Noah Gragson snags NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Martinsville: Locks himself into to the Championship-four

Wade Payne/Associated Press

     Noah Gragson worked the hard way last night, making some aggressive moves all race long as he had one thing in mind for Martinsville Speedway; a win. For the first time in his career, Gragson will advance to the Xfinity Series Championship-four.

After some bad luck at Kansas Speedway last week, it placed Gragson and his No. 9 team in a must-win situation for Martinsville Speedway. Gragson did what he needed to do at the right time, beating Austin Cindric to the checkered flag by only a hair. Had Gragson not won, his teammate Justin Allgaier would have moved on to compete for the championship at Phoenix next week, but Gragson's timely performance prevented that reality from occuring. 

Austin Cindric started the race on pole and went on to win the first Stage. Ty Gibbs, who won last week's Xfinity race at Kansas, made his final Xfinity start of the 2021 the season. Gibbs was another aggressive driver, with moves that included; brake-checking the No. 8 car of Sam Mayer, which destroyed the right front fender of Mayer's car. Gibbs also raced his teammates very hard, and was eventually spun from the lead crashing into Harrison Burton his JGR teammate. This incident would end Burton's championship hopes.

Aside from Austin Cindric's occasional run in with Noah, this race was essentially Noah Gragson vs. Joe Gibbs Racing. Drivers like Ty Gibbs, Harrison Burton, and Daniel Hemric all got up front where Gragson had been all night. While each driver had short bursts of success, no Joe Gibbs Racing driver was successful for very long as Gragon time and time again retrieved the lead. The frequent cautions were pivotal to Noah Gragson's success as he had a plethora of short run speed. For another weekend, Daniel Hemric has sleeked out his first ever NASCAR win, and once again the he ran out of opportunities to prove himself.

Our Spring 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Martinsville winner, Josh Berry was certainly fast here in the "Dead On Tools" 250. Even though Berry's time with JR Motorsports was limited this season, Berry has had several opportunities to drive the No. 31 for Jordan Anderson Racing, and during this race he once again impressed. Jordan Anderson Racing's No. 31 entry has been surprisingly fast this season, especially considering they never even competed in the Xfinity Series prior to this past May. Josh Berry, a bonafide short track racer only further proved his talent, and JAR's speed as he drove the "Halloween Machine" well within the Top-10, before an unfortunate turn of events left him spun out by Riley Herbst.

Noah Gragson, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Cindric and Daniel Hemric have advanced to the Championship-four, and will compete in Phoenix next weekend for a title.

Austin Cindric won stage 1 of this race, and Noah Gragson won stage 2.

The following are the complete race results:

NASCAR Media