A final restart would bring an entertaining end at Darlington Raceway as Chase Briscoe held off a hard-charging Kyle Busch to take the race win. It was Briscoe’s fourth career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and his second win of the season.
An emotional Briscoe said, “This is the number one win. Honestly, winning the Daytona 500 couldn’t even top the feeling of just, like I was saying earlier, the ups and downs. This is what my family needed and what my wife needed.”
Noah Gragson led the field to green after a random draw gave him the pole position. His JR Motorsports teammate, Michael Annett, would be on his inside. As the two got the green flag, Annett’s No. 1 would spin the tires, miring him backward in the race.
Ross Chastain would reach near the top 5, and Busch would climb his way upwards into the Top 10. Ryan Sieg’s No. 39 would showcase some good pace as he closed in on Gragson’s No. 9 before the competition caution would fly on Lap 15.
With everyone’s positions maintained, Gragson would lead the field down for the restart. Austin Cindric would benefit from a quick launch, moving up to third. Myatt Snider found trouble off Turn 2 as he hit the wall after contact with Timmy Hill, giving the No. 93 damage to the back end, bringing out the yellow.
Busch had some right-side damage to his No. 54 due to contact with the wall during the green flag stint.
Gragson would continue to hold his ground on the restart, Chastain would look to challenge but would not be able to reach the No. 9 as Gragson would cruise to take victory in Stage 1.
Chastain, Sieg, Busch, and Cindric would round out the Top Five while Justin Allgaier, Daniel Hemric, Briscoe, Annett, and Justin Haley would round out the Top Ten to end the stage.
Busch would be the first one off pit lane, putting the No. 54 in the lead.
As Stage 2 began, the intensity began to pick up. Gragson would lose out to Busch and Allgaier on the restart, dropping to third.
Chastain and Briscoe would go at it for multiple laps for a handful of laps before the No. 98 would loosen the Kaulig car off Turn 2, costing Chastain several spots as Hemric and Annett would rocket past him. Later, Annett would kiss the Turn 1 wall but would keep on going without much of an issue.
Nobody would be able to challenge the No. 54 as Busch won Stage 2. Allgaier, Gragson, Briscoe, and Annett would be in the Top 5. Hemric, Chastain, Cindric, Sieg, and Jeremy Clements would round out the Top 10.
Busch, however, was caught speeding on pit road, sending him to the rear of the field. With Busch at the back it allowed many of the regulars to pounce on a potential win as the final stage begun. Allgaier took the lead but the No. 7 would spin his tires, allowing Briscoe to take the first position.
Brandon Jones would experience a vibration with his No. 19, bringing his car down pit lane.
With 30 to go, Busch had made his way up to the eighth position, passing teammate Harrison Burton off Turn 2. The distance between Briscoe and Allgaier would dissipate as the No. 7 closed in.
Hemric would try and pass Gragson on the outside, but his teammate would push up the track, allowing Annett to take both spots. Hemric later would overtake the No. 1 to take third back.
The lead would swap as Allgaier would pass Briscoe off Turn 2. Then, Briscoe would pull the crossover and when the two were side by side into Turns 1 and 2, Allgaier would slap the wall.
A caution would fly with 15 laps to go when Annett’s No. 1 would go for a spin. Annett was trying to get around Joe Nemechek’s No. 47 in Turn 3 while battling Hemric. The No. 1 would get loose and spin on the apron, bunching the field back together.
Briscoe would have a better stop than Allgaier and the No. 98 would become the race leader. Busch would gain multiple spots in pit lane, putting the M&M’s Toyota in the third position. Briscoe and Allgaier would the field down with 10 laps to go. The two would make contact but Briscoe would hold his ground. Busch would then pounce on the No. 7, taking over the runner up spot.
However, the fun was not over.
Coming to the white flag, Briscoe hit the Turn 4 wall and Busch pounced on the inside. The two would go side by side into Turn 1 and Briscoe would keep his foot in it, holding the lead as both of them rubbed fenders.
Into Turn 3 Busch would have one final look to the inside and they were side by side momentarily before the No. 98 edged out Busch to take the checkered flag.
Race results:
- Chase Briscoe
- Kyle Busch – Stage 2 Winner
- Justin Allgaier
- Austin Cindric
- Noah Gragson – Stage 1 Winner
- Daniel Hemric
- Ryan Sieg
- Ross Chastain
- Harrison Burton
- Justin Haley
- Brett Moffitt
- Jeremy Clements
- Brandon Brown
- Anthony Alfredo
- BJ McLeod
- Josh Williams
- Alex Labbe
- Riley Herbst
- Joe Graf Jr
- Brandon Jones
- Ray Black Jr.
- Timmy Hill
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- Chad Finchum
- Michael Annett – one lap down
- Tommy Joe Martins – one lap down
- Colby Howard – one lap down
- Joe Nemechek – one lap down
- Vinnie Miller – two laps down
- Mason Massey – four laps down
- Ronnie Bassett Jr. – four laps down
- Kody Vanderwal – five laps down
- Bayley Currey – five laps down
- Matt Mills – 12 laps down
- Myatt Snider – 18 laps down
- Jesse Little – OUT
- Colin Garrett – 36 laps down
- Landon Cassill – OUT
- Stephen Leicht – OUT
