Roulette Recap: Joe Graf, Jr. – Darlington Raceway

Roulette Recap follows a randomly drawn NASCAR Xfinity Series driver throughout a race and recaps their efforts. The driver could face calamity on lap one or start from the rear and win the race – there is no telling ahead of time. May the odds be ever in the driver’s favor.

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Joe Graf, Jr. headed to Darlington Raceway for his 25th race of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity season. He kicked off the year with a season-best of P7 at Daytona. Since then, his average finishing position has been P25, split between the Nos. 19 and 38.

In the Sport Clips 200 practice session, he finished P26 and went on to qualify his No. 38 Ford Mustang in 34th. His RSS Racing team would have some work to do in order to better that finishing position. However, with three cars being forced to start from the rear, he would have some ground made up before the green flag.

He was told on pace laps to be aggressive at the start and to stick with the No. 26 (Kaz Grala) as they had similar practice times.

Stage 1

The green flag waved and by the close of Lap 1, the front of the field was single file. Lap 2 saw Graf sitting three wide as he ran P32.

On Lap 5, he lost a spot as Sam Mayer marched forward from the rear. As Graf settled back into P32, he was working hard to maintain distance from the No. 08 of Chad Finchum to his rear.

Lap 12 brought out the first caution of the day as the No. 18 of Sammy Smith got loose on the front stretch and made contact with the wall.

Graf used the opportunity to update his team on how his car was reacting to The Lady in Black. “We’re good in (Turns) 1 and 2, but really loose on the brakes in 3 and 4.” He continued, “I feel like we’re better than a lot of these guys.”

Crew chief Steve Addington kept his driver on track for the short caution and on the Choose Lap, took the top lane to restart P27.

On the restart, Graf fell to P32, but he set his eyes forward to make up the ground he lost. Lap 25 had him sitting P30. He was encouraged by spotter, Joe Campbell, to work on Turn 3 where he was giving up a lot of time.

With three to go in the stage, the caution waved as the No. 92 of Josh Williams blew a tire and left debris around the track. Graf was scored P29 and gave another update on his car.

Addington prepared his team for the upcoming stop which would include four tires, fuel, and a wedge adjustment. Following that call, the opening stage ended under caution.

Stage 2

After coming to his crew, Graf lined up P28 to start the second stage. Once again he fell to P32, but quickly regained two spots.

The next caution came on Lap 55 as Sam Mayer got into and spun the No. 78 of Anthony Alfredo. Graf immediately radioed to his team, “I don’t know what’s up on these restarts. It takes this thing a lap and a half to get wound up. I’m wide open and just getting smoked.”

Graf restarted P29 on Lap 60 with hopes that his car would finally come to him. He was able to pull ahead to P28 as a three-wide battle was on his bumper. But as cars with fresher tires got around him, he found himself back in P31.

On Lap 80, Campbell encouraged his driver, “Currently P30 but running P23 lap times.”

In the closing laps of the stage, Graf was instructed to play around with different lines as he was not in danger of going a lap down. In response, he said, “We’re just too tight for that.”

The remainder of the stage stayed green and Graf finished P30. At the green-white-checkered, he radioed in with more updates ahead of the upcoming pit stop.

Stage 3

Before taking the green for the final stage in P27, Addington informed his driver that they had some bumper damage from the No. 4 (Kyle Weatherman) getting into them earlier in the race.

The restart gremlin affected Graf again and he fell to P30 in the opening laps.

Lap 102 saw the next caution as Jeremy Clements and Kyle Sieg went for a spin on the front stretch.

Addington asked what Graf was feeling and he said, “I’ve got my tongue hanging out trying to keep up with the guys on fresh tires.”

The Clements/Sieg incident bumped Graf to P27, but unfortunately, it meant another restart for the RSS Racing driver.

Most of the leaders pitted, but Graf’s team missed their window and remained on track. This forced them to restart P8 with 40 laps remaining.

Graf’s lane was slow to go on the restart and he fell back to P15 after going three-wide. Within two laps, he was back in P23 and found himself top of three again. Eight laps after the restart, he was sitting P28 surrounded by other drivers who also did not pit.

Late-Race Cautions

The race remained quiet for Graf until 15 to go when Ryan Sieg went for a spin. Addington immediately asked what his driver needed for a 10-lap shootout. The two discussed new tires and the balance.

With 10 to go, Graf restarted P26 and was told by Campbell, “Drive it into Turn 3 harder than you have all day!” One lap later, he was told, “Even harder. Keep these guys pinned down.”

But with eight to go, he got rear-ended by Clements. However, he was able to stay on track. Two laps later, Parker Kligerman spun coming off Turn 3 and brought out the caution.

Graf said he felt “something,” but did not think the tire was going down. He opted to stay on track for a two-lap shootout in P25.

Campbell had been pushing his driver through Turn 3 in the closing laps, and he encouraged Graf as he came to the checkered flag that it was “the best” Turn 3 all day. Ultimately, Graf brought his machine home P26.

Sponsor Shoutout & Social Channels

As NASCAR fans know, sponsors make the sport go ’round. We want to give a shoutout to fgrACCEL and Bucked Up for sponsoring Joe Graf, Jr. and the No. 38 team at Darlington. 

Keep up with Joe Graf, Jr. (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and RSS Racing (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) on all their social channels.