Gragson Onto Round of 8 with Record-Tying Texas Win

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images for NASCAR

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Noah Gragson Ties Xfinity Record with Fourth-Straight win at Texas, Onto Round of 8

FORT WORTH, Texas – On a sweltering Texas afternoon, the hottest team coming into the Xfinity Playoffs was triumphant again. After leading 85 laps, Noah Gragson is onto the Round of 8 with his postseason-opening win. This victory for the JR Motorsports 9 crew also tied an Xfinity Series record. Gragson’s seventh win of 2022 is also his fourth-straight trip to victory lane. This streak has not been seen since Sam Ard in 1983. Ard won his four-in-a-row en route to that year’s championship; can anyone stop Gragson from the same feat?

Despite Stage 1 being dominated by Noah Gragson and John Hunter Nemechek, neither took the green-and-white checkers. This honor went to Daniel Hemric, picking up his first Stage win since Daytona in February. The Kaulig No. 11 inherited the lead staying out under a late caution and didn’t look back.

Stage 2 saw much of the same with a very similar result. Once again, John Hunter Nemechek appeared as the class of the field, swapping the lead with Ty Gibbs. Under another late caution though, AJ Allmendinger would stay out to give Kaulig a Stage-sweeping day.

Texas would take a sudden turn for most of Kaulig Racing though. Early in the final Stage, a restart crash saw many cars taken out. Brandon Brown tried moving up ahead of AJ Allmendinger when he was not clear, triggering major carnage into turn three. Allmendinger, Landon Cassill, Ryan Sieg, and more were all caught up in this chain reaction pileup.

On the very next restart, chaos struck again at the front of the field. John Hunter Nemechek went three-wide through turns one and two, getting loose and taking out many behind him. Innocent bystanders collected here included Playoff contenders Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, and numerous more. Two back-to-back major accidents certainly thinned out the herd of race-winning cars, as Gragson merely had to maintain status quo track position from here on out.

Aside from a green flag pit cycle, Gragson held the lead from this point onward. Taking the checkered flag by a second over Austin Hill, driver 9 raced his way into very elite and historic company. Gragson and Sam Ard are the only two in Xfinity Series history to record four wins in a row. Also much like Harry Gant in the 1991 Cup Series, Gragson’s win streak came in September. With four-straight wins now, Gragson is the head and shoulders title favorite for the 2022 Xfinity Series.

“We just got a badass Bass Pro Shops team,” Gragson said of the win streak. “This No. 9 team, man they’re on fire. All you fans keep us motivated. You guys are awesome, I appreciate you and thanks for coming out! Just this team, the pit crew’s been awesome, our car was as fast as Xfinity Internet all day. Just so thankful for the opportunity, such a relief too. We lost this race back in 2020, and we just executed a great race today. Luke Lambert (crew chief) and the rest of the boys did a great job.”

“Just very grateful for everybody back at JR Motorsports. Everybody’s been working really hard, really solid effort today by all four teams. Sucks that the 7 got wrecked on that one restart, but we had some strong cars. We’re on fire as a team right now. Man I’m just driving my ass off but having fun doing it! It’s fun to do burnouts and go get waffles after. Let’s go baby!”

Behind Gragson and Hill at the finish were Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Riley Herbst, Josh Berry, Sheldon Creed, Sam Mayer, Ryan Sieg, and CJ McLaughlin.

Now locked into the Round of 8 thanks to his seventh win of 2022, Gragson has no worries for the next two weeks. Up next for the Xfinity Series is Talladega, the ultimate unknown that could make or break one driver’s season. Coverage of the Sparks 300 is Saturday at 4:00 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. For 11 teams, a Talladega win is a golden ticket to the Round of 8.

Written by Peter Stratta

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Photo Credit to Sean Gardner/Getty Images for NASCAR