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  • Allmendinger dominates for third Cup career victory at Charlotte Roval; Playoff’s Round of 8 field set

    Allmendinger dominates for third Cup career victory at Charlotte Roval; Playoff’s Round of 8 field set

    Amid the on-track action and the battles between a bevy of Playoff competitors vying for spots to the Round of 8, AJ Allmendinger spoiled the party by flexing his road course muscles and capping off a dominant run by winning the sixth annual running of the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course on Sunday, October 8.

    The 41-year-old Allmendinger from Los Gatos, California, led twice for a race-high 46 of 109-scheduled laps in an event where he started sixth and endured various pit strategies and on-track battles against the field and Playoff contenders throughout the first two stage periods. After assuming the lead for the first time with 52 laps remaining over Playoff contender Kyle Busch, Allmendinger then surrendered the lead to pit along with most of the field under green with 39 laps remaining. But he was able to reassume the top spot with nearly 30 laps remaining amid a late caution period for an incident involving Playoff contender Denny Hamlin and when some competitors who had not yet pitted, did so.

    Starting with 31 laps remaining, Allmendinger then endured four extra caution periods and restarts, where he fended off late challenges from Playoff contenders Busch and William Byron along with rookie Ty Gibbs, to navigate his way to his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season, the third of his career and his first in more than two years.

    Allmendinger’s victory also occurred on a day when the second round of eliminations in the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs ensued. It left former Cup champions Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, along with last year’s championship runner-up Ross Chastain, and Playoff newcomer Bubba Wallace, below the top-eight cutline and officially out of title contention for this season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, October 7, Playoff contender Tyler Reddick scored his third Cup pole position of the season and the sixth of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 102.839 mph in 81.214 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Christopher Bell, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 102.695 mph in 81.328 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Playoff contender Kyle Larson, and Ty Dillon, started at the rear of the field in backup cars after both separately wrecked into the wall and were unable to post a qualifying lap.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Reddick, who opted to start on the outside lane, rocketed ahead from Bell and led the field through the first turn before the field navigated its way through the infield road course turns. With the field navigating its way through the road course turns and back onto the oval turns before entering the backstretch chicane, Reddick managed to retain the top spot from Bell as he made his way through the frontstretch chicane and led the first lap. By then, Reddick’s advantage over Bell was six-tenths of a second while Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suarez and AJ Allmendinger followed suit in the top five.

    Through the second to fourth lap, Reddick slowly stretched his advantage to nearly a second over Bell. As Reddick proceeded to lead the fifth lap by more than a second over Bell, Wallace retained third ahead of Suarez and Allmendinger while Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, rookie Ty Gibbs and Ross Chastain were running in the top 10. Behind, Denny Hamlin was in 11th ahead of William Byron, Michael McDowell, Martin Truex Jr. and Alex Bowman while Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson, who dodged a spin by Erik Jones through the frontstretch chicane, was mired in 28th behind Chase Briscoe while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was on pit road after making contact with the wall and damaging a rear toe link to his No. 47 Harris Teeter/Totino’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Reddick continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Bell while Wallace, Suarez and Allmendinger remained in the top five. As Kyle Busch, Elliott, Ty Gibbs, Logano and Chastain continued to run in the top 10, Playoff contenders Hamlin, Byron, Truex, Blaney, Keselowski, Buescher and Larson were running 11th, 12th, 14th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 27th, respectively, while McDowell, Bowman and Austin Dillon were running in the top 16. Meanwhile, Preece was back in 20th ahead of teammate Aric Almirola, Cindric was running 22nd ahead of Corey LaJoie and Justin Haley, Kevin Harvick was mired in 26th ahead of Larson and Mike Rockenfeller was in 31st in between Briscoe and Austin Hill.

    Five laps later, Reddick’s lead extended back to more than a second over Bell while third-place Wallace trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, Suarez and Allmendinger continued to run in the top five while Elliott, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, Logano and Chastain remained in the top 10.

    Another lap later, the first round of green flag pit stops commenced as Playoff contender Blaney pitted his No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Mustang followed by the No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang piloted by teammate Austin Cindric. Another two laps later, brothers Austin and Ty Dillon pitted along with Briscoe and Austin Hill while Playoff contender Brad Keselowski was assessed a pass-through penalty after NASCAR deemed he missed the frontstretch chicane. By the time Keselowski served his penalty at the Lap 20 mark and with Reddick continuing to lead, more drivers, including Larson, Justin Haley and Preece pitted under green.

    By Lap 21, more drivers, including Suarez, Allmendinger, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, Logano, Byron, McDowell, Buescher, Harvick and Zane Smith pitted under green while Hamlin, Bowman, Almirola and Josh Bilicki followed suit during Lap 22 as Reddick continued to lead ahead of Bell and teammate Wallace. Bell would then pit his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota TRD Camry under green on Lap 23 and just as pit road closed with the first stage period nearing its conclusion.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 25, Reddick, who came into the Charlotte Roval two points below the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings, captured his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Teammate Wallace settled in second ahead of Chastain, Truex and Bell, who executed his pit stop to only lose three spots while blending back on the track, while Suarez, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Hamlin, Byron, Blaney, Keselowski, Buescher and Larson were mired outside the top 10 on the track while all but one of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap. In addition, Mike Rockenfeller was serving a stop-and-go penalty for missing the backstretch chicane.

    Under the stage break, some led by Reddick, including those who remained on the track to gain stage points, pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.

    The second stage period started on Lap 29 as Bell and Suarez occupied the front row. At the start, Bell, who made contact with Suarez, managed to rocket ahead from the outside lane and retain the lead through the first turn and the infield road course turns. As Elliott and Suarez bumped while battling for the runner-up spot ahead of the field through the road course turns and back on the oval turns, Bell muscled away with the lead as Kyle Busch and Allmendinger were in the top five. With more side-by-side battles ensuing through the backstretch chicane and back to the frontstretch, Bell retained the lead ahead of Elliott, Suarez, Kyle Busch and Allmendinger while Ty Gibbs, Hamlin, Logano, Byron and McDowell were in the top 10 at the Lap 30 mark.

    At the Lap 35 mark, Bell was leading by two-tenths of a second over Elliott followed by Suarez, Allmendinger and Kyle Busch while Ty Gibbs, Hamlin, Logano, Byron and McDowell were in the top 10. Behind, Bowman was in 11th ahead of Blaney, Buescher, Reddick and Larson while Cindric, Almirola, Austin Dillon, Chastain and Haley were mired in the top 20 ahead of Wallace, Josh Bilicki, Truex, Keselowski and Harrison Burton.

    Another lap later, Elliott muscled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 beneath and past Bell through Turn 8 as he assumed the lead. With Elliott stretching his advantage to more than half a second through the frontstretch, Suarez, Allmendinger, Kyle Busch and Ty Gibbs started to close in on Bell for the runner-up spot while Hamlin trailed in seventh place. By then, Reddick carved his way up to the 12th while teammate Wallace was mired in 20th behind Chastain. In addition, Larson was in 15th behind Buescher and Blaney while Truex and Keselowski were back in 23rd and 24th. Meanwhile, Harvick was back in 36th after locking up his tires, missing the backstretch chicane and coming to a full stop to serve his penalty a few laps earlier.

    Just past the Lap 40 mark, Elliott was leading by more than three seconds over Bell while Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Suarez, Hamlin, Logano, Byron and McDowell were running in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Reddick, Buescher, Larson, Blaney, Chastain, Wallace, Truex and Keselowski were in 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 20th, 21st and 24th, respectively.

    Another lap later, a second wave of green flag pit stops commenced as Blaney pitted before Harrison Burton and Almirola pitted during the next lap. Playoff contender Kyle Busch would pit his No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 along with Logano, Byron, Austin Dillon and Keselowski on Lap 43 before Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, Suarez, Bowman, Cindric and Zane Smith peeled off the track to pit during the following lap. In the process, Elliott retained the lead through Lap 45 ahead of Bell, Hamlin, Reddick, Buescher and Larson.

    Then with three laps remaining in the second stage period and just after more names that included Playoff contender Buescher pitted, the caution flew after Josh Bilicki and Corey LaJoie made contact that resulted in LaJoie sending Bilicki into the wall in between Turns 3 and 4. Bilicki’s incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 50 to conclude under caution as Elliott, who was about to pit under green but elected to remain on the track during the incident, captured his second Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Playoff contenders Bell, Hamlin, Reddick, Larson, Chastain, Wallace and Truex followed suit from second to eighth while McDowell and Playoff contender Kyle Busch were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Byron, Blaney, Buescher and Keselowski were mired within the top 20 while all but two starters were scored on the lead lap. In addition, Hamlin, who came into the Charlotte Roval 50 points above the top-eight cutline, was able to accumulate enough points to clinch a spot in the Round of 8.

    During the stage break, some led by Elliott pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, McDowell’s pit crew went underneath the hood of the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang amid a power steering issue.

    With 56 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Kyle Busch and Ty Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Busch muscled ahead with the lead through Turn 1 while Allmendinger battled and overtook Gibbs for the runner-up spot. As the field navigated its way through the infield road course turns and back on the oval turns, Busch retained the lead while Byron, Logano and Buescher battled for fourth place in front of Blaney and Suarez. Amid more battles through the backstretch chicane, Busch retained the lead as he navigated back to the frontstretch chicane with runner-up Allmendinger trailing by three-tenths of a second.

    At the halfway mark in between Laps 54 and 55, Kyle Busch continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Allmendinger followed by Byron, Ty Gibbs and Logano while Buescher, Suarez, Blaney, Bowman and Keselowski were in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Reddick, Chastain, Larson, Wallace, Truex, Bell and Hamlin were mired in 19th, 24th, 25th, 27th, 28th, 30th and 32nd, respectively, while Cindric, Harvick, Austin Dillon, Preece and LaJoie were running in the top 15.

    Then with 52 laps remaining, Allmendinger made his move beneath Busch and moved his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead through Turn 8. With Busch now back in the runner-up spot and placed in a “must-win” situation to move into the Round of 8, Byron, Ty Gibbs and Buescher were in the top five while Logano, Suarez, Blaney, Bowman and Keselowski were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Larson, Wallace, Chastain, Truex, Bell and Hamlin were mired outside the top 20 on the track.

    With 45 laps remaining, Allmendinger extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Kyle Busch followed by Byron, Ty Gibbs and Buescher while Logano, Suarez, Blaney, Bowman and Keselowski were in the top 10 on the track. By then, Playoff contender Reddick was up to 15th and Larson was in 20th while Chastain, Wallace, Truex, Bell and Hamlin were mired in 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, and 29th, respectively. The current running order of the Playoff contenders currently places Keselowski, Chastain, Wallace and Kyle Busch below the top-eight cutline while Buescher, Bell, Reddick, Truex and Larson were currently scored above the cutline, with Larson just nine points ahead of Keselowski.

    Then two laps later, Elliott pitted his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green along with Harrison Burton. Playoff contender Keselowski would then pit his No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang during the following lap as he dropped to 17th by the time he blended back on the track while Allmendinger retained the lead ahead of Kyle Busch, Byron, Ty Gibbs and Buescher. Busch would then surrender the runner-up spot to pit under green with 40 laps remaining along with Briscoe and Erik Jones as Byron moved into the runner-up spot followed by Ty Gibbs. By then, Almirola was assessed a pass-through for missing the chicane while Hamlin spun after getting hit by Zane Smith through the frontstretch and just as McDowell fell off the pace after blowing a left front tire due to running over the curbs hard.

    With 39 laps remaining, a bevy of names led by Allmendinger peeled off the track to pit under green in response to McDowell’s issues while Blaney remained on the track to inherit the lead. With McDowell able to limp his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang back to pit road, the race remained under green flag conditions as Blaney was scored the leader followed by Austin Dillon, Haley, Bell, Allmendinger and Kyle Busch. Bell, Austin Dillon and Chastain, who entered his pit stall in an awkward position with the right-rear tire sticking out after dodging Dillon on pit road, would pit under green with 37 laps remaining.

    Then with 34 laps remaining, the caution flew after Hamlin, who was running just outside the top 20, got loose and spun his No. 11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota TRD Camry for a second time, this time through the frontstretch chicane as he was then hit by Mike Rockenfeller while Ty Dillon also went off the track as he was trying to avoid Hamlin. During the caution period, some led by Blaney and including Elliott pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.

    With the race restarting under green with 31 laps remaining, Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead entering Turn 1 and through the infield road course turns before Gibbs muscled his No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota TRD Camry into the lead entering Turn 3. Then as the field made its way just past Turn 4, trouble struck behind as Austin Dillon and LaJoie wrecked, but the event remained under green flag conditions. Back at the front and as the field returned to the oval turns, Allmendinger made his move beneath Gibbs and reassumed the lead in Turn 8 as Byron and Kyle Busch closed in from behind. Amid the tight competition through the backstretch chicane and back to the frontstretch chicane, Allmendinger retained the lead from Ty Gibbs.

    Then a lap later, the caution flew after Erik Jones, who was caught in a three-wide battle with Stenhouse and Elliott entering Turn 2, was clipped by Stenhouse and sent for a spin before he hit the wall, came back down the track and was hit by McDowell while Playoff contender Truex barely dodged the incident. The incident was enough to terminate Jones’ day in the garage while McDowell managed to proceed. By then, Hamlin retired in 37th, last place, after failing to beat the Damaged Vehicle Policy clock in time to continue.

    During the following restart with 27 laps remaining, Allmendinger managed to rocket away from Ty Gibbs and retain the lead entering Turn 1 as the field fanned out entering the infield road course turns. With the field navigating through the turns and the oval circuit before entering the backstretch chicane, Allmendinger retained the lead by half a second over Ty Gibbs followed by Kyle Busch, Byron and Logano while Wallace, Bell and Larson engaged in a heated battle within the top 15 and to race their way into the Round of 8. Shortly after, Playoff contender Reddick engaged in a fierce battle with Logano for fifth place while Playoff contender Chastain was mired in 19th ahead of Elliott.

    Amid another caution period with 24 laps remaining after Andy Lally spun just past Turn 1 and tried to nurse his car the opposite way before entering pit road and coming to a stop, some led by Playoff contender Keselowski pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.

    As the race restarted with 22 laps remaining, Allmendinger managed to muscle away from Ty Gibbs entering Turn 1 to retain the lead. Behind, Kyle Busch and Gibbs made contact while battling for the runner-up spot as the field made its way through the infield road course turns and back on the oval turns. Then through the backstretch chicane, trouble struck for Playoff contender Wallace after Suarez briefly slid sideways while on the brakes and turned Cindric, who then turned Wallace’s No. 23 Leidos Toyota TRD Camry in the process as the latter two spun, but the event remained under green as Allmendinger retained the lead ahead of Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Byron and Reddick. Amid their incidents, Wallace, who stopped on the frontstretch chicane after missing the backstretch chicane, and Cindric both pitted under green.

    Back on the track and with 20 laps remaining, Allmendinger was leading by more than a second over Ty Gibbs followed by Kyle Busch, Byron and Reddick while Logano, Buescher, Bowman, Preece and Larson were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Chastain, Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Wallace were currently scored below the cutline while Larson and Truex occupied the final two transfer spots by 26 and 24 points, respectively.

    Then with 17 laps remaining, more trouble ensued after Playoff contender Keselowski spun through the frontstretch chicane while battling Playoff contender Chastain in the top 20, with Chastain missing the frontstretch chicane to avoid Keselowski, coming to a full stop for missing the chicane and eventually pitting his No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for service. With the race remaining under green, the caution would return the following lap after Bell, who was battling Suarez for 11th place, sent Suarez’s No. 99 Aguas Frescas Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 spinning backward and wrecking into the Turn 8 outside wall. During the caution period, some including Keselowski pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger, including the front-runners, remained on the track.

    Down to the final 13 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Allmendinger muscled ahead from the outside lane to retain the lead before Kyle Busch made his way into the runner-up spot over Ty Gibbs entering Turn 1. As the field made its way through the infield road course turns, the caution quickly returned after fire billowed out of the No. 47 entry piloted by Stenhouse in Turn 2, with the driver able to escape uninjured.

    With the race restarting with 10 laps remaining, Allmendinger rocketed ahead with the lead while Kyle Busch, who spun the tires on the restart, was locked in a battle against Byron for the runner-up spot, with Byron claiming the spot through the infield road course turns. As Allmendinger muscled away with the lead while the field navigated its way through the infield road course turns and on the oval turns, Busch was trailing the lead by more than a second with Allmendinger and Byron running first and second while Ty Gibbs and Logano were in the top five. By then, Playoff contenders Bell, Buescher, Reddick, Larson and Truex were scored above the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings while Chastain, Wallace, Busch and Keselowski were scored on the outside.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Allmendinger continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Byron while third-place Kyle Busch trailed by more than a second. With Ty Gibbs and Logano occupying the top five, Playoff contenders Reddick and Buescher were in sixth and seventh while Bowman, Elliott and Preece were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Larson, Blaney, Chastain, Bell, Wallace, Truex and Keselowski were in 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 19th, 20th and 21st, respectively.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allmendinger remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Byron while third-place Kyle Busch trailed by more than two seconds. With Byron unable to gain more ground through the infield road course turns, the remaining oval turns and the backstretch chicane, Allmendinger was able to place a reasonable gap between himself and Byron and navigate his way around the final set of turns before returning to the frontstretch and claiming the checkered flag by six-tenths of a second over Byron.

    With the victory, Allmendinger notched his third NASCAR Cup Series career victory, all on road course venues, and his first since winning the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in August 2021. He also recorded the second Cup career win for Kaulig Racing, the second for crew chief Matt Swiderski and the 16th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate. Having won the Charlotte Roval four consecutive times from 2019 to 2022, Allmendinger became the fifth competitor overall to win a Cup event at the Roval alongside Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell.

    The victory for Allmendinger also comes as his status to race for Kaulig Racing either in the Cup or Xfinity Series in 2024 remains to be determined.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “You don’t know when you’re going to [win] again,” Allmendinger, who fought tears of joy on the frontstretch, said on NBC. “I love all the men and women at Kaulig Racing so much. [My family and friends] see how much anguish and how much I put it on my shoulders when we’re struggling. It just means the world. I hate crying right now, but it’s a freaking Cup race, man, and you don’t know when it’s ever gonna happen again! Let’s go! Come on! This is why you do it. This is the only reason you do it. You fight all the blood, sweat, tears. Everybody at Kaulig Racing, it’s just been such a, I say, down year, but up-and-down year. It’s our second year in the Cup Series…Matt [Kaulig] and Chris [Rice], I freakin’ love you guys so much.”

    Meanwhile and amid Allmendinger’s victory, Kyle Busch, who ended up in third place behind Byron, was eliminated from the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs along with 10th-place finisher Ross Chastain, 16th-place finisher Bubba Wallace and 18th-place finisher Brad Keselowski.

    “That’s what we set out to do,” Busch said. “That’s what we felt like our road course program had in it, anyways, was for sure a top three, definitely a win. The guys gave me a great piece today. The Lenovo Camaro was pretty fast. Just lacked a little bit on the long run. Just didn’t quite have enough to have the feel of the tire that I was really looking for to be able to turn into the corners and to be able to drive out of the corners and keep pace with the front two at the end. Overall, this ride’s on me. The first two week’s of this round was, obviously, not very good and we didn’t score any points, so that’s where it’s at. It sucks to be out this early, but let us do Texas all over again and I feel like there and we’re ready.”

    “This weekend was incredible, just from the effort from the team, for myself, just all clicking and it felt really good to be competitive and run up front, pass cars on road courses, to not be fast, so a lot to look at,” Wallace said. “What I analyze is what could have I done to not be in that situation. Could I have been faster, passed another car, how to be better? To not put yourself when you’re racing around with squirrels. It is what it is. Just didn’t have enough and it wasn’t in the cards. Guess that’s what 30 is. I’m not mad. I’m happy for the team. I’m pumped for our season. It’s not over with it yet. I’m really excited for next week and Homestead, Martinsville. We still got four races to go out and do it. Proud of the team, so I appreciate them.”

    “We knew it coming in that it was gonna be tough,” Chastain said. “We put together a heck of a day for us on road courses this year. Lately, we’ve just been slower and slower. The curves are just, I can’t get over them. There’s a lot of reason I can’t break and we’ve reverted on some of that through Watkins Glen and to here, and it’s really paid off. So excited in the gains we’ve made because we came out of the box super strong last spring. It’s not over, right? We’ve signed ourselves for a long time together. I can’t wait to get to work in the morning for Vegas and every race after.”

    “You always want to be better,” Keselowski said. “The way the Playoffs work, it’s really not one race. The cutoff’s kind of make or break. It’s two or three races there. It ended up 20-some points back and you could probably look through each one of those races and say I could have got five or six here or more so. All in all, it was big progress from where we’ve been. Not the day we wanted to have and it certainly stinks to not advance, but a lot of progress from where we were last year and I’m looking forward to making another step going into next year so we can keep pushing. A rasonable season when we still got the opportunity to run fifth in points and win races over the next four weeks. We’ll make the most of that.”

    Amid the disappointments for Wallace, Busch, Chastain and Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. was the sole survivor for a second consecutive round as he finished 20th and transferred into the Round of 8 by 12 points with Kyle Larson, who ended up 13th, also transferring by 13 points. As a result, both along with William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney will square off against one another in the Round of 8 next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and battle for four championship finale spots.

    “I feel like we’ve just been slipping through these Playoffs by the skin of our teeth,” Truex said. “Today’s just another not very good day. First half of the race felt OK, but man, I get back in traffic and my tires were gone in five laps, so I’m not sure what we had going on there the second half of the race. Thankful we’re through. We live to fight another day and good racetracks are finally coming up for us instead of Talladega and the Roval, so I don’t know. We’ll see what we can do. I know we’re capable of it. We just got to find it again. We’ve lost something. Hopefully, we can find it this week and go do what we did earlier in the year.”

    “Feels good,” Larson said. “That was really stressful there at the end because we were really tight on the owner’s points and that’s what pays the money. I wanted to get in on that, but just huge thank you to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and all four teams who pitched in to help all night yesterday and into the early morning today. It means a lot to me. Happy to advance and look forward to the next round, for sure. There are some great tracks for us. Let’s go win Vegas and go win these next four races. That would be amazing.”

    Rookie Ty Gibbs notched his fourth career top-five result in NASCAR’s premier series by finishing fourth on the track ahead of Logano while Reddick, Buescher, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Chastain completed the top 10.

    There were seven lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 18 laps. In addition, 33 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. AJ Allmendinger, 46 laps led

    2. William Byron

    3. Kyle Busch, six laps led

    4. Ty Gibbs

    5. Joey Logano

    6. Tyler Reddick, 27 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    7. Chris Buescher

    8. Alex Bowman

    9. Chase Elliott, 15 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    10. Ross Chastain

    11. Ryan Preece

    12. Ryan Blaney, six laps led

    13. Kyle Larson

    14. Austin Dillon

    15. Christopher Bell, nine laps led

    16. Bubba Wallace

    17. Corey LaJoie

    18. Brad Keselowski

    19. Kevin Harvick

    20. Martin Truex Jr.

    21. Aric Almirola

    22. Justin Haley

    23. Todd Gilliland

    24. Harrison Burton

    25. Austin Cindric

    26. Josh Bilicki

    27. Austin Hill

    28. Chase Briscoe

    29. Mike Rockenfeller

    30. Zane Smith

    31. Ty Dillon

    32. Michael McDowell

    33. Daniel Suarez

    34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Electrical

    35. Andy Lally – OUT, Accident

    36. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident

    37. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Dvp

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. William Byron – Advanced

    2. Ryan Blaney – Advanced

    3. Denny Hamlin – Advanced

    4. Christopher Bell – Advanced

    5. Chris Buescher – Advanced

    6. Tyler Reddick – Advanced

    7. Kyle Larson – Advanced

    8. Martin Truex Jr. – Advanced

    9. Ross Chastain – Eliminated

    10. Bubba Wallace – Eliminated

    11. Brad Keselowski – Eliminated

    12. Kyle Busch – Eliminated

    The Round of 8 in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to commence next Sunday, October 15, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event’s broadcast is slated to occur at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Haley to make 100th Cup career start at Kansas

    Haley to make 100th Cup career start at Kansas

    Competing in his second full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, Justin Haley is within reach of achieving a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s Playoff event at Kansas Speedway, the driver of the No. 31 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will achieve 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

    A native of Winamac, Indiana, Haley made his inaugural presence in the Cup Series at Talladega Superspeedway in April 2019, where he piloted the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports. By then, he was also campaigning in his first full-time season in the Xfinity Series for Kaulig Racing. Starting 38th, Haley ended up in 32nd place after getting collected in a multi-car wreck on the backstretch with seven laps remaining. After finishing 34th in his second Cup career start at Sonoma Raceway in June, Haley pulled off an upset at Daytona International Speedway in July when he achieved his first career victory in the rain-shortened Coke Zero Sugar 400. His road to victory occurred with 30 laps remaining when contact between race leader Austin Dillon and Clint Bowyer triggered a multi-car wreck that eliminated a majority of the field. Haley, who avoided the carnage and moved up into the top five, then became the leader when initial leader Kurt Busch pitted during an extensive caution period and moments before the race was red-flagged due to a lightning strike. With the event remaining under a red flag period for hours, NASCAR called the event official on Lap 127 of 160 and awarded the first Cup win for both Haley and Spire Motorsports as Haley became the 193rd different competitor to achieve a win in NASCAR’s premier series. Despite not qualifying for the 2019 Cup Playoffs due to being a part-time series competitor, the Daytona victory made Haley eligible to compete in the 2020 All-Star Race.

    In 2020, Haley, who remained as a full-time Xfinity competitor for Kaulig Racing, campaigned in two Cup events, with his first occurring in the 62nd running of the Daytona 500, where he debuted Kaulig Racing in NASCAR’s premier series. He earned a transfer spot for the 500 after posting the fastest-qualifying time in a non-chartered entry and rallied from being involved in a late incident to finish in 13th place during the main event. Haley went on to finish 14th in the All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in July and 31st at Talladega in October, both while competing for Spire Motorsports.

    For the 2021 season, Haley, who remained at Kaulig in the Xfinity circuit, competed in all but five of the 36-race Cup schedule. Thirty-five of his starts occurred with Spire Motorsports, with his best on-track results being eighth at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and sixth at Daytona in August. His lone start not with Spire occurred with Kaulig at Talladega in October, where he finished in 20th place. Overall, Haley concluded the season with 21 top-30 results and an average-finishing result of 28.5.

    Six months prior to the conclusion of the 2021 season, Kaulig Racing announced that the team would be fielding a full-time Cup Series entry for Haley to drive for the 2022 season. Assuming control of Kaulig’s newly formed No. 31 entry, he commenced the season with a 19th-place result in the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum in February despite winning the third Heat qualifying event and starting towards the front. He proceeded to finish 23rd during the first two scheduled events before posting four consecutive top-20 results. At Darlington Raceway in May, Haley posted his first top-five result of the season by finishing third. Despite finishing seventh at Atlanta Motor Speedway in July and achieving 15 top-20 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, he did not qualify for the 2022 Cup Playoffs. Haley went on to tie his season-best result of the season in third place at Texas Motor Speedway in September before finishing fifth at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October. He ended up recording a total of three top-five results, four top-10 results, 44 laps led and an average-finishing result of 18.4 throughout the 36-race schedule before capping off his first full-time Cup season in 22nd place in the final standings.

    Commencing this season with a 32nd-place finish in this year’s Daytona 500, Haley recorded three top-10 results during the first 17-scheduled events, with his best on-track finish being a sixth-place run at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in April. Then during the inaugural Chicago Street Course, he assumed the lead on Lap 48 and led through Lap 70 until he was overtaken by eventual winner Shane van Gisbergen and ended up in a strong runner-up result. Despite finishing eighth during the following weekend at Atlanta, seven consecutive results of finishes outside the top 15 were not enough to boost Haley and the No. 31 team into the Playoffs for a second consecutive season. Coming off a 31st-place finish at Darlington, the Indiana native is currently situated in 24th place in the standings with a total of five top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 20.6 through 27 events. This season is also scheduled to be Haley’s last at Kaulig as he is set to join Rick Ware Racing for the 2024 Cup season.

    Through 99 previous Cup starts, Haley has achieved one victory, five top-five results, 12 top-10 results, 72 laps led and an average-finishing result of 22.1.

    Haley is primed to make his 100th Cup Series career start at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, September 10, with the event’s coverage to occur at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Haley inks multi-year deal with Rick Ware Racing, beginning in 2024

    Haley inks multi-year deal with Rick Ware Racing, beginning in 2024

    Rick Ware Racing announced that Justin Haley will be joining the organization on a multi-year basis, beginning with the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.

    The 24-year-old Haley from Winamac, Indiana will pilot a Ford Mustang for the organization based in Concord, North Carolina, which is also technically aligned with Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. The news also comes as Haley is currently campaigning in his second full-time season in NASCAR’s premier series for Kaulig Racing, a team that Haley first joined at the start of the 2019 Xfinity Series season and will be departing at this season’s conclusion.

    “This is a unique opportunity that I look forward to,” Haley said. “There are many key pieces of this program I believe can help me in taking the next steps in my NASCAR career. I look forward to working with our key partners, and many additional RWR partners to be announced soon. The alliance with RFK Racing is going to be pivotal for the future of our on-track success.”

    A former champion of the ARCA Menards Series East division in 2016 and race winner across the Craftsman Truck Series and Xfinity Series, Haley made his first three career starts in the Cup Series in 2019, where he drove for Spire Motorsports. During his third and final start of the season at Daytona International Speedway in July 2019, Haley achieved the upset by notching his first career victory in NASCAR’s premier series after retaining the lead when NASCAR made the event official 33 laps shy of its scheduled distance due to precipitation.

    After making 33 Cup starts between Kaulig Racing and Spire Motorsports during the 2020-21 seasons, Haley became a full-time Cup competitor for Kaulig in 2022, which marked the team’s first full-time campaign in NASCAR’s premier series. During his first full-time Cup season, the Indiana native recorded three top-five results, four top-10 results, 44 laps led and an average-finishing result of 18.4 before finishing in 22nd place in the final standings. Currently, Haley is coming off a strong runner-up result in the Cup Series’ inaugural Chicago Street Course event. He has also racked up five top-10 results, 23 laps led and an average-finishing result of 18.1 through the first 20-scheduled events, which places him in 21st place in the regular-season standings and 46 points below the top-16 cutline to make the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs.

    Through 92 starts in NASCAR’s premier series, Haley has achieved one victory, five top-five results, 12 top-10 results, 72 laps led and an average-finishing result of 21.7.

    “This is a great day for our team on many levels,” Rick Ware, owner of Rick Ware Racing who currently fields two full-time entries in the Cup Series, said. “Having someone with Justin’s talent and background become part of our future is a testament to our commitment to growth over the past few years. I have known Justin for a long time, respect all he has achieved in many forms of motorsports and look forward to great success together. His versatility as a driver in multiple series, the continuity we can build around Justin and the respect amongst his peers will pay great dividends for our team. He will be a great teammate for the RWR/RFK Racing alliance.”

    Further announcements regarding Haley’s ride number, sponsorships and crew chief along with his replacement at Kaulig Racing have yet to be announced.

    With his plans for next season set, Haley’s next scheduled Cup Series start of this season is set to occur at Pocono Raceway this Sunday, July 23. The event’s broadcast time is scheduled to occur at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Allmendinger rolls to a chaotic Xfinity victory at Nashville

    Allmendinger rolls to a chaotic Xfinity victory at Nashville

    AJ Allmendinger survived a series of caution periods and on-track chaos, including one that involved him at the start of the second stage, to muscle his way to the front, assume a late lead and fend off the field during two late-race restarts to win the Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday, June 24.

    The 41-year-old Allmendinger from Los Gatos, California, led three times for 25 of 196 over-scheduled laps in an event where he rolled off the starting grid in 11th place. After settling in third place at the conclusion of the first stage, he was then involved in a multi-car wreck at the start of the second stage that eliminated a handful of front-runners that included Cup Series rookie Ty Gibbs.

    Following a methodical drive back to the front for the remainder of the event, he then muscled his way into the lead with 46 laps remaining. Despite losing ground amid a slow pit service under green during the proceeding laps, Allmendinger then managed to reassume the lead from Parker Kligerman with 11 laps remaining. Despite having to endure two late-race restarts, including an overtime attempt, Allmendinger did not relent as he fended off the field of Xfinity Series regulars to grab his second checkered flag of the 2023 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Cole Custer notched his third pole position of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 157.020 in 30.493 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Chandler Smith, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 156.302 mph in 30.633 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Connor Mosack and Zane Smith dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Joey Gase also dropped to the rear of the field as he started the event in a backup car and as a result of a driver change, where he replaced CJ McLaughlin.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, early trouble struck through Turns 1 and 2 when Jeb Burton and Kyle Sieg made contact and triggered a multi-car wreck that included Ryan Sieg, his brother Kyle and Stefan Parsons while the rest of the field veered to the bottom lane to avoid the carnage. Also involved was Justin Allgaier, winner of last year’s event at Nashville, after he collided into Parsons sideways while Parsons smacked the outside wall head-on. Despite suffering cosmetic damage to his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro, Allgaier managed to continue while remaining on the lead lap along with the Sieg brothers and Jeb Burton while Parsons retired.

    During the following restart on the eighth lap, Custer, who retained the lead through the event’s start and early caution period, continued to lead ahead of rookie Sammy Smith while Chandler Smith and Ty Gibbs battled for third. Entering the backstretch, Gibbs and Smith made contact, which caused the field behind Custer and Sammy Smith to fan out to three lanes. Then entering Turns 3 and 4, Austin Hill, who tried to overtake Gibbs and Chandler Smith for third amid three lanes, made contact beneath Gibbs and was sent spinning up the track as he barely clipped Jeb Burton before lightly backing his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro into the outside wall while the rest of the field managed to dodge Hill’s incident. The incident was enough to draw the event’s second caution period.

    At the start of the proceeding restart on Lap 14, Sammy Smith and Custer dueled for the lead as the field fanned out. With Ty Gibbs also fanning out and overtaking teammate Smith for second, Custer retained the lead as the field navigated its way through a full lap under green flag conditions. With Custer leading, Carson Hocevar, winner of Friday night’s Craftsman Truck Series event at Nashville, muscled his way into third while Sammy Smith and Riley Herbst occupied the top five ahead of AJ Allmendinger.

    Three laps later, the event’s third caution flew when Chad Chastain, who was running in the middle of the pack, got loose entering Turns 3 and 4 and spun backward toward the outside wall as he also collected Ryan Ellis, who veered sideways and scrubbed the wall, while the rest of the field escaped unscathed.

    When the race restarted on Lap 21, Custer and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead as the field fanned out to three lanes entering Turn 1. Through the turns, Gibbs started to peek ahead with the lead ahead of Custer before he assumed the spot with full authority during the following lap. With Gibbs leading Custer, Sammy Smith was in third followed by Hocevar and Allmendinger while Herbst was in sixth ahead of Chandler Smith, Parker Kligerman, Brandon Jones and rookie Parker Retzlaff.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Ty Gibbs was leading by more than a second over Custer followed by Sammy Smith, Allmendinger and Hocevar while Chandler Smith, Herbst, Parker Kligerman, Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer were in the top 10. Behind, Brandon Jones was in 11th ahead of John Hunter Nemechek, Josh Berry, Allgaier and Hill while Retzlaff, Zane Smith, Brett Moffitt, Daniel Hemric and Kaz Grala occupied the top 20.

    Nearing the Lap 40 mark, Ty Gibbs extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Custer while third-place Sammy Smith trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, Allmendinger and Hocevar remained in the top five while Chandler Smith was in sixth ahead of Herbst.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Ty Gibbs, who was making his fourth Xfinity start of the season and swept both stages at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, claimed his third Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Custer trailed in second place by more than a second while Allmendinger, Hocevar, Sammy Smith, Chandler Smith, Herbst, Mayer, John Hunter Nemechek and Kligerman were scored in the top 10.

    Under the first stage break, the lead lap field led by Ty Gibbs pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hill exited first after only opting for fuel to his car followed by Gibbs. During the pit stops, Nemechek was penalized for having too many crew members over the pit wall.

    The second stage started on Lap 52 as Hill and Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, trouble struck for the front-runners when Hill made contact with Gibbs and sent Gibbs’ No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra spinning through the first two turns, where he clipped Allmendinger and sent him spinning with damage before being hit by Hocevar’s No. 77 Premier Security Chevrolet Camaro against the outside wall as the rest of the field turned to the bottom of the track to avoid the carnage. In the midst of the carnage, Custer escaped with the lead followed by Mayer, Chandler Smith, Herbst and Creed while Gibbs and Hocevar retired.

    During the proceeding restart on Lap 59, Custer and Mayer battled dead even for the lead until Custer, who restarted on the outside lane, prevailed to retain the lead ahead of Mayer. The caution, however, quickly returned during the following lap when Connor Mosack slid sideways toward the outside wall in Turn 2. While trying to straighten his car, his car then jerked back across the wall and smacked the wall before emerging with extensive damage on both the front and rear ends.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 65, Mayer peeked ahead to lead a lap for himself, but Custer reassumed the top spot amid a fierce battle between himself, Chandler Smith and Mayer. On Lap 67, Chandler Smith made his move to the front and emerged as the new leader while Mayer, Custer and Herbst battled for second. During the following lap, the caution flew again when Sammy Smith, who was battling Sheldon Creed for fifth place, was bumped by Creed through Turns 1 and 2. The contact sent Smith back hard against the outside wall as the rear end of Smith’s No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra was left destroyed while Creed, who veered sideways amid the contact, was hit by an oncoming Brandon Jones, who veered sideways with left-front damage to his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro.

    As the event restarted under green on Lap 75, Chandler Smith retained the lead ahead of Mayer while Custer rocketed his way up to third followed by Hemric, Herbst and Zane Smith.

    By Lap 80, Chandler Smith was leading by more than a second over Mayer followed by Custer, Hemric and Herbst while Zane Smith, Nemechek, Josh Berry, Brett Moffitt and Retzlaff were in the top 10 ahead of Kligerman, Ryan Sieg, Allgaier, Hill and Grala.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Chandler Smith claimed his second stage victory of the 2023 season. Custer settled in second followed by a hard-charging Hemric while Mayer, Herbst, Nemechek, Zane Smith, Berry, Retzlaff and Moffitt were scored in the top 10.

    During the second stage break, where the event surpassed its halfway mark, the lead lap field led by Chandler Smith pitted. Following the pit stops, Chandler Smith retained the lead after exiting first followed by Custer, Hemric, Herbst, Nemechek and Zane Smith. Amid the pit stops, Herbst was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for an uncontrolled tire violation. In addition, Mayer, who pitted from fourth place, exited just outside of the top 10 amid a slow pit service, where he had to back his car while trying to leave his pit box after being blocked by Blaine Perkins.

    With 91 laps remaining, the final stage started as Chandler Smith and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Chandler Smith retained the lead following a push from teammate Hemric while Hemric challenged Custer for second. With Custer retaining the runner-up spot over Hemric, Chandler Smith continued to lead while Nemechek charged his way in fourth followed by Zane Smith and Allmendinger.

    Six laps later, the caution returned when Kligerman spun in Turn 4 after receiving a bump by Kaz Grala, though Kligerman managed to quickly straighten his car below the apron and proceed without sustaining any significant damage.

    With the race restarting under green with 79 laps remaining, Chandler Smith retained the lead ahead of Custer and Hemric, with Hemric launching his charge for the lead as he overtook Custer for second. Then two laps later, Hemric assumed the lead over teammate Chandler Smith. Smith, however, reignited another charge on his Kaulig Racing teammate as he reassumed the top spot during the following lap with Custer rechallenging Hemric for second. Behind, Nemechek and Allmendinger battled for fourth as Chandler Smith stabilized his advantage to half a second.

    With 70 laps remaining, Chandler Smith was leading by four-tenths of a second over Custer and by more than a second over teammate Hemric while Nemechek and Allmendinger trailed in the top five. Smith would continue to lead with 60 laps remaining, but his advantage decreased to a tenth of a second over Custer as Custer methodically caught and challenged Smith for the lead. By then, Allmendinger, Hemric and Berry were in the top five while Nemechek, who was running in the top five a few laps earlier, made an unscheduled pit stop after reporting a vibration to his No. 20 Pye Barker Fire and Safety Toyota Supra.

    Five laps later, the battle for the lead intensified as Custer drew his No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang into a side-by-side battle against Chandler Smith’s No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro. While Custer had the advantage on the inside lane, Smith refused to relent as he remained on the gas and maintained the momentum with a narrow lead on the outside lane. With both continuing to duke for the lead, Allmendinger joined the battle as he gained massive ground on the two leaders in his No. 10 Bailey Zimmerman – Religiously Chevrolet Camaro. The battle amongst Smith, Custer and Allmendinger soon narrowed down to six-tenths of a second with the trio still dueling for the lead with 50 laps remaining.

    Two laps later, Allmendinger made his way into the runner-up spot after overtaking Custer before he proceeded to challenge his Kaulig Racing teammate Chandler Smith for the lead. With Custer losing ground on the two leaders, Allmendinger, who had managed to methodically carve his way back to the front following his Stage 2 incident, assumed the lead for the first time with 46 laps remaining while their third teammate, Hemric, was trailing in fourth place by more than three seconds.

    Then with under 45 laps remaining, green flag pit stops commenced as Allgaier pitted along with Custer, Chandler Smith and Jeremy Clements. The race leader Allmendinger and teammate Hemric would also pit with 43 laps remaining as Berry cycled his way into a brief lead. Amid the pit stops, Smith and Custer managed to cycle ahead of Allmendinger, who endured a slow pit stop.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event and with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop under green, Kligerman, who had yet to pit, was leading followed by Allmendinger, who had overtaken teammate Chandler Smith, who was dealing with an ill-handling race car amid a slide, on the track while Brandon Jones, Smith and Custer were in the top five.

    With 20 laps remaining, Kligerman, who remained on the track and was trying to conserve fuel to finish, continued to lead by more than six seconds in his No. 48 Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet Camaro and over a hard-charging Allmendinger with third-place Custer trailing by more than nine seconds. Kligerman would proceed to lead by more than two seconds over Allmendinger with 15 laps remaining.

    Then with 11 laps remaining, Allmendinger, who methodically gained ground and drew himself alongside Kligerman during the proceeding lap, overtook Kligerman for the lead entering Turn 1. Allmendinger would proceed to stretch his advantage to more than two seconds over Kligerman, who continued to run on fuel-conserve mode, with 10 laps remaining while third-place Custer trailed by more than three seconds.

    Then with six laps remaining, the event’s 10th caution period flew when Chad Chastain spun in Turn 4. The caution period stalled Allmendinger’s progress as he was leading by more than two seconds over Custer while Kligerman was in third. During the caution period, six competitors that included the leader Allmendinger, Chandler Smith, Hill, Herbst, Berry and Hemric remained on the track while the rest led by Custer and Kligerman pitted.

    With the race restarting under green with two laps remaining, Allmendinger was drafted into the lead with help from Hill as the front-runners fanned out, among which included Herbst as he bolted his way towards the front. Then in Turns 1 and 2, trouble struck for Chandler Smith after contact with Berry amid a tight four-wide action that also included Custer and Hemric sent Smith spinning up the track while the rest of the field scrambled to the bottom of the track to avoid Smith’s incident. Amid the incident, Allmendinger remained as the leader followed by Herbst, Hill, Hemric, Berry and Kligerman, but the return of the caution sent the event into overtime.

    At the start of the first overtime attempt, Allmendinger managed to rocket away from Herbst and the field. The field behind would then fan out to multiple lanes through the backstretch as Allmendinger continued to muscle away with the lead entering Turns 3 and 4.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allmendinger remained as the leader by eight-tenths of a second over Herbst, who was trying to fend off Hemric. Then just past the start/finish line, Hemric veered sideways, but he managed to straighten his car without triggering a wreck. Hemric’s loose moment, however, cost him a bevy of spots as Herbst, Hill and Mayer went by him. By then, Allmendinger was long gone with an advantage of more than a second through the backstretch. With the field battling amongst one another for as high as second, Allmendinger was able to cycle his way back to the finish line uncontested and score his second Xfinity victory of the 2023 season just as a multi-car wreck in the middle of the field erupted.

    With his first victory at Nashville, Allmendinger scored his 17th career win in the Xfinity Series, his second of the season after winning at Circuit of the Americas in March and his first oval, superspeedway venue victory since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2022. In addition, this marked the third victory of the season for Kaulig Racing’s No. 10 “all-star” entry: twice made by Allmendinger and once by Kyle Larson at Darlington Raceway in May.

    “All thanks to all the men and women at Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger said on USA Network. “We got [country artist] Bailey Zimmerman. He flew in from Chicago this morning. [It’s] Awesome to have him here and win a race for him. The car was really good. [I] Got caught up in that wreck on that one restart. [I] Thought at least our chance to win was over, but the guys did such a great job of fixing [the car]. This is one of those iconic trophies [Gibson guitars] you wanna win. What a cool way to do it.”

    “All these wins are amazing,” Allmendinger added. “I love winning on ovals because I know a lot of people doubt me being on an oval. What a great time.”

    Herbst, racing for the first time with new crew chief Davin Restivo, settled in a career-best second place for the third time in his career and after coming off eight consecutive events of finishing no higher than 14th. Mayer ended up third while Hill and Berry finished in the top five.

    Nemechek came home in sixth place while Zane Smith, Hemric, Custer and Retzlaff finished in the top 10. Behind, Kligerman, Moffitt and Allgaier, all of whom wrecked approaching the finish line, ended up 11th, 14th and 15th, respectively, while Chandler Smith rallied his way to 12th.

    There were 17 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured a record-tying 11 cautions for 58 laps. In total, 16 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With 11 Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, John Hunter Nemechek leads the regular-season standings by nine points over Austin Hill, 41 over Justin Allgaier and 51 over Cole Custer.

    Results.

    1. AJ Allmendinger, 25 laps led

    2. Riley Herbst

    3. Sam Mayer, six laps led

    4. Austin Hill, three laps led

    5. Josh Berry, one lap led

    6. John Hunter Nemechek

    7. Zane Smith

    8. Daniel Hemric, one lap led

    9. Cole Custer, 32 laps led

    10. Parker Retzlaff, three laps led

    11. Parker Kligerman, 22 laps led

    12. Chandler Smith, 74 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    13. Jeb Burton

    14. Brett Moffitt

    15. Justin Allgaier

    16. Kaz Grala

    17. Sheldon Creed, one lap down

    18. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down

    19. Ryan Sieg, one lap down

    20. Brennan Poole, one lap down

    21. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

     22. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

    23. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down

    24. Brandon Jones, one lap down

    25. Kyle Sieg, one lap down

    26. Blaine Perkins, two laps down

    27. Jeffrey Earnhardt, two laps down

    28. Ryan Ellis, two laps down

    29. Chad Chastain, two laps down

    30. David Starr, three laps down

    31. Joey Gase, three laps down

    32. Mason Massey, 10 laps down

    33. Josh Williams – OUT, Alternator

    34. Sammy Smith – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    35. Connor Mosack – OUT, Dvp

    36. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Accident

    37. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident, 28 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    38. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ inaugural event at the Chicago Street Course in Downtown Chicago, Illinois. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, July 1, at 5 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Several Cup and Xfinity drivers performing double duty roles at Sonoma

    Several Cup and Xfinity drivers performing double duty roles at Sonoma

    For a second consecutive season, Sonoma Raceway is in for a delightful treat as NASCAR makes its annual return to the 12-turn circuit in Sonoma, California, on June 9-11, 2023.

    In a similar approach from last year, two of NASCAR’s top three national touring series will run on the same weekend in conjunction with the ARCA Menards Series West at Sonoma. Compared to a year ago, where the Craftsman Truck Series competition made its return to the circuit for the first time in 24 years, the NASCAR Xfinity Series competition will experience its first taste of the twists and turns in Wine Country this upcoming Saturday, June 10, with DoorDash returning as a title sponsor of the 250-mile event.

    With the return of the highly anticipated racing weekend in Northern California, a host of NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series stars will be attempting to pull double duty efforts within all three series.

    The driver who headlines the double duty role for this weekend’s Xfinity-Cup doubleheader feature is Kyle Larson. The 2021 Cup Series champion and 21-race Cup winner from Elk Grove, California, is scheduled to make his first of two starts this season in the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports. His Xfinity start will occur a day prior to climbing aboard his iconic No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the Cup division.

    Aside from being a hometown hero, Larson is no stranger to achieving success at Sonoma. He notched a Cup victory at the circuit in 2021 after leading a race-high 57 of 92 laps and has started on pole position in the last five consecutive Cup events at Sonoma. He has also achieved his share of success on road course venues after winning the last two Cup events at Watkins Glen International, the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course venue in October 2021 and his first Xfinity road course victory at The Glen last August.

    While this weekend is set to mark his first Xfinity start of this season in HMS’ No. 17 entry, Larson has already made one start in the series in May. There, he piloted Kaulig Racing’s No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro entry to a thrilling last lap victory over John Hunter Nemechek at Darlington Raceway. With the Darlington victory being the first for him ever in NASCAR, Larson aims to achieve another accomplishment by adding a Xfinity victory at Sonoma to his racing resume.

    Speaking of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing entry, AJ Allmendinger returns to pilot the entry for a second time this season. The 41-year-old veteran from Los Gatos, California, will be receiving sponsorship support from Gabriel Glas for this weekend’s Xfinity and Cup rides, where he currently drives the No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for Kaulig in NASCAR’s premier series.

    Of his 16 career victories in the Xfinity circuit, 11 of them have occurred on road course venues, which makes Allmendinger the winningest competitor on road courses in the series. Despite winning on seven different road courses between the Xfinity and Cup levels, including his two Cup victories at Watkins Glen International and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course venue, Allmendinger has yet to achieve a win at Sonoma. In 11 previous starts at Sonoma in the Cup Series, he has led a total of 65 laps, but has only managed to finish in the top 10 twice, with his best result being seventh in 2009. He has managed to start on the front row three times between 2014-16, including on pole position in 2015. With his most recent victory in the series occurring this past March at Circuit of the Americas, Allmendinger strives to extend his road course dominance by checking off another road course venue off his bucket list.

    Photo by Chad Wells for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Joining the list of double duty competitors between the Xfinity-Cup action is Ross Chastain, who drives the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing in the Cup Series. The 30-year-old Chastain from Alva, Florida, is scheduled to drive the No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro for DGM Racing sponsored by Skip Barber Racing School, with the event set to mark his third series start of this season after competing at Auto Club Speedway in February and at Darlington in May.

    In three career starts at Sonoma in the Cup Series, Chastain has notched two consecutive seventh-place results, including this past season. He was one of five Cup competitors who competed in last year’s Truck Series event at Sonoma, where he led 19 of 75 laps before finishing fourth while driving for Niece Motorsports. Chastain also has one road course victory stored in his resume, which occurred at Circuit of the Americas in March 2022 on a day where he also notched the first Cup career win for himself and Trackhouse Racing. On the Xfinity side, his best series’ result on a road course venue was at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course circuit, where he finished fourth.

    Ironically, a year after making his 100th Truck career start overall at Sonoma, Chastain is also primed to achieve another milestone start in Northern California. By qualifying and taking the green flag in this Saturday’s event, he will make his 200th career start in the Xfinity circuit. Through 199 previous Xfinity starts, the Floridian has achieved two career victories, one pole, 23 top-five results, 49 top-10 results, 961 laps led and an average-finishing result of 16.7. His best points result in the series is seventh place, which occurred in 2020. During that season, he notched career-high stats in top-fives (15), top-10s (27), laps led (553), overall average-starting result (7.7) and overall average-finishing result (8.2) despite going winless and while driving for Kaulig Racing.

    Veteran Aric Almirola from Tampa, Florida, is also scheduled to pull double duty efforts as he will be piloting the No. 28 Michael Roberts Construction Ford Mustang for RSS Racing on Saturday before driving the No. 10 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing on Sunday. The Xfinity event is set to mark Almirola’s 104th career start in the series and second of the season after he competed at Circuit of the Americas this past March, where he finished 24th while competing for SS-Green Light Racing.

    Through 10 Cup career starts at Sonoma, Almirola has achieved two top-10 results, with his best result being eighth in June 2018. While this weekend is set to mark his first Xfinity start at Sonoma, it will mark his third different series where he has competed at the circuit. In June 2018, Almirola competed in the ARCA Menards Series West event at Sonoma for Stewart-Haas Racing, where he finished second after leading 23 of 64 laps. With his last Xfinity victory occurring at Talladega Superspeedway in May 2017 and his best road course result in the Xfinity circuit being a fifth-place run at Watkins Glen in August 2018, a first road course victory is still something Almirola continues to pursue.

    Photo by Bruce Nuttleman for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Another competitor attempting to participate in double duty efforts is Ty Dillon, who will be piloting the No. 4 Chevrolet Camaro for JD Motorsports. The 31-year-old Dillon and grandson of championship-winning owner Richard Childress from Welcome, North Carolina, is coming off his recent series start at Darlington in May, where he finished 19th while driving the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro.

    Dillon has made a total of four Cup starts at Sonoma, with his best result being 23rd a year ago while driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Like Almirola, he has yet to achieve a road course victory to his resume. The closest Dillon came to winning on a road course circuit was during the inaugural Truck Series event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in September 2013, where he was leading on the final lap until he got wrecked by Chase Elliott entering the final corner. His best Xfinity result on a road course venue is third, which was achieved at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August 2015. With his latest Xfinity victory spanning back to July 2014 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Dillon, who currently competes full time in the Cup Series and in the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, aims for a momentous boost to his racing career as he fights his way back to championship-caliber form.

    In a youthful career highlighted with an abundance of success and a rapid ascend to the Cup Series level, Ty Gibbs is set to experience another first to his career as he prepares to tackle Sonoma Raceway for the first time ever and twice in one weekend. The 20-year-old reigning Xfinity Series champion and grandson of championship-winning owner Joe Gibbs from Charlotte, North Carolina, will return as the driver of the No. 19 Toyota Supra sponsored by The He Get Us campaign for his third series start of this season.

    While racing on Sonoma’s surface will be new for Gibbs, racing on road courses is something he is familiar with, with some of his success occurring on road course venues. He achieved his first Xfinity career victory in his series debut at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in February 2021. He then proceeded to win at Watkins Glen in August 2021 before winning at Road America last July following a last lap battle against Kyle Larson. With 11 Xfinity victories achieved, three on road courses, in 53 series career starts, Gibbs, who earned top-five results in two Xfinity starts this season at Circuit of the Americas in March and at Charlotte in May, aims to extend his top-five streak to three and potentially, emerge victorious while continuing his pursuit of claiming this year’s Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title behind the wheel of JGR’s No. 54 Toyota TRD Camry in the Cup circuit.

    Lastly on the Xfinity side, Daniel Suarez becomes the seventh Cup participant for the inaugural Xfinity event at Sonoma as he will be piloting the No. 07 Chevrolet Camaro for SS-Green Light Racing. The 2016 Xfinity Series champion from Monterrey, Mexico, enters the Sonoma weekend with high momentum after notching his first Cup Series career victory at the circuit a year ago and becoming the first Mexican-born competitor to win in NASCAR’s premier series.

    While this season marks his third as a full-time Cup Series competitor in the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing, this Saturday’s Xfinity event is set to mark Suarez’s first start in the Xfinity circuit since racing at Chicagoland Speedway in June 2018. Suarez, though, made his name made within the Xfinity circuit with 84 career starts in the series, a Rookie-of-the-Year title from 2015 and three career victories, including the 2016 championship as he became the first Latin American competitor to win a title across NASCAR’s top three national touring series. His highest Xfinity result on road courses stands at fourth place, which he achieved twice at Watkins Glen and at Road America in August 2016.

    For Sonoma, Suarez returns to the circuit with vast experience. In conjunction with his five total Cup Series start, he competed in two consecutive ARCA Menards Series West events at Sonoma, where he finished 11th and fourth, respectively, in 2017 and 2018. Suarez also competed as a relief competitor for the injured Carson Hocevar and Niece Motorsports during the Truck Series’ Sonoma event a year ago, where he rallied from two laps down after relieving Hocevar early in the event to finish sixth. Given his strength of the circuit, Suarez aims for a repeat victory while pursuing his first Cup victory of the 2023 campaign.

    Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    A day prior to the Xfinity Series’ inaugural event at Sonoma, the ARCA Menards Series West division will make its return to the circuit for the 44th time overall as General Tire retains its right of sponsoring the 200-mile event. The lone Cup Series competitor who is entered for the event is Ryan Preece, who drives the No. 41 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. The 32-year-old Preece from Berlin, Connecticut, will be piloting the No. 9 Ford for SHR in the ARCA West region, which will mark his second career start in the series. His lone start in the series occurred at Sonoma in June 2019, where he led a race-high 33 of 57 laps and was in position of winning until he was penalized for a late restart violation and demoted to the last competitor running on the lead lap in 20th place. A former winner across the Truck and Xfinity circuits, Preece has also made two previous starts at Sonoma in the Cup Series in 2019 and 2021, with his best result being 21st from the 2021 season. His best results on road courses within NASCAR’s top three national touring series are a pair of fourth-place runs at Watkins Glen and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in 2018.

    For Friday’s ARCA West event at Sonoma, Preece will be competing alongside a host of Xfinity Series regulars that include Cole Custer, Riley Herbst, Parker Retzlaff, Kyle Sieg and Sammy Smith, all of whom will receive a head start to their weekend prior to their series’ debut at the Northern California circuit.

    Custer, a former Cup Series Rookie-of-the-Year recipient from Ladera Ranch, California, will retain driving responsibilities of the No. 55 Ford for High Point Racing for a second consecutive week after competing in last weekend’s event at Portland International Raceway. Custer is also coming off a dramatic weekend at Portland, where he notched his first Xfinity victory of the season during an overtime shootout. Herbst, Custer’s Xfinity teammate at Stewart-Haas Racing from Las Vegas, Nevada, will also be returning to the series for a second consecutive week as he will be driving the No. 5 Jerry Pitts Racing Ford.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Retzlaff, a Xfinity rookie competitor from Rhinelander, Wisconsin, who currently competes for Jordan Anderson Racing, will be piloting the No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet for a second consecutive week while Kyle Sieg, a full-time Xfinity competitor for RSS Racing from Tucker, Georgia, will be assuming the No. 46 Ford for Lowden Jackson Motorsports.

    Lastly, Sammy Smith, a Xfinity rookie from Johnston, Iowa, who currently competes for Joe Gibbs Racing, will be joining Hattori Racing Enterprises for a one-race effort in the No. 81 Toyota. Smith, who notched his first Xfinity career victory at Phoenix Raceway in March, has not yet competed at Sonoma throughout his youthful racing career, but he has achieved an abundance of success within the ARCA divisions, with six victories in the ARCA Menards Series, two consecutive ARCA East titles and a single ARCA West victory that occurred at Phoenix last November.

    With Sonoma Raceway serving as the next scheduled event on the 2023 NASCAR schedule and with the drivers’ roster for this weekend’s events set, the weekend commences with the ARCA Menards Series West running the General Tire 200 on Friday, June 9, at 6:30 p.m. ET as the event will air live on FloRacing. The Xfinity Series’ inaugural DoorDash 250 at Sonoma will occur the following day on Saturday, June 10, at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. The Cup Series’ Toyota Save/Mart 350 will cap off the weekend as the series’ top premier competitors compete on Sunday, June 11, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Kyle Larson wins NASCAR Xfinity Series Darlington Duel

    Kyle Larson wins NASCAR Xfinity Series Darlington Duel

    Darlington Raceway lived up to its Too Tough to Tame moniker as Kyle Larson battled John Hunter Nemechek for the win in the Xfinity Series Shriners Children’s 200 Saturday afternoon.

    It all came down to the end of the race with Nemechek in the lead as a relentless Larson finally overtook him on the final lap to win in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet.

    Larson’s victory was hard fought after a penalty for speeding on pit road relegated him to the back of the field for the final stage of the race.

    I knew we were going to have time to get to the front if we had a caution,” Larson said. “We were picking off cars really fast and had some lane selections work out for me. We were just bouncing off each other a little bit. I don’t know what happened in (Turn) 3. It seemed like he (Nemechek) tried to get behind me to shove me into the corner. It kind of hooked me right, and I hit the wall, and I was trying to stay away from him and get off of (Turn) 4.” 

    Nemechek, who lead a race-high 57 laps, was understandably disappointed after his contact with Larson resulted in a fifth-place finish, but indicated that he will use it as motivation moving forward and learn from his mistakes.

    “I feel like we both had dominant race cars at times,” Nemechek said. “I feel like him and I were definitely the class in the field as the day went on, and I don’t know if he wouldn’t have got a speeding penalty how we would’ve ended up but I felt like we were really good for portions of the run, and he was really good other portions of the run.

    “So ultimately, he probably should’ve won the race. He shouldn’t have been that close to me, come the white-flag lap, but he was fast, and he’s one of the best in the sport. There’s a reason that he’s a NASCAR Cup Series champion and wins a lot. So we’ll take it and move on with it. I learned a lot today for when we come back here in the fall and just got to be a little bit smarter about it.”

    Justin Allgaier finished second followed by Cole Custer in third and Austin Hill in fourth, with Nemechek rounding out the top five.  

    Nemechek currently leads the Xfinity Series driver standings with 424 points, followed by Austin Hill (-1), Allgaier (-53), Josh Berry (-57) and Cole Custer (-9).

    Next up for the Xfinity Series is the Alsco Uniforms 300 on Saturday, May 27 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It will be televised on FS1 with radio coverage provided by PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Results:

  • Chandler Smith notches first Xfinity Series career victory at Richmond

    Chandler Smith notches first Xfinity Series career victory at Richmond

    Nearly a month after having a victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway within his grasp slip out of reach in the final laps, rookie Chandler Smith redeemed himself through a late shootout to claim his first NASCAR Xfinity Series career win in the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, April 1.

    The 20-year-old Smith from Talking Rock, Georgia, led three times for a race-high 83 of 250-scheduled laps as he spent a majority of the event running towards the front. After claiming the lead from John Hunter Nemechek during a restart with 12 laps remaining prior to a late caution, Smith then used the outside lane during the final restart with six laps remaining to duel and fend off Nemechek before pulling away and retaining the top spot to claim his first checkered flag in the series.

    With on-track qualifying that was scheduled to occur on Saturday canceled due to inclement weather, the starting lineup for the main event was determined through a qualifying metric system from NASCAR’s rulebook qualifying procedure. Based on the metric system, Justin Allgaier was awarded the pole position and was joined on the front row by rookie Sammy Smith.

    Prior to the event, Parker Kligerman dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 48 Big Machine Racing entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a delay spanning more than half an hour due to inclement weather, Allgaier jumped ahead with the lead on the inside lane as he managed to clear Sammy Smith and proceed to lead the first lap. Behind, teammate Sam Mayer launched an early challenge on Smith for second ahead of Riley Herbst, Daniel Hemric and Sheldon Creed while the field behind jostled for positions.

    Two laps later, Sammy Smith overtook Allgaier with a strong launch entering Turn 3. A lap later, Mayer would overtake teammate Allgaier on the outside lane through the frontstretch to claim second place as Hemric and Herbst closed in on the battle.

    During the fifth lap, early troubles ignited for Joe Graf Jr., who went dead straight into the Turn 2 outside wall due to a left-front tire while running inside the top 20. He was, however, able to make a pit stop without drawing a caution.

    With the event surpassing the first 10-scheduled laps, Sammy Smith was leading by a second over Hemric followed by Mayer, John Hunter Nemechek, and Allgaier while rookie Chandler Smith, Herbst, Josh Berry, Sheldon Creed and newcomer Derek Kraus were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Anthony Alfredo was in 11th ahead of Brandon Jones, Cole Custer, Jeremy Clements and Ryan Sieg while Jeb Burton, Austin Hill, Kaz Grala, Josh Williams and Brett Moffitt were running in the top 20.

    Through the first 20 laps, Sammy Smith continued to lead by more than a second over Hemric while Chandler Smith moved up to third ahead of Nemechek as Mayer fell back to fifth. Behind, Allgaier was back in sixth ahead of Herbst and Berry while Creed and Kraus occupied the top 10.

    When the competition caution flew on Lap 35, Sammy Smith retained the lead over Hemric, Chandler Smith and the rest of the field with 36 of 38 starters scored on the lead lap. During the competition caution, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Hemric pitted while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sammy Smith and John Hunter Nemechek remained on the track. During the pit stops, Hill was penalized for speeding on pit road. Brennan Poole was also penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation after a tire rolled out of his pit box during his pit stop.

    Once the event restarted under green on Lap 42, Sammy Smith jumped ahead with a brief advantage while Chandler Smith, Hemric and Herbst took Nemechek through a four-wide battle entering the first turn as Nemechek struggled to launch on old tires. With Nemechek getting swallowed up by the field and competitors running on fresher tires, Sammy Smith was then quickly challenged for the lead through the backstretch as Herbst muscled his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang to the lead on the outside lane. Kaulig Racing’s Hemric and Chandler Smith would quickly follow suit for podium spots against Sammy Smith, who was then overtaken by Brandon Jones, Creed and Custer as he returned to the frontstretch and continued to lose spots. As the field behind continued to scramble for positions during the following lap, Herbst was overtaken by Chandler Smith during the following lap with the latter clearing the field and slowly pulling away.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Chandler Smith was leading by six-tenths of a second over Herbst followed by Hemric, Brandon Jones and Creed while Berry and Cole Custer duked for sixth. Allgaier was in eighth ahead of teammate Mayer, Kaz Grala, Kligerman and Ryan Sieg while Sammy Smith and Nemechek plummeted all the way back to 30th and 32nd while running on older tires compared to the field.

    Fifteen laps later, Chandler Smith continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Herbst while Jones, Berry and Hemric occupied the top five. By then, teammates Nemechek and Sammy Smith were mired in 32nd and 34th, respectively, towards the rear end of the lead lap field as the leaders started to close in to lap them.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 75, Chandler Smith claimed his first stage victory of the 2023 Xfinity season. Herbst settled in a close second followed by Brandon Jones while Berry, Custer, Hemric, Allgaier, Creed, Ryan Sieg and Mayer were scored in the top 10. By then, Nemechek and Sammy Smith were lapped by the leaders. By being scored the first competitor a lap down, however, Nemechek was the recipient of the free pass while Smith remained pinned a lap down.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Chandler Smith returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Herbst exited first followed by Jones, Chandler Smith, Custer and Hemric. During the pit stops, Mayer endured a long pit stop and lost a lap after running in the top 10 while Ryan Sieg was penalized for having too many men over the pit wall.

    The second stage started on Lap 84 as Herbst and Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Herbst launched ahead to retain the lead while Chandler Smith battled Jones for second as the field behind jostled for positions. With Herbst keeping his No. 98 entry in front of a side-by-side battle between Chandler Smith’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing entry and Jones’ No. 9 JR Motorsports entry, Custer followed suit in fourth while Berry was up in fifth.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Herbst was leading by two-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith followed by Jones, Custer and Berry while Allgaier, Parker Kligerman, Creed, Kraus and Hemric were running in the top 10. Behind, Hill was in 11th ahead of Kaz Grala, Clements, Nemechek and Jeffrey Earnhardt while Ryan Ellis, Brett Moffitt, Alex Labe, Chris Hacker and Jeb Burton occupied the top 20.

    Five laps later, Chandler Smith reassumed the lead over Herbst, who had to check up as Joe Graf Jr. endured more on-track issues by slipping sideways on the backstretch. Jones would eventually make his way into second place over Herbst while Custer was locked in a battle with Berry for fourth.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 125, Chandler Smith was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Jones followed by Herbst, Berry and Custer while Kligerman, Allgaier, Kraus, Nemechek and Hill were in the top 10. By then, 27 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap, none of which included Sammy Smith and Mayer.

    Fifteen laps later, Chandler Smith continued to lead ahead of Berry as Jones and Herbst fell back to third and fourth. Custer occupied fifth while Allgaier was the highest-running Dash 4 Cash competitor in eighth. By then, Hemric was lapped by the field.

    Another lap later, Berry navigated his No. 8 Jarrett Companies Chevrolet Camaro into the lead with the leaders lapping the benchmarkers. Teammate Jones followed suit in second as Chandler Smith fell back to third. By then, Anthony Alfredo had scrubbed the Turn 2 outside wall with a flat right-front tire, but the event remained under green flag conditions.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 150, Berry claimed his first stage victory of the 2023 Xfinity season. Teammate Jones settled in second followed by Herbst, Chandler Smith and Custer while Grala, Nemechek, Kligerman, Allgaier and Creed were scored in the top 10. By then, 18 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Berry pitted and Berry retained the lead after exiting first followed by teammate Jones, Herbst, Chandler Smith, Custer and Nemechek.

    With 89 laps remaining, the final stage started as teammates Berry and Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Berry retained the lead in front of Jones and Herbst while Chandler Smith launched his bid for the lead while running in fourth. During the following lap, Jones muscled his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro into the lead while Chandler Smith battled Berry for second. Behind, Nemechek and Herbst battled for fourth in front of Custer and Allgaier as the field jostled for late positions.

    Fourteen laps later and with 75 laps remaining, Jones was leading by two-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith followed by Berry, Nemchek and Allgaier while Custer, Herbst, Grala, Creed and Hill battled within the top 10. By then, 19 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while names like Sammy Smith, Ryan Sieg, Moffitt, Hemric, Mayer and Connor Mosack were off the lead lap category.

    Another nine laps later, Berry battled and overtook teammate Jones to reassume the lead lap. With Berry slowly pulling away, Nemechek, who rallied from losing a lap during the first stage, started to challenge Jones for second while Chandler Smith fell back to fourth in front of Allgaier and Herbst.

    With 50 laps remaining, Berry was leading by six-tenths of a second over Nemechek while third-place Jones trailed by more than two seconds. Chandler Smith and Custer remained in the top five while Herbst, Allgaier, Hill, Grala and Creed were back in the top 10.

    Nearly 10 laps later, Allgaier, who was running inside the top 10, pitted under green for four fresh tires as Berry maintained his advantage over Nemechek. With 30 laps remaining, however, the caution flew due to Clements coming to a stop on pit road. By then, 13 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while a multitude of names, among which included all four Dash 4 Cash competitors Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Mayer and Hemric were pinned at least a lap behind. In addition, Berry retained the lead in front of Nemechek, Jones, Chandler Smith and Herbst.

    During the caution period, the field led by Berry pitted and Berry retained the lead after exiting with the lead followed by Nemechek, Jones, Chandler Smith and Herbst.

    Down to the final 22 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Berry and Nemechek battled for the lead as Nemechek managed to muscle ahead on the outside lane and retain the lead through the frontstretch. With 20 laps remaining, however, the caution returned when Jones made contact with Herbst as Herbst backed his car into the outside wall as Jones slipped sideways and spun backward while getting hit by Custer’s No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang and barely by Connor Mosack’s No. 24 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota Supra. At the moment of caution, Chandler Smith cycled into second over Berry while Mayer was the recipient of the free pass after being scored the first competitor a lap down in front of Hemric and Sammy Smith.

    During the following restart with 12 laps remaining, Nemechek retained the lead amid a side-by-side battle with Chandler Smith before the latter managed to move back into the lead. The caution returned shortly after, however, when Moffitt spun in Turn 3 as Leland Honeyman and Graf also spun to avoid hitting Moffitt. At the moment of caution, Sammy Smith received the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap.

    With six laps remaining, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Chandler Smith and Nemechek dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch until Smith managed to move into the lead through Turns 3 and 4. During the following lap, Nemechek drew himself back alongside Smith’s No. 16 entry for the lead as both continued to battle through two tight lanes. Smith, however, would pull away through Turns 3 and 4 while Nemechek settled in second in front of Berry. Then with four laps remaining, Nemechek launched a final bid beneath Chandler Smith, but the latter pulled away with a clear racetrack in front of him and behind him. As the laps continued to dwindle, Chandler Smith retained a narrow advantage ahead of Nemechek and Berry.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Chandler Smith remained as the leader ahead of Nemechek and Berry. With Nemechek unable to close the gap despite launching a final overtake bid on the outside lane entering Turn 3, Smith was able to navigate his way around the short track circuit for a final time and claim the checkered flag by more than two-tenths of a second for his first series career victory.

    With the victory, Chandler Smith became the 173rd different competitor to win in the Xfinity circuit and the fifth overall to win for Kaulig Racing. He also became the second first-time winner of the 2023 Xfinity circuit and the fifth different competitor to win through the first seven events on the 2023 Xfinity schedule.

    Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images.

    “[The win] Feels great,” Smith said on FS1. “This goes to testimony just to Vegas. Dominated that race, didn’t win. I said it was all in God’s timing. He’s in something creating way bigger better something than I know to do it. Here we are at Richmond, my favorite racetrack and we’re sitting in Victory Lane. All glory goes to God. Thank you, [owner] Chris Rice, [team president] Matt Kaulig, Quick Tie Products, everybody at Kaulig Racing, [crew chief] Bruce [Schlicker]. This is unbelievable.”

    Nemechek rallied from nearly losing a lap during the first stage to settle in second place for his third top-five result of the season and at Richmond for a second consecutive season while Berry ended up third after leading 63 laps.

    “We weren’t very good on the short run,” Nemechek said. “We had a long-run speed car. [I] Came from the back up there to battle for the win, put ourselves in position. Disappointed to run runner-up again. That’s the last three races here I’ve run second, so frustrating, but we’ll go back to work. We just got to figure out how to execute a little bit better. Just one of those days, but good run.”

    Grala and Custer claimed top-five finishes in fourth and fifth while Creed, Ryan Sieg, Kligerman, Hill and newcomer Derek Kraus finished in the top 10.

    Meanwhile, Allgaier was the winner of the first Dash 4 Cash initiative despite finishing in 13th place, which was enough for him to claim the bonus ahead of his opponents Mayer, Sammy Smith and Hemric, all of whom finished 17th, 19th and 24th, respectively. The accomplishment marked Allgaier’s first Dash 4 Cash bonus since 2018 and his fourth since 2016. Allgaier along with race winner Chandler Smith, runner-up John Hunter Nemechek and third-place finisher Josh Berry will contend for the second Dash 4 Cash bonus that will occur two weeks from now at Martinsville Speedway.

    “Weird day today,” Allgaier said. “We didn’t fire off quite as good as we’d hoped, but [the team] kept working. Great pit stops all day. We pitted under green there to go for the win and ultimately, it bit us. Then it was just hanging on. We weren’t really sure what was gonna happen, but luckily, we were able to hold everybody off. It’s weird finishing 13th and still be standing here holding this [Dash 4 Cash] check.”

    There were 10 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 43 laps.

    Following the seventh event of the 2023 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by 12 points over Riley Herbst, 18 over John Hunter Nemechek, 24 over Chandler Smith, 43 over Josh Berry and 46 over Justin Allgaier.

    Results.

    1. Chandler Smith, 83 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. John Hunter Nemechek, 11 laps led

    3. Josh Berry, 63 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    4. Kaz Grala

    5. Cole Custer

    6. Sheldon Creed

    7. Ryan Sieg

    8. Parker Kligerman

    9. Austin Hill

    10. Derek Kraus

    11. Alex Labbe

    12. Jeb Burton

    13. Justin Allgaier, two laps led

    14. Chris Hacker

    15. Ryan Ellis

    16. Parker Retzlaff

    17. Sam Mayer

    18. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    19. Sammy Smith, 40 laps led

    20. Kyle Sieg

    21. Brandon Jones, 24 laps led

    22. Brett Moffitt

    23. Riley Herbst, 27 laps led

    24. Daniel Hemric, one lap down

    25. Leland Honeyman, one lap down

    26. Blaine Perkins, two laps down

    27. Joey Gase, two laps down

    28. Connor Mosack, two laps down

    29. Patrick Emerling, two laps down

    30. Garrett Smithley, two laps down

    31. Mason Maggio, three laps down

    32. Stefan Parsons, three laps down

    33. Josh Williams, three laps down

    34. Brennan Poole, three laps down

    35. Gray Gaulding, five laps down

    36. Jeremy Clements, seven laps down

    37. Joe Graf Jr., 14 laps down

    38. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is another Virginia event as the series travels southwest from Richmond to Martinsville for its first of two visits to Martinsville Speedway, which will also serve as the site of the second Dash 4 Cash event. The event is scheduled to occur on April 15 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Allmendinger dominates for back-to-back Xfinity Series victories at COTA

    Allmendinger dominates for back-to-back Xfinity Series victories at COTA

    AJ Allmendinger was not to be denied in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season after he capped off a dominant run with a victory in the third annual running of the Pit Boss 250 at Circuit of The Americas on Saturday, March 25.

    The 41-year-old Allmendinger from Los Gatos, California, led two times for a race-high 28 of 46-scheduled laps, including the final 14, on a day where he commenced by dominating the event’s early stages. Despite falling back towards the midfield after pitting at the start of the second stage, the Californian managed to methodically navigate his way back to the front amid a series of late caution periods. Then under the final stage with 14 laps remaining, Allmendinger made contact with Sheldon Creed to reassume the lead. From there, he fended off a late attack from William Byron to defend his winning title in Austin.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, AJ Allmendinger, the reigning Xfinity winner at COTA of the Americas, secured the pole position for the main event after posting a pole-winning lap at 92.173 mph in 133.184 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Sammy Smith, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 91.827 mph in 133.686 seconds.

    Prior to the event, a host of names that included Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Sage Karam, Alex Labbe, rookie Chandler Smith, Kaz Grala, Bret Moffitt, Anthony Alfredo, Joe Graf Jr., Kyle Weatherman, Brennan Poole and Kyle Sieg dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, the field fanned out through the uphill climb to the first turn as Sammy Smith and Sheldon Creed launched ahead to Allmendinger’s outside with the lead while Ty Gibbs tried to sneak his way beneath Allmendinger’s No. 10 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro. Then entering the series of right and left turns from Turns 2 to 10, Creed cleared Sammy Smith and assumed the lead in his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro with Allmendinger and Gibbs moving back up to second and third.

    After tracking Creed for the following four turns, Allmendinger made his move beneath Creed entering Turn 15 and re-assumed the lead. From there, Allmendinger navigated his way through the final series of turns from Turns 15 to 20 as he returned to the frontstretch and led the first lap. Meanwhile, Aric Almirola plummeted in the leaderboard after spinning his No. 08 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang in Turn 12 while the field remained under green flag conditions.

    Through the second lap, Allmendinger was leading by more than two seconds over Creed followed by Gibbs, Sammy Smith and Austin Hill while John Hunter Nemechek, Parker Kligerman, William Byron, Daniel Hemric and Riley Herbst were running in the top 10. Behind, Jeb Burton was in 11th ahead of Miguel Paludo, Sam Mayer, Carson Hocevar and Connor Mosack while Jeremy Clements, Josh Bilicki, Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier and Alex Labbe occupied the top 20 in front of Josh Berry and Brandon Jones.

    By the fifth lap, Allmendinger extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Gibbs while Creed dropped back to third and trailed by more than five seconds. Sammy Smith and Hill were running in the top five in front of Kligerman and Byron while Nemechek fell back to eighth. By then, all 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. With Brad Perez spinning in Turn 8, the event remained under green flag conditions.

    Two laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Carson Hocevar, who was making his Xfinity Series debut for SS-Green Light Racing, came to a stop in Turn 1. By then, names like Ryan Sieg and Sage Karam were assessed pass-through penalties for cutting the esses. During the caution period, names like the leader Allmendinger, Kligerman, Herbst, Brandon Jones, Jeremy Clements, Chandler Smith and Kaz Grala remained on the track while the rest of the lead lap competitors pitted, with Berry pitting for repairs to the front nose after receiving damage from hitting Byron at the start of the event.

    When the event restarted under green on the ninth lap, Allmendinger jumped ahead with a strong start and pulled away from Kligerman while the field fanned out entering the first turn and the series of right and left turns. Through the series of turns, Allmendinger retained the lead in front of Kligerman as Riley Herbst maintained third in front of Jones with the field jostling for positions.

    At the Lap 10 mark and with a series of on-track battles ensuing, Allmendinger was leading by more than a second over Kligerman followed by Herbst, Creed and Jones while Chandler Smith, Clements, Gibbs, Grala and Allgaier were in the top 10, with 35 of 38 starters scored on the lead lap.

    At the conclusion of the first stage on Lap 14, Allmendinger captured the stage victory while Creed, Kligerman, Gibbs, Byron, Herbst, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Sammy Smith and Sam Mayer were scored in the top 10. Compared to the first five events on the schedule, the caution flag did not display and the competitors proceeded under green as part of NASCAR’s new rules for this season, which highlighted that no caution periods would be mandated at the conclusion of stage breaks on road course venues that hold Cup Series events.

    With the second stage proceeding, green flag pit stops ensued as Chandler Smith pitted followed by Hill. Allmendinger would then surrender the lead near the Lap 15 mark to pit as Creed cycled to the lead. By then, additional names like Herbst, Brandon Jones, Kaz Grala and Kyle Weatherman pitted along with the rest of the field.

    On Lap 16, the second caution of the event flew when Preston Pardus came to a stop in Turn 1. By then, Austin Hill, winner of three of the first five-scheduled events, took his car to the garage due to an apparent shifter issue while the front-runners remained on the track.

    During the following restart on Lap 19, Creed pulled ahead of Byron and the field to maintain the lead as the field tried to navigate through the first turn. Through Turn 1, carnage ensued as Almirola and Preston Pardus spun with Allmendinger also involved as he wedged Berry into Almirola and slammed the brakes while Almirola spun in front of him. As the event remained under green, Creed retained the lead in front of Allgaier and Byron while Sammy Smith and Cole Custer battled in front of John Hunter Nemechek and Gibbs.

    A lap later and with the battles around the track ensuing, the caution returned due to debris in Turns 13 and 14 when Brandon Jones lost and shredded a left-front tire to his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro. During the caution period, the entire field led by Creed remained on the track for a second time.

    On the ensuing restart on Lap 22, Creed battled and maintained the lead over Byron entering the first turn. As the field navigated through the first turn and the 20-turn road course, Allmendinger and Berry made contact through the esses while Herbst spun in Turn 8. Back at the front, Byron made his move to assume the lead from Creed in Turn 19, but Creed fought back with a crossover move as he reassumed the lead entering Turn 20 and back to the frontstretch. Byron, however, managed to draw himself with Creed entering the first turn and pull ahead through the fifth turn as he assumed the lead while Custer tried to close in.

    By Lap 27, the caution returned when Brett Moffitt came to a stop in Turn 1. During the caution period, names that included Kligerman, Almirola, Ryan Sieg, Jeb Burton and Berry remained on the track while the rest led by Byron pitted.

    As the field restarted under green on Lap 29, Kligerman and Almirola dueled for the lead through the uphill climb to the first turn. Then exiting the first turn, Kligerman briefly fell off the pace Ryan Sieg rocketed past Kligerman and Almirola entering the second turn to assume the lead followed by Creed. In the midst of the battles, Cole Custer spun in Turn 4 with help from Berry and got his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang stuck in the gravel trap. With the event remaining under green as the battles ensued, the caution then fell with Custer unable to pull his car out of the gravel trap. By then, Mayer spun while running in the middle of the pack in Turn 11. This concluded the second stage break scheduled on Lap 30 as Creed captured the stage victory while Ryan Sieg, Nemechek, Almirola, Berry, Allmendinger, Byron, Ty Gibbs, Sammy Smith and Jeb Burton were scored in the top 10.

    During the caution period, names like Ryan Sieg, Kligerman and Custer pitted while the rest led by Creed remained on the track.

    With 14 laps remaining, the final stage proceeded under green. At the start, the field fanned out to multiple lanes as Creed battled and fended off Nemechek to retain the lead through the first turn and entering the series of turns. Behind, however, Allmendinger carved his way back into the runner-up spot as he set his sights on Creed for the lead while Nemechek, Byron, Almirola, Berry and Sammy Smith trailed in the top seven.

    Then in Turn 15, Allmendinger ignited his charge for the lead on Creed as he tried to bump and move Creed through the following turns. Entering Turn 19, however, Creed and Allmendinger made contact as Creed slipped sideways before spinning. This allowed Allmendinger to move back into the lead followed by a hard-charging Byron and Nemechek through the frontstretch while Creed, who was in contention for his first Xfinity career victory, plummeted in the leaderboard.

    During the following lap, the battle for the lead ignited as Byron tried to navigate his way around Allmendinger for the top spot in Turn 1. The latter, however, managed to maintain his ground and keep Byron’s No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro behind through Turn 2 and the following turns while a trio of Joe Gibbs Racing competitors that included Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Ty Gibbs were running in the top five.

    Down to the final 10 laps, Allmendinger continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Byron followed by Sammy Smith, Nemechek and Gibbs while Allgaier, Berry, Almirola, Hemric and Jeb Burton were in the top 10. By then, 31 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. Not long after, however, Almirola spun while running in the top 10, but the event remained under green as Allmendinger retained the lead ahead of Byron.

    With five laps remaining, Allmendinger extended his advantage to more than a second over Byron while teammates Ty Gibbs and Sammy Smith, both of whom were trailing the lead by more than 10 seconds, battled for third. Behind, Nemechek fell back to fifth in front of a hard-charging Allgaier while Hemric, Berry, Mayer and Jeb Burton occupied the top 10. Meanwhile, Creed rallied his way back to 11th despite trailing the lead by more than 26 seconds.

    A lap later, Nemechek got punted by Hemric with four laps remaining, but the event remained under green while Allmendinger maintained a decent advantage over Byron.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allmendinger remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Byron, who kept Allmendinger within his sights and was preparing for a final launch attack on the leader for the victory. By then, Nemechek made an unscheduled pit stop to address a flat left-rear tire. Through Turn 1 and the series of turns from Turns 2 to 10, Byron tried to close, but he briefly stepped out of the gas as Allmendinger placed a reasonable gap between himself and his challenger. Following the long straightaway in between Turns 11 and 12 before entering the final series of turns from Turns 12 to 20, Allmendinger did not miss a beat and managed to keep Byron in his rearview mirror as he cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by eight-tenths of a second over Byron.

    With the victory, Allmendinger, who is scheduled to make five Xfinity starts this season to go along with his full-time Cup Series campaign with Kaulig, became the first repeat winner at Circuit of the Americas in the Xfinity Series as he notched his 16th career win in the series, 11 of which have come on road course events. The victory was also the first of the season and 20th overall in the series for Kaulig Racing as Kaulig’s No. 10 entry returned to Victory Lane since Jeb Burton piloted the car number to a victory at Talladega Superspeedway in 2021.

    “Well, William Byron might be one of the best ones in the sport right now,” Allmendinger said on FS1. “We’ve seen all the Cup races he’s winning. I knew it was gonna be tough, just trying to fight to get back up to the front there. [I] Hate we had contact with Sheldon [Creed]. I got under him. I was there, I felt like. He turned, I was trying to stay off him, so I hate that happened. So proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing. The Celsius Chevy was really hooked up. With all the damage we had, it definitely hurt the car. Man, I’m out of breath. I’m too old for this.”

    “I spent a lot of years not winning anything,” Allmendinger added. “I’m gonna celebrate every [win] like it’s my last one. You never know. As much pressure that I put on myself, I’m always gonna try to live up to it. We fought hard. This was such a team effort. Pit crew was awesome. Just so proud of everybody. I’m just so lucky to be a part of this Kaulig Racing team.”

    Byron, who made his lone Xfinity start of the season in Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 17 “all-star” entry, settled in second place for the third time in his Xfinity career while Ty Gibbs finished third in his first Xfinity start of the season in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 “all-star” entry as Cup Series regulars swept the podium spots.

    “I just messed that esses up,” Byron, who will start on pole position for Sunday’s Cup Series event in Austin, said. “I was getting one final run at [Allmendinger]. Obviously, they were really good all day. Just great at these road courses and [I] still have just a little bit to gain and minimize some mistakes. Overall, [I] just got through the esses there. I didn’t want to get off and screw up second place, so I slowed way down to keep it within the track. Thanks to HendrickCars.com, Chevrolet. It was a great effort. Just need to clean it up in these cars. Just need to do a better job there, but I had a lot of fun racing them. Couple times, I probably had a shot and just needed to do a little better job. Part of it and hopefully, we’ll get’em tomorrow.”

    Meanwhile, rookie Sammy Smith was the highest-finishing Xfinity regular notching fourth place while Allgaier finished fifth. Both along with sixth-place finisher Daniel Hemric and seventh-place finisher Sam Mayer have qualified for the first round of the Dash 4 Cash initiative that will occur next Saturday at Richmond Raceway.

    Berry settled in eighth followed by Creed, who made a miraculous comeback from his late spin, while Herbst completed the top 10 on the track. By then, 31 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    There were six lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured five cautions for seven laps.

    Following the sixth event of the 2023 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by 15 over Riley Herbst, 29 over John Hunter Nemechek, 49 over Justin Allgaier and 53 over Chandler Smith.

    Results.

    1. AJ Allmendinger, 28 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. William Byron, one lap led

    3. Ty Gibbs

    4. Sammy Smith

    5. Justin Allgaier

    6. Daniel Hemric

    7. Sam Mayer

    8. Josh Berry

    9. Sheldon Creed, 16 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    10. Riley Herbst

    11. Brandon Jones

    12. Chandler Smith

    13. Miguel Paludo

    14. Jeremy Clements

    15. Alex Labbe

    16. Anthony Alfredo

    17. Parker Retzlaff

    18. Kaz Grala

    19. Connor Mosack

    20. Ryan Ellis

    21. Jeb Burton

    22. Kyle Weatherman

    23. Ryan Sieg

    24. Aric Almirola

    25. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    26. Kyle Sieg

    27. John Hunter Nemechek

    28. Josh Bilicki

    29. Brad Perez

    30. Joe Graf Jr.

    31. Parker Kligerman, one lap led

    32. Cole Custer, one lap down

    33. Brennan Poole – OUT, Steering

    34. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Engine

    35. Sage Karam – OUT, Engine

    36. Preston Pardus – OUT, Suspension

    37. Austin Hill – OUT, Engine

    38. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Transmission

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of this season to Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, where the first of four Dash 4 Cash events will occur. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, April 1, at 1 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Allmendinger to make 400th Cup career start at COTA

    Allmendinger to make 400th Cup career start at COTA

    In his return to full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition, AJ Allmendinger is set to achieve a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), the driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will be making career start No. 400 in NASCAR’s premier series.

    A native of Los Gatos, California, Allmendinger made his inaugural presence in NASCAR’s premier series in 2007, when he was named the driver of the No. 84 Toyota Camry for the newly formed Red Bull Racing. By then, he was coming off three full-time seasons in the Champ Car World Series, where he achieved the rookie title in 2004 and five victories along with a third-place result in the final standings in 2006. After failing to qualify for the first four events on the schedule, Allmendinger’s first start occurred at Bristol Motor Speedway in March, where he finished 40th after being involved in an early wreck in Turn 1. In total, he competed in 17 of 36-scheduled events, where his best result of the season was a 15th-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October followed by a 16th-place result at Atlanta Motor Speedway and an 18th-place run at Auto Club Speedway in September.

    The 2008 Cup season produced another difficult start for Allmendinger, who failed to qualify for the first three events, including the 50th running of the Daytona 500, before being replaced for the following five events. He then made his first start of the season at Talladega in April, where he finished 30th after being involved in a multi-car wreck on the final lap. After finishing no higher than 27th during his next two starts, he achieved a breakthrough moment in his early stock car career by winning the non-points All-Star Open at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, which enabled him to transfer to the All-Star Race as he went on to finish 17th. From Talladega in April through Kansas Speedway in September, Allmendinger managed to qualify and compete in the series. During the span, he achieved his first top-10 career result after finishing 10th at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. He then achieved his career-best result of ninth place at Kansas before being released by Red Bull Racing. After being absent for the following event at Talladega, Allmendinger drove the No. 00 Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing on a one-race basis at Charlotte in October, where he finished 43rd, dead last, after being eliminated in an early wreck. He then competed in the final five scheduled events in the No. 10 Dodge Charger for Gillett Evernham Motorsports, where he finished in the top 16 in all but one of his five starts. Overall, Allmendinger competed in 27 of 36-scheduled events and concluded the season with an average-finishing result of 24.7.

    Allmendinger commenced the 2009 Cup season as the driver of the No. 44 Dodge for Richard Petty Motorsports while the team was unable to secure sponsorship for Allmendinger’s entry for the full season. Nonetheless, he commenced the season on a high note by finishing in third place during the rain-shortened 51st running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in February. Five races later, he secured his second top-10 result of the season by finishing ninth at Martinsville Speedway in March. Over the course of the season, where he managed to qualify and compete in all 36-scheduled events, Allmendinger racked up seventh-place results at Sonoma Raceway in June and at Dover Motor Speedway in September before notching two 10th-place finishes during the final three events of the season. When the final checkered flag of the 2009 season flew and with a total of 17 top-20 results, Allmendinger capped off the season in 24th place in the final standings.

    In 2010, Allmendinger replaced teammate Reed Sorenson as the driver of the iconic No. 43 Ford Fusion for RPM. After finishing no higher than 25th during the first three scheduled events, he achieved a new career-best result to his Cup resume after finishing sixth at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March. He would improve his best result in the series by finishing fourth at Watkins Glen International in August. By then, he had achieved his first career pole at Phoenix Raceway in April. While he did not make the 2010 Cup Playoffs, he accumulated a total of two top-five results, including a fifth-place run at Homestead in November, eight top-10 results, a career-high 181 laps led and an average-finishing result of 17.8 before finishing in 24th place in the final standings. Remaining in the No. 43 Ford in 2011, Allmendinger’s best result of the season was a fifth-place run in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May. Despite securing a single top-five result in 2011, he accumulated a career-high 10 top-10 results and recorded an average-finishing result of 16.1 before finishing in 15th place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

    At the conclusion of the 2011 season, Allmendinger moved to Team Penske to drive the No. 22 Dodge Charger for the 2012 season, where he replaced the 2004 Cup champion Kurt Busch. Allmendinger’s campaign with Penske commenced on a rough note after finishing 34th in the 54th running of the Daytona 500. He rallied five races later by notching a career-best runner-up result behind Ryan Newman amid a green-white-checkered shootout. During his next 11 starts with Team Penske, Allmendinger finished in the top 20 five times before notching back-to-back ninth-place runs at Sonoma and Kentucky Speedway in June. Then in July, Allmendinger was suspended indefinitely from NASCAR after failing a random drug test and violating NASCAR’s substance abuse program, where he was found to have taken amphetamine, which was a banned stimulant. By August, he was released by Team Penske and participated in the Road to Recovery program. After being reinstated by NASCAR in September, Allmendinger made four starts with Phoenix Racing between October and November, where his best result occurred at Charlotte after finishing 24th. Throughout the 2012 campaign, Allmendinger competed in all but 15 of 36 events.

    Allmendinger commenced the 2013 season as a part-time competitor between the IndyCar Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the Cup Series, where he competed in select events for Phoenix Racing. After recording four top-20 results during his first five part-time starts, he then transitioned between Phoenix Raceway and JTG-Daugherty Racing in select Cup events, beginning at Michigan International Speedway in June. With a total of 18 starts in 2013, Allmendinger’s best on-track result was a 10th-place run at Watkins Glen in August. By then, he surpassed 200 Cup career starts.

    In August 2013, Allmendinger was named a full-time competitor of the No. 47 Chevrolet SS for JTG Daugherty Racing for the 2014 season. He commenced the season with back-to-back 26th-place results before notching his first top-10 result of the season at Auto Club Speedway in March by finishing eighth. He then notched a sixth-place result at Richmond Raceway in April before collecting his first top-five result of the season at Talladega Superspeedway. Then at Watkins Glen in August, Allmendinger prevailed in several duels against Marcos Ambrose, including the last one during a two-lap shootout, to achieve his first Cup career victory in his 213th series career start, to record the first win for JTG-Daugherty Racing and to claim a spot to the 2014 Cup Playoffs. Allmendinger’s title run, however, came to an early end after three consecutive finishes outside of the top 10 during the Round of 16 left the Californian two points shy of transferring to the Round of 12. With a total of 17 top-20 results throughout the 36-race campaign, Allmendinger went on to finish in a career-best 13th place in the final standings.

    Remaining as a full-time Cup competitor for JTG-Daugherty Racing in 2015, Allmendinger was unable to return to Victory Lane nor make the Playoffs as he only achieved a total of three top-10 results, including a season-best sixth-place run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. Despite recording two poles during the season, he ended up in 22nd place in the final standings. He rallied during the following season by tripling his total top-10 results to nine and recording two top-five runs, including a season-best second place behind Kyle Busch at Martinsville in April. While he improved his average-finishing result from 23.1 to 17.8 in 2016, he went winless for a second consecutive season, missed the Playoffs and ended up in 19th place in the final standings.

    The 2017 Daytona 500 marked Allmendinger’s 300th Cup career start, where he achieved a strong third-place result. He then finished no higher than 17th during the following four events before managing a sixth-place run at Martinsville in April. With just three additional top-10 results during the following 20 regular-season events, Allmendinger did not accumulate enough points to make the 2017 Cup Playoffs. Finishing no higher than 14th during the final 10 events, he concluded the season in 27th place in the final standings.

    In comparison to the 2017 season, the 2018 Cup season produced a single top-five run for Allmendinger, which occurred at Daytona in July after he finished third. The season also produced a total of five top-10 results, but he managed to improve on his average-finishing result from the previous season from 22.0 to 21.3 and improve five spots in the standings from 27th to 22nd when the final checkered flag flew. At the conclusion of the 2018 season, however, Allmendinger was replaced by Ryan Preece at JTG-Daugherty Racing. He then joined NBC Sports as an analyst for the network’s IMSA Sports Car coverage before being recruited by Kaulig Racing to compete in select Xfinity events, which he continued through 2020 as he collected three victories in the process.

    In 2021, Allmendinger, who became a full-time Xfinity competitor for Kaulig, returned from a two-year absence in NASCAR’s premier series by making his first Cup start of the season at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in the No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Kaulig, where he finished seventh. His next two Cup starts occurred at COTA in May and at Road America in July, where he finished fifth and 29th, respectively. Then during the series’ inaugural event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Allmendinger capitalized on a late run-in involving rookie Chase Briscoe and veteran Denny Hamlin to assume the lead during an overtime attempt and fend off the field to win and grab both the second Cup victory of his career and the first for Kaulig Racing in NASCAR’s premier series. His fifth and final Cup start of the season occurred at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October, where he finished 38th due to an engine failure.

    Remaining as a part-time Cup competitor and a full-time Xfinity competitor for Kaulig Racing in 2022, Allmendinger competed in half of the 36-scheduled events, beginning at Phoenix in March as he finished 20th. His best results of the season included a runner-up result at Watkins Glen in August followed by a third-place result at Homestead-Miami Speedway and a fourth-place finish at Charlotte in October. At COTA in March, Allmendinger battled against Ross Chastain and Alex Bowman for the victory on the final lap until he was bumped by Chastain with two turns remaining, collided into Bowman and sent sideways into the gravel trap, where he plummeted to 33rd place in the final running order. In total, Allmendinger accumulated a total of eight top-10 results. By then, he was named a full-time competitor of the No. 16 entry for the 2023 Cup Series season.

    Through 399 previous Cup starts, Allmendinger has achieved two victories, four poles, 16 top-five results, 69 top-10 results, 559 laps led and an average-finishing result of 20.8. He is currently ranked in 17th place in the driver’s standings with his best result being a sixth-place finish in the 65th running of the Daytona 500.

    Should Allmendinger win this weekend’s event in Austin, Texas, he will join an exclusive club of competitors to win in Cup career start No. 400, a list that features Lee Petty, Richard Petty, David Pearson, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson.

    Allmendinger is set to make his 400th Cup Series career start at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, March 26, with the event’s coverage slated to occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • NASCAR issues major penalties report from Phoenix Cup weekend

    NASCAR issues major penalties report from Phoenix Cup weekend

    NASCAR released its penalty report that nails two organizations and a veteran competitor with major penalties following this past weekend’s Cup Series event at Phoenix Raceway.

    For the penalties involving two organizations, Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig Racing were sanctioned L2-level penalties for unapproved modifications pertaining to violating Sections 14.5.4.2.A, which highlights the assembly of radiator duct, from the NASCAR Rule Book. The issue first occurred as NASCAR confiscated the hood louvers from all four Hendrick cars (No. 5 driven by Kyle Larson, No. 9 driven by Josh Berry, No. 24 driven by William Byron and No. 48 driven by Alex Bowman) and one Kaulig entry (No. 31 driven by Justin Haley) at the conclusion of last Friday’s practice session at Phoenix and prior to Sunday’s main event.

    As a result, all five entries between Hendrick and Kaulig were assessed a 100-point dock towards the driver’s and owner’s standings along with the loss of 10 Playoff points. In addition, each crew chief from each entry (Cliff Daniels, Alan Gustafson, Rudy Fugle, Blake Harris and Trent Owens) were fined $100,000 and issued a four-race suspension.

    The penalties for the Hendrick organization come after William Byron piloted the No. 24 entry to his second consecutive Cup victory of this season at Phoenix. Amid the penalties, Byron along with teammates Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman, who initially assumed the lead in the regular-season points standings, have dropped to being outside of the top 20 in the standings. As a result, Kevin Harvick assumes the lead in the regular-season standings by three points over Ross Chastain and 14 over Christopher Bell.

    In terms of the penalty involving the veteran competitor, Denny Hamlin was fined $50,000 and docked 25 points following his on-track actions at Phoenix, where he made contact with Ross Chastain during the overtime attempt, a move he admitted to being intentional and deemed a violation of Sections 4.4 in the NASCAR Member Code of Conduct. The contact occurred after Hamlin drifted up the track entering Turns 1 and 2 and squeezed Chastain against the wall, which stalled their progress towards the front. Hamlin then proceeded in bumping Chastain’s rear bumper three times through the backstretch and entering Turn 3 before overtaking him. As a result, Hamlin and Chastain, both of whom were battling for potential top-five spots, fell back to 23rd and 24th in the final running order.

    NASCAR also issued two-race suspensions for two crew members (Sean Cotten and Ryan Mulder) for the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang piloted by Aric Almirola for violating Sections 8.8.10.4 A&C from the NASCAR Rule Book that highlights a safety violation. This comes as a result of a wheel that came off of Almirola’s car in Turn 4 on Lap 137 of 317, where Almirola wrecked prior to losing the wheel. Following the on-track incident, Almirola was issued a two-lap penalty in his pit stall for the improper installed tire that came off on the track and ended up 33rd in the final running order.

    With this past weekend’s event at Phoenix Raceway capping off a three-race West Coast swing, the NASCAR Cup Series teams and competitors travel to Atlanta Motor Speedway for their next scheduled event and for their first of two visits to the 1.5-mile speedway venue in Hampton, Georgia. The main event is scheduled to occur this Sunday, March 19, at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.