Noah Gragson earned his third win in a row at Bristol with a bold strategy decision. While the rest of the field pitted, Gragson stayed out on 90-lap old tires and held off a hard-charging Brandon Jones around the top of the track for the final twenty laps to win Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway by .145 seconds.
It’s Gragson’s sixth win this season, which moves him into the lead of the Playoff standings, and his eleventh career win. Holding off Jones was especially significant, as he beat the driver who will take his ride next year as Gragson makes the move to the Cup Series with Petty GMS.
“That last caution came out, and I knew if I could ring the top, it was going to be hard for them to get there,” said Gragson. “I appreciate Brandon Jones racing us clean. He gave us the bumper with two to go, and I was hanging on, scrubbing the fence.”
“We won here in Bristol in 2020,” he added, “and there were no fans here. What a great opportunity to race here in front of fans and have the opportunity to win the race. Our car was fast all day. We got to the top and we were rolling. I had a blast.”
“This one hurts,” a dejected Jones said. “I wanted this one really, really bad tonight. I fought a lot of adversity, a lot of odd things I’ve never had happened, I had happen tonight in the car and I had to fight through a lot of stuff early on. This group still has a few more that are overdue and Bristol owes me one, man.”
However, Jones said he didn’t think about racing his future ride: “It didn’t even cross my mind at the time,” he said.
Despite Gragson’s Playoff lead, AJ Allmendinger officially won the Regular Season Championship at Bristol with a sixth-place finish.
One driver who wasn’t there at the end was Justin Allgaier, despite having the speed to battle Gragson and Gibbs. Gibbs crashed halfway through after contact with Gragson, taking out Playoff contender Sheldon Creed, but Allgaier’s speeding penalty was entirely in his hands.
“I know what happened; I didn’t really think I was speeding, but obviously I was,” Allgaier said. “I just hate it for everybody. It was cool for [Noah] to get the win. I cannot believe that they were able to stay out there and still run the speed they were.”
Although Sheldon Creed spent quite a few laps up front, he was eliminated after being involved in a crash with Ty Gibbs halfway through. And Landon Cassill, who came into the race on the right side of the cutline, was eliminated with brake issues. That means Daniel Hemric and Ryan Seig take the final two Playoff berths.
The Xfinity Series returns for the first race of the Playoffs, the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, on Saturday, September 24th.
Photos: NASCAR at Bristol Motor Speedway Friday Sept. 16, 2022
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Results Food City 300
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, Tennessee
Friday, September 16, 2022
1. (9) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 300.
2. (11) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 300.
3. (15) Austin Hill #, Chevrolet, 300.
4. (5) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 300.
5. (12) Riley Herbst, Ford, 300.
6. (4) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 300.
7. (2) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 300.
8. (14) Stefan Parsons(i), Chevrolet, 300.
9. (3) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 300.
10. (10) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 300.
11. (20) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 300.
12. (21) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Toyota, 300.
13. (18) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 300.
14. (6) Sammy Smith, Toyota, 299.
15. (7) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 299.
16. (19) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 299.
17. (33) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 299.
18. (31) Sage Karam, Chevrolet, 299.
19. (28) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 299.
20. (8) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 298.
21. (30) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 298.
22. (36) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 298.
23. (37) Joe Graf Jr, Ford, 298.
24. (35) CJ McLaughlin, Ford, 297.
25. (34) Kris Wright(i), Chevrolet, 297.
26. (25) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 297.
27. (23) Patrick Emerling, Chevrolet, 294.
28. (32) Ronnie Bassett Jr, Chevrolet, 294.
29. (24) Nicholas Sanchez, Chevrolet, 294.
30. (27) David Starr, Ford, 293.
31. (38) Bobby McCarty, Chevrolet, 288.
32. (17) Mason Massey, Chevrolet, Oil Line, 271.
33. (26) JJ Yeley, Toyota, Accident, 267.
34. (29) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, Brakes, 220.
35. (16) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 188.
36. (1) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, Accident, 129.
37. (22) Sheldon Creed #, Chevrolet, Accident, 128.
38. (13) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, Accident, 45.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 80.996 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 58 Mins, 27 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.145 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 58 laps.
Lead Changes: 6 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Gibbs 1-89;J. Allgaier 90;S. Creed # 91-124;J. Allgaier 125-175;B. Currey 176-179;J. Allgaier 180-275;N. Gragson 276-300.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Justin Allgaier 3 times for 148 laps; Ty Gibbs 1 time for 89 laps; Sheldon Creed # 1 time for 34 laps; Noah Gragson 1 time for 25 laps; Bayley Currey 1 time for 4 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 54,7,9,1,16,8,27,11,10,39
Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,9,16,19,98,21,27,11,1,18
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