Finally. Daniel Hemric Wins a Race and the Championship

The NASCAR Xfinity Series came to Phoenix Raceway to crown a champion for the 2021 season. It comes down to Austin Cindric, Daniel Hemric, AJ Allmendinger, and Noah Gragson. John Hunter Nemechek took an early lead but Austin Cindric remained close to him. Cindric took the lead on lap 21, but Nemechek tried to take advantage of lapped traffic. Cindric kept the lead for now. At the end of stage 1, Daniel Hemric worked to chase down Nemechek as Austin Cindric went to win Stage One. 

At the beginning of stage 2, Daniel Hemric won the battle off of pit road and took off with the lead at the restart. Austin Cindric settled into second place while Gragson, Allgaier, and Nemechek are behind. Jeffrey Earnhardt would wreck to bring out a caution. Hemric and Allgaier led the field to the restart on lap 66 and Cindric didn’t get going right away. John Hunter Nemechek took the lead a couple laps later while Hemric was still second. Hemric and Cindric battled on lap 79 for the championship lead, both were battling for second while Nemechek lead. Cindric had a shot but Hemric hung on. With four laps left in stage two, Hemric took the lead from Nemechek and would go on to win the stage. 

Daniel Hemric was the first one off pit road to start stage three and restarted next to John Hunter Nemechek. AJ Allmendinger made big moves at the restart and made it up behind Cindric, who was behind Hemric. The caution then came out for a big wreck involving Joe Graf Jr. The next restart came at lap 106 with Hemric vs Nemechek, but another caution came a lap later. Matt Mills had massive contact with the wall after contact from Sage Karam, who also made contact with Joe Graf in the previous caution. The final pit window opened and Noah Gragson was the only one of the leaders to pit. On the next restart and after battling side by side for a few laps, Austin Cindric took the lead. The next caution came on lap 125 when Stefan Parsons’ car broke down. After the restart, Jade Buford went spinning to bring out the caution again. The restart was reviewed and Justin Allgaier was sent to the back due to a restart violation for being below the yellow line before the line. With 50 to go, Nemechek got around Hemric for second as Cindric was upfront. AJ Allmendinger was coming down with a vibration and went spinning with under 20 laps to go to bring out a caution. 

Noah Gragson took fuel only and ended up behind Cindric and Hemric. Cindric restarted on the outside and Hemric restarted on the inside with 13 to go. Cindric, Hemric, and Gragson battled hard until Jeb Burton got into Sheldon Creed and went spinning to bring out yet another caution. Cindric and Hemric led the field back to the green with eight laps to go. Hemric had a strong restart but Cindric had the advantage on the outside. Noah Gragson slammed the wall in turn 3 with seven to go but the caution would come out again involving Josh Williams and Jade Buford. This led to overtime with Cindric, Hemric, Nemechek, and Burton in the top four. In the final two laps, it was Austin Cindric vs Daniel Hemric, and coming to the checkered flag, Hemric got to Cindric’s side and doored him. Both cars made contact as they crossed the line. Daniel Hemric finally won and with that claimed the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship.