Gragson brushes wall, comes up short in Xfinity title race

Noah Gragson gave it all he had in Saturday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series championship race but it wasn’t quite enough.

The Las Vegas driver fell back after pitting out of sequence during the third race stage and drove back through the pack to a contending third-place position in the closing laps.

But he brushed the wall while trying to make a charge on leaders Austin Cindric and Daniel Hemric and slipped to 12th place at the finish at Phoenix Raceway.

Hemric held off defending series champ Cindric in an overtime photo finish for the win and the championship. AJ Allmendinger spun with 20 laps to go and finished last among the Championship 4 contenders.

“That’s what the Xfinity Series is, it’s hard racing,” said Gragson, who also made contact with Hemric’s car as the contenders jockeyed for position before his No. 9 JR Motorsports Camaro slid up the track and banged the wall.

“Not where we wanted to be, but we were a little off today,” Gragson said of his aggressive moves at the end. “Had to try something on the restarts and stuff. Just came up short.”

Gragson, 23, raced his way into championship contention by winning in do-or-die fashion at Martinsville, Virginia, in the final race in the Round of 8. He salvaged what had been an up-and-down season with three victories in his last 10 starts.

Saturday’s race was his last with crew chief Dave Elenz, and Gragson was emotional when talking about their relationship during a TV interview afterward.

“Last race together, gonna miss him,” he said of Elenz, who is expected to join Richard Perry’s NASCAR Cup Series team in 2022.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.