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Brandon Jones capitalizes with a wild Xfinity victory at Martinsville

Brandon Jones seized an opportunity in the second of two overtime attempts to overtake teammate Ty Gibbs on the final lap and win the Call 811 Before You Dig 250 on April 8. It was a wild Friday night at Martinsville Speedway with on-track chaos, a multitude of cautions and flaring tempers ensuing throughout the event, and even between two young guns.

The 25-year-old Jones from Atlanta, Georgia, utilized pit strategy to win the second stage in a one-lap dash while on worn tires. After pitting prior to the start of the final stage, he methodically carved his way to the front and was up in the top five under the final 10 laps. Then through a series of late carnages and with the event sent into two overtime attempts, Jones intimidated his teammate Gibbs before managing to draw dead even with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate through the backstretch on the final lap. He then managed to clear Gibbs as Gibbs got tangled with Sam Mayer, whom he confronted following the event, to muscle away and claim his first victory of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

With on-track qualifying occurring on Thursday, Ty Gibbs, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Richmond Raceway, notched his third consecutive Xfinity pole position in recent weeks after posting a pole-winning lap at 95.985 mph in 19.728 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Justin Allgaier, who posted a fast lap at 95.496 mph in 19.829 seconds.

Prior to the event, Noah Gragson, Derek Griffith, Kyle Weatherman and Howie Disavino III dropped to the rear due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars. Another competitor who dropped to the rear due to unapproved adjustments was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was making his lone Xfinity start of the season.

When the green flag waved and the race started amid a brief delay due to rain, Gibbs launched ahead of rookie Sheldon Creed, Justin Allgaier and the field with an early advantage as he went on to lead the first lap. Shortly after, the first caution of the event flew due to a blown engine and smoke billowing out of the No. 47 car piloted by Brennan Poole that started in the first turn.

Thirteen laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs prevailed in a full side-by-side battle against Allgaier to retain the lead while Creed battled and prevailed in a brief battle with Allgaier for the runner-up spot. In the midst of the battles, Brett Moffitt pitted after falling off the pace due to a transmission issue.

Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Gibbs was leading by more than a second over Allgaier followed by Ryan Truex, Landon Cassill and Creed while Daniel Hemric, Ryan Sieg, AJ Allmendinger, Riley Herbst and Josh Berry were in the top 10. By then, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in 31st.

On Lap 39, the caution returned due to Howie Disavino III stopping on the track in Turn 4. Under caution, some drivers including Earnhardt Jr., Noah Gragson, Jade Buford and Myatt Snider pitted while the rest, led by Gibbs, remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 45, Gibbs retained the lead while Allgaier retained second ahead of Ryan Truex. Behind, Creed and Cassill battled for fourth place while Ryan Sieg and Hemric battled for sixth. In addition, Josh Berry and Allmendinger battled for eighth place.

By Lap 50, Gibbs was leading by nearly half a second over Allgaier followed by Truex, Cassill and Hemric while Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Berry, Sam Mayer and Creed were in the top 10.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Gibbs claimed his second stage victory of the season. Allgaier settled in second followed by Truex, Cassill, Hemric, Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Berry, Mayer and Creed. By then, Gragson was up in 13th place while Earnhardt Jr. was in 22nd place.

During the stage break, a majority of the field led by Gibbs pitted, while the rest, led by Gragson remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 69 as Gragson and Myatt Snider occupied the front row. At the start, Gragson retained the lead while Snider and rookie Austin Hill battled for the runner-up spot. Behind, Gibbs was in fourth in front of Earnhardt Jr.

Four laps later, the caution flew when a bump from Joe Graf Jr. sent Jade Buford spinning against the outside wall between Turns 3 and 4.

By Lap 79, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson rocketed away with the lead entering the first turn while Gibbs fended off Austin Hill to retain the runner-up spot. Behind, Earnhardt Jr. battled with Snider for fourth place in front of Truex and Allgaier. Shortly after, Earnhardt Jr. was slowly being overtaken and was falling out of the top 10 as he was trapped on the outside lane.

Back at the front by Lap 90, Gibbs, who reassumed the lead over Gragson on two laps earlier, was leading by half a second over Gragson followed by Hill, Brandon Jones and Allgaier, who wheel-hopped but managed to lose one spot in the process. Behind, Snider was bumped and shuffled out of the racing groove by Creed while racing in the top 15.

Through the first 100 laps of the event, Gibbs continued to lead by more than a second over Gragson while Hill, Brandon Jones, Allgaier, Truex, Allmendinger, Mayer, Cassill and Hemric were in the top 10. Berry, Earnhardt Jr., Riley Herbst, Creed and Jeremy Clements were in the top 15 followed by Ryan Sieg, Jeb Burton, Brandon Brown, Derek Griffith and Alex Labbe.

Two laps later, the caution returned when Joe Graf Jr. sent Stefan Parsons for a spin between Turns 1 and 2.

By Lap 107, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs continued to lead followed by teammate Brandon Jones while Gragson fell back to third place in front of Hill and Allgaier.

As the laps in the second stage dwindled, Gibbs remained as the leader by nearly a second over teammate Brandon Jones and Gragson while Allgaier was up in fourth place in front of Hill, Truex, Allmendinger, Mayer, Cassill and Berry.

Then on Lap 115, the caution flew when Anthony Alfredo turned Derek Griffith in Turn 1. Under caution, a majority of the field led by Gibbs pitted while the rest led by Brandon Jones remained on the track.

During a one-lap dash to conclude the second stage scheduled for Lap 120, Brandon Jones was able to muscle away from Cassill and the field to claim his first stage victory of the season. Cassill retained second place followed by Ryan Sieg, Brandon Brown, David Starr, Anthony Alfredo, Stefan Parsons, Jeremy Clements, Riley Herbst and Shane Lee while Gibbs settled in 11th.

Under the stage break, some led by Brandon Jones pitted while the rest led by Stefan Parsons remained on the track.

With 122 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Parsons retained the lead through the first two turns until Herbst and Gibbs made a three-wide move on Parsons through the backstretch to move into first and second. Shortly after, a Monster Energy duo occurred between Herbst and Gibbs for the top spot before the latter prevailed.

With 115 laps remaining, Gibbs was out in front by nearly nine-tenths of a second over Herbst, who was being pressured by Allgaier for more. Gragson, Truex, Allmendinger, Earnhardt Jr., Parsons, Berry and Hemric followed pursuit in the top 10.

Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Gibbs continued to lead by more than a second over Allgaier while third-place Gragson trailed by one-and-a-half seconds. Ryan Truex and Allmendinger were in the top five while Herbst, Berry, Hemric, Earnhardt Jr. and Creed were running in the top 10.

Six laps later, the caution flew when the runner-up competitor of Allgaier slapped the outside wall in Turn 1 after wheel-hopping, thus sustaining rear-end damage to his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro. Under caution, a majority of the field led by Gibbs pitted while others like Creed, Brandon Jones, Brandon Brown, Anthony Alfredo and Matt Mills remained on the track.

With 88 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Creed retained the lead ahead of Jones and Mills while Gibbs muscle his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra to fourth place.

Four laps later, the caution flew when Ryan Truex spun his No. 18 ShopUSAPickleball.com Toyota Supra between Turns 1 and 2 following contact with Alex Labbe.

Another five laps later, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Brandon Jones continued to lead followed by teammate Gibbs and the field. Just then, the caution returned when Berry spun in Turn 3 after cutting a left-rear tire on his No. 8 Harrison’s Chevrolet Camaro, an issue that started when he made contact with his boss Earnhardt Jr. entering the backstretch.

With 72 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Brandon Jones retained the lead followed by Gibbs, Creed and the field through the first two turns. Then, the caution returned when Matt Mills backed his car into the outside wall in Turn 3 after receiving contact from Herbst.

Eight laps later, the race proceeded under green. At the start, teammates Brandon Jones and Gibbs battled for the lead until he took over the lead another two laps later. Following a brief duel with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Gibbs managed to retain the top spot. Shortly after, Gragson moved into second place followed by Allmendinger while Jones was trapped on the outside lane.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Gibbs was leading by nearly seven-tenths of a second over Gragson while third-place Allmendinger trailed by more than two seconds. Brandon Jones and Creed were in the top five followed by Herbst, Hemric, Mayer, Cassill and Brandon Brown while Earnhardt Jr. was in 11th place in front of Alfredo, Jeb Burton, Hill, Ryan Sieg and Ryan Truex.

Fifteen laps later and with the leaders surrounded in lapped traffic, Gibbs continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Gragson, who continued to pressure the leader for the lead and with a potential win in sight. Allmendinger, meanwhile, remained in third place followed by Jones and Mayer while Creed, Herbst, Cassill, Hemric and Earnhardt Jr. occupied the top 10.

Then with 30 laps remaining, the caution flew when Parsons lost his brakes and got into the outside wall in Turn 2.

Down to the final 24 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs cleared Gragson to retain the lead while Gragson managed to fend off Allmendinger and Mayer to retain second place. Soon after, Mayer moved into third place over Allmendinger while Brandon Jones was in fifth place.

Just then, the caution flew when Hemric, who made contact with both Creed and Hill entering Turn 2, lost a left-rear tire and spun his No. 11 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro between Turns 3 and 4. In the midst of Hemric’s incident, Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Sieg made contact as Sieg’s rear bumper ripped off.

With 16 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs retained the lead with a strong race car while Mayer battled and overtook teammate Gragson for second place. Behind, Brandon Jones and Allmendinger remained in the top five ahead of Herbst.

Two laps later, the caution flew when Jade Buford spun in Turn 1 as Derek Griffith sustained front-nose damage.

Down to the final eight laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. Just as Gibbs and Mayer briefly dueled for the top spot, the caution quickly returned when a stack-up and a bump from Berry sent Clements into Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro, which sent Earnhardt sideways in the midst of the incoming field, though he was able to continue.

Under caution, some like Creed and Alfredo pitted while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track.

With the event sent into overtime, the first overtime attempt did not last long as Mayer, who spun the tires on the outside lane, was bumped as he clipped Gragson, which sent Gragson’s No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro backward into the outside wall before he was t-boned by Jeb Burton. The incident sparked a multi-car wreck on the frontstretch that involved Alex Labbe, Mason Massey, Bayley Currey, Allgaier, Parsons, Derek Griffith, Parker Retzlaff, Alfredo, Snider, Berry, Kyle Weatherman and Brown while the second half of the field was blocked off by the carnage. The wreck forced NASCAR to place the event in a red flag situation as the on-track safety crew went to work to clear the carnage.

When the red flag was lifted and the second overtime attempt commenced under green, Gibbs briefly launched ahead of Mayer until Brandon Jones made the slightest of contact against teammate Gibbs, which got Gibbs loose entering the first turn as Jones tried to draw himself alongside Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota for the top spot through the backstretch.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gibbs continued to lead while teammate Jones launched another attack on Gibbs for the lead entering the first turn. Through the first two turns, Jones, this time, managed to draw dead even with Gibbs. Then between Turns 3 and 4, Jones muscled his No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra out in front on the bottom lane while Mayer rubbed against Gibbs, which stalled the latter’s run to the finish. This allowed Jones to pull away as he crossed the finish line to steal the win in upset fashion.

With his first victory at Martinsville, Jones claimed his fifth Xfinity Series career victory in his 211th series start and his first since winning at Darlington Raceway in September 2020. He also became the sixth different winner, fifth series regular, through the first eight scheduled Xfinity events.

“What a day!” Jones exclaimed on FS1. “I can’t say that we could’ve played it out any better. I loved the call we made to get stage points. [I] Drove the thing all the way from the back to the front and had older tires than all those guys at the end. This is a driver’s race track right here. I’ve won in a lot of different places now and this is one that you have to get after it. Ty [Gibbs] ran a really hard race. [I] Can’t believe he cleared me there really early in Stage 3. Fun to beat him. He’s hot right now. He’s tough to beat, so that’s a good one…Really happy with the way it ended.”

In the midst of the on-track chaos, Landon Cassill came home in a career-best second place followed by Allmendinger, who claimed the second Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus a week after missing out on the bonus at Richmond Raceway. Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Cassill and fourth-place finisher Austin Hill will contend for the third Dash 4 Cash bonus at Talladega Superspeedway scheduled for April 23.

Mayer completed the top five while Herbst, Ryan Truex, Gibbs, Ryan Sieg and Clements finished in the top 10.

Following the event, tempers flared on pit road between Gibbs and Mayer following their final lap incident. The post-race activity started with Gibbs ramming into the rear of Mayer’s car before both competitors confronted one another face-to-face as the punches and the shoves ensued, with Gibbs throwing punches across Mayer’s face and Mayer getting his left eye cut as the crew members and NASCAR officials got involved to separate both competitors. In the midst of the fight, a NASCAR official was injured and taken to the care center for evaluation. Following the chaos, both Gibbs and Mayer were summoned to the NASCAR hauler to meet with the officials.

“I tried to talk to [Mayer] and then, he got all over my face,” Gibbs said. “At that point, you got to start fighting. We got put in a bad position. The only thing I’m mad about is [Mayer] wasn’t gonna get past [Allmendinger] there and I just got hit in the left rear. It’s just frustrating. I just got drove into the fence at the end. I was on the other side of it last week, so that’s just part of it.”

“I had $100,000 in my sights and I was gonna do what I had to do to try and get that,” Mayer said. “I put the bumper to [Gibbs]. In my opinion, and we talked in the trailer, it was just a clean bump-and-run – and [Cassill)]kinda stuck it in there and kinda got us both crossed up and that’s kinda when it went to crap. I put the bumper to him. He came back over and he was upset and decided to throw a couple punches, but that’s fine by me. We talked about it. We’ll be good going forward, especially at Talladega. That’s a place where you don’t want to be enemies, so we’re gonna move on and be A-OK, keep our head down and go out and try to get a win next time.”

Following his late spin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed to finish 11th in his lone Xfinity start of the season.

There were 12 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured 16 cautions for 100 laps.

With his top-five result and a $100,000 bonus added to his paycheck, AJ Allmendinger leads the regular-season standings by 20 points over Ty Gibbs, 42 points over Noah Gragson, 89 over Brandon Jones and 94 over Josh Berry.

Results.

1. Brandon Jones, 28 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Landon Cassill

3. AJ Allmendinger

4. Austin Hill

5. Sam Mayer

6. Riley Herbst, one lap led

7. Ryan Truex

8. Ty Gibbs, 197 laps led, Stage 1 winner

9. Ryan Sieg

10. Jeremy Clements

11. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

12. Parker Retzlaff

13. Daniel Hemric

14. Anthony Alfredo

15. Alex Labbe

16. Kyle Weatherman

17. Bayley Currey

18. Matt Mills

19. Josh Berry

20. Noah Gragson, 23 laps led

21. Derek Griffith

22. Jade Buford, one lap down

23. David Starr, one lap down

24. Myatt Snider, one lap down

25. Ryan Vargas, one lap down

26. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

27. Shane Lee, one lap down

28. Stefan Parsons, one lap down, five laps led

29. Justin Allgaier, one lap down, one lap led

30. Sheldon Creed, two laps down, six laps led

31. JJ Yeley, two laps down

32. Jeb Burton – OUT, Accident

33. Mason Massey – OUT, Dvp

34. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident

35. Natalie Decker, 19 laps down

36. Howie Disavino III – OUT, Driveshaft

37. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Driveshaft

38. Brennan Poole – OUT, Clutch

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ first of two visits to Talladega Superspeedway, where the third Dash 4 Cash event will occur. The event is scheduled to occur on April 23 at 4 p.m. ET on FOX.

April 9, 2022
Ty Gibbs overtakes teammate Nemechek for an Xfinity win at Richmond

In a classic short-track style of racing between two teammates who dominated and refused to lift out of the throttle, Ty Gibbs overtook, bumped, and fended off teammate John Hunter Nemechek on the final lap to win the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, April 2.

The 19-year-old grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs from Charlotte, North Carolina, started on pole position and was out in front for 114 of 250-scheduled laps, but came under attack from teammate John Hunter Nemechek, who led a race-high 135 laps, under the final five laps. Following a side-by-side duel, Nemechek appeared to have the upper hand at the start of the final lap until Gibbs bumped and mounted a challenge on his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate entering the backstretch. He then made slight contact with Nemechek that sent the latter out of the racing groove before snatching the lead back and having enough momentum to win for the third time in 2022.

With on-track qualifying occurring on Saturday, Ty Gibbs notched his second consecutive pole of this season after posting a pole-winning speed at 121.836 mph. Joining him on the front row was John Hunter Nemechek, who posted a fast qualifying lap at 121.098 mph and was making his first of three scheduled starts with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Prior to the event, Daniel Hemric, Jeb Burton and JJ Yeley dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective cars.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Gibbs jumped ahead with an early advantage entering the first turn. Through the first lap, Gibbs retained the lead ahead of teammate Nemechek, Noah Gragson, rookie Austin Hill and Brandon Jones while a series of early battles ensued.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Gibbs was leading by nearly three-tenths of a second over teammate Nemechek followed by Gragson, Brandon Jones and Ryan Preece while Hill, AJ Allmendinger, Jeremy Clements, Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg were in the top 10.

Two laps later, however, Nemechek muscled his No. 18 Safeway Toyota Supra to the lead over Gibbs’ No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra.

By Lap 25, Nemechek was leading by more than three-tenths of a second over Gragson, who was reeling in the leader for the top spot. Gibbs was back in third ahead of Allmendinger, the leading contender for the first Dash 4 Cash bonus, and Brandon Jones.

Twenty-five laps later at the Lap 50 mark, Nemechek continued to lead as his advantage was more than four seconds over Allmendinger, who continued his methodical march to the front with a fast race car. Gragson was back in third followed by Gibbs and Josh Berry while Brandon Jones, Hill, Ryan Sieg, Mayer and Parker Retzlaff were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Justin Allgaier was mired in 11th place.

By Lap 70, Nemechek remained as the leader by more than four seconds over Allmendinger while third-place Gragson trailed by more than five seconds. Meanwhile, Berry was up in fourth place ahead of Gibbs while names like Jeremy Clements, Ryan Preece and Brett Moffitt along with newcomers Derek Griffith and Rajah Caruth were a lap behind the leaders.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 75, Nemechek captured his first Xfinity stage victory of the season. Behind, JR Motorsports’ Gragson and Berry settled in second and third followed by Allmendinger, who was held up by the lapped competitor of Rajah Caruth. Gibbs settled in fifth ahead of Ryan Sieg, Parker Retzlaff, Brandon Jones, Hill and Mayer. By then, Creed was in 12th ahead of Riley Herbst while Daniel Hemric was in 15th ahead of teammate Landon Cassill, and Allgaier.

Under the stage break and prior to pit lane being open for the competitors to pit, Gragson pitted to address potential brake issues to his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro. When pit lane opened, the field pitted and Nemechek retained the lead. Following the pit stops, Hemric was penalized for speeding on pit road,

The second stage started on Lap 85 as Nemechek and Allmendinger occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek jumped ahead to retain the lead followed by teammate Gibbs, who dueled with Allmendinger for the runner-up spot.

Three laps later, the caution returned due to a brake rotor reported on the track in Turn 1 that came off of Gragson’s No. 9 Chevrolet as the Las Vegas driver continued to battle with brake issues.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 95, Nemechek rocketed away with another strong restart with the lead followed by teammate Gibbs while Sieg challenged Allmendinger for third place.

At the Lap 100 mark, Nemechek was leading by more than a tenth of a second over teammate Gibbs, who started to pressure his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate for the top spot, while Allmendinger, Sieg and Berry were in the top five. Hill was in sixth ahead of Brandon Jones, Allgaier, Creed and Anthony Alfredo. Meanwhile, driver Kyle Sieg pitted after falling off the pace.

When the race reached its halfway mark on Lap 125, Nemechek remained as the leader by more than half a second over teammate Gibbs while Berry, Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, Allgaier, Hill, Brandon Jones, Alfredo, and Creed were in the top 10. Herbst was in 11th followed by Mayer, Cassill, Parker Retzlaff and Hemric while Alex Labbe, Jeb Burton, Preece, Gragson and Clements were in the top 20. In addition, 23 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

With six laps remaining in the second stage, Gibbs moved into the top spot and started to pull away from teammate Nemechek.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 150, Gibbs, who was mired in lapped traffic, captured his first stage victory of the season. Teammate Nemechek settled in second ahead of Berry, Ryan Sieg, Allmendinger, Alfredo, Mayer, Allgaier, Herbst and Parker Rtzlaff.

Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road for service and Gibbs retained the lead after exiting pit road in first place followed by teammate Nemechek, Berry, Allmendinger and Ryan Sieg. Following the pit stops, Berry was penalized for speeding along with Retzlaff for an uncontrolled tire violation. In addition, Stefan Parsons was penalized for removing the jack out of his pit box and onto the track.

With 90 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as teammates Gibbs and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs muscled with the lead followed by teammate Nemechek, Allmendinger, Allgaier and Sieg, who was locked in a battle with Mayer.

Fifteen laps later, Gibbs continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Nemechek while Allgaier, Allmendinger and Brandon Jones were in the top five. Ryan Sieg was in sixth followed by Hemric, Mayer, Preece and Cassill while Hill, Alfredo, Herbst, Jeb Burton, and Brandon Brown were in the top 15. By then, 22 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Gibbs was leading by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Nemechek followed by Allmendinger, Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Ryan Sieg, Preece, Hill, Mayer, Hemric, Herbst, Berry, Alfredo, Cassill and Jeb Burton.

Then under the final 40 scheduled laps, the battle for the lead ignited between teammates Nemechek and Gibbs with the former having caught the latter as they dueled amid lapped traffic. With both making slight contact in Turn 1, Gibbs continued to fend off teammate Nemechek on the outside lane. Following an intense duel, Nemechek managed to clear teammate Gibbs and reassume the lead with 33 laps remaining. Gibbs, however, fought back during the following lap after overtaking Nemechek entering Turn 3 and reassuming the lead despite getting bumped by Nemechek’s No. 18 Toyota.

With 25 laps remaining, Gibbs was leading by more than four-tenths of a second over teammate Nemechek while third-place Allmendinger, who was in position to claim the first Dash 4 Cash bonus, trailed by more than five seconds. Meanwhile, Sam Mayer, who was battling Allmendinger for the first Dash 4 Cash bonus, was up in fourth place ahead of Ryan Sieg while Allgaier, Herbst, Brandon Jones, Berry and Preece were in the top 10. Racing in 11th place was Austin Hill, who was also contending for the first Dash 4 Cash bonus.

Five laps later, the gap between teammates Gibbs and Nemechek dwindled down to less than four-tenths of a second with Gibbs carving his way through lapped traffic while also trying to fend off Nemechek for the win. Behind, third-place Allmendinger was less than a second ahead of Mayer in a battle for the first Dash 4 Cash bonus.

Another four laps later, Mayer overtook Allmendinger to move into third place as he placed himself to claim the first Dash 4 Cash bonus. By then, Gibbs overtook two lapped competitors to retain a steady advantage ahead of Nemechek.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Gibbs remained as the leader by half a second over teammate Nemechek while third-place Mayer was more than three seconds ahead of Allmendinger in a bid for the first Dash 4 Cash bonus.

With five laps remaining, Nemechek narrowed the gap to less than three-tenths of a second over Gibbs as he launched another challenge on his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate for the top spot.

Shortly after, both dueled dead even for the next two laps until Nemechek peaked ahead with three laps remaining. Just as he cleared Gibbs for the lead, Gibbs fought back entering the first turn as he bumped his teammate. During the following lap, he bumped his teammate again in Turn 1 before drawing even with him through the backstretch. Gibbs then slid up the track and nearly spun his teammate, but Nemechek retained the lead by a narrow margin.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, teammates Nemechek and Gibbs were running in a close single-file line of one another before Gibbs bumped and launched a final challenge on Nemechek for the lead entering the backstretch. Then with both dead even entering Turn 3, Gibbs made contact against Nemechek’s No. 18 Toyota, which sent Nemechek wide on the outside lane and allowed Gibbs to reassume the lead and have all lanes in control entering the final straightaway. With Nemechek unable to regain his momentum, Gibbs streaked across the finish line with the win while nearly sideways by 0.116 seconds just ahead of Nemechek.

Just after both crossed the finish line, Nemechek was quick to run into the rear bumper of Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota to express his displeasure before nursing his car back to pit road while Gibbs celebrated with victorious burnouts on the frontstretch.

The Richmond victory was Gibbs’ third of the 2022 season, thus making him the first three-time winner of this year’s Xfinity season, and the seventh of his Xfinity Series career. All told, Gibbs and Nemechek led all but one of the 250-scheduled laps.

“I definitely deserve one back,” Gibbs said on FS1. “We’re racing for wins and they’re hard to come by. I had to take it. We were just fighting tight [conditions] all day. Just couldn’t hold the bottom. John Hunter was just a little bit faster and we had a great race. Good for Toyota to finish one, two. [I] Just got in there deep, had to bump him out of the way up the track, so we’re short track racing. Thank you to Monster Energy. What a great car. This is awesome for Toyota. Cool to get our third win, so hopefully, we can keep it rolling ”

“[Gibbs] and I will settle it on Monday,” Nemechek, who was left disappointed on pit road, said. “I don’t want to say too much to get myself in trouble, but [I] just got drove through. He didn’t even try to make the corner there, so racers never forget. That’s for sure.”

Meanwhile, Sam Mayer came home in a career-best third-place, nearly six seconds ahead of Allmendinger, and claimed the first Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus of the season. Mayer’s first Dash 4 Cash bonus also marks the fifth consecutive Dash 4 Cash initiative that has been claimed by a JR Motorsports competitor.

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images).

“By the end of it, our Accelerate [Professional Talent Solutions] Chevy Camaro was as fast as Xfinity Internet,” Mayer said. “That’s a really feels good moment for us. Obviously, my best career finish and a hundred grand to go with it. It’s unbelievable. This team definitely deserves it.”

Sam Mayer, race winner Ty Gibbs, fourth-place finisher AJ Allmendinger and fifth-place finisher Riley Herbst have qualified for the second Dash 4 Cash event that will occur next weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

Hemric finished in sixth place while Berry, Brandon Brown, Ryan Sieg and Parker Retzlaff completed the top 10. Jeb Burton, Anthony Alfredo, Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier and Landon Cassill finished in the top 15 followed by Ryan Preece, Mason Massey, Austin Hill, Alex Labbe and Jeremy Clements. Noah Gragson settled in 21st place following his brake issues while Rajah Caruth and Derek Griffith finished 24th and 26th in their Xfinity debuts.

There were eight lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 24 laps.

With a fourth-place result, AJ Allmendinger leads the regular-season standings by 20 points over both Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson while Josh Berry trails by 76 and Justin Allgaier trails by 87.

Results.

1. Ty Gibbs, 114 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. John Hunter Nemechek, 135 laps led, Stage 1 winner

3. Sam Mayer

4. AJ Allmendinger

5. Riley Herbst

6. Daniel Hemric

7. Josh Berry, one lap led

8. Brandon Brown

9. Ryan Sieg

10. Parker Retzlaff

11. Jeb Burton

12. Anthony Alfredo

13. Brandon Jones

14. Justin Allgaier

15. Landon Cassill

16. Ryan Preece

17. Mason Massey

18. Austin Hill

19. Alex Labbe

20. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

21. Noah Gragson, one lap down

22. Sheldon Creed, one lap down

23. David Starr, two laps down

24. Rajah Caruth, two laps down

25. Brett Moffitt, two laps down

26. Derek Griffith, two laps down

27. Josh Williams, three laps down

28. Kyle Weatherman, four laps down

29. Joe Graf Jr., four laps down

30. Myatt Snider, four laps down

31. Bayley Currey, four laps down

32. JJ Yeley, five laps down

33. Jade Buford, five laps down

34. Joey Gase, five laps down

35. Stefan Parsons, five laps down

36. Ryan Vargas, seven laps down

37. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Engine

38. Brennan Poole – OUT, Rear gear

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ first of two visits this season to Martinsville Speedway, where the second of four Dash 4 Cash events will also occur. The event is scheduled to occur on Friday, April 8, at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 2, 2022
Allmendinger grabs a dominant Xfinity victory at COTA

After finishing in the top 10 through the first six scheduled NASCAR Xfinity Series events, AJ Allmendinger broke through the win column for the first time in 2022 after claiming a dominant victory in the Pit Boss 250 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, March 26.

The 40-year-old veteran from Los Gatos, California, led for the first time on the fourth lap and went on to lead twice for a race-high 27 of 46-scheduled laps, including the final 14, to muscle away from rookie Austin Hill and the field to become the fifth different winner of this year’s Xfinity Series season and the fourth Xfinity regular through the first six scheduled events.

With on-track qualifying occurring on Friday, Ty Gibbs, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 91.258 mph. Joining him on the front row was Ross Chastain, who was piloting the No. 92 TicketSmarter Chevrolet Camaro for DGM Racing.

Prior to the event, Brett Moffitt, Landon Cassill, Brandon Jones, Will Rodgers, Ryan Sieg, Josh Bilicki, JJ Yeley and Brandon Brown dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective machines.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Gibbs launched ahead briefly until Chastain assumed the top spot entering a series of left and right-hand turns (Turns 3 through Turn 10) while the field scrambled and fanned out behind. In the midst of the early racing, driver Patrick Gallagher was penalized for a restart violation.

Through the 3.41-mile, 20-turn circuit, Chastain led the first lap ahead of Gibbs while AJ Allmendinger, Cole Custer and Alex Labbe were in the top five. Rookie Sheldon Creed was in sixth ahead of Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Hemric. Behind, teammates Josh Berry and Miguel Paludo made contact in Turn 14, which resulted with Paludo spinning with Sage Karam and Berry sustaining front nose damage to his No. 8 PUGB Mobile Chevrolet Camaro.

By the second lap, Chastain was ahead by nearly a second over Gibbs follows by Allmendinger, Custer and Labbe. Meanwhile, Stefan Parsons spun in Turn 6, but proceeded as the race remained under green.

On the third lap, Allmendinger overtook Gibbs and Chastain through Turns 13 and 14 to assume the lead for the first time. Not long after, trouble ensued in Turn 12 when Justin Allgaier spun following contact with teammate Gragson.

Through the first five scheduled laps, Allmendinger was leading by nearly half a second over Gibbs followed by Chastain, Custer and Labbe while Creed, Wallace, Hemric, rookie Austin Hill and Gragson were in the top 10. Sam Mayer was in 11th ahead of Jade Buford, Preston Padres, Parker Kligerman and Allgaier while Jeb Burton, Anthony Alfredo, Parker Chase, Myatt Snider and Jeremy Clements were in the top 20. Brandon Jones was in 21st, Riley Herbst was in 23rd ahead of Landon Cassill and Brett Moffitt. Following his early incident, Miguel Paludo was in 32nd ahead of Brandon Brown while Josh Berry was mired in 38th, dead last.

A few laps later, an early battle for the lead ensued as Gibbs pressured Allmendinger to take the lead while Chastain and Custer settled in third and fourth. By the seventh lap, Gibbs rocketed his No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota Supra to the lead in Turn 1, but Allmendinger was quick to reassume the lead in his No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet Camaro while Chastain and Custer started to gain ground on the two leaders.

By Lap 10, Allmendinger continued to lead by nearly nine-tenths of a second over Gibbs while third-place Custer trailed by more than a second. Chastain trailed in fourth place by four seconds while Labbe and Wallace trailed by more than 10 seconds.

A few laps later and with pit stops under green flag ensuing, Gibbs pitted along with Custer and Chastain while Allmendinger remained on the track and retained the lead. By then, Wallace, Hill, Mayer, Brandon Jones, Cassill, Jeb Burton and Creed had pitted.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 14, Allmendinger collected his second stage victory of the season. Labbe was scored in second ahead of Hemric, Kligerman, Allgaier, Preston Padres, Jade Buford, Parker Chase, Clements and Gibbs. By then, NASCAR reported possible fluid in Turn 12 that was coming off of Bayley Currey’s car.

Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 17. At the start, Chastain battled and bumped Gibbs through the first turn, forcing Gibbs wide, to take the lead followed by Sam Mayer and Bubba Wallace while Gibbs fell back to fourth ahead of Custer.

When the field returned to the start/finish line, Chastain was out in front by nearly a second over Wallace while Gibbs and Custer battled for third. Mayer, who was running towards the front, slipped back to fifth place after missing a gear ahead of teammate Gragson, Hill, Jeb Burton, Creed and Cassill while Allmendinger was in 11th.

Through the first 20 laps of the event, Chastain continued to lead by more than two seconds over Wallace follows by Custer, Mayer and Gragson. Allmendinger was up in sixth followed by Creed, Hill, Cassill and Hemric while Jeb Burton, Labbe, Brandon Jones, Allgaier, Buford, Kligerman, Brett Moffitt, Anthony Alfredo, Brandon Brown and Clements were in the top 20. By then, Gibbs, who had fallen back to sixth place, pitted under green due to a flat right-front tire and a broken valve stem on his No. 54 Toyota. Paludo was in 21st, Berry was in 25th, Herbst was mired in 27th and Snider was in 29th behind Ryan Sieg.

At the halfway mark on Lap 23, Chastain was leading by more than three seconds over Custer while Wallace trailed in third place by more than four seconds. Mayer was back in fourth ahead of Allmendinger while Gragson, Hill, Creed, Hemric and Labbe were in the top 10. Way behind the leaders, Karam spun in Turns 15 and 16.

Nearing the Lap 30 mark, another round of pit stops under green struck as Allmendinger pitted along with Wallace, Hill, Hemric, Labbe, Jeb Burton, Cassill, Brandon Jones, Clements, Kligerman, Paludo, Preston Pardus, Parker Chase, Sieg, Parsons, Snider, Alfredo, Brown, Gibbs and Creed while Chastain continued to lead ahead of Custer. By then, Gragson and Josh Bilicki also pitted while Patrick Gallagher spun in Turn 9. Not long after, Chastain pitted along with Custer while Sam Mayer cycled into the lead. Following the pit stops, Preston Pardus, Parker Chase and Custer were penalized for speeding on pit road.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 30, Mayer captured his first stage victory of this year’s Xfinity season. Buford settled in second followed by Allgaier, Berry, Herbst, Custer, Sage Karam, Chastain, Allmendinger, Gragson and Scott Heckert.

Under the stage break, some led by Mayer pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track. During the pit stops, Wallace pitted again to address a shifter issue to his No. 18 Dr. Pepper Toyota Supra.

With 14 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Chastain squeaked ahead entering the first turn, but Allmendinger was able to keep his car alongside Chastain’s before Allmendinger moved into the lead entering a series of left and right-hand turns (Turns 3 through Turn 10). As the field scrambled and fanned out behind, Chastain and Allmendinger battled hard for the lead entering Turn 12 while Gragson started to close in on the two leaders.

Not long after, however, the caution returned due to debris reported in Turn 9. In addition, Berry and Josh Bilicki spun in Turn 20.

Down to the final 11 laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start and going up the include prior to the first turn, Allmendinger retained the lead while Gragson muscled his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro alongside Chastain in a brief battle for second before the latter prevailed.

Through the series of turns from Turns 3 to 10, the left-hand turn in Turn 11 and the long straightaway prior to Turn 12, Allmendinger continued to lead ahead of Chastain. Behind, Austin Hill overtook Gragson for third place in Turn 16 as Allmendinger continued to lead through a series of turns from Turn 17 to 20 and back to the start/finish line with 10 laps remaining.

Then with nine laps remaining, the caution flew due to debris on the backstretch. By then, Brandon Jones sustained right-rear damage to his No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra while Stefan Parsons also sustained damage to the right side of his car. Under caution, some like Gibbs, Hemric and Wallace pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.

With six laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Allmendinger maintained the lead following a push by Austin Hill while Chastain got bumped and turned by Cassill in Turn 1. With the field scattering to avoid Chastain, Allmendinger was clear out in front followed by Hill, Gragson, Clements, Jeb Burton and Custer.

When the field returned to the start/finish line for the final five laps, Allmendinger continued to lead by more than a second over Hill while Clements challenged Gragson for third place. Jeb Burton settled in fifth ahead of Custer, Mayer, Ryan Sieg, Snider and Buford. Chastain, meanwhile, was all the way back in 31st place.

Then with three laps remaining, both Jeb Burton and Clements were penalized for having their respective cars running off the course with all four tires near the esses. With both Burton and Clements having to drive through pit road to serve their penalty, Allmendinger continued to lead by a stable margin over Hill while Custer moved up to third place followed by Gragson and Snider.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allmendinger remained in the lead by nearly three seconds over Hill and more than 10 seconds over Custer. With no close competition lurking behind, Allmendinger was able to smoothly navigate his No. 16 Chevrolet through the 20-turn circuit for a final time as he made his way through the final straightaway and streaked across the finish line to claim his first checkered flag of the 2022 season.

With his first victory at Circuit of the Americas, Allmendinger notched his seventh win on a road course and his 11th overall in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In addition, he recorded the first victory of the season for Kaulig Racing.

“Man, I was hard on myself yesterday,” Allmendinger said on FS1. “I was not happy with where I put ourselves, the setup that I made for us. This Nutrien Ag Chevy was really good. It was hard to drive. I had to drive it a certain way. Honestly, it’s all these men and women here at Kaulig Racing between the Cup side of it and the Xfinity side to it. They don’t sleep during the week. They’re busting their tails and that’s why I’m so frickin hard on myself sometimes ‘cause they deserve to win more than anybody here, and I just wanna do it for them. So thankfully, we got one done today.”

Austin Hill finished in second place for the second consecutive week followed by Cole Custer while teammates Gragson and Mayer finished in the top five.

“All in all, it was a solid effort for our Global [Industrial] Chevy Camaro,” Hill said. “[Crew chief] Andy [Street] and all the guys at the shop, they did a heck of a job building this piece and bringing it here. I’ve always felt like I could get around road courses. I felt like I proved it last year in the Trucks [Series], winning at Watkins Glen. It just kind of built the confidence, the momentum going forward to this year when we come to road courses that we could get the job done. I guess AJ was just a little bit better than I was ‘cause I felt like we had a really good car. There was certain spots that I thought he was a little better than us, but it just shows that we can run with AJ. Maybe just make the car a little bit better and I think personally as a driver, I need to work on a few things ‘cause he was just doing some things a little bit better than I was inside the cockpit, so we’ll go back, debrief and look it over and just see where I can be better as a driver on these road courses…We’ll go get the job done next time.”

With their top-five results, Allmendinger, Hill, Gragson and Mayer have qualified for the first Dash 4 Cash event at Richmond Raceway scheduled for next Saturday.

Myatt Snider, Brett Moffitt, Jade Buford, Miguel Paludo and Sheldon Creed finished in the top 10. Notably, Ty Gibbs finished 15th, Chastain settled in 17th following his late spin, Jeb Burton and Clements fell back to 23rd and 24th, Hemric ended up 25th ahead of Herbst and Berry, Wallace came home in 28th and Allgaier finished 33rd.

There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured four cautions for eight laps. In addition, 35 of the 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

With his top-five result, Noah Gragson continues to lead the regular season standings by a single point over AJ Allmendinger, 31 over Ty Gibbs, 68 over Justin Allgaier and 77 over Josh Berry.

Results.

1. AJ Allmendinger, 27 laps led, Stage 1 winner

2. Austin Hill

3. Cole Custer

4. Noah Gragson

5. Sam Mayer, three laps led, Stage 2 winner

6. Myatt Snider

7. Brett Moffitt

8. Jade Buford

9. Miguel Paludo

10. Sheldon Creed

11. Ryan Sieg

12. Parker Kligerman

13. Anthony Alfredo

14. Preston Pardus

15. Ty Gibbs, one lap led

16. Sage Karam

17. Ross Chastain, 14 laps led

18. Brandon Jones

19. Parker Chase

20. Brandon Brown

21. Stefan Parsons

22. Patrick Gallagher

23. Jeb Burton

24. Jeremy Clements

25. Daniel Hemric

26. Riley Herbst

27. Josh Berry

28. Bubba Wallace

29. JJ Yeley

30. Ryan Vargas

31. Landon Cassill

32. Scott Heckert

33. Justin Allgaier, one lap led

34. Joe Graf Jr.

35. Josh Bilicki

36. Alex Labbe – OUT, Rear gear

37. Will Rodgers, 12 laps down

38. Bayley Currey – OUT, Engine

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ lone annual visit of this season to Richmond Raceway, where the first of four Dash 4 Cash events will occur. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, April 2, at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

March 26, 2022
Ty Gibbs storms to a final lap Xfinity victory at Atlanta

In the first NASCAR Xfinity Series event at the newly reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway that featured close-quarters competition from start to finish, including through two overtime attempts, Ty Gibbs used a bold crossover move on Ryan Sieg on the final lap to win the Nalley Cars 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 19.

The 19-year-old grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs from Charlotte, North Carolina, survived a chaotic afternoon featuring nine cautions as he only led the final lap and became the first repeat winner of this year’s Xfinity Series season.

The starting lineup for the event was determined through the Performance Metrics formula based on four statistics: drivers’ results, owners’ race and points results and the fastest lap from the previous Cup event. With that, Noah Gragson, winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Phoenix Raceway, started on pole position. Joining him on the front row was teammate Josh Berry.

The use of the Performance Metrics formula occurred after rain cancelled all on-track activities on Friday, which resulted with the Xfinity competitors receiving a single practice session on Saturday in place of on-track qualifying.

Prior to the event, Matt Mills, Jeffery Earnhardt, Loris Hezemans, Ryan Sieg and Stefan Parsons dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustment to their respective machines. In addition, Riley Herbst pitted prior to the start due to a tire issue.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Gragson took off with an early advantage followed by teammate Josh Berry, Ty Gibbs, Brandon Jones, Trevor Bayne and Justin Allgaier.

By the fifth lap, Gragson was leading by over Brandon Jones followed by Trevor Bayne, Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger and the field.

Through the first 10 laps of the event, Gragson continued to lead by more than a tenth of a second over Jones while Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric and Gibbs were in the top five. Bayne was back in sixth followed by Justin Allgaier, Brandon Brown, Berry and Brett Moffitt were in the top 10.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 20, Gragson fended off Allmendinger to retain the lead and the field. Under the competition caution, some led by Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by Gragson remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hemric, who initially pitted under the completion caution, pitted again.

On Lap 26, the race restarted under green. At the start, Brandon Jones peaked ahead before Gragson reassumed the lead on the inside lane and when the field returned to the start/finish line.

By Lap 30, Gragson was leading by more than a tenth of a second over Jones followed by Gibbs, Allgaier, Berry and the field.

Shortly after, Berry used the inside lane to his advantage as he challenged Jones for the runner-up spot before teammate Gragson moved to the inside lane to retain the lead. That, however, allowed Jones, who was the lead competitor on the outside lane, to challenge Gragson for the lead.

As the field continued to battle dead even towards the front, Gragson continued to lead followed by Jones and Berry as teammate Sam Mayer joined the battle for the lead.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 40, Berry managed to overtake and edge teammate Gragson to claim the stage victory, which was also his first of the season. Behind Berry and Gragson were teammates Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer while Trevor Bayne settled in the top five. Austin Hill, Jeb Burton, Brandon Brown, Brandon Jones and Brett Moffitt were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, some led by Allmendinger remained on the track while the rest led by Berry pitted.

The second stage started on Lap 47 as Allmendinger and teammate Landon Cassill occupied the front row. At the start, the Kaulig Racing teammates battled dead even until Allmendinger pulled ahead through the frontstretch. With Allmendinger ahead by a narrow margin, Cassill battled Jade Buford for the runner-up spot followed by rookie Austin Hill and Daniel Hemric.

Just past the Lap 50 mark, Gragson, who was trying to carve his way back to the front, pitted under green after making contact with the outside wall. Not long after, Riley Herbst pitted to address an overheating issue to his Ford.

Back on the track, Allmendinger was leading ahead of teammate Hemric while Jade Buford, Tommy Joe Martins and Sage Karam were in the top five.

On Lap 60, Allmendinger continued to lead by more than a tenth of a second over teammate Hemric followed by Buford, Martins, Karam, Brandon Brown, Bayne, Allgaier, Jeb Burton and rookie Sheldon Creed.

Ten laps later, Allmendinger remained in the lead ahead of teammate Hemric, Buford, Martins, Karam and the field, with the top-15 competitors separated by less than two seconds.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 80, Allmendinger retained the top spot as he claimed his first stage victory of the season. Teammate Hemric settled in second followed by Buford, Martins, Karam, Creed, Brown, Hill, Jeb Burton and Cassill.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted for adjustments as Creed emerged with the top spot.

With 75 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Creed received a push from teammate Hill to lead ahead of Allmendinger while the field jostled for positions.

Five laps later, Creed was leading followed by teammate Hill, Jones, Bayne and Buford while Allmendinger, Mayer, Allgaier, Myatt Snider and Gibbs were in the top 10.

Another six laps later, Bayne stormed to the front followed by Snider and Gibbs while Creed and Hill were left battling with Gragson in the top five. Then, an intense side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between Snider and Bayne while Gibbs, Gragson, Creed and Hill were left battling in the top six.

Under the final 60 laps of the event, the top-15 competitors were separated by a second as Bayne was out in front followed by teammate Gibbs and Gragson.

Then with 57 laps remaining, the caution flew when Jade Buford spun and wrecked in the backstretch as he also collected Jeremy Clements, Jeb Burton and Anthony Alfredo. The incident spoiled Buford’s strong run towards the front as he parked his car in the garage.

Under caution, some led by Bayne remained on the track while others led by Gragson pitted.

With 51 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Bayne and Hill battled dead even for the lap. Just as the field returned to the start/finish line, the caution returned when Hemric, who battling Joe Graf Jr. and Brandon Brown in a three-wide battle, slid in front of Joe Graf Jr. and made hard contact against the Turn 4 outside wall.

Following an extensive clean-up session, the race restarted under green with 41 laps remaining. At the start, Hill battled for the lead on the inside lane, but Bayne used the outside lane to fight back on the outside lane.

During the following lap, Bayne received a push from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Gibbs and Brandon Jones to storm clear with the lead as Brandon Brown moved into fourth place while Hill was left battling Allmendinger for fifth place.

A few laps later, Hill slipped back to eighth place in front of teammate Sheldon Creed as the front-runners settled in a long single-file line towards the outside wall. By then, Bayne remained as the leader followed by teammates Gibbs and Jones.

Then with 34 laps remaining, the caution flew when Sam Mayer spun across the frontstretch and near the pit road entrance.

Four laps later and with darkness looming over the track, the race restarted under green. At the start, Bayne rocketed with the lead followed by teammates Gibbs and Jones. Soon after, Brown moved up to fourth followed by Hill while Allmendinger launched a challenge as the lead competitor on the inside lane. Hill, however, moved to the inside lane as he then made a bid for the lead against Bayne.

With 25 laps remaining, the caution flew when Brandon Brown spun in Turn 1 after making contact with Creed, which Brown barely clipped Berry before he spun below the apron. At the moment of caution, Hill emerged with the lead over Bayne. During the caution period, Allgaier pitted while the rest of the field pitted.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Hill and Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Bayne gave Hill a shove for the latter to lead and clear the field.

With 15 laps remaining, the top-nine competitors were separated under a second as Hill was leading ahead of Allmendinger, Cassill, Berry, Gibbs, Brandon Jones, Kyle Weatherman, Bayne and Ryan Sieg.

Then with 11 laps remaining, Bayne, who was trying to overtake Hill for the lead on the outside lane, made contact with the outside wall in Turn 1. With the field scrambling and moving to the inside lane, Bayne made contact with Berry in Turn 2, which sent Berry and teammate Gragson around as a multi-car wreck ensued. Among those involved included Allgaier, Mayer, Jeb Burton, Alex Labbe, Martins, Karam, Gibbs and Parsons.

Following another extensive clean-up period, the race restarted with three laps remaining. Just as Hill started to peak ahead of Snider with drafting help from Ryan Sieg, the caution flew and the race was sent into overtime when Riley Herbst clipped and turned Myatt Snider in Turn 1.

During the first overtime attempt, Sieg briefly battled against Hill for the lead when the caution flew due to a three-car wreck that involved Matt Mills, Stefan Parsons and Tommy Joe Martins. The wreck placed the competition in a red flag period before the competitors were sent into a second overtime attempt.

At the start of the second overtime attempt, Hill and Sieg battled dead even through the first two turns and the backstretch before Sieg pulled ahead in Turn 3.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Sieg was out in front until a strong crossover move by Gibbs enabled the No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota Supra to storm to the lead entering Turn 1. Meanwhile, Sieg was being overtaken by the field as he received no drafting help to return back to the lead. As the battles continued behind him, Gibbs was gone as he returned to the finish line uncontested and claimed his second checkered flag of this season.

In addition to claiming his second victory of the 2022 Xfinity season, Gibbs recorded his first win in his first NASCAR national touring series start at Atlanta and his sixth career victory in his 23rd series start.

“First of all, I wanna say all glory to God!” Gibbs exclaimed on FS1. “I wanna say thank you for letting Him be able to get me in these moments. Second of all, I wanna say thank you to my team. What the heck? Oh my gosh. I did not expect this at all. That was one of those where I learned a big lesson. Just never give up. Let’s go!”

Hill, who notched his first Xfinity career win at Daytona International Speedway in February, settled in second place followed by AJ Allmendinger while Herbst and Landon Cassill finished in the top five.

Mason Massey, a 25-year-old native from Douglasville, Georgia, notched his first top-10 career result in sixth place while Brandon Jones, Kyle Weatherman, Creed and Sieg completed the top 10 on the track.

There were 11 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 56 laps.

Despite finishing 26th, Gragson retains the lead in the regular season standings by 19 points over Ty Gibbs and AJ Allmendinger with Justin Allgaier trailing by 51, Josh Berry by 59 and Brandon Jones over 70.

Results.

1. Ty Gibbs, one lap led

2. Austin Hill, 27 laps led

3. AJ Allmendinger, 41 laps led

4. Riley Herbst

5. Landon Cassill

6. Mason Massey

7. Brandon Jones, one lap led

8. Kyle Weatherman

9. Sheldon Creed, 15 laps led

10. Ryan Sieg, six laps led

11. JJ Yeley

12. Ryan Vargas

13. Jeffrey Earnhardt

14. Brett Moffitt

15. Jeb Burton

16. Anthony Alfredo

17. Shane Lee

18. Brandon Brown

19. Alex Labbe

20. Tommy Joe Maartins

21. Sam Mayer

22. Josh Williams

23. Joe Graf Jr.

24. Kyle Sieg

25. Stefan Parsons

26. Noah Gragson, 38 laps led

27. Jesse Iwuji

28. Trevor Bayne, 38 laps led

29. Bayley Currey

30. Myatt Snider, one lap down, two laps led

31. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

32. Sage Karem – OUT, Accident

33. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident, three laps led

34. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

35. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

36. Loris Hezemans – OUT, Accident

37. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Accident

38. Jade Buford – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ second trip to Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, March 26, at 4:30 p.m ET on FS1.

March 19, 2022
Gragson shines with a dominant victory at Phoenix

Following three consecutive top-three results three races into the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Noah Gragson broke through the win column after scoring a dominant victory in the United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, March 12.

The 23-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, started on the front row before leading seven times for a race-high 114 of 200 laps en route to his first Xfinity victory of the season after beating runner-up Brandon Jones by more than two seconds and becoming the fourth different winner through the first four scheduled events of the 2022 Xfinity season.

With on-track qualifying occurring on Saturday, Trevor Bayne notched his first Xfinity pole since Iowa Speedway in August 2014 after posting a pole-winning lap at 131.839 mph. Despite enduring a kill switch issue while trying to roll his car off of pit road, Bayne’s crew was able to repair the issue as he retained the top starting spot. Joining him on the front row was Noah Gragson, who posted a fast qualifying lap at 131.565 mph.

Prior to the event, Sam Mayer, Ryan Vargas, Justin Allgaier, Josh Berry and Stefan Parson dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective machines. In addition, Anthony Alfredo took his No. 23 Our Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to the garage due to an early mechanical issue.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, the field fanned out through the dogleg turn as Bayne retained the lead and led the first lap ahead of Gragson, Brandon Jones and Ty Gibbs.

Through the first five laps of the event, Bayne continued to lead by half a second over Gragson followed by Jones, Gibbs and John Hunter Nemechek. Behind, Daniel Hemric was in sixth ahead of Ryan Sieg, rookie Sheldon Creed, AJ Allmendinger and Parker Retzlaff.

Five laps later, Bayne stabilized his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Gragson while Jones, Gibbs and Nemechek remained in the top five.

By Lap 20, Bayne extended his advantage to more than a second over Gragson, who was fending off Jones for the runner-up spot. Gibbs and Nemechek continued to run in the top five followed by Hemric, Allmendinger, Creed, Landon Cassill and Ryan Sieg. Meanwhile, Justin Allgaier, who started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro, was up in 12th behind Jeb Burton.

A lap later, the first caution of the event flew when Riley Herbst spun and pounded the Turn 3 outside wall after his brake pedal fell to the floor, thus destroying his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang as his event came to an early end.

When the field restarted on Lap 33, Gragson challenged and emerged with the advantage over Bayne as the field fanned out and battled for positions. Meanwhile, John Hunter Nemechek, who made a bold move below the dogleg during the the restart, was in third ahead of Brandon Jones.

By Lap 40, Gragson stabilized his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Bayne while Jones, Nemechek and Gibbs were in the top five.

Shortly after, a side-by-side battle for the lead occurred between Bayne and Gragson as Bayne challenged to reassume the top spot while Gragson refused to relinquish the lead. As they battled, Brandon Jones started to join the battle.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Bayne edged Gragson to claim the stage victory and his second of his part-time campaign. Jones settled in third followed by Nemechek, Gibbs, Allgaier, Landon Cassill, Allmendinger, Josh Berry and Sam Mayer while Daniel Hemric fell back to 11th.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Jones emerged with the lead after exiting pit road first followed by JR Motorsports’ Gragson, Allgaier and Mayer while Bayne came out in fifth ahead of Gibbs. Following the pit stops, however, Mayer and Brandon Brown dropped to the rear of the field after both were busted for speeding on pit road.

The second stage started on Lap 54 as Jones and Gragson occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Jones and Gragson battled dead even for the lead before Gragson peaked ahead. Just then, Gibbs, who was in the top five, spun after Josh Berry clipped Gibbs’ No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota Supra in Turn 2. As the field scattered to avoid hitting Gibbs, the caution returned.

When the race restarted on Lap 61, Josh Berry engaged in a battle with teammate Allgaier for third place as Brandon Jones used the outside lane to his advantage as he assumed the lead for the first time ahead of Gragson.

Nine laps later, Gragson reassumed the lead after closing in and persevering in a battle with Jones while Allgaier settled in third.

Through the first 75 laps of the event, Gragson was leading by less than three-tenths of a second over Jones while Allgaier, Bayne and Berry were in the top five. Behind, Allmendinger was in sixth ahead of Nemechek, Ryan Sieg, Hemric and Cassill while Sheldon Creed, Jeb Burton, Brett Moffit, Mayer and rookie Austin Hill were in the top 15. Meanwhile, Gibbs was mired in 26th ahead of JJ Yeley.

Despite encountering lapped traffic, Gragson was able to extend his advantage to more than a second and claim the second stage victory on Lap 90, thus claiming his third stage victory of the 2022 season. Behind, Allgaier overtook and fended off Jones to settle in second followed by Bayne, Berry, Nemechek, Allmendinger, Hemric, Cassill and Mayer, who rallied from speeding on pit road prior to the start of the second stage,

Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road and Allgaier emerged with the lead followed by Jones, Gragson, Allmendinger and Mayer. Following the pit stops, Bayne and Mayer were both busted for speeding on pit road and sent to the rear of the field.

With 101 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start and with the field fanning out, Allgaier went wide and got loose through Turns 1 and 2 as Jones moved into the lead ahead of Nemechek and Gragson. Shortly after, Jones was being challenged by John Hunter Nemechek before the latter took over with 98 laps remaining.

With 90 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by nearly half a second over Gragson while Jones, Allgaier and Berry were in the top five. Allmendinger was in sixth ahead of Kaulig Racing’s Hemric and Cassill while Gibbs was back up in ninth ahead of Ryan Sieg.

Three laps later, Gragson reassumed the lead over Nemechek.

Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Gragson extended his advantage to more than a second over Jones while Nemechek fell back to third. Teammates Allgaier and Berry were in the top five followed by Allmendinger, Hemric, Gibbs, Cassill and Bayne, who was trying to work his way back to the front.

Fifteen laps later, Gragson stabilized his advantage to less than two seconds over Jones while Allgaier, Berry and Nemechek remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Bayne carved his way up in sixth place followed by teammate Gibbs while Allmendinger slipped back to eighth ahead of teammates Hemric and Cassill. Mayer was in 12th in between Ryan Sieg and Creed while Austin Hill was in 16th behind Jeb Burton.

Another 10 laps later and with the teams plotting their final scheduled pit stops of the event, Gragson continued to lead by more than two seconds over Jones.

With less than 40 laps remaining, pit stops under green commenced as Austin Hill pitted. Soon after, Allmendinger pitted along with Allgaier, Mayer, Creed, Berry, Jones, Bayne, Nemechek, race leader Gragson, Gibbs and others. During the pit stops, Mayer was busted twice for speeding on pit road on two separate occasions: once during his scheduled stop and again while serving his first penalty. In addition, Allgaier was penalized for running over an air hose on pit road.

Back on the track and with less than 30 laps remaining, Brandon Jones cycled to the lead by more than a second over Gragson.

With 20 laps remaining, Jones, who encountered lapped traffic, continued to lead by half a second over Gragson, who continued to narrow the deficit behind Jones’ No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra.

Six laps later and following a close side-by-side battle with Jones amid lapped traffic, Gragson reassumed the lead.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Gragson started to extend his advantage to more than a second over Jones while third-place Berry trailed by more than three seconds. Bayne was up in fourth followed by Nemechek. Meanwhile, Kaz Grala scrapped the outside wall in Turn 4, but the race proceeded under green.

With five laps remaining, Gragson stabilized himself to more than a second over Jones with victory in sight.

When the white flag waved and the final lap commenced, Gragson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Jones while Berry trailed by five seconds. Having no challengers narrow the gap between himself and victory, Gragson cycled his way back to the finish line as he claimed his first checkered flag of the season.

With the victory, Gragson, who blew both of his rear tires during his victorious burnout before climbing the fence and saluting the fans, claimed his first win at Phoenix, the first win of the 2022 season for JR Motorsports and his sixth NASCAR Xfinity Series career triumph in his 106th series start. In addition, Gragson claimed his first win with new crew chief Luke Lambert, who joined JR Motorsports prior to the season and claimed his first Xfinity victory as a crew chief since 2012.

“It feels great to get the 50th anniversary Bass Pro Shops Camaro in Victory Lane,” Gragson said on FS1. “Most importantly, thank you all you race fans for coming out. You guys are awesome. You guys are loud. We love you. Thanks for coming to Phoenix. This team, the pit crew, everybody who makes this possible…The pit crew executed great. This team’s been on a roll so far this year. All top three finishes [through the] first four races. [I] Can’t thank everybody enough for all their hard work and try to keep in going.

Jones, a former winner at Phoenix, claimed his first top-five result of the season after finishing in second place followed by Berry, who claimed his third consecutive top-five result of this season.

“This is, first off, exactly what this No. 19 team needed,” Jones said. “To kind of turn the season around. We’ve had speed at all these race tracks so far. Just haven’t quite got finishes yet that we need. It’s really early in the season still. I thought when we came out of the pits there and came ahead of [Gragson] there that it was gonna be pretty good because aero situations were pretty tough today. It seemed like whoever was leading the race kind of was difficult to pass…Still all in all, really happy to come home second. I think this is the right momentum we need to turn this deal around.”

Trevor Bayne recorded his second top-five result in his second start of this year’s Xfinity season in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota Supra by finishing fourth while Nemechek came home in fifth place while driving Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 26 Toyota Supra.

Gibbs, Allmendinger, Hemric, Cassill and Allgaier completed the top 10 on the track as the top-10 competitors were the only competitors to finish on the lead lap.

Notably, Creed and Austin Hill finished 14th and 17th while Mayer, who was busted with four pit road speeding penalties, settled in 22nd place.

There were 16 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 33 laps.

With his victory, Noah Gragson continues to lead the regular season standings by 39 points over Ty Gibbs, 42 over Justin Allgaier, 43 over AJ Allmendinger and 53 over Josh Berry.

Results.

1. Noah Gragson, 114 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Brandon Jones, 30 laps led

3. Josh Berry

4. Trevor Bayne, 38 laps led, Stage 1 winner

5. John Hunter Nemechek, 11 laps led

6. Ty Gibbs

7. AJ Allmendinger

8. Daniel Hemric

9. Landon Cassill

10. Justin Allgaier, five laps led

11. Ryan Sieg, one lap down, two laps led

12. Jeb Burton, one lap down

13. Brandon Brown, one lap down

14. Sheldon Creed, one lap down

15. Brett Moffitt, one lap down

16. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

17. Austin Hill, one lap down

18. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

19. Alex Labbe, one lap down

20. Bayley Currey, one lap down

21. Stefan Parsons, two laps down

22. Sam Mayer, two laps down

23. Mason Massey, two laps down

24. Myatt Snider, two laps down

25. JJ Yeley, two laps down

26. Nicholas Sanchez, two laps down

27. Joe Graf Jr., three laps down

28. Jade Buford, three laps down

29. Ryan Vargas, three laps down

30. Kyle Weatherman, three laps down

31. David Starr, four laps down

32. Kyle Sieg, four laps down

33. Kaz Grala, four laps down

34. Jeffrey Earnhardt, four laps down

35. Josh Williams – OUT, Ignition

36. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Fuel Pump

37. Anthony Alfredo, 53 laps down

38. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ first of two visits to the newly reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, March 19, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.

March 12, 2022
Ty Gibbs grabs his first win of the season at Las Vegas

Ty Gibbs claimed his first NASCAR Xfinity victory of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday night in the Alsco Uniforms 300. It was an exhilarating race that included 11 cautions plus a 42-minute red flag for rain and a bit of snow.

The 19-year-old grandson of NASCAR Hall of Famer and team owner, Joe Gibbs, took the lead on the final restart in his No. 54 Toyota and led the final six laps to score the win. The race ended under caution on the final lap freezing the field and sending Gibbs to victory lane.

His win, however, was not without controversy.

On Lap 4, Gibbs made contact with Ryan Sieg bringing out a caution as Sieg’s No. 39 Ford hit the outside wall. Sieg was upset after the incident and hinted at possible retaliation.

“It’s tough, but it is what it is,’’ Sieg said. “He’s definitely going to have to learn his lesson, you know what I mean.’’

When the race restarted, Sieg pulled up beside Gibbs and it looked as though he was going to take the opportunity to show his displeasure. Instead, Sieg spun out and the cars of Sheldon Creed and Brett Moffitt were caught up in the aftermath. Sieg went to the garage and was finished for the day but Creed and Moffitt recovered with top-10 finishes.

During his interview after the race, Gibbs apologized, saying, “I want to apologize to the 39 (Sieg) for the contact I made, it wasn’t my best decision and I’m sorry to the whole group, Ryan’s family they work so hard.

“I want to say thank you to Justin Allgaier for my push, too,’’ he continued. “I had a fun time racing with the JR (Motorsports) cars, too, so hopefully we can keep it going and win some more races.”

JR Motorsports’ Noah Gragson had the dominant car for most of the race, winning both Stage 1 and 2, and was in the lead on the final restart. But Gibbs was able to pull ahead with help from Justin Allgaier who was lined up behind him and Gragson had to settle for second place. It was Gragson’s third top-five finish of the year and he leaves Las Vegas first in the driver standings by 17 points over Gibbs.

“I just kind of got beat at our own game there. Restarts just came up short,’’ Gragson said after the race. “Just needed to be better. Congrats to them and we’ll keep working hard. Thankful to this team led by Luke Lambert and we’ll come back stronger next week. Obviously, I wanted to be in Victory Lane, but it could be a hell of a lot worse.”

Daniel Hemric, Josh Berry and Allgaier finished third to fifth, respectively, as Landon Cassill, Sheldon Creed, Brett Moffitt, AJ Allmendinger and Brandon Jones rounded out the top-10 at Las Vegas.

There were 17 lead changes among nine drivers during the Alsco Uniforms 300 and 11 cautions for 65 laps.

Next up for the Xfinity Series is the United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway on March 12.

March 5, 2022
Ty Gibbs named full-time Xfinity Series competitor for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2022

With the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season three days away from commencing, Joe Gibbs Racing unveiled the news that had been amplifying from months by announcing that Ty Gibbs will driving for the organization on a full-time basis in the Xfinity circuit.

The 19-year-old grandson of Joe Gibbs, team owner of Joe Gibbs Racing and a NASCAR Hall of Famer, from Charlotte, North Carolina, will be piloting the No. 54 Toyota Supra, beginning at Daytona International Speedway, in his quest to contend for his first Xfinity Series driver’s championship and defend JGR’s title following the 2021 championship-winning season with Daniel Hemric, who is now competing for Kaulig Racing. Veteran Chris Gayle, who led the No. 54 JGR Toyota team to 11 victories and a runner-up result in the 2021 Xfinity Series’ owners’ standings while working with seven different competitors, will be returning to JGR to serve as Gibbs’ crew chief.

“I’m excited to get going on the 2022 season,” Gibbs, who will make his first NASCAR national touring series start at Daytona, said in a team statement. “Monster Energy will sponsor the majority of the races, including the first one at Daytona and it’s great to have Interstate Batteries and Sport Clips on board. Chris Gayle and the crew guys from the 54 were great last year and hopefully we can have even more success this year.”

Gibbs is coming off a sensational season to date, where he competed in 18 of the 33-race Xfinity schedule. Making his debut at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in February, he claimed his first career win and became the sixth different competitor to achieve a victory in an Xfinity debut. He backed it up with victories at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, Watkins Glen International in August and at Kansas Speedway in October. To go along with a pole at Road America in July, a total of nine top-five results and 10 top-10 results, Gibbs claimed the 2021 Xfinity Series’ Rookie-of-the-Year title.

Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Gibbs is also coming off a championship-winning season in the ARCA Menards Series, where he drove the No. 18 JGR Toyota Camry to 10 victories, 11 poles and top-10 results in all but one of the 20-race ARCA schedule as he wrapped up his first ARCA title by 37 points over Corey Heim. He also achieved four victories in the ARCA Menards Series East region and two in the ARCA Menards Series West region.

Gibbs’ announcement completes Joe Gibbs Racing’s three-car roster for the 2022 Xfinity Series season as Ty Gibbs and Brandon Jones will both contend as full-time JGR Xfinity competitors. Trevor Bayne and Drew Dollar are scheduled to make select starts in JGR’s No. 18 Toyota Supra that will be driven by multiple competitors for the entire season, beginning at Daytona.

Ty Gibbs is scheduled to embark in his first full-time campaign in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 19, with coverage to occur at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.

February 16, 2022
Gragson delivers at Martinsville; Xfinity Championship 4 field set

Given two late opportunities to keep his championship hopes alive and vowing to win entering the weekend, Noah Gragson capitalized on both opportunities through two overtime attempts after beating Austin Cindric in a photo finish to win the Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, October 30, and punch his ticket to the Championship 4 finale.

With the victory, Gragson, who was placed in a “must-win” situation following his wreck last weekend at Kansas Speedway, will be one of four competitors who will contend for the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship at Phoenix Raceway scheduled for next Saturday.

The starting lineup was based on a performance metric formula, weighing the driver’s and owner’s results from a previous Xfinity event, the owner points position and the fastest lap recorded from a previous Xfinity race. With that, Austin Cindric, the reigning Xfinity Series champion, started on pole position and was joined on the front row with Ty Gibbs, the 2021 ARCA Menards Series champion and winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Kansas Speedway.

Prior to the event, Stephen Leicht and Joe Graf Jr. started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments along with Mike Harmon, who fell back due to a driver change.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Cindric managed to pull ahead and clear Gibbs entering the backstretch to come back around and lead the first lap. Behind, AJ Allmendinger, sporting an orange Halloween scheme on his No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet Camaro, was in third ahead of teammate Justin Haley, racing in a purple Halloween scheme on his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet Camaro, and Justin Allgaier, featuring Hellmann’s on his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, while Daniel Hemric muscled his way into the top six.

Through the first five laps of the event, the battle for the lead intensified between Cindric and Gibbs, who attempted to take over the top spot over Cindric on the inside lane. Despite Gibbs’ effort, Cindric prevailed once again and cleared Gibbs’ No. 54 Smile Coin Toyota Supra to retain the lead.

By Lap 10, the front-runners settled in a long single-file line as Cindric continued to lead ahead of Gibbs, Allmendinger, Haley, Hemric, Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson and rookie Sam Mayer. Behind, Ryan Sieg was in 11th ahead of Jeb Burton, Michael Annett, Brandon Brown, Riley Herbst and Myatt Snider.

Five laps later, the first caution flew when Preston Pardus wheel-hopped and spun in Turn 4. At the time of caution, Allmendinger overtook Gibbs for the runner-up spot while Cindric was ahead by nearly a second. In addition, Hemric and Allgaier moved into the top five while Haley dropped to sixth. During the caution period, the competition caution that was planned on Lap 25 was pushed back to Lap 30.

Another five laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Cindric rocketed away in his No. 22 CARQUEST Ford Mustang with the lead followed by Allmendinger. Soon after, Hemric challenged teammate Gibbs for third followed by Allgaier while Haley and Mayer battled for sixth. After battling Gibbs for a full lap on the outside lane, Hemric’s No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra prevailed entering the backstretch.

By Lap 25, Cindric was ahead by two-tenths of a second over Allmendinger while third-place Hemric trailed by less than a second. Meanwhile, Gibbs and Allgaier battled for fourth.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 30, Cindric was still leading ahead of Allmendinger and Hemric. By then, seven of the eight remaining Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 as Haley was in 10th behind Gragson while Brandon Jones, the eighth postseason contender, was mired in 15th.

Under the competition caution, some like Stephen Leicht, JJ Yeley, David Starr, Colin Garrett, Natalie Decker, Bayley Currey and Spencer Boyd pitted while the rest led by Cindric remained on the track.

Five laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Cindric and Allmendinger engaged in a side-by-side battle for three corners until Cindric prevailed on the inside lane. Behind, Hemric challenged Allmendinger for a full lap behind clearing him on Lap 37 in Turn 1. Meanwhile, Haley, who was in 10th, was being shuffled back towards the top 20 in 19th.

Through the first 40 laps of the event, Cindric was ahead by approximately seven-tenths of a second over Hemric while Allmendinger, Allgaier and Gibbs were in the top five. Mayer was in sixth ahead of Sieg, Gragson, Josh Berry and Harrison Burton. Brandon Jones was in 15th behind Jeb Burton while Haley was mired in 20th behind Snider.

On Lap 48, the caution flew when Mayer cut a right-front tire, shredded the right-front fender of his No. 8 John 5 Sinner Chevrolet Camaro and ignited sparks after making contact with Gibbs the previous lap.

Under caution, some like Gibbs, Harrison Burton, Brandon Jones, Gragson and Haley pitted while the rest led by Cindric remained on the track.

With seven laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Cindric retained the lead following another strong start. In addition, Hemric muscled his way back to second followed by Allgaier, Allmendinger, Berry and Sieg as the field scrambled for positions towards the front.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Cindric claimed his 12th stage victory of the season. Hemric settled in second followed by Allgaier, Allmendinger, Berry, Sieg and Gragson, who charged his way towards the front on fresh tires. Annett, Yeley and Moffitt completed the top-10 stage positions while Harrison Burton, Haley and Brandon Jones finished outside of the top 15 and with no early stage points in their quest to remain in the championship battle.

Under the stage break, the leaders led by Cindric pitted while the rest led by Gragson and Gibbs, both of whom pitted prior to the conclusion of the first stage, remained on the track.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 68, Gragson pulled his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Gibbs through the backstretch to retain the lead as Jeb Burton was in third. Behind, cousin Harrison Burton was in fifth behind Jeremy Clements as Haley moved up to sixth.

By Lap 75, Gragson was out in front by three-tenths of a second over Gibbs while Jeb Burton, Clements and Harrison Burton were in the top five. Meanwhile, Haley retained sixth ahead of Snider, Brandon Jones was in 10th behind Riley Herbst, Hemric was in 13th, Cindric and Allmendinger were in 15th and 16th and Allgaier was in 18th.

Fifteen laps later, Gragson, who was mired in lapped traffic, continued to lead by a narrow margin over Gibbs as Harrison Burton started to close in for the lead. Behind, Haley started to challenged Clements for fifth while Hemric and Cindric were back in the top 10 in ninth and 10th.

Through the first 100 laps of the event, Gragson was leading by three-tenths of a second over Harrison Burton, who moved into the runner-up spot a few laps earlier when Gibbs went up the track in Turn 3. With Gibbs back in third, Jeb Burton and Clements remained in the top five ahead of Haley, Snider, Herbst, Hemric and Cindric. Allmendinger, meanwhile, was in 11th while Brandon Jones and Allgaier were in the top 15.

By Lap 110, Gragson and Harrison Burton, both of whom were placed in a “must-win” situation to advance to the championship finale, were running nose to tail amid lapped traffic as Burton challenged Gragson for the top spot.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 120, Gragson, who was mired behind more lapped traffic and nearly lost the top spot entering Turn 4 as Harrison Burton shoved his No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota Supra beneath Gragson, edged Harrison Burton to claim his fourth stage victory of the season. Gibbs settled in third followed by Jeb Burton, Cindric, Hemric, Allmendinger, Herbst, Clements and Snider.

By virtue of their top-10 results in the second stage and the overall stage points accumulated, Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger secured their spots to the Championship 4 finale at Phoenix Raceway, with Cindric receiving an opportunity to defend his title and Allmendinger receiving his first opportunity to win his first NASCAR national touring series title.

Meanwhile, Haley, Gragson, Brandon Jones and Harrison Burton were scored outside of the top-four cutline to the finale while Hemric and Allgaier were currently scored inside the cutline.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted as Gragson retained the lead ahead of Harrison Burton, Gibbs and the field. Meanwhile, Haley came to pit road with the left-rear brake caliber and tire of his car on fire. Following several trips to pit road, where several douses from a fire extinguisher and multiple water bottles were made to his car, Haley, ultimately, took his car to the garage to have the right rear inspected. The issue, however, was enough to end his title hopes.

With 120 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Gragson and Harrison Burton engaged in a heated battle for the lead for two laps until Gragson cleared Burton entering the frontstretch.

Not long after, Harrison Burton reignited his challenge for the lead beneath Gragson. Gragson, however, retained the lead as the field settled in a long single-file line.

Nearing the final 100 laps of the event, the caution flew when Bayley Currey cut a right-front tire entering Turn 2. The incident occurred just in front of the leaders. At the time of caution, Gragson was ahead of a hard-challenging Harrison Burton while Gibbs, Jeb Burton and Cindric were in the top five. Herbst was in sixth while Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Allgiaer and Hemric were in the top 10.

Under caution, some like Brandon Jones pitted while the rest led by Gragson remained on the track.

With 95 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson cleared Gibbs entering the backstretch to retain the lead as Harrison Burton challenged his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate for the runner-up spot.

Five laps later, Gragson extended his advantage to more than half a second over Gibbs, who prevailed in a long side-by-side battle against Harrison Burton. Behind, Cindric was up in fourth in front of Jeb Burton while Hemric and Allmendinger dueled for sixth.

Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Gragson remained as the leader by eight-tenths of a second over Gibbs, who had teammate Harrison Burton and Cindric pressuring him for the runner-up spot. Hemric was up in fifth followed by Allmendinger, Allgaier, Annett, Berry and Jeb Burton. By then, Hemric was holding sole possession of the fourth and final transfer spot to the finale ahead of Allgaier.

Shortly after, the caution returned when Ryan Ellis spun in Turn 2.

Under caution, the leaders pitted and Gibbs emerged with the lead after exiting pit road first followed by teammate Harrison Burton, Gragson, Hemric and Brandon Jones. Following the pit stops, however, Spencer Boyd emerged as the leader after he opted to remain on the track.

With 66 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson made a bold three-wide move to the inside lane and beneath Boyd and Harrison Burton while Gibbs took over the lead. Through the first two turns, Harrison Burton was forced wide while trying to overtake Boyd and he lost his momentum through the backstretch as he fell back into the top 10.

With the field jostling for positions and Harrison Burton mired in the pack, Gibbs was leading ahead of Gragson, Cindric, Hemric and Allgaier.

A few laps later, the caution flew when Snider spun in Turn 2 after being bumped by Sieg. Under the caution laps, Harrison Burton pulled his car alongside Boyd’s to express his displeasure for losing his momentum.

Down to the final 58 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs and Gragson dueled for the lead through the backstretch. Just then, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck in Turn 2 when Jeb Burton, who was trying to force his way through Boyd entering the backstretch, came back down and ignited calamity with Annett making hard contact into the outside wall while Herbst, Boyd and Moffitt were also involved. The incident was enough to red-flag the event for nearly 11 minutes with fluid leaking out of Annett’s destroyed car.

When the red flag lifted and the race restarted under green with 50 laps remaining, Gibbs and Gragson dueled for the lead until Gibbs cleared the field entering the backstretch. Then in Turn 3, Gragson ran into the rear of Gibbs, which sent Gibbs sideways in front of the field. While most of the field scrambled to avoid Gibbs, Harrison Burton, unfortunately, made contact into his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, damaging the front nose of his Dex Imaging Toyota Supra. In the midst of the incident, Gragson returned to the lead ahead of Cindric, Allgaier, Hemric and Allmendinger.

Under caution, both Harrison Burton and Gibbs pitted, with Gibbs losing a lap in the process while Burton proceeded with a patched nose.

With 43 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson retained the lead while Cindric spun the tires. Cindric’s misfortune allowed Allgaier to moved into second followed by Hemric. Not long after, Brandon Jones made the slightest of contact with Cindric in Turn 3, but Jones and Cindric remained in fourth and fifth while Allmendinger, who tried to move inside the top five, remained in sixth.

Eight laps later, Gragson was leading by nearly six-tenths of a second over Hemric while Allgaier, Brandon Jones and Cindric were in the top five.

Another three laps later, the caution returned due to debris reported in the backstretch and coming off of Harrison Burton’s No. 20 Toyota.

Prior to the restart, a jack coming off of Harrison Burton’s car came to rest on the backstretch, which resulted with Burton being penalized for removing equipment out of his pit box.

Down to the final 26 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson received another strong start to retain the lead and slowly pull away through the backstretch. Meanwhile, teammate Allgaier was overtaken by Hemric as Cindric joined the battle.

Six laps later, Gragson was ahead by two-tenths of a second over Hemric, who started to close in on Gragson for the lead. Cindric trailed the two leaders by more than a second followed by Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger, Mayer, Berry, Herbst and Clements.

Two laps later, Hemric, who gained a run through the backstretch, emerged with the lead. Hemric’s move dropped Gragson, who is in a “must-win” situation, below the top-four cutline while Allgaier moved back into the cutline.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Hemric was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Gragson while Cindric, Allgaier, Mayer and Allmendinger were in the top six.

Four laps later, the caution returned when Haley, who was 23 laps behind the leaders, spun in Turn 4, which evaporated Hemric’s stable advantage over Gragson and Cindric. Following his spin, Haley called it a night as he parked his car in the garage and retired, which officially ended his hopes of advancing to the championship finale.

With the race sent into overtime, Hemric and Gragson occupied the front row ahead of Cindric, Allgaier, Mayer and Allmendinger. At the start, Gragson challenged Hemric for the lead on the outside lane. Through the backstretch, Gragson used the outside lane to his advantage as he fought back and cleared Hemric for the top spot entering the frontstretch. Behind, Josh Berry spun and the caution flew just before Gragson could start the final lap of the event, which sent the event into another overtime attempt.

With the race restarting in another overtime attempt, Gragson and Cindric occupied the front row while Hemric elected to restart behind Gragson on the inside lane. At the start, Gragson cleared Cindric entering the backstretch and continued to lead for a full lap.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gragson was still leading by a mere margin over Cindric while Hemric was being challenged by Mayer and others for third. Through the backstretch, Gragson continued to keep Cindric at bay. Then, Cindric made his move beneath Gragson in an attempt to snatch the win entering Turns 3 and 4. Despite Cindric’s late effort, Gragson fought back on the outside lane and edged Cindric’s No. 22 Ford by 0.064 seconds to win and punch his ticket to the finale.

In addition to locking himself and his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet team into the finale to battle for the championsip, Gragson captured his fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory, third of 2021 and first at Martinsville in the series. He also clinched the manufacturer’s title for Chevrolet.

The margin of victory between Gragson and Cindric (0.064 seconds) marked the closest finish ever at Martinsville.

“Man, I wanna cry right now,” Gragson said on NBCSN. “It’s been a rough season. We got a couple of wins there at Darlington and Richmond [in September]. I know it wasn’t looking good after last weekend. I was pretty fired up. I told my guys that we got an opportunity and we’re still in it. I’m so thankful. It’s just such an awesome opportunity. This team’s unbelievable. Overall, just an awesome day. I was telling all the guys in the pre-race deal, I said that snow plow’s engaged. We’re gonna be digging, get out of the way. Man, I’m emotional right now. Dude, this is Martinsville, baby! We’re going to the final four, baby! Yeah!”

Cindric, who will attempt to defend his series title next weekend, settled in second place followed by Hemric, who captured the fourth and final spot to the Championship 4 finale. This marks the third season where Hemric will contend for a NASCAR national touring series title while he continues to pursue his first race victory.

“Yeah, there was a lot that went into it,” Cindric said. “I felt like I had a shot as the third-place car. [I] Kept it in third gear, got the momentum, got cleared for second place. I put front bias into it, drove it in as hard as I could into [Turn] 3, but I wasn’t gonna use up Noah. I intend on racing for a championship a certain way. I said it after Bristol. [Gragson] earned that win. Just needed a couple inches, maybe needed above the track a little bit more. Overall, really proud of this season. I’ve been saying it since last season and this year, I feel the same way. I’m not talking about going back to back [in championships]. It’s about making it into the Championship 4. I feel like that’s the hardest thing you can do in a national series is to make it there. What you do with a bonus, you get to go have a great day and try to make the most of the opportunity.”

“I can tell you, I’m just pretty disappointed,” Hemric said. “I had to make a decision there. First caution comes out when you’re checked out, I felt like, first off, what a great Poppy Bank Toyota Supra. Just checked out, biding time, counting the laps down. The caution came out, I knew it wouldn’t be that easy and that’s fine. [Cindric] got into me into [Turns] 1 and 2. He’s also trying to win the race, same as I am, and he got me in a bad angle, let [Gragson] take the lead, the caution comes out again. I wanted to choose the top, race [Gragson]. It’s kind of risk versus reward, right? You start the season off with one goal and that’s to try to do what we officially have a shot to do next week and that’s run for a championship. That is the ultimate goal, but I don’t know. A win would’ve been nice. At least I’d be on the front row and have a shot. Right decision, I don’t know. Right, though, for next week? Of course.”

Mayer rallied from his early on-track issues to finish in fourth place for his first career top-five result in the Xfinity circuit followed by teammate Justin Allgaier, who was the first Xfinity Playoff competitor to miss the top-four cutline to the finale. This marks the second time in four seasons where Allgaier will not advance to the Championship 4 finale.

“It just wasn’t enough,” Allgaier said. “We played the safe strategy. We talked about it before the race and felt like that was the smart strategy. Just gave up too many points. Daniel [Hemric] was, obviously, a lot better that we were tonight and put himself in good position to get the points. Hats off to [Gragson]. At least we got one [JR Motorsports] car going to the Playoffs. It’s super disappointing. Everybody at JR Motorsports works so hard on this No. 7 team. A lot of averages says we’ve been in it the last so many years. At some point, you’re gonna have to have a bad year – by bad, fifth going into the final round – but still just disappointing.”

Brandon Jones, who came into Martinsville in a “must-win” situation, ended his night in sixth place as he also failed to transfer past the Round of 8 for a second consecutive season. He will remain at Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity circuit for the 2022 season.

“I just don’t think that we quite had the balance we did here in the spring,” Jones said. “Similar conditions, so I was expecting to be fairly fast here today. Then there at the end, just kind of fell back away from it. We got to go dissect this a little bit, figure out where we can continue to be better. We can still go to Phoenix and win that race. I truly believe we can do that. That’s still on my mind. It’s still my goal to go win one of these races before the start of next year, to get some momentum built back up here. We kept fighting. Hate that we missed [the Championship 4 round] again. We’ll keep going, man. We’re gonna keep trying to figure out how to do this.”

Allmendinger, who will contend for his first NASCAR national touring series championship, finished seventh followed by Alex Labbe, Clements and Herbst.

“It’s been an amazing year here at Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger said. “To win five times, win a Cup race. At the end of the day, you just want a chance at Phoenix. We know it’s gonna come down to four really strong cars. We’ve got some work to do. We definitely, I think, lost a little bit of speed over the last couple of months, taking out the Roval. We’ll go to work hard this week. We’ve been planning for this, all the men and women at Kaulig Racing. We’ve been getting our Phoenix car ready for the last five weeks, planning that we’re gonna be there…We did what we had to do. Got a seventh-place finish there. At the end of the day, we’re going for a championship.”

AJ Allmendinger, Austin Cindric, Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric have made the Championship 4 round and will contend for the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton and Justin Haley have been eliminated from title contention.

“That sucks, right?” Burton said. “Obviously, we put ourselves in this position and we needed to perform better throughout the year, to not be in this position. The last two weeks, I felt like [I] could’ve won the race. I don’t know. It’s a tough system to win. That’s what makes it fun for the fans, makes it fun for us. We just need to perform better. It’s that simple. We had a winning car today. Just so many things have to go right in racing to win and it makes it challenging to do it at the drop of a dime. We just had a couple things go wrong. Just a bummer deal that we didn’t get to show our speed at the end. Wish we could’ve won this thing. I felt like we were capable of it. I had times better than [Gragson] and really everybody. Just needed to show it.”

“We weren’t very good anyway,” Haley said. “It was inevitable. The brakes just went to the floor. I was either gonna wreck or spin out. That’ll happen. We’ll move on. I’m glad that AJ’s in the final four for Phoenix and go get [team owner] Matt Kaulig that championship trophy.”

To go along with the driver’s championship battle, the following teams will contend for the 2021 Xfinity Series owner’s title: Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 Toyota Supra piloted by John Hunter Nemechek, JR Motorsports’ No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Gragson, Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Allmendinger and Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford Mustang piloted by Cindric.

There were 13 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 13 cautions for 75 laps.

Results.

1. Noah Gragson, 153 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Austin Cindric, 64 laps led, Stage 1 winner

3. Daniel Hemric, 18 laps led

4. Sam Mayer

5. Justin Allgaier

6. Brandon Jones

7. AJ Allmendinger

8. Alex Labbe

9. Jeremy Clements

10. Riley Herbst

11. Josh Williams

12. Landon Cassill

13. Myatt Snider

14. Colin Garrett

15. Joe Graf Jr.

16. JJ Yeley

17. Jade Buford

18. Preston Pardus

19. Brett Moffitt

20. Harrison Burton, two laps led

21. Stephen Leicht

22. Jeffrey Earnhardt

23. Ryan Ellis

24. David Starr

25. Natalie Decker

26. Akinori Ogata

27. Ty Gibbs, 16 laps led

28. Josh Berry, one lap down

29. Matt Mills, two laps down

30. Spencer Boyd, three laps down

31. Ryan Sieg, four laps down

32. Ryan Vargas, eight laps down

33. Justin Haley – OUT, Brakes

34. Kyle Weatherman, 36 laps down

35. Bayley Currey, 45 laps down

36. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident

37. Jeb Burton – OUT, Accident

38. Michael Annett – OUT, Accident

39. Mike Harmon – OUT, Overheating

40. Tommy Joe Martins – OUT, Rear gear

Bold indicates Playoff contenders.

Playoff standings.

1. Noah Gragson – Advanced

2. Austin Cindric – Advanced

3. Daniel Hemric – Advanced

4. AJ Allmendinger – Advanced

5. Justin Allgaier – Eliminated

6. Justin Haley – Eliminated

7. Brandon Jones – Eliminated

8. Harrison Burton – Eliminated

With the championship field set, the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series is set to conclude at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, November 6, at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, where a champion will be crowned.

October 31, 2021
Sanchez spoils the party at Kansas, Gibbs wins ARCA Championship
Kansas City, KS – After a dominant race by the 2021 ARCA Menards Series champion, Ty Gibbs, a late-race caution played spoiler. In a green-white-checkered flag finish at the 1.5-mile speedway, the victory went to Nick Sanchez who rallied to claim his first-ever ARCA series victory in just 21 starts.

“This win is pretty surreal,” Sanchez said. “I feel like there should have been other times this year where we should have been in victory lane and I’m just glad we were able to capitalize off this season.”

As Sanchez celebrated his victory, there was another career first. Ty Gibbs won his first ARCA Menards Series championship Saturday night at Kansas Speedway. With the help of 10 career race wins in 2021 and only 24 cars entering the race, all Gibbs had to do to clinch the championship was start the race and take the green flag, barring any mechanical failures.

When the green flag flew, Gibbs became the champion but still had a race to win. The 18-year-old started on the pole and led his closest competitor Corey Heim to the green. Gibbs had a rocket ship No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota and led all the laps to the competition caution on Lap 50. In fact, Gibbs’ car was fast enough that he had lapped up to third place prior to the yellow flying at halfway.

After the halfway point, a light mist began to fall in the area causing the race to be delayed slightly with laps run under caution. Following the 15-lap yellow flag, the race was restarted with 35 laps to go with Gibbs, Sanchez and Heim starting up front. Despite the long yellow, Gibbs continued to have the strongest car and led until a caution flew with five laps to go for the No. 7 of Eric Caudell.

The late-race caution set up a two-lap dash to the finish with Gibbs and Sanchez on the front row. Sanchez powered to the front of Gibbs as Gibbs tried to chase him down on the back straightaway. Knowing he would have one last show at the win, the North Carolina native was looking to make a move on Sanchez out of Turn 4, but Gibbs came up just short of scoring his 11th career victory of the season.

Gibbs became the 37th different ARCA Menards Series Champion in series history. Earlier in the day prior to the ARCA race, Gibbs also won the NASCAR Xfinity Series event.

Gibbs became the 37th different ARCA Menards Series Champion in series history. Earlier in the day prior to the ARCA race, Gibbs also won the NASCAR Xfinity Series event.

“It was a wonderful day. You know I wish we could have won the (ARCA) race but that’s part of it,” Gibbs said. “Sometimes you’re going to win and sometimes you’re going to lose these things at the end of them. More importantly, we were thinking big picture of winning the championship and we can home with it.”

There were two cautions for 21 laps and two lead changes among two different leaders.

Official Race Results following the Reese’s 150 at Kansas Speedway.
1. Nick Sanchez, led two laps
2. Ty Gibbs, led 99 laps
3. Corey Heim, led one lap
4. Drew Dollar
5. JP Bergeron
6. Kris Wright, 1 lap down
7. Kyle Sieg, 1 lap down
8. Dean Thompson, 1 lap down
9. Rajah Caruth, 1 lap down
10. Parker Chase, 2 laps down
11. Connor Mosack, 2 laps down
12. Scott Melton, 2 laps down
13. Andy Jankowiak, 2 laps down
14. Greg Van Alst, 2 laps down
15. Ron Vandermeir Jr, 3 laps down
16. Toni Breidinger, 4 laps down
17. Zachary Tinkle, 8 laps down
18. D.L. Wilson, 8 laps down
19. Eric Caudell, 10 laps down
20. Arnout Kok, OUT, Rear End
21. Kyle Lockrow, OUT, Engine
22. Tony Consentino, OUT, Brakes
23. Brad Smith, OUT, Vibration
24. Wayne Peterson, OUT, Did Not Start
Up Next: The ARCA Menards Series 2021 season is now complete and the series will turn its focus to the 2022 season. However, the ARCA Menards West Series still has one more race to go that is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 6, live on Trackpass.
October 24, 2021
Gibbs takes Xfinity Series win at Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, KS – After passing race leader Austin Cindric with 16 laps to go, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs took home his fourth career win of the 2021 Xfinity Series season.

“He (Austin Cindric) got a little bit free and kind of slowed down in (Turns) 3 and 4, and I could get to his left rear and side-draft him and get away from him,” the 19-year-old Gibbs said of the winning pass.”

“I got loose a couple of times over there (pointing to Turns 3 and 4), but I was just trying to give it my all, trying to come back with a win. To have four wins this year in the Xfinity Series is just unbelievable.”

Kansas Speedway hosted the second round in the Round of 8 Playoffs on a cool Saturday afternoon. Daniel Hemric was on the pole by virtue of the qualifying metric system. Stages of 45/45/110 laps made up the 200 lap event.

Hemric maintained the lead early on in the first stage before Austin overtook him for the top position after nine laps. While it looked as though Cindric was going to leave the field high and dry, a caution on Lap 28 for the No. 48 of Jade Buford bunched everyone up for a restart with eight laps to go in the first stage. As the green flag came back out, AJ Allmendinger assumed the lead for a brief while and battled Hemric in the last remaining laps in Stage 1. Allmendinger eventually held off Hemric and won the first stage.

Hemric, Cindric, Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, Myatt Snider, Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones, Justin Haley, and Harrison Burton completed the top 10 finishers.

As the second stage began, last year’s Xfinity Series champion, Cindric, won the race off pit road and was out front once again with Gibbs right beside him in second place. Cindric had the dominant car and never surrendered the lead, leading all the laps in the second stage to take the Stage 2 victory. Gibbs, Hemric, Gragson, Snider, Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Allgaier, Haley, and Riley Herbst rounded out the Top 10.

The third and final stage was the wildest stage of the afternoon with seven cautions. The biggest caution occurred with 23 laps to go as the No. 9 of Gragson and No. 20 of Harrison Burton collided on the front stretch after contact with the No. 8 of Sam Mayer. The vehicles of playoff drivers, Burton and Gragson, had major damage and were out of the race. The drivers were checked and released from the infield care center, but now face a must-win situation heading into Martinsville next weekend.

Following the cleanup, the field restarted with 16 laps to go and Cindric seemed poised to score the win and lock into the Championship 4. While Cindric had the faster car in Stage 2 and early in the final stage, Gibbs chased him down. took the lead and held on, for his fourth career win of the year.

Gibbs led three times for 14 laps en route to victory. There were 10 cautions for 46 laps and 19 lead changes among six different drivers.

Cindric led the most laps, 151, but came up short and earned his 20th top five of the year. The Team Penske driver also earned his 11th stage win of the year after winning the second stage.

“It was a great points day in our Odyssey Battery Ford Mustang,” Cindric said about the second place finish. “I really would have loved to lock our way in and race for a win at Martinsville, that would be huge for us. Congrats to the 54, Ty (Gibbs). That whole team has been on it no matter who is in the car. They have earned it. It sucks to lose one that late in the race. Not the first time, but I didn’t spontaneously crash in the playoff Kansas race this time, so it is okay I guess. I hate losing but we will move on. In the bigger picture, it was a good day.”

Playoff Standings with one race left in the Round of 8:
1. Austin Cindric, +47
2. A.J. Allmendinger, +47
3. Justin Allgaier, +9
4. Daniel Hemric, +7
  Below the cut line
5. Justin Haley, -7
6. Noah Gragson, -24
7. Brandon Jones, -40
8. Harrison Burton, -51
Official Race Results following the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway
1. Ty Gibbs, led 14 laps
2. Austin Cindric, led 151 laps, won Stage 2
3. A.J. Allmendinger, led 10 laps, won Stage 1
4. Justin Haley
5. Ryan Sieg
6. Brett Moffitt
7. Michael Annett
8. Sam Mayer
9. Justin Allgaier
10. Myatt Snider, led one lap
11. Brandon Jones
12. Jeb Burton
13. Riley Herbst
14. Brandon Brown
15. Daniel Hemric, led 15 laps
16. Bayley Currey
17. Jeremy Clements
18. Garrett Smithley
19. Landon Cassill
20. Jordan Anderson
21. Kyle Weatherman
22. Ryan Vargas
23. Tommy Joe Martins, 1 lap down
24. Patrick Emerling, 1 lap down
25. Matt Mills, 1 lap down
26. Josh Williams, 2 laps down
27. Dylan Lupton, 2 laps down
28. Jeffrey Earnhardt, 2 laps down
29. Joe Graf Jr, 2 laps down
30. Jesse Little, 3 laps down
31. Spencer Boyd, 4 laps down
32. Loris Hezemans, 8 laps down
33. Alex Labbe, 9 laps down
34. Harrison Burton, OUT, Accident
35. Noah Gragson, led nine laps, OUT, Accident
36. David Starr, 48 laps down
37. Mason Massey, OUT, Accident
38. Jade Buford, OUT, Accident
39. Gray Gaulding, OUT, Engine
40. Joey Gase, OUT, Electrical
Up Next: The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Martinsville Speedway for the conclusion of the Round of 8 where the Championship 4 will be set for Phoenix. It will air live on NBCSN and MRN Radio at 6 p.m. ET.
October 23, 2021