After a three-hour rain delay and going into the third overtime, Austin Hill and AJ Olmendinger look set to fight for victory in Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race.
But before the last restart, Allmendinger was struggling with fuel pressure issues and Austin Hill couldn’t proceed with the restart due to electrical issues.
Clements was up front by Allmendinger in the restart and took the white flag like a warning to the sinking ship in turn 3. The warning froze the field and ended the game, giving Clements the win and the 2022 playoffs.
The win was the second of Clement’s career. His first victory came in 2017 at the US road race.
“I’m speechless, man,” Clements said. “I don’t even know what to say. This is incredible, man. I just can’t. Sorry. I’m a little speechless.
“We survived that big accident. – Like ‘Day of Thunder’, I think if we can keep up with these guys, it’s going to be a good day. The top five combined with the car – it was a good day.
“Wow – this is incredible. Thank you all for sticking around. I know it’s late. Time for a beer!”
Timmy Hill won No. 1 Second place, Allmendinger third, Brandon Brown fourth and Sage Karam rounding out the top five.
The race had 10 warnings in 41 of 118 laps. The race ran 18 laps over the scheduled distance due to overtime.
Stage 3
After the break between Stage 2 and Stage 3, all leading cars pit with Noah Gragson , which is the first pit stop.
At the restart on lap 65, Gragson took the lead, followed by Riley Herbst, Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer.
With 30 laps left, Gragson was narrowly ahead of Ty Gibbs and Allgaier moved to third.
Herbst’s fifth warning for the race was blown out of the left rear tire and slipped off track 3 on a turn while running fourth.
Few cars chose to make a pit stop. The race was back on the green on lap 77, with Gragson still in the lead, followed by Gibbs, Allgaier and John Hunter Nemechek.
On lap 83, Nemechek, Joe Graf Jr. and Sheldon Creed broke out in the back lane after Nemechek was split from Turn 2 by Brown. This sparked the sixth warning for the game.
The race returned to green on lap 88, with Gragson still in the lead, followed by Allgaier and Allmendinger.
With a few laps left in 10, Gragson was fending off a tough challenge from Allmendinger as Allgaier ran into third.
On lap 92, Allgaier entered the Allmendinger and put him into turn 1, which also collected Mayer, Josh Berry, Karam and Ryan Seager.
Back on the green with four laps left, Gregson still leads, followed by Daniel Hemrick, Brown, Ryan Seeger and Ricky Jr. Stenhouse.
Hemric passed Gragson on the restart to take the lead for the first time in the race.
Just after Austin Hill was pushed back into the lead by Anthony Alfredo, a multi-car accident broke out early on lap 98, with the race in a cautious state and going into overtime .
Hemric, Jeb Burton, Alfredo, Brandon Jones, Allgaier and Landon Cassill were involved in the accident.
Going into overtime, Austin Hill led the way, followed by Gregson, Gibbs, Brown and Ryan Seager.
Herbst charged Brown in the rear to trigger another multi-car wreck to put the race back into a cautious state and sent it into the second 2 laps of overtime.
Austin Hill still leads at the restart, followed by Gragson, Allmendinger, Timmy Hill and Clements.
Gragson was swerved off Turn 2 by the Allmendinger, which triggered another serious crash that sent the race into its third overtime.
Austin Hill still leads at restart, followed by Allmendinger, Clements, Timmy Hill and Karam.
Allmendinger due to fuel pressure before restart The problem was briefly behind, but came back to life when Austin Hill ran into electrical issues and couldn’t keep restarting.
Stage 2
Gragson prevents Alfredo from winning Stage 2 as Creed spins on his back extension.
Herbst finished third, Meyer fourth and Berry in the top five.
After the break between Stage 1 and Stage 2, most of the leading cars pitted, but Berry did not participate and inherited the lead.
Austin Hill and Caesar Bacarella collided with each other during the pitstop, causing significant damage to both sides. Stenhouse was penalized for speeding in the pit lane and had to restart from the back of the field.
Race restarted on lap 35 with Berry leading, Jeb Burton and Brown close behind.
Brown took the lead around Berry on lap 36 and Alfredo moved into second.
Alfredo shines inside Brown and takes the lead on lap 37
Allgaier is pushed into the lead by Ryan Sieg on lap 41.
With 15 laps left in the stage, Allgaier maintained a narrow advantage and Creed passed Alfredo in third.
Alfredo regained the lead on lap 50, with a shove from Gregson as Algel dropped to second. On lap 52, Algel ran to the inside of Alfredo to regain the lead.
Using the outside lane, Alfredo took the lead before returning to Algeria on lap 54.
Gragson jumped to the inside of Alfredo on lap 56 to regain the lead.
Stage 1
Gibbs blocks Austin Hill’s late charge for Stage 1 victory, his fourth stage of the 2022 season victory.
Creed was third, Allmendinger was fourth and Berry was in the top five.
Allmendinger started from pole and took the lead for the first four laps until Gregson took the lead on lap 5 with a back extension.
With 15 laps left in the stage, Gregson held a slight lead over his teammate Berry, while Mayer ran in third.
On lap 15, Sammy Smith caused the first warning when he hit the inside wall after a loose turn at Turn 4.
Several cars, including Gragson, chose to pit, but when the race returned to the green on lap 2, Berry was still on the track and in the lead 0.
Herbst quickly took the lead on the restart but saw Gibbs round him on lap 21.
NASCAR was forced to show a warning on lap 22 of debris on the track in the bottom groove of Turn 2. It appears to be from the car after Kyle Sieg’s tire punctured.
A handful of cars pitted, including Berry, and the race continued on lap 25 with Gibbs still in command.
Herbst overtook Gibbs at the restart to regain the lead. Gibbs took the lead around Herbst on lap 26.
Both Hemric and Haley had to start from the back row after their team made unapproved adjustments to their cars before the race.
