NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers went into Saturday’s (Sept. 10) Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway expecting a full 200-lap race. Instead, the race was suspended by heavy rain and called after 93 laps with Noah Gragson out front, scoring the victory.
Gragson arguably stole the victory for the second straight Xfinity race. Ty Gibbs was the dominant one at Kansas, but instead, he wound up with a third-place finish.
With the race official after the conclusion of stage two (lap 90), NASCAR quickly called the race over as the rain was not expected to let up before the ARCA Menards Series race scheduled later that evening.
While Gragson celebrated the 10th win of his Xfinity career, Gibbs was untouchable for the first 70 laps until a string of cautions shuffled him out of the lead.
Gibbs started the day with a front row starting spot, and he first took the lead from polesitter and teammate Brandon Jones on lap 4. It was smooth sailing from there for Gibbs, as he cruised to a stage one win and led 66 of the first 70 laps. During this time, Gragson clawed his way up to second after starting the race in eighth.
With Gibbs pacing Gragson at the beginning of stage two, there was a strategy shakeup in the front of the field after Jeremy Clements crashed and brought out the caution on lap 70. With 20 laps to go in the stage, there was a split decision on pit road as Gibbs, Gragson and other frontrunners pitted for tires while Brett Moffitt, playoff contender Ryan Sieg and new leader Austin Hill stayed out.
With a restart on lap 73, Gibbs started in the second row of the outside while Gragson started in the third row of the inside. That proved to be the deciding factor of the race, as Gragson quickly picked his way through traffic while Gibbs was stuck behind a slower Moffitt on the outside. By the time the dust had settled, it was Gragson out front with his JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier in second; Gibbs now had to chase them down from third.
With a two-second deficit to Gragson, it would be a tall order for Gibbs to track him down with 10 laps to go in the stage. However, Gibbs received a glimmer of hope after a questionable call by NASCAR to put the caution out for rain on lap 81.
However, it was not raining. Rain was anticipated in the upcoming laps, but caution was put out before the rain arrived. Race control did the same thing in the Xfinity race at Darlington Raceway last weekend, as the caution was out for a good five laps before the rain…
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