RICHMOND, Va: A former winner at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Noah Gragson was considered one of the favorites for Friday night’s Call 811 Before You Dig 250 and knowing that the JR Motorsports driver would have to come from the rear of the field meant that the excitement likely ticked up a couple of notches.
Gragson was scheduled to start third but unapproved adjustments sent him to the rear of the 38-car starting field.
Patiently aggressive working his way through the field, Gragson had climbed to 20th before his Luke Lambert-led team brought him to pit road for fuel and tires at Lap 42.
Restarting inside the top-25, Gragson took advantage of the fresh rubber and a well-balanced race car to finish Stage 1 in a respectable 13th.
The Las Vegas, Nev. native opted to stay out at the end of Stage 1 which put the senior Xfinity Series driver in control of the race for the start of Stage 2.
He controlled the field for 22 laps while in hot pursuit by Ty Gibbs. Gragson made his trip again to pit road on Lap 117 and after pit stops cycled through, he claimed sixth at the end of Stage 2 earning crucial stage points and track position for the third and final stage.
Stage 3 would be caution-filled, but Gragson continued to slowly maneuver his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops | TrueTimber| Black Riffle Coffee Company Chevrolet and found himself second by Lap 191.
With the leaders ducking down pit road for which was likely their last stop of the night, he returned to the track in third and ready to make his move.
Maintaining pace with the leaders, Gragson saw the first attempt at NASCAR overtime on Lap 252 to pull off a sweet restart and capture back-to-back wins at the historic 0.526-mile oval.
At the start-finish line, the cars of AJ Allmendinger and Sam Mayer made contact which ultimately forced Mayer into Gragson and triggered a 20-car pileup on the frontstretch just before Turn 1.
Nearly a half-hour red flag for cleanup allowed the JR Motorsports team to come up with a repair plan and while on the lead lap, the 23-year-old old sat 21st for the second attempt at NASCAR overtime.
Over the final eight turns of the race, Gragson was able to climb back inside the top-20 and record his sixth top-20 of the 2022 Xfinity Series season.
“Things just didn’t go our way,” said Gragson. “We had a fast Bass Pro Shops | TrueTimber | Black Rifle Coffee Chevrolet, but we got turned on the restart there at the last and took some damage, then NASCAR called us to the pits to fix a roof flap.
“We had a good chance to win it or at least qualify for the Dash 4 Cash at Talladega, but it just wasn’t our night. This No. 9 team will regroup, and we’ll be ready when we get to Talladega in two weeks.”
With the Xfinity Series embracing their first off week of the season, Gragson sits third in the championship standings, 42 points behind leader Ty Gibbs.
Follow Grace Krenrich on Twitter @Grace3140.
