Noah Gragson has never been lucky at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He’d finished in the top ten three times in four starts, and he’d had a shot at winning each of them. But he broke through in Saturday’s Contender Boats 300 and finally visited victory lane at the track.
And he did it in dominating fashion, continuing the good form he’s been showing as the season winds down. He led 127 of the 200 laps, and managed to stay ahead in a late restart to beat Ty Gibbs by .550 seconds.
“I wanted this one so bad,” Gragson exclaimed. “Words can’t describe how thankful I am for everybody at JR Motorsports.”
with the win, he’s locked himself in the championship fight with a berth at Phoenix. He also won both stages, giving him a total of 16 stage wins this year, more than double everyone else in the Xfinity Series.
Runner-up Ty Gibbs hasn’t locked himself into the Championship 4 yet, but he’s still comfortably third in points with a 30-point buffer to the cutline. He was happy with a solid second place finish in his first visit to the track.
“We were just battling our race car all day, we made great adjustments and my guys never gave up,” Gibb said. “We’ll move on to Martinsville. I feel like that’s a place we were really fast at earlier this year and probably had a shot to win it so I’m excited to back there.”
Fellow Playoff contender AJ Allmendinger finished third, moving him to the good of the cutline heading into Martinsville.
Sam Mayer finished fifth, although with a 28-point deficit, he all-but needs a win to advance. Austin Hill, who finished ninth, is seven points below the cutline and Brandon Jones trails at 38 points below.
Justin Allgaier had an eventful day, coming back from being a lap down to finish tenth. Still, he ends up five points below the cutline heading into Martinsville.
The Xfinity Series will set its four-driver Championship grid next Saturday in the Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – 28th Annual Contender Boats 300
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Homestead, Florida
Saturday, October 22, 2022
1. (2) Noah Gragson (P), Chevrolet, 200.
2. (3) Ty Gibbs (P), Toyota, 200.
3. (13) AJ Allmendinger (P), Chevrolet, 200.
4. (4) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 200.
5. (6) Sam Mayer (P), Chevrolet, 200.
6. (1) Trevor Bayne (P), Toyota, 200.
7. (9) Chandler Smith(i), Toyota, 200.
8. (15) Riley Herbst, Ford, 200.
9. (10) Austin Hill # (P), Chevrolet, 200.
10. (20) Justin Allgaier (P), Chevrolet, 200.
11. (12) Josh Berry (P), Chevrolet, 200.
12. (16) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 200.
13. (23) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 200.
14. (24) Brennan Poole(i), Chevrolet, 200.
15. (5) Brandon Jones (P), Toyota, 199.
16. (29) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 199.
17. (7) Sheldon Creed #, Chevrolet, 199.
18. (35) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 199.
19. (21) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 199.
20. (8) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 198.
21. (31) David Starr, Ford, 198.
22. (19) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 198.
23. (30) Patrick Emerling, Toyota, 198.
24. (17) Joe Graf Jr, Ford, 198.
25. (11) Nicholas Sanchez, Chevrolet, 198.
26. (26) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 197.
27. (34) Kris Wright(i), Chevrolet, 196.
28. (37) Julia Landauer, Chevrolet, 196.
29. (22) Timmy Hill(i), Ford, 195.
30. (32) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 195.
31. (38) CJ McLaughlin, Ford, 195.
32. (36) Matt Mills(i), Chevrolet, 195.
33. (25) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 190.
34. (18) Stefan Parsons(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 189.
35. (33) Kyle Sieg #, Ford, Accident, 183.
36. (27) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, Electrical, 115.
37. (28) Mason Massey, Chevrolet, Engine, 62.
38. (14) JJ Yeley, Ford, Accident, 3.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 124.884 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 24 Mins, 8 Secs. Margin of Victory: .550 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 24 laps.
Lead Changes: 13 among 7 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Bayne (P) 1-22;N. Gragson (P) 23-47;L. Cassill 48-50;N. Gragson (P) 51;T. Gibbs (P) 52;N. Gragson (P) 53-54;A. Hill # (P) 55-70;N. Gragson (P) 71-97;A. Hill # (P) 98-100;T. Bayne (P) 101-124;N. Gragson (P) 125-140;A. Allmendinger (P) 141;J. Berry (P) 142-144;N. Gragson (P) 145-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Noah Gragson (P) 6 times for 127 laps; Trevor Bayne (P) 2 times for 46 laps; Austin Hill # (P) 2 times for 19 laps; Landon Cassill 1 time for 3 laps; Josh Berry (P) 1 time for 3 laps; AJ Allmendinger (P) 1 time for 1 lap; Ty Gibbs (P) 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 9,10,54,18,16,21,11,1,34,7
Stage #2 Top Ten: 9,16,21,18,1,54,10,11,26,45
- Austin Hill wins at Atlanta to continue Xfinity Series streak - March 18, 2023
- Christian Eckes drives through the field to win at Atlanta - March 18, 2023
- Chad Knaus says Hendrick will appeal ‘disappointing’ penalties - March 17, 2023
