Noah Gragson wins the Go Bowling 250 at Richmond Raceway

Credit: RICHMOND, VIRGINIA - SEPTEMBER 11. Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Entering the Go Bowling 250 at Richmond only one point separated the top two NASCAR XFinity Series competitors, Team Penske’s Austin Cindric and Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger, with only two races left in the regular season. The No. 22 started in the pole position with Allmendinger starting in eighth. It didn’t take long for the two to run neck and neck, swapping positions frequently throughout the race.

It was a given that Cindric and Allmendinger would give the fans a lot to good racing to watch. However, the fans had plenty of storylines to follow as Dale Earnhardt Jr. returned to the No. 8 Unilever United For America Chevrolet for his annual Xfinity Series start.

But what may have not been on everyone’s radar was the strength of rookie Ty Gibbs’ debut run at Richmond Raceway. Ty Gibbs led 67 laps, but in Lap 176 he lost the lead to Harrison Burton on a restart and for a while it looked like it was Burton’s race to lose.

But ever so quietly the No. 9 of Noah Gragson was making his way through the field. In Lap 237 Gragson took the lead from AJ Allmendinger and for two weeks in a row he climbed the fence for a racing-winning celebration. This is Gragson’s second victory and 16th Top 10 finish in 2021, and his first victory and fifth Top 10 finish in six races at Richmond Raceway. The victory is JR Motorsports' sixth win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Richmond.

While Gragson celebrated the victory, he credited his team for their hard work all year long. “It feels really good to get this team into Victory Lane again. We’ve had a lot of speed all year long, but we haven’t been able to get them to Victory Lane. We are just hitting good strides as a team, but I know you are only as good as your last week,” Gragson said.

Next week the NASCAR Xfinity Series travels to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 300 for a Friday night race with AJ Allmendinger leading the point standings by five points over Austin Cindric.

Credit: RICHMOND, VIRGINIA - SEPTEMBER 1. Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images