After losing a heartbreaker at his home track in Las Vegas, Noah Gragson continued his hot start to the 2022 campaign, winning the United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway Saturday in dominating fashion.
Gragson led 114 of the race’s 200 laps, including 72 of the final 87 circuits. The 23-year-old Gragson made the winning pass on race runner-up Brandon Jones with 15 laps remaining and navigated lapped traffic with ease to cruise to a comfortable win.
The win marks the fourth consecutive top-three finish to start the season for Gragson, who has an average finish this year of 2.0 in the early stage of 2022.
“Feels great,” said Gragson, who now has six career Xfinity Series wins. “Pit crew executed great and this team has been on a roll so far this year. Top three finishes in all four races. Can’t thank everybody enough for all their hard work.’’
Behind him, Jones had used a short-pit strategy to try and stay in front of Gragson, but it wasn’t enough, especially on the long green flag run of over 100 laps to the checkered flag.
“I’m still all-in-all very happy to come home second,” said Jones, whose season got off to a rough start with a crash two weeks ago and a 17th place in the Daytona season-opener.
Gragson’s teammate Josh Berry finished third, while polesitter and Stage One winner Trevor Bayne finished fourth in his second start of the season. John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top-five in the Sam Hunt Racing #26 Toyota, leading the first laps in the team’s history in the process.
Regarding the points championship, Gragson widened the gap considerably with his win, leading sixth-place finisher Ty Gibbs by 39 points, almost a full race when not accounting for stage points.
The Xfinity Series will head back to the southern United States to race at the newly-reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 19. The Nalley Cars 250 is set to go green at around 5 p.m. local time.