Noah Gragson entered the Sept. 4 NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Darlington feeling a bit peeved. For various reasons, the aggressive driver for JR Motorsports has been unable to finish six races this season.
“A lot of frustration, and things haven’t gone our way,” Gragson said. “But we’re getting some momentum when we need to. I just can’t thank everybody enough on this No. 9 team.”
Gragson, 23, enters tonight’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on a roll. With two straight wins at Darlington and Richmond, he’s advanced to the No. 6 spot in the Xfinity point standings.
Gragson also won the Cheddar’s 300 last June at BMS, leading 55 laps and holding off Chase Briscoe in a compelling final act.
The Food City 300 will serve as the regular season finale, with the top 12 drivers in the standings locked into the Xfinity Series Playoffs.
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AJ Allmendinger currently has a five-point lead over defending series champ Austin Cindric.
While Cindric has earned five victories this season, he’s gone winless in six Xfinity starts at Bristol.
Cindric, who will jump to the Cup level next season with the powerful Team Penske operation, led 42 laps of last season’s Food City 300 before being passed by Briscoe with five laps remaining. Briscoe went on to claim the victory.
“I certainly have unfinished business at Bristol based on the last year, so I’m pretty hungry for that racetrack,” Cindric said. “Forget about the points, we’ve got to go out there and try and win the race. If we can do that, I’ll be pretty happy one way or the other.”
Allmendinger’s path to the top of the points this season has featured three victories and 15 top-fives with the ever-growing Kaulig Racing team.
In his Xfinity debut at Bristol last June, Allmendinger started 27th and finished 10th. Allmendinger has collected just one top-10 finish in 21 Cup starts at BMS.
“We just have to keep building fast race cars, keep doing what we need to do and finish the regular season off strong, whether that’s the regular season championship or not,” Allmendinger said. “Other than that, we just need to be ready for the playoffs.”
Justin Allgaier is another driver to watch. He led a race-high 156 laps in last year’s Cheddar’s 300 before he was forced to the pits following contact with Gragson, his teammate at JR Motorsports.
A former Bristol winner, Allgaier has led at least 100 laps in the past three BMS events but was forced to settle for 18th last season due to the incident with Gragson.
As for Gragson, he was contrite following the headline-grabbing incident.
“I really apologize to Justin and the No. 7 team. That’s not how I want to race but I saw a position open up. He kind of slipped off the bottom the lap before and I tried to get to the bottom and I just got too loose,” Gragson said.
Other drivers to watch include Allmendinger’s teammates Justin Haley and Jeb Burton, Daniel Hemric from Joe Gibbs Racing and the trio of Harrison Burton, Brandon Jones and Myatt Snider from Richard Childress Racing.
Nine drivers have secured spots in the Xfinity playoffs, so the final three spots will be decided tonight between Jones, Jeremy Clements, Riley Herbst and Michael Annett.
Former Kingsport Speedway track champion Chad Finchum from Knoxville will drive for the Hattori Racing Enterprises team.
Other familiar entrants include Sam Mayer (JR Motorsports), Ty Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing), Jeffrey Earnhardt (JD Motorsports) and Ty Dillon.
Gragson will start from the pole in his quest for three straight wins.
agregory@bristolnews.com | Twitter: @Greg_BHCSports | (276) 645-2544