Sunday night’s makeup date for the NASCAR Xfinity Series saw a new face dominating the track in Chase Briscoe.
The driver of the No. 98 captured his third career victory in the series and might have clinched an early spot in the playoffs with his trip to victory lane.
Chase Briscoe wins makeup Xfinity Race at Vegas
Briscoe has, obviously, been there before, although his previous wins were not near as dominant.
The Mitchell, Indiana native lead 89 of the race’s 200 laps, and sped away from Austin Cindric in dominating fashion to earn the win.
With just over 30 laps to go, Noah Gragson made the race a bit more interesting when he got into the left-rear quarter panel of Myatt Snider, bringing out a caution.
.@MyattSnider gets sent through the grass!
📺: https://t.co/qkbTgQOd94 pic.twitter.com/bXt6uw5oOs
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) February 24, 2020
It forced the leaders to come down pit road one more time and try to end the race on better tires, but ultimately would give Gragson a chance to improve his finish, ending the day at P4.
Snider wasn’t as lucky, as the contact forced him back and he ended up P16.
After the race, the two drivers met on pit road, and walked away without shaking hands.
* @MyattSnider has left the chat * @nascarcasm @NascarMemes @NASCAR_Xfinity @NoahGragson pic.twitter.com/aC5Tl450so
— Brent Fettkether (@brentfettkether) February 24, 2020
Gragson told Bob Pockrass after the race that the air sucked his car up to the outside through the tri-oval and into Snider’s car.
The caution hurt the momentum of Ryan Sieg, who has five career Top 5 finishes in the series over his seven-year career.
Sieg had one of the best chances he’s ever had at getting a win, but ultimately didn’t have the speed to nail it down, finishing third.
Brandon Brown gave the fans another feel-good story when he completed his second stout finish of the season.
With only one Top 10 in his career coming into 2020, Brown powered his to an 11th-place finish, one week after a seventh-place result at Daytona.
The finishes have even put Brown in a playoff spot, if the season ended today.
A bit further back in the pack was 2018 Truck Series champion Brett Moffitt, who piloted his No. 02 Our Motorsports car to its first ever Xfinity Series Top 15.
The team has ran the ARCA series in recent years, but announced that they would run a full schedule in the second-tiered league in 2020.
Moffitt has two races left in his initial four-race deal with the team.
The Xfinity Series will return to the track next Saturday as it travels to California for the annual date at Auto Club Speedway. The race is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. ET and will be televised on Fox Sports 1.
| 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff Grid | ||||
| Position | Driver | Wins | Cutoff | |
| 1 | Chase Briscoe | 1 | -0 | |
| 2 | Noah Gragson | 1 | -0 | |
| 3 | Harrison Burton | 0 | +32 | |
| 4 | Michael Annett | 0 | +29 | |
| 5 | Brandon Jones | 0 | +28 | |
| 6 | Austin Cindric | 0 | +27 | |
| 7 | Ryan Sieg | 0 | +25 | |
| 8 | Justin Haley | 0 | +25 | |
| 9 | Justin Allgaier | 0 | +22 | |
| 10 | Brandon Brown | 0 | +13 | |
| 11 | Ross Chastain | 0 | +12 | |
| 12 | Ray Black Jr. | 0 | +1 | |
| Playoff Cutoff | ||||
| 13 | Alex Labbe | 0 | -1 | |
| 14 | Jesse Little | 0 | -8 | |
| 15 | JJ Yeley | 0 | -9 | |
| 16 | Riley Herbst | 0 | -12 | |
