Noah Gragson dominated at Phoenix Saturday, leading 114 of the 200 laps and winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 200. He finally nailed down his sixth career win after two consecutive runner-up finishes and a third to start the year.
“Feels great!” he said, stepping out of the car. “Pit crew executed great and this team has been on a roll so far this year. Top three finishes in all four races. Can’t thank everybody enough for all their hard work.”
Gragson had to chase down and pass Brandon Jones for the win after the 19 team pulled an ambitious short pit strategy play. “It’s really early in the season still. I thought when we came out of the pits there and were out ahead of him, it was going to be pretty good because aero situations were pretty tough today and it seemed like whoever was leading the race was kind of difficult to pass.”
Despite his disapointment, Jones said, “Still all-in-all pretty happy to come home second – we got some really good stages too. Can’t thank Jeld-Wen and Menards enough for being on this Supra. This is the right momentum we need to turn this season around.”
Josh Berry, Trevor Bayne, and John Hunter Nemecheck rounded out the top five.
Bayne managed another top five in his second Xfinity start for the year. Despite winning another stage this week, he had to battle to overcome a speeding penalty late in the race.
“We went from dead last to fourth,” Bayne noted. “That thing was hooked up, catching the leaders, running the fastest lap times every single lap and never had a chance to recover. The only reason I look disappointed is because I’ve never had a race car that good. This Devotion Nutrition Supra was unbelievable on the long run and I feel like I should have won with it. Those make you sick.”
Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric, Landon Cassill, and Justin Allgaier finished with a top ten.
Gibbs said it was “just a frustrating day.” He added: “We got spun out and then came from the back. We were down a set of tires and then it went green to the end, so we never had time to get all of the way back up. I feel like we had a third-place car, second place at-best.”
The Xfinity Series races heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Nalley Cars 250 next Saturday and Gragson will be hoping to continue his successful run.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Results United Rentals 200
Phoenix Raceway
Avondale, Arizona
Saturday, March 12, 2022
1. (2) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 200.
2. (5) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 200.
3. (8) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 200.
4. (1) Trevor Bayne, Toyota, 200.
5. (11) John Hunter Nemechek(i), Toyota, 200.
6. (3) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 200.
7. (17) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 200.
8. (15) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 200.
9. (22) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 200.
10. (24) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200.
11. (4) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 199.
12. (16) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 199.
13. (26) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, 199.
14. (9) Sheldon Creed #, Chevrolet, 199.
15. (18) Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 199.
16. (35) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 199.
17. (12) Austin Hill #, Chevrolet, 199.
18. (14) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 199.
19. (23) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 199.
20. (13) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 199.
21. (19) Stefan Parsons, Chevrolet, 198.
22. (7) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 198.
23. (31) Mason Massey, Chevrolet, 198.
24. (25) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 198.
25. (32) JJ Yeley, Ford, 198.
26. (28) Nicholas Sanchez, Chevrolet, 198.
27. (36) Joe Graf Jr., Ford, 197.
28. (33) Jade Buford, Chevrolet, 197.
29. (38) Ryan Vargas, Chevrolet, 197.
30. (10) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 197.
31. (29) David Starr, Ford, 196.
32. (20) Kyle Sieg #, Ford, 196.
33. (27) Kaz Grala(i), Chevrolet, 196.
34. (34) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Toyota, 196.
35. (30) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, Ignition, 178.
36. (6) Parker Retzlaff, Ford, Fuel Pump, 158.
37. (37) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 147.
38. (21) Riley Herbst, Ford, Accident, 20.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 98.698 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 1 Mins, 35 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.555 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 33 laps.
Lead Changes: 16 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Bayne 1-33;N. Gragson 34-41;T. Bayne 42;N. Gragson 43-44;T. Bayne 45-48;N. Gragson 49;B. Jones 50-54;N. Gragson 55-60;B. Jones 61-69;N. Gragson 70-94;J. Allgaier 95-99;B. Jones 100-101;J. Nemechek(i) 102-112;N. Gragson 113-169;R. Sieg 170-171;B. Jones 172-185;N. Gragson 186-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Noah Gragson 7 times for 114 laps; Trevor Bayne 3 times for 38 laps; Brandon Jones 4 times for 30 laps; John Hunter Nemechek(i) 1 time for 11 laps; Justin Allgaier 1 time for 5 laps; Ryan Sieg 1 time for 2 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 18,9,19,26,54,7,10,16,8,1
Stage #2 Top Ten: 9,7,19,18,8,26,16,11,10,1
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