Chandler Smith gets second-straight Richmond win in eventful race
RICHMOND, Va. — When the chips were down, Chandler Smith rose up and won at Richmond Raceway, leading the final 60 laps on an eventful Saturday.
Smith claimed his second checkered flag of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. He led a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2-3 finish and a 1-2-3-4 finish for Toyota.
It was the second time in Xfinity Series history that Toyota has finished 1-2-3-4. The other time was at Dover in May 2012.
For Smith, it was his second-straight Xfinity Series win at Richmond. Including a Truck Series win in 2022, Smith now has three wins in six starts there.
“I won my first Xfinity race here last year – in the ToyotaCare 250 and here we again, with Mobil 1 Toyota GR Supra in Mobil 1 Victory Lane. I’m really excited about that – ready to get home and celebrate one of the biggest days in history tomorrow,” Smith said ahead of the Easter holiday.
While JGR went 1-2-3, their teammate Sheldon Creed finished 35th. Creed had a right-rear axle seal breaking, knocking him out of the race 132 laps shy of the finish line.
“It’s frustrating being out of the race while my teammates are still out there, leading laps,” Creed said, dejected.
Creed was the only JGR driver who didn’t earn stage points Saturday. The No. 18 JGR team now sits 14th, -16 to the cutline in the owner playoffs.
Teammate Chandler Smith led 76 laps total in the race, second only to Aric Almirola who led a race-high 95 laps and won stages one and two.
STAGE ONE TOP-10: Aric Almirola, Brennan Poole, Corey Heim, Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Chandler Smith, Cole Custer, Taylor Gray, Sammy Smith
Poole pitted for new tires during the lap 44 caution and drove from 31st to 2nd by lap 75 when stage one ended. He finished 28th in the race.
STAGE TWO TOP-10: Almirola, Mayer, C. Smith, Gray, Heim, Allgaier, Austin Hill, Parker Retzlaff, Custer, Logan Bearden
Bearden spun on lap 97 and put on new tires, boosting him to 10th by lap 150 when stage two ended. He finished 22nd in the race.
At this point in the race, Almirola had led 85 of the 86 laps preceding the end of stage two.
When stage three began, Almirola held the lead but only for three laps before Chandler Smith took it.
Smith held it for 16 laps before he and Almirola pitted for tires on lap 178 with these other lead-lap drivers:
Taylor Gray, Corey Heim, Jesse Love, Bubba Pollard, Parker Kligerman, Austin Hill, Sammy Smith
The gamble paid off as Chandler Smith drove from 13th to the lead within eight laps. Aric Almirola couldn’t catch up and had to settle for second with the other seven drivers in tow in the top-10.
TOP-10 FINISHERS: C. Smith, Almirola, Gray, Heim, Love, Pollard, Kligerman, Hill, S. Smith, Cole Custer
“At the end, just built a little bit too tight and that last run – for whatever reason – I don’t know if it was the set of tires or what. I let Chandler (Smith) go and then when I started to just creep back to him. I didn’t have anything to go with – I was too loose in, and I couldn’t get the throttle down on exit,” Almirola said.
Custer was the only driver who stayed out during the last caution and finished in the top-10. Put an asterisk next to that, though, as Custer had to pit for tires with 26 laps to go and drove through the field to get 10th.
“That was fun. It was a lot of fun trying to go back through the field when we took tires, so that was definitely the highlight of the day, I’ll say that because I was able to just blow by everybody,” Custer said.
THROUGH THE FIELD
Cole Custer passed Justin Allgaier for 10th. Allgaier led three times for 28 laps but ended up 11th.
Josh Williams finally pulled off a solid finish after a series of issues. He finished 12th, best among the Kaulig Racing cars.
“I’m really happy we had a calm, fast race today. There was a ton of traffic to deal with, and if the cards fell right, we might’ve had a top-five day. We needed this to get moving back in the right direction,” Williams said.
Teammates A.J. Allmendinger and Shane Van Gisbergen finished 14th and 15th, respectively.
Parker Retzlaff, who won the pole and led the first 27 laps, finished 16th. He was one of the drivers who got caught out on the tire strategy moves.
Matt DiBenedetto netted a quiet 18th-place finish in his return to NASCAR.
Sam Mayer’s “Year from Hell” continued after a break at COTA. During the caution for the final stage break, Taylor Gray swung wide exiting his pit stall and clipped Mayer’s left-front fender. Mayer rode out the tire rub and restarted up front before the tire rub got the best of him, blowing his left-front tire.
Mayer ended up 30th, two laps down after pitting. The stage points helped some, however, as he sits 20th in points, -34 to the cutline.
Hailie Deegan finished 31st, behind the wall just a handful of laps shy of the finish line. She lost power with around six laps to go while running 20th.
Joey Gase finished 34th after crashing out on lap 174. Gase wasn’t happy with Dawson Cram after Cram bumped him going into turn one, sending him hard into the outside wall rear-end-first.
In retaliation, Gase yanked the rear bumper cover off and threw it at Cram’s car while he was passing by under caution.
NASCAR will review that incident for possible penalties and talk to Gase this week.
Brandon Jones and Ryan Vargas rounded out the field in 37th and 38th. Jones was leaking fluid on lap 42 and wrecked with Ryan Sieg, who finished 32nd, 30 laps down. Vargas had a mechanical issue after completing 18 laps.
PLAYOFF PICTURE
- Chandler Smith: 2 wins
- Austin Hill: 2 wins
- Cole Custer: 224 points (+94 to playoff cutline)
- Jesse Love +68
- Riley Herbst: +64
- A.J. Allmendinger: +55
- Justin Allgaier: +51
- Parker Kligerman: +47
- Sammy Smith: +23
- Brandon Jones: +10
- Sheldon Creed: +7
- Anthony Alfredo: 131 points (+1)
- Shane van Gisbergen: 130 points (-1 point to the playoff cutline)
- Ryan Sieg: -3
- Parker Retzlaff: -4
- Brennan Poole: -21
- Jeremy Clements: -24
- Leland Honeyman: -29
- Sam Mayer: -34
- Kyle Weatherman: -45
- Ryan Ellis: -48
- Blaine Perkins: -52
- Jeb Burton: -67
- Josh Williams: -68
- Hailie Deegan: -74
- Kyle Sieg: -87
The NASCAR Xfinity Series’ next race is Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway. Chandler Smith, Aric Almirola, Jesse Love and Parker Kligerman will vie for $100,000 in Dash4Cash money.
Categories
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com