Charlotte Motor Speedway

With a masterpiece of strategy and modicum of good fortune, Chase Elliott won Saturday’s BetMGM 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season.

Saving a set of new tries for the final run in the 200-lap event at the 1.5-mile track, Elliott grabbed the lead after a Lap 183 restart and held it the rest of the way.

Driving a No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a paint scheme reminiscent of the signature look of the late Ricky Hendrick’s car, Elliott crossed the finish line 0.500 ahead of Brandon Jones, who recovered from early brake problems to finish second after pressing Elliott in the closing laps.

The victory was Elliott’s first at Charlotte and the sixth of his career. Jones finished ahead of two of his JR Motorsports teammates, Sammy Smith and Sam Mayer, in third and fourth, respectively.

Elliott started 30thafter a lackluster qualifying effort. After Riley Herbst crashed hard on the backstretch to cause the first of eight cautions, Elliott, Jesse Love, Anthony Alfredo and Kyle Sieg stayed on the track on old tires, saving a set of stickers for later in the race.

That call by crew chief Greg Ives proved to be the winning move. Though Elliott pitted on Lap 48 and fell to 26thin the running order for a restart on Lap 53, he regained the lost track position on new tires and was a factor near the front the rest of the way. An opportune caution on Lap 169 gave Elliott the chance to make full use of his final set of new tires.

“Greg made a good call, and I think ultimately that’s what won us the race,” Elliott said. “I felt like I needed a little bit with my balance to make as much pace as the 7 (Justin Allgaier) and a couple of those guys.

“Hats off to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Super special to win with the 17 on the car for the boss (Rick Hendrick) and (wife) Linda. It’s a great honor here with the Ricky Hendrick scheme. It means a lot to all of us to be a part of this whenever it runs.”

One by one, other contenders for the win fell by the wayside. Justin Allgaier won the first two stages in perhaps the fastest car in the race, but he sped on pit road during the Stage 2 break.

Allgaier’s race came to an end when he and pole winner Ty Gibbs crashed off Turn 4 after a restart on Lap 176. Reigning series champion Cole Custer and current Xfinity Series leader Austin Hill wrecked on the backstretch on Lap 184 after door-to-door contact a half-lap earlier.

A slow pit stop on Lap 170 cost Kyle Busch track position and relegated him to a sixth-place result behind fifth-place finisher AJ Allmendinger, who made a late-race charge on one-lap scuffed tires.

That left Jones to put the pressure on Elliott at the end, but the race ended before Jones could get closer than a half-second back.

“Talk about an up-and-down day and coming back from it,” said Jones, who had to replace brake fluid in his No. 9 Chevrolet during a long pit stop on Lap 76. “That was really fun to come from the back to the front, I think three or four times there.”

Ryan Sieg, Josh Williams, Gibbs and Noah Gragson completed the top 10. New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen was 15thin his first run on a 1.5-mile intermediate speedway.

Saving fuel throughout a 66-lap green-flag run to the finish, Justin Allgaier collected his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season—and the first this year for JR Motorsports—in Monday’s twice-rain-delayed Alsco Uniforms 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Allgaier, the pole winner, beat runner-up John Hunter Nemechek to the finish line by 7.829 seconds, as the top three finishers—including third-place Cole Custer—stretched their fuel mileage from a Lap 135 restart to the end of the race.

Austin Hill and Ty Gibbs, both of whom pitted for fuel in the closing stages, claimed the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

“I’m speechless, man,” said Allgaier, who led a race-high 83 laps. “I didn’t know how much to save. Just lucky we had enough… I just cannot say enough about (crew chief) Jim Pohlman, everybody on the No. 7 team.

“It’s not been for lack of speed this year. We’ve battled. Tonight, was kind of the opposite. We had to go slow to go fast.”

Nemechek led 57 laps, but Allgaier build a substantial lead at the end while conserving enough fuel to finish the race—and to do a celebratory burnout.

“We were racing each other pretty hard, and I burned my stuff up trying to get to him—and get around him,” Nemechek said. “I should have been a little more patient, I guess. But overall, really solid day. Good points day for us. I think that extends our points lead.”

In fact, Nemechek collected his fifth top-two finish of the season (with wins at Fontana and Martinsville) and holds a 10-point lead over Hill in the series standings.

But Allgaier and Nemechek might not have been left to battle for the win, had a radio issue not adversely affected Gibbs’ winning chances.

The driver of the No. 19 Toyota, who won last year’s Xfinity championship before graduating to the NASCAR Cup Series, led 52 laps and swept the first two stages of the race. But an extended pit stop, during which Gibbs’ crew changed his steering wheel (which housed a faulty radio button) dropped him to the rear of the field for a restart on Lap 98. That ended Gibbs’ challenge for the win.

Parker Retzlaff ran sixth, followed by Jeb Burton, Carson Hocevar, Jeb Burton and Sammy Smith.

The race was delayed from Saturday by rain and restarted on Monday morning. But rain intervened again after the completion of the first stage, delaying the finish until after the running of the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Cup Series race, won by Ryan Blaney.

When Josh Berry crossed the finish line at Charlotte Motor Speedway—giving JR Motorsports its first NASCAR Xfinity Series win at its home track—second-place Ty Gibbs was just reaching the 200-foot-long Speedway TV screen television on the backstretch.

After JRM teammate Justin Allgaier scraped the outside wall for the second time and had to pit during the final 81-lap green-flag run, Berry won Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 300 by an astonishing 18.039 seconds over Gibbs.

But the race wasn’t that lopsided before Allgaier had to bring his No. 7 Chevrolet to pit road on Lap 186 of 200. 

True, Berry and Allgaier were racing in a different zip code from the rest of the field, but their battle was intense until Allgaier nicked the wall on Lap 178 and hit the Turn 2 barrier even harder eight laps later. 

With Allgaier out of the picture, Berry enjoyed a pleasure cruise for the remaining 14 laps and finished three-quarters of a mile ahead of Gibbs. 

“Man, it’s so amazing,” Berry said. “This car was so good. (Crew chief) Mike (Bumgarner) and this whole group works so hard. We’ve been getting better every week. I think the sky is the limit as we continue to learn about each other and keep getting better.

“That was a battle with Justin. It always is with us. We always seem to run good at the same places and always have to race each other. He slipped up in (Turn) 1—and I got loose, too, and it all worked out.”

In fact, JR Motorsports, co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., enjoyed another banner day from green flag to checkered flag. Sam Mayer started from the pole position and finished third. Berry won the first stage and Allgaier the second, giving JRM its 10th consecutive stage victory—extending the series record established last week at Kansas Speedway.

Five drivers led laps on Saturday—four of them from JRM. Berry led a race-high 89 circuits, followed by 63 for Allgaier, 36 for Noah Gragson and two for Mayer. Gragson dropped off the lead lap with a cylinder down, but, with power seemingly restored, he recovered to finish fourth.

Berry won for the second time this season and the fourth time in his career. JRM has won four of the last five Xfinity Series races.

“I think everybody knew that this was going to be a good benchmark for our organization, and I think I speak for everybody in saying that we exceeded expectations,” Berry said.

Ryan Preece came home fifth in the top Ford, with Daniel Hemric, Allgaier, Sheldon Creed, Trevor Bayne and Myatt Snider completing the top 10.

Allgaier had the lead on Lap 163 after a full cycle of green-flag pit stops, and he held it until Berry beat him to the stripe by .022 seconds on Lap 176. Allgaier regained the top spot on Lap 177 but scraped the wall for the first time a lap later.

“We tried to put on a show for the fans,” Allgaier said. “I don’t know if you can drive any harder. At one point we were literally barreling off into Turn 1 harder than we did in qualifying.

“I thought we were going to be OK there and battle it out again (after the first contact with the wall), but unfortunately, my right rear started to go flat.”

Nick Sanchez showed what an opportunist can do when the right moment presents itself.

Taking advantage of fresh tires and a quick pit stop, Sanchez charged from the 10thposition on a restart with nine laps left in Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and held off Corey Heim to win his second NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race of the season — and of his career.

Sanchez crossed the finish line 0.507 seconds ahead of Heim, who fell just short after two snafus on pit relegated him to the runner-up position — temporarily. Sanchez collects a $50,000 bonus as the winner of the first Triple Truck Challenge event of the season.

After the race, Heim’s troubles multiplied when inspectors found three lug nuts not safe and secure on his No. 11 Toyota, resulting in a disqualification that promoted Stewart Friesen to the runner-up position.

“It’s awesome — my No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet,” said Sanchez, who qualified 16thfor the 11thTruck Series race of the season. “What can I say more about this (Rev Racing) team? We started off bad. It didn’t affect us. We went to work. We put ourselves in position when it mattered most.

“This is for Chris Showalter, my car chief. Birthday today, 700thtruck start. This is for him, and it’s great to get number two.”

Remarkably, Showalter has been a part of the series for every race since its inception in 1995.

Sanchez led only the final nine laps. Heim led 72 before the penalty and Christian Eckes 37.

After dominating the first two stages of the race, Heim dropped to 27thunder caution for Matt Crafton’s collision with then outside wall on Lap 79 when the jack malfunctioned and failed to lift his No. 11 Toyota.

Heim roared through the field to fifth before Chase Purdy slammed the Turn 2 wall to cause the fifth caution. Like Sanchez, Heim pitted for fresh tires, but a problem with the lug nuts on the right rear wheel cost him valuable time — and ultimately cost him dearly with the disqualification.

Grant Enfinger was credited with third, followed by Matt Mills, Ben Rhodes and Jake Garcia.

Eckes, who entered the race as the series leader, started from the rear after contact from Kaden Honeycutt’s Chevrolet during practice damaged his No. 19 Chevy and prevented him from making a qualifying run.

That was just the start of Eckes’ problems. Alternator issues kept him on pit road for extended stops during the stage breaks and relegated him to starting spots of 28thand 27thfor the second and final stages, respectively.

But Eckes recovered to take the lead after staying out for a restart on Lap 88, and he was still in front — albeit close on fuel — when the caution for Purdy’s accident slowed the field. Eschewing a pit stop for new tires under the final caution, Eckes slipped to 10that the finish.

Honeycutt, who won Stage 1 after Heim’s penalty and finished third in Stage 2, also went to the rear after leaving his pit stall during the second stage break with a fuel dump can still attached to the input valve of his truck.

Despite the setback, Honeycutt had enough speed in his Chevrolet to recover to seventh at the finish. Connor Mosack, Dean Thompson and Eckes completed the top 10.

Grabbing the lead from Carson Hocevar after a restart on Lap 111 of 134, Ben Rhodes pulled away to win Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Rhodes, the ninth different winner in 11 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races this season, also collected a $50,000 bonus for winning the first of three events in the Triple Truck Challenge, a bonus program that could mean $500,000 for a driver who can sweep all three.

“I didn’t think we were that good in practice,” said Rhodes, who beat runner-up Corey Heim to the checkered flag by 2.398 seconds, as Heim, third-place Dean Thompson and Carson Hocevar battled for the second spot over the last 24 laps.

“I didn’t qualify the best, and here it came to life at night… Oh, man, I had so much fun. This is so much fun. Charlotte is a track that we come to—ThorSport Racing, we’re based in Sandusky, Ohio—we come to the North Carolina guys’ house, and we like to win.”

The victory was Rhodes’ first of the season, his first at Charlotte and the seventh of his career. In addition to the Triple Truck Challenge bonus, Rhodes is locked into the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs.

“The whole season is so hard to put together,” Rhodes said. “It’s unbelievably hard, and it’s only gotten more difficult over the years…. A championship being locked in, I’ll take that. The last three races have been so unbelievably hard on my team. We’ve been wrecked in the last three and haven’t had very good showings because of it.

“So I’ll take the points—thank you.”

Hocevar held the lead for the Lap 111 restart but was trapped in the middle of a three-wide situation and dropped to sixth in the running order. Heim took second and Thompson third, while Hocevar rallied and swapped the third position with Thompson before finishing fourth.

“Me and the 42 (Hocevar) and the 5 (Thompson) were probably the best trucks,” said Heim, who led a race-high 49 laps and held off Hocevar to win the first stage. “But the 99 (Rhodes) just came along really strong, and once we got to second on the restart where the 42 got put in the middle there, I really thought we had a shot at it.

“But it just proves that clean air is king here, but I feel like if I did a better job of getting by as soon as possible rather than waiting on a run, we might have had a better opportunity.”

Notes: Thompson’s third-place finish was a career-best… Hocevar led 43 laps and won the seconds stage by 5.746 seconds over Heim… Rhodes, the 2021 series champion, led 37 laps—25 in the final run to the finish… The final two Triple Truck Challenge races are scheduled for World Wide Technology Raceway on June 3 and Nashville Superspeedway on June 23.

When fate dealt Carson Hocevar another heartache Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Niece Motorsport teammate Ross Chastain took full advantage—with a serendipitous push from Grant Enfinger.

On the final lap of the second overtime in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series contest, Chastain raced side-by-side on the backstretch with John Hunter Nemechek, before the timely push from Enfinger propelled him forward and enabled him to clear Nemechek’s No. 4 Toyota.

Chastain crossed the finish line .102 seconds ahead of Enfinger, with Nemechek running third, .413 seconds behind the race winner.

When he climbed out of his No. 41 Chevrolet on the frontstretch, however, Chastain could talk only of Hocevar, who dominated the event, only to see it slip away after a devastating late caution.

“I hate it so much for Carson,” said Chastain, who won for the first time this season, the first time at Charlotte and the fourth time in his career. “I didn’t give him the push he needed to win (on the first attempt at overtime)… Man, I’m so proud of Carson Hocevar.

“I’ll say that over and over. That guy’s a future star. He’s such a goofy kid, but I love him. He learns so quick.”

Hocevar, who lost the lead four laps short of the finish and ran second at Bristol’s Dirt Track in April, learned a painful lesson on Friday night after leading a race-high 57 laps. 

He held an advantage that had stabilized at slightly more than six seconds when Jesse Little’s Chevrolet broke loose over the bumps in Turn 3 and carried Tyler Ankrum Toyota into the outside wall.

The 19-year-old Hocevar chose the inside lane for the final restart, and Ryan Preece, in the outside lane, nosed ahead past the start/finish line when Chastain spun his tires and failed to provide Hocevar with a push.

Running beside Preece on Lap 136 in the first attempt at overtime, Hocevar lost control and slid up the track into Preece’s No. 17 Ford, damaging both vehicles. 

“A dumbass move by myself,” acknowledged Hocevar, who climbed from his No. 42 Chevrolet after the race and sat on the pavement, his head between his hands. “It sucks. I mean I tried really hard—I tried too hard.

“I didn’t get a good restart. I tried too hard, tried to wash (Preece) up and just crashed myself. I feel like just crying.”

Preece finished 11th after pitting with a flat tire—thanks to the wreck. He didn’t mince words on pit lane.

“Don’t wreck the guy on the outside of you trying to win your first race,” Preece said pointedly. “Don’t do it.”

After finishing second, Enfinger feels he has an IOU from Chastain.

“I’m glad to push my buddy Ross to a win,” Enfinger said. “In my book, he owes me one.”

Christian Eckes ran fourth, followed by Zane Smith, who led 52 laps and won the first stage. Tanner Gray, Kyle Busch, Chandler Smith, Stewart Friesen and Ben Rhodes completed the top 10. 

Rhodes won Stage 2 by staying out on old tires and catching an opportune caution when Matt Mills crashed with Jack Wood in Turn 4 three laps short of the send of the 30-lap stage.

Ultimately, Hocevar came home 16th, the last driver on the lead lap. Mexican driver Max Gutierrez finished 26th in his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut.