Buford earns career-best NXS finish at COTA

AUSTIN, TEXAS – Half of the top 10 finishers in Saturday’s Pit Boss 250 at Circuit of the Americas earned their best finish of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

Sam Mayer earned his best finish of 2021 — 5th — and earned his first career NXS stage win, in Stage 2. Mayer’s finish tops his 6th-place finish in the February race in Fontana.

Jade Buford tied his best career finish –8th at the Charlotte Roval in 2020 – and earned Big Machine Racing’s best finish Saturday. The team formed before 2021 as a partnership between Buford and Scott Borchetta.

Myatt Snider and Brett Moffitt finished between Mayer and Buford – in 6th and 7th respectively – and each earned their best finish of 2022.

Miguel Paludo finished 9th in his first start since Mid-Ohio in June 2021. Paludo also raced at the Daytona road course where he finished 7th – his best career NXS finish – last year.

Parker Kligerman finished 12th in his first NXS race since Road America in Aug. 2017. Kligerman earned Emerling-Gase Motorsports’ best finish of their debut season. He ran inside the top 10 at various points, including in Stage 1 where he finished 4th.

Patrick Gallagher recovered from several spins to earn a career-best 22nd-place finish. Gallagher has one other NXS start – in Aug. 2019 at Mid-Ohio.