Noah Gragson Gets his First Victory in the Xfinity Series at Daytona

Peter Casey/ USA Today Photograph

View Image Gallery

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - RIS - Noah Gragson won his first NACAR Xfinity race on stock cars biggest showplace-Daytona International Speedway.  Gragson was min the lead when a caution came out do to a crash behind him.  The race finished under caution by rule.  It was business as usual.  JR Motorsports car, Chevrolet Camaro, and lots of crashes, a scenario that has gone on for the last three races at this 2.5-mile superspeedway. 

“It never gets old, man,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I don’t expect I will do it ever again as a driver, but if I get here as an owner and have success like this, it’s a great feeling.”

“I’m so thankful for this opportunity,” Gragson said after the race. “Man, I’m speechless right now, I didn’t think this would come. … I spent a lot of time with Junior. this week, talking for about two hours. Wanted to be a better speedway race. He told me ‘go have fun, wreckers or checkers, you got to manage you gaps, be there at the end and just go lead the damn the thing.’ That’s what we did.”

Gragson had to bounce back from a Lap 32 speeding penalty. It’s the fifth time in the last seven Daytona races that the winner rebounded from an in-race penalty.

Gragson and Chase Briscoe swapped the lead in the closing three-lap sprint to the finish, but NASCAR threw the yellow-flag for a multi-car crash on the final lap.

The finish was setup by a wreck on a restart with seven laps to go.

It collected Jeb Burton, Austin Cindric, Ryan Sieg, Brett Moffitt and others. It began after Briscoe took the lead and he moved up to block Gragson as they neared Turn 3. Burton, running behind Gragson, checked up and was turned by Cindric. He bounced off Jones before turning back into the wall, causing a chain reaction.

The wreck resulted in a seven minute and 50 second red flag.

Harrison Burton and Timmy Hill, who will make his Daytona 500 debut on Sunday, were second and third in Toyotas. Briscoe was fourth in a Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing.

Gragson celebrated old-school style, first by climbing the fence at Daytona International Speedway — a nod to both three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves and recent NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart. Then Gragson fueled the flames on the Daytona track surface created by his celebratory burnout. He also ran up the speedway pumping his fist after his burnout.

Gragson, a regular on the truck circuit in years past, was the seventh different driver to run a Chevrolet for Earnhardt, his sister and Rick Hendrick, co-owners of the cars JR Motorsports fields.

Jeb Burton led a 1-2-3-4 sweep by JR Motorsports to end the first stage, and Justin Allgaier won the stage under caution following a wreck by Riley Herbst, pole-sitter Myatt Snider and Chris Cockrum on the last lap.

Next at the World Center of Speed is tomorrow’s race, the Daytona 500, the super bowl of NASCAR

Unofficial Results: 39th Annual NASCAR Racing Experience 300, Saturday, February 15, 2020

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Pts, Status, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts
1) 12, Noah Gragson, No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/BRCC Chevrolet, 120, 4, 9, 49, Running, 2, 15, 5
2) 8, Harrison Burton #, No. 20 Dex Imaging Toyota, 120, 8, , 38, Running, 2, 9, 
3) 26, Timmy Hill, No. 66 VSI Racing/RoofClaim.com Toyota, 120, , , 0, Running, 1, 1, 
4) 6, Brandon Jones, No. 19 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 120, , 8, 36, Running, , , 
5) 10, Chase Briscoe, No. 98 Highpoint.com Ford, 120, 10, 10, 34, Running, 1, 5, 
6) 3, Justin Haley, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 120, 5, 2, 46, Running, , , 
7) 11, Brandon Brown, No. 68 Larry's Lemonade Chevrolet, 120, , 6, 35, Running, , , 
8) 16, Ray Black II, No. 07 CDA Tech Chevrolet, 120, , , 29, Running, , , 
9) 9, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 CMR Roofing Chevrolet, 120, , 4, 35, Running, , , 
10) 19, Alex Labbe, No. 36 Globocam/Rousseau Chevrolet, 120, 9, , 29, Running, 1, 19, 
11) 2, Michael Annett, No. 1 AHA/Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 119, 2, , 35, Accident, , , 
12) 34, JJ Yeley, No. 52  Chevrolet, 119, , , 25, Running, , , 
13) 22, BJ McLeod, No. 0 Opav Chevrolet, 119, , , 24, Running, , , 
14) 25, Vinnie Miller, No. 78 UAP.ORG Toyota, 119, , , 23, Running, , , 
15) 36, Joe Nemechek(i), No. 47 Patriots PAC of America Chevrolet, 119, , , 0, Running, , , 
16) 35, Mike Harmon, No. 74  Chevrolet, 119, , , 21, Running, , , 
17) 20, Robby Lyons II, No. 15 CSM/Carr & Sons Masonry Chevrolet, 119, , , 20, Running, , , 
18) 31, David Starr, No. 6 Whataburger Chevrolet, 119, , , 19, Running, , , 
19) 18, Jesse Little #, No. 4 KSDT/Series Seating Chevrolet, 118, , , 18, Accident, , , 
20) 33, Chad Finchum, No. 13 Garrison Homes Toyota, 118, , , 17, Running, , , 
21) 32, Josh Bilicki, No. 99 DITEC Marine/Insurance King Toyota, 117, , , 16, Running, , , 
22) 23, Ross Chastain, No. 38 C2 Freight Resources Chevrolet, 115, , 7, 19, Running, , , 
23) 4, Jeb Burton, No. 8 LS Tractor Chevrolet, 114, 1, 3, 32, Accident, 2, 26, 1
24) 24, Brett Moffitt(i), No. 02 Plan B Sales Chevrolet, 114, , , 0, Accident, , , 
25) 15, Austin Cindric, No. 22 MoneyLion Ford, 113, 6, 5, 23, Accident, , , 
26) 17, Josh Williams, No. 92 Sleep Well/Harkin Construction Chevrolet, 113, , , 11, Accident, , , 
27) 21, CJ McLaughlin, No. 93 Sci Aps Chevrolet, 113, , , 10, Running, , , 
28) 29, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 Repairables.com Chevrolet, 113, , , 9, Running, , , 
29) 14, Caesar Bacarella, No. 90 Maxim/Alpha Prime Regimen Chevrolet, 112, , , 8, Accident, , , 
30) 13, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet, 107, 3, 1, 25, Accident, 2, 23, 1
31) 30, Matt Mills, No. 5 J F Electric Toyota, 101, , , 6, Electrical, , , 
32) 7, Riley Herbst #, No. 18 Monster Toyota, 59, , , 5, Accident, , , 
33) 1, Myatt Snider, No. 21 TaxSlayer Chevrolet, 59, 7, , 8, Accident, 2, 22, 
34) 27, Chris Cockrum, No. 25 Advanced Communications Group Chevrolet, 59, , , 3, Accident, , , 
35) 28, Austin Hill(i), No. 61 AISIN Group Toyota, 37, , , 0, Accident, , , 
36) 5, Joe Graf Jr #, No. 08 CORE Development Group Chevrolet, 37, , , 1, Accident, , ,

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 11 Mins, 44 Secs.
Race Length: 120 Laps, 300 Miles
Average Speed: 136.64 MPH
Margin of Victory: Under Caution

Stage 1 Top 10: 8, 1, 7, 9, 11, 22, 21, 20, 36, 98
Stage 2 Top 10: 7, 11, 8, 39, 22, 68, 38, 19, 9, 98

Race Comments: Noah Gragson won the NASCAR Racing Experience 300 at Daytona International Speedway, his first victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: No. 38 (driver change), Nos. 47, 52 (unapproved adjustments).

Failed to Qualify: (4) 26 Colin Garrett, 44 Tommy Joe Martins, 10 Ross Chastain, 16 AJ Allmendinger.

Caution Flags: 7 for 28 laps;
Laps: 20-23 (Debris Backstretch [78]);
32-35 (Stage 1 Conclusion [90]);
39-43 (No. 1, 08, 61, 18, 93 Incident Turn 2 [90]);
61-66 (No. 18, 25, 92, 21, 20 Incident Turn 3 [90]);
109-113 (No. 7, 99, 51 Incident Turn 4 [36]);
115-117 (No. 8, 22, 39, 90, 9, 1, 02, 51, 07, 52, 4, 68, 6 Incident Backstretch {Red: 7:50} [None]);
120-120 (No. 1, 68, 36, 6, 4, Incident Backstretch [None]).

Lead Changes: 12 among 8 drivers:
M. Snider 1-13;
H. Burton # 14;
M. Snider 15-23;
J. Burton 24-31;
J. Allgaier 32-36;
H. Burton # 37-44;
J. Allgaier 45-62;
J. Burton 63-80;
T. Hill 81;
A. Labbe 82-100;
N. Gragson 101-113;
C. Briscoe 114-118;
N. Gragson 119-120.