Chandler Smith wins Phoenix Xfinity race after Allgaier’s shock exit

Justin Allgaier appeared to have Saturday’s win well in hand with a more than two-second advantage over Smith when a flat left-front tire sent his No. 7 Chevrolet into the Turn wall with five laps remaining.

The wreck and cleanup sent the race into a two-lap overtime, where Smith got a good run on the start and held off a fast-charging Jesse Love by 0.365 seconds to claim the surprise win.

The victory is the second of Smith’s career and first since he joined Joe Gibbs Racing in the offseason.

“What a day. We went from dominating, to we weren’t great, to dominating again, to wasn’t great again, just lacked a little bit on (Allgaier),” Smith said. “I hate that happened to him. He definitely had it in the bag.

“I’m so proud of everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. It’s to finally get this first one off the back with these guys. We need to keep racking them up.”

Smith’s JGR teammate, Sheldon Creed, finished third, Austin Hill was fourth and Cole Custer completed the top five.

Rounding out the top 10 were three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen, Brandon Jones, Parker Kligerman, Sammy Smith and Anthony Alfredo.

Stage 1
Chandler Smith cruised to a dominating Stage 1 win over Custer, leading all 45 laps. Allgaier was third, Aric Almirola fourth and Riley Herbst rounded out the top five.

Jeremy Clements, Josh Williams, Dawson Cram and Patrick Emerling were involved in an early-race incident that knocked Emerling out of the race and sent Williams several laps down.

Stage 2
Custer held off a late charge by Allgaier to claim the Stage 2 win by 0.457 seconds, his first stage victory of the 2024 season. Almirola was third, Chandler Smith fourth and Herbst rounded out the top five.

Stage 3
During the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead lap cars all pit with Custer first off pit road. When the final stage got under way, Custer led Allgaier and Herbst with 100 laps remaining.

NASCAR threw a caution on lap 138 for debris on the track after Hailie Deegan tagged the wall. That sent all the cars down pit road for new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race. John Hunter Nemechek was the first off pit road and led Allgaier and Herbst on the restart on lap 144.

Just after the restart, Chandler Smith and Nemechek made contact off Turn 2, which triggered a multi-car wreck that collected nearly a dozen cars.

The race was halted for about 11 minutes so the track could be cleared of debris and fluid. Among the contenders knocked out of the race were Nemechek, Sam Mayer and Jeb Burton.

Allgaier led Chandler Smith and Custer when the race resumed with 49 laps remaining.

With 20 laps to go, Allgaier maintained a more than 2-second lead over Chandler Smith as Creed moved up to third.

The race changed dramatically with five laps remaining, when Allgaier had a tire go down entering Turn 1, spun and backed into the wall, which destroyed his No. 7 Chevrolet and sent the race into overtime.

Entering the two-lap overtime, Chandler Smith was the leader, followed by Creed, Love, Custer and Hill.