Myatt Snider is a winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series as he bested possibly the driver best suited to win at Homestead-Miami Speedway that there’s ever been (Tyler Reddick) to take his first-career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory.
“I knew that Tyler had a lot of experience as a Cup driver, so, I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task beating him,” Snider said. “But, luckily, we did it. I just can’t thank everybody enough. We slayed it.”
Snider lined up with the lead on the first green-white-checkered finish attempt, but he spun his tires and lost the lead to Reddick. When AJ Allmendinger spun to re-rack the field, Snider got another shot at Reddick, and he capitalized.
“Yeah, I guess I learned my lesson on that first restart,” Snider explained. “I spun the wheels. Then, I saw Tyler spin the wheels on the next one and I knew I might have a chance. So, got to shout out to all of these RCR guys, TaxSlayer, all of these people who have supported me over the years. It’s been a rough journey, but we’re here with a win and I can’t complain.”
While it was a solid runner-up performance for Reddick, unfortunately, the record books will show it as a last-place effort. Reddick’s No. 23 car was too-low in post race inspection, and Reddick was disqualified as a result.
Behind Snider in the official results were Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Brandon Jones and Daniel Hemric in second and third.
For Hemric, it was an impressive rally after he struck his tire carrier Joshua Shiplett on the first pit stop of the day.
Video: Daniel Hemric Strikes Tire Carrier On Pit Road In Miami
Shiplett also serves as Denny Hamlin’s tire carrier in the NASCAR Cup Series. It’ll be a storyline to watch if Shiplett is able to pit Hamlin on Sunday.
Jeb Burton finished fourth in his No. 10 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet Camaro, while Austin Cindric finished fifth.
Justin Haley, Brett Moffitt, Ryan Sieg, Jeremy Clements and Josh Berry rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.
In the closing laps of the race, it appeared that Noah Gragson would be heading to victory lane. The driver of the No. 9 JR Motorsports machine had led 34 laps and had a more than nine second lead over Reddick. Then, coming to two laps to go, David Starr cut a tire in front of Gragson and the two collided.
Video: Noah Gragson Crashes With David Starr While Leading With Two Laps to go at Homestead
The disappointment was exuding from Gragson upon exiting the infield care center.
“What are you going to do? You’ve got dipshits in the way every single week,” Gragson said. “But very thankful for Johnny Morris and Bass Pro Shops. It’s a shame, we’ve dominated the last three races including this race and had stuff happen like that.”
Instead of capturing his first win of the 2021 season, Gragson was relegated to a 33rd-place finish.
Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race was wild, entertaining and unpredictable and things concluded with the second-consecutive first-time winner in the Series.
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