RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Tempers exploded at Richmond Raceway on Saturday during the ToyotaCare 250 race as part of the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
As the checkered flag was waved, Chandler Smith crossed the line in the lead followed by Aric Almirola and Taylor Gray in third. Corey Heim, the driver for the local-owned Sam Hunt Racing team, came in a close fourth.
Stage 1
Parker Retzlaff started in pole position and managed to maintain his lead early in the race despite a paper plate getting stuck on his grill.
On lap 20, Ryan Vargas’ car caught fire due to a malfunction, causing him to retire. A caution flag was issued, followed by a race restart just before lap 30 that Justin Allgaier used as an opportunity to take the lead with Corey Heim in a close second.
At lap 43, Brandon Jones spun out at turn one, spilling fluid onto the track with flames visible from one of his front tires. The lockup also caused Ryan Seig to spin out and resume the race in last place after the yellow flag.
Also at lap 43, Heim took over as the race leader — his first time leading an Xfinity Series race in his career thus far.
Shortly after the yellow flag was lifted, however, Heim dropped to third with Allgaier and Almirola taking over in first and second, respectively.
With 10 laps to go, Almirola took the lead, eventually pulling away from the rest of the pack.
At the end of Stage 1, Almirola took the first place finish, followed by Poole in second and Heim in third.
Stage 2
Following a shakeup of the teams on pit road, Stage 2 started with Almirola in first, followed by Allgaier in second and Riley Herbst in third.
On lap 96, Logan Bearden had a lock-up on turn three, causing his car to spin.
At the restart on lap 102, with Almirola still in the lead, Herbst spun his tires, allowing Allgaier and Smith to take over in second and third.
By lap 125, three more drivers — Blaine Perkins, Patrick Emerling and Sheldon Creed — had been retired from the race due to a variety of issues including mechanical failures and damage.
Stage 2 ended with Almirola in first, Sam Mayer in second and Smith in third. Heim managed to take over Allgaier for fifth place after a rocky start from the 11th position after the pit stop.
Stage 3
After a pit stop contact between Mayer and Gray, Stage 3 began with a sudden flat tire for Mayer who was forced to make an early pit stop on lap 163.
At lap 167, Smith was in the lead, followed by Almirola in second and Allgaier in third.
At lap 173, Joey Gase made contact with Dawson Cram on turn one before crashing into the wall. Significant damage to the rear of the car resulted in the back bumper of the car nearly being ripped off.
After getting out of the wrecked vehicle, Gase tore off the rear bumper cover from his car, marched across the track and threw it at Cram’s car as it passed by as part of the yellow flag procession.
Gase’s vehicle was retired from the race shortly thereafter.
At the restart of the race on lap 181, Allgaier led the pack with Cole Custer in second and Herbst in third. The top 14 cars did not pit.
At lap 191, Smith took the lead again followed by Custer in second. Almirola closed from fifth to second between lap 191 and lap 194 with fresher tires.
By lap 213, the top eight cars had fresh tires from pitting at lap 181 — with Smith in first, Almirola in second and Heim in third.
Smith clinched the win with Almirola finishing second and Gray in third. A full list of the race results can on the NASCAR website.
