Cindric Wins Late Two-Lap Shootout in Phoenix Xfinity Race

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AVONDALE, AZ – RIS – Austin Cindric held off Jason Allgaier and Ty Gibbs on a two-lap shootout to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix.  A late caution bunched the field together to what became a race to the finish. Cindric took the outside lane with Allgaier right behind.  As the green flag was shown, Allgaier looked to get to the outside of Cindric, but the marbles near the wall slid his car into the wall.  Gibbs, the 18-year-old grandson of Joe Gibbs, challenged on the inside, but it wasn’t enough as Cindric crossed the finish line first for the win.

As he celebrated, he was asked how concerned he was with Allgaier going for the outside pass.

“I think it was role-reversal from the last time here”, Cindric said.  He got a really great restart and stuck it on top of three there and we were fighting for track position. We came away with a win in the Car Shop Ford Mustang. It is awesome to have them on board for this season and get the pink and white colors in victory lane.”

It was the second win of the season for Cindric, who won earlier on the Daytona International Speedway road course.  Cindric is the first competitor to have multiple wins this season. Brandon Brown finished a career-high third. Riley Herbst, who had not scored a top 10 this season, finished fourth. AJ Allmendinger placed fifth.  It was here that Cindric won the 2020 Xfinity championship last fall.

Allgaier fell to eighth, which was his first top 10 of the season.

Cindric started third but jumped into the lead almost immediately, moving past pole sitter Daniel Hemric on the opening lap. The 22-year-old was dominant in the first stage, leading all 45 laps.

Hemric started on the pole after finishing in second at Las Vegas last weekend. He had a good pit stop after the first stage that pushed him into the front of the field and he parlayed that momentum into a second stage victory, but Hemric’s Toyota got caught in traffic on the final restart and faded to 23rd. He is still looking for his first Xfinity series victory.

Brandon Jones was running up front with the leaders in the first stage but was penalized for speeding on pit road and had to start the second stage at the back of the field. He made it back to the front of the field but crashed with about 30 laps left after getting bumped from behind by Allmendinger on the backstretch.

Harrison Burton finished the second stage in second but fell back to 18th after his pit stop because his car was too close to the wall and it was hard to get the jack under the car. He had more problems later in the race after losing traction and spinning out but recovered to finish 12th.

Unofficial Results: 17th Annual Call 811 Before You Dig 200, March 13, 2021, Phoenix Raceway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 3, Austin Cindric, No. 22 Car Shop Ford, 200, 1, 4, 4, 119, 6, 57, Running
2) 27, Ty Gibbs #, No. 54 PristineAuction.com Toyota, 200, 10, 9, 1, 1, , 38, Running
3) 11, Brandon Brown, No. 68 Larry's Hard Lemonade Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 34, Running
4) 30, Riley Herbst, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford, 200, , , , , , 33, Running
5) 4, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet, 200, , 7, , , , 36, Running
6) 6, Jeb Burton, No. 10 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet, 200, 8, 6, , , , 39, Running
7) 29, Bayley Currey, No. 74 Lerner & Rowe Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 12, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet, 200, 6, 3, 2, 32, , 42, Running
9) 20, Brett Moffitt(i), No. 02 Chevrolet Certified Service Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 0, Running
10) 13, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 First Pacific Fundin Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 19, Myatt Snider, No. 2 TaxSlayer Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 33, JJ Yeley, No. 17 Diamondback Land Surveying Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 7, Harrison Burton, No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota, 200, 3, 2, , , , 41, Running
14) 39, Timmy Hill, No. 66 LasVegas.net Toyota, 200, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 14, Santino Ferrucci, No. 26 Toyota Racing Toyota, 200, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 24, Colby Howard, No. 15 Project Hope Foundation Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 15, Tommy Joe Martins, No. 44 Diamon Gusset Jeans Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 35, Stefan Parsons, No. 99 SOKAL Digital Toyota, 200, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 21, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 0 KSDT Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 32, Jade Buford, No. 48 Big Machine Spike Coolers Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 17, Josh Williams, No. 92 DGM Racing Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 18, Landon Cassill, No. 4 511Auction.com Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 1, Daniel Hemric, No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota, 200, 4, 1, 1, 44, 1, 31, Running
24) 28, Blaine Perkins, No. 23 Raceline Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 16, Joe Graf Jr., No. 07 Z GRILLS Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 5, Justin Haley, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 199, 7, 5, , , , 21, Running
27) 34, Gray Gaulding, No. 52 Panini America Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 37, David Starr, No. 61 Whataburger Toyota, 199, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 22, Dexter Bean, No. 90 Badger Environmental Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 25, Ryan Vargas #, No. 6 Hose-Man/Advanced Masonry Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 40, Loris Hezemans, No. 13 Hezeberg Systems Chevrolet, 195, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 36, Alex Labbe, No. 36 Can-Am Chevrolet, 194, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 2, Brandon Jones, No. 19 Toyota Toyota, 165, 2, 10, 1, 2, , 14, Accident
34) 26, Kyle Weatherman, No. 47 Weicks Media Chevrolet, 164, , , , , , 3, Running
35) 38, Matt Mills, No. 5 J.F. Electric Chevrolet, 157, , , , , , 2, Running
36) 9, Josh Berry #, No. 8 Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet, 146, , 8, , , , 4, Accident
37) 31, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 CMR Construction and Roofing Ford, 133, , , 1, 2, , 1, Accident
38) 8, Michael Annett, No. 1 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 93, 9, , , , , 3, Engine
39) 10, Noah Gragson, No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/BRCC Chevrolet, 67, 5, , , , , 7, Engine
40) 23, Jesse Little, No. 78 Skuttle Tight Toyota, 44, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 2:25:37.02
Average Speed: 82.408 MPH

Stage 1 Top 10: 22, 19, 20, 18, 9, 7, 11, 10, 1, 54
Stage 2 Top 10: 18, 20, 7, 22, 11, 10, 16, 8, 54, 19

Race Comments: Austin Cindric won the Call 811 Before You Dig 200 Presented by Arizona 811 at Phoenix Raceway, his 10th NASCAR Xfinity Series victory.

Prior to the start the following car dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: No. 13 (driver change).

Failed to Qualify: (3) 77 Dillon Bassett, 31 Jordan Anderson #, 03 Andy Lally.

Caution Flags: 12 for -136 laps;
Laps: 22-26 (Competition Caution [0]);
47-56 (Stage 1 Conclusion [23]);
59-62 (No. 90 Incident Turn 4 [0]);
69-76 (No. 9 Fire [6]);
92-98 (Stage 2 Conclusion [6]);
125-129 (No. 44, 6 Incident Turn 2 [07]);
133-137 (No. 20 Spin Turn 2 [52]);
141-144 (No. 02 Spin Frontstretch [92]);
149-154 (No. 8, No. 23 Incident Backstretch [92]);
167-171 (No. 16, No. 19 Incident Backstretch [6]);
193-198 (No. 36 Incident Turn 4 [23]).

Lead Changes: 10 among 6 drivers;
D. Hemric 0;
A. Cindric 1-50;
D. Hemric 51-94;
J. Allgaier 95-125;
T. Gibbs # 126;
R. Sieg 127-128;
A. Cindric 129-136;
J. Allgaier 137;
A. Cindric 138-144;
B. Jones 145-146;
A. Cindric 147-200.

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.

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Volume 2021, Issue 3, Posted 9:14 PM, 03.13.2021