This Ty Gibbs kid is good. The 18-year-old has just six career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts yet he is already a two-time race winner after triumphing in Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Stewart-Haas Racing‘s Riley Herbst won his first career pole ahead of SHR’s Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe. Timmy Hill was ordered to the rear due to unapproved adjustments after his right-rear tyre hit the track bar mount during qualifying, but he had already been set to start last.
Herbst led the first seven laps before Briscoe passed him, leading until Daniel Hemric took the spot on lap 40. During Briscoe’s run, two cautions were called with the competition yellow on lap 20 and Xfinity newcomer Grant Enfinger‘s wreck after contact with Chad Finchum on lap 26. Hemric would lead to the stage conclusion ahead of A.J. Allmendinger, Gibbs, Austin Cindric, Jeb Burton, Briscoe, Noah Gragson, Harrison Burton, Ryan Sieg, and Tyler Reddick.
Hemric continued to lead to start the second stage. On lap 90, Gibbs spun while racing Briscoe to result in a caution that ended the stage; the two would tangle again later in the race. By the segment’s end, Hemric was once again on top. Gragson, Cindric, Briscoe, Gibbs, Harrison and Jeb Burton, Justin Allgaier, and Brandon Jones closed out the top ten.
The final stage commenced with Hemric continuing to lead until Briscoe took the lead on lap 114. Five laps later, Jeb Burton spun to force a caution. Another yellow for debris came on lap 144 to break up Briscoe’s lead.
On lap 150, Sieg got loose and slid through turn two before his car turned up exiting the corner into Josh Berry and Brett Moffitt. The impact briefly sent Sieg’s car into the air before sliding through the apron, with Tommy Joe Martins barely squeezing by. Briscoe retook the lead during the ensuing caution and continued to hold it until his next bout with Gibbs: with twenty laps to go, Briscoe and Gibbs were fighting for the lead when the former got loose exiting turn two, causing him to spin through the backstretch apron but avoiding the wall.
“I want to say sorry to Briscoe and the #99 crew,” Gibbs said after the race. “That was not my intention at all to wreck them. I just got on his left rear and didn’t help him out with the air and he kind of hopped the cushion so it didn’t really help that. That was partially my fault and I take that for sure.”
The following restart marked even more chaos when Hemric was turned as the field approached turn one, triggering a pile-up that collected Gragson, Herbst, Jones, Martins, Michael Annett, and Justin Haley, and resulted in a red flag.
While Hemric was knocked out of the race, Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Gibbs took the lead. Gibbs would lead the final laps en route to his second career victory. He had won at the Daytona Road Course in his series début in February.
“It’s definitely nice to win on the oval, especially in my hometown,” added Gibbs. “I’m 30 minutes away from here, so it’s nice to have a win at least once today.
“[…] I was definitely frustrated with myself (after the spin). I completely wrecked myself, but didn’t really make myself look good today and made some mistakes. Definitely still learning how the air works and I’ll take full responsibility for all the mistakes I made. Overall, we ended up in Victory Lane.”
Brandon Brown finished fourth for his second top five of the year, while Briscoe settled for sixth and B.J. McLeod Motorsports‘s second-best finish behind SHR team-mate Kevin Harvick‘s fourth at COTA last week. Ty Dillon, running his first race for Our Motorsports, finally notched his first top ten in seventh. Tyler Reddick, in Jordan Anderson Racing‘s second ever Xfinity race, finished fifth.
Race results
Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Status |
1 | 8 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 200 | Running |
2 | 4 | 22 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Ford | 200 | Running |
3 | 13 | 20 | Harrison Burton | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 200 | Running |
4 | 32 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
5 | 16 | 31 | Tyler Reddick* | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
6 | 2 | 99 | Chase Briscoe* | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Ford | 200 | Running |
7 | 10 | 23 | Ty Dillon | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
8 | 14 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 200 | Running |
9 | 9 | 10 | Jeb Burton | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
10 | 6 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
11 | 26 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
12 | 1 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 200 | Running |
13 | 28 | 6 | Landon Cassill | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
14 | 33 | 36 | Alex Labbé | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
15 | 22 | 13 | Chad Finchum | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | 200 | Running |
16 | 20 | 4 | Ryan Vargas | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
17 | 25 | 48 | Jade Buford | Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
18 | 30 | 78 | Jesse Little | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Toyota | 200 | Running |
19 | 11 | 11 | Justin Haley | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
20 | 31 | 17 | Cody Ware | SS-Green Light Racing | Toyota | 200 | Running |
21 | 34 | 92 | Josh Williams | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
22 | 17 | 0 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
23 | 21 | 76 | Stefan Parsons | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
24 | 19 | 1 | Michael Annett | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
25 | 15 | 02 | Brett Moffitt | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 198 | Running |
26 | 7 | 2 | Myatt Snider | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 196 | Running |
27 | 23 | 9 | Noah Gragson | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 187 | Accident |
28 | 3 | 18 | Daniel Hemric | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 186 | Accident |
29 | 27 | 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | Martins Motorsports | Chevrolet | 186 | Accident |
30 | 29 | 15 | Colby Howard | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 184 | Running |
31 | 12 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 151 | Accident |
32 | 18 | 8 | Josh Berry | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 150 | Accident |
33 | 5 | 16 | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 128 | Brakes |
34 | 36 | 66 | Timmy Hill* | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | 114 | Engine |
35 | 24 | 5 | Matt Mills | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 103 | Accident |
36 | 35 | 26 | Grant Enfinger* | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 26 | Accident |
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points