Ty Gibbs claimed his first NASCAR Xfinity victory of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday night in the Alsco Uniforms 300. It was an exhilarating race that included 11 cautions plus a 42-minute red flag for rain and a bit of snow.
The 19-year-old grandson of NASCAR Hall of Famer and team owner, Joe Gibbs, took the lead on the final restart in his No. 54 Toyota and led the final six laps to score the win. The race ended under caution on the final lap freezing the field and sending Gibbs to victory lane.
His win, however, was not without controversy.
On Lap 4, Gibbs made contact with Ryan Sieg bringing out a caution as Sieg’s No. 39 Ford hit the outside wall. Sieg was upset after the incident and hinted at possible retaliation.
“It’s tough, but it is what it is,’’ Sieg said. “He’s definitely going to have to learn his lesson, you know what I mean.’’
When the race restarted, Sieg pulled up beside Gibbs and it looked as though he was going to take the opportunity to show his displeasure. Instead, Sieg spun out and the cars of Sheldon Creed and Brett Moffitt were caught up in the aftermath. Sieg went to the garage and was finished for the day but Creed and Moffitt recovered with top-10 finishes.
During his interview after the race, Gibbs apologized, saying, “I want to apologize to the 39 (Sieg) for the contact I made, it wasn’t my best decision and I’m sorry to the whole group, Ryan’s family they work so hard.
“I want to say thank you to Justin Allgaier for my push, too,’’ he continued. “I had a fun time racing with the JR (Motorsports) cars, too, so hopefully we can keep it going and win some more races.”
JR Motorsports’ Noah Gragson had the dominant car for most of the race, winning both Stage 1 and 2, and was in the lead on the final restart. But Gibbs was able to pull ahead with help from Justin Allgaier who was lined up behind him and Gragson had to settle for second place. It was Gragson’s third top-five finish of the year and he leaves Las Vegas first in the driver standings by 17 points over Gibbs.
“I just kind of got beat at our own game there. Restarts just came up short,’’ Gragson said after the race. “Just needed to be better. Congrats to them and we’ll keep working hard. Thankful to this team led by Luke Lambert and we’ll come back stronger next week. Obviously, I wanted to be in Victory Lane, but it could be a hell of a lot worse.”
Daniel Hemric, Josh Berry and Allgaier finished third to fifth, respectively, as Landon Cassill, Sheldon Creed, Brett Moffitt, AJ Allmendinger and Brandon Jones rounded out the top-10 at Las Vegas.
There were 17 lead changes among nine drivers during the Alsco Uniforms 300 and 11 cautions for 65 laps.
Next up for the Xfinity Series is the United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway on March 12.
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