Despite winning Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Circuit of the Americas, A.J. Allmendinger took an unusual path to the finish line.
An incident with Aric Almirola on Lap 20 caused Allmendinger, who had led 28 of the 46 laps, including the first 14, to spin out on the resumption.
Allmendinger was dropped to 26th position as a result, and the fight continued from there. After colliding with the race’s leader at the time, Sheldon Creed, on lap 33 and knocking him off the track, Allmendinger was able to regain the lead.
In the last 14 circuits, William Byron made several efforts to overtake Allmendinger, but Allmendinger resisted each attempt and went on to win by 0.853 seconds.
Allmendinger’s victory in the Xfinity Series is his first of the year and 16th overall (11 have come on road courses including this race previous season).
“William Byron is one of the best ones in the sport right now, seeing all Cup races he’s winning. I knew it was going to be tough,” Allmendinger said. “I was just trying to fight to get back up to the front there.
“I hate I had contact with Sheldon. I was trying to stay off him but I hate that happened. This car was really hooked up. With all the damage we had, it definitely hurt the car. Man, I’m probably too old for this job.”
Victory, according to Allmendinger, never gets old.
“I spent a lot of years not winning anything so I’m going to celebrate every one like it’s my last one because you never know. As much pressure as I put on myself I’m always going to try to live up to it.”
Ty Gibbs came in third, Sammy Smith came in fourth, and Justin Allgaier finished fifth.
Riley Herbst, Sam Mayer, Josh Berry, Creed, and Daniel Hemric round out the top ten.
The four series regulars who placed highest in the race—Sammy Smith, Allgaier, Hemric, and Mayer—qualified for the $100,000 Dash4Cash prize in Richmond, Virginia, the following weekend.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Laps Led | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10 | A.J. Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’03.667 | 28 | |||
2 | 17 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’04.520 | 0.853 | 0.853 | 1 | |
3 | 19 | Ty Gibbs | Toyota | 46 | 2:05’16.607 | 12.940 | 12.087 | ||
4 | 18 | Sammy Smith | Toyota | 46 | 2:05’20.551 | 16.884 | 3.944 | ||
5 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’25.968 | 22.301 | 5.417 | ||
6 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’26.313 | 22.646 | 0.345 | ||
7 | 1 | Sam Mayer | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’27.593 | 23.926 | 1.280 | ||
8 | 8 | Josh Berry | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’32.194 | 28.527 | 4.601 | ||
9 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’37.058 | 33.391 | 4.864 | 16 | |
10 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Ford | 46 | 2:05’42.063 | 38.396 | 5.005 | ||
11 | 9 | Brandon Jones | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’44.041 | 40.374 | 1.978 | ||
12 | 16 | Chandler Smith | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’44.151 | 40.484 | 0.110 | ||
13 | 88 | Miguel Paludo | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’47.119 | 43.452 | 2.968 | ||
14 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’49.535 | 45.868 | 2.416 | ||
15 | 92 | Alex Labbé | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’53.088 | 49.421 | 3.553 | ||
16 | 78 | Anthony Alfredo | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’55.512 | 51.845 | 2.424 | ||
17 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:05’56.514 | 52.847 | 1.002 | ||
18 | 26 | Kaz Grala | Toyota | 46 | 2:06’00.286 | 56.619 | 3.772 | ||
19 | 24 | Connor Mosack | Toyota | 46 | 2:06’02.174 | 58.507 | 1.888 | ||
20 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:06’02.749 | 59.082 | 0.575 | ||
21 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:06’03.523 | 59.856 | 0.774 | ||
22 | 02 | Kyle Weatherman | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:06’03.709 | 1’00.042 | 0.186 | ||
23 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Ford | 46 | 2:06’06.434 | 1’02.767 | 2.725 | ||
24 | 08 | Aric Almirola | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:06’26.373 | 1’22.706 | 19.939 | ||
25 | 45 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:06’29.936 | 1’26.269 | 3.563 | ||
26 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | Ford | 46 | 2:06’32.888 | 1’29.221 | 2.952 | ||
27 | 20 | John Hunter Nemechek | Toyota | 46 | 2:06’36.526 | 1’32.859 | 3.638 | ||
28 | 91 | Josh Bilicki | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:07’06.377 | 2’02.710 | 29.851 | ||
29 | 53 | Brad Perez | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:07’15.578 | 2’11.911 | 9.201 | ||
30 | 38 | Joe Jr. | Ford | 46 | 2:07’21.300 | 2’17.633 | 5.722 | ||
31 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Chevrolet | 46 | 2:07’23.440 | 2’19.773 | 2.140 | 1 | |
32 | 00 | Cole Custer | Ford | 45 | 2:06’24.979 | 1 Lap | 1 Lap | ||
33 | 6 | Brennan Poole | Chevrolet | 29 | 1:52’32.470 | 17 Laps | 16 Laps | ||
34 | 25 | Brett Moffitt | Ford | 27 | 1:13’54.465 | 19 Laps | 2 Laps | ||
35 | 44 | Sage Karam | Chevrolet | 23 | 1:31’07.899 | 23 Laps | 4 Laps | ||
36 | 50 | Preston Pardus | Chevrolet | 16 | 41’10.708 | 30 Laps | 7 Laps | ||
37 | 21 | Austin Hill | Chevrolet | 13 | 33’06.753 | 33 Laps | 3 Laps | ||
38 | 07 | Carson Hocevar | Chevrolet | 7 | 16’25.739 | 39 Laps | 6 Laps |
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