The NASCAR Xfinity Series made its long-awaited return to Rockingham Speedway on Saturday for the North Carolina Education Lottery 250.
The last time the Xfinity Series raced at Rockingham was on February 21, 2004, then known as the Busch Series where the race was won by Jamie McMurray.
JR Motorsports driver Connor Zilisch started the race on the pole with Alpha Prime Racing driver Parker Retzlaff starting second. However, Zilisch had to start in the rear due to a flat tire during qualifying. Nick Sanchez led the field to the green flag.
In Stage 1, Sanchez led the opening 44 laps. During the stage, there were two cautions. The first happened on lap 12 when Vicente Salas spun down the backstretch before hitting the inside wall, and on lap 52 saw William Sawalich attempting to pass the lapped car of Katherine Legge before making contact and collecting Kasey Kahne. Jesse Love led 12 laps and Sanchez led six laps to win the stage.
In Stage 2, there was one caution on lap 110 when there was contact between Sheldon Creed and Justin Bonsignore at Turn 4. Carson Kvapil led 38 laps, Jesse Love led one lap, and Kvapil led an additional nine laps. Late in the stage, teams went to pit road and Dean Thompson was the new leader and led eight laps to win the stage.
In the final stage, there were nine cautions. The big one happened late in the race when Christian Eckes stumbled on the restart causing a chain reaction crash involving Justin Allgaier, Nick Sanchez, Brandon Jones, Ryan Sieg, Austin Green, Thomas Annunziata, Carson Kvapil, and Jeremy Clements to send the race to overtime. At the time of the caution, Jesse Love was the leader.
In overtime, Jesse Love battled Sammy Smith for the lead. Smith cleared Love on the restart but Love bumped him out of the way sending Smith high. Jesse Love took the lead and went on to win his second race of the season by 0.691 seconds over Sammy Smith.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Parker Retzlaff third, Harrison Burton fourth, Brennan Poole fifth, Taylor Gray sixth, Austin Hill seventh, Josh Williams eighth, Jeb Burton ninth, and Daniel Dye tenth. There were 17 lead changes among eight drivers. Ryan Sieg led 77 laps, the most in the race, and Jesse Love led 53 laps. There were 14 cautions for 83 laps.
The Xfinity Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway next Saturday at 4 pm on The CW. Purchase NASCAR Xfinity Series tickets today at StubHub.
Update: Richard Childress Racing driver Jesse Love was disqualified from the win due to issues pertaining to the rear suspension, and JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith has been declared the winner.
