Austin Cindric wins Pocono Green 225

Austin Cindric once again has the most NASCAR Xfinity Series wins in 2021. After holding off Ty Gibbs in Sunday’s Pocono Green 225, he scored his fourth win of the year to break a tie with Cup Series driver Kyle Busch.

Harrison Burton started on the pole, while Riley Herbst was sent to the rear for unapproved adjustments. Jesse Iwuji made his first Xfinity start of the season in Mike Harmon Racing‘s #47 that Bayley Currey usually drives; being a driver change from the entry list, he was also ordered to start at the back.

Burton led the entire opening stage, with the halfway point of this 22-lap stretch being marked by Josh Williams hitting the turn one wall after contact with Santino Ferrucci. Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Daniel Hemric finished second, followed by Justin Allgaier, Cindric, A.J. Allmendinger, Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Jeb Burton, Justin Haley, and Josh Berry.

The start of the second stage lasted just one lap before Haley was turned and ping-ponged between the outside and inside walls, during which he was impacted by Ryan Vargas; series newcomer Sam Mayer also suffered damage in the incident.

Vargas was visibly emotional in his interview with NBCSN after being released from the infield care centre as the wreck adds to what has been a challenging rookie season. Furthermore, the hood of his #6 car featured a tribute to his friend and JD Motorsports car chief Brian Lear, who died in May and was from Pennsylvania; the #6 that Vargas drove in the race was also Lear’s final constructed car prior to his passing.

“I just nowhere to go. I feel awful for this team. It’s been a tough start to the year and it’s been a really good rebound recently,” Vargas told NBCSN. “I hate that we wrecked with Lear on the hood. I miss him a lot. I just hate disappointing and I feel like I did that today.”

The wreck resulted in a red flag that lasted five minutes, 41 seconds for track cleanup. Although not injured, Haley was battered hard enough in the accident that he had to lie down next to his car upon exiting, and he elected to skip the Cup race later in the day out of caution. Allgaier was tapped to drive his #77 Spire Motorsports car in the Cup event, making his return to the top level after also serving as an interim driver for Jimmie Johnson at Indianapolis last year

Allgaier was the leader as the race resumed. Hemric took the lead before Burton spun and hit the wall on lap 35, ending his day. Gibbs, also a JGR driver, inherited the lead for the next green flag after Hemric received a speeding penalty during the ensuing caution. By the end of the stage, Gibbs led Gragson, Brandon Jones, Myatt Snider, Herbst, Cindric, Burton, Allmendinger, Berry, and Allgaier.

Herbst’s race was cut short early in the final stage when he spun into the wall after contact from behind by Colby Howard. Herbst explained afterwards that he “cleared one of the backmarkers and he decided to drive it all the way back into my outside through the tunnel and I didn’t know he was there. I cleared him down Long Pond. It is frustrating for sure and hurts us in points and everything.”

The green flag waved on lap 49 with Cindric and Gragson leading. After ten laps, the field began green-flag stops that allowed Gibbs, Hemric (who was penalised again for speeding when he pitted), Jeremy Clements, and Alex Labbé to lead laps before Cindric re-assumed the top position on lap 75. Although it was just one lap, it was Labbé’s first led circuit of the year and his first since Road America in 2020.

Although Gibbs chased down Cindric and narrowed the gap to .331 seconds, he could not catch him as Cindric scored his fourth win of the year and first at Pocono.

“We gave him a chance, didn’t we? We had to make it exciting, I guess,” said Cindric. “I didn’t want it but I guess everybody else did. We will take it and we will take the trophy for sure.”

Elsewhere in the field, Mayer finished eighteenth in his Xfinity début. NASCAR Whelen Euro Series‘ EuroNASCAR PRO championship leader Loris Hezemans placed twenty-seventh in his first American national series start on an oval longer than one mile.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	13	22	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	90	Running
2	14	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	90	Running
3	2	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	Running
4	7	9	Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	Running
5	3	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	90	Running
6	6	18	Daniel Hemric	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	90	Running
7	4	19	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	90	Running
8	5	10	Jeb Burton	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	90	Running
9	33	31	Josh Berry	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	90	Running
10	19	2	Myatt Snider	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	90	Running
11	17	02	Brett Moffitt	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	Running
12	8	1	Michael Annett	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	Running
13	9	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	90	Running
14	26	26	Santino Ferrucci	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	90	Running
15	24	68	Brandon Brown	Brandonbilt Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	Running
16	16	36	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	90	Running
17	12	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	90	Running
18	20	8	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	89	Running
19	29	48	Jade Buford	Big Machine Racing	Chevrolet	89	Running
20	18	44	Tommy Joe Martins	Martins Motorsports	Chevrolet	89	Running
21	23	4	Landon Cassill	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	89	Running
22	38	0	Jeffrey Earnhardt	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	89	Running
23	27	5	Matt Mills	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	89	Running
24	37	15	Colby Howard	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	89	Running
25	15	61	Austin Hill*	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	89	Running
26	30	47	Kyle Weatherman	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	89	Running
27	39	90	Loris Hezemans	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	89	Running
28	32	17	Carson Ware	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	88	Running
29	28	78	Jesse Little	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Toyota	88	Running
30	36	99	Mason Massey	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Toyota	88	Running
31	34	74	Jesse Iwuji*	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	88	Running
32	35	07	Joe Graf Jr.	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	88	Running
33	25	66	David Starr	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	87	Running
34	31	23	Blaine Perkins	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	78	Suspension
35	10	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	45	Accident
36	40	52	Joey Gase	Jimmy Means Racing	Chevrolet	42	Clutch
37	1	20	Harrison Burton	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	36	Accident
38	11	11	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	24	Accident
39	21	6	Ryan Vargas	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	24	Accident
40	22	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	11	Accident

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points