On a Day Where We Remember, Gragson and MTJ win the Richmond Doubleheader

The NASCAR Xfinity Series has two races to go on the regular season as they make a stop at the short track in Richmond, Virginia for the GoBowling 250. Dale Earnhardt Jr is also making a yearly start in his own #8 Chevrolet, around the 20th anniversary of his infamous win at Dover after the 9/11 Attacks.

Austin Cindric and Harrison Burton led the field to the green flag as Cindric would take an early lead. The race had silent laps on laps 9 to 11 to pay remembrance to those we lost 20 years ago. The caution came out for a competition yellow and afterward, Cindric and Allmendinger battled for the lead, also battling for the regular-season championship. During the first stage, Tommy Joe Martins had worked his way into the top 5, looking for good stage points. With the fresher tires, Martins moved up to second and looked to get his first-ever stage win. With five to go, Martins took the lead but Allmendinger was fighting back, trying to get the stage win. Martins gave Allmendinger the bottom and it gave Martins the advantage. The 66 of David Starr held up Martins on the final lap and AJ Allmendinger edged out Martins for the stage win by inches. 

Daniel Hemric took the lead at the beginning of the stage, but to add salt to the wound, Tommy Joe Martins went spinning after making contact with the 90 of Spencer Boyd. Dale Jr worked his way up to 13th. By lap 103, Dale Jr worked his way into 10th place. With 20 laps left in stage two, Ty Gibbs was leading with AJ Allmendinger in second. In the closing few laps, the 74 of CJ McLaughlin was slow coming off of turn two, looking like he hit the wall, and as he attempted to get to pit road, there was nowhere for the 48 of Jade Buford to go as the 74 cuts down in front of Buford, turning McLaughlin. Late in the race, Justin Haley was charging with the freshest tires but it wasn’t enough to catch Noah Gragson, who will get back-to-back wins and high momentum heading into the final race of the regular season next week. Dale Earnhardt Jr would finish 14th after overcoming a pit road penalty.

Later in the evening, as part of a doubleheader, the NASCAR Cup Series made its trip for 400 laps around Richmond for the Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to the First Responders. Kyle Larson was going to be on the pole for the race, but failed pre-race inspection and had to go to the rear. Martin Truex Jr would lead the field to the green but then was busted for jumping the start and had to serve a penalty. After the competition yellow, Kurt Busch led the field but was being challenged by Denny Hamlin. Hamlin took the lead right after the restart.

On lap 41, Kurt Busch was side-by-side with Brad Keselowski when he got loose in turn one, spinning and slamming the wall on the driver side with a hard impact. A tire flew off of Kurt’s car and was ran over by Bubba Wallace. Busch was okay after the crash as Hamlin continued to lead. Hamlin would go on to win Stage One at Richmond. 

Hamlin and Chase Elliott led the field to the green flag to begin Stage Two. On lap 91, Elliott took the lead from Hamlin. Over the course of the second stage, Hamlin and Elliott were back and forth, battling for the lead. During green flag pit stops, Martin Truex Jr’s crew ended up recording the fastest pit stop of the season. Denny Hamlin would go on to win stage two, sweeping both stages of the race. Joe Gibbs Racing’s cars were coming to life in this one. 

On lap 250, Bubba Wallace went into the wall in turn two with a tire going down to bring out a caution. At one point with 146 laps to go, Joe Gibbs Racing ran 1-2-3-4. Then with 132 laps to go, Martin Truex Jr took the lead from Denny Hamlin and Truex did not look back. After many years of not winning on short tracks to his recent domination on them, MTJ would punch his ticket to the Round of 12 with the win at Richmond. His first win since Darlington back in May. Kyle Larson also locked himself into the next round via points.