field to green in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for Sunday’s Cup Series Crayon 301.
It is his first pole this season and the fifth of his Cup Series career. Bell is also the defending race winner at the 1.058-mile track.
Bell described his qualifying run, saying, “It’s crazy how much difference the temperature can change the cars. These things are really sliding around. You’re on the edge here for sure.”
His JGR teammate, Martin Truex Jr. will join Bell on the front row in his No. 19 Toyota after a 124.781 mph lap.
“It’s really difficult to get the balance the way you want it,” Truex said. “Overall, we were fast. We’re excited to be here in New Hampshire. We’ve been after a win here for a while.”
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola will start third in the No. 10 Ford with Team Penske Ford drivers, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, rounding out the top five starters.
Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch will complete the top 10.
Notably, Busch had damage after hitting the wall during practice but his No. 8 Chevrolet was repaired by the team before qualifying. But his troubles continued when, at the end of his qualifying lap, he spun and made contact with the outside wall. He was however credited by NASCAR for the 10th fastest lap.
Inspection was held before practice Saturday and Noah Gragson’s No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet failed twice. NASCAR ejected engineer Phillip Bell and the team will lose pit-stall selection for Sunday’s race.
You can tune into Sunday’s Cup Series Crayon 301 at 3 p.m. ET on USA, the NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Denny Hamlin saved his best lap for the last as he claimed the Busch pole position for the 2023 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday, June 10.
The three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, posted a pole-winning lap at 92.178 mph in 77.719 seconds, which was enough to claim the top starting spot over his 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick, who ended up posting the second-best qualifying lap at 92.068 mph in 77.812 seconds.
With his accomplishment, Hamlin notched his 38th NASCAR Cup Series career pole, his first at Sonoma and second of the 2023 season. He also recorded the 138th Cup career pole overall for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Through 629 previous starts and 49 victories in NASCAR’s premier series, Hamlin’s lone victory on a Cup road course venue occurred at Watkins Glen International in August 2016. Two months earlier, he was in position to win at Sonoma until he got bumped and overtook by former teammate and three-time Cup champion Tony Stewart on the final lap and final corner, which relegated him back to second place in the final running order. With a total of seven top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 17.9 through 16 previous starts at Sonoma, Hamlin will aim to achieve his first victory at Sonoma on Sunday, June 11.
Reddick, who won at Circuit of the Americas in March and at Road America in July 2022, will start alongside his owner Hamlin on the front row.
Michael McDowell, who finished third at Sonoma a year ago, posted the third-fastest qualifying lap at 92.060 mph in 77.819 seconds. Christopher Bell will line up in fourth place while AJ Allmendinger, who is pulling double-duty roles between the Xfinity Series and Cup Series doubleheader features this weekend, will start fifth.
Following suit on the starting grid is rookie Ty Gibbs along with Chris Buescher and Martin Truex Jr., thus placing five Toyota competitors in the top eight starting spots. Daniel Suarez, who notched his first Cup career victory at Sonoma a year ago, will line up in ninth place while Chase Elliott, who returns from a one-race suspension, will complete the top-10 starting lineup in 10th.
Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch, teammates of Richard Childress Racing, will start 11th and 12th, respectively, after both were the first two competitors to miss the final round cutoff to contend for pole position.
Notably, Kyle Larson, who started on pole in the last five Cup events at Sonoma, will line up in 16th. In addition, teammate Alex Bowman will start 14th in front of Ross Chastain, Joey Logano will start 17th in front of Bubba Wallace, Kevin Harvick will line up 21st in his 23rd and final start at Sonoma, William Byron will start in 26th behind Brad Keselowski and regular-season points leader Ryan Blaney will start Sunday’s event in 31st.
In addition, road-ringer Andy Lally will line up 33rd while Grant Enfinger, who is filling in for rookie Noah Gragson as Gragson continues to recover from concussion-like symptoms, will start 35th.
In a highly anticipated event featuring a star-studded lineup of competitors and new names across the grid, Tyler Reddick captured the main spotlight by winning the third annual running of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, March 26, amid three overtime attempts and a dominant run since the start of the weekend.
The two-time Xfinity Series champion from Corning, California, led a race-high 41 of 75 over-scheduled laps in an event where he utilized pit strategy and a fast race car to keep himself in contention towards the front. Swapping the lead with William Byron on several occasions before overtaking him with four laps remaining, Reddick then had to navigate his way around Austin’s 20-turn circuit through three overtime attempts and a series of carnages erupting behind him to muscle away from Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain and Byron to claim the first checkered flag for himself, 23XI Racing and Toyota of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, William Byron notched his first Cup pole of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 93.882 mph in 130.760 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Tyler Reddick, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 93.783 mph in 130.898 seconds.
Prior to the event, Michael McDowell dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports entry.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Byron jumped ahead with the lead as the field fanned out through the uphill climb to the first turn. With the field navigating its way into the first turn, Byron retained the lead through a series of right and left-hand turns from Turns 2 to 10 before approaching a steep left-hand turn in Turn 11. As the field approached the long straightaway between Turns 11 and 12, Tyler Reddick and Austin Cindric battled for second with Daniel Suarez closing in after he overtook Jordan Taylor, a three-time IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar champion who was filling in the No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the injured Chase Elliott. Following the final series of turns from Turns 12 to 20, the field returned to the frontstretch as Byron led the first lap ahead of Reddick, Cindric, Suarez and Alex Bowman while Jordan Taylor fell back to ninth.
Just then, the first caution of the event flew on the second lap when Brad Keselowski, who was running within the middle of the field, spun in between Turns 19 and 20. As a bevy of cars approaching Keselowski scattered to avoid him, Ty Dillon got pinched in between Todd Gilliland and Chris Buescher, which resulted in Buescher hitting Dillon as he veered sideways and slammed into the No. 84 Club Wyndham Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 piloted by seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson as Johnson spun with right-side damage while Dillon emerged with significant front nose damage to his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The early incident was enough to knock both Dillon and Johnson out of contention while Keselowski continued.
During the following restart on the fifth lap, the field fanned out again entering the first turn as Cindric, who restarted third, managed to motor his way past Byron and Reddick, both of whom went wide in Turn 1, to assume the lead entering the series of turns from Turns 2 to 10. As the field jostled for positions past the turns and entering the frontstretch between Turns 11 and 12, Cindric maintained the lead over Reddick and Byron with Suarez in fourth and AJ Allmendinger in fifth. By then, Taylor locked up the front tires entering Turn 11 while battling within the top 10 and nearly clipped Erik Jones, which caused him to drop back to 13th.
A lap later, Chase Briscoe, who was running 17th, got hit by Justin Haley and spun in Turn 1, but the field remained under green flag conditions as Briscoe lost a bevy of spots on the track. By then, Joey Logano was assessed a pass-through penalty for shortcutting through the esses while running in 16th, all while Cindric retained the lead in front of Reddick and Byron. By the seventh lap, however, Reddick managed to cycle his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry around Cindric’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang entering Turn 19 to assume the lead on the eighth lap.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Reddick was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Byron while third-place Cindric trailed by more than a second. Allmendinger and Suarez were running fourth and fifth while Bowman, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain were scored in the top 10. Behind, Bubba Wallace was in 11th ahead of Christopher Bell, Jordan Taylor and rookies Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson while Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece, Tod Gilliland, Harrison Burton and Martin Truex Jr. occupied the top 20. By then, Kevin Harvick was in 22nd ahead of Ryan Blaney and Austin Dillon, former Formula One champion Kimi Räikkönen was in 25th, Keselowski was back in 27th, former Formula One champion Jenson Button was mired back in 31st in between Aric Almirola and Chase Briscoe and IndyCar competitor Conor Daly was in 34th. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin, Corey LaJoie and Michael McDowell were assessed penalties for cutting the course.
Then during the following lap, trouble erupted when Bubba Wallace locked up the front tires and slammed into Larson with Erik Jones also sustaining damage in Turn 12. While limping his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to pit road, Larson endured more on-track issues when he got hit by Denny Hamlin and spun backward toward the pit wall in between Turns 19 and 20 at the same time when Wallace was pitting his wounded No. 23 MoneyLion Toyota TRD Camry as the caution returned. Despite the pair of incidents, Larson managed to continue while Wallace retired with a damaged oil line. By then, Cody Ware also endured on-track issues when he spun within the infield turns. In addition, names like Stenhouse, Harvick, Buescher, Keselowski, Almirola, Briscoe, Logano and LaJoie pitted.
The following restart on Lap 15 also marked the conclusion of the first stage as Byron managed to edge Cindric to capture his fourth stage victory of the 2023 Cup season followed by Allmendinger, Bowman, Chastain, Suarez, Kyle Busch, Taylor, Bell and Ryan Preece. Compared to the first five events on the schedule, the caution flag did not display and the competitors proceeded under green as part of NASCAR’s new rules for this season, which highlighted that no caution periods would be mandated at the conclusion of stage breaks on road course venues that hold Cup Series events.
With the second stage proceeding under green on Lap 15, the field fanned out and scrambled for positions through the first turn and the series of left and right-hand turns from Turns 2 to 10 with Byron retaining the lead over Cindric, Allmendinger, Bowman and Chastain.
At the Lap 20 mark, Byron was leading by six-tenths of a second over Cindric followed by Allmendinger, Suarez and Chastain while Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Bell, Taylor and Reddick were in the top 10. By then, 34 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap. Meanwhile, Blaney, who spun in Turn 15 a few laps earlier after getting hit by Larson, and Keselowski, who received an earlier tap from Blaney before spinning in Turn 12, plummeted down to 27th and 35th, respectively.
Shortly after, green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Kyle Busch pitted his No. 8 Netspend Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 followed by Jenson Button, Almirola, Preece, Gilliland and Gibbs. Taylor would also pit a few laps later followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Bell. By Lap 23, Cindric pitted despite enduring issues with changing the right-rear tire along with Bowman and Chastain while Byron retained the lead ahead of Allmendinger.
Once Byron surrendered the lead to pit his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green prior to Lap 24, Reddick, who pitted prior to the conclusion of the first stage, cycled back into the lead. Behind, Allmendinger and Suarez also pitted while Austin Dillon, McDowell, Harvick and Larson emerged in the top five. By then, every competitor still running on the field made at least one pit stop with all on mixed pit strategies.
By Lap 25, Reddick was leading by more than three seconds over Austin Dillon followed by McDowell, Harvick and Larson while Stenhouse, Buescher, Erik Jones, Briscoe and Logano were scored in the top 10. By then, Hamlin was in 11th ahead of Gragson, Kimi Räikkönen, Keselowski and Byron while Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Suarez, Gibbs and Chastain were in the top 20. By then, Bowman was in 21st, Bell was back in 26th ahead of teammate Truex and Taylor had fallen back in 29th ahead of Cindric and Jenson Button. Meanwhile, Blaney was mired a lap down in 34th following his earlier on-track incident and spin.
When the second stage concluded under green on Lap 30, Reddick captured his first stage victory of the 2023 Cup season while former teammate Austin Dillon trailed by more than seven seconds. McDowell, Harvick, Buescher, Stenhouse, Larson, Erik Jones, Briscoe and Gragson were scored in the top 10 while 33 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap.
With the final stage proceeding under green with 38 laps remaining, Hamlin and Keselowski pitted under green shortly after while Gibbs was penalized for cutting the course. Briscoe, Gragson, Larson and McDowell would eventually pit, with Larson being penalized for speeding on pit road. Then approaching Lap 32, Reddick surrendered the lead to pit along with Stenhouse while Buescher assumed the lead. Following Reddick’s pit stop, Byron managed to overtake Reddick on the track as he settled in third behind Buescher and Erik Jones while Reddick was back in 10th.
A lap later, Byron reassumed the lead once Buescher pitted along with Erik Jones. This enabled Allmendinger to move into second followed by Suarez, Chastain and Kyle Busch while Reddick moved up to sixth. Another lap later, the event reached its halfway mark. By then, Gibbs was assessed another pass-through penalty for cutting the course while Reddick set the fastest lap of the event while running towards the top five.
With 30 laps remaining, Byron was leading by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Reddick followed by Allmendinger, Suarez and Chastain while Bowman, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Cindric and McDowell were mired in the top 10. A lap later, Reddick made his move beneath Byron in Turn 1 and moved back into the lead. Meanwhile, Logano pitted his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang under green while Bell, who spun in Turn 8, was in 14th.
Three laps later, the caution flew due to debris reported in Turn 9. This occurred after Hamlin, who was running 17th, spun his No. 11 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry a turn prior and kicked up dirt on the course. During the caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Reddick pitted for service that included fresh tires and enough fuel for the finish while Logano, who pitted a few laps prior to the caution, remained on the track along with Harrison Burton and Cody Ware. Following the pit stops, Reddick was the first competitor to exit pit road followed by Byron, Suarez, Chastain, Austin Dillon and McDowell. During the pit stops, Gibbs was penalized for pitting outside his pit box.
With 25 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Logano and Harrison Burton occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out entering the first turn as Reddick launched his move beneath Logano for the lead. Despite grabbing it approaching the turn, Reddick wiggled and went wide, which allowed Byron to overtake him for the lead as Reddick was left to battle Chastain for second. Through the series of left and right-hand turns from Turns 2 to 10 and with the field still fanning out and jostling for late positions, Byron maintained the lead while Reddick was trying to navigate his way back into second. As the field continued to navigate through the next round of turns entering Turn 12, Suarez overshot the turn and lost a spot to fifth place on the track while Byron retained the lead ahead of Reddick, Chastain and Bowman.
Two laps later, a side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between Reddick and Byron through the straightaway turn between Turns 11 and 12. Following a side-by-side, crossover and swapping duel fight between the top-two leaders through Turns 12 to Turn 20, Byron managed to retain the lead by a narrow hair over Reddick. During the following lap, Byron and Reddick continued to fight for the lead as Chastain started to close in on the two leaders. Through the infield turns, however, Reddick managed to pull ahead and remain ahead of Byron to retake the lead as Chastain started to challenge Byron for second. Meanwhile, fourth-place Bowman trailed by more than a second as he started to join the battle.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Reddick was leading by two-tenths of a second over Byron while third-place Chastain trailed by nine-tenths of a second. Behind, Bowman was in fourth place while Austin Dillon occupied fifth place. With Suarez, Bell, Harvick, Logano and McDowell running in the top 10, Allmendinger, who endured a slow pit stop during the last caution period, was mired in 11th while Jordan Taylor navigated his way into 19th place, six spots over Räikkönen and eight over Jenson Button. Meanwhile, Larson limped back to pit road with a broken toe link to his No. 5 entry while Preece, who was assessed a pass-through penalty for short-cutting the esses, was assessed another pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road while serving his first penalty.
Five laps later, the Reddick and Byron, both of whom were instructed to save fuel, were separated by half a second, with Reddick leading while third-place Chastain trailed by more than a second. In the midst of the battles upfront, both Keselowski and Stenhouse spun through Turn 11, but the event proceeded under green. A few laps later, Hamlin and Kyle Busch pitted under green for enough fuel for the finish.
Then with 12 laps remaining, Byron slipped and went off the course in Turn 8, which allowed Trackhouse Racing’s Chastain and Suarez to move up to second and third. Not long after, Suarez bumped and moved teammate Chastain out of his way in Turn 11 to claim second place while Reddick retained the lead by more than a second. Just then, the caution returned when Keselowski came to a stop in Turn 7. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Reddick pitted while names like Bell, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Räikkönen and Preece remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Reddick was the first competitor to exit first followed by Byron, Suarez, Bowman, Austin Dillon and McDowell while Chastain lost a bevy of spots amid a slow pit service.
During the following restart with nine laps remaining, where Bell and Kyle Busch occupied the front row, Bell jumped ahead with a slight advantage as the field fanned out entering the first turn. Then as Reddick challenged Bell for the lead on fresh tires, carnage ensued behind as Allmendinger clipped and sent Austin Dillon around. At the same time, Chastain, who went wide to avoid Dillon, made contact with Erik Jones as he spun. With Chastain unable to pull away in Turn 1, the caution returned to being displayed. By then, Reddick reassumed the lead ahead of Bell while Byron was up in third followed by Kyle Bush and Truex.
As the field restarted under green with seven laps remaining, Reddick jumped ahead with the lead. Through Turn 1, however, Reddick overdrove the first turn, which allowed Byron to draw back even and clear him for the lead entering the series of turns. Then through Turn 9, Bell got turned as he spun while running towards the front, but the event remained under green. With the field scrambling entering Turns 11 and 12, Byron was out in front ahead of Reddick and Kyle Busch while Truex and Suarez rounded out the top five.
Down to the final five laps of the event, Byron maintained the lead by half a second over Reddick while third-place Kyle Busch trailed by more than two seconds. With Suarez and Bowman in the top five, Truex was in sixth while McDowell, Preece, Logano and Gragson were in the top 10. By then, 31 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Then entering Turn 11, Reddick, who kept Byron pressured for the lead, pounced on an opportunity to seize it back, which he did as he also fended off Byron through the straightaway from Turns 11 and 12 before maintaining the advantage through a series of turns from Turns 12 to 20. A lap later, the caution returned and the event was sent into overtime due to debris reported on the course as a result of Austin Dillon, who was penalized for cutting the esses earlier, shredding a left-rear tire on his No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
With the event restarting in overtime, Reddick dueled against Byron amid the field fanning out before being locked into another side-by-side battle with Kyle Busch after he nearly overshot the turn. Behind, however, more on-track issues ensued in Turn 1 when Blaney got turned and spun. In front of him, Preece also got turned after making contact with Gibbs, which he also clipped Gragson. With the carnage ensuing behind, the event remained under green as Reddick maintained the lead over Kyle Busch and Byron. Then as Reddick was trying to motor his car back to the start/finish line to start the final lap, the caution returned and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt due to debris coming off of Blaney’s No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang while fluid was also leaking out of Preece’s damaged No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang.
At the start of the second overtime attempt, Bowman, who restarted within the top 10 and fanned out in his move to the front, made contact with Suarez and the contact carried forth into Truex getting hit and spun in Turn 1 while Suarez plummeted below the field after stopping in front of Truex’s car. As Reddick remained ahead of Kyle Busch, Bowman and Byron with the lead, Justin Haley spun in Turn 11 while running in the middle of the pack, but the event remained under green. Then through the infield carousel turns, McDowell, Räikkönen and Bell also spun, but the event remained under green again. The caution, however, flew and the event was sent into a third overtime attempt due to debris on the course after Suarez shredded the left-front tire of his No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. By then, Reddick was scored the leader ahead of Kyle Busch, Bowman and Byron while Chastain maneuvered his way back to fifth.
When the event proceeded under green for the third overtime attempt, Reddick managed to fend off Bowman through the first turn to maintain the lead as the field bumped and jostled through the first turn. With Almirola falling off the pace, Reddick continued to navigate at the front through the series of turns from Turns 2 to 10. With more names like Logano, Bell and Suarez wrecking through the turns, Reddick retained the lead in front of Bowman, who had Kyle Busch pressuring him for second while Chastain was in fourth ahead of Byron.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Reddick, who was able to navigate his way back to the frontstretch without another caution to stall his progress, remained as the leader by a second over Bowman, who was drawn even and overtaken by Kyle Busch for second. Having a clear view in front of him for a final time through the 20-turn circuit while his challengers battled behind, Reddick was able to smoothly navigate his way back to the frontstretch and claim his first checkered flag of the 2023 campaign by more than a second over Busch.
With the victory, Reddick became the third different winner at Circuit of the Americas in the venue’s three-year history of hosting NASCAR Cup Series events. By becoming the fifth different winner of the 2023 season, he also notched his third victory on a road course venue and his fourth career win in NASCAR’s premier series. The victory was also the first of the season and fourth overall for 23XI Racing while the Toyota nameplate notched its first Cup victory of 2023.
“[The victory] means the world,” Reddick said on FOX. “This whole 23XI team has been working hard all winter long to make the road course program better and was extremely motivated to come in here and improve that performance. Just so proud of this Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD. This whole team, Toyota, everybody. All the resources, everything they’ve been putting into this to help turn around the road course program means a lot. I’m out of gas, but I feel a little bit better with Monster Energy.”
Meanwhile, Kyle Busch navigated his way around Alex Bowman for second place for his second top-two finish of the season. Bowman settled in third place for his second consecutive top-three finish at Circuit of the Americas while Chastain and Byron finished in the top five.
“I don’t know if we could have [beaten Reddick],” Busch said. “Even if we were on equal tires, when we tested here, [Reddick’s team] were lights out and had us beat on the front side of the runs. We needed longer runs, but even today, for some reason, we just didn’t have the really great long-run speed. We had good middle run speed, but overall, for as much as effort and everything that we’ve put into coming here and focusing on this place and all the testing and everything that we’ve been able to do over the off-season, we come out of here with a really good finish.”
“[Today] was really fun,” Byron said. “[Reddick’s team] were great all weekend. Tyler’s been great at the road courses. We made it a battle, for sure. Every time, crossovers, out-braking each other. That was a lot of fun. I hate that it kind of got down to restarts at the end. I got shoved off one time in second. We needed a top five and probably could’ve done some things different, but overall, a good day for the Liberty University Chevrolet. Good speed. Just, Tyler was so fast all weekend. I felt like, when I got the lead, I was just slipping and sliding, so it was fun.”
With 30 of 39 starters finishing on the lead lap, Cindric, Stenhouse, Buescher, Gibbs and Todd Gilliland completed the top 10 on the track.
Notably, Harvick finished 13th in his third and final start at Circuit of the Americas, Larson rallied for 14th, Hamlin fell back to 16th in front of teammate Truex, Blaney ended up 21st and Suarez settled in 27th in front of Logano. In addition, Jenson Button emerged as the highest-finishing open-wheel star in 18th while IMSA’s Jordan Taylor finished 24th and Formula One’s Kimi Räikkönen ended up 29th.
There were 16 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 17 laps.
Following the sixth event of the 2023 Cup Series season, Ross Chastain leads the regular-season standings by 19 over Kyle Busch, 25 over both Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick, 27 over Christopher Bell and 34 over Ryan Blaney.
Results.
1. Tyler Reddick, 41 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Kyle Busch
3. Alex Bowman
4. Ross Chastain
5. William Byron, 28 laps led, Stage 1 winner
6. Austin Cindric, two laps led
7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
8. Chris Buescher, one lap led
9. Ty Gibbs
10. Todd Gilliland
11. Corey LaJoie
12. Michael McDowell
13. Kevin Harvick
14. Kyle Larson
15. Chase Briscoe
16. Denny Hamlin
17. Martin Truex Jr.
18. Jenson Button
19. Justin Haley
20. Noah Gragson
21. Ryan Blaney
22. Harrison Burton
23. Erik Jones
24. Jordan Taylor
25. Cody Ware
26. Josh Bilicki
27. Daniel Suarez, one lap led
28. Joey Logano, one lap led
29. Kimi Räikkönen
30. Aric Almirola, one lap down
31. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident, one lap led
32. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident
33. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident
34. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident
35. Brad Keselowski – OUT, Driveshaft
36. Conor Daly – OUT, Transmission
37. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident
38. Jimmie Johnson – OUT, DVP
39. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ first of two scheduled events of this season at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, April 2, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
With the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season nine days away from commencing, TRICON Garage put the final pieces of its rebranded puzzle together by revealing its crew chief and personnel lineup for its fleet of Toyota Tundra TRD Pros and drivers.
For starters, Seth Smith will remain at TRICON to serve as a crew chief for the No. 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro that will compete in select events and be piloted by multiple competitors that include Jason White for the season opener at Daytona International Speedway next Friday and newcomer William Sawalich, who will make his debut at Martinsville Speedway in April. The 34-year-old Smith from Troutman, North Carolina, has achieved two Truck career victories to his resume, both of which occurred during the previous season with Todd Gilliland at Knoxville Raceway and with Ryan Preece at Nashville Superspeedway.
Next, Derek Smith, brother to Seth Smith, will be graduating to the Truck Series to assume the pit box of the No. 5 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro team that will be driven by Dean Thompson, who joins the organization as a full-time competitor after spending the previous season at Niece Motorsports. Smith makes his move to the Truck circuit with 31 ARCA Menards Series events as a crew chief to his resume. As a former crew chief for TRICON in the ARCA regions, he led veteran and TRICON’s owner David Gilliland to his first ARCA West career victory at Phoenix Raceway in 2020.
New to the organization for this season is Scott Zipadelli, the 2018 Truck Series championship-winning crew chief from Newington, Connecticut. Zipadelli will lead the No. 11 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro that will be piloted by Corey Heim, the reigning Truck Series Rookie-of-the-Year recipient who notched his first two career victories during the previous season and is set to run his first full-time Truck season. Prior to TRICON, Zipadelli spent the previous six seasons at Hattori Racing Enterprises, where he notched 14 of his 15 career victories along with the 2018 title with Brett Moffitt. His other victory occurred at Michigan International Speedway in 2016 with Red Horse Racing and Moffitt. To go along with his success in the Truck circuit, Zipadelli has notched three Xfinity Series victories as a crew chief.
Coming off his first campaign as a crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series, Jerame Donley will embark on another new beginning for this season by becoming a full-time Truck Series crew chief for TRICON’s No. 15 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro that will be driven by Tanner Gray, who returns for a fourth full-time campaign at TRICON. Donley, a graduate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, spent the majority of this past season as a crew chief for Ty Dillon and Petty GMS Motorsports. Previously, he was a nine-year engineer veteran for Chip Ganassi Racing and a former mechanic for Hendrick Motorsports.
Lastly, Billy Wilburn will be returning to the Truck Series to serve as a crew chief for TRICON’s No. 17 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro team that will be piloted by rookie Taylor Gray in all but the first three scheduled events. The 56-year-old Wilburn from Tempe, Arizona, has called 196 NASCAR national touring series events as a crew chief. His lone victory occurred at Kentucky Speedway in June 2006 with David Gilliland, who notched his first Xfinity career win. With Gray missing the first three events due to age restrictions, Sammy Smith will be making his Truck debut at Daytona. It remains undetermined who will be driving the No. 17 entry for the following two events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March.
In addition, veteran Matt Puccia will be joining TRICON Garage to assume the role of Competition Director. The 69-year-old Puccia from Watertown, New York, previously worked as a Director of Operations for Roush Fenway Racing and has called 269 Cup Series events as a crew chief for Roush from 2011 to 2018. During the span, he notched three career victories and three Playoff appearances, all with former veteran Greg Biffle, from 2012 to 2014.
The 2023 season is set to mark a new beginning for TRICON Garage, which was rebranded from David Gilliland Racing and reunited with Toyota following a three-year partnership with Ford.
With their lineup set, TRICON Garage is set to make its debut at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, which will commence a new season of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition. The event’s air time is set to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
Tuesday morning’s news that Kyle Busch is moving from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing was undoubtedly the worst kept news in NASCAR for at least the past month. Busch leaves the JGR Toyota camp after 15 seasons and two Cup championships to pilot the No. 8 Chevrolet currently occupied by Tyler Reddick.
At first glance, it’s obvious this will be a boon for the mid-pack RCR camp. Since losing Kevin Harvick in 2013, RCR has celebrated success sparingly within the organization, with seven wins (four for Austin Dillon, one for Ryan Newman, two for Reddick) since the 2014 season. To bring in a driver like Busch could very well turn the tides for RCR and could bring in the level of success the group was used to during Harvick’s tenure with the team.
It’s all dependent, however, on how much money Chevrolet is planning on throwing in RCR’s and Busch’s direction. With the move to RCR, Busch’s Kyle Busch Motorsports Camping World Truck teams will be making the switch to Chevrolet as well. Considering that the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is heavily observed by the manufacturers, the loss of the best Toyota team is a dent in their driver pipeline. This could also bring Toyota Racing Development to pay closer attention to the drivers in their pipeline and possibly rectify the issues their clogged driver pipeline is facing (i.e., Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland, etc.).
It’s a no-brainer that Chevrolet will be doing everything in their power to make RCR an elite team like Hendrick Motorsports. But one can’t help but wonder just what happened which led TRD and JGR to drop the ball so hard with Busch’s negotiations. Without Busch, there’s no successful Toyota Cup organization in Cup. Busch was TRD in NASCAR. He was the flagship name, he was the face of the Toyota surge in NASCAR.
For them to lose such a big name to a rival team and manufacturer couldn’t have been a deliberate matter. Busch is a generational talent; that just doesn’t happen by chance. It’s more likely by mistake or ignorance if anything. But with the loss of KBM in the trucks, that leaves Halmar-Friesen Racing and ThorSport Racing as the lone Toyota truck teams. Given the usual strength of the Toyota driver pipeline, the loss of KBM leaves their drivers with few options to go elsewhere as neither team has a high turnover rate.
The options are marginally better in the Xfinity Series aside from Joe Gibbs Racing, but it does look bleak for the time being. Undoubtedly the landscape will look different come Daytona next season, but it’s all going to be extra work scrambling to fill Busch’s shoes at JGR and Toyota.
Meanwhile, longtime manufacturer Chevrolet could be finding even more success in NASCAR with the addition of Busch and what he’ll be bringing. Another boon is more in the direction of RCR, as they’ll be bringing in a driver with a bad boy reputation the likes of which haven’t been seen since Harvick. The partnership is fitting regarding the Childress legacy, the Busch legacy, and the Chevrolet legacy. But along with that, they’ll be bringing Busch’s brand – the dark horse, the rebel, the villain.
In a racing career highlighted with numerous heartbreaks and “what-ifs” moments, Daniel Hemric defied the odds and silenced his doubters by capturing two firsts following the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, November 6: first win and first championship.
Following an overtime finish for the ages, Hemric, a 30-year-old native from Kannapolis, North Carolina, dueled and rubbed fenders against the reigning series champion Austin Cindric on the final lap and final corner to come out on top by a fender and achieve both his first elusive NASCAR Xfinity Series race win and the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.
The championship occurred in Hemric’s 208th NASCAR national touring series start (120th in the Xfinity Series) and following 10 runner-up results in the Xfinity circuit while competing for three different teams, including this season with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Qualifying occurred on Saturday, November 6, to determine the starting lineup and Austin Cindric, the reigning series champion, started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 131.902 mph. John Hunter Nemechek, piloting the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra, qualified alongside Cindric on the front row.
With Cindric starting as the highest of four Xfinity competitors vying for this year’s title, Daniel Hemric started fourth, Noah Gragson qualified sixth and AJ Allmendinger lined up in 12th.
Prior to the event, Harrison Burton dropped to the rear of the field due to multiple inspection failures. JJ Yeley also started at the rear of the field in a backup car after spinning in practice along with David Starr, who dropped back due to unapproved adjustments to his car.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Cindric and Nemechek dueled for the lead through the dogleg, the frontstretch and for a full lap before Nemechek was able to power through and lead the first lap.
As the field fanned out and jostled early for positions, Cindric was in second behind Nemechek followed by Hemric, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones and Gragson. Allmendinger, meanwhile, was in the top 12.
Through the first 10 laps of the finale, Nemechek was leading by nearly four-tenths of a second over Cindric, who was the highest-running title contender on the track. Hemric settled in third followed by Allgaier, Gragson, Haley, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, Allmendinger and Michael Annett. Jeb Burton was in 11th, Sam Mayer was in 13th ahead of Myatt Snider and Ryan Sieg, Brandon Brown was in 16th and Harrison Burton was battling for a top-20 spot.
Ten laps later, Cindric made a strong move beneath Nemechek through the frontstretch and the dogleg to take the lead for the first time, though Nemechek kept Cindric’s No. 22 CarShop Ford Mustang within his sights. Hemric remained in third place on the track ahead of Allgaier, Gragson settled in fifth and Allmendinger was mired in 10th behind Annett.
Another 10 laps later, Cindric, who navigated his way through lapped traffic, continued to lead by more than seven-tenths of a second over Nemechek’s No. 54 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra. Hemric stabilized himself in third place, but his No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra trailed the two leaders by nearly two seconds as he also had Allgaier closing in for position. Gragson continued to run in fifth while Allmendinger was up in ninth.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Cindric received the early upper hand in his bid to defend his series title as he captured his season-high 13th stage victory of the season. Behind, Hemric edged teammate Nemechek to settle in second followed by Allgaier, Gragson, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger, Annett, Herbst and Haley.
Under the stage break, the leaders pitted for adjustments and Hemric emerged with the lead following a stellar work from his pit crew that enabled him to exit pit road with the top spot. Cindric exited in second followed by Jones, Gragson, Allgaier, Nemechek and Allmendinger.
The second stage started on Lap 52 as Hemric and Gragson occupied the front row followed by Jones, Cindric, Allmendinger and Allgaier. At the start, Hemric rocketed away with the lead as the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the frontstretch and the dogleg.
The following lap, Cindric muscled his way back to second as Allgaier challenged teammate Gragson for third along with Nemechek.
Nearing the Lap 60 mark, the caution flew due to an on-track incident and long spin for Jeffrey Earnhardt on the backstretch as the incident also involved Joe Graf Jr. and Kyle Weatherman. At the time of caution, Hemric was leading by nearly three-tenths of a second over Cindric. In addition, Allgaier and Nemechek, both of whom were battling for third place, had made on-track contact twice towards the frontstretch in front of Gragson while Allmendinger was in sixth ahead of teammate Justin Haley.
On Lap 65, the race restarted under green as Hemric and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Hemric and Allgaier dueled for the lead as the field again fanned out through the frontstretch. Through the backstretch, however, Hemric was able to clear Allgaier to retain the top spot until Nemechek, who gained a strong run entering the frontstretch, muscled his way back to the top spot the following lap.
With Nemechek leading teammate Hemric, Allgaier retained third ahead of Cindric while Allmendinger and Gragson battled for fifth.
Through the first 75 laps of the event, Nemechek was leading by nearly a second over teammate Hemric and Cindric. Teammates Allgaier and Gragson were in the top five followed by Allmendinger, Haley, Jeb Burton, Annett and Harrison Burton, who methodically worked his way from the rear of the field.
Five laps later, Nemechek extended his advantage to more than a second while Hemric and Cindric challenged one another for the runner-up spot and for the championship lead.
With four laps remaining in the second stage, Hemric, who managed to cut his deficit to Nemechek amid lapped traffic, overtook teammate Nemechek entering the frontstretch to reassume the lead.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Hemric echoed his challenge for his first NASCAR national touring series title against his fellow competitors by capturing his 10th stage victory of the season. Cindric managed to overtake Nemechek to move into second followed by Allgaier, Gragson, Allmendinger, Haley, Harrison Burton, Annett and Herbst.
Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road and Hemric retained the lead following another strong service from his crew followed by Cindric, Nemechek, Allgaier, Allmendinger and Harrison Burton while Gragson, who dodged an uncontrolled tire pit road penalty, dropped to 10th.
With 103 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the frontstretch and through the first turn. Amid the start, Hemric retained the lead ahead of Cindric, Nemechek, Allmendinger, Harrison Burton and Allgaier.
The following lap, the caution returned due to a hard accident involving Joe Graf Jr. in Turn 1 after making contact with Sage Karam.
Under the final 93 laps of the finale, the field restarted under green. At the start and with the field again fanning out through the frontstretch, Hemric dueled and managed to fend off Nemechek to retain the lead ahead of a steaming pack of cars.
During the following lap, however, the caution returned when Sage Karam made contact with Matt Mills, which sent Mills into the Turn 1 outside wall and with right-side damage.
Under caution, Gragson pitted his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro for a chassis adjustment while the rest led by Hemric remained on the track.
With 87 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hemric retained the lead by a narrow margin over Cindric and Nemechek as Harrison Burton made his way up to fourth ahead of Allgaier.
Two laps later, Cindric made a bold move beneath Hemric entering the frontstretch and nearly slid in front of Hemric’s No. 18 Toyota to take the lead. Behind, Harrison Burton challenged Nemechek and Allgaier for third while Allmendinger was battling teammate Haley and Annett for sixth.
With approximately 75 laps remaining, the caution returned due to possible fluid on the track when the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Stefan Parsons erupted in flames past the start/finish line as he parked his car on the dogleg in the frontstretch. At the time of the caution, Cindric was leading by a reasonable margin over Hemric, Nemechek, Allgaier and Harrison Burton.
Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road and Cindric retained the lead following a strong service from his pit crew ahead of Nemechek, Allgaier, Allmendinger and Hemric.
With 66 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Cindric and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier pulled ahead on the inside lane in front of Cindric and the field.
Not long after, the caution returned when Jade Buford spun in Turn 2. Then, Allgaier, the leader, was penalized for dropping below the apron and the yellow line prior to crossing the start/finish line during the previous restart. Allgaier’s penalty moved Cindric back to the lead ahead of Hemric. In the midst of the restart, Gragson, who restarted 13th, was up to seventh.
Down to the final 60 laps of the finale, the field restarted under green as Cindric and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Cindric retained the lead while Hemric moved up to second after Allmendinger made contact with Nemechek entering the first turn. Behind, Gragson challenged Harrison Burton and Allmendinger for fourth as Jeb Burton joined the party.
Ten laps later, Cindric continued to lead by more than a second over Nemechek and Hemric, both of whom were battling for the runner-up spot before the former prevailed. Gragson was in fifth behind Harrison Burton while Allmendinger was in sixth.
With 40 laps remaining, Cindric stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Nemechek while third-place Hemric kept the two leaders within his sights as close as possible. Behind, Gragson was up in fourth ahead of Harrison Burton while Allmendinger was mired back in sixth, trailing the lead by more than five seconds.
Under the final 30 laps of the finale, Cindric increased his advantage to nearly two seconds over Nemechek. Hemric trailed by more than two seconds while Gragson and Allmendinger remained in fourth and sixth.
Down to the final 24 laps of the finale, Hemric’s charge for the championship began as he overtook teammate Nemechek for second place. By then, Cindric continued to lead amid lapped traffic, but was only approximately two seconds ahead.
Then with 19 laps remaining, the caution flew when Allmendinger, who was in sixth and trying to pit under green amid vibration issues, spun his No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet Camaro below the Turn 2 apron and near the pit road entrance. The caution all but erased Cindric’s advantage over Hemric, Nemechek and the field.
Under caution, the leaders pitted and Cindric retained the lead following another stellar service from his pit crew. Hemric exited in second followed by Gragson, Harrison Burton, Nemechek and Haley.
Down to the final 13 laps of the finale, the field restarted under green. At the start and with the field fanning out through the dogleg, Cindric dueled against Hemric while Gragson challenged behind. Through the first two turns and the backstretch, Cindric, who had Gragson trailing behind him, managed to fend off Hemric on the outside lane to retain the lead back to the frontstretch and past the start/finish line. Just then, the caution flew when Jeb Burton, who was in a three-wide battle, spun following contact with Sheldon Creed in Turn 3, which drew the caution as Burton continued without sustaining any serious damage.
With eight laps remaining, the field restarted under green. At the start and with the field again fanning out through the dogleg, Hemric dueled against Cindric trough the first two turns followed by Gragson, but Cindric managed to clear Hemric through the backstretch.
The following lap, Gragson, who tried to narrow the gap between himself and his two title rivals, slid up and hit the Turn 1 outside wall. Though he continued to run under power, he was losing spots on the track and losing ground towards his championship bid. Meanwhile, Hemric started to launch an attack beneath Cindric for the lead through Turns 3 and 4.
Just then, the caution returned when Buford and Josh Williams wrecked in Turn 3. The wreck was enough to send the finale into overtime.
In overtime, Cindric and Hemric again dueled for the lead through the first two turns ahead of the field. Remaining side-by-side through the backstretch, Hemric wiggled slightly underneath Cindric entering Turn 3 and barely clipped Cindric, but both continued running straight approach the frontstretch.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Cindric was still leading by a narrow margin over Hemric as Harrison Burton tried to spoil the battle.
Entering the first turn, Cindric had Hemric cleared for the top spot. Hemric then tried to draw himself alongside Cindric entering the backstretch, but Cindric fought back on the outside lane and Hemric chose to settle behind Cindric through the straightaway. Then on the final corner, Hemric sent his No. 18 Toyota as hard as he could to the inside lane and managed to move Cindric up the track entering Turn 4. As both competitors dueled and rubbed fenders coming to the finish line, Hemric managed to pull ahead and beat Cindric by 0.030 seconds to win the race and the championship.
With his accomplishment, Hemric became the 31st different competitor to achieve an Xfinity Series championship, the third to do so while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, the third to do so while driving a Toyota and the 170th different competitor to win an Xfinity race. In addition to becoming the sixth first-time Xfinity winner of 2021, Hemric became the first competitor to record a first career race win and series championship in the same event. The win and the championship occurred in Hemric’s final ride with Joe Gibbs Racing as he will be moving to Kaulig Racing and attempt to defend his series title in 2022.
The Xfinity championship was also the first for veteran crew chief Dave Rogers, who kept Hemric poised and composed to attack late for the win and the title.
Ironically, Hemric and his No. 18 JGR Toyota team rallied from an early scare to the weekend, where his primary hauler that was transporting his car broke down while commuting to Phoenix and had to be transported on an alternate hauler. The hauler was able to arrive with the car as Hemric was able to hit the track for the series’ lone Xfinity practice session on Friday, November 5.
Upon claiming his championship flag and performing a long victorious burnout, Hemric capped off his long-awaited first win in NASCAR by performing a victorious backflip in front of his crew and the Phoenix fans.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“[I] Lost my breath! Unbelievable!” Hemric said on NBCSN. “These guys right here, they’ve been asking me all year, ‘How bad do you want it?’ I gave [the win] away here [at Phoenix] in the spring. [I] Felt like we had to give one up last week to get here. We were not going to be denied. Thank you, Dave Rogers, Bill and Cindy Gallaher, everyone at Poppy Bank, Lou Gallaher, Jr., I’m talking to you. Man, they took a chance on me. 2015, some form or fashion. They stuck with me through times. They probably shouldn’t have, to be honest with you. How about those race fans? That backflip good enough for you? I’ve been waiting a long damn time to do that. Thank you Joe Gibbs, everyone at [Toyota Racing Development], Toyota…Everyone here that makes this program what it is. I know I’ve given up a lot. People doubted me. I’ll do it all over again for a night like this. I’m blacked out. Just knew I had to be the first one to the [finish] line…This is what it’s all about. Winning at the second-highest level in all of motorsports. What an honor. Unbelievable! I’ll do it all over again. I’ll take all the heartbreaks again to live this right here. That’s the greatest feeling in the world.”
While on the championship stage and hoisting the trophy, Hemric took a moment to evoke a powerful message about perseverance and emerging victorious amid the struggles in life.
“[This championship] ain’t for all those kids about racing trying to get to a level,” Hemric said. “It’s about people in life. It’s about coming from nothing and making yourself all that you work for. That’s what it’s all about. This is the American dream. I’m living a history of it, living proof of it. Un-be-lievable.”
Cindric, who was trying to become the eighth different competitor to achieve back-to-back Xfinity titles, settled in second place in a season highlighted with five victories and his last in the series as a full-time competitor, where he will be moving up to the NASCAR Cup Series to pilot the No. 2 Ford Mustang for Team Penske in 2022. Despite the result, Cindric, who managed to wrap up the sixth Xfinity Series owner’s title for team owner Roger Penske, kept his head high over the late battle for the driver’s title.
“If everyone in the stands enjoyed it, it’s good racing,” Cindric said. “I’m very appreciative of the opportunity to race on such a big stage, the opportunity to race for Roger Penske, to represent Ford Performance, our companies and all of our sponsors that have helped us this season. It would’ve been awesome to finish this out. I felt like we had a dominant race car. I felt like we did everything right. Come up a little short. Sometimes, it’s like that way. Unfortunately, at the end of both seasonal championships [regular and season] this year, I’m getting moved out of the way and doored, but that’s hard racing. That’s why everyone enjoys watching this series. It’s because there’s a lot on the line. Thankful for the opportunity and pissed to be second for like the third week in a row.”‘
Gragson, meanwhile, never recovered following his late contact into the wall and slipped back to 12th place in the final running order, which left him in a career-best third-place result in the final standings and in a season where he captured three victories. During his post-race interview, Gragson gave props to his crew chief Dave Elenz, who will be moving up to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022, while the driver will be remaining as a full-time competitor for JR Motorsports for the upcoming season.
“Just disappointed,” Gragson said. “I’m not really sure what happened there on that second-to-last restart. I got just sideways off into [Turn] 1, like there’s oil down or something. I’m kind of mind-blown on what happened. [I] Hit the wall there running third. We rebounded really well, I thought, from pit road, mistake early on in the race. Everybody just dug deep, kept working hard. A lot of big adjustments. We didn’t have the car nearly where we wanted it to be all weekend, practice, qualifying. Those guys, they beat us tonight. Just not enough this weekend. We didn’t bring out best car. Just thankful, really thankful. We’ll go on next year.”
Like Gragson, Allmendinger, who struggled with pace throughout the finale, could not recover from his late spin and ended the season in 14th place on the track and with a career-best fourth-place result in the final standings. Despite the late misfortune during the finale, Allmendinger praised his team, Kaulig Racing, for the season-long performance that included five victories and the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season championship. Like Hemric and Gragson, Allmendinger will be remaining in the Xfinity circuit with Kaulig in 2022.
“I just probably need to be a little better here [at Phoenix] as well to kind of lead us in a better direction,” Allmendinger said. “That’s part of growth here at Kaulig Racing. Of course, you’d like to have at least contended for [the championship]. Then I thought at worst, we’re gonna finish fifth or sixth. Then, the wheel was coming off on the right rear. I apologized to Austin [Cindric] because I think he had the race probably won. I don’t want to be a part of the storyline like that. I’d like to have been a better storyline, but part of the growth. Definitely not what we wanted today, tonight. We’ll come back strong. Thanks to all the men and women at Kaulig Racing, [owner] Matt Kaulig, [team president] Chris Rice for making this such a dream season. We kept making the Hyperice Chevy just a little bit better, but never really had the speed we needed to go run with [Cindric] or [Hemric]…We’ll come do this again next year.”
Harrison Burton, who made his final start with Joe Gibbs Racing before moving up to the Cup circuit to drive for the Wood Brothers Racing team, finished third on the track followed by Riley Herbst and Justin Haley. John Hunter Nemechek, Brandon Jones, Brett Moffitt, Justin Allgaier and Sheldon Creed completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Michael Annett finished 11th in his 436th and final NASCAR national touring series start before retiring from full-time competition.
Despite not competing in the Xfinity finale, Ty Gibbs earned the 2021 Xfinity Series Rookie-of-the-Year title in a season where he won his first four career races in 18 starts.
The 2021 Xfinity finale was the final race aired on NBCSN as USA Network will covering the majority of NASCAR Xfinity and Cup events during the second half of the 2022 season.
There were 16 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 61 laps.
Results.
1. Daniel Hemric, 48 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Austin Cindric, 113 laps, Stage 1 winner
3. Harrison Burton
4. Riley Herbst
5. Justin Haley
6. John Hunter Nemechek, 39 laps led
7. Brandon Jones
8. Brett Moffitt
9. Justin Allgaier
10. Sheldon Creed
11. Michael Annett, one lap led
12. Noah Gragson, three laps led
13. Sam Mayer
14. AJ Allmendinger
15. Dylan Lupton
16. Blaine Perkins
17. Ryan Sieg
18. Jeremy Clements
19. Myatt Snider
20. Brandon Brown
21. David Starr
22. JJ Yeley
23. Jeb Burton
24. Tommy Joe Martins
25. Sage Karaam
26. Kyle Weatherman
27. Kyle Sieg
28. Ryan Vargas
29. Matt Mills
30. Alex Labbe, two laps down
31. Bayley Currey, four laps down
32. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident
33. Jade Buford – OUT, Accident
34. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Engine
35. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Accident
36. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident
Bold indicates championship finale contenders.
Final standings.
1. Daniel Hemric
2. Austin Cindric
3. Noah Gragson
4. AJ Allmendinger
5. Justin Allgaier
6. Justin Haley
7. Brandon Jones
8. Harrison Burton
9. Myatt Snider
10. Jeb Burton
11. Riley Herbst
12. Jeremy Clements
The NASCAR Xfinity Series’ teams and competitors enters its off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 19, to commence the 2022 season. The event is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
