As the laps wound down in Saturday’s race, Sheldon Creed held tight to the lead in looking for his first win of the 2022 season and a trip to the playoffs.
Kyle Larson briefly got around Gragson for second and raced side-by-side with Creed for the lead in the closing laps. The two made contact which sent Creed into the wall.
Gragson caught them both on the white flag lap and moved back to second. It looked like Creed may hang on for the win, but his tire finally let go from the previous. Moment later, however, Gragson hit the wall.
With both out of shape exiting Turn 4, Gragson ended up getting to the checkered flag 0.794 seconds ahead of Creed to claim the win.
The win is the fourth of the season for Gragson and the ninth of his career. It’s also his second win at Darlington Raceway.
“What a hell of a job by everyone on my team,” Gragson said. “Sheldon Creed was really fast. Kyle came on strong there at the end. I watched during the rain delay him running the top (lane) in (Turns) 1 and 2 and I went up there and I found something.
“Sheldon pinched me off and (Larson) got by me and I was thinking they were going to get into each other racing too hard. What a job by everyone at JR Motorsports. The Hendrick power was awesome today.
“I’m just so excited. We won this race here last year and today we put on one hell of a show for the fans.”
A.J. Allmendinger ended up third, Justin Allgaier fourth and Larson completed the top-five.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all pit with Austin Hill first off pit road.
On the restart on Lap 98, Hill was followed by Allgaier, Gragson and Brandon Jones.
Allgaier quickly moved into the lead on the restart only to see Creed power into the top spot to lead Lap 98.
With 30 laps remaining, Creed maintained about a 1-second lead over Gragson, as Allgaier ran third.
Jones, running ninth at the time, spun off Turn 4 on Lap 128 to bring out the fifth caution of the race.
All the lead-lap cars elected to pit with Creed first off pit road. On the restart on Lap 134, Creed was followed by Gragson, Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger.
With 10 laps to go, Creed remained out front with a small lead over Gragson but Larson had moved to third and was charging to the front.
Stage 2
Allgaier took the Stage 2 win under caution when J.J. Yeley’s car blew an engine with two laps remaining.
Gragson was second, Christopher Bell third, Jones fourth and Hill rounded out…
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