Ty Gibbs passed hometown favorite Noah Gragson on a late restart and held him off to win the Alsco Uniforms 300 under caution at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday. Gibbs took the white flag and held a comfortable lead when Bayley Currey and C.J. McLaughlin crashed in the tri-oval on the last lap.
The win is the fifth of Gibbs’s career in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and the first win of 2022 for the 19-year-old North Carolinian.
Gibbs, who drives for the powerhouse team owned by his grandfather, legendary NFL head coach Joe Gibbs, was grateful for some help from drivers of another team.
“I want to say thank you to Justin Allgaier for my push,” Gibbs said regarding the final restart. “I had a fun time racing with the Junior cars (JR Motorsports) too so hopefully we can keep it going and win some more races.”
Gibbs’ day was not without some controversy, however. At lap four of the 200-lap race, Gibbs had a run-in with veteran driver Ryan Sieg. The two made contact while racing hard, sending Sieg’s Ford into the wall. Sieg’s team, the low-budget family-owned RSS Racing, was still making repairs to the car when the race was delayed by rain and snow.
Sieg and Gibbs appeared to have an animated discussion during the red flag.
“It’s tough, but it is what it is,” Sieg told reporters while still waiting by his car. “He’s definitely going to have to learn his lesson, you know what I mean.’’
Sieg tried to deliver that lesson after the race re-started, waiting on Gibbs and running him up the track in turn four a few laps later, only to spin and wreck himself. The incident took Sieg out of the race for good and warranted a discussion with officials in the NASCAR hauler after the race.
While Gibbs was initially defiant for his responsibility on the incident during the red flag, he had softened his stance after the race.
“I want to apologize to the 39 (Sieg) for the contact I made,” Gibbs said. “It wasn’t my best decision and I’m sorry to the whole group, Ryan’s family they work so hard.
Second place was certainly a bitter pill for Noah Gragson to swallow. He won both Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the race and was leading when the final caution came out for a multi-car wreck in Turn 4. Both Gragson and his JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier combined to lead over half the race.
“I just kind of got beat at our own game there. Restarts just came up short,” Gragson said. “Just needed to be better. Congrats to them and we’ll keep working hard. Obviously, I wanted to be in Victory Lane, but it could be a hell of a lot worse.”
Defending Xfinity Series champion Daniel Hemric was third, followed by Josh Berry and Allgaier.
While Gragson didn’t win in the end, he still holds the lead in the points standings, with an average finish of 2.3 to start the season. Gragson holds a 17 points advantage over Gibbs.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is set to wrap up their West coast tour next weekend in the Phoenix desert for the United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway Saturday, March 12.