Tag: Justin Allgaier

Justin Allgaier wins the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Michigan, full results

Justin Allgaier wins the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Michigan International Speedway. Check out the full results from Michigan!

The NASCAR Xfinity Series arrived at Michigan International Speedway, and it was pure chaos. Ryan Sieg won Stage 1 while John Hunter Nemechek won Stage 2, but neither driver was in a good spot to win. It was a chaotic race that featured several cautions, red flags, and one big flip. At the end of the day, a JR Motorsports driver took home the victory.

[autotag]Justin Allgaier[/autotag] won the Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan, earning his second victory of the 2024 NASCAR season. Allgaier was cruising to the win before a caution came out with under 10 laps to go. The driver of the No. 7 car had to wait through a rain delay and was able to pass Sammy Smith exiting Turn 2 on the final restart.

Allgaier had the best car at the end of the race and needed to earn it. The JR Motorsports driver hasn’t won many races in 2024, but this might have been his most impressive yet. The No. 7 team could be rounding into form with the regular season winding down.

NASCAR results from Michigan in August 2024:

  1. No. 7 Justin Allgaier
  2. No. 18 Sheldon Creed
  3. No. 20 John Hunter Nemechek
  4. No. 5 Anthony Alfredo
  5. No. 8 Sammy Smith
  6. No. 30 Noah Gragson
  7. No. 38 Matt DiBenedetto
  8. No. 19 Taylor Gray
  9. No. 45 Caesar Bacarella
  10. No. 16 A.J. Allmendinger
  11. No. 48 Parker Kligerman
  12. No. 42 Leland Honeyman
  13. No. 39 Ryan Sieg
  14. No. 43 Ryan Ellis
  15. No. 51 Jeremy Clements
  16. No. 27 Jeb Burton
  17. No. 97 Shane van Gisbergen
  18. No. 21 Austin Hill
  19. No. 11 Josh Williams
  20. No. 31 Parker Retzlaff
  21. No. 26 Jeffrey Earnhardt
  22. No. 07 Patrick Emerling
  23. No. 29 Blaine Perkins
  24. No. 92 Josh Bilicki
  25. No. 14 Logan Bearden
  26. No. 88 Carson Kvapil
  27. No. 81 Chandler Smith
  28. No. 28 Kyle Sieg
  29. No. 2 Jesse Love
  30. No. 00 Cole Custer
  31. No. 35 Joey Gase
  32. No. 91 Kyle Weatherman
  33. No. 44 Brennan Poole
  34. No. 10 Daniel Dye
  35. No. 15 Lawless Alan
  36. No. 9 Brandon Jones
  37. No. 1 Sam Mayer
  38. No. 98 Riley Herbst

Allgaier cruises to win in Michigan as competitors clash behind

Justin Allgaier used pit strategy and a fast No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet to take the lead of Saturday’s Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan International Speedway with 16 laps of regulation remaining and then held off the field in two laps of overtime – …

Justin Allgaier used pit strategy and a fast No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet to take the lead of Saturday’s Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan International Speedway with 16 laps of regulation remaining and then held off the field in two laps of overtime – before a caution came out ending the race for an accident mid-field.

Allgaier pit for fuel seven laps later than the next six front-runners at the time, returned to the track and ultimately – methodically — picked each car off to claim the late lead. He took the white flag signaling one lap remaining and a few moments later one of the late-race leaders Carson Kvapil hit the wall in what became a chain reaction melee involving Chandler Smith and Kyle Sieg, whose car flipped end-over-end. Sieg was able to quickly climb out of his car and walked to the waiting medical crew.

 

Meanwhile Allgaier took the yellow and checkered flags just ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sheldon Creed, JGR’s John Hunter Nemechek, Our Motorsports’ Anthony Alfredo and JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith.

It’s the sixth consecutive top-10 finish in as many races for the 38-year-old Allgaier, who with the win – the 25th of his career – is now 10th on the NASCAR Xfinity Series all-time win list moving ahead of his team owner, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr.

A bright rainbow hung in the sky as the field sat on pit road just before the overtime re-start as NASCAR track workers dried the famed two-mile Michigan track after the second brief rain shower of the day.

Tasked with rallying again, Allgaier proved his muster, ultimately passing his teammate Sammy Smith on the restart and then holding off both JGR teammates Creed and defending race winner Nemechek for his second victory of the season.

“Just cannot say thank you enough to this team and all these guys standing right here,” Allgaier said. “It’s been an incredible week. We did not show up at [the last race in] Indianapolis like we wanted to and these guys have worked tirelessly through this break.

“It’s truly special, winning at Michigan.”

For Creed, it was a record 11th runner-up finish – breaking a tie with current NASCAR Cup Series driver and former Xfinity Series champion Daniel Hemric and NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett for most second-place finishes in the series without a win.

Trophy or not, it was a productive day for Creed, who started from pole position and also announced before the race that he signed a multi-year contract to drive for the new Haas Factory Team in the series next season. He was among the seven race leaders, out front for 23 laps and his rally to runner-up that more impressive considering he spun out while leading early in the race.

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“This one might have frustrated me the most out of all of them so far,” Creed said. “I had a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota GR Supra as fast as Xfinity internet today, and led the beginning, got spun there and rallied back.

“I was probably too conservative behind the No. 20 (John Hunter Nemechek) trying to save fuel. I was a couple, few laps short on fuel there and the No. 7 (Justin Allgaier) was in a little bit better spot, and once the No. 7 got around both of us, and the No. 88 (Carson Kvapil), I know I needed to go. I probably set behind the No. 20 another two laps and then charged and was running the No. 7 down. Just had a really good car, but that caution for rain came at a bad time for us.”

NASCAR Cup Series regular Noah Gragson, Matt DiBenedetto, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship contender Taylor Gray, Caesar Bacarella and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top 10. It marks only the third top 10 of Bacarella’s career.

With five regular season races remaining, Sammy Smith moves into the 12th place in the championship standings holding the final Playoff position by a single point over Ryan Sieg, who won Stage 1 and finished 13th on Saturday.

Cole Custer finished an uncharacteristic 30th-place after his Ford suffered damage in a mid-race accident. The defending series champion continues to lead the regular season championship, but his advantage has been trimmed now to only 12 points over race winner Allgaier.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series moves to the famed Daytona International Speedway for Friday’s Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Allgaier is the defending race winner.

RESULTS

Allgaier content with his stint in Larson’s No. 5 at Charlotte

Justin Allgaier was so confident he wouldn’t start the Coca-Cola 600 for Hendrick Motorsports that he told his family not to come to the racetrack as he left the house. By 3 p.m. ET, Allgaier was still convinced there was “no way” he was getting in …

Justin Allgaier was so confident he wouldn’t start the Coca-Cola 600 for Hendrick Motorsports that he told his family not to come to the racetrack as he left the house. By 3 p.m. ET, Allgaier was still convinced there was “no way” he was getting in the car at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Mother Nature had other plans.

Kyle Larson stayed in Indianapolis to run the rain-delayed Indianapolis 500. He finished 18th, the race concluding at approximately 7:45 p.m. ET.

In the meantime, Allgaier started the Coca-Cola 600 after 6 p.m. ET and ran 249 laps in the No. 5 Chevrolet before the race was red-flagged for rain and lightning. NASCAR declared the race official nearly two hours later, and Allgaier was credited with finishing 13th.

“To be honest, at the start of the race, I was pretty disappointed in myself just getting acclimated,” Allgaier said. “Kyle’s seat is so different from what I run… Cliff Daniels (crew chief) did an amazing job to get me up to speed, and we were able to look at the SMT and get the car where I needed to be and then just balance. We worked on the balance throughout the course of a run.

“To unlap myself was probably the highlight of the night. To pass a Hendrick Motorsports teammate, to pass Ty [Gibbs], both of which I have a lot of respect for on the racetrack, was really, really nice and it just kind of helped elevate the way the race went.”

Allgaier had to drop to the rear of the field for the start of the race since Larson practiced and qualified the car Saturday. He fell a lap down early in the first stage but battled hard amongst the leaders, including teammate William Byron, Gibbs and others, to stay close to the free pass position or unlap himself.

By lap 87, Allgaier had driven around the leader to be on the lead lap when the caution flew. He ended the first stage in 26th position.

Allgaier was 24th at the end of the second stage. As the race went under the yellow flag on lap 229 and cycled through pit stops, Allgaier was inside the top 15.

“You get opportunities very rarely in life to drive something that good and it truly was that,” Allgaier said. “It was really, really, special and something that I’ll take for a number of years as I walk away…it was a good opportunity.’

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Larson arrived in the No. 5 pit stall around 9:30 p.m. ET and began getting ready to climb into the car. The caution was already out for the weather, and the team would have had the opportunity to change the driver at that time, but the race never restarted.

The biggest thing Allgaier wanted to do was give Larson a clean car since he knew it could win the race. Allgaier was greeted by applause from race fans standing behind the team’s pit stall when he climbed out of the car under the red flag.

“I did not [hear that],” Allgaier said. “I walked over to all of the crew members and gave all of them a handshake and a hug and told them all thank you. They have made this so easy. I was more focused on that and giving them the credit they deserved. One of them actually picked me up and gave me a big hug, and that was pretty special in that moment.

“I’ve had the No. 5 guys as my pit crew in years past on the No. 7 team on the Xfinity [Series] side, have a great relationship with them, but the time and effort [here]… We were at the shop until 9 p.m. one night this week just going over seatbelts, and all of them were there. To be able to come through today and be able to do all the right things, I felt like that was cool. I don’t know that the fans care; it really didn’t matter. I just wanted to do my job and have fun with it.”

The red flag created a unique situation where Allgaier could debrief Daniels and Larson about his time in the car. It ended up being for nothing when the race did not go the distance.

“I just wanted to give him some cliff notes of what I thought and what I felt, and that made it good for me,” Allgaier said. “I feel like Kyle as a racer…it was cool to watch him intently listen and see what I had to say, and then he could use when he goes out and makes laps. That was cool.

“I was ready for the driver swap — he said he wasn’t because I practiced this morning and he didn’t. I think we would have been pretty good, but I was ready. I don’t think he was.”

Allgaier on standby for Larson at Coke 600 if rain affects Indy 500

Justin Allgaier is on standby to drive Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. With Larson attempting the Memorial Day weekend double starting with the Indianapolis 500 followed by the Coca-Cola 600, any hold ups or …

Justin Allgaier is on standby to drive Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

With Larson attempting the Memorial Day weekend double starting with the Indianapolis 500 followed by the Coca-Cola 600, any hold ups or mishaps could require help from a relief driver in Charlotte. Allgaier, who competes for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series, will drive Larson’s car if needed.

“Their goal is [to not] need me, and North Wilkesboro is a great example of that,” Allgaier said on Friday.

Larson successfully made the trip from Indianapolis to North Wilkesboro Speedway last weekend for the NASCAR All-Star Race with time to spare. However, if he had missed the start of the race, the team would not have competed due to the special nature of the event.

Sunday, however, Allgaier would be allowed to drive the No. 5 car if Larson does not arrive on time. The Indianapolis 500 is scheduled to go green at 12:45pm ET and the Coca-Cola 600 after 6pm If race day goes as scheduled, Larson would leave Indianapolis for a 50-minute to one-hour trip by plane to Concord, N.C.

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“How cool it is that Kyle is trying to accomplish [that] this weekend?” Allgaier said. “I know that we have seen it in the past and I have been a huge fan of guys trying to do it…”

Those drivers include John Andretti in 1994 followed by Robby Gordon in 1997, ’00, ’02, ’03, ’04, Tony Stewart in 1999 and ’01 and most recently Kurt Busch in 2014.

Allgaier has been preparing with the No. 5 team ahead of this weekend, sitting in on meetings. He’s already familiar with Hendrick Motorsports, previously testing the Chevrolet wheel force car, which works to his advantage. With the abbreviated on-track schedule, Allgaier will not have time to get in Larson’s car for practice, but fortunately the team will not have to change much if he does have to run the race.

“I fit really well, oddly enough, into Larson’s seat,” Allgaier said. “[The] seatbelts were only a little bit of an issue — I’m a little fluffier than he is.”

The weather will be the biggest variable in Larson’s travel plans. Weather Underground calls for thunderstorms in Indianapolis for much of Sunday, while Concord could also get a scattered thunderstorm on race day.

Allgaier finishes off dominating Xfinity Series win at Darlington

Justin Allgaier finally beat Murphy’s Law to the checkered flag in Saturday’s Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200 at Darlington Raceway. This time, there were no bizarre circumstances to keep the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet out of …

Justin Allgaier finally beat Murphy’s Law to the checkered flag in Saturday’s Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200 at Darlington Raceway.

This time, there were no bizarre circumstances to keep the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet out of victory lane, like the late cut tire that deprived Allgaier of a near-certain win at Phoenix in the fourth race of the season.

After crossing the finish line 3.407s ahead of runner-up Austin Hill, Allgaier had his first victory of the season, his third at the Lady in Black and the 24th of his career, tying him with his car owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., for 10th most in NASCAR Xfinity Series history.

Allgaier, 37, also leaves Darlington as the career leader in top-10 finishes in the series with 267, having broken a tie with Kyle Busch in that statistical category.

 

“I just wanted [spotter Eddie D’Hondt] call ‘white flag,’” said Allgaier, who had led laps in seven of 10 events this season without winning. “We’ve had such a heck of a year. We’ve led a ton of laps, and we haven’t been able to do it…

“I think having a little gray hair today helped me out, though. Those long green-flag runs, and being able to know what’s worked in the past here… I didn’t know if the day would come when I’d be able to match Dale Jr. Not only is he a great boss but a really good mentor.

“To come here and be able to tie him, to be able to take over the all-time top 10s, man, there’s nothing better.”

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Hill, who led six laps to Allgaier’s 119 of 147, blamed himself for not being able to challenge his fellow Chevrolet driver for the victory.

“I just couldn’t get into Turn 1 on restarts like I really needed to all day,” said the driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Camaro. “It was just me. I’ve just got to figure out what to do differently getting into Turn 1.

“I did really good with my launches. That’s something that I struggled with here where I’d buzz the tires late in the zone. Didn’t do that all day—I felt pretty good about my restarts—but I would get down into [Turn 1] and I’d get tight…

“More than anything, I’ve just got to do a better job inside the race car. I thought we were just as good as the No. 7 all day. Congrats to those guys. We were just that little bit off today, and I think most of it was me.”

Polesitter Cole Custer recovered from a disastrous pit stop under an early competition caution to finish third, followed by Sam Mayer and Aric Almirola.

“Every time I get in this car, I plan to win and expect to win,” Almirola said. “Fifth is great, but I want to win—but Justin was so fast.”

Parker Kligerman, Riley Herbst, Sunoco rookie Jesse Love, Sheldon Creed and Brandon Jones completed the top 10. Rookie Shane van Gisbergen finished 15th in his first Darlington start. Carson Kvapil was 19th in his third race in the series and his first at Darlington.

Hill took the series lead by three points over Custer in second.

RESULTS

Justin Allgaier talks about heartbreaking Xfinity finish at Phoenix in 2024

Justin Allgaier talks about his heartbreaking NASCAR Xfinity Series finish at Phoenix Raceway. Find out what Allgaier had to say!

[autotag]Justin Allgaier[/autotag] was cruising to his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season at Phoenix Raceway when the unthinkable happened. With five laps to go, Allgaier crossed the start-finish line, slightly went onto the dogleg, entered Turn 1, and that was all she wrote. The driver of the No. 7 car had a flat left rear tire, and his three-second lead to Chandler Smith was gone.

Allgaier crashed into the wall and was unable to continue. It was a breathtaking scene as the JR Motorsports driver was easily going to win the race at Phoenix. Following the accident, Allgaier talked about the accident in shock about what just happened.

“I definitely had to have run something over,” Allgaier said. “I mean, wear-wise, there’s no way we were wearing the left-rear far enough to do that. Going through the dogleg, I felt it wiggle a little bit — and I kind of knew what that already meant. But at that point, there’s quick (five) laps to go and you’ve got to hope that it holds on. And unfortunately, it just blew out. As soon as I soon as I lifted, it blew out. That was the end of it.”

“I feel like we’ve had really good race cars here. It just seems like it’s stupid stuff like today happens. I wouldn’t have done anything different today. I felt like I was patient. I felt like I raced people really cleanly — and got raced not so clearly in some aspects — and just tried to do everything I could to manage the day well.”

It was a shocking finish for Allgaier, who brought the No. 7 car home in 29th place. Allgaier deserved much better and should have won the race on Saturday afternoon. Instead, the JR Motorsports driver must look forward to Circuit of the Americas in two weeks. Allgaier has an even bigger chip on his shoulder to win a race, so he could be a threat in the next event.

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Justin Allgaier wins Most Popular Driver award in Xfinity Series for 2023

Justin Allgaier wins the 2023 Most Popular Driver award in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the fourth time in his career!

[autotag]Justin Allgaier[/autotag] has officially been named the 2023 Most Popular Driver Award winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Allgaier received the honor at NASCAR’s banquet in Nashville, Tennessee, as the sport celebrates its 2023 season. This is the fourth time he has won the award in the last five years. Noah Gragson took home hte trophy during the 2022 season.

Allgaier’s victory comes during a year where he saw great success. The JR Motorsports driver had the most wins (four) since the 2018 Xfinity Series season when he won five times. Allgaier made the Championship 4 for the fourth time in the last five seasons but couldn’t find enough speed to win the event. He finished second in the point standings behind Cole Custer.

Overall, Allgaier seems to have a firm grasp on the award on a yearly basis. However, Hailie Deegan will join the Xfinity Series next year, so there could be some added competition. It will be fascinating to see how Allgaier fares in future seasons, as he has become a regular competitor in the Xfinity Series.

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Allgaier beat long odds to race for a Xfinity Series title

As Justin Allgaier sat in his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet during a 28-minute red-flag period late in last Saturday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, he calculated his odds for winning the event and qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity Series …

As Justin Allgaier sat in his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet during a 28-minute red-flag period late in last Saturday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, he calculated his odds for winning the event and qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4.

He might as well have been playing roulette, trying to hit a single number.

“Sitting under the red flag at Martinsville truly was probably the best thing that ever happened,” said Allgaier, who was fifth in the running order at the time. “I looked at the odds of making the final four. I gave myself a five-percent chance, and that’s probably being a little bit generous.”

But Allgaier hit the number when Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed took each other out of the running with a bumping-and-rubbing overtime battle for the lead. Allgaier found an opening to the inside off the final corner and beat Creed to the finish line.

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“I don’t know if there’s any destiny in it, but in order to win a championship, you’ve got to be in the final four,” Allgaier said. “And if the five percent doesn’t happen last week at Martinsville, I don’t even have a shot at it, right?

“I think that’s truly something for me that does go a long way. Whether we win or we don’t win, this year has been phenomenal. We’ve had fast race cars. Shoot, I’ve made more mistakes in 2023 than I’ve made probably in entire career combined — pit road speeding penalties and just dumb stuff.

“But when I look at the cars we’ve brought to the racetrack, this is arguably the most speed week-in, week-out, and a lot of it just comes down to preparation for me.”

A case in point was last Saturday at Martinsville, where Allgaier did not have a winning car — until he did.

“I knew we weren’t in position to win the race,” Allgaier said. “We didn’t have the car to win the race. But my team stayed relevant. They stayed behind me, they kept pushing me, and we had a five-percent chance, and we came out with a win.

“And the Red Sea parted — listen, at the end of the day, everything had to be exactly as it was, and it worked out in our favor, and I can’t be more thankful for that… we’re kind of playing with house money. When I sat under that red flag and I knew we didn’t have a shot at it, it kind of changed my perception of the season, and it’s all for the better. I feel like I come here with a new invigoration to be successful and to win races, and it’s good.”

“We’re kind of playing with house money” is how Allgaier sums up his improbable path into the Championship 4. Lesley Ann Miller/Motorsport Images

Further buoying Allgaier’s confidence is the preparation of the track. Gone this year is the resin treatment that has made Phoenix top-lane dominant in recent seasons.

“We’re getting back to the old Phoenix, and I’m excited,” Allgaier said. “Hot, slick, all the things that I want it to be, so we’ve got it all.”

The 37-year-old Allgaier has two victories in 26 starts at Phoenix. Collectively, his Championship 4 competitors — John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer and Sam Mayer — are winless at the track.

“When we leave here,” Allgaier said, “I’d just like everyone else’s win column to stay zero still and ours to have one more.”

Allgaier wins crazy Martinsville Xfinity Championship 4 decider

At the end of Saturday’s chaotic Dead on Tools 250, Justin Allgaier rescued his season with an improbable victory that earned the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet a berth in the Nov. 4 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 event at …

At the end of Saturday’s chaotic Dead on Tools 250, Justin Allgaier rescued his season with an improbable victory that earned the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet a berth in the Nov. 4 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway.

Allgaier’s Camaro crossed the finish line glued to the side of Sheldon Creed’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, scoring his first win at Martinsville, his fourth of the season and the 23rd of his career by 0.032s over Creed, who needed a victory to advance to the title race.

Repeated contact between Creed’s car and the Chevrolet of teammate Austin Hill during two overtime laps eventually victimized Hill, the regular-season champion, in a chain-reaction wreck in the final corner and deprived Hill of a chance to race for the championship next weekend.

 

Before the final restart, Allgaier’s chances of qualifying for the title race had dimmed, as both Hill, the race leader at the time, and Cole Custer (seventh for the restart) had control of the final two Championship 4 spots.

Though Custer was collected in the last-lap wreck, which produced the 16th caution of the race, he was credited with a 19th-place finish to Hill’s 21st and bumped the RCR driver out of the Playoffs by seven points.

But no one benefited from the closing mayhem more than Allgaier, who got repeated encouragement from spotter Eddie D’Hondt and crew chief Jim Pohlman during the late stages of the race.

“Both of those guys kept telling me, ‘It’s not over,’” Allgaier said. “Coming to the start/finish line, I don’t think I saw a single person sitting down. I was just hanging on… This car has been lights-out fast all year.

“We’ve got a shot at going for a championship at Phoenix. This is an emotional one. I’ve wanted to win at Martinsville for a long time, and I’ve been on the other end of that (pointing at the crashed cars on the frontstretch) too many times.”

The overtime restart was a recipe for disaster. Hill had lane choice and picked the bottom, with Creed lined up to his outside. Hill initially cleared Creed’s Chevrolet, but the driver of the No. 2 Chevy used his bumper to force Hill up the track and draw alongside.

As the cars ran through Turns 3 and 4 for the final time, John Hunter Nemechek turned Hill’s Camaro and ignited the last-lap wreck that ultimately settled the field for the Championship 4.

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Creed, who is leaving RCR at the end of the season, was subdued but unapologetic.

“I’m not proud of racing like that, but I didn’t blast him,” Creed said. “He was still with me [on the final lap]… I feel like I raced pretty fair for the situation, and he’s going to be mad, but it’s for a Championship 4 spot, and I’m going to fight for my guys all the way to the end.”

As might be expected, Hill had a different view of the final two laps.

“Man, it’s uncalled for for that to happen, and then for neither of the RCR guys to make it to the final four,” Hill said. “It’s frustrating. I’m pretty excited for him to go to his next adventure over at Gibbs, and I don’t have to put up with him anymore.”

(Hill may have anticipated Creed’s next move, which is yet to be announced.)

Pole winner Sammy Smith, another driver in a must-win situation to continue in the Playoffs, led 147 of the 256 laps and finished third. But Smith also left Martinsville with a grudge against a teammate—John Hunter Nemechek, who had clinched a Championship 4 berth on points by the end of the second stage.

In Smith’s view, Nemechek made it impossible for him to fight for the win in overtime.

“They were telling me that he wasn’t going to make any enemies,” Smith said. “I asked him if he was going to choose the top, and he said he wasn’t going to do that. I had a good run on him, and he went to block me down to the bottom.

“He didn’t want to make any enemies, but I’m really frustrated right now. He definitely made one. I’m not going to let that one go, and we will see how things go.”

In a race that started in daylight and ended under a full moon after a 28-minute stoppage to clear the track after a 12-car wreck on lap 244, Riley Herbst ran fourth, followed by Josh Berry and Daniel Hemric.

Parker Retzlaff, Anthony Alfredo, Jeb Burton and Parker Kligerman completed the top 10.

Sam Mayer, already part of the Championship 4 by virtue of last week’s victory at Homestead, was knocked out of the race in the lap 244 wreck and finished 25th. Playoff driver Chandler Smith completed 187 laps before being sidelined by an accident and eliminated from the postseason.

RESULTS

Allgaier Xfinity win redeems rough night at Bristol for JRM

On an ambivalent night for JR Motorsports, Justin Allgaier took advantage of a brilliant strategic call by crew chief Jim Pohlman to win Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first event in the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series …

On an ambivalent night for JR Motorsports, Justin Allgaier took advantage of a brilliant strategic call by crew chief Jim Pohlman to win Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first event in the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

Charging from 13th after restart on lap 257 of 300, Allgaier passed Daniel Hemric for the lead on lap 288 and pulled away to win by 1.695s, securing a spot in the Round of 8 of the Playoffs.

Allgaier also broke news in Victory Lane, announcing off the cuff that he had re-signed for another season with JR Motorsports.

That was the good news. In a rare appearance as a driver team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 47 laps before pulling off the track on lap 271 with a fireball in his car licking at his firesuit. Earnhardt made a quick exit and finished 30th.

And that was after three JR Motorsports cars were eliminated from the race in the same wreck.

Without hesitation, Pohlman called Allgaier to the pits when Josh Bilicki’s spin in Turn 1 caused the sixth and final caution on lap 248. Allgaier rocketed through the field until he caught Hemric, harrying the driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet until he slipped past with just over 12 laps left.

The victory was Allgaier’s second at the 0.533-mile short track and his first since his initial Xfinity Series win in 2010. Between victories Allgaier led plenty of laps but couldn’t return to Victory Lane—until Friday night.

“This team has done an amazing job at this racetrack since I started at JR Motorsports,” Allgaier said. “We led a lot of laps, and the monkey was definitely on our back. The pit strategy there… coming down pit road by myself was nerve wracking, right?

“I’m speechless, man. This place, Jim Pohlman and I circled this place on our calendar when we started the year, before we ever even took a green flag lap, we said we want to win Bristol. Man, we won Bristol! It’s Bristol, baby—let’s go!”

The victory was Allgaier’s third of the season and 22nd of his career.

Hemric floundered early in the race until the top lane came in. Then his car came to life.

“We just enough race car there that once the top came in, I was going to live by it,” Hemric said. “I thought it would be OK. I thought if I could hold the No. 7 (Allgaier) off to get to that next group of traffic maybe I’d have a chance to at least race him down in the last five or 10 laps.

“Yeah, the tires were just too much there. Him and Dale Jr. had the best cars all night. So yeah, proud of this group. We definitely stole a finish tonight but came a long way through traffic.”

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Playoff drivers John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer and Chandler Smith finished third through fifth, respectively. Custer led 109 laps, one fewer than Allgaier.

A four-car wreck in Turn 1 on lap 167 sidelined three JR Motorsports cars, two of them driven by Playoff contenders Josh Berry and Sam Mayer. After slight side-to-side contact with the No. 1 Chevrolet of Mayer, Berry’s No. 8 Chevy cut a right front tire and turned up the track into Mayer, knocking him into the outside wall.

Running behind his JR Motorsports teammates, Brandon Jones also was collected in the wreck, as was the No. 39 Ford of Ryan Sieg.

Those weren’t the only teammates who ran afoul of each other. On lap 217, Sheldon Creed clipped regular-season winner Austin Hill just short of the start/finish line. Out of control, Hill’s Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet bounced off the inside wall and nosed into the outside SAFER barrier in Turn 1. Hill was unable to continue.

Hill finished 33rd. Creed came home 11th.

As if that weren’t enough drama, Earnhardt ran in or near the lead until his car began to smoke with 30 laps left.

“The shifter tunnel column was on fire,” Earnhardt explained. “I saw some smoke in the car…I was like, ‘Hopefully that’s not me,’ but it was. That last lap, I saw a big fireball down in the tunnel of the car and I felt it.

“Obviously, my uniform was burning up. I was like, ‘I can’t keep going. I got to stop.’ And usually when you stop the fire gets bigger.

“So I pulled over by the pit stall and some of the guys were pretty alert, and they helped me out. We were going to finish with a top 10, maybe top five. We had a shot at winning it, if the car was going to run good at the end.”

Mayer, Berry, Parker Kligerman (who lost 53 laps under repairs in the garage) and Jeb Burton (who started from the rear in a backup car and finished 13th) all dropped below the cut line for the Round of 8 as the series heads for the second Round of 12 Playoff race Sept. 23 at Texas Motor Speedway.

RESULTS