Chandler Smith wins Phoenix Xfinity Series race after overtime restart
Leading a race-high 88 laps, Chandler Smith put together a solid all-around race and earned his second career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. This Phoenix race got very interesting towards the end.
Chandler Smith did get into his own teammate on a Stage 3 restart. Smith sent John Hunter Nemechek around and caused a massive wreck during a restart. Smith’s car made it out mostly unscathed and he went on to win this one.
Of course, he wouldn’t have been able to win if it wasn’t for Justin Allgaier’s massive mistake. Allgaier was up almost three seconds on Smith with five laps to go and blew a tire, slamming his car into the wall.
Chandler Smith picks up his first win at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Smith will likely have a tough conversation when he gets back to the shop on Monday. He did wreck John Hunter Nemechek out of this race and Nemechek had a winning car. However, being that he picked up the win himself, I think Joe Gibbs and everyone at JGR can forgive him.
What was more interesting to me was the battle between Sheldon Creed and rookie Jesse Love. Love drives the RCR No. 2 that Creed drove just a year ago. In this situation, Love got the better of Creed and the No. 18 car.
Chandler Smith wins, SVG picks up top-10 finish
Of course, the big takeaway is that Chandler Smith has won and is now more or less locked into the Xfinity Series playoffs. However, we can’t overlook the fact that Shane van Gisbergen finished P6 in this race, and did it quietly.
In the first stage, SVG was fighting to get into the top-20. He didn’t have a great qualifying session and that cost him early. However, he did get to learn a ton while racing in the thick of things.
Slowly, the No. 97 car moved up to the top-15. From there, it was just a matter of attrition for a while. In the final stage, with that massive wreck, SVG avoided it. For just his fourth Xfinity race on an oval, the Kiwi pulled off another top-10 finish. It looked like another top-5 waiting to happen, but he couldn’t get that last pass.
Chandler Smith is the winner tonight. When the Xfinity Series returns to action in two weeks it will be at COTA. That is where we will see Shane van Gisbergen put his road course skills to the test for the first time in his new full-time series. I wouldn’t bet against him either.