Noah Gragson‘s 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is off to a blazing start. After finishing third in the first race followed by a pair of seconds, he dominated Saturday’s United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway by leading 114 of 200 laps to win his sixth career race.
Gragson qualified second next to Trevor Bayne, who would be his biggest challenge as he dominated the first stage. The lone incident of the segment came on lap 23 when Riley Herbst spun and hit the turn three wall. At stage’s end, Gragson, Brandon Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, Ty Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, Landon Cassill, A.J. Allmendinger, Josh Berry, and Sam Mayer followed Bayne.
“That was probably one of the hardest hits I have taken,” commented Herbst. While certainly a disappointing day for him, the Herbst family saw more luck in nearby Nevada as his uncle Tim finished second overall in the Mint 400. “I thought we had a pretty good Monster Energy Ford Mustang. I went into (turn) three and hit the brake and it hooked a hard right and went to the floor. I don’t know what happened.”
Issues on pit road like a poor stop and speeding penalty dropped Bayne back, and Stage #2 instead saw Gragson battle with Bayne’s Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Jones for the lead. Mayer, a colleague of Gragson at JR Motorsports, and JGR’s Gibbs clashed on lap 56 as Berry made contact with Gibbs and sent him into a spin, though the field avoided his sideways car. It was the lone caution of the day as the final thirty laps in the stage ran green, during which Gragson fought with Jones before clearing him on lap 70 and leading the rest of the way. Allgaier, Jones, Bayne, Mayer, Nemechek, Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric, Cassill, and Mayer rounded out the top ten.
The final stage was completely green. Although Nemechek had the early advantage, Gragson took the lead on lap 113 and never looked back, only surrendering the position during green-flag stops at the 170-lap marker. With fifteen laps to go, Gragson got by Jones and drove away to the win.
“I thought when we came out of the pits there and were out ahead of [Noah], it was going to be pretty good because aero situations were pretty tough today and it seemed like whoever was leading the race was kind of difficult to pass,” commented Jones. “Noah was leading before we all pitted. We were a little bit faster, so I think they just made some adjustments and got it better.”
Gragson joins Kevin Harvick in 2005 as the only drivers in Xfinity Series history to record top-three finishes in each of the first four races of a season.
Two drivers in the field made their Xfinity débuts: Nick Sanchez finished twenty-sixth, while Parker Retzlaff qualified sixth but a fuel pump issue relegated him to thirty-sixth.
Race results
| Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 2 | 9 | Noah Gragson | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
| 2 | 5 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 200 | Running |
| 3 | 8 | 8 | Josh Berry | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
| 4 | 1 | 18 | Trevor Bayne | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 200 | Running |
| 5 | 11 | 26 | John Hunter Nemechek* | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 200 | Running |
| 6 | 3 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 200 | Running |
| 7 | 17 | 16 | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
| 8 | 15 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
| 9 | 22 | 10 | Landon Cassill | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
| 10 | 24 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
| 11 | 4 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 199 | Running |
| 12 | 16 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
| 13 | 26 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
| 14 | 9 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
| 15 | 18 | 02 | Brett Moffitt | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
| 16 | 35 | 44 | Ryan Ellis | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
| 17 | 12 | 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
| 18 | 14 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
| 19 | 23 | 36 | Alex Labbé | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
| 20 | 13 | 4 | Bayley Currey | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
| 21 | 19 | 99 | Stefan Parsons | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 198 | Running |
| 22 | 7 | 1 | Sam Mayer | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 198 | Running |
| 23 | 31 | 91 | Mason Massey | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 198 | Running |
| 24 | 25 | 31 | Myatt Snider | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 198 | Running |
| 25 | 32 | 66 | J.J. Yeley | MBM Motorsports | Ford | 198 | Running |
| 26 | 28 | 5 | Nick Sanchez | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 198 | Running |
| 27 | 36 | 07 | Joe Graf Jr. | SS-Green Light Racing | Ford | 197 | Running |
| 28 | 33 | 48 | Jade Buford | Big Machine Racing Team | Chevrolet | 197 | Running |
| 29 | 38 | 6 | Ryan Vargas | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 197 | Running |
| 30 | 10 | 92 | Kyle Weatherman | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 197 | Running |
| 31 | 29 | 08 | David Starr | SS-Green Light Racing | Ford | 196 | Running |
| 32 | 20 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 196 | Running |
| 33 | 27 | 45 | Kaz Grala* | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 196 | Running |
| 34 | 34 | 35 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Emerlling-Gase Motorsports | Toyota | 196 | Running |
| 35 | 30 | 78 | Josh Williams | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 178 | Ignition |
| 36 | 6 | 38 | Parker Retzlaff | RSS Racing | Ford | 158 | Fuel Pump |
| 37 | 37 | 23 | Anthony Alfredo | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 147 | Running |
| 38 | 21 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 20 | Accident |
| DNQ | 34 | Jesse Little | Jesse Iwuji Motorsports | Chevrolet | |||
| DNQ | 33 | Loris Hezemans | Reaume Brothers Racing | Toyota | |||
| DNQ | 13 | Stan Mullis | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | |||
| DNQ | 47 | Brennan Poole | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet |
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points