Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
By Aaron Bearden
Post-race review and analysis from the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Who Won?
Noah Gragson. He got the better of late contact and survived a final restart for his second Xfinity Series win.
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Two JR Motorsports teammates collided while racing for the lead in the closing laps at Bristol Motor Speedway.
One went on to win the race. The other was eliminated from the event altogether.
The next team meeting may prove interesting.
Noah Gragson got the better of a collision with Justin Allgaier inside of five laps remaining, sending his teammate sliding up the track and crashing out of the race in an accident that brought out the race’s final yellow.
Gragson went on to win the race, holding off Chase Briscoe in NASCAR Overtime. Upon taking the checkered flag, he immediately apologized to his teammate and the No. 7 JRM team for the crash.
“I have a lot of respect for Justin and the No. 7 team,” Gragson said. “All of us drivers are on the limits and I don’t know if it’s a mistake or whatnot, but it ended bad for him unfortunately, but still a tremendous amount of respect for him. He’ll probably race me differently, but time will tell, that’s why everyone should keep watching.
“I don’t like wrecking people. I don’t like wrecking teammates, that’s not how I race. I’m an aggressive race-car driver, and when you’re battling for wins, I guess shit happens. . I leave it all out on the track, and it is what it is.”
Allgaier had spent the majority of the event in the front, leading a race-high 156 laps in his third-consecutive strong run at the half-mile oval.
He led Gragson to the green flag with seven laps remaining, and cleared his teammate in the first corners. But Gragson kept Allgaier within range, and when the Illinoisan slipped up in Turns 1 & 2 a few laps later Gragson saw an opportunity to make a race-winning pass.
He dove underneath Allgaier heading into Turn 3, and the pair each sent their cars deep into the turn.
Gragson drifted up, sliding into Allgaier’s car after losing grip. Allgaier tried to save his car, but wound up spinning into the inside wall and dropping out of the race in 18th.
“I’m more mad at myself for making a mistake and getting off the bottom, but yeah, we got wrecked,” Allgaier said.
While Allgaier came to terms with another race that slipped away, Gragson engaged in one of the bombastic post-race celebrations he’s become known for, enjoying a lengthy burnout and climbing the catch fence while silence befell the fan-less Bristol grandstands.
Gragson felt bad for Allgaier, but he wasn’t going to apologize for winning.
“I don’t make excuses,” he said. “I take responsibility. I apologize for the 7 car, but I’m here to win races for the No. 9 team and they put in way too much effort for me to ride around and finish second.”
Whether anything more will come of the incident remains to be seen. Allgaier spoke no ill will of his teammate, and Gragson said he’d been told that the two would talk later.
If there’s one thing that could help Gragson, it’s that Allgaier is used to handling Bristol heartbreak. He’s led 425 of 903 laps at the oval in the past three Xfinity Series events without a win to show for it.
But Gragson wouldn’t be surprised if he sees payback in the future.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” he said. “I take full responsibility for getting loose underneath him, that’s a fact. One thing you can’t say is I’m not aggressive and I’m not going to try.
“I’m sure he probably owes me one, but you don’t slip up the lap before and I don’t get to you and you drive off to victory. Don’t mess up, I guess.”
Dash 4 Cash qualifiers set
Noah Gragson’s win got him more than a trophy, it also secured him the chance to claim a $100,000 bonus this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Bristol served as the qualifying race for the first of four Dash 4 Cash races. The annual incentive program gives four series regulars an opportunity to earn a $100,000 bonus each week, with the best finisher of the qualifiers taking home the prize.
The top-four finishers at Bristol each secured an opportunity to claim the bonus at Atlanta. Moving forward the weekly winner will qualify for the ensuing round and be joined by the top three other Xfinity Series regulars.
Gragson is the first to qualify for the bonus with his Bristol win. He’ll be joined by Chase Briscoe, Brandon Jones and Harrison Burton, who finished second through fourth in the 303-lap short track battle.
“I’m super-excited to go run for an extra 100-grand,” Briscoe said. “Thanks to XFINITY. We were just a fifth to sixth-place car it seemed like most of the night and just was really tight. There at the end restarts kind of went our way and we were able to salvage a second, so I’m really happy for our HighPoint.com Ford guys and just really excited to get to Atlanta.
“That’s one of my favorite race tracks and race for an extra 100-grand, so you can’t beat it. I’m looking forward to it.”
Ensuing rounds beyond Atlanta (June 6) will take place at Homestead-Miami Speedway (June 14), Talladega Superspeedway (June 20) and a final race at a track to be named when the next slate of the schedule is made official.
Snider’s successful night
If the key to a successful run at Bristol Motor Speedway is a clean car, then Myatt Snider was ready for success on Monday night.
In the midst of a challenging opening tot he 2020 season, Snider descended upon Thunder Valley in search of a boost.
The rookie has started the season with two pole runs for Richard Childress Racing, but finished each race outside of the top-15. The three ensuing events were a mixed-bag, with two top-15s offset by a 35th-place result at Darlington Raceway.
Snider showed promise along the way, leading 22 laps at Daytona and nearly scoring a top-10 at Auto Club Speedway while driving for Ryan Sieg Racing. The North Carolinian is pairing opportunities with the two organizations to maximize seat time during the 2020 season.
The pace finally yielded a top-10 in last Monday’s Alsco 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, with Snider salvaging a 10th-place result despite involvement in a late crash.
At the time the run was the best of Snider’s career.
Seven days later he offered one that was even better.
In a race mired by 12 cautions totaling 85 of 303 laps, Snider kept his No. 21 Chevrolet clean to the checkered flag. He dodged crashes, including a late run-in between leaders Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier, and survived NASCAR Overtime to tally a fifth-place result at one of the toughest venues in NASCAR.
“Man, that was awesome,” Snider said of the run. I can’t thank my crew chief, Andy Street, and all the guys on my Richard Childress Racing team enough for preparing such a lighting fast TaxSlayer Chevrolet.
“My spotter, Derek Kneeland, did a great job helping us keep our nose clean and avoiding all those wrecks throughout the night. Thankfully, we really didn’t have to adjust much on our TaxSlayer Chevrolet.
“For me, it was just about not over-driving the car and getting into a rhythm.”
Other Notes
