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2021 Xfinity Homesterad Myatt Snider, No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Flag (Credit: NKP)

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Myatt Snider Scores 1st Xfinity Win in Wild Homestead Race

Adam Cheek

For the second week in a row, the NASCAR Xfinity Series had a first-time winner… and for the third straight week, a race in one of the sport’s three series was won by a first-timer.

Myatt Snider won a chaotic, drama-filled Contender Boats 250 on Saturday (Feb. 27) afternoon, scoring his first career win after spending time in NASCAR’s two lower series. The victory was also Richard Childress Racing’s first in Xfinity competition since Tyler Reddick won at the track in November 2019, securing his second series championship in the No. 2. Reddick was also in Saturday’s race, competing in the No. 23 for RSS Racing.

Austin Cindric and Daniel Hemric led the field to green, with the former leading the opening lap and through the lap 25 caution.

The yellow flag was for the No. 99 of Stefan Parsons, who spun off of turn 4, and the ensuing pace laps gave way to pit stops. Hemric came to his box at an odd angle, smacking a tire in the hands of his carrier and sending the crewmember sprawling.

The carrier, Josh Shipplett, was taken to the infield care center and was replaced by one of teammate Harrison Burton’s crewmembers. Hemric’s crew is the same team that works on Denny Hamlin‘s Cup Series car, and it was not announced whether Shipplett would return for tomorrow’s 400-mile race.

Reddick, meanwhile, raced his way close to the top 10 despite starting 35th in his No. 23 RSS Racing machine, while Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger and Justin Haley battled for the lead and stage win on the restart. Allmendinger prevailed, while Haley ran second and their stablemate Jeb Burton came home fifth.

Santino Ferrucci, in his series debut, scraped the wall and came to pit road, but had to bring his Sam Hunt Racing machine back to serve a pass-through for running over equipment. Parsons, meanwhile, brought out another caution on lap 67 – this one for mechanical issues plaguing the No. 99.

Burton, who won one of 2020’s two races at the track, had his day literally go up in smoke as clouds billowed out of the No. 20; his day was done.

Cindric lined up 22nd with six laps left in the second stage and the No. 22 took off, passing half the top 10 in half a lap and eventually securing the lead and stage victory.

The No. 22 also won the race off pit road, followed by a restart that provided plenty of three-wide racing; Snider made a run at the lead before fading back some, where he battled with Noah Gragson. Snider got loose, though, nicking the quarter panel of the No. 9. Gragson slid and tagged the wall, but neither car suffered significant damage and continued.

Gragson’s JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier later moved up into Riley Herbst on the backstretch, bringing out a caution as the No. 7 suffered heavy damage to the right front. Allgaier took his Chevrolet to the garage as Cindric retook the lead on the restart.

Ty Dillon, who had had a quiet race so far, took his No. 54 to the garage as well with a hole in the radiator.

A fire under Colby Howard‘s car brought out the sixth yellow flag of the afternoon, restacking the field. On the restart, Allmendinger battled with Brandon Jones while Josh Berry made an appearance in the top 10 behind them. The No. 16 eventually got by Jones for the lead, but their battle allowed the rest of the top five to close in.

Moffitt, in Our Motorsports’ No. 02, crept closer to Allmendinger before eventually slipping by the No. 16 for the lead, but behind them Gragson had worked his way back up through the top 10.

It didn’t take long before the No. 9 sliced his way to the front, passing Moffitt with just over 30 laps remaining.

Gragson gapped Moffitt by more than a second before the No. 02 started closing back in, battling briefly before fading back to a half-second deficit. At the same time, Reddick had climbed into the top five.

Lapped traffic held Gragson up and Moffitt closed in on the back bumper, but couldn’t quite get by the No. 9 and eventually tagged the wall. That hit was enough to cut down the right rear tire of the No. 02, forcing Moffitt to pit road while Reddick took over the runner-up spot.

The unexpected moment of the race hit right afterward as Gragson closed in on David Starr. Starr’s car abruptly coasted up the track right into the wall in front of Gragson, who had nowhere to go: Gragson piled into the back of the No. 13, bringing the possibility of a victory crashing down for the No. 9 team.

Reddick inherited the top spot and led most of the field to pit road ahead of an overtime restart, but the No. 23 came out second as Snider beat him to the line.

Allmendinger spun to bring out another caution on the restart, while Snider retained the lead and had another opportunity on the next.

The No. 2 fired off perfectly as the next five or six cars battled for second behind him, making two perfect circuits and finishing just ahead of Reddick, Jones and Hemric. The top four were nearly under a blanket as they crossed the line. Snider’s first win came after 35 starts in the Camping World Truck Series and in his 36th Xfinity appearance; his previous best was a fourth-place effort at Pocono in 2020.

“I guess I learned my lesson on that first restart,” Snider said in his post-race interview, “because I spun the wheels and then I saw Tyler [Reddick] spin the wheels the next one and I knew I might have a chance. Shoutout to all these RCR guys … all these people that have supported me over the years. It’s been a rough journey but we’re here with a win and I can’t complain.

“I knew that Tyler had a lot of experience as a Cup driver,” Snider added. “I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task beating him, but luckily we did it. I can’t thank everybody enough. We slayed it.”

Reddick, who ran away from his own post-race interview to congratulate Snider, crossed the line second but was later disqualified in post-race inspection for failing rear heights.

Officially, Jones, Hemric, Jeb Burton and Cindric rounded out the top five, while Haley, Moffitt, Ryan Sieg, Jeremy Clements and Berry completed the top 10.

Xfinity Homestead-Miami Results

The Xfinity Series heads out west for a two-race swing starting next week, kicking off with the Alsco Uniforms 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Saturday afternoon race is set for March 6 at 4:30 p.m. ET, with coverage on FS1. Chase Briscoe swept the pair of events there last year.

About the author

Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of VCU, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and also hosts the "Adam Cheek's Sports Week" podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.

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