It was an eventful Saturday for Ty Gibbs. He led the final ten laps of the NASCAR Xfinity Series‘ Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway to win for the fourth time in the series, before taking the green flag in the evening’s ARCA Menards Series event to win the championship.
Daniel Hemric started on the pole and led the first ten laps before Austin Cindric took the spot. He led through the competition caution and a lap 28 wreck involving Jade Buford and Dylan Lupton. A.J. Allmendinger took the stage win ahead of Hemric, Cindric, Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, Myatt Snider, Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones, Justin Haley, and Michael Annett.
The second stage ran completely green. Cindric dominated the segment to win ahead of Gibbs, Hemric, Gragson, Snider, Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Allgaier, Sam Mayer, and Haley.
Cindric continued to lead to kick off the final stage, only briefly surrendering to Snider after a wreck on lap 96 in which Hemric spun into Gragson. Joe Graf Jr.‘s single-car spin on lap 103 brought out another caution, as did Mason Massey on lap 135. Two more yellow flags waved for debris from Graf’s car and Jones spinning.
At the front, Cindric and Gibbs sparred for the lead. On lap 178, Burton got loose while running three-wide with Mayer and Gragson, causing him to be accidentally turned by the former being coming up into the latter and slamming into the wall.
Although Cindric still led on the restart, Gibbs passed him on lap 190 and led the rest of the way. It is his fourth win in just his seventeen career Xfinity start, while the Joe Gibbs Racing #54 has now won back-to-back races with non-Xfinity drivers. As a consequence of the latter, no playoff driver is locked into the Championship Round with just one race remaining.
“We had to be really patient with the way the track was and we were on the top so a lot of dirty air,” said Gibbs. “We had to make sure that we could just get (Cindric) a little loose with air and then side draft him and pull away. I felt like that was the best way to pass him. It was hard because he could run the bottom and then just be completely stalled out. This is just awesome.”
Later in the day, he finished second in the ARCA season finale behind Nick Sanchez, though all he needed to clinch the championship was to start the race as Corey Heim was too far back in points. Gibbs is expected to move to a full-time Xfinity slate in 2022, making him the first driver to parlay an ARCA title into a full Xfinity ride since Allgaier in 2009 (most ARCA champs usually move up to the Camping World Truck Series).
Race results
Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Status |
1 | 10 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 200 | Running |
2 | 2 | 22 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Ford | 200 | Running |
3 | 5 | 16 | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
4 | 6 | 11 | Justin Haley | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
5 | 14 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 200 | Running |
6 | 16 | 02 | Brett Moffitt | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
7 | 8 | 1 | Michael Annett | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
8 | 12 | 8 | Sam Mayer | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
9 | 3 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
10 | 15 | 2 | Myatt Snider | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
11 | 9 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 200 | Running |
12 | 11 | 10 | Jeb Burton | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
13 | 13 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 200 | Running |
14 | 23 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
15 | 1 | 18 | Daniel Hemric | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 200 | Running |
16 | 22 | 15 | Bayley Currey* | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
17 | 19 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
18 | 39 | 17 | Garrett Smithley | SS-Green Light Racing | Toyota | 200 | Running |
19 | 38 | 4 | Landon Cassill | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
20 | 27 | 31 | Jordan Anderson* | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
21 | 25 | 47 | Kyle Weatherman | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
22 | 20 | 6 | Ryan Vargas | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | Running |
23 | 17 | 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | Martins Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
24 | 34 | 23 | Patrick Emerling | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
25 | 31 | 99 | Matt Mills | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | Running |
26 | 18 | 92 | Josh Williams | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 198 | Running |
27 | 28 | 26 | Dylan Lupton | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 198 | Running |
28 | 24 | 0 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 198 | Running |
29 | 30 | 07 | Joe Graf Jr. | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet | 198 | Running |
30 | 29 | 78 | Jesse Little | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 197 | Running |
31 | 32 | 90 | Spencer Boyd* | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 196 | Running |
32 | 36 | 61 | Loris Hezemans | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | 192 | Running |
33 | 21 | 36 | Alex Labbé | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 191 | Running |
34 | 7 | 20 | Harrison Burton | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 178 | Accident |
35 | 4 | 9 | Noah Gragson | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 178 | Accident |
36 | 33 | 66 | David Starr | MBM Motorsports | Ford | 152 | Running |
37 | 26 | 5 | Mason Massey | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Toyota | 133 | Accident |
38 | 35 | 48 | Jade Buford | Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet | 28 | Accident |
39 | 40 | 74 | Gray Gaulding | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet | 13 | Engine |
40 | 37 | 52 | Joey Gase | Jimmy Means Racing | Chevrolet | 2 | Electrical |
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points