Noah Gragson stout on late restarts, wins 2nd straight

How fitting is it that on the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, cars numbered #9 and #11 finished 1–2?

The #9 of Noah Gragson held off Justin Haley‘s #11  on a late restart with seven laps to go to win for the second straight race.

Despite his Darlington win the previous week, Gragson started third as Austin Cindric was on pole ahead of Harrison Burton. Although Cindric and A.J. Allmendinger, the top two in points, dominated the opening stage, Tommy Joe Martins stole the show on fresher tyres when he took the lead with five laps remaining. When it appeared Martins would score his maiden stage win, David Starr—who was on the verge of being lapped while battling a tight car—impeded his progress which enabled Allmendinger to generate enough momentum to overtake him coming to the finish. Martins settled for a still-best second ahead of Ty Gibbs, J.J. Yeley, Burton, Daniel Hemric, Gragson, Spencer Boyd, and Patrick Emerling.

Martins’ race would unravel two laps into Stage #2 due to a spin. Further accidents in the stage took out Jade Buford, C.J. McLaughlin, who was driving Mike Harmon’s #74 normally piloted by Bayley Currey, who in turn wrecked out while new JD Motorsports team-mate Landon Cassill retired with an ignition problem in Stage #3. Gibbs ran in front for much of the segment en route to the win.  Burton, Gragson, Hemric, Cindric, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Ryan Sieg, and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top ten.

Despite a 36-lap run under green that was mainly led by Burton, various wrecks would reduce the next green-flag stretches into the single-digit durations. After Martins suffered terminal damage in a crash, Gragson took the lead on the ensuing restart but additional accidents forced him to stay on the defensive for later resumptions. The final restart came with seven laps to go, and despite an effort by Haley, it was not enough as Gragson held him off for his second win of the year.

It is Gragson’s fourth career win and second straight season in which he notched multiple victories.

“I knew [Haley] had tires, but the thing that really kept us alive were those two cautions at the end,” Gragson commented. “But today’s not about this team or this win, it’s about everyone who lost their lives twenty years ago. We have a lot of heavy hearts and at least in America we can come together on this day and appreciate all you race fans for coming out.”

“It’s an emotional day, it’s a special day. But it’s not about us today.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	3	9	Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
2	4	11	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
3	27	26	John Hunter Nemechek*	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	250	Running
4	5	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
5	20	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	250	Running
6	12	18	Daniel Hemric	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	250	Running
7	15	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	250	Running
8	17	68	Brandon Brown	Brandonbilt Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
9	2	20	Harrison Burton	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	250	Running
10	6	10	Jeb Burton	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
11	19	02	Ty Dillon	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
12	38	99	Sam Mayer	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
13	11	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	250	Running
14	30	8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
15	32	47	Kyle Weatherman	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
16	1	22	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	250	Running
17	34	78	Mason Massey	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
18	8	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
19	13	36	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
20	16	19	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	250	Running
21	21	5	Matt Mills	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
22	10	1	Michael Annett	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
23	14	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
24	33	31	Josh Berry	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
25	9	2	Myatt Snider	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
26	7	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
27	28	15	Bayley Currey*	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
28	37	66	David Starr	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	249	Running
29	29	17	J.J. Yeley	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	248	Running
30	26	0	Jeffrey Earnhardt	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	248	Running
31	23	07	Joe Graf Jr.	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	248	Running
32	22	23	Patrick Emerling	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	248	Running
33	35	90	Spencer Boyd*	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	248	Running
34	40	52	Akinori Ogata*	Jimmy Means Racing	Chevrolet	247	Running
35	25	6	Ryan Vargas	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	246	Running
36	18	48	Jade Buford	Big Machine Racing	Chevrolet	246	Running
37	24	44	Tommy Joe Martins	Martins Motorsports	Chevrolet	227	Accident
38	36	61	Stephen Leicht	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	220	Running
39	31	4	Landon Cassill	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	179	Ignition
40	39	74	C.J. McLaughlin	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	111	Accident

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points