Tag: Joe Gibbs Racing

Ace JGR pitwork nets Hamlin second win in a row at Darlington

A perfectly-executed overtime restart by Denny Hamlin following a clutch final pit stop by his Joe Gibbs Racing crew provided exactly the advantage the veteran needed to claim the trophy in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. Hamlin …

A perfectly-executed overtime restart by Denny Hamlin following a clutch final pit stop by his Joe Gibbs Racing crew provided exactly the advantage the veteran needed to claim the trophy in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Hamlin took the race lead out of the pits during the final late race caution then bested the field on the ensuing restart, pulling his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota out front and ultimately to a 0.597s victory over the day’s most dominant driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron.

It’s the second-consecutive victory for Hamlin, who won last week at Martinsville, Va. and marks the first time he’s won back-to-back races since 2012 when he won at Bristol, Tenn. then Atlanta the following week.

 

All smiles as he climbed out the car, Hamlin gave all the credit to his pit crew. He was third place at the time of the final caution – the yellow coming out for Byron’s Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson’s spin. The leaders seized the chance to pit for fresh tires in anticipation of the overtime restart and Hamlin’s crew got him out of the pits first, ahead of 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Byron.

On the ensuing green flag, Hamlin set off to a perfect launch, giving him the victory over Byron, who led a race best 243 of the 297 laps. It is Hamlin’s 56th career win, breaking a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for 11th place on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.

“There’s two people I really love right now: my pit crew and Kyle Larson,’’ the 44-year-old Virginian Hamlin said with a grin. “Had a little assist there, so thank you.

“Pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week [at Martinsville]. They won it this week. It’s all about them.’’

It was obviously a tough ending to a career day for Byron, who rallied to the runner-up finish on the final restart but had absolutely dominated the early race, leading the opening 243 laps and claiming both Stage 1 and Stage 2 victories. It was the most laps Byron has ever led in a single race.

“First off, just really proud of my team to bring that level of effort and preparation and have a car like that and us execute like that. It was looking like we were going to have a perfect race and we were going to lead every lap,’’ the 2025 DAYTONA 500 winner Byron said.

“I was really proud of that. Those guys could just be aggressive on the other side of the green flag cycle and we just lost control, and once we lost control it was too late to get back up there.

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“It sucks and I’m sure it will sting tonight, but there are still a lot of positives. It just stings in the moment for sure.’’

Hamlin’s JGR teammate Christopher Bell finished third in the No. 20 Toyota after an amazing rally forward from a 20th place starting position. Reddick finished fourth in the 23XI Racing Toyota, co-owned by Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney finished fifth. It is the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion’s first top five at the 1.366-mile historic track, but the result still stings as Blaney had just taken the race lead moments before the final caution came out with only three laps of regulation remaining.

“Oh no,’’ Blaney conceded of his thoughts when the yellow flag flew.

“I thought we had the race won. I don’t really know. I’ll have to watch a replay and see how the yellow came out and watch it back, but we did a great job and great strategy call of running long.

“Great call and just really fast but never got to really control the race,’’ he added. “I feel like nothing really went our way. Pit road we’ve got to work on a little bit. Caution coming out during the cycle set us way back and I feel like we kept making up spots. Really proud of the No. 12 folks for giving me a fast car. Just wasn’t meant to be. I really would have liked to have won here. That would have been really neat. Proud of the effort and we’ll keep plugging along.’’

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher finished sixth, followed by Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Hendrick’s Chase Elliott, JGR’s Ty Gibbs and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch. It was a season-best effort for Gibbs.

Byron’s runner-up showing keeps him in the NASCAR Cup Series championship lead now by 49 points over Hamlin and 52 points over Bell. It’s a different look atop the standings, where all four Hendrick Motorsports cars were ranked among the top five.

Hendrick’s Chase Elliott finished eighth Sunday and is now fourth in the standings, 59 points back. Larson dropped to sixth place after finishing 37th of the 38 cars at Darlington. Bowman is now ranked 10th with a 35th place showing.

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to the famed Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway high banks next weekend for Sunday’s Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hamlin is the defending winner.

Jones breaks 98-race Xfinity winless streak at Darlington

After diligently working through a 98-race winless streak over the last three NASCAR Xfinity Series seasons, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones reminded his competitors – and his fans – Saturday that he’s still a race winner and a title contender. The …

After diligently working through a 98-race winless streak over the last three NASCAR Xfinity Series seasons, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones reminded his competitors — and his fans — Saturday that he’s still a race winner and a title contender.

The well-liked 28-year-old Atlanta native took the lead on a re-start with 12 laps remaining in Saturday’s Sports Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 at the historic Darlington (S.C.) Raceway – beating 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott to the finish line by a healthy 1.105s to hoist his first trophy since April, 2022 — a span of 98 races.

The 1.366-mile Darlington track may be nicknamed Too Tough To Tame, but it certainly presented a tamer race than the series produced a week ago on the typically wild and wooly Martinsville half-miler. This weekend featured 14 lead changes among nine drivers – none of the changes up front a result of overly aggressive driving.

Instead, strategy, a fast car and unwavering belief in himself and his team made the difference for Jones.

 

“It’s nice for my confidence … but it’s also to prove to the haters, and people that said I was incapable of doing it, wrong again,’’ said Jones, whose No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led 24 of the races 137 laps.

“This place is freaking awesome; I love coming to Darlington, ‘’ he added, “Second win and just huge momentum. I knew we were on a high, just didn’t know when it was going to happen.’’

Justin Allgaier, who led the most laps (56) on the afternoon and won Stage 2, finished third in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, followed by teammates Ross Chastain and rookie Carson Kvapil. The team, co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller, had all five of its Chevys in the top 10 with rookie Connor Zilisch finishing sixth and Sammy Smith ninth.

Rookies punctuated the top 10 despite it being the first time most of them had ever raced at the famously challenging venue. In addition to Kvapil and Zilisch, rookies Christian Eckes and Nick Sanchez claimed seventh and eighth place with Smith and veteran Sheldon Creed rounding out the top 10.

Harrison Burton’s AM Racing team won the opening stage and JGR’s Taylor Gray was credited with the Xfinity Fastest Lap (160.706mph) of the day.

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“I am proud of Brandon Jones, I know how hard the kid has worked. He’s done a good job and I’m happy to see him get to victory lane’’ said the reigning series champion Allgaier, who has now tied NASCAR Hall-of-Famer Mark Martin with nine-consecutive top 10s in Xfinity Series races at Darlington.

Allgaier has finished top 10 in six of the last seven races of 2025, including back-to-back victories at Las Vegas and Homestead-Miami in March and a runner-up finish at Atlanta in February.

“Disappointed,’’ Allgaier conceded of his Darlington day, however, noting his Chevy’s speed was good and the team overcame an early race pit road miscue.

“We were able to get the track position back, at least for the most part, but clean air was too important today. When we were up front, we had it. I really needed the long runs and just didn’t have that at the end of the race today. Proud of everybody on our BRANDT Chemical Chevrolet. We’re on a heckuva run with top fives right now.’’

The series’ popular Dash 4 Cash incentive program returns with next week’s SciApps 300 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (5 p.m. ET, The CW Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The highest finisher among Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill, Haas Factory Team’s Creed, Allgaier and Alpha Prime Racing’s Brennan Poole will win the Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus check from Xfinity, having earned eligibility based on their results in the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway race last week.

Next week marks the first spring race at Bristol since 2019. Christopher Bell was the race winner.

Bell was good, but not good enough at Martinsville

Christopher Bell saw improvement in his performance at Martinsville Speedway with Sunday’s second-place run, but it wasn’t good enough to challenge Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin. “I don’t know what he was doing early in the run, if he was …

Christopher Bell saw improvement in his performance at Martinsville Speedway with Sunday’s second-place run, but it wasn’t good enough to challenge Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin.

“I don’t know what he was doing early in the run, if he was struggling with something or if he was just taking care of the tires,” Bell said. “I could keep pace with him, and then I pressured him for a little bit, and then I died. I died probably 20 or 30 (laps) to go, maybe even longer than that, and was in hang-on mode.”

Bell led 20 laps early in the afternoon, but Hamlin controlled much of the race, including the entire final stage. But there were three cautions in the final 105 laps that gave Bell and the field a chance to take shots at Hamlin.

On two of the final three restarts, Bell chose the inside lane and restarted behind Hamlin. On the final restart, which came with 75 laps to go, Bell chose the outside lane and went to Hamlin’s right side. The No. 20 was able to lead the lap as the two ran each other side-by-side for multiple laps before Hamlin eventually prevailed and drove away.

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“But it was a great weekend,” Bell said. “A great weekend for our team. This DeWalt Camry was obviously really good on Saturday and that helped a lot of our success today. The pit crew did a great job when it mattered, showed up and gained us spots on pit road. We’ve got some really good notes and scored some good points.

“I remember coming here in the fall last year talking about how many points I needed, and we just haven’t scored points at Martinsville, so it was nice to do that here today.”

Bell started from the pole in Sunday’s race.

Even if he was able to stay with Hamlin or overtake him early in the final run, he doesn’t believe it would have been enough to take the victory. Hamlin’s margin of victory on Bell at the finish was 4.6s.

“He beat me by almost 5s, so even if I had cleared him, I don’t think that I would have stayed in front of him for the whole run,” Bell said. “He drove away pretty good, and I was hanging on there at the end. It’s a great day for our company, a great day for Toyota, and definitely the best we’ve been at Martinsville in a long time, and I still feel there’s room to improve. I’m really happy about that.”

The effort was the first top-five finish for Bell at Martinsville Speedway since his fall 2022 win at the facility. It was also his first top-five finish since winning at Phoenix Raceway.

“It feels good — second (place) is a finish that you feel a lot better about the next day,” Bell said. “I’m happy for Denny and happy Joe Gibbs Racing got a win, but he whipped my butt there that last run. We need to get a little bit better.”

New approach sends Hamlin back to victory lane at Martinsville

It didn’t take Denny Hamlin long to find the recipe for success in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. Hamlin grabbed the lead on lap126 of 400 in the seventh NASCAR Cup Series race of the season and never looked back. With flawless work …

It didn’t take Denny Hamlin long to find the recipe for success in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway.

Hamlin grabbed the lead on lap126 of 400 in the seventh NASCAR Cup Series race of the season and never looked back.

With flawless work from his pit crew, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led 274 of the last 275 laps—with the only exception a lap credited to pole winner Christopher Bell, who raced side-by-side with Hamlin after the final restart on lap 326.

 

Hamlin pulled away toward the end of the final 75-lap green-flag run and beat Bell, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, to the finish line by 4.617s.

The victory was Hamlin’s sixth at the 0.526-mile short track, most among full-time active drivers, but his first at Martinsville since 2015. It was his first win of the season and the 55th of his career, tying him with Rusty Wallace for 11th on the career victory list.

Hamlin’s win was also his first with crew chief Chris Gayle, who took over the pit box on the No. 11 Toyota this season. Hamlin has now won Cup races with seven different crew chiefs.

“You know, Chris Gayle, all the engineers, the pit crew, everybody really on that wall right there, just deciding they were going to come here with a different approach than what we’ve been over the last few years,” said Hamlin, who won at Martinsville for the first time with the Gen 7 race car.

“It was just amazing. The car was great. It did everything I needed it to do. Just so happy to win with Chris, get 55… Obviously, back here in Martinsville where I spent so many years racing late models and whatnot—gosh, I love winning here.”

Bell’s No. 20 Toyota was too loose over the final run to keep up with Hamlin’s No. 11 Camry.

“We were back and forth on balance a little bit,” Bell said. “I asked to be freer throughout the whole race. That last run, I just went a little bit too loose and lost my drive off (the corners).

“It was a great weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing. Showed a lot of pace. All four of the cars were really good. Really happy to kind of get back up front. The last two weeks have been rough for this 20 team… Really happy for Denny. He’s the Martinsville master. Second is not that bad.”

Bubba Wallace finished third for the second straight race, as Toyotas claimed the top three finishing positions at the paper-clip-shaped track.

“That final restart, I let that second (place) get away,” said Wallace, who drives for the 23XI Racing team co-owned by Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan.

“I don’t know if I had anything for Denny. It would have been fun to try.

“But all in all, hell of a day for Toyota. Top three; that’s nice. Keep the momentum going; having fun.”

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Chase Elliott came home fourth, followed by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson.

Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe and Todd Gilliland completed the top 10.

Before Hamlin took control, a debris caution on lap 31 resulted in a dramatic change to the running order. Josh Berry led a group of six drivers who stayed on the track under caution, and maintained the top spot for 40 laps, the first circuits led by the No. 21 Wood Brothers car at Martinsville since 2005.

A caution for Chris Buescher’s spin on the frontstretch ended Berry’s stint at the front. A collision with Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota on pit road and subsequent alternator issues cost Berry two laps and took him out of the mix.

Logano stayed on the track under the lap 71 yellow and won the first 80-lap stage over Alex Bowman in a two-lap sprint, but it was an up-and-down day for the reigning Cup champion.

On lap 317, Briscoe’s Toyota bounced off the inside curbing in Turn 3 and sent Logano’s Ford spinning toward the outside wall. Logano pitted for fresh tires, restarted 25th and drove back to eighth place by lap 400, scoring his first top 10 of the season.

William Byron, who finished 22nd after a lengthy pit stop under the first caution, retained the series lead by 17 points over Larson.

Bell surprises himself with Cup Series pole at Martinsville

Christopher Bell will lead the field to the green flag Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. Bell won the pole for the Cook Out 400 with a lap of 96.034mph (19.718s). It’s his first pole on the Virginia short track and his first of the season. …

Christopher Bell will lead the field to the green flag Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

Bell won the pole for the Cook Out 400 with a lap of 96.034mph (19.718s). It’s his first pole on the Virginia short track and his first of the season. Furthermore, it’s the first time in 11 starts at Martinsville that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will start inside the top five.

“I was kind of down in the dumps after practice, but that was definitely the best qualifying session I’ve ever felt out of my car here at Martinsville,” Bell told Prime. “It was just easy … I’ve been really good at qualifying in the 20s, and I went out there and the car had so much grip. It cut a really good lap. I’m really proud of everyone on this [No.] 20 team; they’ve been working hard to improve our Martinsville package.

“We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but regardless, starting up front is going to be a huge help.”

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Chase Elliott will join Bell on the front row with a lap of 95.951mph.

Alex Bowman wound up third at 95.937mph, Kyle Larson fourth at 95.854mph and Denny Hamlin completed the top five at 95.840mph.

Chris Buescher qualified sixth at 95.840mph, Joey Logano seventh at 95.820mph, Bubba Wallace eighth at 95.801mph, Tyler Reddick ninth at 95.733mph and William Byron 10th at 95.723mph.

Byron is the defending winner at Martinsville. Hendrick Motorsports finished 1-2-3 in this event last year.

Chase Briscoe qualified 11th, Kyle Busch 12th, Ty Gibbs 13th, Josh Berry 14th, Michael McDowell 15th, Ross Chastain 17th, Austin Cindric 20th and Ryan Preece 21st.

Brad Keselowski ended his lap mired in 27th. Ryan Blaney, who has won the last two fall races at Martinsville, qualified 32nd.

NEXT: The Cook Out 400 at 3 p.m. ET Sunday.

JGR’s planning saved Bell from a loose wheel catastrophe in Vegas

Adam Stevens sounded nonchalant about the call that kept his driver, Christopher Bell, from losing a wheel Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “Oh,” he said. “That’s something we’ve talked about.” That something was having Bell stop in another pit …

Adam Stevens sounded nonchalant about the call that kept his driver, Christopher Bell, from losing a wheel Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Oh,” he said. “That’s something we’ve talked about.”

That something was having Bell stop in another pit box and get the wheel tightened. Stevens made the heads-up call under a lap 108 caution. The No. 20 team finished their pit stop and Bell was leaving pit road when Stevens told him to stop in someone’s box. Bell’s spotter, Stevie Reeves, also got on the radio and told Bell to stop in someone’s box.

As Bell worked his way left toward a pit box, Stevens was back on the radio about tightening the left-side wheels. It turned out that Bell was looking for a teammate’s pit box and got to Chase Briscoe’s. The No. 19 team tightened the left front wheel on Bells’s car, and Bell returned to the race.

“We’re allowed to do that,” Stevens said. “And obviously, being pitted as far back [as we were] is something that we’ve talked about before, so it happened.”

It was a move rarely, if ever, seen before in Cup Series competition and took many by surprise. It was also impressive how quick thinking it was.

“Yep,” Stevens said. “Hopefully, we don’t have to do that too many times.”

The move is allowed since it is a safety issue. NASCAR would hope a potential wheel issue is addressed on pit road, if possible, rather than have the wheel come detached on the racetrack.

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However, there was still a penalty involved. Bell lost his track position with the extended time on pit road and was called for pitting outside his pit box because another team serviced his car.

Bell’s day was finished either way. He was running second at the time of the caution when the incident occurred, and the lost track position hindered his chances for the remainder of the afternoon.

The team was chasing its fourth consecutive victory but finished 12th after Bell had come from the rear of the field at the start after the throttle body in his car was changed before the race.

“It was tough,” Stevens said. “Starting in the back is never fun, but man, we got all the way up there to P2. You can’t go to the back once you start in the back and have much of a better finish than what we had, to be completely honest with you, without some high-level circumstance.

“We had some good fortune there early in the race when that caution came in the green flag cycle and got us a chunk of track position, and once we restarted in the top 10, he drove right up there and was running the [No.] 5 down. We felt and we thought it was going to be a good day. At least (we’d) be in contention. Once we had that loose wheel, it was going to take something — a miracle — for us to be racing for the win at that point.”

Bell roars to third consecutive Cup Series win at Phoenix

Christopher Bell won again Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series. He and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team made it three straight Cup Series victories by beating out teammate Denny Hamlin in a side-by-side battle to the finish. Hamlin was leading at the …

Christopher Bell won again Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series.

He and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team made it three straight Cup Series victories by beating out teammate Denny Hamlin in a side-by-side battle to the finish. Hamlin was leading at the white flag, but the two drivers found themselves side-by-side off Turn 2, then drag raced toward the checkered flag. Bell powered around the bottom as Hamlin got too far wide in Turn 4.

Bell led Hamlin and Kyle Larson, who nearly joined the fight in the final corner, to the finish of the Shriners Children’s 500. It is the second consecutive win for Bell in the spring event at Phoenix and third straight after triumphs at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Circuit of The Americas.

Bell is the only repeat winner thus far in 2025. He is the first driver in the Next Gen era to win three consecutive races and the first in the series since Kyle Larson did so in 2021.

“Oh my gosh, man,” Bell told Fox Sports on the frontstretch. “Whenever you’re sitting there dreaming it up, that’s about as ugly as it gets. You put the red tires on, and you’re like, ‘Alright, what I don’t want to happen is go like 20 or 30 laps and get a yellow,’ and that happened. Then we went 10 more laps and had another yellow, and it was just all about who could get clear on the restart.

“Neither of us could, and we were racing really, really hard there coming to the line. JGR ran 1-2, how about that?”

It was a dominant day for Bell, who led a race-high 106 of 312 laps. He also won the second stage.

Hamlin finished second after finally getting track position late in the day. He finished eighth in the first stage and sixth in the second stage.

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“A great job by the Sport Clips team,” Hamlin said. “It got better and better as it went. The pit crew did a phenomenal job that kept us in the game when we had a bad stop in the middle. They made up for it at the end. It was the first time we were able to get some clean air all day, and obviously our car was really fast.

“I really wanted it to stay green there because I thought the long run was really where we were going to be able to excel, especially on these tires. But we got a good restart. [Larson] gave me a great push on the frontstretch on the restart and down the backstretch, so I had a position on (Bell), but I knew he was going to ship in there and if he had to use me, he could. We ran out of racetrack there, but a great finish and a great job by the whole Joe Gibbs team to give us some fast cars.”

It came down to a two-lap run to the finish. The final caution of the afternoon happened with eight laps to go when Ty Gibbs had a mechanical issue and hit the wall in Turn 3.

Bell and Hamlin restarted on the front row. Josh Berry and Larson restarted on the second row.

Bell, Hamlin and Larson were the top three finishers, with Berry finishing fourth and Chris Buescher finishing fifth. A fourth-place finish for Berry is the best finish for Wood Brothers Racing in its history at Phoenix Raceway.

William Byron, who won the first stage, finished sixth, Alex Bowman finished seventh, Kyle Busch finished eighth and Zane Smith finished ninth. Chase Elliott completed the top 10.

Joey Logano finished 13th. Logano was strong early in the day but was penalized for going below the yellow line on a lap 15 restart. The No. 22 team used the option tire, the softer compound, to regain track position in the second stage but later found themselves at a deficit when using the second set of option tires to start the third stage and most of the field saved their final set until late in the stage.

Ryan Blaney finished 28th after blowing an engine. Katherine Legge finished 30th in her Cup Series debut after an early spin on her own and then spinning again after contact with Josh Berry. The second incident also collected Daniel Suarez and ended her day.

A seven-car crash midway through the second stage ended the days of Shane van Gisbergen, Cole Custer, Brad Keselowski, Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, Carson Hocevar, and Riley Herbst. It was one of 10 caution flags on Sunday afternoon.

There were 17 lead changes among six drivers.

Almirola muscles by three-wide to snatch Phoenix Xfinity win

Aric Almirola made a dramatic last-lap pass in overtime to claim the win in Saturday’s GOVX 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway, making door-to-door contact with Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman in the final two turns. The 0.045s …

Aric Almirola made a dramatic last-lap pass in overtime to claim the win in Saturday’s GOVX 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway, making door-to-door contact with Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman in the final two turns. The 0.045s margin of victory was the second-closest finish in the track’s history.

Almirola led 25 laps on the afternoon, but his last-lap move to the checkered flag was the only one he led in the final 50 laps of the 208-lap event. His No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota emerged from a four-wide battle for the lead on the final restart with two laps remaining, then finally overtook Bowman less than 200 feet from the finish line.

It was the eighth career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory for the 40-year-old Tampa native, who has been racing part-time for JGR after retiring from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition two years ago.

“I just knew I needed to get from there to here first,” Almirola said, standing by his car at the start-finish line. “I knew I was going to use him up a little bit, but was trying to win the race. I feel like it was warranted. I didn’t feel like I did anything overly egregious. I just throttled up, and it was a drag race to the start-finish line.”

Bowman, who drives the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, was making his first Xfinity start of the year for the team. He started on the pole, led the first 70 laps of the race, and won the opening stage. After the race, he expressed frustration over the contact between his Chevrolet and Almirola’s Toyota.

“I would have hoped he would have given me a lane on exit,” said the Arizona native. “He just exited like I wasn’t there. He was better than us for sure, but I was just trying to capitalize on that restart and try to win the race. I got shoved into the fence, and the race car is destroyed. Bummer for that, but hats off to the HendrickCars.com crew.”

Almirola’s teammate Brandon Jones finished third, followed by owner-driver Ryan Sieg and reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier, whose No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet led a race-best 130 laps and was out front on that final overtime restart.

Allgaier, who won the second stage, was understandably disappointed in both the restart and race outcome.

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He got a good jump to the green flag on the restart but was quickly swallowed up in the four-wide battle out front. The result was particularly gut-wrenching considering he was also leading late in the track’s spring race last year when he had a tire problem with only five laps remaining and instead suffered a DNF.

“I thought the No. 19 (Almirola) was pretty good at the end of the run, and we were pushing pace when the caution came out,” Allgaier said. “I kind of knew we were a sitting duck. They blew all the marbles off the top [of the track] right in front of us leaders, and we just picked up a ton of trash on our tires.

“Just got into [Turn] 1 and had no grip,” he said of the restart. “I’m just sad about the finish for our Brandt Chevrolet. I thought it was really, really good. I thought we had the car to beat there.

“This one is going to hurt. I feel like the last three laps of this place have hated me over the last couple years. Even though we won a championship [here] last fall, it seems like no matter what, the last few laps haven’t been our deal. We’ll go back to the drawing board. Nothing to hang our heads about.”

JGR rookie Taylor Gray, Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer, Kaulig Racing rookie Christian Eckes, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love, and Big Machine Racing rookie Nick Sanchez rounded out the top 10.

A trio of race frontrunners was taken out on lap 63 when Daytona season opener winner Austin Hill said he misjudged the lower wall and careened back up the racetrack, collecting Haas driver Sheldon Creed and Sam Hunt Racing’s Dean Thompson.

“I just messed up and misjudged the inside wall, and that might be the dumbest move that ever happened to me in racing,” Richard Childress Racing driver Hill said. “I feel bad for those guys. It was 100 percent my fault. Just a misjudgment on my part.”

The accident was not only a big impact on the wall for Hill but also had an impact on the championship standings, dropping him to fourth place heading into Las Vegas Motor Speedway next week.

Love holds a two-point edge over Allgaier atop the standings.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to competition next Saturday in the LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (4:30 p.m. ET on CW, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). John Hunter Nemechek is the defending race winner.

Gibbs paces Clash practice; Bowman Gray heat lineups set

Ty Gibbs was fastest in Saturday night’s practice for the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. Gibbs topped the board at 64.199mph (14.019s). The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was in the first group of drivers who hit the track for practice when all the …

Ty Gibbs was fastest in Saturday night’s practice for the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.

Gibbs topped the board at 64.199mph (14.019s). The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was in the first group of drivers who hit the track for practice when all the quickest times were set.

Ryan Preece was second fastest with his new RFK Racing team at 63.681mph. Ty Dillon was third at 63.506mph; Kyle Larson, fourth at 63.501mph and Riley Herbst, fifth at 63.501mph.

Noah Gragson ran sixth fastest at 63.492mph; Bubba Wallace, seventh at 63.470mph; Alex Bowman, eighth at 63.291mph; Daniel Suarez, ninth at 63.287mph and Austin Cindric rounded out the top 10 at 63.256mph.

Reigning series champion Joey Logano was 19th fastest in practice. Tim Brown, the 12-time Bowman Gray track champion looking to make his Cup Series debut with Rick Ware Racing, was 36th. Burt Myers, also a local Bowman Gray star with 11 track championships, was 38th.

The field of 39 was split into three groups for two practice rounds at eight minutes each.

No significant incidents occurred.

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The third session on track served as qualifying to set the lineup for the heat races. Groups had four minutes on track, with each practice group split in half for clearer track — six groups of either six or seven drivers at a time.

Heat No. 1:

1. Chase Elliott

2. Brad Keselowski

3. Ryan Blaney

4. Justin Haley

5. Ross Chastain

6. Josh Berry

7. Noah Gragson

8. Kyle Busch

9. Austin Dillon

10. Ty Dillon

Heat No. 2:

1. Chris Buescher

2. Chase Briscoe

3. Shane van Gisbergen

4. Zane Smith

5. Bubba Wallace

6. Kyle Larson

7. Daniel Suarez

8. Erik Jones

9. Cody Ware

10. Garrett Smithley

Heat No. 3:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Joey Logano

3. William Byron

4. Alex Bowman

5. Carson Hocevar

6. Ty Gibbs

7. AJ Allmendinger

8. Riley Herbst

9. Tim Brown

10. Burt Myers

Heat No. 4:

1. Tyler Reddick

2. Christopher Bell

3. Austin Cindric

4. Cole Custer

5. Todd Gilliland

6. Ryan Preece

7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

8. John Hunter Nemechek

9. Michael McDowell

NEXT: Heats begin at 8:30 p.m. ET and will set the first 20 of 23 drivers for Sunday evening’s Clash field.

Joe Gibbs Racing makes big changes to NASCAR Cup Series program for 2025

Joe Gibbs Racing has made several big changes to its NASCAR Cup Series program for the 2025 season. Check out the big news from JGR!

[autotag]Joe Gibbs Racing[/autotag] has made several big changes to its NASCAR Cup Series program for the 2025 season. On Monday afternoon, Joe Gibbs Racing revealed that Tyler Allen will be Ty Gibbs’ new crew chief starting in 2025. Meanwhile, Jason Ratcliff will now join Taylor Gray and the No. 54 Xfinity team, replacing Allen as the crew chief.

Allen has been a Cup Series crew chief once with Christopher Bell in 2021, but most of his work has come in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Allen led the No. 20 Xfinity team to eight wins, 17 top-5 finishes, and 22 top-10 finishes in 33 races during the 2024 season. It was Allen’s first year as a full-time crew chief, which featured one race with Gibbs behind the wheel.

Ratcliff, who retired from being a full-time crew chief after the 2023 NASCAR season, now returns to Gray in 2025. Ratcliff has 57 Xfinity Series wins over 17 years, giving Gray a very experienced leader on the No. 54 box. Joe Gibbs Racing has paired two young drivers with two amazing crew chiefs, and it could lead to great success next season.

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