Gibbs edges out Nemechek in a thriller at Richmond

The NASCAR Xfinity Series made their next stop for their first short-track race of the season at Richmond International Raceway. Ty Gibbs started from the pole with John Hunter Nemechek, who was in the No. 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing, alongside him. This is how the race would end too.

For Gibbs and Nemechek, they also split both of the stages with Nemechek taking stage one and Ty Gibbs taking stage two. Both drivers would combine to lead all but 1 lap in the 250-lap event. In the closing laps, Ty Gibbs was all over the back bumper of John Hunter Nemechek, which ended up in Gibbs bumping him out of the way on the final lap, as they were side by side in turns three and four, to score his third win on the season already. The race went green in the final 100 laps, as Sam Mayer won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash, as he was the highest finishing driver of the four participants. Mayer finished third, which is a career-best for the 18-year old.

“I definitely deserve one back but we’re racing for wins and they are hard to come by so you have to take it,” Gibbs said in his post-race interview.

“We’re short-track racing,” he added during the interview. “Got our third win so I want to keep it going. What a great car. I deserve one back for sure but we’re racing for wins and I’ve got to do what I can to win.”

As for John Hunter Nemechek, he didn’t seem too pleased with what Ty Gibbs did at the end.

“Him and I will settle it one day,” Nemechek said, following Gibbs’ interview. “I don’t want to say too much and get myself in trouble. Just got drove through. He didn’t even try and make the corner there.

“But racers never forget, that’s for sure.”

While Ty Gibbs led 114 laps to collect his seventh career Xfinity Series victory, one driver to be given the spotlight is 18-year old Parker Retzlaff, making his second Xfinity Series start and earning a top 10 finish in the No. 38 Ford for Ryan Seig’s team.

“I passed a lot of cars, we got a penalty on pit road so I had to go back to last,” Retzlaff said in his interview, “I just followed Noah (Gragson) and Josh (Berry) up through the field and it ended up just working out for me.”

Retzlaff came from an iRacing background, similar to drivers like William Byron in the Cup Series. He competes Full-Time in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series for RFK Racing.

“I feel like it’s a lot cooler just being on TV and everything and being able to compete this good and hopefully we can take our momentum next week,” He added when asked about comparing virtual racing to the real thing.

Retzlaff will race again next weekend at Martinsville. He made his first start at Phoenix, qualifying an impressive sixth place, but would finish 36th due to an issue with the fuel pump.

Noah Gragson came into the weekend leading the points standings and was a contender for the Dash 4 Cash, but was hit with braking issues all race long and ended up finishing a lap down in 21st. AJ Allmendinger took the points lead after the checkered flag fell at Richmond, with a 20 point lead over Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson.