It looked like Austin Cindric was going to follow up his double race wins at Kentucky from last week with a win in Stage 1 of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series My Bariatric Solutions 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, but in the second half of the Stage, the handling went away on the No. 22 car.
Meanwhile, Justin Allgaier’s car came to life and the driver of the No. 7 cruised to the Stage 1 Win.
Brandon Jones and Kyle Busch also got around Cindric before the end of Stage 1 as they finished second and third. Cindric finished Stage 1 in fourth.
Chase Briscoe, who leads the series with five wins this season, finished fifth in the opening Stage.
Harrison Burton was sixth and he was followed by the controversial Noah Gragson. Gragson, who hasn’t been making friends on the track this season, got into Riley Herbst in the opening laps and sent Herbst hard into the wall.
Michael Annett, Ross Chastain and Anthony Alfredo rounded out the top-10 in Stage 1.
Stage and Playoff Points Awarded in Stage 1:
| Finish | Driver | Stage Points | Playoff Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Allgaier | 10 | 1 |
| 2 | Brandon Jones | 9 | 0 |
| 3 | Kyle Busch* | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Austin Cindric | 7 | 0 |
| 5 | Chase Briscoe | 6 | 0 |
| 6 | Harrison Burton | 5 | 0 |
| 7 | Noah Gragson | 4 | 0 |
| 8 | Michael Annett | 3 | 0 |
| 9 | Ross Chastain | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | Anthony Alfredo | 1 | 0 |
*indicates a driver who is ineligible for series points.
