The official 2022 Andy's Frozen Custard 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series entry list features top NASCAR drivers set to compete at Texas Motor Speedway, highlighting the full lineup of race participants and teams.
Saturday, September 24th, 2022
Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, TX
Noah Gragson parked his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet at the finish line, emerged through his car's roof flap and raised his arms in triumph taking in the loud cheers from the Texas Motor Speedway grandstands as he celebrated a historic fourth consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday afternoon in the Andy's Frozen Custard 300.
It was a series best and career-high seventh win on the season for the 24-year old Las Vegas native and automatically reserves his spot in the next round of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. That fourth consecutive victory is significant historically as well - tying one of the longstanding records- set in 1983 - by Sam Ard.
Although it was a tumultuous Playoff opener for many of the championship contenders, Gragson was out front often and ultimately when he needed to be. He didn't win a Stage, but led a race best 85-of-200 laps and held off fellow 2022 Playoff contenders Austin Hill and Ty Gibbs by 1.238-seconds to earn the big trophy - and even more momentum at just the right time of the calendar.
"This No. 9 team, man, they're on fire and all you fans, you keep us motivated,'' Gragson told the cheering grandstands. "We're gonna come back and win more races for you. You guys are awesome and we appreciate you. Thanks for coming out.
"Just this team, I mean the pit crew's done awesome and our car was as fast as Xfinity internet all day and I'm just so thankful for the opportunity"
"Such a relief,'' he continued. "We lost this race back in 2020 and just executed a great race [today],'' he continued.
Eight Playoff cars finished in the Top-10. Stewart-Haas Racing's Riley Herbst was fifth, followed by Playoff driver Josh Berry (JR Motorsports), Sheldon Creed, Playoff drivers Sam Mayer (JR Motorsports) and Ryan Sieg (Ryan Sieg Racing). C.J. McLaughlin was 10th – the first Top-10 of his career.
Compared to his closest competitors, Gragson's day was more a matter of holding court. Several other race contenders and Playoff competitors had busier days of survival and the power of positive thinking.
Both Gibbs, who finished third and regular season champion A.J. Allmendinger, who finished fourth, had to rally to those finishing positions. Gibbs started the race from the rear of the field after failing technical inspection. And the two-time regular season champion Allmendinger? He just had a hectic afternoon overcoming race setbacks.
Two multi-car accidents on mid-race restarts eliminated the winning opportunity for several Playoff drivers and now place them in catch-up mode only one race into the Playoff push.
Eight cars were involved in a crash on Lap 110, including regular season champion Allmendinger, whose No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – only a few laps removed from the Stage 2 victory - was damaged. Quick repairs returned him to the track and the positions he lost during the pit stop actually proved to be advantageous as he missed the next accident up front after returning to the race.
It was a similar scene on the ensuing restart, only this time the accident started at the front. John Hunter Nemechek, who had led a race best 60 laps – at that point - got loose at the front of the pack, his Toyota colliding with Justin Allgaier's Chevy.
The hard contact sent them both hard into the wall and caused another chain-reaction accident that ended up collecting nine cars in all – including Playoff drivers Brandon Jones, the race polesitter, and 2021 series champion Daniel Hemric (who won Stage 1) in addition to Allgaier.
As with that Playoff trio, It was the end of the day for Nemechek, a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship driver who was driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at Texas as part of the owner's championship chase.
"The 7 (Allgaier) chose the top behind me, and I haven't seen the replay of it, but the 7 chose the top behind me and started pushing,'' Nemechek said. "The 21 (Austin Hill) made it three-wide on the 9 (Gragson) and I was three-wide at the top being able to be in the race and I think we ended up four-wide at one point which doesn't really work aero-wide in the pack. The resin was up there as well and I don't know. It sucks.
"I thought we were going to have a shot to win the race and repeat from last year. It didn't work out. I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds.”
With two more races remaining in this opening Playoff round – at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and the Charlotte ROVAL road course – Gragson's win is an automatic berth into the next Playoff round. Allmendinger and Gibbs are second and third in the standings, 26 and 27 points – respectively behind Allmendinger.
Eight of the 12 Playoff drivers will advance following the ROVAL race.
Riley Herbst (-1), Hemric (-8), Jones (-13) and Jeremy Clements (-29) whose car retired early with an engine issue, now find themselves in the bottom four of the Playoff standings going to Talladega.
ENTRY | # | DRIVER | HOMETOWN | DOB | AGE | MAKE | SPONSOR | TEAM | CREW CHIEF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Los Gatos, CA | Dec 16, 1981 | 40 | Chevrolet | Andy's Frozen Custard | Kaulig Racing | Bruce Schlicker |
2 | 66 | JJ Yeley | Phoenix, AZ | Oct 5, 1976 | 45 | Toyota | Precision Construction & Roofing | Motorsports Business Management | George Church |
3 | 10 | Landon Cassill | Cedar Rapids, IA | Jul 7, 1989 | 33 | Chevrolet | USIO | Kaulig Racing | Alex Yontz |
4 | 08 | David Starr | Houston, TX | Nov 11, 1967 | 54 | Ford | TicketSmarter/Special Report | SS-GLR w/Jeff Lefcourt | Jason Miller |
5 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | Riverton, IL | Jun 6, 1986 | 36 | Chevrolet | BRANDT | JR Motorsports | Jason Burdett |
6 | 35 | Joey Gase | Cedar Rapids, IA | Feb 8, 1993 | 29 | Chevrolet | Donate Life Texas | Emerling Gase Motorsports | Rick Bourgeois |
7 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Halifax, VA | Aug 6, 1992 | 30 | Chevrolet | Jon Wayne Service Company | Our Motorsports | Chad Walter |
8 | 26 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Mooresville, NC | Jun 22, 1989 | 33 | Toyota | YesWay / ForeverLawn | Sam Hunt Racing | Allen Hart |
9 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Tucker, GA | Jun 20, 1987 | 35 | Ford | CMRroofing.com\ A-game | RSS Racing | Kevin Starland |
10 | 34 | Kyle Weatherman | Wentzville, MO | Aug 28, 1997 | 25 | Chevrolet | Equity Prime Mortgage | Jesse Iwuji Motorsports | Dan Stillman |
11 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Kannapolis, NC | Jan 27, 1991 | 31 | Chevrolet | DaaBIN Store | Kaulig Racing | Jason Trinchere |
12 | 6 | Brennan Poole | Sacramento, CA | Apr 11, 1991 | 31 | Chevrolet | Macc Door Systems | JD Motorsports | Kase Kallenbach |
13 | 78 | Garrett Smithley | Ligonier, PA | Apr 27, 1992 | 30 | Chevrolet | Trophy Tractor | BJ McLeod Motorsports | Mike Tyska |
14 | 4 | Bayley Currey | Driftwood, TX | Oct 29, 1996 | 25 | Chevrolet | Hy-Vee | JD Motorsports | Wayne Carroll Jr |
15 | 18 | John Hunter Nemechek | Mooresville, NC | Jun 11, 1997 | 25 | Toyota | Romco Equipment | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jason Ratcliff |
16 | 92 | Alex Labbe | Saint-Albert, Canada | Apr 29, 1993 | 29 | Chevrolet | Live To Be Happy | DGM Racing | Ryan London |
17 | 21 | Austin Hill | Winston, GA | Apr 21, 1994 | 28 | Chevrolet | Bennett Transportation and Logistics | Richard Childress Racing | Andy Street |
18 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Woodbridge, VA | Sep 14, 1993 | 29 | Chevrolet | CAT Trailer Sales | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Doug Randolph |
19 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Atlanta, GA | Feb 18, 1997 | 25 | Toyota | Menards\Pelonis | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jeff Meendering |
20 | 38 | CJ McLaughlin | Framingham, MA | Jul 1, 1992 | 30 | Ford | SciAps | RSS Racing | Steve Addington |
21 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Spartanburg, SC | Jan 16, 1985 | 37 | Chevrolet | Straitline Nitro | Jeremy Clements Racing | Mark Setzer |
22 | 07 | Joe Graf Jr | Mahwah, NJ | Jul 12, 1998 | 24 | Ford | Bucked Up Energy Rocket Pop | SS-GLR w/Jeff Lefcourt | Joe Williams |
23 | 36 | Josh Williams | Port Charlotte, FL | Aug 3, 1993 | 29 | Chevrolet | Alloy Employer Services | DGM Racing | Nathan Kennedy |
24 | 5 | Matt Mills | Lynchburg, VA | Nov 14, 1996 | 25 | Chevrolet | J.F. Electric | BJ McLeod Motorsports | David Ingram |
25 | 31 | Myatt Snider | Charlotte, NC | Dec 30, 1994 | 27 | Chevrolet | Tree Top | Jordan Anderson Racing | Shane Whitbeck |
26 | 9 | Noah Gragson | Las Vegas, NV | Jul 15, 1998 | 24 | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops TrueTimber BRCC | JR Motorsports | Luke Lambert |
27 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Las Vegas, NV | Feb 24, 1999 | 23 | Ford | Monster Energy | Stewart-Haas Racing | Richard Boswell |
28 | 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | Como, MS | Dec 7, 1986 | 35 | Chevrolet | Market Rebellion | Alpha Prime Racing | Michael Brandt |
29 | 91 | Mason Massey | Douglasville, GA | Jan 24, 1997 | 25 | Chevrolet | Apollo Energy / Power Center | DGM Racing | Mario Gosselin |
30 | 23 | Anthony Alfredo | Ridgefield, CT | Mar 1, 1999 | 23 | Chevrolet | First Phase | Our Motorsports | Pat Tryson |
31 | 45 | Stefan Parsons | Cornelius, NC | Jun 15, 1998 | 24 | Chevrolet | Broken Bow Cabin Lodging | Alpha Prime Racing | Frank Kerr |
32 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Alpine, CA | Sep 30, 1997 | 24 | Chevrolet | Whelen | Richard Childress Racing | Jeff Stankiewicz |
33 | 8 | Josh Berry | Hendersonville, TN | Oct 22, 1990 | 31 | Chevrolet | Open Joist/U.S. Lumber | JR Motorsports | Mike Bumgarner |
34 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Charlotte, NC | Oct 4, 2002 | 19 | Toyota | Interstate Batteries | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chris Gayle |
35 | 1 | Sam Mayer | Franklin, WI | Jun 26, 2003 | 19 | Chevrolet | Accelerate Pros Talent | JR Motorsports | Taylor Moyer |
36 | 13 | Akinori Ogata | Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Japan | Aug 14, 1973 | 49 | Toyota | Mooneyes | Motorsports Business Management | Jason Houghtaling |
37 | 48 | Nicholas Sanchez | Miami, FL | Jun 10, 2001 | 21 | Chevrolet | Big Machine Racing Spiked | Big Machine Racing | Patrick Donahue |
38 | 02 | Parker Retzlaff | Rhinelander, WI | May 21, 2003 | 19 | Chevrolet | Funkaway | Our Motorsports | Kris Bowen |