Noah Gragson charged up the top five in what proved to be the final laps at Kansas Speedway to grab the lead. He held that lead when the race restarted after a light rain shower and he still held it when the rain fell harder, ultimately forcing the race to be cancelled and making Gragson the winner of Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway.
Gragson’s second-straight victory is the tenth in his career, and his first at Kansas – as well as being his top ten at the track. It took triumphing over Ty Gibbs in the 54 Toyota to get it, though.
“The 54 was really fast all day,” Gragson said. “The pit crew did a good job all day keeping us in contention. That restart was the most important part of the race today. Yeah, it’s a rain victory, but we came off pit road third behind the 54 and 19 (of Brandon Jones).”
“They both took the top,” he added, “and I chose the bottom, third row. I got to the lead on those guys, and that kind of was the game-changer on today’s race. I think we all knew that we were racing to halfway or a little after.”
Gibbs didn’t even end up second after his own drama at the same restart. After Gragson’s teammate Justin Allgaier pushed Gibbs into the outside, with him brushing the wall, Gibbs was frustrated. He came down and door-slammed the 7 car of Allgaier, something he apologized following the race.
“I came back down, frustrated, and hit the 7,” Gibbs said. “The worst part is, I hurt my day more than it’s going to hurt anybody else’s. It’s just stupid of me to do that. I just think I need to fix those things… It’s easy for all of us to get angry—me especially. I just didn’t make the right decision there.”
“I apologize to them,” he added, “I apologize to my group. I should be the one taking the door off the race car, because I hit him.”
With his fifth win on the year, Gragson ties Gibbs for the most wins on the season.
The damage was enough to take both cars out of contention had the race resumed, which disappointed Allgaier after his team spent the entire race making improvements on the car as he climbed up the top ten.
“If we were to go back green, I think it extremely limited his day and probably was going to limit our day as well,” Allgaier said. “Frustrations get the best of you a lot of times, but I just hate it that we tore up a race car that wasn’t really torn up before that.”
The Xfinity Series returns next Friday night for the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Results Kansas Lottery 300
Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kansas
Saturday, September 10, 2022
1. (5) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 93.
2. (9) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 93.
3. (2) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 93.
4. (1) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 93.
5. (15) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 93.
6. (4) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 93.
7. (10) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 93.
8. (11) Sammy Smith, Toyota, 93.
9. (8) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 93.
10. (16) Brett Moffitt, Ford, 93.
11. (3) Sheldon Creed #, Chevrolet, 93.
12. (6) Austin Hill #, Chevrolet, 93.
13. (14) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 93.
14. (13) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 93.
15. (7) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 93.
16. (12) Riley Herbst, Ford, 93.
17. (20) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, 93.
18. (22) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 93.
19. (21) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 93.
20. (37) Kris Wright(i), Chevrolet, 93.
21. (17) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 92.
22. (28) JJ Yeley, Ford, 92.
23. (31) David Starr, Ford, 92.
24. (29) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 92.
25. (27) Rajah Caruth(i), Chevrolet, 92.
26. (34) Stefan Parsons(i), Chevrolet, 92.
27. (35) Derek Griffith, Toyota, 92.
28. (25) Howie Disavino III, Chevrolet, 92.
29. (26) Dillon Bassett, Chevrolet, 92.
30. (36) Joey Gase, Toyota, 92.
31. (24) Mason Massey, Chevrolet, 91.
32. (33) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 91.
33. (38) Ryan Vargas, Chevrolet, 91.
34. (32) CJ McLaughlin, Ford, 91.
35. (23) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 90.
36. (18) Jesse Iwuji #, Chevrolet, 89.
37. (30) Brennan Poole(i), Chevrolet, Transmission, 73.
38. (19) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, Engine, 51.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 113.697 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 13 Mins, 37 Secs. Margin of Victory: Caution Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 18 laps.
Lead Changes: 6 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: B. Jones 1-4;T. Gibbs 5-47;N. Gragson 48;T. Gibbs 49-71;N. Gragson 72;A. Hill # 73-75;N. Gragson 76-93.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Ty Gibbs 2 times for 66 laps; Noah Gragson 3 times for 20 laps; Brandon Jones 1 time for 4 laps; Austin Hill # 1 time for 3 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 54,9,19,18,7,07,21,16,8,98
Stage #2 Top Ten: 9,7,54,19,48,16,8,18,1,07
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