TALLADEGA, ALABAMA – APRIL 23: Noah Gragson, driver of the #9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/BRCC Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 23, 2022 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Noah Gragson returned to his winning ways on Saturday, holding off Jeffrey Earnhardt on a green-white-checkered to win the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
“I’ve been having the most fun that I’ve ever had in my racing career,” Gragson said. “Just super thankful for Luke Lambert (crew chief) and all the guys. They did a great job.”
Gragson started the race in 19th position but he worked his way up to seventh by the end of Stage 1. He finished Stage 2 in 15th.
“I didn’t feel like I had the car to control the race. We just didn’t have to raw speed in it to lead the line,” Gragson said. “I shifted the way that I approached it about midway through the second stage and just started running the bottom… I let those guys make a move and jumped to the outside and they would just shuffle themselves back.
“I didn’t feel like we didn’t have the car to make aggressive moves and make our way up there.”
But, as Stage 3 moved along, Gragson cautiously worked his way to the front and found himself in the second row for a green-white-checkered finish. On the third attempt, Justin Allgaier, his teammate, ran out of fuel from second place as the field went green. Multiple cars checked up and Gragson took the lead over AJ Allmendinger.
The field broke up and could never re-join to catch a draft behind Gragson. He crossed the line for his second victory of the season with Earnhardt behind him in second.
“I kind of feel like I’m the bigger fish in the pond,” Gragson said. “I just have fun and we enjoy it. I’m really cool, calm and collected behind the wheel.”
Results:
Stage 1: Josh Berry, Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Landon Cassill, Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Anthony Alfredo, Sam Mayer, Brett Moffit
Stage 2: Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer, Austin Hill, Brandon Jones, Ty Gibbs, Drew Dollar, Brandon Brown, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Myatt Snider, Jeb Burton
Final: Noah Gragson, Jeffrey Earnhardt, AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, Landon Cassill, Anthony Alfredo, Riley Herbst, Joe Graf Jr., Myatt Snider, Brett Moffitt
Notables:
- Earnhardt’s second-place finish was the best result of his career
- Ryan Sieg finished fourth for his best finish of the season
- Landon Cassill recorded his second consecutive top five
- Anthony Alfredo finished top 10 for the third time in 2022
- Joe Graf Jr. recorded his first career top 10 with an eighth-place finish
- Myatt Snider finished ninth for his second top 10 of 2022
- Drew Dollar finished 13th in his second career Xfinity start
- Austin Hill finished 27th after a crash despite leading 67 laps
- Ty Gibbs finished 35th; his worst career finish
- Chandler Smith crashed early and finished 38th in his first Xfinity start
- AJ Allmendinger won Dash 4 Cash for the second straight race; Gragson, Allmendinger, Sieg and Cassill will participate at Dover
- Allmendinger leads driver’s points by 40 over Gragson
Next:
The NASCAR Xfinity Series travels to Dover Motor Speedway for the A-GAME 200 on Saturday, April 30. The race is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
