Race Results | Xfinity Series Points
Race 9 of 33: Hooters 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway
Track Specs: 1.5-mile oval / 167 laps
Weather: Partly cloudy; 86 degrees
Race Winner: Harrison Burton
Gragson's Finish: 3rd
Dale Jr.'s Finish: 5th
Annett's Finish: 6th
Allgaier's Finish: 32nd
Noah Gragson
Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 9 PUBG Mobile Chevrolet, finished third in Saturday evening’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Hooters 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Gragson started from the second position after a random draw and scored stage points throughout the first two stages, including a Stage Two victory. A late-race yellow erased Gragson’s 11-second lead over second place and proved costly as the No. 9 Camaro dropped two positions on the restart to finish the 250-mile race in the third position. This top-five finish marks Gragson’s sixth of the year as he led a career-high 83 laps.
Stage One Finish: 3rd
Gragson fired off from the second position for the 167-lap event and drove to the lead on the opening lap. As the competition caution flew on lap 20, Gragson complained that the splitter was hitting the ground while he tried running the high-side of the 1.5-mile oval. Restarting from the lead on lap 25, Gragson dropped to the third position and remained there until the next caution on lap 37, which ended Stage One. The result earned Gragson eight stage points to start the day.
Stage Two Finish: 1st
The No. 9 PUBG Mobile Camaro came to pit road following the stage-break for four tires, fuel and a trackbar adjustment to loosen the car up for this run. When the race went back green, Gragson restarted from the lead but quickly fell to third as the No. 9 Camaro did not fire off as quickly as others. The third caution of the event flew on lap 57 and caught Gragson in the fourth position. Reporting the car had no rear grip, Gragson was able to take the PUBG Camaro to the lead on Lap 72 and didn’t look back for the remainder of the stage. This stage win marks Gragson’s fourth stage win of the year and added an additional 10 stage points and one coveted playoff point to his resume.
Final Stage: 3rd
During the final stage-break, Gragson came into the pits for four tires, fuel and no adjustments to the No. 9 PUBG Mobile Camaro as the team was happy with how the car handled late in the run. Gragson drove too deep into his stall and had to put the No. 9 Camaro in reverse before work was to be done and dropped him three spots before the opening of the final stage. Sliding back two additional spots on the restart, Gragson was able to find his groove and set his eyes forward, needing only 28 laps before charging back into the lead position. Then, when green flag stops began, Gragson brought the PUBG Camaro to pit road on lap 123 as the race leader. The stops cycled out and Gragson remained the leader as he was able to drive to an 11-second lead over JR Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.
A late-race yellow flew on lap 160 as Gragson sat in the race lead. Pitting for four tires, fuel and a minor trackbar adjustment, Gragson restarted from the lead with a green-white-checkered finish brewing. Gragson drove deep into turn one to secure his lead, but floated up the track allowing the second and third place cars to dive underneath the No. 9 Camaro. As the white flag flew, Gragson sat in the third position and tried one final move on the high-side of the track, but ended up taking the checkered flag in third.
Noah Gragson, driver No. 9 PUBG Mobile Camaro SS
“Man this one hurts. The guys gave me a great PUBG Mobile Camaro and made the right adjustments all day long to put us in contention to win. Although we didn’t win, I had so much fun racing around here and I think one lap I had my right rear quarter panel against the wall the entire way around this place. I can’t thank everyone enough that puts their heart into this car and I can’t wait to get out here tomorrow to battle for the win and the Dash 4 Cash prize from Xfinity.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 8 Hellmann’s Chevrolet, earned a fifth-place finish in his return to NASCAR Xfinity Series competition on Saturday afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The top-five result is the 70th of Earnhardt Jr.’s NXS career and his third-consecutive dating back to Richmond Raceway in September of 2018.
Stage One Finish: 7th
Earnhardt Jr. took the green flag for his first NXS start since Darlington in 2019 from the 12th position after the starting lineup was set via a blind draw earlier in the week. Once underway, the driver of the Hellmann’s Chevrolet quickly marched forward, racing into the top 10 on the opening lap and up to the seventh position by the time the competition caution was displayed on lap 20. Opting to stay out during this caution, Earnhardt. Jr again pressed onward, joining the top five for the first time on lap 26 before reporting to crew chief Taylor Moyer that the Hellmann’s Chevrolet had developed a tight-handling condition through the center of the corner. This handling condition ultimately shuffled Earnhardt Jr. back to the seventh position in the closing laps of the opening stage. Despite the handling woes, the stage-ending result earned the No. 8 team four valuable points.
Stage Two Finish: 4th
While under the stage-ending caution, Moyer called the two-time NXS Champion to pit road for four tires and a chassis adjustment in the hopes of improving the handling through the corner. A fast stop by the Hellmann’s crew moved Earnhardt Jr. into the top five and up to the fourth position for the beginning of Stage Two on lap 45. The Kannapolis, N.C. native continued to battle inside the top five throughout the second stage, fighting with JR Motorsports teammate Noah Gragson for third before settling into the fourth position by the time Stage Two came to a close on lap 80. With the stage result, Earnhardt Jr. earned the No. 8 team an additional seven stage points.
Final Stage:
Prior to the beginning of the third and final stage, Moyer again made the call for Earnhardt Jr. to come to pit road for four tires and another round of adjustments. The Hellmann’s crew again turned another quick pit stop, moving Earnhardt Jr. up three positions and into the race lead for the lap 87 restart. Earnhardt Jr. would hold on to the lead for four laps before sliding back to the fourth position after reporting that he was still fighting the tight-handling condition through the center of the corner.
Undeterred by the handling condition, Earnhardt Jr. again climbed the leaderboard, taking advantage of a long green-flag run to race back up to the second position. The driver of the Hellmann’s Chevrolet would maintain his track position until the time came to return to pit road for the lone round of green flag pit stops on lap 121. Earnhardt Jr. returned to the track following the stop just outside of the top 10, but quickly cycled up the leaderboard and into the second position as the final race leader came to pit road on lap 138. Earnhardt Jr. remained in second behind teammate Gragson until the final caution flag of the afternoon was displayed on lap 160.
Moyer decided to take this opportunity to bring the Hellmann’s Chevrolet back to pit road for their last set of fresh tires, sending Earnhardt Jr. back out for the ensuing restart in the third position. Lining up second on the inside line for the restart, Earnhardt Jr. battled three-wide for position inside the top five, fighting hard with teammate Michael Annett and Anthony Alfredo, before ultimately taking the checkered flag in the fifth position.
The result is Earnhardt Jr.’s 70th career top-five finish in 142 starts in the NXS.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver No. 8 Hellmann’s Chevrolet team
“That was a lot of fun. This is an elite form of motorsports and it’s not easy to get out there and compete with these guys. They’re all so good and race so hard, but it was a lot of fun. I hate we got that late yellow at the end of the race because it took our cars a couple corners to really fire off and go. We had some good speed with our Hellmann’s Chevrolet today.”
Michael Annett
Michael Annett and the No. 1 Allstate Parts and Service Chevrolet team took the green flag with two laps remaining with a chance to win the Hooters 250 for NASCAR Xfinity Series machines at Homestead-Miami Speedway, earning a hard-fought sixth-place result when the checkered flag waved. It was the Iowa driver’s best career finish on the 1.5-mile oval and the third top-10 result in the past four races there for Annett. It also boosted him three spots in the NXS point standings to 10th.
Stage One Finish: 19th
Taking off 17th in the lineup on the initial green, Annett picked up two quick positions to run 14th and spent the remaining 18 laps right there until the competition caution waved at lap 20. Over that initial run, Annett told crew chief Travis Mack that his No. 1 Camaro was very tight at points in the corner and back to the gas. Mack kept Annett on the track rather than pit, and the handling did not improve over the remaining laps until the end of Stage One. Annett dropped to 20th position with 10 laps remaining in the stage but was able to grab one before it ended, leaving him 19th when the green-checkered flag waved. On his pit stop, Annett got four tires with air pressures adjusted, fuel and a chassis adjustment to help the numb feeling in the front end. His pit crew gained several spots on the exchange and Annett emerged 14th for the 40-lap Stage Two.
Stage Two Finish: 12th
Once again, Annett moved forward at the green flag, vaulting from 14th to 11th in just two laps before stabilizing to run the majority of Stage Two in the top 14. He was 12th at lap 58 when the caution came out, telling Mack that he needed more front turn in the middle of the corners. The car was still tight, and Annett asked for the same adjustment again on his next stop, which would take place at the end of the stage. Over the final 18 laps, Annett experimented with various lines and ended up passing Jeremy Clements for 12th on lap 75, five laps from the end. On pit road, Mack ordered up four tires and fuel, along with track-bar and air-pressure adjustments to help solve his driver’s handling. The pit crew gained another spot on the stop as well, to put him 10th for the start of the final stage.
Final Stage:
Taking the green flag from 10th position, Annett again gained a spot to ninth on the initial break, only to lose it to JRM teammate Justin Allgaier the next time around. He stayed there until lap 96, when he passed Anthony Alfredo for ninth position. From there, Annett put his head down and clocked off laps in the top 10, getting Allgaier back on lap 111 for eighth. Eight laps later, Annett tracked down Justin Haley for seventh, and he was sixth on lap 122 when Mack called him down for a pit stop.
Adding four more tires and fuel to the end plus another chassis adjustment, Annett returned to the trach in 16th position, falling to a lap down in 23rd before the rest of the field cycled through. At lap 124, he was back on the lead lap and in 12th place, ready to charge to the front. Three laps later, Annett was eighth, running top-three lap times and tracking down Brandon Jones. Lap after lap, Annett gained on Jones and the off-sequence Chase Briscoe, finally taking seventh with 27 laps left in the 167-lap event. Briscoe pitted with 17 laps to go, moving Annett to sixth in the order, the last car on the lead lap. He stayed there, gaining time, until seven laps remained in the event. At that point, the caution flag waved for Ryan Sieg’s spin. With the opportunity to pit one last time, Annett came down for four tires, fuel, some tape and a final chassis adjustment to help him fire off. When the green flag waved for the final time, Annett was fifth, thanks to a speeding penalty on Jones, with just two laps remaining. Over the two circuits, Annett ran as high as fourth before bringing it home in sixth place.
Harrison Burton won the race in a shootout over Austin Cindric and JRM’s Noah Gragson. Alfredo was fourth and JRM’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top five. Annett headed the second five, with Briscoe, Jones, Ross Chastain and Riley Herbst the top 10.
Michael Annett, driver No. 1 Allstate Parts and Service Chevrolet team
“That was a good long run we had there in the final stage. My Allstate Parts and Service Chevrolet was very tight in all the wrong places at the start, but Travis and the guys worked it out and we were able to earn a great finish today. We needed that in the points, and we’ll get to do it again tomorrow. I got to race the boss (Earnhardt Jr.) at the end, and that was pretty cool.”
Justin Allgaier
Bad luck struck Justin Allgaier, driver of the Thank You Team BRANDT Camaro, in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In the final stage, the 34-year-old driver had a tire go down, causing Allgaier to make contact with the wall. After pitting for fresh tires, Allgaier reported he had no brakes and was forced to go to the garage for repairs. Quick work by the No. 7 team allowed him to get back out on the track to salvage a 32nd-place finish. With the result, Allgaier now sits sixth in the NXS point standings.
Stage One Finish: 15th
Starting the race in the 11th position, Allgaier raced his way inside the top 10 and reported early that the BRANDT Camaro was loose in, tight center, and free off, especially in Turns 3 and 4. He was running in eighth when the competition caution came out on lap 20 and the team opted to stay out on the track. With teams on varying pit strategies, several cars toward the back of the field came in for tires and those proved valuable as the stage went on. Allgaier battled hard, but fell to 15th before Stage One came to an end.
Under the stage-ending caution, the No. 7 team called Allgaier to pit road for four tires, fuel and an adjustment to try to improve the handling of the BRANDT Camaro
Stage Two Finish: 10th
Taking the green flag for Stage Two in 11th on lap 46, Allgaier pressed forward into the eighth position. He relayed to crew chief Jason Burdett that the BRANDT Chevy’s handling hadn’t improved and the team took advantage of an opportune caution on lap 58 to bring Allgaier to pit road for an adjustments-only stop. He restarted deep in the field on lap 63 and managed to work his way up to 10th before the green-and-white checkered flag waved to end Stage Two.
At the conclusion of the stage, Allgaier radioed that the BRANDT Camaro was too tight that run, so the team made another adjustment along with fresh tires and fuel when the JRM driver came to pit road.
Final Stage:
Allgaier lined up for the ensuing restart in eighth on lap 88 and it didn’t take him long to report an even tighter handling BRANDT Chevy. He continued fighting through the tough-handling condition, but reported a tire going down on lap 114 and that he made contact with the wall, damaging the No. 7 Chevy. He came to pit road for tires and after going back out on the track, relayed to Burdett that he had no brakes. The team directed Allgaier to go to the garage and they made quick repairs to the BRANDT Chevy. Allgaier made his way back out on the track 21 laps down, ultimately ending the race in the 32nd position.
Justin Allgaier, driver No. 7 Thank You Team BRANDT Chevrolet
“I don’t know what it is about this place, but we have terrible luck here. We fought handling issues all day long and this BRANDT team worked hard on adjustments, but then we had that tire go down and it kept going downhill from there. Hopefully we’ll have better luck tomorrow and come home with a solid finish.”