NASCAR at Phoenix live updates: Daniel Hemric wins Xfinity Championship in overtime

NASCAR’s Xfinity Series Championship is complete. For a full race recap, click here.

NASCAR Xfinity race results

# rookie, (i) ineligible for points, (P) playoff driver

Xfinity race live updates

Final Stage

11:18 p.m., Lap 204: Austin Cindric moves to the outside, Daniel Hemric falls in line behind him, but they’re racing side-by-side. Contact! It’s neck-and-neck to the finish, but Hemric moves to the inside with a bump-and-run move and Hemric will get it!!! Daniel Hemric wins his first Xfinity Series race, his first NASCAR race, and it’s the series championship.

“I’d take all the heartbreaks again to live this moment,” Hemric says after a monster burnout.

11:08 p.m., Lap 200: Overtime. Cars are still making laps before the restart. Austin Cindric is on the outside, Daniel Hemric is on the inside.

11 p.m., Laps 196-199: The race restarts with nine laps to go. Austin Cindric lines up on the outside and holds the lead to Daniel Hemric. Noah Gragson slaps the wall running in third! The caution comes back out for Jade Buford and Josh Williams further back in the pack. NASCAR is cleaning the track. Gragson’s team isn’t sure if he’s got a tire going down, but they settling on letting him stay out for the restart. Looks like this is going to overtime. Gragson is sixth. Allmendinger is 15th. Cindric is in first with Hemric in second.

10:54 p.m., Lap 189: The race leaders pit. Austin Cindric, Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson is the order off. Austin Cindric restarts on the outside, Hemric on the inside, Gragson on the outside. Gragson and Hemric have slight contact and then the caution comes out for Jeb Burton further back.

10:47 p.m., Lap 183: The caution is out for playoff driver A.J. Allmendinger, who goes for a big spin. Disaster! He said that he thought his tire was coming apart and feels a vibration. He tells his team that they might need to take a second to look at it.

10:42 p.m., Lap 170: Daniel Hemric is hovering two seconds behind the leader with 30 laps to go. Hemric and Noah Gragson are in third and fourth, respectively.

10:37 p.m., Lap 160: Noah Gragson has moved into fourth, passing Harrison Burton. A.J. Allmendinger is struggling with his car, and thinks he has a vibration.

10:34 p.m., Lap 154: John Hunter Nemechek is up to second as Daniel Hemric drops to third. They’re both chasing Austin Cindric in the lead, who’s still 1.7 seconds ahead of Nemechek. “Rear’s gone,” Allmendinger says.

10:29 p.m., Lap 142: Austin Cindric is in first with Daniel Hemric on his tail 0.7 seconds back. AJ Allmendinger is chasing down Noah Gragson further back for. The order is Cindric, Hemric, John Hunter Nemechek, Harrison Burton, Gragson and Allmendinger.

10:10 p.m., Lap 125: The caution is out for Stefan Parsons, whose car is up in smoke. The race restarts and Noah Gragson gains multiple spots, jumping to seventh. Justin Allgaier has a restart violation from the first place spot. He’ll get black-flagged for dropping below the yellow line. Austin Cindric and Daniel Hemric are in first and second, respectively.

9:55 p.m., Lap 108: The caution is back out after the restart for Matt Mills. Noah Gragson pits for fuel and is in 25th after the stop. Daniel Hemric is in first place.

9:47 p.m., Lap 96: Noah Gragson drops to 10th place after a slow stop. Daniel Hemric restarts on the outside and the field goes three-wide, and then the caution comes back out. This time it’s for Joe Graf Jr., who hits the outside wall hard after contact with Sage Karam. Graf Jr. is out of his car.

Stage 2

9:39 p.m., Lap 90: Daniel Hemric slides to the lead on the outside lane around John Hunter Nemechek just a few laps before the stage finish. He’s in first place with Austin Cindric moving to second before the flag. Noah Gragson is in fifth place and AJ Allmendinger is in sixth. Noah Gragson has a slow stop as a tire almost goes rogue. So far, no penalty for the team.

9:34 p.m., Lap 79: Daniel Hemric races side-by-side with Austin Cindric, and eventually gets the spot. He’s up 0.3 seconds over Cindric in second place behind John Hunter Nemechek.

9:25 p.m., Lap 66: John Hunter Nemechek surges back to the lead, passing Daniel Hemric. The gap between the Championship 4 drivers is narrowing. Justin Allgaier is in fourth.

9:22 p.m., Lap 60: The first caution is out for Jeffrey Earnhardt, who goes for a spin down the track and comes to a stop on the inside wall on the backstretch in Turn 3. Earnhardt is out of the car, which is being towed to the garage.

9:17 p.m,. Lap 51: Noah Gragson jumps to the inside as Austin Cindric files in behind Daniel Hemirc on the outside for the restart. Hemric will hold the lead after the flag. Gragson is losing pace side-drafting with the leaders to his right, and he eventually falls in line on the outside in fifth place.

9:14 p.m., Lap 49: Daniel Hemric gains a spot on pit road, beating out Austin Cindric. Noah Gragson is up to third after the pit stop. Sam Mayer gets a speeding penalty.

Stage 1

9:12 p.m., Lap 45: Austin Cindric wins the first stage of this race with Daniel Hemric catching up just before the green-and-white checkered flag. Hemric is told that he was the fastest car in the last 10 laps. Noah Gragson is in fifth for the stage finish and AJ Allmendinger is seventh.

9:06 p.m., Lap 38: Austin Cindric leads the field by 1.5 seconds in the final 10 laps of the stage. John Hunter Nemechek is in second place. Nemechek was in last night’s Championship 4 Truck Series race, but struggled after early damage and wasn’t able to catch up to the leader by the end of the race. Tonight he’s competing in the No. 54 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

9:04 p.m., Lap 34: A.J. Allmendinger hasn’t gained much pace or any positions from ninths for a few laps. His team is saying Allmendinger needs to shift, but upon closer inspection, says that he is.

9 p.m., Lap 22: Austin Cindric has surged to first place, passing John Hunter Nemechek. The Championship 4 drivers are all in the top 10 with Daniel Hemric in third. Cindric’s radio says Hemric is gaining in Turns 1 and 2, and down the backstretch, but he can’t do it every lap. Cindric has lapped 10 cars.

8:55 p.m., Lap 15: Austin Cindric moves from lane-to-lane testing the grip levels. AJ Allmendinger is stuck in 10th and trying to work through a group of cars.

8:51 p.m., Lap 7: John Hunter Nemechek has jumped out to an early. But Austin Cindric runs up to race him side-by-side and is told that he’s better. Daniel Hemric is in third place with Noah Gragson in fifth and AJ Allmendinger in 10th.

Pre-race

8:40 p.m.: Engines are fired for tonight’s Xfinity Series Championship. Austin Cindric is starting on the pole. Cars are rolling off as the sun is setting.

NASCAR announces updated cars dropping to the rear, none of which are in the championship:

No. 66 – unapproved adjustments (David Starr)

No. 07 – backup car (J.J. Yeley)

No. 20 – inspection infraction (Harrison Burton)

Kyle Larson wins Championship pole

Kyle Larson earns the pole for NASCAR’s Championship Cup race with a qualifying lap speed of 137.847 mph. Chase Elliott will start in the front row, qualifying second (136.939 mph). Denny Hamlin (136.565 mph) will start fifth and Martin Truex Jr. will start 12th (135.880 mph)

“It definitely doesn’t hurt the confidence,” Larson said. “Qualifying how hard you run in one lap is different than how you’re going to try to manage 312 laps.”

Larson noted that it boosts confidence in pit stall selection more than anything, but tangibly won’t do too much for tomorrow.

Cup inspection: Joe Gibbs Racing cars, Larson’s car fail twice

6:10 p.m.: Joe Gibbs Racing playoff cars driven by Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson’s car have twice failed pre-race inspection ahead of qualifying. They will each lose a crew member. Chase Elliott’s car passed on the first time through. The rules during race weekends with qualifying state that the penalty for a third failure means that the team will not post a qualifying lap and will have to serve a pass-through penalty. UPDATE: Larson’s car has passed on the third time through. UPDATE: All three cars pass on the third time through so the teams will each lose a crew member.

Austin Cindric lands pole for Xfinity Championship

Xfinity Qualifying Results

6:35 p.m.: Austin Cindric will start on the pole for tonight’s NASCAR Xfinity race. Cindric posted a best speed of 131.902 mph. Daniel Hemric will start fourth, Noah Gragson will start seventh and A.J. Allmendinger will start 12th.

6:20 p.m.: Noah Gragson has posted his qualifying lap with a speed of 130.804 mph. And Daniel Hemric follows with his laps with a speed of 131.066 mph to move to fourth on the board. Austin Cindric still leads.

6:08 p.m.: Austin Cindric is on top of the leaderboard with a speed of 131.902 miles per hour. A.J. Allmendinger has also made a lap, but is sitting in sixth. Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson have not yet made qualifying laps.

5:50 p.m.: The Championship 4 drivers for NASCAR’s Xfinity Series championship are Austin Cindric, A.J. Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson. Hemric’s car experienced some drama arriving. The No. 18 team’s hauler hit a deer carcass after supposedly separating from the hauler pack prior to practice yesterday, but Hemric’s primary car arrived just in time practice. He will qualify 40th (of 42).

Qualifying is underway for the Xfinity Series. The car with the fastest qualifying speed will start on the pole. Xfnity qualifying can be viewed on the NBC Sports App/TrackPass. The format is single vehicle, two laps.

NASCAR also has announced that pre-race inspection is complete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series garage with no penalties.

Meanwhile, pre-race inspection is underway in the Cup garage. Cup Series qualifying is at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast live on CNBC. The format is the same as Xfinity qualifying.

HOW TO WATCH NASCAR XFINITY RACE AT PHOENIX

• Race: NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship
• Distance: 200 miles (200 laps) with stages ending on laps 45, 90 and 200
• Where: Phoenix Raceway
• When: Saturday, November 6 at 8 p.m.
• TV: NBCSN
• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

• Purse: $1,622,583

This story was originally published November 6, 2021 at 5:50 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription