RICHMOND, VA.: A dramatic finish to last weekend’s race at Circuit of the Americas sets the stage for an exciting NASCAR Xfinity Series short track debut with Saturday’s ToyotaCare 250 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the 0.75-mile Richmond Raceway.
The current Xfinity Series driver standings leader Noah Gragson – who holds a slim 1-point edge over A.J. Allmendinger – is the defending race winner; taking the trophy at the series only 2021 visit last September.
Gragson’s No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet held off Allmendinger’s Kaulig Racing teammate Justin Haley by a mere .381-second in that race. It bodes well for the 23-year-old Las Vegas native Gragson, who is enjoying the best ever season start with five top-five finishes – including a win at Phoenix in the opening six races.
Allmendinger, the only driver to have earned top-10 finishes in all six races this season, finished 18th but led 39 laps at Richmond last year. The driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet is looking for his first top-10 at the track in what will be his third Xfinity Series start.
This season’s only multi-time winner, 19-year-old Ty Gibbs finished seventh in 2021 at Richmond – his only start. The driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is 31 points behind Gragson in the standings. Two of his three top-10 finishes are victories, but he has led only 14 laps on the year.
Veteran Justin Allgaier is the winningest Richmond racer among the fulltime Xfinity Series drivers. He has two victories, sweeping the 2020 races. It is one of his best tracks with 11 top-10 finishes in 21 starts. The driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet has twice led at least 100 laps (2017 and 2020) and has top-five finishes in his last five Richmond starts.
Allgaier is ranked fourth, 68 points behind Gragson in the title chase, but is coming off back-to-back rough finishes. He was 34th at Atlanta and 33rd last weekend at COTA.
The 2021 Xfinity Series champion Daniel Hemric could also use a good showing this weekend. The driver of the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet has finished 25th or worse in the last three races and hasn’t led a lap since his third place Las Vegas finish four races ago.
The popular Dash 4 Cash incentive program, sponsored by series sponsor Xfinity, makes its 2022 debut this weekend. The four eligible drivers at Richmond are last week’s winner Allmendinger, Gragson, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill and Gragson’s teammate Sam Mayer. The top-finishing driver among the four will win an extra $100,000 cash reward. And the top four Xfinity Series regulars from the Richmond race will be eligible for the big check next week at Martinsville, Va.
Should a JR Motorsports driver win this weekend, it would tie Richard Childress Racing with four consecutive team wins at Richmond.
“Last year we had a really strong Bass Pro Shops Camaro at Richmond, so that gives this team a lot of confidence as we had into this weekend and having another chance to win a Dash 4 Cash race,” Gragson said. “I can’t thank Xfinity enough for allowing us drivers to run for the $100k and hopefully we are walking out of Richmond with another large check but also with a trophy.”
Source: Holly Cain / NASCAR Wire Service
