September 16, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Noah Gragson gains a sword but loses his cookies after Thunder Valley victory

BRISTOL, Tenn.—For the third consecutive week, the No. 9 JR Motorsports crew climbed the fence to celebrate a Noah Gragson win.

With 25 laps remaining in the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the 24-year-old racer inherited the lead from Justin Allgaier following the eighth and final caution.

Despite a challenge from Brandon Jones, Gragson held his line for his second win in the Last Great Coliseum and his sixth win of the season.

“That’s three in a row,” Gragson exclaimed. “That last caution came out and I knew if we continued to run the top (groove) it was going to be hard for them to get there. I appreciate Brandon Jones racing us clean.

“He got to my bumper with two to go. I was hanging on and scrubbing the fence.” 

Jones had an opportunity to move the No. 9 Chevy but finished 0.145-seconds behind Gragson. Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, AJ Allmendinger, Josh Berry, Stefan Parsons, Allgaier and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top 10. For Sieg, the top 10 was his first on the Bristol asphalt in 16 starts.

“This one hurts the most just because it was our race to win, I felt like,” Jones said. “We battled so many things tonight adversity wise, and just kept coming back. It was really cool to look at our race as a whole to see where it started to see where it ended for us. Really thought when the 7 (Allgaier) sped—I thought easy, piece of cake, we’ve got him easy, but the bottom didn’t take off great, but those newer, fresher tires certainly paid a dividend at the end. I just caught him at the wrong time, every single time.

“I could get in deeper into the corner, and I could kind of get him in the middle, but I could never get him at the exit. I had maybe two times where I had a shot maybe to try to get in his left rear, try to get him loose. I put maximum pressure on him. I gave it everything I had today, so that’s always a great thing to say that you’ve done.”

Polesitter Ty Gibbs dominated the first 89 laps with Allgaier in tow. However, the segment was slowed by a rash of accidents—including two from Nicholas Sanchez on Laps 5 and 36. Sheldon Creed and Herbst made contact in Turn 4, but both drivers continued on. Brandon Brown wrecked on the backstretch just before Lap 46. On each of the four restarts, Gibbs held serve for his sixth stage win of the year.

With slight damage, Creed remained on the track after the first stage and assumed the lead on Lap 91. After 34 circuits at the point, Allgaier passed the No. 2 Chevy and took control of the stage. Although Gibbs kept the No. 7 Chevy in his sights, Gragson was coming. As Gibbs attempted to power around Creed, Gragson tagged the back of the No. 54 Toyota. Both Gibbs and Creed slammed into the Turn 2 wall and were unable to continue.

“Very disappointed,” Gibbs said. “We had a very fast Monster Energy GR Supra. I was excited for the rest of the race.

“I feel like the guys made really good progress over the last year from this car, from what we had last year. I felt like we were a little off last race here last September. We came back and I feel like we were one of the fastest, so very thankful for that.”

For Creed, who is winless in 2022, the accident ended any hopes to advance to the Playoffs.

With Gibbs out of the picture, Allgaier took charge. He led 51 laps in the second segment en route to the Stage 2 win—which ended under yellow following an incident between Mayer and JJ Yeley in Turn 2.

Allgaier gave up the point for four laps after coming to the pits for service. He resumed the lead on Lap 180 until going three-wide with Yeley and CJ McLaughlin on the backstretch on Lap 270. Allgaier elected to pit while Gragson, who had been running down his JRM teammate, remained on the track and assumed the lead. While fresh tires could have been the ticket for Allgaier, he was busted for speeding in the pits and was forced to restart 11th.

“I know what happened; I didn’t really think I was speeding, but obviously I was,” Allgaier said. “I just hate it for everybody. It was cool for (Noah) to get the win. I cannot believe that they were able to stay out there and still run the speed they were.

“I love to hate this place. I’m close to 1,000 career laps led here (1,004) and only one win, and that was over 10 years ago (2010). So I’ve just got to do a better job next time.”

With 20 laps remaining, Gragson set sail. He held a 0.60-second lead over Jones with 10 laps to go. Although Jones gave Gragson a nudge coming to the white flag, the heir apparent to the No. 9 ride wasn’t able to catch the winner. 

Gragson couldn't hold back his excitement--or his dinner which ended up in his lap.

“I won Bristol in 2020 and there were no fans here,” Gragson added. “This is 10 times cooler. You guys are awesome. Man, I’m just so thankful. Our car was fast all day. Once we got up to the top, we were rolling.  

“I had a blast.”  

For the second-straight season, Allmendinger clinched the Xfinity Series regular season title. The Playoffs kick of for the NXS next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.