BRISTOL, Tenn: Bristol Motor Speedway delivered another exciting night of racing for the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Sheet metal was bent, tempers flared and for the second day in a row, the finish ended in controversial.
But behind Noah Gragson’s second Xfinity Series victory of the season, several drivers through a battle of attrition and strategy delivered surprising but strong finishes in Monday night’s Cheddar’s 300.
For the second consecutive week, Myatt Snider delivered back-to-back top-10 in his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. After finishing 10th last weekend at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, the Charlotte, N.C. native earned his first career top-five finish in just his sixth series start.
In the five races, he has run for RCR this season, Snider has shown speed in his No. 21 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet Camaro, but for a variety of reasons, Snider has been unable to back up his performances with strong finishes.
That metric is changing though. A trouble-free race delivered a result that Snider knew he could be capable of if all the stars aligned.
“Man, that was awesome,” said Snider. “I can’t thank my crew chief, Andy Street, and all the guys on my Richard Childress Racing team enough for preparing such a lighting fast TaxSlayer Chevrolet. My spotter, Derek Kneeland, did a great job helping us keep our nose clean and avoiding all those wrecks throughout the night. Thankfully, we really didn’t have to adjust much on our TaxSlayer Chevrolet.”
While other cars inside the top-10 brought their cars to pit road after the checkered flag battered and bruised, Snider had one of the cleanest cars on the lead lap.
“For me, it was just about not over-driving the car and getting into a rhythm. I’m very thankful for the progress we’ve made as a team over these last few races. To bring home a top-five finish for TaxSlayer and all our partners at a place like Bristol Motor Speedway is special for sure.”
Brandon Brown has been no stranger to delivering solid results in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, but a year with experience under his belt and confidence in his equipment has elevated the No. 68 Brandonbilt Motorsports team to the next level – performance-wise.
Brown, a native of Woodbridge, Va. matched his season-best finish of seventh aboard his No. 68 Mid Atlantic Wrecker Service Chevrolet, while capturing his third top-10 of the 2020 season.
Brown battled adversity and handling throughout the Cheddar’s 300, but when a late-race caution materialized, the opportunity to make final adjustments paid off with the 26-year-old passing cars and holding off Jeremy Clements for his best Bristol finish.
“Another top 10 is just with the team needed,” said Brown. “Gotta keep fighting to get those points they were at we really want to fight to be there at the end of the year really proud of the effort of this team to stay in at all race to come back and really make a run at the top 10.”
Brown was another driver who earned back-to-back top-10 finishes with an eighth-place run last weekend at Charlotte, said he knew if he were patient, he could earn a good finish and prepare for an even stronger effort when he returns to Thunder Valley in the fall.
“The whole focus of the race was stay patient stay clean get everything we can out of it learn from it for the next time that we come here. I’m super proud of everybody here at Brandonbilt Motorsports and look forward to Atlanta.”
Behind Brown, Jeremy Clements earned his second top-10 finish of the season and first since Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway in February with a season-high eighth-place performance.
Not only was Clements plagued by a tight-handling condition all night, he also battled back from a flat tire near the end of Stage 2 and battled clutch issues later in the race. Despite the setbacks, a timely caution and a little bit of luck paid off for the family-owned team, allowing Clements to not only stay on the lead lap but earn his 21st-career Xfinity top-10.
“Eventful night for our Allsouthelectric.com Chevrolet Camaro,” said Clements. “Starting deep in the field starting 29th, we had our work cut out for us.
“We were just way too tight all night. I couldn’t ever get it how I needed it. We had a flat right-front towards the end of stage 2 and the clutch went out so thankful none of that took us out of the race and we could get our second top 10 of the year.
“It’s been a rough year, so we just need to keep doing this and get back up in points.”
With his finish, Clements jumped three spots in the championship standings from 22nd to 19th.
Josh Williams has impressed many so far in 2020 and with a methodical race approach, he earned his second top-10 finish of the season with a season-high ninth-place run for DGM Racing.
After starting mid-pack, Williams used patience and his cautiously aggressive driving style to make moves when they counted most to put his No. 92 Frog Fuel Chevrolet inside the top-10 in the winding laps.
In NASCAR overtime, Williams was able to fend off Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger for his first top-10 since finishing 10th at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway in February.
“I am super proud of everyone at DGM for giving me a fast race car tonight we took an eight-year-old turner car and put it inside the top 10,” offered Williams, a native of Port Charlotte, Fla.
“(A) big thank you to Frog Fuel, Sleep Well and Verve for being a part of this weekend. Our No. 92 car was as fast as Xfinity internet tonight looking forward to Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday.”
Other notable finishes at Bristol Monday night included Vinnie Miller’s 12th-place lead lap finish for B.J. McLeod Motorsports, his best effort since finishing 11th at Daytona International Speedway last July. It was also the 22-year-old’s third top-15 finish of 2020.
Also, Joe Graf Jr. earned a career-best 13th place finish for SS GreenLight Racing and racked in his third straight top-20 finish. His previous best was a 14th-place at Richmond (Va.) Raceway last fall for Richard Childress Racing.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
