Daniel Hemric might be the most snakebitten driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series today, if not all national series. Despite a strong final stage in Saturday’s Credit Karma Money 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his hopes of finally breaking through for his first career victory in any series were dashed with a late wreck. Instead, Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Kyle Busch won his 102nd career race in what is likely his final start in the series, which would cap off the most successful career in Xfinity history.
Busch started on the pole while Austin Dillon was sent to the rear as an injury replacement for Michael Annett. He would go on to lead every lap in the opening stage and win the second.
Hemric found himself in position for much of the final stage as he led 45 laps. However, the incidents began to pile up with less than twenty laps to go beginning with Carson Ware‘s accident. The slower car of Kyle Weatherman stayed out on the ensuing restart, but he spun his tyres and fell back before being clipped by Brandon Brown and Harrison Burton, causing him to go around and set up another restart.
Weatherman apologised to Burton and Brown in a Twitter video, explaining the “shifter got stuck in second (gear) and literally can’t get it to come out of second gear. Of course it happened at the worst time. We were out of tyres, didn’t have any tyres to take. Had good speed, we were running sixteenth, seventeenth all day. Figured we could possibly maintain. I chose the outside to try to give the leaders the inside, of course just a crappy situation.”
Hemric took off and Busch attempted to give him a draft, but he provided too strong of a push that instead sent his team-mate into A.J. Allmendinger and the wall; he would be relegated to a thirtieth-place finish as his drought continues.
The Hemric caution resulted in overtime, which saw Busch hold off Jeb Burton to win his third career Xfinity race at Atlanta. He also won all five of his allowed starts in 2021 alongside COTA, Texas, Nashville, and Road America; it is the second season in which he had a 100% win rate in a lower division after doing so in the Camping World Truck Series in 2019.
Race results
| Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 1 | 54 | Kyle Busch* | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 164 | Running |
| 2 | 11 | 10 | Jeb Burton | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 3 | 9 | 9 | Noah Gragson | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 4 | 7 | 11 | Justin Haley | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 5 | 30 | 23 | Ty Dillon | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 6 | 20 | 02 | Brett Moffitt | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 7 | 8 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 8 | 19 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 9 | 22 | 8 | Sam Mayer | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 10 | 4 | 22 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Ford | 164 | Running |
| 11 | 6 | 1 | Austin Dillon* | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 12 | 16 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 164 | Running |
| 13 | 3 | 16 | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 14 | 32 | 6 | Ryan Vargas | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 15 | 17 | 36 | Alex Labbé | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 16 | 14 | 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | Martins Motorsports | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 17 | 27 | 48 | Jade Buford | Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 18 | 18 | 92 | Josh Williams | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 19 | 10 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 164 | Running |
| 20 | 36 | 15 | Colby Howard | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 21 | 15 | 2 | Myatt Snider | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 22 | 37 | 0 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 23 | 28 | 31 | Josh Berry | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 24 | 5 | 20 | Harrison Burton | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 164 | Running |
| 25 | 33 | 07 | Joe Graf Jr. | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 26 | 24 | 5 | Matt Mills | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 27 | 29 | 90 | Ronnie Bassett Jr. | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 164 | Running |
| 28 | 31 | 78 | Jesse Little | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Toyota | 164 | Running |
| 29 | 23 | 99 | Mason Massey | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Toyota | 164 | Running |
| 30 | 2 | 18 | Daniel Hemric | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 164 | Running |
| 31 | 12 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Chevrolet | 163 | Accident |
| 32 | 38 | 47 | Kyle Weatherman | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet | 162 | Accident |
| 33 | 25 | 26 | Santino Ferrucci | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 162 | Running |
| 34 | 39 | 74 | Bayley Currey* | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet | 162 | Running |
| 35 | 40 | 52 | Gray Gaulding | Jimmy Means Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | Running |
| 36 | 26 | 17 | Carson Ware | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet | 139 | Accident |
| 37 | 34 | 66 | C.J. McLaughlin* | MBM Motorsports | Ford | 139 | Running |
| 38 | 21 | 4 | Landon Cassill | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 128 | Running |
| 39 | 13 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 118 | Accident |
| 40 | 35 | 61 | David Starr | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | 50 | Accident |
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points
