It’s not often in racing that you get a second chance. On Saturday night, Myatt Snider got that rare chance, and made it pay off with his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Snider took the lead with a lightning fast pit stop on the final stop of the night. Leading the field down to the first of two overtime restarts, Snider spun the tires, allowing Tyler Reddick to get around him.
A second chance for the 26-year-old North Carolina driver came moments later when A.J. Allmendinger spun in turn 1, sending the race to a second overtime restart.
That time, it was Reddick who spun his tires, allowing Snider to get away with the win. From there, as the field battled behind him, Snider drove to his first career series win.
“Yeah, I guess I learned my lesson on that first restart because I spun the wheels and then I saw Tyler spin the wheels on the next one and I knew I might have a chance,” said Snider.
It comes in his 36th series start, and it gives his Richard Childress Racing team their first win of the season. It also locks Snider into the Playoffs later this year.
“Shout out to all these RCR guys, Taxslayer, all the people who supported me over the years,” said Snider. “It’s been a rough journey, but we are here with a win and I can’t complain.”
Moments after celebrating the win on the frontstretch, Snider was congratulated by Reddick, who drives for RCR in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“I work out with Myatt quite a bit. I’ve seen him progress a lot,” said Reddick. “I knew this wasn’t far around the corner. I was just hoping that it wouldn’t come here at Homestead when I was racing against him.”
“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, but luckily we did it,” Snider said. “I can’t thank everybody enough. We slayed it.”
Things didn’t go as well for Reddick in post race inspection, however, as his No. 23 Chevrolet was disqualified for failing rear heights, stripping him of his second place finish.
The door to victory lane opened for Snider when Noah Gragson saw his fortune go south with just about three miles left to race.
Gragson had the lead with two laps to go after taking the point with just over 30 to go. Gragson had driven away from the field, and appeared to be en route to the win.
But it all went away with the lap car of David Starr blew a tire just in front of Gragson, and shot up the track and into the wall. That left Gragson with nowhere to go, and he plowed into the back of Starr’s slower car.
That left Gragson’s Chevrolet with severe front end damage, ending his night and sending the race into overtime.
“What are you going to do,” said Gragson. “We dominated the last three races here, including this one, and have stuff like that (happen).”
With Reddick’s disqualification, Atlanta, Georgia’s Brandon Jones moved to second, with Daniel Hemric in third, Jeb Burton in fourth and Austin Cindric in fifth.
Justin Haley, Brett Moffitt, Tucker, Georgia’s Ryan Sieg, Jeremy Clements and Josh Berry rounded out the top 10.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, FL
Contender Boats 250 – February 27, 2021
1. (10) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 179.
2. (4) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 179.
3. (2) Daniel Hemric, Toyota, 179.
4. (5) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 179.
5. (1) Austin Cindric, Ford, 179.
6. (8) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 179.
7. (6) Brett Moffitt(i), Chevrolet, 179.
8. (22) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 179.
9. (9) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 179.
10. (20) Josh Berry #, Chevrolet, 179.
11. (29) Riley Herbst, Ford, 179.
12. (39) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, 179.
13. (18) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 179.
14. (24) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 179.
15. (25) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 179.
16. (33) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 179.
17. (32) Dexter Bean, Chevrolet, 179.
18. (27) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 179.
19. (11) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 179.
20. (31) Jade Buford, Chevrolet, 179.
21. (40) David Starr, Toyota, 179.
22. (36) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 179.
23. (37) Chad Finchum, Toyota, 179.
24. (35) Ryan Vargas #, Chevrolet, 179.
25. (12) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 179.
26. (15) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 178.
27. (16) Joe Graf, Jr., Chevrolet, 178.
28. (26) Gray Gaulding, Chevrolet, 178.
29. (17) Matt Mills, Toyota, 178.
30. (21) Santino Ferrucci, Toyota, 177.
31. (30) Stefan Parsons, Toyota, 177.
32. (14) Jesse Little, Toyota, 177.
33. (23) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, Accident, 165.
34. (7) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, Overheating, 152.
35. (34) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, Power Steering, 148.
36. (28) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 109.
37. (13) Ty Dillon, Toyota, Radiator, 102.
38. (19) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, Accident, 98.
39. (3) Harrison Burton, Toyota, Engine, 70.
DQ: (38) Tyler Reddick(i), Chevrolet, 179.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 103.72 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 30 Mins, 59 Secs. Margin of Victory: .085 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 42 laps.
Lead Changes: 20 among 11 drivers.
Lap Leaders: A. Cindric 1-30;N. Gragson 31-32;J. Haley 33-37;A. Allmendinger 38-42;H. Burton 43;A. Allmendinger 44-73;N. Gragson 74-76;A. Cindric 77-83;C. Howard 84-86;A. Cindric 87-99;J. Clements 100-102;A. Cindric 103-115;B. Jones 116-120;A. Allmendinger 121-130;B. Moffitt(i) 131-136;N. Gragson 137-165;T. Reddick(i) 166-167;B. Jones 168;M. Snider 169-171;T. Reddick(i) 172-177;M. Snider 178-179.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Austin Cindric 4 times for 63 laps; AJ Allmendinger 3 times for 45 laps; Noah Gragson 3 times for 34 laps; Tyler Reddick(i) 2 times for 8 laps; Brett Moffitt(i) 1 time for 6 laps; Brandon Jones 2 times for 6 laps; Myatt Snider 2 times for 5 laps; Justin Haley 1 time for 5 laps; Colby Howard 1 time for 3 laps; Jeremy Clements 1 time for 3 laps; Harrison Burton 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 16,11,18,20,10,7,19,8,1,9
Stage #2 Top Ten: 22,2,9,98,19,51,39,16,10,4
Top 10 in Points: 1. Austin Cindric – 147 (1 Win); 2. Myatt Snider – 118 (1 Win); 3. Daniel Hemric – 117; 4. Jeb Burton – 106; 5. Brandon Jones – 93; 6. Justin Haley – 90; 7. Harrison Burton – 89; 8. Jeremy Clements – 87; 9. Brandon Brown – 75; 10. A.J. Allmendinger – 70.
