Ryan Truex led the final two laps — his only led laps on Saturday (April 27) — of the second overtime of the BetRivers 200 to win his second consecutive race at Dover Motor Speedway.
“I can’t believe it,” Truex told FOX Sports. “Our car was just good at the end when it mattered. I was so loose all day.
“Shoutout to Carson [Kvapil]. What an amazing run for his second race. I felt a little bad running him up the hill, but man, you got to take these things when you can.”
Truex passed Carson Kvapil on the final restart and fended off the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet until a caution on the final lap ended the race. Truex’s pair of NASCAR Xfinity Series wins at the Monster Mile are his only wins in his NASCAR national series career.
“I thought we had a pretty good restart on the one before with [Austin] Hill there,” Kvapil told FOX Sports. “It sucks, right? To get that close, I don’t really know what to say. I think we had a really fast Chevrolet here.
“JR Motorsports brought me a really good piece. I’m just really fortunate to be in the spot that I am, and I’m happy I had a shot to win the race at the end there.
“We had a good car. I just couldn’t get it through the restarts really good. I was pretty questionable about taking the top line. My car seemed to pin the bottom the whole day. It seemed like the top was so dominant, and he just barely got us there going into [turn] 3.”
Kvapil, in the second start of his Xfinity Series career, took the lead late from Austin Hill, who spun on the first overtime restart. Kvapil pulled a sizeable lead before NASCAR threw the caution to send the race to a second overtime. The son of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil was unable to keep the now-two-time Dover race winner at bay.
Kvapil’s teammate Sam Mayer battled his way to third by the moment of the final caution, and late-race contender Sheldon Creed finished fourth. Cole Custer, who led the most laps of the day at 94, completed the top five.
AJ Allmendinger, Chandler Smith, Kyle Weatherman, Dash 4 Cash winner Anthony Alfredo and Parker Retzlaff rounded out the top 10.
Brandon Jones started from the pole, and he led the short opening green-flag run that ended on lap five when Dawson Cram made contact with Hailie Deegan, sending her No. 15 AM Racing Ford into JJ Yeley‘s No. 35 Toyota for Joey Gase Motorsports. Yeley would not continue after the crash.
“Stupidity,” Yeley told Frontstretch. “We’re at lap five. I was racing with the [No.] 4 car. He was having a rough time keeping his lane, but caught the [No.] 15. I know this is her [Deegan] first time here. It looked like she was struggling a bit.
“She moved up a little bit on the front straightaway. He hooked her in the right rear. It looked like she started to go to the outside wall, so I went as low as I could trying to get away from her. I thought I was going to be clear, and then, obviously, I wasn’t far enough away. She caught me in the right rear and just turned me up to the fence.”
The first restart of the race on lap 14 saw Jones’ teammate Justin Allgaier take the lead.
It only took 12 more laps until the second caution where Dash 4 Cash contender Ryan Sieg caught ablaze, taking him out of the race.
Allgaier held on for the remainder of stage one to win the stage. Jones remained second while Custer, Creed and Riley Herbst completed the top five in stage one.
Blaine Perkins, another RSS Racing car, had an electrical fire during the stage break and parked his No. 29 car in about the same spot as where the fiery No. 39 car of Sieg had earlier parked.
Retzlaff and Jesse Love, along with three other drivers who stayed out after pitting during the Sieg caution, restarted out front, and Love took over the lead after the restart.
Love held the lead until lap 73, when Custer motored by No. 2 to take the lead.
Corey Heim experienced an engine failure with five laps to go in stage two, but other than that, there were no cautions during the stage. Custer maintained the lead to win stage two. Hill, Love, Retzlaff and Creed were the top five finishers for stage two.
Custer kept the lead while Allgaier and Hill battled for second and others battled aggressively for position. In this melee, Truex made contact with Love, cutting the tire of the No. 2 and sending Love down pit road under green.
“I got to apologize for running into the [No.] 2,” Truex said. “I ran out of talent, to be frank.”
Custer and Allgaier then raced hard with rain approaching the track. Allgaier closed the gap to about three-tenths of a second at once point, but on lap 159, a light sprinkle brought out the caution.
Under pace laps, Kaden Honeycutt slowed on the track, adding a pace lap, and Sammy Smith ran out of gas and parked on pit road. This allowed for heavier showers to arrive and forced a 16-minute red flag.
Custer stayed out initially but was forced down pit road with the impending green flag. Allgaier, who was also nearly out of gas, was promoted to the lead and tried to take the high side, delaying the green another lap, but he was ultimately denied the chance to change lanes.
“We called the caution for no rain and decided to go back when the rain started to come down,” Allgaier told Frontstretch. “They told us when to go choose, we picked the choose, we picked the outside. The [No.] 21 stayed doubled up with us, but I was above the choose cone, and they come in and tell us we have to go to the bottom when we chose the outside.
“They didn’t open pit road. We couldn’t come down and put fuel in it. You go through the comedy of errors they made, and it’s ultra frustrating. They ask us to do everything we can. They ruined a fantastic race today. When you make errors like that, it’s uncalled for.”
Inevitably, the green flag was thrown on lap 173, and one lap later, Jones brough out another caution after spinning on the backstretch after contact with Allmendinger. Before the caution, Hill made the move on Allgaier for the lead by pushing Allgaier out of the way.
Another quick caution flew again on lap 184 after Taylor Gray slammed the wall into the backstretch after Mayer got loose under him.
With 11 laps to go, Hill and Creed battled it out for the lead side-by side, beating and banging each other for the lead. That allowed Kvapil to pass on the bottom for the lead ahead of the No. 21.
With six laps to go, Herbst spun off the nose of Allgaier, triggering the largest wreck of the day that collected Smith, Brennan Poole, Kyle Sieg, Daniel Dye and Leland Honeyman.
On the first overtime restart, Hill spun on the inside and Allgaier incurred right side damage after contact with Creed when the No. 18 checked up for the spinning Hill.
Kvapil, who maintained the lead, led the field on the second and final overtime restart with Truex on the bottom, but Truex held his line on the bottom and was able to clear Kvapil. Allgaier spun off the front straightaway after the field had already taken the white flag, while Poole wrecked behind, resulting in the yellow and checkered flags to wave and signify Truex’s second consecutive win at the track.
The Xfinity Series travels next to Darlington Raceway for the Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200. Coverage will be provided by FOX Sports 1.
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime
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So NA$CAR can’t afford a 39 car field and sends a car that should have qualified for the event home because of the entitlement rule. Makes cents to NA$CAR!