With SVG and Connor Zilisch taken out of contention due to a massive crash in Stage 2 on the front stretch, that opened the door wide for a number of drivers to step through and steal a victory in the inaugural Anduril 250 in San Diego. Strong early was Ryan Blaney and he led his fair share of laps before strategy and poorly timed cautions placed him back in traffic. Also showing significant speed was Chris Buescher, who found himself in the lead with inside 15 laps to go. Zane Smith was fast all day as were Kyle Larson and Corey Heim, who engaged in an intense battled prior to the seventh caution of the race where Ricky Stenhouse Jr. blew and engine.
The leaders then came down pit road, opting for fresher rubber. This handed the lead over to Carson Hocevar to led the field to the green flag with 12 laps to go. After clearing a couple of corners, Tyler Reddick slid into 2nd place with his teammate Corey Heim following him. Reddick went on to challenge Hocevar for the race lead, making quick work of the young drive as he felt into the clutches of Heim. Hocevar then spun, collecting Ross Chastain. Taking 10 to go and 23XI racing were running 1-2-3-5 with Tyler Reddick leading, Corey Heim in 2nd, Bubba Wallace in 3rd, and Riley Herbst in 5th. Larson was the only one splitting them up in 4th.
As they ran, the field settled down a little with Reddick putting a second between himself and Corey Heim. At five laps to go, Reddick and Heim opened up a nine second lead over Wallace and Larson. It was unclear if they were saving their equipment or if their cars had fallen off that much. However, Heim stayed with Reddick, putting on the pressure as the laps wound down. After taking three laps to go, Tyler Reddick missed the corner heading in to Turn 2. Subsequently, Corey Heim spun his tires. But the two got side-by-side, making minor contact before Corey Heim swung wide to take the lead away from Reddick. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson in 3rd was over 10 seconds behind the leaders.
Heim was firmly in the lead when the No. 45 had an issue with a flat left front tire. This handed the race to Corey Heim barring some sort of disaster as Heim took the white flag. If the caution came out due to Reddick’s issue, the race would be official regardless. 10 seconds behind the leader, Bubba Wallace passed Kyle Larson for 2nd. But he was too far behind his teammate to run him down. Corey Heim wins in San Diego as a part-timer in only his 13th career Cup Series start.
With how the race ended, Denny Hamlin, salvaging a 14th place finish, now sits only 8 points behind points leader Tyler Reddick.
At the drop of the green flag, polesitter Shane van Gisbergen got a great jump on the rest of the field. Despite this, he wasn’t able to drive away like expected. Carson Hocevar briefly passed him for the race lead before sliding his tires and missing a corner. SVG regained the lead. However, he made it known over the radio that he was not pleased with how his No. 97 Red Bull Chevy was driving. He ultimately was passed by Ryan Blaney for the lead and fell as low as 3rd as Ryan Preece got by him as well. However, on Lap 7, SVG managed to get back around Preece for 2nd. Hocevar started to slip into the bottom half of the top 10.
Around the halfway mark of the stage, pit stops started to commence. Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, and Ryan Blaney all pit, among others. This handed the race lead over to Bubbba Wallace with SVG chasing him from 2nd. On Lap 12, Buescher got by Wallace for 2nd. SVG then passed Buescher for the race lead. As things were heating up out front, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. stalled on the racetrack. This triggered the first caution of the race.
During this caution period, Christopher Bell came down pit road and climbed out of the No. 20 and Brent Crews climbed in. Bell broke his wrist in a brutal wreck at Michigan a couple of weeks ago. A number of other drivers took advantage of this yellow to pit as well, including Austin Hill and Brad Keselowski. Leaders stayed out, however.
The race restarted with 6 laps remaining in Stage 1. SVG continued to lead over Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, and Michael McDowell. Others deeper in the pack had fresh Goodyear tires. As the field took 5 to go in the stage, Blaney, on fresher tires, passed Preece and started work on SVG for the race lead. He retook the lead two turns later, clearing SVG easily. Preece hit SVG from behind, knocking him out of the way. This didn’t sit well with SVG. He plowed into the rear of the No. 60, retaking 2nd position. This battled opened the door for Kyle Larson, who took second away from both drivers. Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney extended his lead to over three seconds.
With three laps to go, SVG, Chris Buescher, and Bubba Wallace pitted in attempt to flip the stage. On Lap 19, the caution came out as the No. 23 of Bubba Wallace lost a tire. Ryan Blaney went on to win the opening stage of the race officially under caution.
The following drivers earned stage points in Stage 1: Ryan Blaney (10), Ryan Preece (9), Kyle Larson (8), Ty Gibbs (7), A. J. Allmendinger (6), Rodd Gilliland (5), Carson Hocevar (4), Joey Logano (3), Connor Zilisch (2), and William Byron (1).
During the stage break, leaders came down pit road. Ryan Preece took over the race lead with Connor Zilisch in second. They stayed out.
The race restarted with Connor Zilisch taking the race lead away from Preece. The No. 88 Red Bull Chevy started to pull away until a caution flew on Lap 30. The caution flew because Bren Crews in Christopher Bell’s No. 20 car slowed to a stop after he missed a shift. This caused the engine of the No. 20 car to blow up. The field pitted and the race restarted a couple of laps later with Austin Hill and Connor Zilisch on the front row. Hill missed the corner in Turn 1. This washed Connor Zilisch high and caused a stack-up. SVG got into the back of Hill, turning him into Zilisch, causing a multi-car pile-up. Zilisch, Hill, and SVG received significant damage, SVG getting the worst of it. This effectively took SVG out of contention. Due to the massive impact, there was damage to the temporary walls. NASCAR once again displayed the red flag so that track workers could start working on repairs to the walls.
The race restarted with Kyle Larson and Zane Smith battling Riley Herby for the race lead. Eventually, Kyle Larson prevailed. With three laps to go, the leaders came down pit road in order to flip the stage. Riley Herbst took over the race lead just over a second over Ryan Preece but the No. 60 car was chasing him down. Coming to the white flag and Ryan Preece took over the race lead. He went on to win the stage over Herbst and Allmendinger.
Earning stage points in the second stage were: Ryan Preece (10), Riley Herbst (9), Chris Buescher (8) A. J. Allmendinger (7), Ryan Blaney (6), Carson Hocevar (5), Daniel Suarez (4), Ross Chastain (3), Todd Gilliland (2), and Joey Logano (1).
Tyler Reddick clocks the Xfinity Fastest Lap, awarding him one bonus point to his daily total.
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