Homestead Miami Speedway

Sam Mayer claimed his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series oval-race victory in the second half of a NASCAR double-header at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday in the Contender Boats 300 after holding off last week’s race winner Riley Herbst by a mere .227-second.

It marks the JR Motorsports driver Mayer’s fourth series victory of the season – and his career – most important for Mayer – who joked he didn’t breath the final four laps – it is his ticket into the Championship 4 finale that will decide the series title at Phoenix Raceway in two weeks.

The 20-year old Wisconsin native’s No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet led 46 laps on the day – including the final 30 – but brushed the wall exiting Turn 3 as he pushed forward on the last lap to keep a fast-closing Herbst behind him. Mayer’s fellow NASCAR Xfinity Series championship contender John Hunter Nemechek finished third in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota; leading seven laps despite feeling under the weather.

Regular-season champion Austin Hill was fourth in the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet and NASCAR Hall of Famer and crowd favorite, Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished fifth in his second and final race start of the season. He’s also the owner of Mayer’s Chevy.

“It’s unreal, we won on an oval,’’ a grinning Mayer screamed into the front grandstands. “This Chevrolet Camaro was so good.

“It’s all about putting a full race together,’’ he continued, “and I’m so proud of these guys. They kicked tail on pit road and we made it happen with these HMS (Hendrick Motorsports) engines.

“It’s just really cool to be able to beat an amazing organization like that (Herbst’s Stewart-Haas Racing team). We’ve got to turn it on a little harder going into Phoenix.’’

Herbst’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Cole Custer won Stage 1 and led a dominating 114 of the race’s 200 laps only to suffer a tire problem with 50 laps remaining and drop a lap down. He rallied back but still finished 13th after such an impressive early race. Custer and Hill are now tied three points above the cutoff line heading into next week’s regular season finale at the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Nemechek holds a healthy 44 point edge above them.

Another title favorite, Mayer’s JRM teammate Justin Allgaier – who came into the race ranked second in the championship standings, also had a tire issue after a pit stop and dropped back midway through the race. He rallied back to finish 15th, but dropped to fifth place in the standing, three points behind Hill for the automatic transfer position for the Championship 4.

Nemechek’s JGR teammate Sammy Smith, who finished ninth, is now 49 points back in sixth place. And it was a more dramatic day for the other championship contenders with Richard Childress Racing’s Sheldon Creed finishing 26th after exiting onto pit road with smoke trailing out of his Chevy with only two laps remaining in the race.

Kaulig Racing’s Chandler Smith rounds out the Playoff 8 – but finished a frustrating 34th place after being collected in an early race accident. They are now 54 (Smith) and 65 (Creed) points below the fourth place transfer line and will need to win the race at Martinsville next week to meet their Playoff goals.

Kaulig’s Daniel Hemric, Big Machine Racing’s Parker Kligerman, JRM’s Brandon Jones, and the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Sammy Smith, and Joe Graf Jr. rounded out the top 10 Saturday.

Earnhardt’s participation was certainly a crowd pleaser and his fifth-place effort in the JR Motorsports Chevy was his fifth top-five showing since he retired from fulltime competition in the NASCAR Cup Series after the 2017 season. He methodically worked his way forward from a 23rd place starting position and survived a close call in the closing laps, ironically with Josh Berry, who drives for Earnhardt.

“Luckily it didn’t hurt our car and we were able to finish really good, so I’m happy about that,’’ Earnhardt said, noting he felt badly having an incident with one of his own team cars.

The series moves to the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Raceway for next Saturday’s Dead On Tools 250 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) which will formally decide which three drivers will join Mayer in championship eligibility at the Phoenix season-ender.

“Getting that first oval win [today] was big. … we finally won on an oval and my confidence is feeling good,’’ Mayer said with a huge grin.

Noah Gragson has led plenty of laps at Homestead-Miami Speedway with three Top-10 finishes in his four starts before this weekend. And Saturday night - at long last - Gragson earned the Xfinity Series winner's trophy to go with all his statistical success at the South Florida track.

The 23-year-old Las Vegas native led a dominating 127 of the 200 laps - at one point his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevy was out front by more than 9-seconds. Ultimately it took a strong restart with five laps remaining for Gragson to ensure the victory - .550-seconds over fellow NASCAR Xfinity Series championship challenger Ty Gibbs.

The win is Gragson's automatic ticket to the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway in two weeks - a fitting placement for the young driver who leads the series with eight wins, more than doubling his previous career high single-season win tally.

"I wanted this one so bad," Gragson said, raising his hand in celebration with the cheering crowd. "The last three years. ... Words can't describe how thankful I am for everybody at JR Motorsports."

The Xfinity Series race wrapped up a huge NASCAR doubleheader Saturday with the dominating Gragson victory. He won both stages giving him 16 stage wins on the season - more than twice as many as any other driver.

Gragson now joins his JR Motorsports teammate Josh Berry - last week's winner - with the automatic Championship 4 berth with two positions still to be decided.

Gibbs' runner-up finish places him third in the championship standings. He's a healthy 30 points ahead of fourth place, Kaulig Racing's A.J. Allmendinger with next week's Martinsville (Va.) Speedway race settling which four drivers will be racing for the title at Phoenix on Nov. 4.

"We were just battling our race car all day, we made great adjustments and my guys never gave up," said the 20-year old Gibbs who was making his Homestead-Miami Speedway debut.

"We'll move on to Martinsville. I feel like that's a place we were really fast at earlier this year and probably had a shot to win it so I'm excited to back there.

JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier, who had an eventful day, finished 10th coming back from being a lap down. He now trails Allmendinger by only five points for that final Playoff berth. Richard Childress Racing's Austin Hill sits seven points below the cutoff line with a ninth-place Homestead finish.

JR Motorsports driver Sam Mayer, who finished fifth Saturday is now 28 points behind Allmendinger and Joe Gibbs Racing's Brandon Jones is 28 points back after finishing 15th.

Gibbs and Allmendinger were among the seven race leaders on the day. But if not for that late race caution, it looked like a sure Gragson runaway.

Allmendinger finished third with his Kaulig Racing teammate Daniel Hemric fourth. Mayer was fifth. Trevor Bayne finished sixth - his 47 laps led in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota second only to Gragson's high mark.

Chandler Smith, who hours earlier at Homestead earned a Championship 4 position in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, finished seventh. Riley Herbst, Hill and Allgaier rounded out the Top-10.

The Xfinity Series will set its four-driver Championship grid next Saturday in the Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Gragson is the defending winner of this Playoff race. Jones won at Martinsville this Spring.

Myatt Snider got his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory.

Noah Gragson got another heartache at Homestead.

With perfect execution from the inside lane on his second chance at an overtime restart, Snider held off charging Tyler Reddick to win Saturday's Contender Boats 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

For his third straight race at the 1.5-mile track, Gragson was close enough to taste victory, but it was his ill-fated crash with just over two laps left in regulation that set up overtime and Snider's victory.

Reddick's second-place finish didn't stand, however. His No. 23 Chevrolet was disqualified after post-race inspection, because the ride height measure too low in the rear.

On the first attempt at extra laps, Snider spun his tires, and Reddick grabbed the lead before AJ Allmendinger spun toward the infield grass in Turn 1 to cause the eighth and final caution.

In the second overtime, Reddick returned the favor, and Snider pulled clear in the bottom lane. With a determined charge on the final lap, Reddick gained ground, but he was .085 seconds in arrears when Snider crossed the finish line in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

"Yeah, I guess I learned my lesson on that first restart, ‘cause I spun the wheels," said Snider, who won in his 36th start in the series. "Then I saw Tyler spin the wheels on the next one, and I knew I might have a chance.

"Just a shout-out to all these RCR guys, (sponsor) Taxslayer, all these people that supported me over the years. It's been a rough journey, but we're here with a win, and I can't complain."

Reddick, who drives full-time for RCR in the NASCAR Cup Series, was moonlighting with RSS Racing on Saturday, making his first Xfinity start since winning his second straight series title at Homestead in 2019. But his effort proved moot with the disqualification, which elevated Brandon Jones to the runner-up spot.

Gragson was just over two laps away from a redemptive victory when the No. 13 Ford of David Starr—the last driver on the lead lap—blew a right front tire and shot up the track into the outside wall and right into Gragson's path."

Gragson, who led 83 and 81 laps in last year's two Homestead races but failed to win either, couldn't avoid the collision that destroyed his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. At the time, Gragson led second-place Reddick by more than eight seconds.

"What are you going to do," Gragson said after a visit to the infield care center. "We dominated the last three races here, including this one, and have stuff like that (happen). We were saving fuel. I was half-throttle the last 30 laps, and we were still pulling away."vThe first stage of the race was eventful—but not primarily for Stefan Parsons spin in Turn 4 on Lap 26 or for Daniel Hemric missing his pit stall under the resulting caution and knocking his tire carrier to the pavement.

What Stage 1 demonstrated with jarring clarity was the enormous value of fresh tires on the abrasive asphalt surface. Allmendinger restarted 25th on fresh tires with 10 laps left in the stage and grabbed the lead from Kaulig Racing teammate Justin Haley eight laps later.

Allmendinger won the stage with Haley second after restarting 20th and moving into the lead on Lap 33 before surrendering the top spot to his teammate. Reigning series champion Cindric, on the other hand, stayed out during the caution, restarted in the lead on old tires and fell to 14th by the end of the 10-lap run.

Stage 2 was the mirror image of Stage 1. When fluid from Parsons' car necessitated the third caution of the race on Lap 68, drivers who had stayed out under the Lap 26 caution to save a set of tires came to pit road—Cindric among them.

Allmendinger led the field to the restart with six laps left in the second stage. Cindric restarted 22nd, and in less than three laps took the lead on the way to a stage win and a Playoff point.

Pit stops followed at the end of the stage, on Lap 83, leaving almost all drivers on equal rubber for the final run, with two sets of sticker tires left in the pits. But in terms of track position, the exchange favored those who had pitted late in Stage 2 and charged to the front.

First off pit road during the fourth caution, Cindric led the field to green on Lap 89. But neither Cindric nor Allmendinger was a major player in the overtime. y Hemric finished third, followed by Jeb Burton. Cindric, Haley, Brett Moffitt, Ryan Sieg, Jeremy Clements and Josh Berry completed the top 10.

Xfinity stalwarts Harrison Burton and Justin Allgaier were the first two drivers out of the race, Burton with and engine failure and Allgaier after contact with the Ford of Riley Herbst on Lap 98.

Carson Hocevar secured his first NASCAR CRATSMAN Truck Series Championship 4 appearance with a victory Saturday in the Baptist Health Cancer Care 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway earning all four of his career series wins this season – the trophy Saturday most impactful among them.

Hocevar put his No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet into the lead with 11 laps remaining and held off the hard-charging Zane Smith by 2.705-seconds to claim the win over the reigning series champion, whose runner-up effort was disqualified by NASCAR after a post-race technical inspection found the defending series champion’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford was illegal – using an unapproved windshield support.

“We are disappointed in the disqualification,’’ Front Row Motorsports said in a statement after the NASCAR inspecition. “We will continue to work and discuss with NASCAR officials back at the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, N.C. before making any further comment.’’

The DQ moved ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes into runner-up on the afternoon helping him to advance to the Playoffs – prevailing in a tiebreaker with rookie Nick Sanchez; the polesitter who finished 17th after making contact with another truck coming to pit road for his final stop.

Regular season champion, TRICON Garage’s Corey Heim, GMS Racing’s Grant Enfinger and Hocevar’s Niece Motorsports teammate Bailey Curry rounded out the top five at Homestead.

Heim, Hocevar, Enfinger and Rhodes will now race for the championship Nov. 3 at Phoenix Raceway.

Hocevar celebrated the clutch win by climbing high atop the flag stand to claim the checkered flag in person. He threw it down to the cheering fans behind the fence then climbed back down on the grandstand side to high-five fans and celebrate the biggest win of his life – to date.

“It kills me I can’t do a burn-out but we have to take this truck to Phoenix,’’ a grinning Hocevar said. “This truck was so good. We just got behind on pit stops and just lost track position which was unfortunate, but man, it’s so good to feel [like this]. I love it.

“I thought we could win today with our truck, even with all the setbacks from the debris and everything, we had a shot to win and we did just that.’’

The battle for that final Playoff position was as dramatic as the fight for the victory.

Rhodes came into this final regular season race only five points behind Sanchez for the fourth championship-eligible transfer position. He finished 24th in the opening stage and 10th in the second stage. It still left him outside looking into the Championship 4, so Rhodes’ ThorSport team opted to pit for fresh tires early and out of pit sequence. The move allowed his No. 99 ThorSport Ford to take the race lead as the other frontrunners pit later.

He held the point with 30 laps remaining only to have Hocevar and Smith chase him back down. Hocevar passed him with 11 laps remaining, Smith a lap later.

“We failed Ben today, we didn’t give him a very good truck and he bailed us out at the end there,’’ Rhodes’ crew chief Rich Lushes said. “It was the only call we had. We had to do something different than everybody else and it all worked out so I guess we’re going to [championship] again.’’

It was a heartbreaking ending for the 22-year old Sanchez, who is from nearby Miami and raced often at Homestead-Miami Speedway as he was coming up the junior ranks. He won the pole and led the opening five laps, only to see his Playoff hopes in jeopardy after a miscue approaching his final pit stop with 34 laps remaining. His No. 2 Rev Racing Chevrolet hit the back of Tanner Gray’s truck as the two were slowing to enter pit road causing noticeable damage to Sanchez’ Chevrolet.

“Obviously I lost a lot of time there and just lost time in the pits trying to fix it,’’ Sanchez said. “Just my fault, no two ways to it. I really didn’t know the 15 was pitting and didn’t slow down [enough]. So that’s on me. I apologize to my team. They’re going to support me. To miss by one-point is pretty rough, but all you can do it go to Phoenix and try to win.’

Heim led a race best 57 of the 134 laps and swept both Stage victories. His third place finish marked the series best 15th-consecutive top-10 finish of the season.

“I really thought we had them covered today, I mean we were smoking the first two stages and kind of waiting on the third stage and then it went out like a light switch so we’ll look everything over,’’ Heim said, adding, “We’ve got bigger things on the horizon so we’ll focus on that.’’

Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Rajah Caruth, Ty Majeski and Chase Purdy rounded out the top 10 finishing order. Majeski joins Smith, Sanchez and Christian Eckes to be eliminated from Playoff contention.

Eckes finished 20th after what looked like a sure-bet top-10 finish was hampered by penalties and miscues on the afternoon. He was called for moving lanes on a restart and another time for speeding on his pit road exit late in the race.

“We had a truck able to advance and just kept making mistakes,’’ Eckes said. “Just wasn’t good enough today.’’

IndyCar star Marco Andretti finished 18h in his second series start in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. He’s scheduled to race at Phoenix in two weeks.

Ty Majeski took a big step to solidify himself as the championship "favorite” with a victory in Saturday's Baptist Health Cancer Care 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway – the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular season finale to set the Championship 4 field for the 2022 title race in two weeks.

The 28-year old Wisconsin native led a race best 67 of 134 laps, his No. 66 ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra crossing the finish line a convincing 4.524-seconds ahead of Zane Smith's No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford.

Behind Majeski, it was a tight and valiant rush to the checkered flag to set the four-driver Playoff field. Stewart Friesen finished third, but ultimately missed making the Championship 4 by a single point – as reigning series champion Ben Rhodes turned in a sixth place run to secure that position. All he needed.

Majeski, Zane Smith, Chandler Smith and Rhodes will now race for the big trophy on Nov. 4 at Phoenix Raceway.

Saturday's work at the 1.5-mile Homestead oval marked Majeski's series' best second win of the Playoffs and second win of his young career. He makes the Championship Four in only his first year competing fulltime in the series and smiled, saying he doubted if anyone had him penciled in for the championship round.

Majeski said he had no idea what the points situation was behind him. "I knew it was close," he said, adding that he holds a lot of confidence in his ThorSport team for the upcoming season finale.

"We certainly have momentum on our side winning two of the last three," Majeski said. "I can't really say who the favorite is and who isn't. But I really like my chances going to Phoenix.”

Zane Smith, 23, the regular season champion, is a three-race winner this season and will be making his third run at the championship – the most Final Four appearances among the 2022 title-eligible drivers.

Chandler Smith, 20, a three-race winner in the Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota, finished 10thon Saturday and will be making his debut in the Championship 4. He is the defending Phoenix race winner.

Rhodes, 25, who won at the Bristol, Tenn. dirt track, will be defending his title. It's only the second time he's advanced to the Playoffs' final round and it was a tense afternoon for the driver of the No. 99 ThorSport Toyota.

"Fighting with my teammates really hard there for the last few laps," Rhodes said. "Every spot matters and we got in by one point. I'm just really happy we had a good showing for this Toyota Tundra.

"Really happy to have an intense race for them, give them some excitement" Rhodes said of guests this weekend. "But man it was harder than it should have been. Just glad we can defend the title really."

Ryan Preece finished fourth, followed by Corey Heim. Rhodes, his teammate and fellow Playoff competitive Christian Eckes, former series champion Matt Crafton, Parker Kligerman and Chandler Smith rounded out the Top-10.

Friesen, Eckes, Grant Enfinger and John Hunter Nemechek were the four drivers who did not advance to the Playoff's final round. Enfinger essentially needed to win the race to move on, but he suffered a tire problem midway through the race and never recovered, ultimately finishing 14th.

Nemechek also had a long, rough afternoon. He hit the wall in the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota and had to pit two different times for cut tires that ultimately left him six laps down. He finished 35th among the 36 cars.

"Frustrating day, just can't recover two, three laps," Nemechek said. "On me. But proud of all the guys at KBM. It's been an up-and-down season, but overall we've been in contention almost every week. Proud of them and grateful for the opportunity.

"Sucks we won't be racing for the championship," he added. "But one last race to go win with this bunch and hopefully we can go get it done."

The trucks have an off-week next week and return Nov. 4 for the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway (10 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Chandler Smith is the defending race winner.