Kansas City, KS – After passing race leader Austin Cindric with 16 laps to go, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs took home his fourth career win of the 2021 Xfinity Series season.
“He (Austin Cindric) got a little bit free and kind of slowed down in (Turns) 3 and 4, and I could get to his left rear and side-draft him and get away from him,” the 19-year-old Gibbs said of the winning pass.”
“I got loose a couple of times over there (pointing to Turns 3 and 4), but I was just trying to give it my all, trying to come back with a win. To have four wins this year in the Xfinity Series is just unbelievable.”
Kansas Speedway hosted the second round in the Round of 8 Playoffs on a cool Saturday afternoon. Daniel Hemric was on the pole by virtue of the qualifying metric system. Stages of 45/45/110 laps made up the 200 lap event.
Hemric maintained the lead early on in the first stage before Austin overtook him for the top position after nine laps. While it looked as though Cindric was going to leave the field high and dry, a caution on Lap 28 for the No. 48 of Jade Buford bunched everyone up for a restart with eight laps to go in the first stage. As the green flag came back out, AJ Allmendinger assumed the lead for a brief while and battled Hemric in the last remaining laps in Stage 1. Allmendinger eventually held off Hemric and won the first stage.
Hemric, Cindric, Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, Myatt Snider, Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones, Justin Haley, and Harrison Burton completed the top 10 finishers.
As the second stage began, last year’s Xfinity Series champion, Cindric, won the race off pit road and was out front once again with Gibbs right beside him in second place. Cindric had the dominant car and never surrendered the lead, leading all the laps in the second stage to take the Stage 2 victory. Gibbs, Hemric, Gragson, Snider, Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Allgaier, Haley, and Riley Herbst rounded out the Top 10.
The third and final stage was the wildest stage of the afternoon with seven cautions. The biggest caution occurred with 23 laps to go as the No. 9 of Gragson and No. 20 of Harrison Burton collided on the front stretch after contact with the No. 8 of Sam Mayer. The vehicles of playoff drivers, Burton and Gragson, had major damage and were out of the race. The drivers were checked and released from the infield care center, but now face a must-win situation heading into Martinsville next weekend.
Following the cleanup, the field restarted with 16 laps to go and Cindric seemed poised to score the win and lock into the Championship 4. While Cindric had the faster car in Stage 2 and early in the final stage, Gibbs chased him down. took the lead and held on, for his fourth career win of the year.
Gibbs led three times for 14 laps en route to victory. There were 10 cautions for 46 laps and 19 lead changes among six different drivers.
Cindric led the most laps, 151, but came up short and earned his 20th top five of the year. The Team Penske driver also earned his 11th stage win of the year after winning the second stage.
“It was a great points day in our Odyssey Battery Ford Mustang,” Cindric said about the second place finish. “I really would have loved to lock our way in and race for a win at Martinsville, that would be huge for us. Congrats to the 54, Ty (Gibbs). That whole team has been on it no matter who is in the car. They have earned it. It sucks to lose one that late in the race. Not the first time, but I didn’t spontaneously crash in the playoff Kansas race this time, so it is okay I guess. I hate losing but we will move on. In the bigger picture, it was a good day.”
Playoff Standings with one race left in the Round of 8:
- Austin Cindric, +47
- A.J. Allmendinger, +47
- Justin Allgaier, +9
- Daniel Hemric, +7
Below the cut line - Justin Haley, -7
- Noah Gragson, -24
- Brandon Jones, -40
- Harrison Burton, -51
Official Race Results following the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway
- Ty Gibbs, led 14 laps
- Austin Cindric, led 151 laps, won Stage 2
- A.J. Allmendinger, led 10 laps, won Stage 1
- Justin Haley
- Ryan Sieg
- Brett Moffitt
- Michael Annett
- Sam Mayer
- Justin Allgaier
- Myatt Snider, led one lap
- Brandon Jones
- Jeb Burton
- Riley Herbst
- Brandon Brown
- Daniel Hemric, led 15 laps
- Bayley Currey
- Jeremy Clements
- Garrett Smithley
- Landon Cassill
- Jordan Anderson
- Kyle Weatherman
- Ryan Vargas
- Tommy Joe Martins, 1 lap down
- Patrick Emerling, 1 lap down
- Matt Mills, 1 lap down
- Josh Williams, 2 laps down
- Dylan Lupton, 2 laps down
- Jeffrey Earnhardt, 2 laps down
- Joe Graf Jr, 2 laps down
- Jesse Little, 3 laps down
- Spencer Boyd, 4 laps down
- Loris Hezemans, 8 laps down
- Alex Labbe, 9 laps down
- Harrison Burton, OUT, Accident
- Noah Gragson, led nine laps, OUT, Accident
- David Starr, 48 laps down
- Mason Massey, OUT, Accident
- Jade Buford, OUT, Accident
- Gray Gaulding, OUT, Engine
- Joey Gase, OUT, Electrical
Up Next: The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Martinsville Speedway for the conclusion of the Round of 8 where the Championship 4 will be set for Phoenix. It will air live on NBCSN and MRN Radio at 6 p.m. ET.
