Cindric Strikes Back, Wins at Pocono

The NASCAR Xfinity Series takes its turn at the tricky triangle of Pocono Raceway for the Pocono Green 225. Kyle Busch comes off of winning his 100^th career Xfinity race at Nashville, but the driver piloting the #54 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing will be the young phenom, Ty Gibbs, who already picked up two wins in his part time schedule. This will also mark the Xfinity debut for another young prospect, Sam Mayer, who just turned 18 and will be racing the #8 Chevrolet for Jr Motorsports. Austin Cindric leads the playoff standings with three wins, going into this race. The stages will be 20-20-50 for a total of 90 laps.

Before the race, David Starr in the #66 had power issues and was never able to take the green flag. Harrison Burton started out on the pole with Justin Allgaier starting next to him as the green flag waved on the 225-mile race. Burton cleared Allgaier to lead the opening laps. First caution comes out on lap 11 when the #92 of Josh Williams got into the #26 of Santino Ferrucci, losing control and smacked the wall in turn one. Williams with heavy damage. With the extra fluid clean up, we had a quick dash to the end of stage 1 with Harrison Burton leading Justin Allgaier and his teammate Daniel Hemric at the restart on lap 18. Hemric gave Burton the push, but Allgaier had a great exit off of turn one to stay side by side. Burton pulled away on the top line in turn two. Harrison Burton held off his teammate, Daniel Hemric, to score the stage win.

Stage 1 Results:

1. Harrison Burton
2. Daniel Hemric
3. Justin Allgaier
4. Austin Cindric
5. AJ Allmendinger
6. Ty Gibbs
7. Noah Gragson
8. Jeb Burton
9. Just Haley
10. Josh Berry

Some pit strategy was played out as Justin Allgaier decided to stay out while most leaders went to pit. He and Myatt Snider led the field into the turn one to start stage two. Then a huge wreck occurred on the restart when Justin Haley made contact with Sam Mayer, then went spinning and slammed into the inside wall. He then got hit by another vehicle, which was the #6 of Ryan Vargas. Haley was able to get out but had to lay down. He got back up after a few minutes and was taken to the infield care center. Haley was ok as he got the wind knocked out of him. This would bring out the red flag and pause the race on lap 26. The race continued on lap 29 with Allgaier and Snider out in front. Hemric and Harrison Burton quickly work their way back to 2^nd and 3^rd behind Allgaier. Coming to lap 33, with eight laps left in stage two, Daniel Hemric took the lead from Allgaier looking for his 2^nd stage win on 2021. Lap 35, Harrison Burton lost control of his #20 DEX Imaging Toyota trying to take 2^nd away from Allgaier. Burton goes spinning and ends up in the turn one wall.  During pit stops, Austin Cindric edged out Daniel Hemric, who was hit with a too fast entering penalty as more tough luck continues for Hemric, who is also chasing his first Xfinity win. Once again another quick dash to the finish for stage two as Ty Gibbs led the field with Noah Gragson 2^nd. Gibbs pulled away with Gragson, Brandon Jones and Myatt Snider right behind him. Justin Allgaier had a bit of contact from Blaine Perkins in the #23 as he finished 10^th in the stage. Ty Gibbs wins stage two at Pocono.

Stage 2 Results:

1. Ty Gibbs
2. Noah Gragson
3. Brandon Jones
4. Myatt Snider
5. Riley Herbst
6. Austin Cindric
7. Jeb Burton
8. AJ Allmendinger
9. Josh Berry
10. Justin Allgaier

For Gibbs and Gragson, the plan is to run the first five to eight laps after the restart to make the pit window and pit under green to have enough fuel to the end. The race resumes on lap 45 with 46 laps remaining in the race. Austin Cindric charged to 2^nd past Gragson as he battled to win the race. Ty Gibbs ended up slowing up and lost tons of momentum shortly after, giving Cindric the lead. Then the caution comes out with Riley Herbst wrecking, who badly needed a good race today to keep him in the hunt for the playoffs. The race continued on lap 50 as Austin Cindric continued to lead with Ty Gibbs in 2^nd. Allgaier came down pit road with 35 to go to start the final round of pit stops. As Daniel Hemric went to pit after staying out for a long period of time, he ended up with yet another speeding penalty on pit road. Austin Cindric now had the lead with 15 laps to go and Ty Gibbs three seconds back in 2^nd place. Cindric lost some ground from lapped traffic, allowing Ty Gibbs to close the gap on the final lap. Gibbs worked hard but Austin Cindric held him off to collect his 4^th win of the Xfinity Series season. Jeremy Clements has the final spot in the playoffs after the race, 50 points to the good from Brandon Brown, who is the first out.