William Byron won Saturday’s race at Phoenix International Raceway to advance to the Championship 4 race in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

Behind him, JR Motorsports teammates Justin Allgaier and Elliott Sadler also qualified for the title race with finishes of 10th and 18th respectively. The JRM trio will join Daniel Hemric in an all-Chevrolet finale, after Hemric ran fifth and held off a valiant bid from Cole Custer after a restart with 13 laps left.

Byron took the lead off pit road after taking right-side tires only during a stop under caution on Lap 183 of 200. As Hemric, Erik Jones, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell and Custer battled behind him, Byron pulled away to beat Blaney to the finish line by .960 seconds.

“The second-to-last run of the race it took off on the long run,” said Byron, who was knocked out of the Truck Series Playoff last year when his engine blew at Phoenix. “I got up to third, and we got the two tires on it, and we were able to stay up there.

“I felt like clean air was pretty important. The 20 (Jones), the 22 (Blaney) and us were really similar. Whoever was in third would lose distance to the front two after probably 20 or 30 laps. We just had to adjust on it and make sure we got it right for the last pit stop.”

Note: The No. 7 Chevrolet of Allgaier was found to have an unattached brake cooling hose in post-race inspection, resulting in an L1 penalty. The infraction did not affect the composition of the Championship 4, but Allgaier will lose the services of crew chief Jason Burdett for the season finale.

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NASCAR XFINITY Series Race – Ticket Galaxy 200

Phoenix Raceway

Avondale, Arizona

Saturday, November 11, 2017

1. (2) William Byron # (P), Chevrolet, 200.
2. (6) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 200.
3. (1) Erik Jones(i), Toyota, 200.
4. (8) Christopher Bell(i), Toyota, 200.
5. (7) Daniel Hemric # (P), Chevrolet, 200.
6. (9) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 200.
7. (3) Cole Custer # (P), Ford, 200.
8. (5) Alex Bowman(i), Chevrolet, 200.
9. (16) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200.
10. (10) Justin Allgaier (P), Chevrolet, 200.
11. (4) Matt Tifft # (P), Toyota, 200.
12. (18) Casey Mears, Ford, 200.
13. (21) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200.
14. (20) Ryan Reed (P), Ford, 200.
15. (15) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 200.
16. (12) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 200.
17. (19) Spencer Gallagher #, Chevrolet, 200.
18. (13) Elliott Sadler (P), Chevrolet, 200.
19. (22) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 200.
20. (23) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 200.
21. (26) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 200.
22. (17) Corey LaJoie(i), Toyota, 199.
23. (24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 199.
24. (25) Ray Black II, Chevrolet, 199.
25. (29) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 197.
26. (31) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, 197.
27. (32) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, 195.
28. (36) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 194.
29. (30) David Starr, Chevrolet, 190.
30. (37) Caesar Bacarella, Chevrolet, 190.
31. (38) John Graham, Chevrolet, 188.
32. (11) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, Accident, 179.
33. (28) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 169.
34. (33) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Brakes, 47.
35. (27) Joe Nemechek(i), Chevrolet, Brakes, 44.
36. (40) Carl Long, Toyota, Electrical, 37.
37. (34) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, Brakes, 30.
38. (14) Brennan Poole (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 24.
39. (39) Mike Harmon, Dodge, Engine, 19.
40. (35) Gray Gaulding(i), Chevrolet, Electrical, 6.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  104.758 mph.

Time of Race:  01 Hrs, 54 Mins, 33 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.960 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  5 for 26 laps.

Lead Changes:  4 among 3 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   E. Jones(i) 1-33; R. Blaney(i) 34; E. Jones(i) 35-37; R. Blaney(i) 38-183; W. Byron # (P) 184-200.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  R. Blaney(i) 2 times for 147 laps; E. Jones(i) 2 times for 36 laps; W. Byron # (P) 1 time for 17 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 22,42,20,21,7,9,00,18,2,11

Stage #2 Top Ten: 22,20,21,7,18,9,00,2,11,3

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