By: Ashley McCubbin

When it came to crowning a champion, there was always something magical about being at Homestead-Miami Speedway – and more than the palm trees surrounding the track. The NASCAR Xfinity Series put that on display with their Sunday show.

From the drop of the green flag to checkered, there were cars utilizing all the grooves possible in the corners, running three and four-wide at times. While normally something you see after a restart, it continued beyond that deep in a run, even 40 or 50 laps later with side-by-side battles paramount through the top-10.

The versatility of the track was on display with a four-way battle for second between Noah Gragson, Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones, and Harrison Burton, as they traded lanes while trying to find a way by each other. Many of them impressed, by swapping lines midway through a turn from top to the bottom in hopes of having the momentum necessary.

The icing on the cake was watching driver’s run the top line inches off the wall, with mistakes not happening as often as you’d think. The master of that in both races this weekend was Gragson, as he was able to get a killer run off of turn four combined with a long-run car faster than his competitors on the long run. The car wasn’t perfect in handling, loose mid-way through the corner, just making the visual that much more fun as he got slideways while taking everything he could get out of the car. Loose is fast, right?

If things were slightly different, you would have seen him win both events this weekend with lengthy gaps over the field in the late stages. Instead, late cautions and the inability to fire on the restart kept the No. 9 out of victory lane.

The reason for the caution today was Austin Cindric going around with a flat tire with two laps to go just before Gragson was able to secure the white flag.

Drivers purposely bringing out yellows when encountering an issue has been debated by everybody for a long time. Many were shaking their heads at the Team Penske driver considering Burton and Justin Allgaier each made their way there with similar issues. It was only highlighted when realizing Cindric did not slow down at all, and sawed the wheel back and forth en route to his attempt to pit road.

Though while Gragson will hold his head for the defeat, he should not. The young man has shown more poise and maturity this season than the past three years combined, and will easily be a threat for more wins and the title should this continue.

You also cannot count out Chase Briscoe with his third win of the year, and overcoming the adversity of yesterday’s penalty.

While this was not the championship weekend that Homestead would normally produce, it helps to continue to set the stage – in hopes that Phoenix Raceway can capture some of the same magic in November.