Noah Gragson had to stave off a charging Ty Gibbs, but the help of fresher tyres gave him the edge in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series battle at Pocono Raceway. Gragson’s three wins tie his season best from 2021.
“That was probably the best I’ve ever driven there,” commented Gragson, who celebrated by scaling the catchfence with his team and vomiting, the latter a gross but unusually continuing trend for him after race wins. “I’m worn out (from) working my ass off out there to keep the #54 back. He’s pretty fast.”
Gragson won Stage #2 after spending the first segment following JR Motorsports team-mate Justin Allgaier. Another JRM driver Josh Berry was strong for the third stage until Gragson took the lead on lap 69 and never surrendered it. Following a caution with thirty-four laps remaining for Sammy Smith‘s spin, Gragson elected to change four tyres on his pit stop while Gibbs did not, and this strategy ultimately paid off.
“It definitely hurt us being on a tyre disadvantage,” said Gibbs who settled for second. “I was so surprised to hang with the #9 when he was on rights. I had a great car, just didn’t put it together. I want to say I felt like on my part I just made some mistakes, but we’ll come back at it next weekend.
Further helping matters for Gragson was a moment in the Tunnel Turn where Gibbs got loose in a side draft with the leader. The runner-up continued, “We both went in there side-by-side and I just lost my side force and got loose under him, but that’s racing. I put myself in that position, but I feel like I definitely have to look back and see what other options I had. I just want to say thank you to my team and everybody who is a part of this deal. I had a great time.”
Besides Smith’s spin, two cautions were called for massive wrecks that sent cars airbourne and involved the frontstretch pit wall. The first came just three laps into the race when Rajah Caruth clipped Alex Labbé and the latter was shot into said wall, causing his car to catch air. An even bigger accident occurred on lap 48 when a Santino Ferrucci spin precipitated into Jeb Burton making his case for X Games High Air gold by being sandwiched between a sideways Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and the pit wall, which sent him flipping onto his roof. All drivers were unharmed in their respective crashes, and a red flag waved for eight minutes and twenty-eight seconds for facilitate cleanup of the latter.
“I got really up close to Cole (Custer) just trying to understand—being part-time, it’s so hard to judge the air off the side of the cars,” commented Ferrucci. “I just made a mistake, man. I just got a little off the bottom and I got really close to him and the side force kind of went and I started to lose the rear. Our car actually hasn’t been loose all day. It’s just a shame for everybody else because there were a lot of cars caught up in that just because we were not spaced out yet.”
Sage Karam, who was Ferrucci’s team-mate for the Indianapolis 500 in May, finished twentieth in his return to Pocono. Saturday’s event was his first time competing at the track since the 2015 NTT IndyCar Series race, where he spun into the wall and debris from his car resulted in the death of fellow driver Justin Wilson. Days before the Xfinity race, he rode his bicycle around Pocono as his way of “[coming] to terms” with it.
“Mission accomplished,” Karam tweeted after the race. “Really happy with how today went. Happy to give @TeamAlphaPrime a top 20, thank you @CRCAuto for making this happen for me. Thanks to everyone who showed me support over the last few days. Was really cool to hear the cheers during driver intros today!”
Race results
| Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 9 | 9 | Noah Gragson | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 2 | 2 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 90 | Running |
| 3 | 7 | 8 | Josh Berry | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 4 | 4 | 16 | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 5 | 6 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 6 | 12 | 1 | Sam Mayer | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 7 | 1 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 8 | 8 | 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 9 | 13 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 10 | 16 | 07 | Cole Custer* | SS-Green Light Racing | Ford | 90 | Running |
| 11 | 21 | 10 | Landon Cassill | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 12 | 14 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 90 | Running |
| 13 | 26 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 14 | 28 | 31 | Myatt Snider | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 15 | 15 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 90 | Running |
| 16 | 24 | 23 | Anthony Alfredo | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 17 | 3 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 90 | Running |
| 18 | 17 | 02 | Brett Moffitt | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 19 | 25 | 34 | Kyle Weatherman | Jesse Iwuji Motorsports | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 20 | 27 | 45 | Sage Karam | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 21 | 33 | 78 | Josh Williams | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 22 | 20 | 38 | Kyle Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 90 | Running |
| 23 | 30 | 5 | Stefan Parsons* | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 24 | 29 | 91 | Mason Massey | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 90 | Running |
| 25 | 35 | 6 | Ryan Vargas | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 89 | Running |
| 26 | 23 | 4 | Bayley Currey | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 89 | Running |
| 27 | 34 | 08 | David Starr | SS-Green Light Racing | Ford | 89 | Running |
| 28 | 38 | 66 | J.J. Yeley | MBM Motorsports | Ford | 89 | Running |
| 29 | 36 | 35 | Patrick Emerling | Emerling-Gase Motorsports | Chevrolet | 89 | Running |
| 30 | 37 | 13 | Timmy Hill* | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | 89 | Running |
| 31 | 5 | 18 | Sammy Smith | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 53 | Accident |
| 32 | 18 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 48 | Accident |
| 33 | 19 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 46 | Accident |
| 34 | 10 | 48 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr.* | Big Machine Racing Team | Chevrolet | 45 | Accident |
| 35 | 11 | 26 | Santino Ferrucci | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 45 | Accident |
| 36 | 31 | 77 | Ronnie Bassett Jr. | Bassett Racing | Chevrolet | 45 | Accident |
| 37 | 22 | 36 | Alex Labbé | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 1 | Accident |
| 38 | 32 | 44 | Rajah Caruth* | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 1 | Accident |
| DNQ | 47 | Brennan Poole | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet |
* – Ineligible for points