September 3, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Noah Gragson hangs on for thrilling win at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C.—Noah Gragson waited patiently for his opportunity—then he pounced to victory at Darlington Raceway on Saturday.

The No. 9 JR Motorsports team told their driver to continue to apply pressure on Sheldon Creed in the closing laps of the Sports Clips Haircuts 200 and Gragson did.

After he watched NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Larson take the lead on the white flag lap—and Creed battle back against the wall in Turn 3—Gragson, 24, went low, grabbed the point and held on for his ninth Xfinity Series win.

“I’m worn out, that was bad ass,” Gragson said as he caught his breath. “The 17 was coming on strong, the 2 was good,”…and then the driver needed a moment.

Creed, who was battling for his first career win in the Xfinity Series, finished .794-seconds behind Gragson after leading 47 laps in the final stage. He was the highest finishing rookie.

"I was trying to hold on," Creed said. "I had a really fast car, it was just a little too free to run their speed there at the end. They could run up the hill in (Turns) 1 and 2 and then really get a good run down the backstretch. I had to stay really low to keep the rear of the car underneath me. 

"I was hoping they were going to get to racing behind me. When Kyle got next to me, my only opportunity was to side-draft as hard as I could. We got that wall and I felt the right-front start to go down going down the backstretch." 

AJ Allmendinger finished third followed by Justin Allgaier and Larson, who recovered with a fifth-place finish after going two laps down. He wheel-hopped into Turn 3, damaged the right-side of his car then cut a tire on Lap 43.

Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Josh Berry, John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Hill rounded out the top 10.

Gragson led a race-high 82 laps. He took the point on Lap 4 and held on for the Stage 1 win. The driver of the No. 9 Chevy was still leading on Lap 65 when NASCAR red-flagged the race for rain. After a two-hour and 37-minute hold, the race resumed on Lap 78 with Gragson in the lead. Five laps later, Allgaier took a turn at the point but Gragson remained close.

Creed led for the first time on Lap 98 following the fifth caution for JJ Yeley, who stalled on the track after his car caught fire. His Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Hill moved up to second after the race returned to green. But Gragson stayed in the hunt. On Lap 111, he passed Hill for second and set his sights on Creed.

With 18 laps to go, Brandon Jones spun in Turn 4 after running ninth. After the leaders pitted, Creed and Gragson remained first and second for the Lap 134 restart. Larson moved up to fourth, then passed Allmendinger for third on Lap 137.

Over the final 10 laps, Noah continued to pressure the No. 2 Chevy while the No. 17 Chevy of Larson pressed from behind. Larson passed Gragson on the inside with four to go but the driver of the No. 9 refused to retreat.

“It was a lot of fun,” Larson said. “I was just trying to be patient as I caught them two… I was able to get by Noah, and I saw Sheldon was really loose in front of me, so I was just trying to stay patient behind him.Coming to white, I didn’t want to get inside him on the frontstretch, because I knew what would happen, but I had such a good run off of (Turn) 4 that I had to make a move. He sat on my door and got me really loose. I had to chase him up the track…

"He was racing really hard for his first win. It was just a lot of fun from all of our seats. Crazy to be a part of a finish like that.”

As Larson attacked Creed, Gragson laid in wait. As the Nos. 2 and 17 battled and bounced off the wall, Gragson drove low out of Turn 4 and rode the wave to the checkers.

“All you fans, was that cool—did we put on a show for you guys?” Gragson asked the crowd. “Sheldon Creed was really fast… I watched, during that rain delay, him running the top in (Turns) 1 and 2, and I knew there was a lot of speed there.

“So I went up there and I found something, and Sheldon pinched me off, and the 17 (Larson) got by me when it was like three (laps) to go, and I was like, ‘Oh, they’re going to get into each other—they’re racing too hard. (Sheldon’s) got nothing to lose, He’s racing his tail off, and Kyle’s going for a win.”

Allmendinger leads the point standings by 51 points over Gibbs.