Noah Gragson to contend for Xfinity title after Contender Boats 300 win

JR Motorsports has now filled two of four spots in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Round (and can go for the clean sweep depending on Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer‘s runs at Martinsville). After Josh Berry began the Round of 8 at Las Vegas by punching his ticket to the final round, Noah Gragson joined in by dominating at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He led 127 of 200 laps and swept the stages en route to his first win at the Florida 1.5-miler.

Gragson has been the class of the field in 2022, with his Homestead victory marking his eighth of the season; no other driver has more than five. The eight wins are the most by a JRM driver in a single season, with the second most being Allgaier’s five in 2018. He had come close to winning at Homestead in the past but came up short, most infamously being caught up in a crash with a lapped car while leading late in 2021.

“I wanted this one so bad the last three years,” said Gragson.

Trevor Bayne won the pole but fell back in the final stage to finish sixth. His Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Ty Gibbs tried to chase down Gragson in the final stage but finished over half a second back.

“I feel like we were just battling all day,” Gibbs commented. “I gave it my all here. This place is pretty tough. I feel like we were battling the car a little bit, which makes it harder.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	2	9	Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
2	3	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	200	Running
3	13	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
4	4	11	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
5	6	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
6	1	18	Trevor Bayne^	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	200	Running
7	9	26	Chandler Smith*	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	200	Running
8	15	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	200	Running
9	10	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
10	20	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
11	12	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
12	16	10	Landon Cassill	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
13	23	4	Bayley Currey	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
14	24	6	Brennan Poole*	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
15	5	19	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	199	Running
16	29	02	Parker Retzlaff	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	199	Running
17	7	2	Sheldon Creed	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	199	Running
18	35	23	Anthony Alfredo	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	199	Running
19	21	27	Jeb Burton	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	199	Running
20	8	34	Kyle Weatherman	Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	Chevrolet	198	Running
21	31	08	David Starr	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	198	Running
22	19	31	Myatt Snider	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	198	Running
23	30	35	Patrick Emerling	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Toyota	198	Running
24	17	07	Joe Graf Jr.	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	198	Running
25	11	48	Nick Sanchez	Big Machine Racing Team	Chevrolet	198	Running
26	26	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	197	Running
27	34	68	Kris Wright*	Brandonbilt Motorsports	Chevrolet	196	Running
28	37	44	Julia Landauer	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	196	Running
29	22	13	Timmy Hill*	MBM Motorsports	Ford	195	Running
30	32	36	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	195	Running
31	38	38	C.J. McLaughlin	RSS Racing	Ford	195	Running
32	36	5	Matt Mills*	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	195	Running
33	25	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	190	Running
34	18	45	Stefan Parsons*	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	189	Accident
35	33	28	Kyle Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	183	Accident
36	27	78	B.J. McLeod	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	115	Electrical
37	28	91	Mason Massey	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	62	Engine
38	14	66	J.J. Yeley	MBM Motorsports	Ford	3	Accident
DNQ		92	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet
DNQ		77	Dillon Bassett	Bassett Racing	Chevrolet

Bold – Currently in playoffs
^ – Competing in owner playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points