(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
By Aaron Bearden
The state of Texas is known as a place where things are experienced in excess. Everything is bigger, or so they say – from the high school football attendance numbers to the size of the Buc-ee’s convenience story in the city of New Braunfels.
Or in Saturday’s case, the disappointment of NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff contenders.
Eight title contenders rolled into the Lone Star State filled with optimism and hope. One was already locked into the Championship 4, at least five others considered a spot on points within reach and the final two knew they’d have at least an outside shot at a win.
Five of those drivers entered the final 50 laps inside of the top-five. Three saw a chance to take the lead on a late restart and another led the race into the final corner.
In the end they all left the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 frustrated for myriad reasons, having failed to seize a championship opportunity that laid before them.
Leading the group of frustrated Cup Series prospects was Noah Gragson, a second-year driver for JR Motorsports out to make his first Championship 4 appearance. The Nevadan entered Texas in a must-win position after a disastrous week at Kansas Speedway, but a spirited driver and late calamity saw him leading the race into the final lap .
Going into Turn 1, Gragson’s win seemed all-but assured. Harrison Burton charged within a car length heading into Turn 3, but Gragson still just needed a final set of good turns to keep his title ambitions alive.
Then the unthinkable happened. Gragson got tight in the high lane and drifted up the track.
Burton shuffled to the lead, riding what he called the best corner he’d ever driven in his life. Gragson could only watch on from second as a race win slipped away in an instant.
🏁 @HBURTONRACING PULLS OFF AN INCREDIBLE PASS FOR THE WIN AT @TXMOTORSPEEDWAY!!! pic.twitter.com/Q2hx5fUGns
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) October 24, 2020
“Entry of (Turn) 3 you’re on top of the world, and exit you feel like a total POS,” Gragson said of the run.
After overtaking Anthony Alfredo for second, Burton had chased Gragson down in the final run to the checkered flag. Gragson acknowledged Burton’s pace and struggled to think of what he could have done differently when reflecting upon the loss.
“I was driving my ass off as hard as I can and trying to make the most of what we had,” he said. “I felt like we had a good car. … I don’t know what I could have done differently. I’ll have to go back and look. But I felt like I planned and I was prepared for that moment. Obviously it didn’t work.
“I’m so frustrated at myself for letting that one slip away, because I know how much it’s a difference-maker in this sport. It’s the difference in us going to Phoenix and fighting for a championship and not. You’re locked in if you win.
“I don’t know what to say. I’m bummed out.”
Gragson’s despondence was matched by Ross Chastain, who played a role in a Lap 186 restart crash that also eliminated fellow playoff contenders Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones.
Allgaier broke loose under Chastain to kick off the wreck, igniting an accident that dropped all three drivers from potential wins to playoff nerves heading to the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway. The incident added to a season of frustration for Chastain, who remains winless while Kaulig Racing teammates Justin Haley and AJ Allmendinger each have multiple victories.
“It’s my fault,” Chastain said. “We had a race winner today. …We’ve built all year to try to be the best we can right now and we brought a race-winning race car to the track today, and… Driver error. I made too many mistakes there.
“I don’t deserve what I have in front of me. I don’t deserve this race car, to be honest. To make those mistakes is absolutely unacceptable.”
Allgaier’s disappointment showed itself in immense anger by the veteran’s standards, all directed at Chastain and the increasingly antagonistic relationship they’ve held through the 2020 season.
He acknowledged getting loose at the start of the incident. “The 22 (Austin Cindric) gave me a great push on the restart and was doing a great job to get me down to Turn 1,” Allgaier. “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hang the bottom, so I tried to drift up a little bit.”
“I tried to leave the (No.) 10 as much room as I could. When he got to my quarter panel obviously we got loose.”
But for the crash itself, Allgaier had nothing but anger to send Chastain’s way.
“(Chastain) just decides to hang a left because he’s aggravated and wrecks the whole field,” Allgaier said. “It’s a shame for not only our team, but everybody else.
“Ross is pretty two-faced, says a lot of things outside of the race car and then drives like this on the race track a lot of times. It’s pretty disappointing.”
Jones carried similar frustration to Allgaier and Chastain, but it was showcased in talks of the lost opportunity for his No. 19 team on Saturday. The Georgian had claimed the opening stage and showed early pace, but lost ground due to pit strategy ahead of Stage 2 and never fully recovered.
He was rolling in the top-10 and trying to salvage a decent day when he wound up caught in a crash that sent him four points below the playoff bubble with one race to close up the gap.
“I feel like track position is everything and it’s been that way for at least three quarters of the year so far,” Jones said. “We get really good track position to start the race and can maintain it.
“A couple of guys try to short pit us and then once we flip-flop and start getting back in the field a little bit that’s when we start struggling. The balance is so good in clean air that when we put a bunch of cars around us, that’s when it changes.”
Championship 4 lock and title favorite Chase Briscoe was doomed to a poor finish when his No. 98 Ford suffered a broken right-rear shock mount, combining with a flat tire to drop the title contender from the lead and a potential 10th win to 16 laps down in 24th.
Briscoe’s fiercest title rival, Cindric, escaped with a fourth-place finish and a spot above the playoff cutline. But the Team Penske ace knew he was lucky not to have seen a surprise winner and unfortunate not to have claimed the victory himself.
“We had a car that in clean air I think would have been able to contend for the win,” Cindric said. “The No. 7 (Justin Allgaier) and the No. 10 (Ross Chastain) were both probably just as good and it was whoever had track position.
“That last restart did not work out. The track was not clean up high. You got to drive it in like you want to keep the lead and I did. I kept it off the wall. I’m frustrated about that but don’t have any regrets.
“Somehow, we gained points today. Thanks to my team for sticking with me. I drove every lap 100 percent and I’m just glad this thing is still in one piece.”
Haley was left disappointed after failing to contend throughout the afternoon en route to seventh. Ryan Sieg faired even worse, falling into must-win territory after suffering mechanical problems and finishing 64 laps down in 31st.
Briscoe remains locked into the Championship 4 leaving Texas due to his Kansas win. Cindric sits 14 points above the cutline, with Allgaier (+8) and Haley (+4) also on the right side of the bubble. Jones (-4) and Chastain (-15) will have a chance to crack the Championship 4 on points, while Gragson (-24) and Sieg (-43) will likely need a win.
Race winner Harrison Burton has already been knocked out of the playoffs, but he was still the lone one smiling in Texas. While he donned a cowboy hat and celebrated a spirited late drive to victory, each of the title contenders worked to recompose themselves after their disappointing Texas results.
Next week they’ll all head to Martinsville Speedway for the first Xfinity race at the facility since 2006. Tensions promise to be high on the half-mile oval. Tempers will probably flare up, and four competitors will end the round disappointed at a lost playoff opportunity.
It’s likely that each of the four will remember a frustrating day in Texas as a day that could have swung their playoff fortunes for the better.
