March 12, 2022 By HOLLY CAIN NASCAR Wire Service Noah Gragson came heartbreakingly close a week ago to his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2022 season. On Saturday, his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet left no doubt as to who would be hoisting the winner’s trophy. Gragson led 72 of the final 87 laps – a race best 114 of 200 laps on the day - to earn the win in the United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway. He passed race runner-up Brandon Jones with 15 laps remaining, negotiated lapped traffic and ultimately pulled away to an impressive 2.555-second win.…

March 6, 2022 By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS _ Alex Bowman won in a dramatic overtime ending in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday – gambling on a two-tire final pit stop for his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and holding off the field in a two-lap sprint to decide the NASCAR Cup Series race. Bowman and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson made up the front row on the restart – the pair along with teammate William Byron took two tires on the final pit stop while Kyle Busch, who had led 40 of the previous…

March 5, 2022 By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS _ Ty Gibbs pulled away from the field on a restart with six laps remaining and held off the hometown favorite, Noah Gragson to claim his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season in Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was the first win of the year for Gibbs, 19, the grandson of NASCAR Hall of Fame Team Owner and three-time Super Bowl Champion Head Coach Joe Gibbs. He had an eventful day from the drop of the green flag. His No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing…

March 4, 2021 By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – Nineteen year-old Chandler Smith took the lead with two laps remaining and held off 2021 championship contender Zane Smith and the winningest driver in NASCAR national-series history, his team owner Kyle Busch, to win the Victoria’s Voice 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was a deservedly dramatic ending for a hugely competitive race at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas track – marking the ninth consecutive truck series race won by a driver 23 years of age or younger. Smith’s .289-second win over Zane Smith…

February 27, 2022 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson waited until late in Sunday’s Wise Power 400 to flex his muscles. But in the end, the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet held off a charging Austin Dillon by .195 seconds at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., to notch his first victory of the season, his second at the 2-mile track and the 17th of his career. In a race that featured 12 cautions for 59 laps, Larson, who started from the rear of the field because of unapproved adjustments to his…

February 26, 2022 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service Californian Cole Custer was the only former Auto Club Speedway winner in the field for Saturday’s Production Alliance 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race in Fontana, Calif. Three overtimes, 12 cautions and more than three hours of official race time later, Custer was still the only former winner in the Fontana field, having beaten runner-up Noah Gragson to the finish line by .565 seconds. It was a long day’s journey into night, a race that started in mid-afternoon and unexpectedly ended under the lights in temperatures that dropped appreciably between the start and the…