It’s not about leading the most laps, but leading the final lap. Chandler Smith knows this all too well. The NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie from Georgia led a dominant 118 laps out of 200. But he lost his lead as the white flag flew and Austin Hill went on to win the Alsco Uniforms 300 on Saturday evening (Mar. 4) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It was the fourth career Xfinity Series victory for Hill, who has now won two of the first three races to start the season.
Justin Allgaier passed Smith on the final lap and finished second. Smith was relegated to third. Pre-race betting favorite Kyle Busch finished fourth after leading just four laps. Josh Berry came home fifth to round out the top five.
The Winners
We have a Big Three on our hands. Through three races, the Big Three have yet to finish outside the top 10. Hill now has two victories and a sixth-place finish. Last race’s winner John Hunter Nemechek has a victory, a runner-up finish and a sixth. If NASCAR had a podium, Allgaier would be three for three with two bronze-medal finishes and now a silver.
Las Vegas native Riley Herbst finished eighth and ran a clean race, collecting points in both stages. Herbst scored a total of 39 points at his home track, the fifth most on the day. He also outran his teammate Cole Custer, though more on that later. Herbst has finishes of sixth, seventh and eighth so far this season.
Even though Smith was unable to finish the job, everyone knew he was there. His dominating run was far superior to his teammates, 2021 series champion Daniel Hemric and Busch. Not exactly a small deal to outrun those two. A message was sent on Saturday, the No. 16 car is going to compete for multiple wins once again this season. His Kaulig Racing team won the pole and almost turned the race into snoozer a la Jimmie Johnson in 2007. Smith admitted after the race that he used his stuff up too early, but that can be understood in just his sixth Xfinity Series start.
Sam Mayer collected some stage points, kept it clean, and scored a second consecutive top 10. In the most recent Frontstretch Friday Faceoff, one of the questions was, “who will be the next first-time winner in the Xfinity Series?” The answers varied between Smith, Mayer, Parker Kligerman and Sammy…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …