Chandler Smith won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway Saturday afternoon after Justin Allgaier experienced a tire failure with only five laps to go, resulting in a dramatic 2-lap overtime finish.
Smith won Stage 1, led 88 of 205 laps, and came out on top after the final incident of the Call811.com Every Dig. Every Time. 200, driving his No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to victory lane. It was his first win of the season and the second of his Xfinity career.
“We just lacked a little bit on the 7 (Allgaier),” Smith said after the race. “I hate that happened to him — he had that in the bag. I’m so proud of everybody back at Joe Gibbs Racing. It’s good finally to get this first win off our back for these guys.
“So let’s go keep racking ’em up.”
Allgaier led 52 laps in his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet but with five scheduled laps to go and a lead of almost three seconds, his left-rear tire went flat and he collided with the outside wall, ending his day.
“Going through the dogleg (on the front stretch), I felt (the tire) come apart, like I ran something over, and at that point you’re just a passenger,” Allgaier said. “I just hate it that we tore up a race car. We didn’t go to Victory Lane. I hate it for all the guys and gals at JR Motorsports.”
Jesse Love finished second in the No. 2 Richard Childress Chevrolet followed by Sheldon Creed in third driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Austin Hill finished fourth in the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer won Stage 2 and rounded out the top five.
Custer characterized his day as frustrating.
“We started out pretty good, but the track lost some grip and then we struggled a little bit. Our guys did a great job staying with it all day, and our pit crew did an amazing job. It’s frustrating. Obviously, we want to win, but overall, it was a really good points day for us. We just have to keep working on it. I think we’re missing something just a little bit. We just have to keep trying to work on it and get a little bit more of that potential out of it.”
Rookie Shane van Gisbergen, Brandon Jones, Parker Kligerman, Sammy Smith, and Anthony Alfredo completed the top 10.
With the win at Phoenix, Smith is the current leader in the championship standing by one point over place Austin Hill.
The Xfinity Series is off next weekend and returns to competition on March 23 at Circuit of the Americas.
There were no major issues during the post-race inspection. The No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (Jesse Love) and the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet (Parker Kligerman) each had one unsecured lug nut which will result in a fine for the crew chiefs of each team.
Complete Results:
- Chandler Smith
- Jesse Love
- Sheldon Creed
- Austin Hill
- Cole Custer
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Brandon Jones
- Parker Kligerman
- Sammy Smith
- Anthony Alfredo
- Leland Honeyman
- Ryan Sieg
- Blaine Perkins
- BJ McLeod
- Jeremy Clements
- Kyle Weatherman
- Nick Leitz
- AJ Allmendinger
- JJ Yeley
- Brennan Poole
- Ryan Ellis
- Corey Heim
- William Byron
- Riley Herbst
- Kyle Sieg
- Garrett Smithley
- Josh Williams
- Dawson Cram
- Justin Allgaier
- Frankie Muniz
- Aric Almirola
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Hailie Deegan
- Sam Mayer
- Parker Retzlaff
- Jeb Burton
- Ryan Vargas
- Patrick Emerling
