Chandler Smith Scores Second Straight Win at Richmond

Chandler Smith might be becoming a hot favorite for the Xfinity Series Championship as he led 76 laps, including the last 60 laps in Saturday’s ToyotaCare 250, on his way to a win over teammates Aric Almirola and Taylor Gray. This also adds to Smith having top-10 finished in all six races so far this season.

This makes it back-to-back wins for Smith and his third career win. His teammate, Aric Almirola,

“Never give up, never give up,” said Smith. “This car was not good. Stage 1 wasn’t good, but we were able to do some strategy there with this No. 81 Supra in Stage 2.”

“Back here winning races on a consistent basis and took over the points lead too, I’m just blessed,” he added.”

Almirola, who stepped away from full-time Cup racing after 2023, just came up short of a win but he will also have the opportunity for a win next week at Martinsville.

“We just got a little bit too loose,” Almirola said. “The run before that in Stage 2, when I took off my car was really, really good. At the end, it just felt a little tight and that last run for whatever reason, different set of tires or what, I let Chandler go, and when I started to just creep back to him, I didn’t have anything to go with.”

“I was too loose in and couldn’t get throttle down on exit. Hate that to win both stages and feel like we had the dominant car and then to let it slip away there at the end, is disappointing.”

Keeping on the topic of Joe Gibbs Racing, 19-year-old Tayor Gray impressed in his Xfinity Series debut with a third-place finish. Another driver who made their Xfinity Series debut was late model driver Bubba Pollard, who finished seventh driving for JR Motorsports.

“I’m happy with it,” Pollard said. “I enjoyed it and had fun and hopefully the fans enjoyed it too.”

Corey Heim and Jesse Love finished out the top five, while Parker Kligerman, Bubba Pollard, Austin Hill, Sammy Smith, and Cole Custer rounded out the top ten. Parker Retlzaff earned his first career pole and led a career-high 27 laps on his way to a 16th-place finish.

Smith, Almirola, Love, and Kligerman will contend for next week’s Dash 4 Cash race, and the highest finisher of the four Dash 4 Cash drivers in the race will collect an extra $100,000 bonus.

On Lap 173, Joey Gase was turned by Dawson Cram heading into turn one. This took Gase out of the race and after exiting his No. 35 machine, he tore off the entire rear fiberglass bumper of the car and threw it right at Cram’s windshield.

The Xfinity Series heads next to Martinsville Speedway for the DUDE Wipes 250 at 7:30 pm EST.