This is not how Joe Gibbs expected the day to unfold at Phoenix Raceway. Chaos erupted late in the O’Reilly Auto Parts race when a multi-car crash with just 26 laps remaining swept up drivers, including three from the Coach’s team. What looked like a promising run quickly ended, and now the Toyota drivers are left licking their wounds after the one-mile desert oval continues to haunt Gibbs’ organization.

The incident began when Sammy Smith and Brandon Jones fought for the same patch of track entering Turn 2. Contact from Smith clipped the left rear of Jones’ Toyota, sending the No.20 entry spinning.

The spinning Jones then slammed into Ryan Sieg before carrying back across the track, collecting JGR teammates Taylor Gray and William Sawalich, along with Blaine Perkins, in a chain-reaction crash.

The wreck proved especially costly for Gibbs‘ team, for three of its entries were damaged in the same corner. Sawalich appeared to suffer the worst of it with heavy damage to the No. 18 machine, while Gray was also caught in the aftermath as the field scrambled to avoid the spinning cars.

The caution immediately neutralizes the race and reshuffles the running order as teams assess the damage from one of the biggest incidents of the night.

The impact of the race had even sent Sawalich to the infield care center, and in the latest update, the 19-year-old has been safely cleared and released from the medical center.

Before the crash, the race had already been heating up at the front. Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed, the season-opener winner, had been battling for the lead with Jesse Love and Carson Kvapil close behind as the field cycled through restarts and strategies.

But the Turn 2 pileup dramatically altered the complexion of the closing laps, leaving the team scrambling to regroup while the fight for victory intensified after the restart amid an already intense week of the JGR-Gabehart lawsuit. 

However, as the Toyota camp falters, it’s Chevrolet’s Justin Allagier who avoids all the mess to take home his third Phoenix Raceway victory this evening.

Justin Allgaier marks his comeback story amid Phoenix win

Justin Allgaier staged an impressive comeback in Saturday’s GOVX 200 fighting his way back to the front of the field after an early pit road setback to capture victory at Phoenix Raceway.

A slow stop earlier in the race, when his crew struggled to remove the right rear tire on the No.7 Chevrolet, cost valuable track position and forced the veteran to claw through traffic for much of the night.

But when it mattered most, Allgaier delivered. With 11 laps remaining, he powered around Jesse Love on the outside through Turns 3 and 4, completing a decisive pass that ultimately sealed the race and won him his 29th Xfinity victory.

“Just so proud of this team. You know, Andrew Overstreet has done a great job taking over. And he’s been telling me all week, this is our house, and we’re going to go take it. And it wasn’t for lack of adversity. It seems like those are the ones that really are great for us. But really proud of this team, everybody in the (No.)7 team,” he said post-race.

Despite Love’s attempts to fight back, the 2024 Xfinity champion pulled away and drove off into the desert night, securing a memorable win that also happened to fall on the birthday of his crew chief, Andrew Overstreet.