William Byron wins XFINITY Series Race at Phoenix as Final Four is Determined

Credit:  AP Photo/Ralph Freso

AVONDALE, AZ – RIS – William Byron added to a spectacular season by winning the XFINITY Series race at Phoenix Raceway Saturday night despite having a pit crew thrown together at the last minute.  He also was one of the four drivers to qualify Saturday for next week’s Xfinity Series championship finale.

Byron, Justin Allgaier, and Elliott Sadler — all from JR Motorsports — and Daniel Hemric took the four spots in all-Chevrolet race for the Xfinity Series championship.

Byron wrapped up his points during Saturday’s race at Phoenix Raceway. With nothing to lose, he used the final pit stop to take two tires in an effort to gain track position and win the race. He got out first, behind a crew that was assembled on the fly.

JR Motorsports, the team owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., his sister, Kelley, and Rick Hendrick, found themselves scrambling Saturday morning when a mechanical issue forced a plane carrying its pit crews to make an emergency landed on its way from North Carolina.

The plane landed in Arkansas, and even though Hendrick Motorsports sent a plane to retrieve the crew members, they did not arrive at Phoenix in time for the race.

So, Byron, Sadler and Allgaier were missing regular pit crew members.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said after the race he was “freaking out” when he learned about the crew situation.

All four berths in next Saturday night’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway were on the line in Phoenix. It made for an enjoyable race for the final spot between Hemric and Cole Custer, as the two battled for position in the closing laps. Custer was fourth and Hemric fifth, and if they stayed that way, Hemric had the spot. But Christopher Bell chased Hemric, who couldn’t afford to give up a position between Custer.

Bell used a three-wide pass on the outside to get by both drivers, and Hemric eventually passed Custer and finished fifth.

Custer faded to seventh, and praised his first-year Stewart-Haas Racing team.

“I knew we needed to beat him, but I guess we needed a buffer in between us to beat him,” Custer said. “I think we made the best of our day with what we had, but, overall, we’re still not in the championship four. But for a first-year team we came a long way.”

 

Unofficial Race Results for the 19th Annual Ticket Galaxy 200 - Phoenix Raceway

 

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Pts, Status, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts
1) 2, William Byron # (P), No. 9 Liberty University Chevrolet, 200, 6, 6, 50, Running, 1, 17, 
2) 6, Ryan Blaney(i), No. 22 Discount Tire Ford, 200, 1, 1, 0, Running, 2, 147, 
3) 1, Erik Jones(i), No. 20 Hisense Toyota, 200, 3, 2, 0, Running, 2, 36, 
4) 8, Christopher Bell(i), No. 18 Safelite Toyota, 200, 8, 5, 0, Running, , , 
5) 7, Daniel Hemric # (P), No. 21 Smokey Mountain Snuff Chevrolet, 200, 4, 3, 47, Running, , , 
6) 9, Blake Koch, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 200, 10, 9, 34, Running, , , 
7) 3, Cole Custer # (P), No. 00 Haas Automation Ford, 200, 7, 7, 38, Running, , , 
8) 5, Alex Bowman(i), No. 42 Energizer Ultimate Lithium Battery Chevrolet, 200, 2, , 0, Running, , , 
9) 16, Austin Dillon(i), No. 2 Ruud Chevrolet, 200, 9, 8, 0, Running, , , 
10) 10, Justin Allgaier (P), No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet, 200, 5, 4, 40, Running, , , 
11) 4, Matt Tifft # (P), No. 19 Surface Sunscreen/Fanatics Toyota, 200, , , 26, Running, , , 
12) 18, Casey Mears, No. 98 GEICO Military Ford, 200, , , 25, Running, , , 
13) 21, Ty Dillon(i), No. 3 Advil Chevrolet, 200, , 10, 0, Running, , , 
14) 20, Ryan Reed (P), No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford, 200, , , 23, Running, , , 
15) 15, Brandon Jones, No. 33 Phone Skope Chevrolet, 200, , , 22, Running, , , 
16) 12, Michael Annett, No. 5 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 200, , , 21, Running, , , 
17) 19, Spencer Gallagher #, No. 23 Kingman Chevrolet, 200, , , 20, Running, , , 
18) 13, Elliott Sadler (P), No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet, 200, , , 19, Running, , , 
19) 22, Ross Chastain, No. 4 Flex Seal Chevrolet, 200, , , 18, Running, , , 
20) 23, JJ Yeley, No. 14 TriStar Motorsports Toyota, 200, , , 17, Running, , , 
21) 26, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 TAP & Sons Electric Inc. Chevrolet, 200, , , 16, Running, , , 
22) 17, Corey LaJoie(i), No. 24 youtheory Toyota, 199, , , 0, Running, , , 
23) 24, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet, 199, , , 14, Running, , , 
24) 25, Ray Black II, No. 07 ScubaLife.com Chevrolet, 199, , , 13, Running, , , 
25) 29, Garrett Smithley, No. 0 Flex Shot Chevrolet, 197, , , 12, Running, , , 
26) 31, Mario Gosselin, No. 90 BuckedUp Apparel Chevrolet, 197, , , 11, Running, , , 
27) 32, Harrison Rhodes, No. 01 Flex Tape Chevrolet, 195, , , 10, Running, , , 
28) 36, Timmy Hill, No. 40 Chris Kyle Memorial/CrashClaimsR.Us Chevrolet, 194, , , 9, Running, , , 
29) 30, David Starr, No. 99 WHATABURGER Chevrolet, 190, , , 8, Running, , , 
30) 37, Caesar Bacarella, No. 8Alpha PrimeChevrolet, 190, , , 7, Running, , , 
31) 38, John Graham, No. 78 Magellan Aviation Group Chevrolet, 188, , , 6, Running, , , 
32) 11, Brendan Gaughan, No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet, 179, , , 5, Accident, , , 
33) 28, Joey Gase, No. 52 Donate Life Chevrolet, 169, , , 4, Running, , , 
34) 33, Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 Visone RV Chevrolet, 47, , , 3, Brakes, , , 
35) 27, Joe Nemechek(i), No. 15 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 44, , , 0, Brakes, , , 
36) 40, Carl Long, No. 13 OCR Gaz Bar Toyota, 37, , , 1, Electrical, , , 
37) 34, Jeff Green, No. 38 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 30, , , 1, Brakes, , , 
38) 14, Brennan Poole (P), No. 48 DC Solar Chevrolet, 24, , , 1, Accident, , , 
39) 39, Mike Harmon, No. 74 Ramjet's Speed Shop Dodge, 19, , , 1, Engine, , , 
40) 35, Gray Gaulding(i), No. 93 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 6, , , 0, Electrical, , , 
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs driver

 

Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 54 Mins, 33 Secs.
Average Speed: 104.758 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.960 Seconds
Race Comments: William Byron won the Ticket Galaxy 200 at Phoenix Raceway, his fourth NASCAR XFINITY Series victory.
Prior to the green flag, no car(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty.
Caution Flags: 5 for 26 laps: Laps: 3-4 (No. 62, 24, 5 Incident Turn 3 [None]); 24-29 No. 48, 8, 21 Incident Turn 1 [40]); 62-67 (Stage 1 Conclusion [99]); 122-127 (Stage 2 Conclusion [39]); 182-187 ( [23]).
Lead Changes: 4 among 3 drivers: E. Jones(i) 1-33; R. Blaney(i) 34; E. Jones(i) 35-37; R. Blaney(i) 38-183; W. Byron # (P) 184-200.
Coors Light Pole Award:  Erik Jones, No. 20 133.929 mph
Mmahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race:  Roush-Yates Engines, #22 
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race:  Erik Jones, No. 20 
,,Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  William Byron, No. 9

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

Read More on Cup / XFINITY / Truck news
Volume 2017, Issue 11, Posted 5:20 PM, 11.12.2017