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Briscoe wins second Miami race, Allmendinger scoops $100k

Chase Briscoe won the Contender Boats 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, after Noah Gragson suffered late-race misery for the second day running as a late caution cost him certain victory.

Race Winner Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford celebrates the victory

Race Winner Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford celebrates the victory

NASCAR Media

Race Winner Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
Race Winner Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford celebrates the victory
Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford takes the checker flag ahead of Brandon Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Supra
Austin Cindric, Team Penske Ford, Myatt Snider, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet Camaro
Harrison Burton, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Brandon Brown, Brandonbilt Motorsports Chevrolet, Jeremy Clements, Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet, Riley Herbst, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Michael Annett, JR Motorsports Chevrolet
Harrison Burton, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, leads a pack of cars
Ross Chastain, Kaulig Racing, Chevrolet Camaro
Race Winner Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford celebrates his victory
Noah Gragson, JR Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro after his fifth place finish
Noah Gragson, JR Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro after his fifth place finish
Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford and Noah Gragson, JR Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro lead the field on the overtime restart

Briscoe was racing without his crew chief, car chief and engineer – all placed on a four-race suspension after his car shed its ballast on the parade lap Saturday. He benefited from a late yellow flag, that wiped out Gragson’s advantage, and used his superior short-run speed to win.

“That was a team win for sure and the caution fell perfect,” said Briscoe, who won his third race of the season. “The #9 was definitely better on the long run. We weren’t very good, and we’re looking to win a lot more.”

This was the second leg of the double header as NASCAR makes up for lost Xfinity Series races in the pandemic, and also had $100,000 on the line for AJ Allmendinger, Gragson, Justin Hayley and Daniel Hemric in the Dash for Cash promotion.

Gragson not only lost the race, but also the $100k payday, as Allmendinger just beat him to the finish line in the overtime finish. “It’s unacceptable by my standards, we can’t keep finishing these races in fifth,” said Gragson.

Gragson led Harrison Burton and Briscoe from the green in the final stage, but Austin Cindric regained lost ground from a slow pitstop and surged through to lead on Lap 93. As he showed yesterday, Gragson had the best long-run car and found comfort in running the high line, reporting: “If I get any further than two inches from the wall, I’m going to wreck. I’m stable right up against the wall, I get a lot of security from it.”

Gragson retook the lead after Cindric smote the wall in Turn 1 with 62 laps to go. Cindric was then forced to pit with a flat right-rear tire, dropping outside the top 20.

Gragson led by 4s over Briscoe with 50 laps to go, and he pitted five laps later under green. Gragson’s jackman struggled on the left-hand side, losing him valuable time. After the pitstops cycled through, Cindric led Gragson by 4s, but with much fresher tires Gragson was in the catbird seat and reeled him in, retaking the lead with 38 laps to go. Briscoe passed Cindric for second place six laps later.

Briscoe carved into Gragson’s lead as the race drew towards its end, with Briscoe getting it under a second before getting in the wall at Turn 1. The race looked over, but third-placed Cindric spun into the wall just before the white flag.

Gragson and Briscoe pitted for tires, with Briscoe beating Gragson out. That led into the overtime finish, with Briscoe choosing the inside lane for the restart.

Gragson got the initial jump on Briscoe at the first attempt, but Briscoe surged into the lead, as a multi-car wreck occurred on the back stretch. Allmendinger pushed Riley Herbst, who got sideways and fired into Hemric, who hit the inside wall hard.

At the second attempt, Briscoe just held off Brandon Jones, with Ross Chastain surging up to third, and Gragson falling to fifth. Briscoe won it from Jones, Chastain, Allmendinger (who started the race from the back) and Gragson.

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Stage 2

Gragson triumphed in the second stage, his fifth segment win of the year, finishing well clear of Cindric after some fantastic racing in a long run under the green flag.

Chastain started stage two from the front, having pitted for fresh tires before the stage break and didn’t pit under yellow, but he couldn’t stop Jones from sliding underneath him to grab the lead immediately. Cindric blew past Jones on the back stretch to take the lead 10 laps in.

As Cindric pulled clear, an epic battle unfolded behind him, sometimes running three or four wide. Gragson eventually came out on top of that, and chased down Cindric, passing him for the lead with 14 laps to go.

Gragson beat Cindric, Jones, Briscoe and Hemric after a completely caution-free stint.

Stage 1

Ryan Sieg won the opening stage, repeating his aggressive strategy of taking fresh tires at the competition caution at the halfway point.

The starting grid was flipped from the Top 15 finishing order from Saturday’s race. Myatt Snider led from pole, with the inverted grid promoting some intense racing early on. Chastain was typically aggressive and hit the lead by lap two. Briscoe was quickly on his tail, while Cindric took his time to elevate himself into the top three but it soon became a three-way fight at the front.

Briscoe led for the first time on lap eight, passing Chastain at Turn 1, but Cindric was the one to watch, passing Chastain and Briscoe on successive laps with his low-line moves at Turn 1.

As the long run wore on, Jones moved up to third before the competition caution on Lap 20.

Cindric led at the restart, ahead of Jones and Burton. But Sieg had repeated his trick from Saturday, and taken fresh tires, which allowed him to surge from 22nd to run second when the caution flag flew again for Tommy Joe Martins and Caesar Bacarella, who wrecked on the entry to Turn 3.

At the restart, Sieg used his fresher tires to claim the third stage win of his career, ahead of Annett (who had pitted for tires under the second caution and rallied from 31st), Cindric, Jones, Allgaier and Gragson.

But Sieg lost all of his track position when Allgaier hit the right-rear wheel out of his tire changer’s hands in the following pitstops. Allgaier then got blocked into his pit stall, so everyone lost in that deal.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Laps Led
1 98 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 177   11
2 19 United States Brandon Jones Toyota 177 0.072 5
3 10 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 177 0.945 11
4 16 United States A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 177 1.160  
5 9 United States Noah Gragson Chevrolet 177 1.233 81
6 11 United States Justin Haley Chevrolet 177 1.669  
7 93 United States Myatt Snider Chevrolet 177 2.267 1
8 20 United States Harrison Burton Toyota 177 4.915  
9 18 Riley Herbst Toyota 177 10.726  
10 22 United States Austin Cindric Ford 176 1 lap 60
11 21 Anthony Alfredo Chevrolet 176 1 lap  
12 92 United States Josh Williams Chevrolet 176 1 lap 1
13 08 Joe Jr. Chevrolet 176 1 lap  
14 26 Colin Garrett Toyota 176 1 lap  
15 4 United States Jesse Little Chevrolet 176 1 lap  
16 0 United States Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 176 1 lap  
17 15 Colby Howard Chevrolet 176 1 lap  
18 1 United States Michael Annett Chevrolet 176 1 lap  
19 39 United States Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 175 2 laps 7
20 44 United States Tommy Joe Martins Chevrolet 175 2 laps  
21 13 United States Chad Finchum Toyota 175 2 laps  
22 7 United States Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 174 3 laps  
23 36 Canada Alex Labbé Chevrolet 174 3 laps  
24 5 United States Matt Mills Chevrolet 174 3 laps  
25 61 United States Timmy Hill Toyota 174 3 laps  
26 74 United States Bayley Currey Chevrolet 173 4 laps  
27 51 United States Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 173 4 laps  
28 07 Carson Ware Chevrolet 173 4 laps  
29 78 United States Vinnie Miller Chevrolet 173 4 laps  
30 90 Caeser Bacarella Chevrolet 171 6 laps  
31 8 United States Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 170 7 laps  
32 99 United States Stefan Parsons Toyota 151 26 laps  
33 52 Kody Vanderwal Chevrolet 138 39 laps  
34 6 United States B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 117 60 laps  
35 47 United States Kyle Weatherman Chevrolet 84 93 laps  
36 68 United States Brandon Brown Chevrolet 49 128 laps  
37 02 Ja Junior Chevrolet 15 162 laps  
38 66 United States Stephen Leicht Toyota 9 168 laps  

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