Saturday Doubleheader at Watkins Glen, Austin Hill, Ty Gibbs are Big Winners

The NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series hosted a Saturday Doubleheader on the eve of the Cup Series race.

In the Truck Series race, there was havoc, rain, and a playoff field that needed to be set. This race was also the first Truck race held at Watkins Glen since 2000. The race opened up immediately with an incident in the first turn that collected John Hunter Nemechek and Ben Rhodes, meanwhile Austin Hill was on the pole and was able to pull away from the chaos. Nemechek would fight back to finish second and Rhodes would finish 15th. Austin Hill led early on but stage one turned into a battle between Todd Gilliland and Sheldon Creed, as Gilliland went on to take stage one.

Hill took the lead back to begin Stage two and didn’t look back. At one point, he broke out to about a three-second lead, then managed to reclaim it after late green-flag pit stops. Hill held off John Hunter Nemechek for the stage win, AJ Allmendinger was third, Zane Smith fourth, and Sheldon Creed fifth. On lap 54, AJ Allmendinger got into Derek Kraus, spinning him toward a barrier and hurting his chances of claiming a playoff spot.

With 11 laps to go, the race was red-flagged due to lightning around the track area. The weather did not improve enough and with an Xfinity that still needed to be run, the race was finally called, giving Austin Hill his second win of the 2021 season. His other win came at Knoxville in a crash-filled race.

“I’ve been trying to win on a road course for a very long time, even back in the K&N (Pro Series) days. I always felt I got around the road courses fairly decent,” Hill said. “Finally, we had a race that does everything that we needed to do.”

Truck Series at Watkins Glen Top 10:

1. Austin Hill
2. John Hunter Nemechek
3. Sheldon Creed
4. Todd Gilliland
5. Parker Kligerman
6. Zane Smith
7. Tyler Ankrum
8. Paul Menard
9. Sam Mayer
10. Carson Hocevar

With the conclusion of the race, the 2021 Camping World Truck Series Playoffs field was set. Here are the following drivers:

John Hunter Nemechek (Regular Season Champion)

Austin Hill

Ben Rhodes

Todd Gilliland

Sheldon Creed (Defending Champion)

Zane Smith

Matt Crafton

Carson Hocevar

Chandler Smith

Stewart Friesen

Chandler Smith was disqualified from his 18th place finish during post-race inspection for not meeting the height requirement. However, it did not affect his spot in the playoffs.

Onward to the NASCAR Xfinity Series race that was able to take place once the weather was cleared, as Justin Allgaier led the field to the green flag. Austin Cindric, who was a heavy favorite coming in, won stage one and AJ Allmendinger won stage two.

Ty Gibbs went on to lead 43 of the 82, en route to his third career Xfinity Series win, all three coming this season. His other two wins came at the Daytona Road Course and Charlotte (Oval). Gibbs won the race by passing a road course specialist, AJ Allmendinger, with two laps to go. This came after Gibbs lost the lead to Austin Cindric with around 12 laps to go. The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Toyota Supra has now won the last eight of ten races with Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, and Ty Gibbs.

“I ran him wide in Turn one to take the lead,” Cindric said of Gibbs. “He ran me wide in Turn six to take the lead. It’s hard racing. He deserved to win.”

“I did everything I could,” Allmendinger said. “Tried to fight him off, but he was just a little too good and so was that car. That’s all we can do. We can bust our ass and work hard and come back better the next time.”

The Xfinity Series heads next to Indianapolis on August 14th at 4 pm EST. Six races remain before the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

Xfinity Series Watkins Glen Top 10:

1. Ty Gibbs
2. AJ Allmendinger
3. Austin Cindric
4. Justin Allgaier
5. Harrison Burton
6. Jeb Burton
7. Justin Haley
8. Brandon Jones
9. Noah Gragson
10. Jeremy Clements