Polesitter Ty Gibbs was nearly untouchable in Saturday’s Shriners Children’s 200 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l, sweeping the first two stages. Though in overtime, it was a different story.
Leading the field to the overtime restart, Gibbs held the bottom while JR Motorsports’ Sam Mayer was lurking in third. Mayer dove deep into the first corner, tagging Gibbs’ No. 19 Toyota Camry and sending the reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion spinning aimlessly out of the lead.
From there, Mayer fought hard with Richard Childress Racing’s Sheldon Creed, eventually stealing the lead away from the driver of the No. 2 Chevrolet with two laps to go.
Mayer led the rest of the way to score his second career Xfinity Series win.
“Yeah, I wheel-hopped it,” Mayer said. “That’s unfortunate. I feel bad for doing that, obviously. Don’t want to take out a Gibbs car like that — or any car like that. Just trying to get another win in the Xfinity Series. I mean, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
“I was in there. I put my nose in there, and that’s part of it. Fenders are fenders.”
What a final #NASCAROvertime restart. 😮 pic.twitter.com/tNCv3oGUZJ
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) August 19, 2023
The 20-year-old also won at Road America (Wis.) earlier in the year, another road course on the schedule.
With Mayer celebrating in victory lane, Gibbs was left with a 17th-place finish after leading 70 of the 86 laps.
“I think when you have to race out of desperation like that and you wheel hop and clean the leader out, I guess you can call it a racing incident,” Gibbs said. “It just really sucks. We had a really fast Monster Energy He Gets Us Toyota Supra and I really appreciate all of the hard work from them.
“We had a great time out there. I really wish that caution hadn’t come out right there. It definitely sucks to get cleaned out there.”
Amidst all the chaos, Creed finished runner-up, matching his career-best run in the series. Parker Kligerman brought his No. 48 Chevrolet home in third, followed by NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross Chastain in fourth.
Sam Hunt Racing’s Connor Mosack finished fifth, his best result in two years of part-time competition.
What Else Went Down
• Gibbs led the field to the green flag and he’d lead the entire first stage. The first caution came out one lap after Stage One ended when Ryan Ellis stopped on the race track. Gibbs won Stage Two as well.
• A caution on lap 46 brought out the third caution when Max McLaughlin spun from 29th in the final turn and slammed into the wall before stopping on track.
• The race got into a long, green flag run, allowing for varying strategy calls.
Playing it safe, Gibbs pit for a splash of fuel with nine laps to go, while his competitors continued to save fuel. A caution with seven laps to go came shortly after when Parker Retzlaff spun in turn six, getting stuck in the gravel trap.
That changed everything for the frontrunners.
While some came into the pits, drivers like Mayer and Allgaier decided to stay out and save fuel. The two JRM drivers would lead the field to the restart with four laps to go.
• From third, Gibbs launched off the start, eventually swiping the lead away from Mayer through the esses after the two made contact.
A pass through the bus stop led to calamity as Allgaier got clipped by Cole Custer. The wreck collected Brandon Jones, Alex Bowman and Kaz Grala.
• An overtime restart set up a thrilling finish, with Mayer sealing the deal.