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| Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images |
Noah Gragson has officially won the “Sports Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200” at Darlington Raceway, scoring his third career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, and his first in the 2021 season.
Just days after the announcement that Gragson will return to JR Motorsports in 2022, the No. 9 team certainly displayed some strength here at Darlington Raceway’s 1.366 mile oval track. Like normal, drivers like Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, and Justin Allgaier we’re towards the front of the pack for a monotype of the day, but the real surprise came from the other drivers that surrounded them. Drivers like Daniel Hemric, Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson, and Jeremy Clements we’re all out competing the average series winners. Most of these drivers have not seen such a good race so far this season, and finishing where they did on the final lap, as well as during the stage breaks brought some points to their teams. Unfortunately, Daniel Hemric lost control of his car with only laps to go, and effectively ruined what had been a breakout day for the driver of the No. 18 Toyota Supra. Hemric would finish 24th, whereas Gragson won, Harrison Burton finished a close 2nd, and Clements finished a solid 8th.
One driver who went through quite the wild ride during today’s race was Denny Hamlin. The veteran NASCAR driver came crown to the lower Xfinity Series for today’s race driving his team owner’s No. 54 entry with sports clips sponsorship. He was having a very solid stage 1, and it looked like he was about to cruise to the stage one victory, that was until Carson Ware came into the picture. The young driver was fighting to stay ahead of Hamlin, and as Hamlin attempted to squeeze the No. 74 of Ware up and out of the way, the two drivers made contact. Ware effectively stayed out of the wall, but Hamlin who wasn’t so lucky began to spin and would give up the lead position to his teammate Daniel Hemric. Hemric took the lead on the final lap of stage 1. Later in the race, the No. 54 team would come over the pit wall too soon, and Hamlin would be penalized and forced to head to the rear of the field, ending his chances at the race win.
Another incident that stood out good and clear during this race was one between Riley Herbst and Tommy Joe Martins. Part way through stage 2 of this race, the No. 44 of Martins lost its engine and was rapidly decelerating during green flag conditions. Herbst who was a few cars behind Martins saw the cars in front of him slowing, which was done to avoid Martins’ car. Riley Herbst did not know anything about Martins’ situation, and decided to pull out from behind the cars in front of him. Unfortunately for the No. 98 team as soon as Herbst pulled out, he slammed head first into the rear of the No. 44 Camaro, completely destroying his race car. Flames engulfed the No. 98 car, and the team would park it for the day, but luckily both drivers were not hurt.
This is definitely not a fun situation for either driver, but it certainly hurt more for Tommy Joe Martins and his family’s team “Martins Motorsports”. As stated, this is a family team, and a small one at that. In a matter of seconds that team lost one of their engines, and chassis, and other equiptment. This wreck will have a huge impact on their team as they continue the season, before eventually sharing ownership and becoming Alpha Prime Racing in 2022.
Darlington Raceway always puts on a good show, and it certainly didn’t disappoint this time around!
Daniel Hemric won stage 1 of this race, and race winner Noah Gragson also won stage 2.
The following are the complete race results:
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| NASCAR |
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