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William Byron finds Phoenix redemption with Xfinity win

William Byron was going to have the chance to race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship regardless, but he earned the trip in the best way possible.

Race winner William Byron, JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Race winner William Byron, JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images

William Byron, JR Motorsports Chevrolet
William Byron, JR Motorsports Chevrolet
Ryan Blaney, Team Penske Ford
William Byron, JR Motorsports Chevrolet
Ryan Blaney, Team Penske Ford
Xfinity Series Playoffs flag

Byron used a two-tire pit stop to claim the lead and held off Ryan Blaney to win Saturday’s Ticket Galaxy 200 at Phoenix Raceway, his fourth series win of the season but first since July at Indianapolis.

The win guaranteed Byron a spot in the Championship 4 but he had already clinched a spot by points earlier in the race.

The four drivers who will compete for the series championship next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway are Byron, Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier and Daniel Hemric.

“I don’t know how we it – grinded all day,” Byron said. “It was a great job by the team and a great pit call by Dave (Elenz, crew chief). We’re so ready to go to Homestead.

“It got robbed from me last year (in the Truck series) here in Phoenix, so this makes up for that. Awesome job.”

Byron’s pit crew was among those at JR Motorsports that were without a fast majority of their regular team members after a plane on which they were traveling had to make an emergency landing in Arkansas earlier Saturday.

“I was so used to long runs and was set up for that but we took off pretty good there,” Byron there. “We’re building fast race cars and hopefully we can end it with a championship.”

The win is Byron’s fourth of the season and fourth of his career.

Erik Jones finished third in the race, Christopher Bell was fourth and Hemric ended up fifth.

Brendan Gaughan hit the wall off Turn 4 to bring out a caution on Lap 181 which sent all the lead-lap cars all down pit road for fresh tires.

Byron, Hemric and Jones all took two tires and lined up in the top three positions on the restart with 13 laps remaining in the race.

Stage 2

The second stage turned out to be just like the first.

Blaney easily held off Jones to claim the stage victory, with Jones coming in nearly a second behind.

Hemric finished third, Allgaier was fourth and Bell completed the top-five.

Blaney maintained his lead after pit stops during the stage break, followed by Jones, Custer, Hemric and Bell.

On Lap 105, Alex Bowman had rebounded from his penalty and moved back into the Top 10, passing Ty Dillon for the position.

Five laps later, Bowman dropped down on pit road for an unexpected stop. “Shaking like hell,” Bowman said over his team radio.

Stage 1

Blaney and Jones engaged in a back-and-forth battle for the lead before Blaney emerged with the Stage 1 victory over Bowman.

Jones finished third, Hemric fourth and Allgaier completed the top-five.

During pit stops during the stage break, both Brandon Jones and Bowman were penalized for uncontrolled tires on pit road. Blaney maintained the led on the restart on Lap 68.

Playoff contender Brennan Poole saw his championship hopes disappear when he was involved in a wreck on Lap 23 in Turn 2. Poole tried to drive underneath the lapped car of Caesar Bacarella.

“It’s killed. We have no right-front,” Poole said over his team radio. “We’re done.”

Poole entered the race ranked fourth among the eight remaining playoff drivers. His team attempted repairs and he went back on the track, but almost immediately hit the wall and returned to the garage.

“I saw (Bacarella) go in and we were going to kind of go to the top to go around him and he slid up so I tried to go to the bottom,” Poole said. “Bad luck, bad circumstances. I guess I could have been a little more cautious there, but just trying to get up there to get some stage points and keep moving forward.”

On the first lap, Gaughan got loose in Turn 3, made contact with Michael Annett and spun out to bring out the first caution of the race.

Here's highlights from the race: 

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeLaps Led
1 9 united_states William Byron  Chevrolet 200 -- 16
2 22 united_states Ryan Blaney  Ford 200 0.960 146
3 20 united_states Erik Jones  Toyota 200 1.545 34
4 18 united_states Christopher Bell  Toyota 200 3.658  
5 21 united_states Daniel Hemric  Chevrolet 200 4.833  
6 11 united_states Blake Koch  Chevrolet 200 4.958  
7 00 united_states Cole Custer  Ford 200 4.962  
8 42 united_states Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 200 5.263  
9 2 united_states Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 200 5.922  
10 7 united_states Justin Allgaier  Chevrolet 200 6.221  
11 19 united_states Matt Tifft  Toyota 200 8.148  
12 98 united_states Casey Mears  Ford 200 8.933  
13 3 united_states Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 200 9.041  
14 16 united_states Ryan Reed  Ford 200 10.650  
15 33 united_states Brandon Jones  Chevrolet 200 10.682  
16 5 united_states Michael Annett  Chevrolet 200 11.434  
17 23 united_states Spencer Gallagher  Chevrolet 200 12.282  
18 1 united_states Elliott Sadler  Chevrolet 200 13.221  
19 4 united_states Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 200 15.005  
20 14 united_states J.J. Yeley  Toyota 200 15.419  
21 39 united_states Ryan Sieg  Chevrolet 200 16.188  
22 24 united_states Corey Lajoie  Toyota 199 -1  
23 51 united_states Jeremy Clements  Chevrolet 199 -1  
24 07 united_states Ray Black Jr.  Chevrolet 199 -1  
25 0 united_states Garrett Smithley  Chevrolet 197 -3  
26 90 canada Mario Gosselin  Chevrolet 197 -3  
27 01 united_states Harrison Rhodes  Chevrolet 195 -5  
28 40 united_states Carl Long  Chevrolet 194 -6  
29 99 united_states David Starr  Chevrolet 190 -9  
30 8 united_states Caesar Bacarella  Chevrolet 190 -10  
31 78 ireland John Graham  Chevrolet 188 -12  
32 62 united_states Brendan Gaughan  Chevrolet 179 -21  
33 52 united_states Joey Gase  Chevrolet 169 -31  
34 89 united_states Morgan Shepherd  Chevrolet 47 -153  
35 15 united_states Joe Nemechek  Chevrolet 44 -156  
36 13 united_states Carl Long  Toyota 37 -163  
37 38 united_states Jeff Green  Chevrolet 30 -170  
38 48 united_states Brennan Poole  Chevrolet 25 -175  
39 74 united_states Mike Harmon  Dodge 19 -181  
40 93 united_states Gray Gaulding  Chevrolet 6 -194

 

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