Xfinity New Holland 250 Takeaways

By: Tom Luttermoser   Image: Tom Luttermoser

So my first Xfinity Series coverage... Hot.. Muggy.. But a hell of a lot of fun! Noah Gragson scored the Poll, he won Stage 1, he won Stage 2 and chose to stay out during caution to do so which lost him all of that track position. It was a fairly uneventful race with only 2 cautions for cause and of course the stage breaks for a total of 19 laps. The leaders were very tough to pass once they got their noses out into clean air and the 54 & 9 cars really showed that leading a combined 93 laps. 

The 8 car of Josh Berry very early in the race slapped the outside wall but still managed to fight back and scored the 1 point from finishing 10th in Stage 1. Stage 2 was pretty eventful when you compare to the remainder of the event, the first caution for cause, the 38 car of Matt Mills slammed into the outside wall of Turn 2 with the 78 of CJ McLaughlin going to miss him and losing the car, destroying both and they both failed to finish the event. The Second for cause caution, the 08 of David Starr had a small incident on the backstretch. Most of the leaders chose to pit but this is where Gragson was given the option to stay out and took it. He would go on to win the second stage and finished the race P3. 

At only 19 years old, Ty Gibbs now has 5 Xfinity wins this season making a total of 9. He was absolutely a fast car and when in post race with us here in the media center, he said he doesn't believe in luck or circumstances and just contributes everything to his team and God as he always does. One thing I noticed about young Ty Gibbs is that interviews are not necessarily his strong suit as he answered my question about being tasked with filling in for Kurt Busch with the same answer he gave to 2 or 3 other questions referencing that he doesn't believe in circumstances. Obviously, he is young and an extremely talented driver so I do not in any way hold that against him. 

Post race, I spoke with runner up Justin Allgaier who was obviously very proud of the run from his #7 Junior Motorsports team. He told me that he felt if there was a late race restart he had the confidence he could have stood against Gibbs and the 18 car. 

I also attempted to speak with Noah Gragson who came from the back after winning both stages. He was overheated and you could tell he was absolutely not happy with the finishing spot in P3. He told Daniel McFadin that he threw up in the race car (in his helmet) saying "I don't know why I throw up in the car." When he was asked about a cool suit, he simply said he's too big and doesnt fit in his suit. I could tell he was out of it and just didn't pursue any questioning.

I also had a quick conversation with Brandon Jones and Austin Hill as well, Check out all of my Post Race interviews on the Seriously Fast Media YouTube.