Gragson wins 300 at Homestead, clinching second spot in Xfinity Series Championship Four

As the sun set on Homestead-Miami Speedway during the Xfinity Series Contender Boats 300, it cast shadows on the track.

Shade enveloped the drivers, but Noah Gragson’s performance shone bright Saturday night. He led for 127 laps en route to a huge win, zooming in under the black-and-white checkered flag in first place at Homestead for the first time in his career.

By winning the Contender Boats 300, Gragson clinched a spot in the Xfinity Series’ Championship Four for the second straight year. He joins Josh Berry, who qualified after winning Alsco Uniforms 302 in Las Vegas last weekend.

“Tonight, it’s not about locking into the Championship Four,” Gragson said after the race. “It’s about all the hardship that we’ve had here at Homestead. …Coming into the weekend, I really wanted to win this one more than any other race in my entire career.”

“Just kicked their ass baby,” he said on Victory Lane. “Let’s go!”

Heading into the weekend, there were eight playoff drivers contending to win the 300, and thus advance to the Championship Four in Phoenix next month. Ty Gibbs finished second to Gragson to remain in third place in the points race, while AJ Allmendinger’s third-place finish vaulted him above the cut line to fourth place with one race remaining to determine the championship field.

As for the rest of the championship hopefuls, Justin Allgaier finished 10th to fall to fifth in the playoff standings, Austin Hill is in sixth after a ninth-place finish on Saturday, 19-year-old Sam Mayer is in seventh after finishing fifth and Brandon Jones is in eighth after a 15th-place finish on Saturday.

Rounding out the top-10 finishers on Saturday were Daniel Hemric (fourth), Trevor Bayne (sixth), Chandler Smith (seventh), and Riley Herbst (eighth).

With five laps to go, Gragson, Allmendinger and Hemric (Allmendinger’s teammate) took up the top three spots. Gibbs quickly passed Hemric for the third slot with Mayer rounding out the top five. Gibbs surpassed Allmendinger right before the final lap. And Gragson held onto the lead, finishing over half a second ahead of the next driver.

“We’ve been executing as a championship team, and I just hope after the season ends that people remember this season as, ‘The No. 9 team was the dominant team,’” he said when asked if he felt any pressure to win the championship after such a successful season.

Gragson’s team decided to take a pit stop in the final stage while running in the top five. He reentered the field and quickly found himself back in the top spot. Hill stopped later in the stage while sitting in second because he felt a vibration, falling significantly far behind his previous No. 2 standing as a result.

Gragson, Gibbs, Berry and Hill made pit stops with less than 10 laps in the race during a caution to change their tires (with Hill having to reuse a set) and set up a five-lap sprint for the win. Gragson won the race off pit road and kept his lead from before the caution intact the rest of the way.

Stefan Parsons slid on a straightaway toward the end of the final stage, causing the late caution. This benefited Bayne, who received a pass.

JR Motorsports had four drivers in the Contender Boats between Gragson, Mayer, Berry and Allgaier – the first time any organization has had that kind of representation in the Final Eight, according to the USA broadcast.

After being eliminated from playoff contention in the Round of 12, Bayne won the pole position for Saturday’s race – his final of the year and possibly last ever, he said during qualifying, due to uncertainty surrounding the future of his sponsorship situation. He finished sixth after he was dealt a penalty for speeding on pit road in the final stage.

Noah Gragson started in the No. 2 position. Before Saturday, Gragson recorded three top-five finishes in four races at Homestead-Miami and led the most laps at Homestead among Xfinity series drivers without a win. His best finish came in 2020 when he clocked in at third. Gragson also won four straight races at the end of the summer, with the final in that streak coming in the 300 at Texas Motor Speedway in September.

“I don’t really think anything owes you anything in racing, but this is the one I want to win at the most,” Gragson said during qualifying when asked if he was due for a first-place finish at Homestead after all his success on the track.

Gibbs made his Homestead debut starting the Contender Boats in the No. 3 position. Jones started in No. 5, Mayer (also making his Homestead debut) in No. 6, Hill in No. 10, regular season champion Allmendinger in No. 13 and Allgaier in No. 20.

When asked about the importance of experience on a track like this one, Bayne said it was “huge.”

“Knowing how to run the top well is a game-changer,” he said during qualifying. “You can take a fifth-place car and win with it if you know how to enter [the turns] on the top. A lot of guys feel like they’re running the top and they leave a couple feet. That couple feet makes all the difference in the world for speed.”

Nicholas Sanchez, a Miami native, ran his first race at Homestead starting at the No. 11 position in the Contender Boats. During qualifying, he told NBC Sports that even though he’s not in the playoff field, he “selfishly, I want to run up front and contend for the win.” He finished 25th in the 38-man field after running into the wall and incurring right tire damage (the front one caught fire) with under 15 laps to go.